Ireland - The End

Hi everyone,

here are the last pictures of my holiday in Ireland. This time I wanted to show you the beautiful National Park right outside of Killarney in Co. Kerry. I used to live in Cork which is beautiful but Kerry is, too. And it''s where my favourite butter comes from. Hundreds of cows and beautiful greens everywhere... That's my Ireland!

Come on, I'll show you around

Sometimes I realize that after more than three years in Cologne there are still a lot of places that I don't know. Even if they are pretty close. So I decided to take little trips to all the pretty places here. And I'll take you with me.

Last week I went to Melatenfriedhof. It's a really big, historical cemetary within walking distance from where I live so as the weather was really lovely I took a walk there and just wandered around. It's a wonderful place, lots of trees, it's very quiet and peaceful although it's in the middle of the city. I loved it there, but let me show you:

 There are lots of older graves and they look as if they have been there forever

Others look really nice, people really invested a lot of time to make this place a nice one, not a sad one.

These ones must have been expensive, too

 Look at how great this looks in the sunshine!

I'll definately go there again, maybe in winter, I think this place looks nice when it snows, too.

What about you? Are there places in your hometown that you have never been to? How do you like old cemetaries?

Jenny, xoxo

My top 10

Here we go with the things I liked lately...

• Closet shopping
  I've heard about that a lot but never done it before. You just open your closet for someone else if you have too many clothes you're not wearing anyway and they can try those things on an buy some of them. I did that this week and found some really nice dresses

this one, for example

or this one ;-)

• Autumn
  I love it, just like every year and the past days were just lovely

• Boots
  Also an autum thing ;-)

• The public holiday tomorrow
  Because it means I'm going out with a couple of girlfriends tonight
• Amy Macdonald
  Currently listening to a couple of her songs and I just love them. Did I even tell you that I went to see her on stage with my Mum in August? She was gorgeous and it was such a nice concert...
• Muffins
  You know, I'd always choose cooking over baking, just because I prefer savory food to cakes and all. But I do like muffins and bisquits so I made quite a few lately. I also have some great ideas for more muffin baking which I might share with you soon
• Looking at pictures like these
• If you want to be a happier person, maybe you should stop doing some things
• I am always thinking about getting a pixie cut again.
  Who wouldn't want one when looking at those pictures?
• Did you guys know that we have a lighthouse in Cologne?
  If you don't, then you should really check it out, it's beautiful! See here and here

So, what were your favourite things lately?

Jenny, xoxo

My top 10

I haven't done that in a while but here's what I like and liked during the last weeks:

• My birthday
  
  

  

  with cake

celebrating with people I love

and presents ;-) 

• Trying new stuff with my iPhone camera. Thanks to Katja I have found some lovelynew apps. You should give them a try if you're into stuff like that

I like almost everything that Elsie and Emma do, this app is no exception. I like it for putting in some text or doodles. The app costs E0,89 but the two girls definately deserve it!

PhotoStudio. It's pretty cool for giving your pictures a little special effect. The basic version is free so try it!

Hipstamatic is my favourite. It looks like an old Lomo Camera and you can choose which film you want to use and if you need a flash and all before you take the picture. Then you take the piture and have it "printed" in a few seconds. It's so much fun, I have taken hundreds of lovely pictures with it. It costs E1,79 but I really like it a lot so it's worth it. It even has some sound effects ;-)

• Berlin
  I told you before how I liked Berlin
• Minimalism
  I listened to an interview on the radio lately. They said that every person has about 10,000 different things. One guy reduced his stuff and now has only 100 things. Imagine how you can really make your life more simple and appreciate things more if you have less stuff. I am really thinking about how I could make that.
• Reuniting with Sophie in Berlin

  We met, got something to drink and to eat and sat by the river talking for hours. It was so great, I really hope we can do this again (with the rest of the girls)
• Bastille - Pompeji (especially this acoustic version)

• Are you an arts and crafts addict? I am...
• Joy turned 32 and made a lovely list of goals
• Ask yourself one of those questions from time to time
• Playing the piano
  
  
  I went to a music store with my brother last week and while he was getting his bass guitar fixed I had a look at the pianos and fell in love. I really like to play, it just makes me happy! I have a keyboard at home but playing on a real piano is so much more fun. It's just too expensive! Anyway I'm going to practice even more now and one day I hope to be able to buy myself a piano! 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  So, what did you like lately?
  
  Jenny, xoxo

That was Berlin

So I finally did another weekend trip. This time I visited Anna in Berlin. I have been there before but that was a while ago and back then I really only did the tourist stuff there. When I went there for the first time I was overwhelmed by this big city and still it is just a bit too big for me. I've had a great weekend, Anna showed me around, I got the chance to meet Sophie, one of my au pair friends and Benni who I went to school with. But still it feels good to be back in my little big city Cologne ;-)

The best idea Anna had was to see Berlin by bike. We went to lots of pretty and interesting places and we didn't depend on trams and subway or anything. And we got it all for free! All you need is a bike and someone who knows where to go. You could do that in any city, any village really, go ahead and give it a try! You will have a little bit of exercise, you can stop wherever you want and have a break with a coffee, a picnic or whatever. I highly recommend you try it!

Anyways, I planned to take a lot of pictures but then I didn't, really, I just took a few, they weren't really Berlin-specific and all I did was try my new apps for photography (more on that later).

So here are two examples:

I love this picture. It was about to rain so the sky looked really great. I really liked the picture on the house and with the radio tower everybody knows that it's taken in Berlin. (Have you seen that there are people on the roof top?)

 We had a great laugh about that, the sign says "This door is closed". Obviously it is not. And we weren't even able to close it.

Well, after a long period of work, stress and trouble, the little trip was just what I needed. Loved it so much!

Have you had a weekend trip lately?

Jenny, xoxo