April - A Summary

I'm not going to start this post again with stating the fact, that April ran by way too fast! Instead I'll instantly start with my summary. Here we go!

LIFE:
We received the first offers for the changes we want to make at our house. The price meet our expectations, so we didn't suffer any negative surprises there. As soon as my husband has a day off, we will visit the construction site. The outside of the house is finished (they just need to finish the facade) and they already started to work on the inside. My husband thinks that we will move this year, I think that we will be able to live in our own house by next spring. Be that as it may - we are more than excited!
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Die ersten Angebote für unsere Änderungswünsche sind so eingetrudelt und sind nicht höher, als von uns geschätzt. Also hier gibts schon mal keine bösen Überraschungen - zum Glück! Sobald der Liebste mal wieder frei hat, werden wir eine Baustellenbesichtigung machen. Der Rohbau steht, der Innenausbau ist bereits in vollem Gange und man kann jede Woche eine Veränderung sehen. Der Mann denkt, dass wir noch heuer umziehen werden - ich rechne eher erst nächsten Frühling damit. So oder so - wir freuen uns!

We visited my sister in law for a short weekend as our oldest nephew turned nine. NINE YEARS! He's so big already and right now in the middle of a defiance phase and a little difficult. But I still enjoyed the two days off and the fact, that we sat together till way after midnight and just talked and laughed and had fun.
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Wir waren wieder zu Besuch bei meiner Schwägerin in Salzburg, weil unser großer Neffe NEUN wurde. Unglaublich, wie groß der schon ist. Und momentan befindet er sich in einer vorpubertären Phase und ist dezent schwierig. Trotzdem war's toll mal alle wiederzusehen und bis weit in die Nacht zu quatschen und zu lachen!

CRAFT:
My crochet mojo is slowly coming back after being absent for quite a while. I finally finished the little lamb that just needed eyes stitched on and two ears. I immediately started a new project and have a million ideas inside my head!
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Meine Häkelmotivation ist wieder da! Endlich. Nach einer gefühlten Ewigkeit hab ich endlich mein Lämmchen fertig gemacht (haben ja nur noch die Augen und Ohren gefehlt) und gleich sofort mit einem neuen Projekt angefangen. Ich arbeite gerade an einem Sommerpulli!

a new Lupo!

SPORT:
It's reaaaally hard for me to motivate me to go for a run, although I'm still making progress. I managed to run for 6.5 kms last week and I never managed to run that far!
I bought new sport shoes this weekend, maybe this will help. I'm still ahead of my running goal for this year, let's see if that motivation's coming back soon. At least I can force myself to go for at least one run a week.
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Momentan fehlt's mir echt an Motivation und das, obwohl ich mich mit jedem Lauf steigern kann. Letzte Woche hab ich 6.5 Kilometer geschafft, so viel wie noch nie! Ich hab mir letzte Woche neue Sportschuhe zugelegt, vielleicht helfen die ja. Immerhin bin ich meinem Jahreslaufziel immer noch voraus. 

slightly ahead of my running goal!

BOOKS:
I finished Game of Thrones. Finally. Though I love the books and the plot and the characters, the fourth and the fifth volume were a little tiresome to read.
I managed to read 4 books since and I'm currently in the middle of the fifth one.

After not buying any books for a few months now, I got myself this baking book: It's called Sugar Orgasm and it is written by three women, who opened the "Guerilla bakery" in Vienna. They started with "pop up bakeries" - every two month they opened a little bakery for one afternoon in a abandoned building or an empty appartment in Vienna. That concept proved to be so successful that they opened a real bakery a few months ago and published this book. A colleague of mine ordered it and as I flipped through it I knew, that I HAD to have this book. Can't wait to try out my first recipe from it, I'll keep you posted!
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Ich bin endlich mit Game of Thrones fertig. Obwohl ich die Geschichte und Personen liebe haben sich die letzten beiden Bände dann doch seeeeehr gezogen. Seither hab ich gleich vier Bücher gelesen und bin grad mitten im Fünften. 

Nachdem ich seit Mitte Dezember keine neuen Bücher mehr gekauft habe, bin ich jetzt wieder schwach geworden. "Zucker Orgasmus" von der Guerilla Bakery ist's geworden. Drei Schwestern haben in Wien "Pop Up Bakeries" eröffnet, das Konzept kam so gut an, dass sie jetzt eine Bäckerei/Caféhaus eröffnet haben und dazu ein Backbuch veröffentlicht. Eine Kollegin hat sich das Buch bestellt und nach kurzem Durchblättern wusste ich - das muss ich haben! Ich freu mich schon auf's Ausprobieren und werde dann berichten!

sugar orgasm! That's the prettiest cook book I own!

How was your April? Got any exciting news or experiences?
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Wie war euer April? Gab's gute Nachrichten oder tolle Erfahrungen?

March: A Summary

It's getting ridiculous, but the first sentence that comes to mind, when I'm writing these summary posts is: How can another month have passed so fast??? How can time fly by? How can it be that it's APRIL already? But it IS April, and time HAS passed and so I'm sitting here to reflect and remember the past thirty days.

LIFE:
Things are moving on the house front. My husband and I started to visit several furniture stores and kitchen stores to get a plan for our new kitchen. It took us a while to come to an agreement regarding the looks of the kitchen, but we finally found one that we both like. We're still waiting for the offer. It definitely will be expensive, but we want to buy a good kitchen and we're ready to invest some money!
My sister in law visited us with our family for a few days. I haven't seen them since Christmas as they live in a different part of Austria. It was great to see them all again - especially my little niece. When I saw her last she was 6 months old and wasn't able to sit by herself. She always toppled over. Now she cralws and is able to pull herself up on the furniture. It's amazing how fast these little people learn and grow! And of course for days after my husband couldn't talk about anything else but babies. He would really be ready to have one but I think we will wait for a while with that! ;)

Schön langsam tut sich was beim Haus. Im März waren wir schon in Möbelhäusern und Küchenstudios um uns unsere Traumküche planen zu lassen. Es hat ein wenig gedauert bis wir uns auf das Aussehen einigen konnten, aber mittlerweile haben wir eine ziemlich klare Vorstellung darüber, wie unsere Traumküche aussehen soll. Wird zwar nicht ganz billig, aber wir sparen schon ganz fleißig und uns ist es auch wichtig, dass wir gleich von Anfang an eine hochwertige Küche haben. Das kostet dann halt auch.
Letzte Woche war meine Schwägerin + Familie zu Besuch. Zuletzt sah ich alle zu Weihnachten. Es war schön, sie wieder da zu haben. Vor allem war's nett, meine Nichte Lea wieder zu sehen. Seit Weihnachten ist sie ja schon ordentlich gewachsen. Damals kippte sie immer noch nach vorne über, wenn sie alleine sitzen wollte. Heute zieht sie sich schon an den Möbeln hoch und krabbelt in Windeseile durch die ZImmer. Unglaublich, wie schnell sich die Kids entwickeln! Der Babybesuch hat natürlich meinen Mann wieder dazu gebracht, über Nachwuchs zu reden. Er wäre schon so weit. Aber ich glaub, ich bin noch nicht so ganz bereit dafür.

CRAFT:
To be honest - I didn't do any crochet this past few weeks. I finished little Josefine to hand her over to my niece. She squealed with joy when she saw here and laughed a lot but I forgot to take some pictures. I will hand them in later ;)
The weather is finally nice and warm outside so I don't spend much time at home with my crochet hook. I really want to change that in April though. There is a little lamb that I have to finish for a friend and my husband gave me the most amazing amigurumi books for my birthday in March. I'm really looking forward to try those things out. A review of these books will follow as well, I'm already working on several posts.

by now my little lamb has all two hands and already a part of its head

my pile of birthday gifts including my new amigurumi books!

Im März war ich total häkelfaul. Ich hab lediglich Josefine fertig gemacht, weil ich sie Lea persönlich übergeben wollte. Die kleine Maus hat sich auch total darüber gefreut und gleich mal herzhaft losgequietscht, als sie den rosa Drachen gesehen hatte. Leider hab ich vergessen, die Übergabe zu fotografieren. Mir wurde aber versprochen, dass ich noch Fotos zum Nachreichen bekomme. Diese Woche werd ich auch noch ein Auftragsschaf fertighäkeln. Mein Mann hat mir zu meinem Geburtstag ein paar tolle Amigurumi Bücher geschenkt und ich kann es schon gar nicht mehr erwarten, endlich mal ein paar Tiere davon nachzuhäkeln. Rezensionen über diese Bücher hab ich auch schon in Arbeit, die folgen dann so nach und nach.

SPORT:
Motivation got me again. I use the runtastic app to track my running. I wasn't running very often in 2016. Now you can set yourself a running goal for the year and runtastic tells you, how many kilometres you have to run every week to fulfill this goal. I set myself the goal of 300 kilometers. I ran 25 so far and until now I'm ahead of my running goal. I have to say that this feature is highly motivating and I can't wait to go for my next run - although I've just been running today!
I started with regular homeworkouts as well. I'm nearly able to do a push-up. My arms are my weakest part of the body and I really want to work on them. Just for myself, because I want to prove myself that I'm able to keep being determined!

I'm ahead of my goal. And highly motivated!

Die Motivation hat mich wieder gefunden. Ich benutze beim Laufen die Runtastic App. Seit Anfang 2016 war ich nicht wirklich oft laufen. Jetzt gibt's bei der App eine neue Funktion, mit der man sich ein Jahreslaufziel setzen kann. Runtastic sagt einem dann, wie viele Kilometer pro Woche man laufen muss, um das Ziel zu erreich. Ich hab mir 300 km als Ziel gesetzt, dafür muss ich 7 km die Woche laufen. Bis jetzt hab ich schon 25 Kilometer geschafft und bin meinem Ziel sogar voraus. Das muss ich aber auch sein, weil ich ja nicht davon ausgehen kann, dass ich jede Woche zum Laufen komme. Darüber hinaus mache ich nun auch öfter wieder Home Workouts. Die Liegestütze schaffe ich auch schon fast, da fehlt nicht mehr viel.

BOOKS:
I'm STILL reading the Game of Thrones series. I'm on book 5 now and this is the last volume I own. After the fifth book I will switch to reading something else for a while - I have a few books (that I borrowed or got as a present - I still haven't bought any books this year!) on my to-be-read pile that I can't wait to dig into! So for March there will finally a non-fantasy-book in this section!

books and coffee. the perfect combination. 

Ich bin immer noch bei Game of Thrones. Gerade arbeite ich mich durch Teil 5. Das ist auch der letzte Teil, den ich besitze. Danach werd ich mal wieder etwas anderes lesen. Ich habe schon ein paar Bücher auf meinem "muss ich noch lesen" Stapel, die schon auf mich warten. Und die wurden alle NICHT gekauft. Seit Mitte Dezember hab ich nun wirklich keine neuen Bücher gekauft und bin deshalb auch ganz stolz auf mich!


How was your March? Did you have nice weather? I had my birthday as well on the 20th. 28 years old already...I can't believe that I'm already that "old"!

Wie war euer März? Ich finds ja toll, dass das Wetter endlich schöner wird. An meinem Geburtstag am 20 März (wie kann ich denn bitte schon 28 sein???) tranken wir den Kaffee schon draußen in der Sonne. Herrlich ist das!

setting new goals

Hey guys,

Those of you who follow me for a little while may know, that I'm trying to get into running. I love to run and it always makes me feel happy and energetic, but I somehow always do it for a couple of weeks and then I pause for a while before my motivation sets back in and I'm starting all over again. With this "routine" it is of course difficult to maintain a certain stamina and to increase my abilities. 

Two weeks ago I was determined to start running again - and to keep running! But the only thing running was my nose. I caught a really bad cold that tied me to the bed for nearly a week and it took me another week to finally feel good and healthy again.

Yesterday I got a newsletter. I have the runtastic app on my phone which I use everytime I go running. The newsletter announced a new feature in the app - you can set yourself a goal for this year and runtastic tells you, how many kilometers you have to run each week to accomplish that goal. At first, I set myself the goal of 10 km per week. After thinking about it for a while I set it back to 300 kms this year - which is about 7 km per week. You have to assume, that you won't be able to run every week. For example, when the weather is really hot or really cold. I really don't feel like running when it's 38 degrees outside! 

I went running yesterday after a few weeks break and managed slow 4 kilometres. Today I'll pause and tomorrow will be the next run. I have accomplished 3% of those 300 kms so far, so there's still a lot of running waiting for me. But I'm determined to finish my goal and to keep running all throughout the year. My next little step is manage to run 7 kms at once. Then 8. Then 9. Then 10. Then we'll see from that point on. I'll keep you posted!

Do you run? Do you use a special app to track your running? Do you follow a plan or do you ran as far and fast as you want to? If you have any tips and advice for a rather novice runner please let me know, I appreciate your feedback!

my motivation!

Diejenigen, die mir schon länger folgen haben vielleicht mitbekommen, dass ich mich immer wieder am Laufen versuche. Ich liebe es, es hilft mir, nach einem Arbeitstag abzuschalten und ich fühle mich immer frisch und energiegeladen nachdem ich Laufen war. Aber irgendwie hab ich kein richtiges Durchhaltevermögen. Ich gehe ein paar Wochen laufen, dann mache ich Pause und brauche immer wieder eine Weile, bis ich wieder "back on track" bin. 

Vor zwei Wochen wollte ich wieder beginnen zu Laufen. Dann hat mich eine schlimme Erkältung erwischt, ich war mal eine Woche an die Couch gefesselt und hab dann nochmal eine Woche gebraucht um mich wieder halbwegs fit und gesund zu fühlen.

Und dann kam gestern der Newsletter. Ich verwende schon von Anfang an die App runtastic. Da gibt's jetzt eine neue Funktion - man kann sich ein Jahresziel setzen und die App sagt einem dann, wieviele Kilometer man pro Woche laufen muss um das Ziel zu erreichen. Ich hatte ir zuerst 10 km pro Woche vorgenommen, hab dann aber doch auf 7 zurückgeschraubt, das wären dann ingesamt 300 Kilometer. Man kann ja nicht jede Woche davon ausgehen, das Ziel zu erreichen. 

Gestern war ich dann zum ersten Mal seit Langem wieder laufen und hab 4 km geschafft. Heute gibt's Pause (dh Bauchmuskeltraining) und morgen laufe ich dann wieder. Derzeit habe ich 3% meines Jahresziels geschafft. Ich bin aber total motiviert und habe mir fest vorgenommen, die 300 Kilometer heuer zu schaffen. Mein nächster Schritt ist es, 7 Kilometer am Stück zu laufen. Das hab ich bisher nämlich noch nicht hinbekommen. Dann möchte ich die 10 Kilometer Grenze knacken. Und ab dann sehen wir mal weiter!

Geht ihr auch laufen? Welche App benützt ihr, oder lauft ihr einfach so, ohne das zu tracken und aufzuzeichnen? Und habt ihr Tips und Tricks für Laufanfänger? Würd mich über jeden Ratschlag freuen!

the weather is better

and not even a very bad rhyme can change that.

After really heavy rainfalls in the past few days, the weather got nice and warm and sunny again. Thank God, because I am not even remotely prepared for the cold season and the temperature has been way under my comfort zone lately. Have I mentioned that I LOVE summer and despite everything under 15 degrees? Winter is pure horror for me, if I would never have to see a snowflake in my life, I would be so happy. 

But right now the sun is shining through my kitchen window and I used the good weather to start running again. I somehow stopped about a month ago. I always felt bad and wanted to go but somehow I never managed to drag myself out there and do something for me. Which is stupid because I like running. I like the feeling I have while I'm out (I'm doing something good for me, my legs will look great next summer) and I really love the feeling once I finished a workout and step under the shower. 

So on Monday I went for a run. It was bad. Running never came easy for me and I always have to push myself a little but I made really good progress. Until I didn't run for four weeks. It's impressive how long it takes for the body to put up the stamina to run for 30 minutes without break and how fast this ability is lost. In my opinion, it should be the other way round. But I managed to run for 20 minutes. And then on Wednesday, I did it again. And because the weather is so beautiful, it's Saturday, my man is out to work and I have some precious time for myself, I will wait half an hour (until my breakfast isn't lying heavily in my stomach anymore) and then go for a run. 

I also went back to crocheting. With my new work, my new daily timetable and everything else involved, I somehow didn't find time to crochet. But yesterday I sat down and worked on the top, that I'm making for my mum. Remember this top that I made a while ago? Well my mum saw it and immediately requested one for herself. So now I'm working on that and when I'm finished, I will go back to my Mario blanket. The evenings are getting colder and a new and warm and cuddly blanket will be needed here soon.

On my to-do list for today (I really like making lists) is also baking a carrot cake. I have this wonderful cook book that I got for my birthday, full with recipes for Austrian specialities (we really like to cook and eat here, and sweets are some of our favourites) and it includes a yummy recipe for carrot cake. And the best thing is that I have all the ingredients at home so no need to go shopping first.

Yesterday I also took some time to write my new pen pal in Norway. Melissa organised a pen pal swap a while ago and I thought that it might be interesting to join. I always had pen pals when I was a kid but in the age of internet and e-mails it got lost. I received my first letter from Pamela a while ago and I wa exited as a little kid when I opened it and read it for the first time. It's still nice to receive something other than invoices and commercials in my mail box! 
But it took some time to answer. After work I was always too tired or the post office was already closed. As I never write any letters I didn't have any stamps at home. So it took me a while to reply. But yesterday I did and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed sitting down with a cup of coffee, taking some time to write about myself and slowly getting to know another person from another part of the world. So Mel, if you read this, thanks again for organising everything!

I also want to write more on this blog and to bring some regular features like book reviews and updates on my running. The last one is more for me but who knows - some of you might be interested or are runners themselves. If you do any sports regularly - please let me know in the comments. I would really like to know.

And since this is a veeery word-heavy post I'll let you go with some nice pictures that I snapped on my phone when I went running on Monday. Have I mentioned, that I love my home? It's so beautiful. Nature is great. Have a lovely weekend, everyone! 

a wineyard, completely drowned. It isn't supposed to look like this.

My view on my running track. Stunning, isn't it?

the beginning of a beautiful sunset when I went back home.

how come

that everytime I really (and I mean REALLY) want to go for a run the weather changes aprubtly and it's pouring outside? 

picture taken on my last run, more than one week ago. with better weather, obviously!

Way too wet to get out there. I think the universe has something against me getting in shape.