What's new this year?

Well, this year will be all about me. That's not supposed to sound selfish but I have made the experience lately that I tend to do what's best for others and not for myself. That's okay when it comes to family and close friends because they'll give it back some time. It's also fine at work because I like to think that my profession is more than just a job and you have to put something in it. But I've realized that from time to time I surround myself with people who suck the life right out of me. They're not only wasting my time but take all my energy and in the end they leave me like that and I just feel sad and tired. That is over.

2013 Recap: Music Part II

Did you enjoy my recap a couple of days ago? Ready or not, here's the second part:

Pink - Just give me a reason

2013 Recap: Music Pt. I

Here are some of my favourites from 2013. There are many missing but at least I wanted to share some of them. Here we go:

Macklemore&Ryan Lewis - Same Love

2013 Recap: Books

Like every year I kept track about the books I have been reading. Check out my older lists here. In 2013 I nearly reached my goal of 40 books and 15,000 pages. But have a look here:

• Haruki Murakami - 1Q84 (1024S.) ****
• Jilliane Hoffmann - Mädchenfänger (OT: Pretty Little Things) (464S.) *** 
• Sigrid Goddard - Die Männer, die wir lieben und die Luschen, die wir kriegen (175S.) **
• Sebastian Fitzek - Amok Spiel (224S.) **
• Alexandra Reinwarth - Das Glücksprojekt (250S.) ****
• C.J. Daugherty - Night School. Du darfst keinem trauen (463S.) ***
• Klaus Maria Pfifferling - So ist das Leben eben (49S.) **
• Joy Fielding - Im Koma (OT: Still life) (415.) ***
• Stefan Bonner & Anne Weiss - Heilige Scheiße: Wären wir ohne Religion wirklich besser dran? (245S.) ***
• Aaron Kahlan - Was uns falsch beigebracht wird (21S.) **
• Daniel Glattauer - Mama, jetzt nicht! (176S.) **
• Veronika Immler & Antje Steinhäuser - Die Monster anderer Eltern (199S.) ***
• Andreas Ehrlich - Schwarzer Humor (179S.) ***
• Christian Thiel - Suche einen für immer und ewig (212S.) ***
• Petra Diekel - Persönlichkeit steht jeder Frau (126S.) **
• Jeanette Walls - Ein ungezähmtes Leben (An Unfinished Life) (365S.) *****
• Philipp Andersen - Warte auf mich (320S.) ***
• Jaimy Blazynski - Crush (118S.) ****
• Claudio Paglieri - Kein Espresso für Commissario Luciani (417S.) ***
• Pierre Franck - Wünsch es dir einfach, aber mit Leichtigkeit (208S.) ***
• Gregory David Roberts - Shantaram (1088S.) *****
• Karim El-Gawhari - Frauenpower auf Arabisch (204S.) *****
• Noam Shpancer - Der glücklose Therapeut (256S.) **
• Anne Freytag - Irgendwo dazwischen (586S.) ***
• Jenny Downham - Bevor ich sterbe (Before I die) (320S.) ***
• Jojo Moyes - Ein ganzes halbes Jahr (Me Before You) (512S.) ****
• Marc-Uwe Kling - Die Känguru-Chroniken (272S.) ****
• Marc-Uwe Kling - Das Känguru-Manifest (304S.) ***
• S. J. Watson - Ich. darf. nicht. schlafen (Before I go to sleep) (400S.) ****
• Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveller's Wife (519S.) *****
• Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones' Diary: A Novel (310S.) ****
• Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason (422S.) ***
• Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones: Mad about the boy (386S.) **
• Rath, Hans - Und Gott sprach: Wir müssen reden (270S.) ***
• Legardinier, Gilles - Julie weiß, wo die Liebe wohnt (375S.) ****
• McBeth, Colette - Zorneskalt (Precious Thing) (382S.) ***
• Fitzek, Sebastian - Der Nachtwandler (318S.) ****

That makes 37 books and 13,072 pages. Not exactly my goal but it was more than the year before and I haven't read anything that I didn't like or that dissapointed me because I made the decision to only read the books that I find interesting and put all the others down straight away.

My favourites in 2013 were "Ein ungezähmtes Leben" (An unfinished life), "Frauenpower auf Arabisch", "Shantaram" and "The Time Traveller's Wife".

There are still loads of unread books in my shelf and they are becoming more and more so 2014 will be a lot about reading again.

What have you been reading? What were your best reads in 2013? I'd love you to share (because I'd love to hear what makes a good book for you!)

Jenny, xoxo

That was... 2013

The New Year has already started, time to look back at the old 2013 and see what we've had there. For me there were lots of ups and downs like every time I had the feeling I've reached something good, something put me back down. Sometimes it was hard for me to stay positive but somehow the year is over and I'm pretty sure 2014 will be so much better. But I don't want to forget though are the positive things that happened in 2013, like:

I moved into my dream flat

I went to Maastricht with Caro

I went to Berlin and visited a couple of people that I really like

I went sailing

I went to see Amy MacDonald with my Mama

Raphaella came to visit me

I went on a weekend trip to Amsterdam with those two <3

I went on a day trip to Antwerpen with Caro

I also went to Hannover to visit my girl Kiki and in the end I got to celebrate Christmas with the whole family!

And thinking about all those good things make me forget the not so good ones a little bit, so thanks for letting me share this with you!

What was your 2013 like? Good? Not so good? Or mixed like mine?

Jenny, xoxo