Answering Requests

There’s something very satisfying about starting your day with performing a play in front of 800 school and kindergarten kids. This morning was our theater’s first performance and it went down pretty smoothly, which is always a good thing.

Last week I promised Miss Addie to upload a photo of me which I didn’t do along with the other pics from theater. So this is for you Addie :-)

And another one from the last dress rehearsal on saturday because I liked how my make-up was done (unlike today when I looked all but that pretty). I admit it’s not the best and I could have put more effort into trying to smile but I didn’t.

Then I also promised Addie to throw in and additional pic from last year’s Wizard of Oz in which I was an evil witch. I spent more time getting my hair and make-up done than on stage but whatever.

I feel so pretty :D

Ok, and now I only have to bore you with one more photo. This one’s for Tom Baker, he demanded a pic of the cherry-tartes I made for the picnic yesterday. As I told you, Tom, they didn’t look so good :-)

And now I’m done for today. Bye for now.

Tags: Food, Peter Pan, Theater

‘The Language of Flowers’ by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

This is the story of a foster child, a story about anger, misanthropy, not feeling god enough, about love and trust. It starts when Victoria is turning 18 and finally emancipated, she doesn’t have to live in group homes anymore, needs to find a job and sort out her life. But those things turn out to be quite hard in the beginning, the only things Victoria cares for are flowers.

I didn’ know this before I started reading this book, but every flower is granted a meaning (sometimes even more than one) so that it’s possible to have conversations without words. It goes back to the Victorian Age when lovers needed this sneaky way of communicating their feelings without risking to have letters intercepted and stuff like that.

I myself am not a flower-/ plants-/ gardening-person at all. I don’t enjoy plucking weeds, mowing lawns because the unwanted stuff will grow back, taking my time away from things I’d much rather do. However I can admire the beauty in other people’s gardens, as long as it’s not my work.

‘The Language of Flowers‘ didn’t take me long to read which I always see as a good sign, I liked how Victorias current life and her past enter-wined through alternation, every chapter adding a new piece to the puzzle which brings you closer to understanding why Victoria is the way she behaves.

I’m not really good at this whole book-revewing thing but I wanted to give it another try anyway as this book really surprised me. I was reluctant to by it but then thought that it wouldn’t matter really if I bought three or four books and I’m glad I did buy this one. I recommend it to anyone who wants a good read while learning about the meanings of daffodils, white tulips, hazel and many many flowers more.

Tags: Books, Flowers, Gardening, Language, Reading, Recommendation

I went Book-Bananas

Don’t ask me what it is about today that gave me the urge to go into a bookstore but something did. Originally I wanted to go visit the vintage bookstore in town but when I got there the shop was gone, which made me very sad.

So in order to compensate for the loss I went to two other bookstores (they sell new books, which is so not the same but whatever) and went a little crazy as I spent way too much on books even though I still have unread one’s sitting on my shelves. Here’s the result of today. Oh yes, and afterwards I went into a stationary store (ah, they are just great) to buy a new pen which is why there is a pen in this picture.

All in all this was a very satisfying afternoon even though I hate the fact that the english book sections in our local stores are just so small. Too small for my taste which is why I order a lot from Amazon but sometimes I just have to walk into a real store, feel the books and read the covers. See the displays of popular books and get inspired about which one of all the pretty books will get to go home with me that day, to be loved and treated like a friend, a member of my family.

When I left store number one I had a HUGE smile on my face and a hole in my wallet. The people passing by me must have thought I was crazy :D

And now I’m going to dive in head first into one of them and hope I get lost in the story. Happy reading to everyone out there!

 

Tags: Books, Family, Friends, Hobbit, Love, Reading, The Help, Tolkien

Episodes

A while ago I had a conversation with my uncle about accents. He wanted to know if I had a british accent in my english or not. Here’s how it went:

He: Do you have a british accent?

Me: I dunno. I guess so. (Note, this was the time before I needed to watch every TV show in its original language so where should I have gotten anything other than a proper british school accent from?)

H: Ok then just talk to me in english.

M: Hmm, what shall I say…(says some random stuff)

H: Oh yes, you definitely have an american accent. You know, I trained myself to having a british one.

M: Huh, well, I don’t really think it matters that much.

Why am I recounting this boring little episode out of my life for you to read? Well, because back then I didn’t have the courage and the words to tell him where he could stick his pretentious little british accent. So what if I sound american, I’m proud of it. I earned it by watching tons and tons of shows he probably never even heard of. If he thinks that he needs a certain accent so other people would think highly of him then so be it. That’s not me. I still don’t care what I sound like as long as I don’t sound like a stupid german who’s unable to pronounce a proper ‘th’ then I’m more than happy (believe me there are more than enough of those around and I’m always ashamed, even our secretary of state is a disgrace to the english language, sorry, Guido)

Today as I picked my mom up from an appointment at our hairdresser she told me that the hairdresser (I call her Plam for further reference) gets a bouquet of red roses every week from her ex-husbamd. I was immediately on the edge of barfing. I would cut them up and send them back to him but then Plam’s sister told me that Plam might actually be thinking of rekindling that relationship which didn’t make it all that better in my opinion. I mean they broke up for a reason!

Then it hit me, I must come across as quite unromantic. It happened to me before when my boss told me her daughter wanted to go see Titanic in 3D that week. I’m sorry but I hate Titanic, it’s a long movie and the ship sinks at the end. Also, we had to watch Titanic on long bus-rides to and from camp when I was little as it seemed to be the only VHS-tape any of the grown-ups owned. So I’ve seen my fair share of that particular movie and I just can’t think of any reason to go sit in a cinema and pay a lot of money to watch it again in 3D (I want Star Wars 3D for crying out loud!). Which is what I told my boss and she said that I was just probably not that into romance movies. Hello?? Where did she get her intel? I love them but just not Titanic.

What I am trying to say with the red roses and Titanic episodes is that I don’t like stereotypes and cliches. Red roses equal a display of love. Well, not in my book. Roses are ok but to me there are other, much prettier, flowers out there which I would much rather get from a lover. Also yellow and orange would be more to my liking than red.
Maybe I am just peculiar in that way, I don’t like doing what everybody else does, I like being unique. I would never buy a tracksuit again for crying out loud. I hate it when the jacket matches the pants like that. I’m not even sure what makes me dislike them so much. I just do.

I would much more appreciate getting a book as a present from a lover. Doesn’t sound romantic enough? But buying a bunch of flowers is considered romantic? I mean, they die after a short while, you can’t enjoy them for long but then a good book is something for eternity. And it’s not so easy to pick out if you want it to be right, You need to know the person very well to hit their literary nerve.

Stereotypes exist for a reason because the persons described in them do actually exist but then again so do even more other people who share the same characteristics but don’t fit the respective stereotype. Like girls are not supposed to be good in math and sciences. Well, I was! Still am and I don’t even look like a dork.

I dread the family dinners in which my uncle asks me if I have a boyfriend and when I say that I don’t have one then what is so wrong with that? Granted, I would like to be in love and all but just because I am 24 and single doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with me. I’m picky, it takes time and then there’s some other stuff but in general I am allowed to be single or in a relationship because I feel like it and not because society tells me that for a girl over 21 the chances of finding a partner subside every year. This is 2012, not a Jane Austen novel.
There’s this boy I went to school with who is now married to a woman from Australia, he started to study medicine last year and now their second child is on its way. That scares the crap out of me! How can they do all that so fast? I don’t think it’s wrong but it’s just so early in their lives. But I guess it has something to do with the fact that they are very religious. Nevertheless they seem to be so far ahead on that life-path from me that I get uncomfortable but it’s their choice. If they can handle it why not be parents that early. After all I want my uncle to accept my not being in a relationship so I need to acknowledge that other people have different life-plans.

And now I seemed to have lost any track of where this post was ever supposed to be headed but that’s ok. I did my little rant and I really hope that I didn’t offend anyone. If I did than I’m sorry but this is just a glance into who I am and now I am finally going to sleep. Btw, why do I always get ‘inspired’ to write something when I’m already in bed trying to fall asleep? #stupid

Tags: Life, Choices, Sleep Deprivation, Questions, Personal, Procrastination, Love, Family, Relationships, Stereotypes, Cliches

The Little Actress in Me

Some of you may already know that there’s this little actress inside of me that gets out every summer while I perform with a bunch of other actors on our beautiful open-air stage. I’ve been enchanted ever since I laid eyes on that stage five years ago.

This year we perform Peter Pan, the story about a boy who never wants to grow up. He lives in Neverland, a magical island with fairies, pirates and indians. I’ll just let the following pictures I took yesterday during the third dress rehearsal speak for themselves.

Wendy, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell at the Darling’s home

Tiger Lilly and her fellow indians about to steal the pirates food

The hollow tree, home to the lost boys.

The Girls entertaining Captain Hook. (My role is the blonde girl but since I was taking pictures, this is not me :D)

Poor Peter Pan, it looks like he is loosing to Hook.

Thank god the little bear survived! Thanks to a great medicine woman :-)

Partings…

 

I could upload 200 pictures more but nobody wants to see all of them and there wouldn’t be enough space on my wordpress account either so these are the ones I selected to put on here. I’m not totally happy with the quality of the pictures even though they seemed fine while I was taking them.

Tuesday in a week will be the first performance and I’m looking forward to it. Hope you enjoyed this little trip to Neverland. See ya!

Tags: Acting, Art, Hook, Peter Pan, Photography, Photos, Pictures, Pirates, Summer, Theater, Tinkerbell, Wendy

Dear Cheesecake,

Why do you have to be so goddamn perfect? Just why?

I know I’ve been absent lately, I even fondled around with some of your friends that one weekend not too long ago. Hell, I fell for that amazing chocolate-cake friend of yours but as soon as your sweet tastiness touched my lips again, I swear it’s over and I’ll never love a cake more than you. We’ll just remain good friends, chocolate-cake and me. After all, it wasn’ that serious, unlike you and me.

I admit that I pay for your, I never make you from scratch, except that one time, years ago but it  was a disaster. Do you remember? Maybe I should try it again but I’m afraid I’d ruin it again. I’m good at baking but you’re perfect the way you are.

Now I finally have you again, downstairs in the kitchen. You’re still a little bit frozen in the middle but I like you that way. I’m impatient, you know? As soon as you’re mine, I can’t wait to rip open that carton you come in and dive right into your deliciousness but I usually have to pace myself until you’re at least a little bit unfrozen so I’m able to cut you into pieces.

Seeing your perfect circle makes me dizzy, the butterflies in my stomach begin to flutter with anticipation and I’m anxious to cut you, to hurt you but it’s how we roll. You lie there, perfect and all, to let me take advantage of your helplessness. And I do, out of love.

Love for your tasty filling, that is so soft and creamy, just everything you wish for in a cheesecake. I wan’t our love affair to never end! Do you hear me?

I know our relationship had up’s and down’s over the years but I also know you’re the one. I love you, I crave you and your powers to make me feel wholesome again when I’m lost in a world of pain. Every good feeling I feel deeper and happier when you’re there with me. So…

Will you marry me?

Tags: Cheesecake, Emotions, Food, Happiness, Love

Music and Me

Music and me, we go way back. Back to a time when I still was in primary school. I didn’t know anything about the english language, nevertheless I recall feeling the urge to sing along to Janet Jackson’s ‘Whoops Now‘ mimicking the sounds of the words I didn’t understand.

As I am currently reading ‘Sing you Home‘ by Jodi Picoult I have to think about what music in general and certain songs in particular mean to me.

My family is not the most music-affine family you can find around, my mom barely knows any songs by their names and even my granny is not so good at the singing. I noticed it the few times I sat beside her in church where I usually fail to sing along properly cause I don’t know how the melody and lyrics of the church songs go together.

Music for me though is a means of coping with my feelings, of expressing joy and sadness. I feel that a day without singing is a lost day.

When I was sixteen I wanted to become a singer-songwriter just like Meredith Brooks (you may know her only big hit song of the 90s Bitch), needless to say that I failed at it, well I didn’t really pursue it that much but whatever.

It can take me quite a while to finish brushing my teeth because I stop to sing along my favorite tunes.
In my car the radio is always on and I modulate the volume according to my liking of the song that’s currently playing. The louder the more I like it. I don’t care if the other people who drive by me think I am crazy when my sidewindow is down and I’m belting out ‘Love is a Battlefield’ when I feel like it.

There’s the Sheryl Crow album I had on repeat while reading 1984 or WASP Star [Apple Venus Vol. 2] by XTC during Lords and Ladies (Terry Pratchett) and they remind me of chapters I read in those books.

I can’t help but start to smile and in some form dance along to the Macarena and The Rigga-Ding-Dong-Song because they’re a part of every good theater party. As soon as we hear the song we align on the dance-floor to do the group dances that goes along with them. Needless to say that I love it.

The summer after I left school I had to do an internship for my following studies which had me leaving the house quite early. When I drove to the firm I sometimes just wanted to turn my car around so badly just as the lyrics of that song told me to. I never did though.

Hearing the ‘Plans’ album by Death Cab for Cutie, I always picture myself sitting in a car, the windows down, my long brown hair fluttering in the wind, cruising through the ever changing sceneries destination nowhere. I’m independent and free. I see mountains and beige grass along the never ending road I’m traveling on.

Thanks to my best friend (he studies baroque music) I’m no stranger to gorgeous classical music that sometimes lets me think I’m inside of Pride and Prejudice.

I have my problems though, with music without lyrics because I love to sing along too much and sometimes it’s really hard to hum along a piece of classical music.

Granted my singing voice is not the best one can wish for but it’s a decent alto and I know I can hit the right notes. Sometimes I just sing them a little off on purpose because I want to make it mine, my version, my interpretation of a song, a melody.

Of course there are more songs that mean something to me, only this is all I can remember at the moment so instead of boring you further, I’d much rather ask you to share some of the songs that are special to you.

Tags: Emotions, Feelings, Happiness, Joy, Life, Love, Music, Sad, Sunshine