Pages

Sunday, January 15, 2012

More changes?

January 2012 is nearly half over. Time is flying. Okay, it's only been 15 days yet the new year doesn't feel so "new" anymore. It has been good so far.
My plan works. Making 2012 my year. The new year is only a few days old and I have felt good at least once a day. That's good, right? Made me think that every night before I go to bed I should think of something nice that happened that day. Good plan, isn't it? Well, anyway, I'm feeling good and I am sure this year will hold some more surprises and good things for me.
At the moment I'm thinking about moving again. Today I went through the internet looking for appartments. So far there haven't been any great ones but I think I'll just keep my eyes open. I really like my appartment, it's just the right size for me and in the meantime it is very pretty. Actually I haven't thought that I ever want to move out. But there are a few problems: It still bothers me that it takes me 40 minutes to get to work. It's a 15 minutes walk to the next tram station if there's no bus so you can never be spontaneous because you always depend on the busses and all. In summer it's easier, I just went nearly everywhere by bike but in winter that's not the greatest thing to do.
The other thing is that there was a problem with the balcony above my flat. There's nobody living in the flat so nobody noticed that there was water all over the balcony for days or even weeks from the heavy rain. Now the water came through the floor (my ceiling!) and it doesn't look very good. I have no idea if they have to remove the whole balcony but I'm really scared that it could get worse. Above my window there's already a black spot and I'm freaked out that it could be mildew. I mean, that's really bad for the lungs and all if it really is...
The only problem is that I am so sick of moving. I hate it. I really don't want to pack all my stuff again and unpack in a new place but i suppose that's just what I'll have to do.
Well, these are the thoughts on moving, if somebody knows a nice flat in Cologne or someone who is moving or any information really, just let me know!

Jenny xoxo

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

2012!

Yes, I'm back! It's been a while and it's 2012 in the meantime. I'm starting with one of my resolutions right now: blog more! I mean, I'm reading too many blogs already, takes me a lot of time and I enjoy doing it because they are all great but I should spend some more time offline or at least I should blog more myself so here we are.
I just sorted my bookshelf, finished my reading list 2011 and checked how many books I have, that I haven't read yet. I'll tell you in a minute, because this comes with another resolution: I have thousands of books on my Want-To-Read-List and I keep buying new ones but for this year I have decided I have to read two books I already own before I'm allowed to buy a new one. That's a good start. My goal is to read at least 10.000 pages in 2012. I tried that in 2011 already but didn't reach my goal.
Here we go, books I own (as hardcovers, paperbacks, audio books and e-books):



  • Alcott, Louisa May - Little Women
  • Alighieri, Dante - Die göttliche Komödie
  • Alutegen, Karin & Murray, Steven T. - Shame
  • Austen, Jane - Emma
  • Austen, Jane - Love and Friendship
  • Barry, Sebastian - Annie Dunne
  • Bonner, Stefan & Weiss Anne - Heilige Scheiße: Wären wir ohne Religion wirklich besser dran?
  • Bronte, Charlotte - Jane Eyre
  • Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights
  • Bukowski, Charles - Fuck Machine
  • Byrne, Thomas & Cassidy, Tom - How to save the world with salad dressing
  • Carroll, Lewis - Alice im Wunderland
  • Dickens, Charles - A Christmas Carol
  • Dostojewski, Fiodr Michailowitsch - Schuld und Sühne
  • Fielding, Joy - Flieh, wenn du kannst
  • Franck, Pierre - Wünsch es dir einfach aber mit Leichtigkeit
  • Garder, Jostein - Sofies Welt
  • Goldt, Max - Ä: Kolumnen
  • Hay, Louise - Power Thoughts
  • Hesse, Hermann - Narziss und Goldmund
  • Hornby, Nick - How to be good
  • Janes, Diane - Why don't you come for me?
  • Levin, Ira - A kiss before dying
  • Ligocka, Roma - Das Mädchen im roten Mantel
  • Locke, John - Saving Rachel
  • Losada, Isabel - For Tibet with Love
  • Murakami, Haruki - 1Q84
  • Nietzsche, Friedrich - Also sprach Zarathustra
  • Nolden, Stefanie - 28 Stories über AIDS in Afrika
  • Olafsdottir, Audur Ava - The Greenhouse
  • Orwell, George - Animal Farm
  • Osborn, David - Jagdzeit
  • Palahniuk, Chuck - Fightclub
  • Pancol, Katherine - Die gelben Augen der Krokodile
  • Pavolthavee, Nick - The Happiness Equation
  • Regener, Sven - Der kleine Bruder
  • Sachew, Matthias - Linksaufsteher- Ein Montagmorgen
  • Schätzing, Frank - Tod und Teufel
  • See, Lisa - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
  • Seiwert, Lothar J. & Küstenmacher, Werner Tiki - Simplify your life
  • Shakespeare, William - Ein Sommernachtstraum
  • Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
  • Shen, Samuel - House of God
  • Slaughter, Karin - Dreh dich nicht um
  • Sparks, Nicholas - Message in a bottle
  • Stewart, Jeff - Why balloons rise and apples fall
  • Stroker, Bram - Dracula
  • Thömmes, Günther - Der Bierzauberer
  • Tolstoi, Leo N. - Anna Karenina
  • Tolstoi, Leo N. - Krieg und Frieden
  • Victor, Barbara - Shahidas
  • Wiggins, Marianne - Noahs Schwester
  • Wright, Austin - Tony and Susan
There are a few missing, but I can't remember them all, some of them are at my parents', some are in boxes on my wardrobe... I'll let you know when I find them.



Here are the books I've read in 2011:

  • von Kürthy, Ildikó - Freizeichen (232 p.) **
  • Entschuldigung, sind Sie die Wurst? (288 p.) ***
  • Weiler, Jan - Mein Leben als Mensch (224 p.) ****
  • Mosby, Steve - Der 50/50-Killer (496 p.) ****
  • Gavalda, Anna - Zusammen ist man weniger allein (551 p.) *****
  • Fielding, Joy - Lauf, Jane, lauf (448 S.) ****
  • Ahern, Cecilia - If you could see me now (339 p.) ****
  • Binchy, Maeve - Minding Frankie (480 p.) ***
  • Nicholls, David - Zwei an einem Tag (224 p.) ***
  • Glattauer, Daniel - Gut gegen Nordwind (224 p.) ****
  • Feeny, Penny - That Summer in Ischia (312 p.) ***
  • Strunk, Heinz - Fleisch ist mein Gemüse (255 p.) **
  • Sotschek, Ralf - Gebrauchsanweisung für Irland (200 p.) ***
  • Weiler, Jan - Maria, ihm schmeckts nicht (272 p.) ****
  • Poladjan, Katerina - In einer Nacht, woanders (172 p.) ***
  • Ullrich, Alyssa & Hortense - Last Girl Standing (254 p.) **
  • Turney, Lesley - Die fremde Frau (476 p.) *****
  • Hornby, Nick - Slam (315 p.) ***
  • Russel, Lindsay- Making it big (352 p.) **
  • Kerkeling, Hape - Ich bin dann mal weg (352 p.) *****
  • Schnoy, Sebastian - Lass uns Feinde bleiben (300 p.) ***
  • Coelho, Paolo - Veronika beschließt zu sterben (223 p.) ****
  • Foster, Juliana - The Girls' Book (128 p.) *
  • Sandstrak, Pelle - Herr Tourette und ich (488 p.) ****
  • Hornby, Nick - Small Country (158 p.) ***
  • Ist meine Hose noch bei euch) (288 p.) **
Total: 8371 pages

Oh, and here's something for the Kindle users: There are lots of free e-books or cheap ones at the moment at www.kindlepost.de. They aren't all very intersting but you might find some. Some of them are in English, some in German.

Have I mentioned, that 2012 is going to be my year? I don't have too many resolutions but there are some changes happening here and I'm really looking forward to them. I'm starting a new job in March and I'm so excited about that. I hope to go to Ireland again this year with the girls, I hope it's going to be just as good as last time. I have also been working a lot on myself and I'm going to keep doing that, because I realized how good it feels. It's not just eating healthier and doing sports and stuff but it's also working on my thoughts and all. I am more relaxed about a lot of things and that's so good. I stopped worrying about things that I can't change (to be honest, I haven't stopped but I try and I'm still working on that) and I spent more time doing things that I like. I think the best resolution for 2012 is to just stay that way! As last year wasn't the best because of all sorts of things I'm really going to make this one my year (that's one positive post, isn't it?)

What about you? Do you have any resolutions, any plans, any thoughts on the new year? I'd love to hear about them!

Jenny, xoxo