London

Hello there! As you may know, I went to London for the weekend with my friends from work which was all kinds of fun. But also very very exhausting. Our flight left on Friday morning at 8am which meant I had to get up at five in the morning, which is of course way too early. But it also meant that we arrived in London at 8am and had all day to explore London.

After dropping our bags off at our hotel near Waterloo station, we took a bus to Piccadilly Circus and then started off from there. Our first stop was Topshop where we spent way too much time (but how could you not, it's huge and amazing and wonderful). After that we went to Madame Tussauds. I've never been to a wax museum before and didn't really know what to expect. I guess it was pretty cool but didn't really blow me away at first. But then there was a small ride and we even got to watch a 4D movie. So with all that I have to say it was better than expected. After we got out of Madame Tussauds, it started to rain and we got lost, so it took us two hours to get back to our hotel. And I was SO TIRED. So we stayed at our hotel for dinner which was really good. And then I went to bed. Best moment of the day.

On Saturday we did a whole lot more shopping. Like a lot a lot. We didn't really do anything else. And I was so surprised by how many things I found that I genuinly liked. Whenever I go shopping here at home, I'm usually too tired after one hour and most of the time don't buy much at all. It must've been the London air because I managed to get through a whole day of shopping with only some moments of absolute exhaustion. And I bought quite a lot of things which I'm really happy about.

it was already dark, our hotel room wasn't very well lit and I only had my phone - sorry!

We finally got round to doing some sightseeing on Sunday and then got on our flight back home in the evening. All in all the weekend was great and very exhausting. I didn't really take any pictures (ups) but might do another picture post once I get the photos my friends took. For now you'll have to do with the standard out-of-the-plane photograph and the bad quality. But thank you anyway for reading!

Clockwork Princess and Fangirl

Hello there and happy belated Easter, I guess. I wanted this post to be about my lovely prolonged weekend and I am very sorry that it won't be but I've finished two absolutely brilliant books that I need to talk about.

So, the first one that I've finished yesterday is - of course - Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. And let me just say that it blew my mind. It was incredible. I did not expect that many emotions flowing out of me at all. And yes, I am talking about crying and crying and crying because it was all just too much. TOO MUCH! I'm telling you. If you have not read The Infernal Devices - what are you doing? Seriously, go to a book shop right now and buy those books. They are beautiful, they are perfect and they are going to make you fall in love with the everyone that is in it. You cannot imagine all the feelings I got reading that last book. It was so much more than I had hoped for. It was so incredibly good. Brilliant. Amazing. And it was so much better than Clockwork Prince. And if you've read my last post about why I love books you'll know that Clockwork Prince was already perfect. I can't handle all this. Seriously. First I was crying because of all the absolutely heartbreaking things going on. I'm not going to spoil you. I'm just going to say that it's too much. Way too much. But then fifty pages after that I was laughing out loud. Like an absolute idiot, in my room, lying in my bed and I could not stop laughing. And then I was embarrassed and worried and I felt more helpless than I ever have. And you know, I had to leave my room and the book behind at some points, obviously, but when I picked it up again it took me approximately five seconds to start crying again. Because that's how much the story pulls you in and there is no getting out. It was just brilliant, believe me. Read it. Go. Right now. Go go go.

So after the emotional rollercoaster that is Clockwork Princess I had to read something light hearted. Something fluffy and beautiful. No fantasy, nothing that was going to make me cry. So I picked up Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell which I had wanted to read for absolutely ages. This was yesterday afternoon. And I was not ready for what happened after that at all. I was pulled right out of the Shadowhunter world into this amazing story that Rainbow Rowell created. It was so beautiful. So so beautiful. I felt right at home with Cather. How could I not? And it made me laugh. So much. And even though I thought I had chosen a book that wouldn't, it also made me cry. But this time, I cried of joy. It all just made me so incredibly happy. This must be one of the happiest books I've ever read. And one of my favourites. It was just beautiful. I can't stress enough what a beautiful story it was. I mean look at the cover. Doesn't that mint grean color just scream happiness right at your face? The only tiniest let down with Fangirl for me was the ending. But every ending would've probably been a let down because I just did not want that book to end. I could've read on and on about the lives of Cath and Levi and Reagan (who has got to be the best person ever) and Wren and oh my god, please do not let it stop. As I was getting closer and closer to the end, I felt so anxious about actually turning that last page. It just could not happen. Please do not make it happen. And then it did. It just ended. And a little too abruptly for my taste. But I don't even really care anymore at this point. I'm overwhelmed by all the awesomeness that was this book.

And now I'm scared to pick up another book because I can't imagine it living up to these two brilliant stories I've just finished. It has been two crazy reading days. And two crazily brilliant books. And I don't want everything to go downhill from here even though I know it probably will.

But anyway, thank you very much for reading this. And now you should go and pick up either Clockwork Angel and start an incredible journey to 19th century London or if you're feeling a little more girly and bubbly, get Fangirl. You'll love it, I promise.

Why I Love Books

I've just finished Clockwork Angel and I finally got that feeling. The one that makes you hate books because they leave you feeling helpless and not knowing what to do other than keep reading. And when you finish the book, the feeling turns into this confusion and you look around you and realize that nothing has actually changed anywhere but inside you. When you don't really know what to do after you put the book down. It slowly starts to dawn on you that this is actually the real world and the one you just left only exists in between the pages. But you were just so caught up with the characters and the situation they find themselves in and you can't really imagine how anything could possibly ever be okay again.

Whenever I get that feeling, I know I just read a good book. Like a really good one. One that I will reread again and again.

I did not get that feeling with any of the Mortal Instruments books and I did not get it with Clockwork Angel. And I've always wanted to fall completely in love with this Shadowhunter World because it had all that potential but it took me six books to finally get that feeling. And now I'm so glad I did. It makes me think of all the other books completely differently and I can't wait to read Clockwork Princess and then finally be entirely ready for the release of City of Heavenly Fire.

Don't ask me why I want a book to make me feel helpless and don't judge me for getting all emotional about reading but to me, getting lost in a fictional world is just the best thing in the wolrd. And if you love reading as much as I do, I'm sure you'll understand what I'm talking about at least a little. And if you have no clue what on earth is wrong with me, well, I can't help it, I just love books.

My Year of Travel

Hello you! I can't believe it's already April. We're two weeks in, I know, but I just now realized that that's more than 1/4 of the year already over! Where on earth did all that time go? I can't say I'm too sad about this, though, because 2014 has some pretty cool things waiting for me. I have been planning my holidays this past week and I'm so incredibly excited for all the places I'm gonna go. So I thought I should really talk about this on here as it's been the #1 thing on my mind lately.

So it'll all start on April 25, which is (OMG!) only two weeks from now. I'm going on a rather spontaneous trip to London with my friends from work and I'm so excited! I've been to London once before (in 2009, I believe) but it's been a while and I went for only three days and can't really remember much of the city. So even though we are only going for three days again, I'm really excited! All I'm worried about is the weather because a city trip in the rain doesn't sound too tempting. But still, I can't wait!

Only one month after that I'm going to Istanbul with the soccer team from work. 'Soccer team from work?' you might ask.  Yes. Every Friday, some people from work meet at a gymnasium close to our office for 2 hours of soccer and basketball. I think that's a brilliant idea and since I stopped playing handball and don't really do anything else at the moment, I thought this would be a fun way to at least do something for my fitness. And now I'm really loving it. And the best thing is that we have actual games against other law firms every now and then, how cool is that?

But back to my trip to Istanbul, which is even cooler than our games against other local law firms. Because there, we are having a tournament with various other offices of our firm from all over the world. How cool is that?  And while we'll be playing soccer for two days, the other two days of our four-day-trip will be exploring the city. I can't wait! 

And then in June my boyfriend and I have planned a two-day trip to Europa-Park in Germany which I'm looking forward to as well. If you don't know Europa-Park, it's one of the biggest theme parks in Europe and, as the name suggests, has different areas that are supposed to represent different countries of Europe and then there are different rides to go with the theme. I really like rollercoasters and I love how the park is decorated in general, so I've always loved going there and am looking forward to it again.

A month after that I will be going on summer holidays with my friends from work, even though we don't really know where we're going yet or have any specific plans at all. We are looking for somewhere at the beach with not too many people and we'd love to be able to go out for drinks if we feel like it but definitely don't want to go partying all the time. Which turned out to be not that easy to find. So if you know a place where we can do all that and have a good time, please leave a comment. 

And then I'm going to Norway with my family, which I'm very much looking forward to. I've never been to Norway but I really loved Sweden and Denmark, so I'm expecting to like it as well. I don't really know anything specific about this trip but I'm sure it'll be great. I think we are planning to rent a car and then drive from town to town which I think sounds pretty amazing. And because my dad's girlfriend is from Norway, I'm sure we'll have the perfect guide as well.

In September, my boyfriend and I are going to Barcelona to end my year of travelling. Because I'll stop working full time at the end of August and my boyfriend has exams then, we decided that September would be the perfect time to go away together. I don't want Sam to fail his exams just because I forced him to go on holidays with me so I'm sure we'll be enjoying ourselves a lot more once those are over.

This trip will probably be my last vacation this year as I'm also starting University in September. Uni is of course another huge thing waiting for me and I might be most excited about that. But thinking about all this, I feel like this year is going to be over so quickly and I can't believe everything that's going to change. But I guess I'll just take one thing at a time.

Thank you so much for reading!

Clockwork Angel - The Infernal Devices #1

Hello there, I'm back with a book review. I've just finished Clockwork Angel, the first book of the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. After finishing the Mortal Instruments books and having to wait for the last book to come out, I thought i would head over to youtube and watch some videos about what the lovely booktubers expected to happen in City of Heavenly Fire. I was then stopped by every single person saying "do not watch this video if you haven't read all the books of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Divices" at the beginning of their video.

So I thought, why not listen to those people, they seem to know what they're talking about. And here I am, all three TID-books sitting on my desk and two of them still giving me reproachful looks because I haven't picked them up yet. But I will get there. But first I need to talk about book #1.

I understood why I was supposed to read this trilogy before watching any of those videos after reading the first few pages of Clockwork Angel. I didn't expect there to be so many familiar names. I mean, we're in London and in the 19th century. But of course we've heard of Will Herondale, the guy who looks like Alec and is totally Magnus' type. And the names Lightwood and Fairchild and Wayland ring a bell too, right? I really liked that, kind of knowing the characters already. It didn't make me feel like I jumped into a whole new book but more like reading the between-the-lines story of The Mortal Instruments.

Do I like Clockwork Angel better than The Mortal Instruments? I have no clue. I didn't fall in love with the book to be honest. But then again, I didn't fall in love with The Mortal Instruments instantly either. Maybe my love will grow with time. I really hope that my love for the characters will. I don't know why but when thinking about it now, I feel like I don't really know a thing about the characters. Taking Tessa for an example, I feel like there was no character development at all. I still don't know whether she's the badass fighter type or more the I'm-scared type. But then again, not much time passed until the end of the book, not nearly enough for her to actually change. This somewhat bothers me about Cassandra Clare's writing style. I mean, yes, it's good that there's always something going on. But I feel like sometimes it's also okay to let a few days pass without writing about every detail of it and without having a huge event happening every five minutes. At the end it always feels somewhat unrealistic and, most of all, whenever there's a love story (like Jace and Clary) and they've known eachother for two months but are already willing to give their lives for the other person, I just don't quite buy it. So I would love to see some more time pass between action scenes. What's wrong with saying "the next few weeks I trained to become a better Shadowhunter and nothing much happened"? To me that would also explain why people go from having absolutely no clue of fighting to being a pro in a few days.

But back to Clockwork Angel. I did like the book and I am looking forward to reading Clockwork Prince, I would just like to see more depth to the characters, most of all Tessa. Jem has his horrible past that he keeps with him and that has made him who he is and Will does have some secrets locked away but Tessa doesn't seem to be much, even though she's the main character. I'm also hoping to learn more about the Magnus-Will thing because that will probably have an influence on my expectations for City of Heavenly Fire. I just want to know what's going on with Will in general. And I want him to open up and show me why everyone who's read the books is in love with him.

So yes, I'll come back with an update once I've read Clockwork Prince. Thank you so much for reading!

The Mortal Instruments

Hey you!

This is going to be another book post. As you might know, I've been reading the Mortal Instruments series. And I thought instead of doing a review of each book, I was just going to talk about the whole series once I read all the books. This turned out to be a terrible idea. Because now I've finished City of Lost Souls and I can't remember anything that happened except for what happened in this book specifically. I'm sorry. 

So I'm just going to talk about City of Lost Souls and, very very sadly, City of Ashes, City of Glass and City of Fallen Angels will for ever remain unreviewed. 

As I've said, I have finished City of Lost Souls which means that I have read all the books of the series that have been published to this day. Which sucks. City of Heavenly Fire, the last book of the series, will come out in May and I know I said I wasn't 100% sure whether I liked the series at the beginning. Now I am. It totally got me hooked. I really enjoyed this book, most of all of the five, I think. There was more happening somehow and it wasn't as clear who was good and who was evil anymore. 

Take Sebastian for an example. I started to actually like him. Somehow he got me convinced he wasn't all that bad. And the fact that he is lonely and wants his family with him gives him a personality that is not purely evil. Yes, of course he has no idea how to handle the situation of being lonely. Instead of trying to change and make people like him by being a nice guy, he lies to them and wants to control them. But then again I don't think he can help it. He's part demon and he was raised by Valentine, how is he supposed to know what it means to care about someone and to love someone. All he was taught is that to love means to destroy and he only knows  how to pretend he cares about you. I think it's all very sad and I would have loved for Clary to kill him with the angel sword and then have him survive and be good. But it's pretty obvious that would not have worked, for example because he would have been killed instantly by the Clave. But I still couldn't help hoping for that to happen.

What really upset me is the way things ended between Magnus and Alec. I want them to be together. Magnus is one of my favourite characters and I love his relationship with Alec. Obviously, Alec has been acting like a complete idiot and went behind Magnus' back in the worst way possible, but still. I can't wait for City of Heavenly Fire, simply becuase I want to see them get back together. If that's not gonna happen, I might not like the books after all. I'm not really serious, but I do want Magnus and Alec to get back together. And I want Magnus to become mortal and I want them to grow old together and I just want them to be that cheesy romantic couple who find their way back to each other and do not stop loving each other through everything. Please!

Another thing that I didn't like about the end of the book is that heavenly fire thing that's going on with Jace. I mean, can't you just leave him alone at some point, Cassandra Clare? He was basically possessed half the time we've known him and now that he is finally free, you still can't let him be happy with Clary? Come on. But I have to admit that I started to kind of like bound-to-Sebastian-Jace. It would all have been perfect if Sebastian wasn't a complete psycho and Jace had been himself. Just imagine them living all together in that ridiculously cool apartment. And I did enjoy seeing Sebastian caring about Clary and Jace. It made him seem so human. But, to be honest, of all the things I'm expecting to see in the next book, I'm looking forward to see what's going to happen with these three the least. It's ridiculous, I know, with that being the main storyline. But I've just always loved the side storys. 

Speaking of which, yaay for Isabel and Simon and Jordan and Maia. I can't wait to see Iz confessing her feelings to Simon. And with Jordan and Maia, I think I already got the happy ending I was hoping for (don't you dare ruin it, Clare!) Even though, now that I think about it, the chances that it will be ruined are pretty high. I don't think everyone will survive that very last battle and I could really imagine either Jordan or Maia not making it. Yes, they were important to the story and I really got to like them but they weren't the kind of people you can't kill off. God, I feel terrible for saying this. Please let everyone live, Cassandra, please!

So, yes, I'll leave it at that for now. I'll probably do another post about The Mortal Instruments at some point because I'm pretty sure I won't be able to stop thinking about it and wondering what's going to happen and now that I have somewhere to share my thoughts, I might as well do it. Plus, I've started to read Clockwork Angel, so I'm still in the Shadowhunter World.

But thank you so much for reading!

How I Met Your Mother

Okay, so I'm an emotional wreck over here. I just watched the very last episode of How I Met Your Mother. My favourite tv show ever. I can't even tell you how much I love it. And now that I actually just watched the last episode, I don't know what to say or think. I can't believe how it ended. I can't believe it!

If you haven't seen it and do not want to be spoiled, don't read this. Because I can't possibly talk about it without spoiling it. I loved the episode and at the same time I didn't like it too much. I've been so prepared for all happily ever afters but of course they weren't going to do that. Of course! I mean, it's HIMYM we're talking about. HIMYM is a brilliant show that a lot of people enjoy, not just women. It's brilliant because it's not all love and happiness but also somewhat realistic. And of course this brilliant show wasn't going to end in "yes, you were right all along, it turned out just as you expected." This is How I Met Your Mother. Not a cheesy romantic tv show. Not How We Were All Happily Ever After And Our Love and Friendship Never Faded And Nothing Bad Ever Happened.

So here are some things I wanted to talk about:

Barney and Robin get a divorce

To understand how I feel about this, you have to know that Barney and Robin were my favourite couple of HIMYM. I've always wanted them to be together and yes, I did like Barney with Nora and I liked Barney with Quinn even more. And yes, I did like Robin with Ted (more on that later). But Barney and Robin were just the best. I was so incredibly happy for them to get married. And I don't think I will get over the fact that that marriage didn't last.

I mean thinking about it now, it does kind of make sense. Theoretically speaking. Not considering the fact that IT JUST CAN'T HAPPEN! Okay okay. Yes, it makes sense. Barney never wanted to get married. Robin never wanted to get married. How are the two of them supposed to live happily ever after as a married couple? But still, they both changed so much and them being together started to make more and more sense. Yes, I'm still not happy about this. But moving on.

The mother dies

This was the most unexpected thing ever! How could they do that?! I had to watch the scene where Ted says "And I carried it with me when she got sick." about a thousand times to actually understand what he's saying. I still can't believe it. I loved Tracy! She was absolutely brilliant and I loved every little thing we got to know about her. She was the perfect woman for Ted. And then they kill her off so he could be with Robin? I get it, the whole story was mostly about Robin. Yes, it makes sense. Again, it really does. It's just not what I expected at all.

Ted and Robin do actually end up together

Don't get me wrong. I love Ted and Robin. I've rooted for them at the beginning. But at some point I gave up on the idea of them actually being together. There were just so many signs that they wouldn't be. And of course that's because when Ted's telling the story, they weren't actually together yet. And of course the whole story is more about Robin and how Ted has always loved her than about anything else. So, again, it all made a whole lot of sense. But I started to actually like the thought of Ted finally getting over Robin. Like completely 100% get over her. And meeting someone else. I know, he did meet someone else, he had a very very very happy marriage. I'm sure he was head over heels in love with Tracy McConnell.

And no, I don't think that Ted had been in love with Robin when he was with Tracy. But I can imagine that, with Tracy gone for 6 years, Ted would finally move on and find his way back to Robin. I mean, 6 years is a long time and I think that just shows how much he loved Tracy and how much he must have been devastated after her death. So I guess I can live with Robin and Ted being together. I had just always assumed that the mother and Ted would be together for ever. I mean, that was the whole point of the show, wasn't it? No, it wasn't. It was about Ted telling his kids how he met their mom. Never about what happened after that. But still.

Marshall and Lily

I love Marshall and Lily and I'm so glad that they're happy and that they're having another child and that everything seems to have turned out perfectly for them in the end. I'm glad to hear that Marshall still got to be a judge and, yes, I really enjoyed all the judge-jokes. I'm glad that there wasn't any major surprising moment here because I think that would've been too much. Lily and Marshall have just always been the one constant thing during all that's happened. I love that that didn't change.

So I guess, as I've said a thousand times, it all made a lot of sense. And that goes to show how awesome HIMYM is. No, it didn't end like I expected it. But it also didn't end in a way that I can't accept. It all just came together somehow. Everything fell into place and everything (yes, I'm going to say it again) made perfect sense. Of course Robin and Ted were going to end up together and of course he would steal the blue French horn for her and of course she had all her dogs back and it was all just like the very beginning of the show. That's just wonderful to see. And even more wonderful to see was Barney having a daughter and her being his one true love. Back when I still thought Barney and Robin would be together for ever, I was actually kind of sad about the fact that they could never have children. Seeing Barney with James' children gave me the feeling that he should have kids. No, not to give them gigantic pet snakes but because you could tell he absolutely loves children. And I'm glad things kind of turned out alright for him.

And I loved that there was actually a point why Ted was telling his kids the whole story. Because he was asking for permission to ask Robin out. What kind of a great dad is he?

I don't know what I'm going to do now with no new HIMYM episodes to look forward to. I can't believe the show's ended. For real. Please send some help!