Fall in the woods around Vienna
the sunset this evening
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Monday, October 28, 2013
...in pictures
This week's topic will be:
Cat / Katze
Cat / Katze
Please link
you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 28th of October and the 4th of November
(11:59 pm CET).
Thursday, October 24, 2013
...in books
Review
Is It Just Me?
by Miranda Hart
First
sentence:
My
Dear Reader Chum, a very hearty hello to you.
Summary:
Well hello to you dear browser. Now I have your attention it would be
rude if I didn't tell you a little about my literary feast. So, here
is the thing: is it just me or does anyone else find that adulthood
offers no refuge from the unexpected horrors, peculiar lack of
physical coordination and sometimes unexplained nudity, that
accompanied childhood and adolescence?
Does everybody struggle with the hazards that accompany, say, sitting elegantly on a bar stool; using chopsticks; pretending to understand the bank crisis; pedicures - surely it's plain wrong for a stranger to fondle your feet? Or is it just me?
I am proud to say I have a wealth of awkward experiences - from school days to life as an office temp - and here I offer my 18-year-old self (and I hope you too dear reader) some much needed caution and guidance on how to navigate life's rocky path.
Because frankly where is the manual? The much needed manual to life. Well, fret not, for this is my attempt at one and let's call it, because it's fun, a Miran-ual. I thank you.
Does everybody struggle with the hazards that accompany, say, sitting elegantly on a bar stool; using chopsticks; pretending to understand the bank crisis; pedicures - surely it's plain wrong for a stranger to fondle your feet? Or is it just me?
I am proud to say I have a wealth of awkward experiences - from school days to life as an office temp - and here I offer my 18-year-old self (and I hope you too dear reader) some much needed caution and guidance on how to navigate life's rocky path.
Because frankly where is the manual? The much needed manual to life. Well, fret not, for this is my attempt at one and let's call it, because it's fun, a Miran-ual. I thank you.
source: Goodreads
My
opinion:
Have you
guys heard of Miranda Hart?
Miranda
is, in my opinion, Britain's best comedian. She is funny, witty,
absolutely hilarious and the star of her own comedy show called
Miranda. Now she has written a book too and if you know her from her
show like I do and love it, you will love this book as well.
Is It Just
Me? Is divided into 18 chapters with titles like “Life, eh...?”,
“Christmas”, “Who's Top Dog?” and “Mothers and Children”.
She is also talking about beauty, weddings, dreams, office life and
so much more. While Miranda explains the world to us readers, or dear
reader chums, as she calls us, little Miranda – her younger self –
pops in from time to time to clarify things or to gather information
about her future life.
I really
like Miranda Hart's humor and her way of telling stories. Is It Just
Me? Made me laugh out loud more than once. Since it is divided into
little handy chapters, each telling its own story, I read it over
the course of a month, always a chapter at a time. That's why I not
only received weird looks on public transport in Vienna, I also woke
up my mum when we were in London, sharing a room and once told a
friend she has to wait until I finish the last two pages of this
chapter before I was able to talk to her (rude, I know but the book
was just so funny at that moment).
If you are
looking for a highly entertaining book that will make you laugh so
hard you should definitely pick up Miranda Hart's Is It Just Me?
For
all those of you who don't know her TV-series Miranda; here's a
little video:
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
...in pictures
This week's topic will be:
Gold
Gold
Please link
you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 7th and the 14th of October
(11:59 pm CET).
Sunday, October 20, 2013
...in books
Welcome
to my Blogoversary week here on "My Life..." where I will be celebrating my second year of blogging with the help of some amazing friends.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway at the end of this post!
A HUGE Thank you to all my lovely friends who contributed posts for my blogoversary!
You can enter the giveaway for another week and win a book of your choice from the Book Depository. Yes, Jana aka comment monster, I am looking at you ;)
Don't forget to enter my
Giveaway
To celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
Giveaway
To celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
VII - very important information:
- to enter please follow the instructions in the rafflecopter form.
- you must be at least 13 years old or have your parents permission to enter.
- this giveaway is open internationally as long as Book Depo ships to you.
- the winner will be announced on the blog after the giveaway ends.
- to protect your privacy please do not leave your e-mail adress in the comment section.
- the giveaway will be open from Monday, the 14th till Sunday, the 27th of October.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
...in books
Welcome
to my Blogoversary week here on "My Life..." where I will be celebrating my second year of blogging with the help of some amazing friends.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway at the end of this post!
Today's post is brought to you by the lovely Celine from Nyx Book Reviews:
First of all I'd like to wish Karin a happy blogoversary! Hip hip hurray! As my contribution I thought I'd share my favourite things of this year. Both bookish and non-bookish, as Karin herself also blogs about her favourite TV shows and other awesomeness herself.
Favourite book
It's not really a secret that I'm a huge Stephen King fan. I adore his writing style, and his endless imagination. Even though I've read about ten books of him now, Lisey's Story completely blew me away. It's such a personal book, and it's now one of my all-time favourites.
Favourite TV show
Gilmore Girls is such an amazing show. Even though the first season is quite old by now (it was aired in 2000), it's still a pleasure to watch the antics of the mother and daughter duo Lorelai and Rory and the inhabitants of Stars Hollow.
Favourite song
It's not a secret that I'm a huge Billy Talent fan (I own three band shirts and have seen them live four times). I think they're so versatile and dynamic, and I had a hard time choosing my favourite song off their newest album Dead Silence. In the end I picked Stand Up And Run because it's such a beautiful song that I can listen to again and again. Basically every song they make is perfect though.
Favourite performance
Surprisingly the best performance I saw this year wasn't Billy Talent (even though they come a close second). This August I finally saw System of a Down, something that has been my wish ever since they went on a hiatus. Their music is chaotic and not to everyone's taste, but I love it and their show was fantastic. They even brought their own rugs, which I thought was hilarious.
Favourite trip
London and The London Book Fair! It was also the first time I met Vicky from Books, Biscuits and Tea in real life, and we had plenty of adventures with tiny hotel rooms and getting lost in the city (and on the Fair) while there. The biggest adventure I had when I was on the way back though; instead of getting on the train to Germany, I was on the train to Paris. With no chance to get out before Paris. Whoops.
Favourite surprise gift
This one was really easy because I only got one surprise gift this year, ha! Karin sent me this book because we were supposed to trade this book at the Book Blogger Picknick in Amsterdam, but she couldn't make it. So instead she sent it to me by mail. So awesome, and such a nice surprise!
Favourite pet-related picture
We got two kittens this summer, and they're growing like crazy! This morning both the dog and the two kitties decided to come snuggle and play, and this is all of them: Dippy looking at me, Bonnie the dog nibbling at her own foot, and Gijsje putting his paw around my leg.
So these were my favourite things this year, I hope you enjoyed them! What is your favourite book/song/trip this year?
Don't forget to enter my
Giveaway
To celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
VII - very important information:
- to enter please follow the instructions in the rafflecopter form.
- you must be at least 13 years old or have your parents permission to enter.
- this giveaway is open internationally as long as Book Depo ships to you.
- the winner will be announced on the blog after the giveaway ends.
- to protect your privacy please do not leave your e-mail adress in the comment section.
- the giveaway will be open from Monday, the 14th till Sunday, the 27th of October.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Friday, October 18, 2013
...in books
Welcome!
to my Blogoversary week here on "My Life..." where I will be celebrating my second year of blogging with the help of some amazing friends.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway at the end of this post!
Today's post is brought to you by Felix (with the help ofmy mum):
a Rafflecopter giveaway
12 things
you want to know about Karin
Hi, my
name is Felix and like for Debby (on Monday) this is also my first
guest post (to be honest it is my first blog entry ever).
I will
tell you a few things about Karin that you will never hear from her
(although they are not strictly secrets).
- Karin belongs to me. I adopted her when I was 8 weeks old (my big baby-eyes and my soft fur let her fall for me) and since then we are together.
- Karin has a lot of stuffed animals. From time to time she sorts through them and discards some. And those are for me. I especially like her/my teddy bear.
- I like to hide in fresh mown grass. It smells so good and is a lot of fun. Well – that’s not exactly about Karin. Hmmm ........ oh yes ........... she likes to take pictures when I roll in the grass. That brings me to the next point ...
- Karin loves to take pictures with her camera and she is a really good photographer. Guess who is her favorite model.
- Karin does everything for me! Although she hates the smell of my dogfood (I can’t imagine why – it smells really yummy) she opens the can for me (I would like to learn it myself some day) and puts the food into my bowl.
- Karin hates it when it is cold. I like it. But when it is snowing I can count on her to take me out playing in the snow.
- Karin likes to soak in the bathtub. Hot water and a book and she can spend hours there. I like a bath as well.
- Karin is calendar addict. She buys one every 2 or 3 months, writes everything from the old calendar into the new one, just to dump that calendar after some weeks. Now she has a custome made calendar. And I am on the cover!
- Karin likes flowers – a single flower in a vase, a whole bunch of flowers in a jug, a pot of flowers on the windowsill or a meadow full of flowers in spring – she just likes all of them. And I – I love flowers too.
- Karin sometimes sleeps in a weird way – sheet over her head, pillow by her side, socks on her feet, etc. And my sleeping position sometimes isn’t too elegant either.
- I like a good head or belly scratch. And Karin is always happy to oblige.
- Karin and me – we are a really good team. She feeds me, walks me and plays with me. I keep her company and I am her watchdog. So don’t annoy her – because then you have to deal with me.
Don't forget to enter my
Giveaway
to celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
Giveaway
to celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
VII - very important information:
- to enter please follow the instructions in the rafflecopter form.
- you must be at least 13 years old or have your parents permission to enter.
- this giveaway is open internationally as long as Book Depo ships to you.
- the winner will be announced on the blog after the giveaway ends.
- to protect your privacy please do not leave your e-mail adress in the comment section.
- the giveaway will be open from Monday, the 14th till Sunday, the 27th of October.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
...in books
Welcome
to my Blogoversary week here on "My Life..." where I will be celebrating my second year of blogging with the help of some amazing friends.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway at the end of this post!
Thank you Karin for asking me to be a part of your
blogoversary celebration! I love talking to you on Twitter and am still
really sad we didn't get to meet last August! We must remedy this soon!
And in that spirit, I want to talk about community today and branching out, actually meeting other bloggers.
I'm
not a social butterfly. I'm not one of those people who walk into a
room filled with people they've never met before and instantly feel
comfortable. I feel awkward and shy and I either clam up or I start
talking A LOT to compensate for this awkwardness. I try to make jokes
that aren't always funny. ANYTHING to break the ice, because really,
those awkward silent moments that happen (you guys know what I'm talking
about right?) when you don't really know each other very well get on my
nerves. SO much.
So to say that it was hugely scary to actually go out and MEET some
of the bloggers I've been talking to on Twitter is a bit of an
understatement.
But guys, it was SO much fun!
We had a really good time at a picknick in August and then meeting up
again to go to a booksale and now we're planning a book club! We're
having our first book club meeting in 2 weeks (which means I should
reading the book soon actually... crap) and after we started planning
this I realised how much I've actually missed this! I missed talking
about books with people I meet in real life. Don't get me wrong, I love
talking to everyone on blogs and Twitter, but to actually sit down and
start a discussion about all the books I've loved and hated and with
people who've also read the books is just amazing! I mean, I don't know
anyone else who would go with me to see the second Percy Jackson movie
and complain to about all the ways they screwed the
book-to-movie-adaptation up!
I was a bit scared to have my blogging life be a part of my every day life, but honestly, BEST DECISION EVER!
So
the whole point I'm trying to make: connecting with other
readers/bloggers through blogs/Twitter/real life meeting has really
brought something extra for me. Reading is not a solitary activity
anymore, but something I can talk about with people all over the world
and now also with people in the little country I live in as well. You
don't need to be a social butterfly to make these connections and you
can decide what feels comfortable for you. But if you know of other
bloggers living in your area, I'd recommend trying to get together,
because bookish people are the best kind of people and very unscary (no
big teeth or claws) in real life!
And Karin: HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY! *throwns confetti* Have pie/muffin/cake/anything with chocolate to celebrate!
Don't forget to enter my
Giveaway
To celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
VII - very important information:
- to enter please follow the instructions in the rafflecopter form.
- you must be at least 13 years old or have your parents permission to enter.
- this giveaway is open internationally as long as Book Depo ships to you.
- the winner will be announced on the blog after the giveaway ends.
- to protect your privacy please do not leave your e-mail adress in the comment section.
- the giveaway will be open from Monday, the 14th till Sunday, the 27th of October.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
...in books
Welcome!
to my Blogoversary week here on "My Life..." where I will be celebrating my second year of blogging with the help of some amazing friends.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway at the end of this post!
Today's post is brought to you by me because exactly two years ago
I started my little corner of the internet:
I started my little corner of the internet:
Two years ago I started this blog and never ever looked back!
Yes, there were times when I felt stressed and had to make time to blog, there were also days when I really had no idea what to write about. Blogging is hard work and is not always fun but all in all I have to say that I wouldn't want to miss the last two years.
Since I started my blog:
- I made so many amazing friends.
- I discovered books I would never have picked up pre-blogging.
- my world got a lot smaller since I now call people from Australia, the Netherlands, the US, Hungary and Germany my friends.
- I created a blog I am imensely proud of.
- I read some amazing books.
- I had the opportunity to work with wonderful authors.
- I bought more books than during my pre-blogging days.
- my English got way better.
- I am really proud of my posts (most of the time).
Blogging is a wonderful creative outlet for me and I love working on it but what I love the most is that I met so many amazing people who love books as much as I do and with whom I can talk books all day and night. Whenever I am in a bad mood I can count on my bookish buddies to be there for me and every time I need a book recommendation Debby, and my other friends as well, are quick with recommendations.
Before I started blogging I read some book blogs regularly and was sure that those people will always be unapproachable but the book blogging community is such a lovely group of like-minded people that not only am I regularly taking to them via Twitter now but some of them also were part of this and last year's blogoversary.
Through "My Life..." I found some of my best friends (girls, I love you) and I am tremendously proud of my little corner of the internet.
For the third year of this blog I am planning reviews, some blog posts I've been working on for quite a long time now and I finally want to visit my friends in the Netherlands and spend some amazing days laughing, book shopping and talking (endlessly) with all of them.
I cannot wait for the next months and I want to thank all of you for being part of this journey so far and may many more years come!
Thank you!
Don't forget to enter my
Giveaway
To celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
Giveaway
To celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
VII - very important information:
- to enter please follow the instructions in the rafflecopter form.
- you must be at least 13 years old or have your parents permission to enter.
- this giveaway is open internationally as long as Book Depo ships to you.
- the winner will be announced on the blog after the giveaway ends.
- to protect your privacy please do not leave your e-mail adress in the comment section.
- the giveaway will be open from Monday, the 14th till Sunday, the 27th of October.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
...in books
Welcome!
to my Blogoversary week here on "My Life..." where I will be celebrating my second year of blogging with the help of some amazing friends.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway at the end of this post!
Today's post is brought to you by the lovely Kat from The Aussie Zombie:
What Book Blogging Means to Me
When
I first started my blog, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing.
I'd started a few blogs before and only posted a dozen or so times
before I got bored, ran out of things to say or just completely forgot
about it. I can't even remember the names of those blogs anymore so
they are floating out there somewhere in cyberspace, unloved bits of my
life that I couldn't even find if I tried.
Book
blogging was something I decided to do after about 5 minutes
deliberation - friends that I had made in certain groups on book social
networking sites asked me why I didn't write reviews, so one evening I
started a blog. Initially it was only ever intended for me to write
reviews and track what I was reading - I never imagined I'd still be
doing it nearly two years later, have made so many amazing friends, been
introduced to books I would NEVER have considered reading and learnt
just how much work it is to run a blog.
I
love that blogging introduced me to so many books, particularly Young
Adult novels which I had only read a handful of even as a teenager. I
(wrongly) thought they would never have any kind of appeal to me - it's
been a 'couple' of years since I was a teenager - how could I possibly
connect with characters that I had absolutely nothing in common with.
But
really, what blogging is all about for me, is the people I have met.
To find that there are other people who love books with such intensity,
obsession and would go to the ends of the earth to get a book signed,
meet their favourite author or even become involved in the publishing
industry because of their passion isn't what started me blogging, but
it's what KEEPS me blogging.
As well as having things
in common with other book bloggers however, I've found that book
bloggers as a whole are incredibly open, kind, funny and honest people.
They will tell you what they REALLY think about a book, a character or a
romance, and even if you completely disagree, we respect each others'
opinions. Some of my best blogging friends don't even read zombie books
and yet we have a connection through our love of reading, our obsession
with authors and our passion for sharing our ideas and opinions with
each other and the broader reading community.
There
are times when blogging leaves me exhausted or unmotivated, but those
times are far outweighed by the times when blogging is fun and exciting,
and the people that both write and read blogs are what makes book
blogging so important to me. I couldn't say I would blog forever, but I
can definitely say that I will always be involved in his community - I'd
feel lost without it!
Don't forget to enter my
Giveaway
To celebrate my Blogoversary!
I will give away a book of your choice
up to $15 from Book Depo
VII - very important information:
- to enter please follow the instructions in the rafflecopter form.
- you must be at least 13 years old or have your parents permission to enter.
- this giveaway is open internationally as long as Book Depo ships to you.
- the winner will be announced on the blog after the giveaway ends.
- to protect your privacy please do not leave your e-mail adress in the comment section.
- the giveaway will be open from Monday, the 14th till Sunday, the 27th of October.
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