Holly's Blog ... the end.

Hi all.

I'm writing today because I have finally made the decision to wrap it up here at Holly's Blog.

The two year anniversary of us moving to Germany from Canada has just passed and so I feel it is a good time to close this chapter.

photo credit - Me ;)

This blog began as a way to be in touch and share parts of my experiences with my friends and family back in Canada.  Some have followed, others haven't, which is fine.  But what has surprised me the most about this whole thing is that writing on this blog became a personal exercise that I quite enjoyed doing for myself and the benefits were therapeutic in a sense.  Also, I am surprised and so very glad that this blog allowed me to meet all sorts of interesting and like-minded people all over the world, one of whom I even know now personally.  We are practically neighbours, but we would have never met, were it not for Blog Land.  And the wealth of information and resources I've gathered from all these other fantastic blogs I've grown to love is incredible.  Blogging is a fantastic way to share information, learn and engage in discussion and I'm so happy I was part of it for a while.  I will keep following all my favourite blogs of course, but I have decided to retire Holly's Blog.

You can be in touch with me via email, Twitter, Flickr and Pinterest, if you wish.  And for some reason, I have a strong feeling I will blog again ;) ... just not here.

Thank you all for following this blog, for leaving such nice and supportive comments.  I am happy for all the connections that have been made.  Overall, I am very satisfied with my first blogging experience and would recommend anyone to 'just do it' if it's something you've been thinking about.

auf Wiedersehen!

xoxo

Holly

here I am!

The weather in Germany has been quite disappointing these last few weeks.  A random nice day here and there, but it definitely doesn't feel like summer.  My mood has also matched this weather, or maybe it is the weather that has been dictating my mood...

It's Sunday today, and as usual, the church bells are chiming full force.  I love that about Germany.  Constant church bells ... a sound not so prominent from my life in Montreal but one that has become very familiar while in this country.  And it's not just Sunday.  It's everyday.  Sunday, they go all out though ;)  It's funny that even though I am not religious, I appreciate this sound so much.  It sort of makes me feel guilty a bit ;)  But I don't dwell on that too much and just enjoy the sound for what it is - chiming bells.

I have been so absent from my blog and I am not sure how to explain it.  I think with the end of my final school project just a few days away, I am overwhelmed by what it means.  On one hand, I am happy to be finished, on the other hand, I get nervous about how I will develop my career from this point.  My German is not that great - enough to communicate and be understood, but not yet at a point where I feel people could take me seriously.  Instead, they might think I am charming or dumb-sounding and either one of those is not exactly what I'm going for from a professional standpoint.  But because of the Internet and the fact that English is a global language (although many more people actually speak Spanish...)  I feel that the opportunities will be there.  I just have to find them.  And that is what the next few months of my life will entail.  It's going to be hard work and I am mentally preparing myself for that.  Maybe that is why I have no brain energy left to do other things.

Also, since leaving Berlin and arriving in Frankfurt, I've been living with this real sense of temporary-ness.  We are here only because Paul is studying and from here, we could go anywhere depending on where his job takes us.  It's hard to build a real life when you know that it will all change soon.  But I shouldn't complain because whether you are changing cities every couple of months or not, life is always changing anyways - for everyone.  Everything sort of IS temporary.  That's what life is.  So I'm trying to appreciate things the way they are now, because this IS life.  If I don't pay attention, it will pass me by.

Speaking of time passing by - I don't know how this happened, but I am turning 30 soon.

That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Next, I'd like to address my lack of 7 Sachen posts.  Sadly, I cannot do them anymore.  Sundays are quite routine for me.  They involve doing a whole lot of nothing, which I think is not that interesting to post about, but very enjoyable for me ;).  Yet, I am still inspired by the lovely Frau Liebe, I think I will end up choosing another day of the week and instead of 7 things, I may post about 5 ... we'll see.

Besides working and finishing up my school project, I've been spending some time creating outfit moodboards over at Polyvore.  If you like fashion and daydreaming about clothes, you should definitely visit.  It must be the weather here that is making me dream of stylish outfits for autumn already.

Autumn 2011 - grey, purple, tan by hollyvhh featuring knit hats

Autumn 2011 - brown, blue, mustard by hollyvhh featuring heel booties

Autumn 2011 - green, grey, pink by hollyvhh featuring cotton blouses

I have also been helping an acquaintance with the living room of her new apartment, which I will posts about separately when the time comes...but for now, here is what the concept looks like:

Before I sign off to return to my day of laziness (I'm contemplating staying in my pajamas all day!) , I would like to share some travel videos with you made by Rick Mereki called MOVE, EAT, LEARN.

About MOVE, EAT, LEARN: " ... 3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films...  = a trip of a lifetime." via Vimeo. 

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.



I hope you liked them as much as I did!

...oh nice!  The sun just came out =)

Have a lovely Sunday and I'll see you here next time.

xoxo

Holly

restaurant review - Berlin | Cafe V

On my recent trip to Berlin, I went to a great restaurant. 

Honestly, I was quite surprised.  I'm not vegetarian - and I never think of going to vegetarian restaurants.  But my friend is vegetarian so it was a great opportunity to try some out.  This one was really delicious.

It's called Cafe V and is located in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.  The atmosphere is cozy and warm, the service was really friendly.  We drank some good Turkish wine, which was a totally new experience for me.  I ordered the breaded spinach balls served with new potatoes in a mushroom cream sauce.  It was excellent!  Everyone at the table was envious ;)  But their dishes were good too. The price was reasonable as well, as most in Berlin are.





 


I really recommend the restaurant if you're around there.  Vegetarian or not - you will like it.

 

{excuse the look of the card...

it was in my pocket for the rest of that night

... And what a night it was!

as you can tell from the crinkling and blue discolouration...}

Holly's overall rating for Cafe V:

Any good restaurants you'd like to share or recommend?

'till next time,

xoxo

Holly

keeping it cool under pressure

I don't know how this woman kept her cool during this live commercial sometime in the 50's.  There's a malfunction with this new refrigerator they're showing off, but it doesn't affect her composure at all.  I'm amazed - she's amazing.  In future, when things don't go as planned or something unexpected happens, I will remember this and carry on with grace (hopefully!).



Thanks to DIYLife for sharing.

xoxo

Holly

wall project revealed

You may remember I mentioned on my last 7 Sachen that I was working on a secret craft project.  Well I'm ready to reveal it to you here and now.

First I must explain that I haven't put that much effort into decorating our apartment here in Frankfurt since we know we will only be living here for a little while longer.  But my dear friend suggested that no matter how temporary this place is, I should use still use this space to try creative things and make it the best it can be.  This made some sense to me, especially since I am studying interior design and this could give me some fun practice to turn a space I don't feel so emotionally attached to into something wonderful and special in it's own way.

My friend (whose eye I trust blindly) and I have many small projects planned for this space, which I promise to reveal more about soon enough, but for now, here is a peak into my first creative exercise for this space:

 So my dears...what do you think?

This is a corner of the wall above the TV.  It is very bland and bare, as are most of the walls in here.  I got the inspiration to do a little diy art project at one of my favourite blogs, IDA Interior Lifestyle.  What it is exactly are slices of toilet paper rolls I've been collecting, which I stapled together to create this curvy shape.  Then I hung it on the wall. 

I'm quite pleased with the outcome, although I keep adding slices to it here and there.  But it's almost perfect and I couldn't wait any longer to share.

Any fun diy home decor projects you'd like to share?

Happy weekend and see you soon,

xoxo

Holly

 

my handy man

I'm not very handy. Thank goodness Paul is - especially when he has his favourite power tool by his side - the Makita cordless screwdriver. He's done so many great things around here with it, especially when we first moved in.  Putting up shelves or assembling furniture has been a real cinch with this thing.  Today we received the replacement hinge piece for our broken garbage can. But get this. The old piece is bolted in place while the new piece comes with screws. So he had to drill out the bolts with sheer force and it worked.  This little power tool really is the best cordless screwdriver ever! Plus I find it quite cute and non-intimidating. I think next time we need to use the screwdriver I will insist to be the one to use it. I watched the whole process carefully this time in case I ever have to do something like this on my own. Gosh...I really shouldn't be writing about how useless I am, lol!

see you soon,

xoxo

Holly

today's packing challenge

I get a bit stressed before a long trip.  Especially about the packing part.  With this trip in particular, it will be crucial to carry everything on because I have three transfers to make.  I want to avoid missing flights due to luggage re-check and I don't want to wait for my luggage upon arrival because all I'll want to do is run out to see my sister.  The catch is that I am packing for a three week vacation.  Idecided to do a packing trial run today.  So here was my challenge:

What you see there does not include my computer, cameras, associated wires and jewelry. 

The result:

...and yes, I can easily close the suitcase without busting any zippers.

I think the only reason this was possible is because I'll be staying with my sister so I didn't have to bring any excessive toiletries, like hair products, curling iron, shower gel, etc.  Otherwise, one tub of moisturizer and I would have had to check my luggage (no big liquids allowed).  Also, my mom is an expert packer so I learned a few tricks from her.  The most important being rolling clothing istead of folding.

So there you have it.  I'm leaving Monday, my packing trial was a success and now I can rest a bit easier.

Any packing tips you'd like to share?


xoxo
Holly

on colourfully growing old

Every one is afraid of growing old.  I've noticed recently that I have a serious patch of grey hair making an appearance, right at the front.  Like if I were to let it grow out it would turn into a sort of skunk like streak.  My first instinct is 'I don't care.  I like it.  That's who I am.  I hope it does grow big and thick.  That will make me unique.'  But then I get this other feeling, 'Not even thirty, and significant grey hairs already.  I should dye it.  I should pull some of them out.  Why would I want to appear older than I am?'  I struggle with this mini battle everyday when I comb my hair.  But I think I've decided to embrace it and accept it.  I really don't want to have to dye my hair.  Women already have so many things to do as part of their getting ready and care routine. The thought of adding another thing to the primping process just exhausts me.  I am so jealous of my husband who gets up, showers, gets dressed and voila.  Ready for the day (looking real good might I add).

Today I found this website called Advanced Style.  I would like to share a few videos with you.  They are appropriate to the topic of getting old, accepting oneself, expressing oneself and using color to grow happiness.  I urge you to visit Advanced Style if you like these for more wonderful videos.

I love colour.  It is one of my favourite things.  I feel really connected to it somehow.  This is why I was always drawn to painting and why lately I feel the need to give a rebirth to that hobby.  For me, it's not about painting realistically - I'm not talented at drawing.  But I love to paint because I love putting colours together. I makes something inside of me move.  For me, everything is related back to or can be described by a colour.  Sounds, smells and even movement.  I remember when I was really into jazz ballet; I could think about a choreography or a movement and think, 'be red', 'be blue', 'be yellow', 'be black'.  Those were my driving factors to expressing the movement properly.
  
My clothes are not excessively colourful and usually I like to be neutral as a base and layering color on top.  That way, the colours really stand out.  And I've been learning to appreciate neutral colours more and more.  A colour doesn't have to be bold and bright to be beautiful.

So I hope you appreciated these videos as much as I did today.  They have encouraged me to be confident about myself, about aging and to take my trusty colour companion along for the ride.  When I am nintey I hope to be daring enough to wear eyelashes like Ilona Royce Smithkin.  I also look forward to pimping out my walker, if I ever need one, with tassels and colours and bells maybe.  But until then, I will enjoy my youth, grey hairs and all.


Here is my colour palette for the day.  Not like I'll be matching my clothes to it, but maybe more like my mood.  How would you describe it?  I'll share my thoughts about it if you do =)

xoxo

Holly

A trip to Berlin and some other stuff...

First of all...  

SPRING IS HERE !

I've been so busy these days.  Thursday, we got back from a visit to Berlin.  Pauli had some random days off from school so we took the opportunity to make a little trip.  It was lovely.  I miss the city so much, but still it was nice to come home to our little apartment.  Below are a few pics from our time there.

I now officially have till the end of April to finish my last three assignments of my interior design diploma.  I feel a lot of pressure but I am determined to finish them so that I can visit my sister in May with a clear conscience.  I will probably not be leaving my apartment much till then.  When I get back I have three months to do my final project and then I'm done!

I am really looking forward to visiting my sister.  She lives in the Cayman Islands (lucky duck!) and I can't wait to see what her life there is like.  It will be my first visit since she moved there and I am excited about the sun, the heat and the ocean but most of all spending time with her.  I can't wait!  But before I go, I have to buy a bunch of Cayman appropriate clothing (I have nothing suitable for this type of weather).

Besides that, a new friend (which I will post about separately) has inspired me to put some effort into my apartment.  I have been unwilling and uninspired to do so since this apartment is temporary (we will be leaving it in about a year or so).  But my friend made some good arguments for putting some effort (and a small amount of money) into it.  First of all, it would be good practice for me to learn how to design on a (non existant) budget.  Second, I could treat it as my first project - so really nothing can be lost from this, only experience and practice can be gained.  She is right.  So stay tuned for some before and after pics as the project progresses.

So, what's new on your end?


Here are those pics from my Berlin trip, as promised above:

 

See you later this week,

xoxo

Holly

my memory issue

I have a slight problem with my long term memory.  I've noticed that I have many less childhood memories than anyone else I've met.  Not only childhood, but even from like five years ago.  I feel like I do remember things but I don't feel the memories ... if you know what I mean.  It's like they're not real or very vague or they don't belong to me or something. 

But every once in a while, very rarely, something triggers a memory that I really feel, really experience.  Like right now for example.  I was sitting at my desk working.  The radio was on quietly in the background.  I'm concentrated on my work but my attention is distracted for a moment by a song that comes on.  It's Ironic by Alanis Morissette.  And suddenly I remember when my sister and I acquired the Jagged Little Pill album on cassette.  We played those songs over and over and over.  I remember the feeling of sitting in the alcove upstairs and hearing the notes of the song floating through the air in the house, probably coming from one of our bedrooms.  I remember that my parents liked that song too, and my dad would call my sister and I his jagged little pill-s.  And I am filled with a powerful sadness.  Not in the memory but in the present, remembering that memory.  I feel sad that these simple happy moments are gone, never to be retrieved.  I'm suddenly aware of all this time that has passed - I just can't believe it, and my eyes are filled with tears.  It's totally overwhelming.

This makes me think that my memory problem probably has nothing to do with a suppressed traumatic experience, or a brain malfunction.  I think the reason why I don't remember things well is due to a protective mechanism - if I were to always remember things so intensely and accurately I'd probably be crying all the time.

-Holly

insp-i-love weekly

Bonjour mes amis,

I am so excited that my husband is coming back this week!  He's been training in Florida for three months.  It has been quite uncomfortable here without him - not horrible, but not great and I managed.  I have been looking forward to this coming week, everyday, for three months.  Needless to say, I've been growing more and more distracted as the day of his arrival approaches.  I even forgot about a dentist appointment I made on Friday.  Instead of being at the dentist at 10am, I was obliviously lounging around my apartment, drinking coffee and reading blogs.  Ooops.  I only realized that I'd forgotten all about it last night just as I was about to drift off to sleep.

Anyways, here are some discoveries I made this week that I'd like to share.  Not as many as usual, but I promise they are so unique and worth it.  Keeping in theme, it seems, with photography this week, here they are:

1.  A photography blog, called From Me To You.  I urge you to check it out, especially if you love photography and/or fashion. She does this amazing thing where parts of her pictures move!  I have no idea how this is done, but it's so magical!  For some examples, look here, and here.  You will love it.

2.  Another interesting photographer: Eszter Burghardt.  "Edible Vistas is a series of photographs by Eszter Burghardt in which beautiful landscapes are created out of food and shot with a macro lens. Some of them are made of milk and cake." - Jamie in Art via Design Milk.

Ich wünsche euch allen eine schöne Woche voraus.

Tschüs!

xoxo

Holly

George, the photographer.

Recently, I learned that a member of our family, on my husband's side, was a famous photographer between the 20s and 50s.  Pretty interesting. After some research, I discovered he was indeed prominent.  George Honyningen Huene was a fashion and portrait photographer.  He worked a great deal for Harpars Bazar and as chief of photography at French Vogue!  Isn't that amazing?  He wrote books, photographed a lot of celebrities and later worked as a special visual and colour consultant for the Hollywood film industry.  Finding this out makes me feel giddy somehow - I just find it so cool.  What a life! I wish I could have met him.

Anyways, here are some of his pictures I gathered all over the internet for you to enjoy.

1. George Hoyningen-Huene, Lee Miller, 2. George Hoyningen-Huene, 3. George Hoyningen-Huene, Portrait of Horst, 1931, 4. New York 1940

1. George Hoyningen-Huene, 2. 1930s Fashion, 3. New York 1940, 4. New York 1940

1. http-_elogedelart.canalblog.com_archives_2009_11_02_15651184.html, 2. http-_falkorlovesyou.blogspot.com_2010_09_blog-post.html, 3. http-_myvintagevogue.blogspot.com_2009_07_photo-george-hoyningen-huene-1933.html, 4. http-_pepperminnts.blogspot.com_2010_09_term-3-essay.html

xoxo

Holly 

Green.

Today was a grey day.  I forced myself to go out for a walk and decided to go down by the Main river.  There's a walking path along it that's quite nice.  I haven't been able to go there lately because the river was overflowed and the path had completely disappeared.  But today it was fine.


Despite the grey day, it was a really great walk because the greens of the landscape were so intense and so saturated.  The birds were chirping hectically.  "Spring is coming! Spring is coming!" is what they seemed to be chanting.  It was beautiful.

See you later,

Holly

Hausaufgabe + Kaffee & Kuchen = sehr gut!

Coffee and cake at 4pm while doing my German homework makes me quite happy.

xoxo

Holly

upper intermediate? really?

I recently watched this talk on TED about why we have too few women leaders and why only a small percentage of women reach the top of their professions (Thanks Steph!).  I thought it was a good, inspiring talk and I agreed with most of it.  This week, I realized that part of that talk surprisingly stuck with me and helped me make a decision.

I met Camilla last Friday, a non-German woman, recently married to a German man and living in Frankfurt.  She is taking German lessons and was raving about the school she is attending.  Since it has been time for me to take a German course for a while now, I decided to check it out.  Turns out, she wasn't raving for nothing.  It's a very charming school, in a nice neighbourhood in the city, with highly qualified teachers and super friendly staff.  A little more expensive than the alternative I was considering, but the obvious quality difference and the fact that they told me I could start as soon as tomorrow led me to choose them.  If you are reading this and are living in Frankfurt needing to learn German, please do check this school out.  It's called A-viva.

So yesterday I attended my first class.  On my first visit on Monday we assessed my level by taking a short test.  I thought my level was B1, which is lower intermediate.  Turns out, they thought I should be in the B1.2 - the upper intermediate class.  I was a bit hesitant about this, since I really didn't want to be overwhelmed and I am a bit obsessed about doing things in the right order and not skipping steps, even if it slows me down sometimes.  But I agreed to try the class today and if I found it too challenging, I could switch.

I found the class a bit difficult and I felt that compared to the other students, my German was not as good. They had a better vocabulary and a better understanding of some grammar issues.  At break I was thinking about switching ... but then a part of that talk popped into my head - the part that says women don't get ahead because the are always underestimating their abilities.  I thought about this and wondered if this is what I was doing?  I'm definitely not one to shy away from hard work, but I'm always careful not to overestimate my abilities.  I don't know why I do this.  Maybe it has something to do with fairness or believing that you shouldn't lie to get ahead and that being modest is better than being vain...  But is taking a more challenging class lying just because I don't believe in myself?  I asked the teacher if she thought this was an appropriate level for me based on my performance and she agreed that it was without hesitation.   I thought about all the people I've met who say, "...but your German is quite good...".  I always push those comments aside because I assume people are just being nice.  So with these ideas in mind, I made the decision to stay in this class.  I decided to believe that even though I think I'm not good enough - I might actually be.   I hope that this class, and this decision will give me not just the boost I was searching for, but a power boost as far as my language skills are concerned, and allow me to get ahead faster and with more power.  Instead of being careful, I decided to get a little reckless.  I know, I'm such a crazy person, eh?  B1.1 vs B1.2... I'm just out of control!

xoxo
Holly

How it all began, an inspiring story and ... I miss Berlin.

Shop window in Kreuzberg

Before leaving Montreal, when I knew we were moving to Berlin, I have to say, I was feeling excited but also really overwhelmed.  I'm moving to Berlin?  I'm moving to Germany?  A place where I don't even speak the language!? What am I doing?  So I started searching online for blogs about living in Berlin or Germany.  I wanted to read some stories by real people about what it was like there.  I'd been to Berlin before but I had no intention of living there then, so my perspective was different.  I loved the city, but what was it like to live there?  What's up with these German people ... are they cool or what? 

One of the first blogs I found was Haus Maus, a blog about an American setting up "Haus" in Germany.  I thought this was good for me to read and a good place to start.  I spent the next few days reading all her posts.  I was pleased to have stumbled upon a blogger with whom I had very important things in common.  First of all, we were both from America (ok, so I'm Canadian, she's American - whatever), second, we are married to Germans, next we are both into Interior Design (she's well established, I'm still a student), and lastly, we are both called Holly.  These factors made me feel like I could take her opinions seriously and that I could learn and discover a lot from reading her blogs, whether it be about design or about living in Germany as an American.  I soon started following her other blog Decor8.  And then a whole new world unraveled for me.  Suddenly I was reading all these blogs by other people about things I liked.  It was very fun.  During this time, I started my blog - but only for the purposes of my family and friends so they could keep track of my thoughts and experiences in this new life - that was only just beginning for me and oh so far away from them.  I also thought that maybe there is someone out there who is also embarking on such an adventure and maybe they will need reassurance, as I did.  I hoped that by reading my blog, they can see that life is life, no matter where you are - but that Berlin is super awesome!  Now, this blog has turned into more of a personal exercise for me and I find I benefit from it greatly.  And I have a nice blog list that keeps me busy reading and learning about interesting things everyday.

So that's how it all began.

Today, I was over at Decor8 and Holly had a great post I would encourage you to check out, featuring an interview via  Freunde von Freunden (FvF) about a self taught American artist who's in Berlin at the moment getting ready for a show.  His story is quite inspiring, especially for those who are looking to change something (aren't we all, or haven't we at some point?).  Also, I'd never heard about FvF - a Berlin based interview magazine that focuses on displaying the working and living lives of creative people. I'm definitely adding it to my blog list.  I'm grateful to Holly for blogging about this today.  I love reading things about Berlin - I miss it so much.

Biking in Friedenau

xoxo
Holly

Frau A.

Frau A. lives in my building.  We met one evening in the dungeon that is our building's laundry room.  I wasn't sure how to work the machine.  She helped me.  Turns out she speaks English and lived in Canada for a significant potion of her life.  We've been friends ever since.

She bakes an excellent apple cake and she knows a lot about everything.  Some days ago there was an unexpected ring at my door.  It was Frau A.  She brought me these blue flowers.

xoxo
Holly

Wondering if I can walk tomorrow ... ?

I started my day off with my usual Sunday morning yoga class. The teacher's goal today was to do everything slowly. Good, nice and slow on Sunday. Yeah right! Doing yoga in slow motion is harder than you think it would be! I was sweating my a#* off! Plus, we also worked on perfecting our "warrior" poses. For those of you who know a little yoga, you will know that these poses are killer for your legs. Anyways - I survived and felt really good about it.

When I got home, I suggested to Pauli that we check out Tegeler See since it was turning out to be a really nice sunny day. It's a big lake in a forest by the airport and it's supposed to have a nice big sandy beach. We checked how we could get there by bike. Google Maps told us that it would be a 15km ride there. Not so bad. So we go. On pretty much empty stomachs ... but surely there's a snack stand at the beach so no need to worry ... Well! Of course we got lost. We stopped to check my iPhone like a million times and we couldn't find this friggin' lake. It's a huge lake! What's up with that. Are we stupid or what?! We keep biking, back and forth sometimes, I almost crashed or fell off my bike like three times and got a nice blood blister on my thigh from pinching my skin in my bike. Don't ask. And for some reason my finger was bleeding. Disaster! Finally we come across a small beach on the lake. We decide to stop and take a rest. So we are sitting there thinking, "This can't be it!" I mean, it was nice and all but it was not what had been described to us. So we resort back to the iPhone and finally think we found the way. Tired, hungry, and with major tension in the air, we get back on our bikes. We get to the beach! Yes! Nice beach and not so many people. Perfect. We lock up our bikes and walk over to the snack stand. I ask if they have anything to eat. The guy tells me that they don't have anything and continues on a fast rant in German that I just don't understand. I call Pauli over. Turns out, the beach is actually closed (well not the actual beach but all the facilities on it) for an undetermined amount of time and he is not allowed to sell anything to eat! Some political thing... That explains the quiet beach on a sunny Sunday afternoon. We wanted to stay at the beach but we were so dizzy and cranky from low blood sugar and frustration from being lost and me almost dying that we decided to just go back towards home and stop somewhere on the way for a snack.

We finally got home and showered after a nice 40km (at least) bike ride! We plopped down on the bed and laughed like idiots about what a crap day that was! I'm not sure I'll be able to walk tomorrow.

On a nice note, here is a little video of the baby duck I saw at the small lake.




xoxo

Melting disappointment

Sometimes you come across the remains of a situation in some way or other and just can't help but feel like you know what happened:

Sad but true... at Alexanderplatz.

"Magnesium White" at Wansee Beach

Strandbad Wansee

Today I went to Wansee beach with the kids I take care of. It was super fun and to add to that, it was a gorgeous day. I packed all my beach paraphanalia this morning, sunglasses, snacks, change of clothes and of course ... the bathing suit. I put it in my bag trying to ignore the anxious knot in my stomach caused by its presence. I used to hate wearing a bathing suit (and even skirts for that matter) because I hated my legs. I used to think they were not straight enough. Now I don't mind them so much anymore, but I have another issue. My skin. Yes, I have very fair skin. Porcelain skin, some have said. Overall, I like it. I like my white skin - except when I have to wear a bathing suit. It's not so much my face or shoulder or back or arm skin that bothers me, but my abdominal and leg skin is a problem. Because those areas don't get much exposure, they are super white. Really white. Pasty white. Practically green. Almost glowing! I'm so conscious of it, I feel like I'll blind people with it. And there's not much to do about it. I'm to lazy for regular spray tans. Maybe once in a while, here and there, but I know I'll never maintain it. Plus, it's fake. Turns me off a bit. And as it fades away, it can get blotchy. Maintaining it is too much work, whether professionally or DIY-ing it from an aerosol can. I'm also not a big fan of tanning booths or prolonged baking sessions in the sun due to the skin damage these cause. That means I'm doomed to accept my intensely white skin until a better fake tan technology comes about. Or I could live somewhere really sunny and let nature take its course. Even then, I would always be white ... but at least after a couple of years I'd be acceptably white.

Anyways ... I wore the bathing suit, a yellow and brown flower patterned two piece, and I paraded across the beach in my glow suit. I don't think I caused any severe cases of blindness today, but who knows. The main thing is that I had a fun day and got to lounge a bit in those charming beach baskets.

And then, this evening, I was reading my book, and came across this sentence: "The girl was pretty and nervous, the boy was large and pale, almost magnesium white in the morning sun." MAGNESIUM WHITE! Amazing. I've tried to describe my pale skin in many ways. Some ways insult it, some ways praise it ... but describing it as magnesium white is bad ass! I think from now on I will think of my skin as magnesium white and describe it as such.

Here are some facts about magnesium:


- Magnesium is the 11th most abundant element by mass in the human body; its ions are essential to all living cells.
- Magnesium is a fairly strong, silvery-white, light-weight metal. It tarnishes slightly when exposed to air, although unlike the alkali metals, storage in an oxygen-free environment is unnecessary because magnesium is protected by a thin layer of oxide which is fairly impermeable and hard to remove.
- Magnesium is a highly flammable metal, and once ignited, difficult to extinguish.
- Spices, nuts, cereals, coffee, cocoa, tea, and green leafy vegetables are rich sources of magnesium.
- Aluminum-Magnesium alloys are praised for their lightness and strength.
- The bright white light produced by burning magnesium contains ultraviolet light that can permanently damage the retinas of the eyes.

So yes, my skin is magnesium white. Somehow, that's funny, fitting, and empowering.

xoxo
Holly