Healthy Breakfast

I try to live healthy at the moment. As I don't have much time, I don't cook often, unfortunately. But the summer and the availability of fruits and vegetables allows everyone to have healthy breakfasts. For breakfast, I try to have different fruits and vegetables. For lunch, I usually go into the cantine.

The best and cheapest fruits and vegetables can be found at the farmers market. I usually go there once a week and buy as many fruits and vegetables I can in order to make sure to have my five a day (and usually I have much more than just 5 a day :-)) for the following week. 

Below is my breakfast of today. I also had a huge cup green tea and a coffee with it. (I love to drink both in the morning.)

How was your breakfast today?

More current favourite drinks (Matcha tea)

After my last post on my current favourite drinks, it crossed my mind that I forgot to mention a very important new green tea discovery: Matcha tea. So, I decided to share some more information about my favourite drinks with you. 

I first came across Matcha tea when Leo Babauta from zenhabits mentioned it in his healthy eating challenge. Once, he also drank it in one of his videos. He seems to drink it in the traditional way with a traditional bowl (chawan), after having used a traditional spoon (chashaku) and a tradtional bamboo whisk (chasen). I found that so interesting that I still remember it but I didn't consider to try it myself at that time yet. First, I had to witness many of the German and Austrian health bloggers I currently follow to mention it on their blogs and on Twitter. But then, I had to try it myself and I really like it. But I am an advanced green tea drinker and used to the taste of green tea anyway. Matcha tea is not much different. It just has a stronger effect and makes me more awake faster.

I am not such an advanced Matcha tea drinker. I like to drink it in a huge Guinness mug and use a normal spoon and my british milk frother instead of a chashaku and a chasen. ;-)

Current Favourite Drinks

As I didn't use up many beauty items in the last months, I thought I share my current favourite drinks with you. A drink very much worth mentioning is my recent drinking chocolate discovery. One day when I was looking around in Tesco for interesting products, I stumbled upon the drinking chocolate by Clipper which is a brand for organic products. They mainly sell teas and I can tell you that one of their teas also belongs to one of my favorite teas. But let's discuss one drink after the other, right? :-)

This is my current favorite drinking chocolate by Clipper: 

It contains a lot of coarse-grained sugar and when mixed with milk, it needs quite some time to melt. In the picture above, you can see that the sugar still swims on top of the drink. Letting it alone for a couple of more minutes, however, will allow it to finish melting and then it tastes like heaven. At the moment, I end up having one glas of drinking chocolate each evening.

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. ;-)

Scented Candle Obsession

It started to get really cold outside. In this season, what can be nicer and more relaxing that to sit besides a candle? While I haven't tried any scented candles at all in the last years, this autumn I discovered scented candles and became a bit obsessed with them. This is how my desk currently looks like:

On the picture, you can see my current favourite candle Feu de Bois by Diptyque. I adore this candle and the scent it has. I stumbled upon it on Meg's blog and had to buy it myself then too. I don't like how it smells when it does not burn, but when it burns, the scent is just wonderful. It smells like a fireplace. The scent is wonderful and very soothing and relaxing. Love it.

The other candle shown in the picture is Real Luxury by NEOM. This is nice but not as overwhelmingly great as Feu de Bois. Both are travel sized because I am still experimenting. However, I might purchase a big one soon as well. But I am not sure whether the big ones are not too bulky.

I love to burn my candles while meditating, while journaling, while reading, while writing my theses, etc. I could burn them all the time. ;-)

Meditation: my progress and my thoughts

Hi guys! How are you getting along with the 21-day meditation challenge? I hope you have seen my link to the interview of Oprah Winfrey with Deepak Chopra. I linked it in my comment to my first post announcing the 21-day meditation challenge. It's a lovely interview and Deepak is explaining and motivating meditation. Try to watch it as soon as possible because I think it won't be available for a long time. 

I started the meditation challenge on the 6th of November in the morning. I am using this challenge to also get ahead with my Qi Gong routine with which I really have struggled a lot. My mornings were completely stuffed with biking and showering and meditation didn't fit in anymore. Hence, I tried hard to do it in the evening but it just didn't work. I have to admit that I wanted to do it every evening but did it only for 3 times in the last 2 months. 

So, when I discovered the 21-day meditation challenge, I had to take the chance and change my routine. I moved biking to the early evening and have put meditation into the morning. This is a major change and I was worried to loose my biking habit. But as biking is already a pretty ingrained habit (I'm doing it now for months on a daily basis), I am doing it in the evening, too. I admit that I lost a day in transition but the following day I was able to catch up. And the new habit of meditation which I try to create, is tough but as I usually biked at that time in the morning anyway, I am keeping up with it. Furthermore, the meditation podcasts of Deepak Chopra are pure fun and it's such a joy to follow them. But I am doing it the tough way like I've learned it in my Qi Gong class. And I also try to do a couple of Qi Gong moving exercises before meditating in a Qi Gong pose while listening to Deepak Chopra's meditation podcasts. However, as they are so much fun and as I am no native speaker, I like to listen to each of the podcasts for several times. E.g. I listened to the first podcast for 3 mornings now and will listen to the second podcast starting from tomorrow morning. 

This is my meditation setup for each morning: 

21-Day Meditation Challenge

Tomorrow, a 21-day meditation challenge with Deepak Chopra will start and I will participate and would like to invite you to participate as well. (I'd like to also take the opportunity to recommend reading the blog HappyIch of Sue because it is there where I read about this meditation challenge for the first time. Sue also already participated in such a 21-day meditation by Deepak Chopra in July and reviewed it on her blog.)

Meditation is not new to me. I started to meditate in September to alleviate the stress my thesis is putting me through by starting a zen buddhistic meditation course. Actually, it is a Qi Gong course, but we are mostly meditating. I don't know how common it is to meditate within Qi Gong courses but in my course we are doing it all the time. Currently, I am meditating once a week within that course and afterwards I feel incredibly relaxed and happy and powerful and this sometimes even holds for a couple of days afterwards. I'm quite impressed by the results. Unfortunately, I am still finding it quite difficult to practice meditation also on my own at home. This is why I am looking very much forward to join the 21-day challenge of Deepak Chopra. It will be my first meditation with Deepak Chopra and also my first guided meditation as my meditation practice in my course hasn't been guided yet.

The meditation challenge that will start tomorrow will be all about "Creating Abundance". The participants will be taken to a journey to an authentic abundance consciousness. According to Deepak, we'll discover what true abundance is, the source from which it springs, how consciousness and the mind affect its flow, and that each and every one of us is worthy and deserving of an abundant life. We will learn how to leverage the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success to manifest our heartfelt intentions and live a more abundant life, attracting more comfort and ease, joy, peace, love, or anything we desire. Sounds great, doesn't it?

Joining the 21-days meditation challenge is free. You can subscribe here either with your facebook account or with your email. Starting from tomorrow, each day a 15-minute guided meditation will be made available. Here you can find more information about Deepak Chopra who is well-known for his books on yoga and meditation.

Are you interested in meditation as well? Will you join the challenge? 

Hair Oil

A new product I recently discovered is hair oil. I would never have used any hair oil if it wasn't for the Pink Box. In my Pink Box July, a hair oil from Garnier Fructis has been included and although I don't like this company and also would have never used any hair oil before, I decided to give it a try. And what can I say? Surprisingly, I love it. The scent is great and it is very light. It might be my fault but I cannot apply it without making my hair look greasy. But that's no problem, I use it in the evening and wash it out in the morning and my hair is looking wonderful and I don't need a conditioner either. 

After having been surprised in such a nice way by the Garnier Fructis hair oil, I also bought the hair oil by Alverde and gave it a try as well. But the hair oil by Garnier Fructis is much better. The scent is better and it feels much better in the hair and is less greasy and after washing it out in the morning, my hair looks more fluffy and shiny and just much more beautiful. 

In case you have rather dry hair or have to wash it on a daily basis like I have to, I recommend the Garnier Fructis "Wunder-Öl" hair oil. It is a really great product and my hair loves it. I use it once or twice a week, depending on how dry my hair is and on how often I use conditioner. 

Here is a picture of the two hair oils (Alverde & Garnier Fructis) I tried up to now (I might try some more soon ;-)):  

How do you like hair oil? Do you use it regularly?

Summer Salad with Ebly Sun Wheat

I'd like to share a simple and fast recipe with you again. This is one of my favourite salads in summer and it is also perfect for the lunch box at the office.

Ingredients for 2 meals:

• 150 gram of Ebly sun wheat (this product is well known in Switzerland and Southern Germany and is advertised to be wheat in its most natural form - I just love it and recommend to try it), cooked according to the instructions written on the packing
• 1 Feta cheese, cut into small pieces
• 250 gram of fresh small tomatoes, each cut in half
• half of a peeled cucumber, cut into small pieces

Dressing:

• 4 table spoons of oil (I prefer some cold-pressed oil with a lot of different omega-x fatty acids)
• 2 table spoons of balsamic vinegar
• spice it properly according to your preferences with salt, pepper and basil

This is how it looks in the end:

I just love it. :-)

In my ears

Obviously, I am completely SMASH-ed at the moment! ;-)

Sunday Morning

This sunday morning is a great one. It's warm, the sun shines and I enjoy my favourite Chai (Laudatio Chai Latte from Rossmann) with the german newspaper "Die Zeit" on the balcony (it's not the current issue since I still haven't finished this one).

How do you start your day on a Sunday morning?