sleep tight

I am sure you have all heard about theories on how to manifest the things in life that you desire. Ask - and you will be given.

I was attending a webinar the other day about vision and mindset. Now I'm the visual type - listening to anything is pretty challenging for me and as per usual I kept drifting of - but I did take away this exercise:Write down your goals, formulated in the present tense as if already achieved, as specific as possible, and place the piece of paper underneath your pillow. Once I started, I kept thinking of more and more things I want. I'll probably end up sleeping on top of a book.... Not sure how comfortable that will be.

I shall keep you posted how it works out 💤

and it continues...

There has been more snow. But also some sunshine. The way life goes.

cookie time

For a couple of weeks now, I've been craving sushi but for once decided to empty my fridge instead of getting take away. So, I was very happy that C picked sushi for dinner on Monday. It was yummy and here's what the fortune cookies told us:

"Try & you might. Don't and you certainly won't."

Can't argue with that, can you?
Cs had to do with travelling which was so fitting for her, too.
The right cookie clearly went to the right person!

🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣 🍣

forgiveness

I love Facebook.
I hardly use it. In the sense of updating my 'friends' on my life. But I've been 'meeting' some amazing people through it over the last months. An awesome tool to connect!

One of these people is Laura Long who also works as a coach. Last week, she introduced me to tapping (check out EFT). As per usual, I am not particularly interested how exactly it works, the fact that it does have an effect for me, is what matters.

What struck me in both sessions was, how - and this came from another participant actually - the term 'forgiving myself' caused quite a reaction in me. As well as 'punishing myself'. At first, I was completely taken aback, as I had no clue how I should interpret that. But then yesterday, I had a bit of a light bulb moment. Something to explore further for sure.

Like a virgin

Carl from the English speakers in Rosenheim group organizes a monthly pub quiz at the Irish pub. Now, I'm not really into them - I wasn't when I lived in the UK either. Primarily cause I like winning, and my general knowledge and other specialist knowledge is nothing to write home about...

Nevertheless, since I moved here almost two years ago (holy shit!!!), I've been meaning to go. And finally, last Sunday was THE day! Besides very slow and slightly confused service (Kilkenny is not cidre... and good to know that one of the pizza ovens is taped shut 😶), I had a really nice night!

With a slightly disappointing ending: the winning team scored 34 points. And we came second with 32. BUT (and this is why I secretly feel like a winner also!): we unfortunately corrected one of our answers to the wrong answer (Like a virgin was indeed released in 1984 and not 1986) AND somebody should have trusted my math skill and we would have gotten the marathon in miles question right. And as the bonus winning point: I guessed correctly that Elvis Presley passed away in the '70s.

Highlight: I remembered that Qantas gets mentioned as the safest airline in the film Rain Man. 

From the category: why on earth do I remember these random things???

And lastly, I shall stock up on cidre for those nights when insomnia hits - best way to get me to fall asleep!

revelation-ary

The other day, when driving around Rosenheim, I suddenly had the sensation of enjoying the driving. For anyone who wasn't aware: I generally avoid driving when possible. I am scared to have another accident. It seems that using various NLP techniques really has had an effect! Not that I ever doubted that, of course 😎

And to celebrate this little revelation, I decided to treat myself to some proper cake from the Dinzler café. 

As you can see my plan to cut out sugar or even reduce my sugar intake
is going incredibly well...

And yes, they were as massive as they look! And no, I did not eat them both in one go!
The one on the left is a sort of Sacher Torte and was most delicious: chocolate, nuts and jam. So YUMMY!!!

6th

6th NLP weekend.

And the interesting experience of having a head full of thoughts as well as being empty. Seemingly even at the same time. 

The latter (the empty head) being a luxury that I want to treat myself to more often. Cause let's face it: I have gathered enough evidence that overthinking hardly ever adds any value to the issue at hand...

have I learned my lesson?

Probably not.

For a number of reasons - mostly laziness - I missed my pilates classes for the last three weeks. I was proud nevertheless to have motivated myself to attend last night. And deeply regretted it. It was so tough 😢

I was close to walking out at about half time out of frustration of not being able to do the exercises properly... I do know that I need to get back into a routine again as I can feel my back starting to hurt again. Not good. And all my own doing. I know, I know...

kids...

My friend D from London times, who now lives in Berlin, was down in Munich over the weekend. I can't even remember when I last saw him in person, but it must be several years ago. But as is the case with some people, nothing much changes and when we do meet it never feels as if there had been such a long time between meetings.

For the first time, I also got to meet his son. Such a cutie! Who seemed to take to me instantly - cuddling up and taking my hand. He also does the cutest impression of sulking - LOL! It was great to see them together, too. Clearly a close bond between Daddy and son.

Not so great - for a planner like me - was how the day panned out. Because of the crap, rainy and cold weather, the plan was to visit the Deutsche Museum. Great idea, I thought, as I still haven't been. When I arrived, there already was quite a queue, which moved quickly though, so I wasn't too bothered. Of course (?!), D and his 'entourage' were late though.... After about queuing for half an hour, they closed the ticket office due to overcrowding. Brilliant...

They reopened about an hour later, saying they'd let another 100 people in. I was pretty convinced that there were more than 100 people in front of us... Also, by the time we would have potentially gotten in, the museum would have closed in less than 1,5 hours... So, after faffing about for an hour, we finally collectively decided to go into town.

We made it to the next coffee shop, where one of the kids fell asleep.
Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town with D, while his friend and the kids went to another exhibition (we didn't all fit in the car....). I guess planning with kids follows different rules.

The courtyard of the old town hall at Marienplatz.
Weirdly, I had never stepped inside before!

it's all in my mind

It was tine again for a visit at the hairdressers. As we all know (?!) not my favourite pastime... I had booked an appointment at the same salon as last time, and this time had the pleasure of getting the salon's owner.

Working on my mindset, I was determined to relax and un-clench my fists. And what can I say? I had a lovely and unexpected conversation about coaching, about life, Stephen King, jumping in puddles and the Camino de Santiago. And last but not least left with a nice hairstyle, not that different from my usual style but seemingly more versatile.
Then again, I am always happy with it right after the hairdressers...

off the shoulder look

Off the shoulder tops are all the rage at the moment and it's a look I really like. Given how much fabric I have, why not sew one instead of buying one?

So, I dug out my Simplicity 1613 pattern, which I first did back in 2015. I used some of the fabric leftovers from this dress and decided to do this one WITH the band.
It turned out a little tight, as the fabric doesn't have as much stretch as the one I used for the first version. But I like the look and at least when trying it on, the band stayed in place, too.

the hot and the cold

After some very sunny days already in March, the cold is coming back. And with it, some snow, too.
Just last week, I made a mental note to get my tires changed. Good thing, I procrastinated on that one...

Luckily. they are also predicting 18°C again for next Tuesday!

No. 10

Saw this on a recent visit at my parents':

Eintracht Frankfurt currently number 10 in the Bundesliga

Also reminds me that a couple of weeks ago - for the first time ever - I met somebody who is also from Erlensee!!! Normally, people (even Germans let alone non-Germans) have never even heard of the place.

one at a time

Note to self:
If I want to know the answer to my questions, I need to ask them one at a time.
I realized the other day that I subconsciously worry that I might not be asking the 'right' question and therefore - in order to maximize my chances - ask a handful of questions all at once, hoping that one of them might be the 'right' one.
Very confusing for the person I communicate with, of course...

productive Sunday

I spent about an hour on ordering business cards for my coaching business. And it was fun! Vistaprint has so many different designs on offer, that I found it difficult to choose one. I began by shortlisting about 20 designs, whittled them down to four, then entered all my details to compare the actual cards with each other.

And eventually placed an order.

And this was just one element of my productive Sunday. I also completed my tax form for my new business. Then thought I might as well start with my tax declaration for last year. Good thing I did! Cause I then realized that I have to register and wait for an authentication code to be sent to me by post. So, I got the ball rolling.

And lastly, I started on a new sewing project and prepared the lettering for my latest painting.
Well done me! 😎😉

it tastes of ... soup

In an attempt to eat more veggies and to waste less food, I have started to make soups. Also putting my Vitamix to good use (even though I don't use it to boil the ingredients).

What can I say? I know nothing about seasoning. The other day, I mixed my leftover beetroot (first time ever I had bought beetroot, by the way!) with potatoes, an apple, onions and some horseradish. And even some herbs. Loosely based on a recipe I found online. I could taste the beetroot. But nothing else. Not even hint of sweetness from the apple. Or some spice from the horseradish.

I also stand by my view that soup is not a meal. It fills me up for all of an hour at the most...

14

Do you remember your 14 year old self?
For me, my teenage years seem to all be jumbled up together. I don't have any distinct memories to being 12 as compared to 16.

Last week, I started another volunteering role. Once a week, I will meet with A for about an hour or so. We used the first meeting to go over German grammar. And her trying to explain the Bavarian schooling. I am still a bit lost....
I am kind of hoping that my mentoring role will go beyond giving tuition. But in any case, it's worth it, if A feels she is getting something out of it.

vehicular terrorism

After Nizza, Berlin and London, Stockholm got hit by a terrorist attack. A lorry driving into the crowds in a busy shopping area.

I don't know whether the term 'vehicular terrorism' has always existed. But it does now.
The world we live in.
And no, I don't think that everything was better back when. I guess the kind of threats we are facing have changed.

And now let's all laugh together

Friday night I get a call from T: somebody from their team is injured, whether I'd like to take her place in the spartan sprint race on Saturday.

He clearly doesn't know me at all. I can't even run 1km, let alone 5km....
And most certainly not without any preparation whatsoever. Last but certainly not least, I cannot see the appeal in participating. Ever.

step by step

I am playing with the idea of creating a 'coaching area' in my sewing room. Since I removed the moulding sofa, there is just empty space now. But before I start buying furniture, I figured it'd be a good idea to tidy the sewing area of the room first.

Firstly: I won't need to buy any new fabric for a little while! As tempting as it is... At least not before I haven't turned some of my current stash into garments.

Let me talk you through it:

1. More or less neatly stacked away in my boxes.
2. All emptied onto the floor
3. Entirely unused fabric: 12 different fabrics (one is hiding underneath the pink one)
4. A pile of bits and pieces that will be binned. 

I have to say that I found it pretty hard to bin anything. Always thinking: Surely, I can still use this for something! But let's face it, I won't need hundreds of hairbands and sachets of lavender...
Secondly, there are couple of fabrics that I am not sure what to do with and why I bought them (well, I am guessing they were bargains...). Then there are others where I find it difficult to decide which of the several fitting patterns to use them for. Oh, the opportunity costs!!!

All in all, I am pleased with the outcome. My sewing desk looks much tidier (I also cleared the desk-top) and I have about five sewing projects lined up. Now I just need to decide which one to start with! Stay tuned!

I love Matt

Occasionally I have you tube sessions. The other day, I happened to come across an old friends episode on telly which somehow made me google Matt Le Blanc.
I love him! I love the persona he is on talkshows. This calmness about him is so different from his Joey character (which I also love) and just makes him the coolest guy.

It needed to be said.

Here's to being open minded

On my 'hate' list are things like: warm up games. You know these silly games people play to get to know each other? Honestly, I always feel like hiding in the loos at that point...

But hey, this weekend proved that at the very least, I find these games tolerable and at the very best, I even enjoy them!

Other things I was reminded of:
- Meeting new people is one of the things I really enjoy
- Pushing myself out of my comfort zone always pays off
- Age is no indicator for anything (other than how long ago you were born)
- I am not bad at public speaking and it's awesome to be listened to
- I cherish positive feedback

out and about

At relatively short notice I was informed that I got a hotel night for the Friday night also. I immediately set out to explore cultural options for that evening. And decided to treat myself to the opera "The Consul". At this stage only seats at the side were available at the bargain price of €14 - and with restricted views.

Restricted views turned out to mean no view at all. I could literally not see anything of the stage but at least the board with the German translation of the singing. Once and again, I got up from my chair to check out what was happening and came to the conclusion that an opera really is much more entertaining when you can see what is happening.

But I was in luck (was that the fortune induced by my broken plate already?!) and the family in front of me decided to leave about half way through. And I was then able to enjoy the rest of the opera with a perfect view.

I had a lovely evening. All by myself, too. 💗

the Cuvilliés theatre

Frauenkirche by night

bloody hell...

Blood donation day.

You are allowed to give blood every 56 days and that's exactly how often the German Red Cross comes to Rosenheim for that purpose. 

I'm not sure what it is but both this time and last time, the doctors who did my 'medical' were not particularly nice. Why do people choose jobs where they have to deal with people, if they dislike them so much?

So, yesterday, doctor asks me whether I have eaten and drunk enough. Yes.

My blood pressure was quite low at 110/70. Which made him question me again, whether I had eaten enough. Well, the answer was still yes. What quantifies 'enough'?

Anyway, so, I give blood and the lady next to me, who was hooked up after me, was done before me. And as my arm had also started hurting a bit, I started pressing on that stress ball again. Only to realize that I was also done and they had simply ignored my beeping machine. This extra pumping when my blood wasn't going anywhere was probably not a good idea.

As soon as she removed the needle, I started feeling a bit sick and asked for a drink. Instead, I was immediately put in a position with my head down and my feet up. Which made me feel even worse. It then took a couple of minutes for a doctor to appear (I just needed a f&cking drink!!!). Who of course was the same doctor who had done my medical and who seemed to take a weird delight in seeing me sick: I told you so! You didn't eat enough! And your weight is too low anyway!

WTF???? Firstly, I had eaten and drunk a normal amount. Secondly, my BMI is absolutely normal and my weight and height were part of the info I had to complete. And lastly and most importantly: if you motherf%cker thought I wasn't fit go give blood, why did you sign it off???? 😠

I was eventually given one piece of dextrose and a drink. And felt better immediately. 

Honestly...

2017 resolutions - March review

My 2017 resolutions
January review
February review

1) exercise: let's just say that I want to get back on track in April...

2) healthy eating: it started off quite well. But as expected, I didn't manage to get through lent without sweets or coffee. At the end of the day though, I feel it's most important to do what feels right for myself. And sometimes treating myself to a piece of cake makes all the difference. Nevertheless, I have reduced my sugar intake and will try to continue being more mindful about what I eat.

3) less moaning: hm, this has been an interesting month in this regard. While I previously thought that speaking about stuff helped, simply by letting out the anger, again and again I experience huge discomfort when I do get lost in moaning. I take that as a good sign!

4) travel: going back to my parents for not so nice reasons... I wouldn't count that as travelling. And I think I will remove this from my resolution list for now. I will think of something else to replace it with.

5) less time on the internet/mindfulness: I've been reading more this month and as I have started volunteering for two different projects, I feel that I have been using my time more sensibly indeed. Thumbs up!

Menschen 2017 - March 2017

Reminder Menschen 2017

Max, Annie, Franzi, Noah, Johannes and Michael from ProjectTogether

Yannik - my first ProjectTogether coachee

Elke, Maria and Antonia from a mentoring volunteering project here in Rosenheim

Anita and Andreea: two coaches who I had free sessions with. Firstly, I am very grateful for their offer. And secondly, I learned some lessons on how I do NOT want to work as a coach. Offering free sessions is generous without a doubt. Of course I am no fool, and realize that it's part of a marketing strategy to recruit new clients. BUT the coachee is in no way obligated to book a session and should not be guilt-tripped into doing so. Having said that, I fully recognize that I myself am responsible for the negative feeling I was left with after those sessions. Also an important lesson to learn, of course!

Dr. Zimmermann - doctor at the Stadtkrankenhaus Hanau. I'd rather not start another rant about the terrible communication we experienced and her silly behaviour. Scary though that this happens during times when things are difficult enough as they are.

Nurses - a couple of lovely ones and some more bitches... (I'll count three I recollect)

Man at the opera

January 2017 - 17
February 2017 - 8
March 2017 - 17
New total: 42

Do's and Don'ts

Do
... listen to my gut feeling.

Don't
... listen to everything other people say.