Spring is Back!

Hello you beautiful person!

I'm in a great mood. The weather has been so lovely this weekend and I've spent a relaxed Saturday in bed and a beautiful Sunday outside. After the past week has been rather cold and wintery, I'm really glad that the weather is getting warmer again and this time around, spring will hopefully stay.

So I thought I'm gonna do a what-I've-been-up-to kind of post again. I spent Friday night out with my friends from work and, well, let's say it wasn't the best start to my weekend. Too much ups and downs, but all in all still a good night. I got home at 5 a.m. so my Saturday was mostly sleeping and eating and not doing much, even though the weather was absolutely perfect (I know, I know, I should have gone outside at least for five minutes but what can I say, the view out the window was pretty nice too). I did spend most of Sunday outside, though. My boyfriend and I went mini golfing which was a lot of fun even though there were too many people (and I might have lost the game). I also finally got around to taking a picture for my university application which has been sitting on my desk for two months and I never managed to send in. But now it's all ready and I'm beyond excited. Uni, I'm coming!

On Sunday evening we had a delicious dinner at my dad's and it was still warm enough to eat outside, which basically screams summer, so that was good. After that Sam and I decided to walk back to my mom's house instead of driving in the car. It's about a twenty minute walk and we walked past this pond and I just couldn't not take pictures. Even though Sam absolutely hates it, I convinced him that taking pictures is a good thing.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did. Thank you for reading!

Meet My Sister

Hello you, it's been a while.

I've wanted to write another blog post for so long but never really knew what to talk about. I haven't been up to much lately and I'm still reading The Mortal Instruments series, so I can't even write about books. So I asked my family what they thought I should write in my blog and my sister immediately said 'write about me'. Now she obviously ment it as a joke but I'm gonna pretend she was serious.

I would like you to meet Valerie, my lovely little sister. I think we've always had  quite a good relationship and I'm really glad to have a sister, especially one like mine. So here are some advantages of being related to and living in the same house as Valerie:

• Even though I'm the older one, I have to say it's more her who looks after me than the other way around. She quite likes to cook and is often the only reason I eat dinner because I'm to lazy to cook for myself. The same goes for breakfast on weekends. It's not rare that  she comes to my room at 10 a.m. to ask whether I'd like some eggs for breakfast. And then when I finally managed to get up and make my way to the living room, breakfast is waiting on the table.

• We're the same size in clothes and shoes so whenever I don't have anything to wear, there's always my sister's closet to have a look too. And obviously she's my number 1 advisor when it comes to chosing my outfit for a night out. Yay for a personal stylist!

• My sister is very supportive in general so whenever I need some help in an argument, she always backs me up. Well, except for the very rare fights between the two of us. 

• I love to try out new hairstyles and they don't always work out on myself quite as I want them to. Luckily Valerie's hair is always ready for a new look. (Don't worry, scissors are never involved.) The only thing that sucks about this is that whenever we're going to some sort of dressed-up event, I often do something nice with my sister's hair and then don't have any time left for my own. So I end up with my usual boring hair whereas my sister looks all fancy.

• I always have a shopping buddy for family holidays. This is just the best thing, especially when we're on holidays with our brother&dad. While shopping might not always be the most important thing to them, I never have to run from store to store alone. And of course the personal stylist thing is a big plus here too. 

• Whenever I buy something new, be it clothes, make up, scented candles or basically anything, I've got someone to show it to. And of course someone to be jealous. (I'll just have to hide my new stuff later so that it doesn't magically disappear.)

• My sister is pretty much the only person I know who's into youtube as well. So whenever a new video of one of our favourite youtubers comes out, I'll definitely have someone to talk about it. The same goes for a lot of tv shows as well. And a lot of other girly things that my brother for example, doesn't find very interesting (weird, I know). 

So there you go, having a sister is awesome. Of course everything's not always perfect but I'll save all the annoying and negative things for an angrier blogpost.

Thank you for reading! Please tell me about your sister and all the cool stuff you do together in the comments.

Opposite Books Tag

Hello there!

I have decided to do the Opposite Book Tag today, yaay! I didn't really know what to write about so I thought, hey, you love tags, why not do one of those and heey, you love books, why not do a book tag. So then I went and searched for book tags and found this one that I really like. And here it goes.

First book in your collection / last book you bought

I bought three books today so I didn't have to think about that one but first book in my collection? Hmm.. Well it's definitely one in German because I started to read way before I learned English. And I have most of my old books boxed away somewhere because my room is just too small. But of the ones sitting on my shelf right now, I'd probably say it's Türkisvogel by Federica de Cesco. And the three books I bought today are City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare and Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella.

A cheap book / an expensive book

For cheap I'll go with The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker because I bought this for I think 2 or 5 Swiss Francs in some super sale. And most expensive one would definitely be my Advanced Biology book that I had to buy for school but I'm not sure that counts. And other than that I think all of the hardcover ones I own were about the same. 

A book with a male protagonist / one with a female protagonist

I just realized that I own hardly any books with a male protagonist, so I'm gonna have to go with Harry Potter. And the Hunger Games because Katniss kicks ass and she's like my favorite character ever and have I mentioned that I love the Hunger Games!

A book you read fast / one that took you long to read

I read The Fault in our Stars in one day, so yes, that one. One that took me long to read, hmm. Well, the A Song of Ice and Fire books took me quite long to but not at all because I didn't like them, they're just not those kind of books you read through in one take.

Pretty cover / ugly cover

I'm gonna say Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern is a really really pretty cover. It's just oh so girly and lovely and it makes me happy just looking at it. And the most ugly cover ever would have to be Die Schwarze Spinne by Jeremias Gotthelf (another German one, I'm sorry) because, well, there's a freaking spider on it. I am terrified of spiders and when we read it in school (I would never buy a book called 'The Black Spider' for myself) I had to stick a piece of paper over the spider because I couldn't toucht the thing. 

 

A national book / an international book

I don't really know what is asked here but I'll just assume I'm supposed to name a Swiss book and any non-Swiss book. So here you go: Homo Faber by Max Frisch is a book I've read by a Swiss author. I read this for my final exams in school. It's a good book, but like brilliant good, where you can interpret something into every sentence and one I don't think I would've read outside of school. And for international I'm gonna name a Spanish book that I've read in German and that hasn't been translated to English (I don't know why I keep doing this, writing a blog in English and talking about books that are not English. I'm sorry). It's a trilogy called Geheime Welt Idhun (in German) and Memorias de Idhún (in Spanish). I haven't read it in a very very long time but I absolutely loved it when I was younger and I've probably read each of the books about a thousand times.

A thin book / a thick book

These two are both books I read for school. I own many thin books in German but to show my good will, I've found a thin one in English as well. I picked The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde (67 pages) because it's probably my favourite book I've read in school. And the longest one is Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoi (1227 pages) that I read for my final exams in Russian. Believe me, I regretted chosing this book. It took me over a year to read (longer than all of the asoiaf books together, so I should have probably mentioned this earlier) and that's really bad considering I had to read about 15 other books for my finals as well. But I did it and I'm glad I did.

Fiction book / non-fiction book

I'm gonna say Divirgent by Veronica Roth for fiction book because I love it and I haven't mentioned it yet. And for non-fiction I chose Desert Flower by Waries Dirie, which has to be one of the most powerful books I've ever read, it's so heartbreaking and the worst part is that it's non-fiction and all of what you read is true and happening.

Very (way too) romantic book / action book

This is super hard for me, I can't think of a book for either of the categories. But I've decided to go with The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks because it's Nicholas Sparks and even though I love reading his books from time to time, they are all somewhat cheesy. And I really really don't read action books. Like really. There has to be a lot of romance in every book for me. But the least romantic books I've probably read have to be the Game of Thrones series but that's not really action either, is it? I just don't know.

A book that made you happy / one that made you sad

I'm gonna say Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella made me happy. I don't really remember all of the book to be honest but I remember it as a happy book. So there you go. It's a lot easier to think of books that made me sad. Desert Flower, for example, made me really really sad in a very serious way. And then Mockingjay made me sad in a totally different way just by connecting to the characters so much that I got lost in the story world and cried my eyes out even though I knew it wasn't really happening, not like Desert Flower. But the one I cried about most is definitely The Fault in our Stars. I think I've talked about how absolutely lost and helpless it made me feel often enough.

So on this very bright note, the tag is done. Please let me know your thoughts on any of the books or any of the questions. If you have thoughts, which I'm sure you do. You'd be my hero. Thank you so much for reading!

City of Bones

Hi there!

I have now finished City of Bones and am writing a blog post about it as promised. I haven't really made up my mind about the book yet. I know, I read the whole thing, it might be about time but I just don't know what to think. I can think of so many things that I didn't like at all but then somehow I can't say I didn't like the book. This is giving me a headache.

So, if you don't know the story, it's about Clary who discovers that she is a Shadowhunter and learns about how everywhere around her there are demons and warlocks and vampires and so on. And of course, Shadowhunters, whose job it is to hunt and kill demons. And then there's a lot of weird magicky things involved and runes and weapons and I just didn't quite get all that. There's just soo much happening all the time. I was always waiting for someone to sit Clary down and explain everything to her and teach her like the basic fighting skills and welcome her to the world but that didn't really happen at all. I mean, yes, they did explain some things to her but then the next second they were running off to the next adventure and somehow Clary never even had time to digest any of it. I mean, if someone told me that there was this whole other world inside the world I know, I would freak the hell out. And not just accept it and move on.

And then there's so much family drama involved as well. At one point you think you have everything figured out but then the next someone reveals something else and everything is turned upside down again and it's just TOO MUCH! And I feel like a lot of it happened without a warning as well. Even though there were some hints for certain things to happen, other times it all just came out of the blue. I don't know if that's just me but I like forming theories of what's going to happen in my head and then see if I was right or wrong. So I want to be warned where there could be a secret involved or where I might be surprised. I hate having to question whether every little detail everyone says is true.

I have already started to read City of Ashes, the second book of the series, but I really don't know if I'm gonna make it through all five books. I just keep hoping the story will get better at some point and I will be more into it after the second book maybe. Because I do kind of like the whole idea behind it and I've been desperately looking for another fantasy book to read.

If you have any thoughts on The Mortal Instruments, please leave a comment, I would love to know what everyone else thinks and maybe hear some reassuring words that it will all get better in the second book.

Thank you for reading!

Lazy Weekend & City of Bones

Hello you!

I just wanted to write a quick update about what I've been doing lately, even if it wasn't much. We've had the nicest weather here in Switzerland but unfortunately I haven't been able to enjoy it much. Work has been really stressful this past week and I haven't been feeling my bestest health-wise either. It started two weeks ago with a really bad sore throat and then I went through pretty much everything, running nose, headache, coughing etc. Of course the stress at work didn't really help me recover either. 

But as of today I am officially feeling better and hopefully I will be home earlier than 8 p.m. every day from now on. Today I even came home with the sun still up which made me so incredibly happy that I felt like writing a blog post. So here I am.

I spent most of the weekend relaxing at my boyfriend's but we did go into town on Saturday to see my friend at work. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to get out of the house until late afternoon, which meant that all the stores were already closed when we arrived in town. I desperately needed to buy a new book, so I was really angry at myself for not leaving earlier. But then we went into a small shop at the train station that was still open and happened to sell some books as well. And because it was such a small shop, of course it didn't sell any of the books I had wanted to look at but then I spotted City of Bones of the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I've thought about starting to read the series for quite some time but never really felt like it. But since there weren't any other interesting books available, I thought why not give it a try.

I'm now halfway through the book and I haven't really decided whether I like it yet. I feel like I still don't really understand what it's all about but I obviously did like it enough to read 300 pages in two days. I'll probably write about it when I'm finished, though, so if you're interested just watch out for that.

But anyway, that's pretty much everything that's new in my world. If you've read City of Bones, please let me know what you thought about it and maybe you could explain to me what exactly a Shadowhunter is and what all the runes and weapons are for? I don't know if I somehow skipped the part where they explain that but I just don't really get it.

Thank you so much for reading.

Jenny Han and Cecelia Ahern

Heee-lloooo :)

I'm back with some more book reviews. Since my last post I've read another two books, one being The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han and for the second one I reread Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern.

To be honest, The Summer I Turned Pretty has to be the first book in a long time that I really didn't like too much. I've actually written a review about it over on goodreads which you are more than welcome to read here. One of the things that annoyed me most is that the main character, Belly, acts like this little child sometimes and then other times she talks about how she is gonna love this guy forever and never ever forget him and I just wanted to shake her and tell her that she is 15 and has no idea what her life is gonna be like and she should just wait and see. And I don't want this to sound like I feel like I have any idea what my life is going to be like because I'm only 19 as well and I really don't know but it just annoys me when young people act like they know it all. But then I realized that that's exactly what young people are like, aren't they. I'm sure I'm exactly like that sometimes. But it just annoyed me anyway and I just didn't really like Belly that much in general. I don't know if I'm too old (ha-ha) but it felt strange reading a book from the point of view of a 15 year old. I don't know why and I don't know if I'm just being stupid but that's just what I thought. So anyway, moving on to better books.

Where Rainbows End has to be one of my favourite books of all time. I love the way it's written all in letters and emails and instant messages, I just really enjoy books like that. This style of writing actually has a name, it's called an epistolary novel and I've printed out a whole Wikipedia list with books that are written in that style after googling books like Where Rainbows End for a thousand years and really getting annoyed because I couldn't find any. Well, Wikipedia had the answer to my prayers all along. But back to the book. Not only is the writing style kind of unique, the story itself is absolutely amazing and not quite like the other chick-lit books out there. It's about Rosie and Alex who have been friends for ever but fate has always gotten in the way of them being more than friends. And the story's incredibly funny as well. There's Rosie's best friend Ruby who just makes everything better with all her sarcastic comments and not-taking-herself-too-seriously. It's just a really wonderful read and I would recommend it to absolutely anyone who hasn't read it yet. But be prepared, you will also get incredibly angry at life because everything goes incredibly wrong for Rosie and Alex and life just gets in the way again and again. I literally felt like ripping the book apart sometimes because I just couldn't take another turn of events and everything falling apart again. You just really connect with Rosie and the mess that is her life. But of course there are some heart warming moments as well and it's definitely worth reading for those.

So there you go, another two books read and I'm at the point of having absolutely no idea what to read next. I'm just gonna have to go through my list of epistolary novels and choose something I feel like reading, I guess. But anyway, thank you very much for reading all this!

Art on Ice

Well, hello there.

Sorry it's been so long but last week has been kind of busy and I've actually wanted to tell you all about it on Sunday but then I spent Sunday basically sleeping all day (I'll let you know why in a second) and then yesterday I didn't write either and I don't know why and aaah..

So it's been quite busy at work lately. Well, it hasn't been that busy for me because my boss basically spends all day on the phone talking to clients (I work as a lawyer's assistant) and then at 5 p.m. when I'm starting to think of leaving, he finishes his phone calls and usually has about a thousand things he wants me to do. So I've been spending my days mostly waiting around all day and then being swamped in the evening, which means I'm always home late and therefore tired and don't really have anything to write about anyway. But then last Thursday my sister, my mum and I went to see Art on Ice.

Art on Ice is a figure skating show (not like a competition) with live music and there's always really famous figure skaters performing and it's quite cool. My brother gave the tickets to us for Christmas and I've been really excited because I like watching figure skating and I thought the live music would be nice too. I didn't really expect to like it as much as I did. I mean it was simply amazing. I had already fallen in love with it during the first half of the show but nothing prepared me for the awesomeness of the second half! Hurts performed live (how cool is that?) and their music just went perfectly with the figure skating and it was so beautiful to watch and listen to. I was absolutely blown away. I never expected anything like that. Plus, the lighting was really cool as well and it just all went together perfectly. So it was basically a figure skating show, a live concert and a light show all in one. How much better can it get?

Here are some really bad pictures that I took with my phone (sorry!):

HURTS!

So on to the reason I didn't write this post two days ago. You see, my friend from work turned 20 last Wednesday and she invited a lot of us from work to her birthday party on Saturday. So we all went to Lucerne (which is like two hours away from where I live) to celebrate her. Turns out two hours is quite far away because I ended up coming home at 8 a.m. on Sunday. So I hope you forgive me for having a great night out and sleeping it all off on Sunday.

And then that's pretty much everything I've got to tell you about my last week. Thank you so much for reading, you are awesome!