2012 - a year in review

This post is a review of 2012. It was inspired by a lovely tag. I found a version of this tag on the blog Heart to breathe. And I found a really nice adaptation at Selbstbewusst leben. My version is a mixture of both. 

1. Prevalent feeling 2012? Last year was quite mixed. Although I surely felt a lot of happiness in 2012 and now in retrospective it also turns out to have been a great year, I also suffered a lot of fear and anxiety due to my thesis. When I started to meditate in September, however, I found a great way to relaxation and slowly gained back control over my life and my time. So, for me meditation was one of the greatest discoveries of 2012.
   
2. Done for the first time in 2012? Meditation, Qi Gong, Pilates (I mean real Pilates and not just some bums-tums-and-legs training called "Pilates" ;-))
3. Done 2012 after a long time again? Yoga. But I didn't like it, unfotunately, because the Yoga teacher was not that great. I don't think that I'll give it a try again in 2013, but surely later in a couple of years.
   
4. Unfortunately not done at all in 2012?  Knitting. I miss it a lot. Hopefully, I will be able to do it again in 2013.
5. Learned lessons: Amongst others, I learned how to let go and this made a huge change in my life. But I also learned a ton of other stuff. 2012 was the year with the most insights concerning self-development, relationships and health and sports. Looking back, I feel so much wiser than before and although it was a year with ups and downs, I managed to make huge progress - even if it might not be that visible. I did a lot of foundation work and especially at the end of the year, it really paid off. :-)
   
6. Insight of the year? I'm the one in control and attitude is everything.
   
7. Word of the year? Unprocrastination :-)
   
8. Gained some weight or lost some weight? Lost weight.
   

A closer look to my MAC order (& comparison of palettes)

Here are a couple of details on my MAC order of last week (I posted a summary of all hauls recently here). Besides showing my new MAC items, I'd like to show you the differences between the old 15 palette and the new 15 palette as the new one is available in Germany only since November (and in the US it was released in August or September). Hence, it is new and I have not found any comparison yet. 

In this post, you can see my MAC order in the right bottom of the picture. There, the palette is still in its packaging. Have a look here at my order completely unpacked (actually even more than unpacked as I already filled the palette with my bright base eye shadows :-)):

11 things (part 2) /11 Dinge (Teil 2)

I have been tagged by Fräulein Kitsch to answer the 11 things tag. As it is a quite comprehensive tag, I divided it into two parts. Here you can read the first part where I follow the first rule of the tag and write 11 things about myself.

The following rules apply to the persons that have been tagged by the 11 things tag. The parts that are done are striked (klicking on the text leads you to the corresponding post):

1. write 11 things about yourself (done, see here)
2. answer the 11questions you're asked by the tagger to answer
3. devise 11 questions and tag 11 bloggers to answer them (the bloggers should have less than 200 readers if possible)
4. inform these bloggers
5. tagging backwards is not allowed

Here are my answers to the 11 questions Fräulein Kitsch has asked me:

1. What career aspiration did you have when you were a child? Would you still like to work in this area?
   Actually, I only started to think about having a job when I turned 12 or 13. Before that I didn't have any kind of career aspiration. ;-) As a teenager I considered two career options and both are still somehow accompanying me. Inspired by Bonnie from the TV series Knight Rider, I wanted to do something with Artificial Intelligence and to maybe create an artificial intelligence like K.I.T. Afterwards, I became interested in psychology and considered studying psychology - but I didn't have a proper vision about what exactly I would do with it. Both areas are still relevant in my life and I think that they are very much related.  
   
   

   

   Bonnie Barstow, PhD, here with Michael Knight ;-) via 1

2. What was the most embarassing thing that happened to you (and that you are willing to share)? 
   
   I really don't remember (anymore?). I often blunder but I just don't feel embarrassed about it anymore since a couple of years. Shit happens to everyone, so why should we waste our precious time with feeling ashamed? ;-) 
3. If you were reincarnated after death: how would you be reborn?
   
   I don't know whether I already deserve to get into the Nirwana but I'd like to go there. I'd also be fine with being reborn as a human again - but I think that this one life is enough. Maybe, however, it would be nice to be reborn as a human man. ;-) I definitely don't want to become some kind of animal or plant. This would be too boring for me as I wouldn't be able to have discussions anymore.
4. Is there any protagonist of a book you can identify with?
   
   That is a difficult question because I prefer to read non fiction books. Maybe Fred "Bogus" Trumper from the Watermethod man by John Irving.
5. Flower bouquet or potted plant?
   
   Flower bouquet. Unfortunately, I cannot take care of plants and they die very fast when I am responsible for them. And then I feel terrible.
6. Do you wear sweat pants or jeans at home?
   Jeans.
   
7. Have you ever got a really aweful present?
   
   Not really aweful but of course I also got a lot of crappy presents. I have decluttered them all this year. ;-)
8. The UK or the US?
   
   That is a difficult question again. Probably the UK because it is not far away. But the US is a great country, too. For me, the only thing that matters is that I can speak English. ;-)
9. If your friends had to describe you in 3 words what would they say?
   
   I just asked a friend because I wouldn't know what I'd say as a friend of mine. She said: balanced, curious and helpful. I just mention it uncommented.
10. White or black?
    grey
11. Do you believe in paranormal activities?
    No. 

And here are my questions:

1. How and why did you start blogging?
2. How much time a week do you invest into your blog and do you think that this is too much or not enough?
3. What do you love to do most (except for blogging :-))?
4. What do you cook when you come home after a tough day and you're very hungry? 
5. Which book is your favourite book and why?
6. Do you prefer to organize or rather to search for things?
7. Do you have a pet? If yes what kind of pet (and what is its name?)?  If not, would you like to have one?
8. TV-series or movie?
9. What is the task you catch yourself procrastinating most often? How do you manage to get over procrastination then?
10. Living means ... 
11. What is the most annoying thing with other persons for you?

I ask the following bloggers and hope that they all are up to the game as I'm looking very much forward to read their answers. :-) 

• Sue of http://happyich.blogspot.de/
• Chrissie of http://foreverinlovewithshopping.blogspot.de/
• Christine of http://mitten-im-winter.blogspot.de/
• Molly from http://lovelife-hamburg.blogspot.de/
• Hope from http://this-is-hope.blogspot.de/
• Angela of http://www.paperlovestory.com
• Millie of http://mslogica.com/
• Eternal*Voyager from http://www.venusianglow.com/
• The blogger of http://soleildanslecoeur.blogspot.de
• The blogger of http://www.fashionseine.blogspot.de/
• The blogger of http://solosogno.blogspot.de

Motivation for the week: Find your greatness!

The beginning is the hardest and the difficult small steps in the beginning count too - maybe they even count the most. :-)

I love these Nike ads. They really push my buttons. How do you like them?

I've been hauling again

It's a bit funny and maybe I should also feel a bit embarassed to show you my huge haul right after having published my post where I rave about minimalism and admit that I'm hooked on minimalism. But I am not embarassed at all. Life is as it is and you gotta make exceptions! ;-)

So, this week was an exception of my general path towards minimalism and sacrifice. (I'm just kidding ;-) - of course this is no sacrifice.) Here are my hauls of the first December days:

1. As I was running out of hair dye I purchased hair dye by Khadi and a thermometer for mixing and applying it properly. The other things were just presents by the online shop I ordered with. (Thank you very much and huge compliments: the order arrived within 2 days.)
2. I also had to try a batiste dry shampoo that everyone is raving about and while ordering two of them I also ended up buying another blush by NYX with Douglas (but hey, I just decluttered 5 of them and this colour is really great ;-)). Besides I also purchased an eyebrow liner by NYX and a newly released Lavera shower gel. 
3. In my favourite DM I stumbled upon the newly released Alverde Perfect Basics Limited edition and had to purchase an eyeliner brush, a really impressive matte bronzer and a highlighter as well as 2 mascaras (black and dark blue), 2 amazing lip sticks and an eyeliner. 
4. As I am constantly raving about the Sephora angled IT brush for eyeliners, I had to order a second one and - of course as I don't order that often with Sephora - I had to buy a couple of additional things. Amongst others I bought 2 other great brushes by Sephora and a couple of other really great Sephora products like a set of 3 bags, a micellar water and cotton pads. The other items were samples that I didn't order.
5. In my favourite local book store, I bought a couple of Yankee candle samplers and a chai tea powder which I adore. This yields the best chai ever. 
6. Also, as here in Germany the new MAC 15 palettes have been released - finally, everyone else seems to have them already -, I had to order one. And of course I also ordered 2 eye shadow refills: Copperplate and Charcoal Brown. Love them. And I also love the new 15-Palettes by MAC. They look sophisticated and beautiful. I'll dedicate a post to them soon. 

Love my new items. The remaining days of December will be ruled by minimalism and sacrifice. I swear. ;-)

Taking notes with Dixi

In my quest to become more organized I am experimenting with different kinds of organization tools. An example of such kind of an organization tool is a notebook. Plain and old style and non digital. I keep notes digitally, too, but for quick and dirty note taking, I prefer a classic notebook based on paper. In this post I want to show you my most elegant tool for taking notes. It might not be the most practical one but there is no doubt that it is a very useful and very elegant one.

Have a look at my Dixi refillable notebook in black leather by the swedish company Ordning & Reda. I love it and currently, I use it all the time. This is how it looks:

Beauty Favourites November

In November, I had a lot of beauty favourites. My face care consisted of only great products. And after having used up all those unloved Bodyshop body butters, I started to treat myself with a great body butter by Soap & Glory and there were also a lot of other great products I enjoyed using in November. Have a look for yourself: 

Below, I briefly discuss the products shown above.

Beauty Empties November

It is time for an empties post again. Again, I successfully used up a lot of stuff. Altogether, 46 beauty items left me in November. And believe it or not: I was able to use up 860 ml of body butter and body lotion last month. Hence, I got rid of all my Bodyshop items (I kept the boxes of the body butters that are gone now, however, in order to use them as fancy storage boxes for other items - see them here being cleaned and here waiting to be filled). Finally my body lotion stash shrinks - at last! :-)

With decluttering, November might have been one of my best months ever. I was able to declutter 17 make up items, a couple of them were even quite expensive but I just don't like them or don't use them (and why should I keep them then even if I like them?) or they've gone bad, unfortunately, because they are really old. So, no guilt due to the waste, just gladness that these items are gone and my drawers are getting emptier and emptier! I'm nearly swimming in space and my stash continuously keeps to shrink and I enjoy the remaining products so much more! :-)

Here is a picture of all the beauty items that left me in November: 

A short summary and my thoughts about the emptied/decluttered products: