My Life...

Monthly Rewind

December

My Pic of December

 

a stand selling German lebkuchen at one of the Christmas markets in Vienna

 

December in One Word

Foggy

As basically every year December was blessed with high fog. Whenever there's high fog over Vienna we can be sure that it won't move for days and that all the other parts of Austria will be sunny. That's unfair but we could also be living in the mountains (*shudder*) and before I do that I will just deal with grey and dark days in the winter. Fortunately we also had some sunny and super warm days too and so I had the chance to soak up all the sunshine I could get on those days.

5 Things that Happened in December

1. Christmas season officially started - Christmas music on the radio, Christmas markets all around town, drinking some mulled wine and baking Christmas cookies - the real deal!
2. I met my old friends from school again for our traditional visit at a Christmas market with our favorite teacher. It was, as always, a lovely evening and I really enjoyed meeting all of them again. 
3. The ski worldcup season really started in December. I am able to ski myself, as it is basically requirement for living in Austria ;), but I don't like it and I haven't been for many many years. But I love watching it on TV and I do so religiously. I have no idea why I'm such an addict to watching it since I'm not a huge sports fan in general but that's something I do each year and I even have all the important dates in my planner. Weirdo, I know!
4. Kat and I exchanged Christmas gifts via post - from Austria to the Netherlands. Here's her Showcase Sunday post showing you the presents I got her and here's my Showcase Sunday post showing you all the amazing things she got me.
5. I had a lovely Christmas Eve celebrating with my parents and two American family friends and a wonderful Christmas day with my grandpa, my aunts and their families. Overall the holidays were super relaxing and my parents were soooo amazing and not only gave me some books but also a voucher for a trip to Amsterdam, since I missed it this summer, to finally meet all the lovely Dutch book bloggers and friends. Best Parents Ever!!!!!
   

5 Songs that Were Popular on My i-Pod

Christmas in the Sand by Colbie Caillat

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Michael Bublé

Compass by Lady Antebellum

Cupid's Got a Shotgun by Carrie Underwood

Stuck with Me (Melissa & Joey Intro) by Joey Lawrence

Book I Read this Month

• Jill Shalvis - Small Town Christmas  
• Monica McInerney - The Christmas Gift
• Joanne Fluke - Candy Cane Murder 
• Monica McInerney - A Taste For It 
• Ellen Degeneres - Seriously...I'm Kidding
• Ally Carter - Heist Society
• Erich Kästner - Das fliegende Klassenzimmer (The Flying Classroom)
• Gail Carriger - Changeless 
• Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
• Chris Colfer - The Land of Stories - The Enchantress Returns
• Jill Shalvis - Forever and a Day

11 books

2994 pages 

a TV series I liked this month 

In Plain Sight started airing on a German TV station at the beginning of this month each Friday after three episodes of Castle and that's basically how I discovered it. In the States it was shown from 2008-2012 and ended with the fifth season but I just recently saw the first episode of season 1 and really liked it. It's something completely different than all the other crime series I usually watch and I'm interested in seeing how it continues.

5 Random Things I (Re-)Discovered/Liked this Month

1. I'm still not a fan of Christmas cookies. I eat them because they're only available once a year but I prefer a nice piece of cake or a muffin any day. 
2. While I was out buying Christmas presents I also bought a copy of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol since I never read it. I did so over the holidays and I can now say that reading 104 pages of Dickens took me quite a while so I'm not sure if I'll ever read a bigger book by him. 
3. My friends and I celebrate Christmas a day early every year and meet on the 23rd of December in our favorite bar. This year was really busy for all of us so we didn't see each other as often as usual so we had a lot of catching up to do for one evening but I can now tell you all that there are certain things that will never change. I know most of them for over 10 years now, some even for over 20 years and some dynamics are still the same as they were in school. It's an amazing feeling knowing that there are people around you that know you so well and that you have friends who would do everything for you and vice versa. 
4. Every year I get over-emotional during December. Don't ask me why because I really don't know but when the last month of the year comes round I start reflecting on the year I had, the people I met, the friends I have and the new friends I made, etc. I also tend to cry rather easily in December and so I cried during most of my favorite books from my childhood, films, TV-series and while opening presents. No, I don't like it but that's a part of me and since I know that it'll change soon (at the beginning of January) I can deal with it quite well.
5. I finally feel like my old self again. 2013 was pretty hard on me health wise and after a year of feeling rubbish most of the time and am now feeling a lot better and am ready to start into 2014 with full speed and a lot of plans.

Felix in December

What do you mean there's no treat? 

I'm sitting on a freaking tree trunk just for you!

Things I'm Looking Forward to in January

I'm so looking forward to 2014 in general since I know that it can only be better than 2013. So let's look into the future, check off this year and enjoy being surrounded be family and friends and being lucky enough to have you guys, a hobby I truly enjoy and that I've found some great friends in the book blogging community.

Here's to an amazing 2014!