headless santa clause {#Project365 - Day 2}

Yes little Santa, here you’re still smiling…

… but you never had a chance

(shot with my Nikon D40x, uploaded using Windows Live Writer)

happy new year!

May 2012 bring health, love, peace and happiness to you and your loved ones.

Here at “Casa de Kat” we rang in the new year with friends, lots of vodka, laughter and watching a pretty decent fireworks display. I am not sure I’d like 2012 to be just like 2011 but should the new year continue the way the old one ended and the new year started, then I’m ok with it. Not happy but ok.

There’s lots of things I worry about. Constantly. I cannot help it. I am a worrier and how can you not be? When you’re looking at the current state of world affairs and you’re not worried, you’re either an imbecile or dumber than a box of rocks, in which case there’s no hope for mankind and we might as well just end it here. Though looking at the dunces in world politics one might say we’re on the edge. Kinda like “disasters in the mirror are closer than they appear”. I’m waiting for a catastrophe to strike. Japan is still being shocked by earthquakes, Thailand is trying to recover from being flooded for several months and this winter has been warmer than last year's spring - mother nature is clearly trying to tell us something but idiot nations think it is ok to jump the Kyoto Protocol like rats the sinking ship in order to follow their economic interests.

The North Koreans have a new leader that seems just as crazy or even crazier than the previous one. Iran and Syria - well let’s not even go there. The Eurozone is taking their last shallow breaths… but let’s not dwell on this either. Things are out of our hands and I don’t know whether to wish for a hard reset or not.

All dark thoughts aside though, I am expecting 2012 to good. There’s a few resolutions I made. Lose weight, spend more quality time with my hubby, explore Munich’s museums and stop complaining so much. Blogging on a regular basis does not feature on this list because it would mean that I would have to specify what exactly qualifies as “regular” because you know, once a year is regular too. They say the key to not giving up on your New Year’s resolutions is to set small goals. So instead of saying I want to be a size zero next year, say you want to lose 10 pounds by xy. So my goal is to blog at least twice a month. Even the most uninspired person could find a topic to blog about then.

Also not featuring on the list of resolutions is a loooong list of books but reading comes naturally and I’ll just keep on updating the “Books I’ve read in 2012” list in the Book Addict page on this blog.

Bring on the new year, be happy and enjoy the trip.

fireworks {#Project365 - Day 1}

I've just been over at Patty's blog and saw that she's participating in the Project 365 photo challenge in 2012. Neat idea was my first thought and so I'll be partaking in this too and from the first day of the year I bring you a picture, fresh off my cell phone.



Just like Patty I carry my cell phone, a Samsung Galaxy SII, with me almost everywhere I go, meaning most photos will probably be shot with this. I also own a small digital camera and my trusted Nikon D40x.

If you are starting the Project 365 photo challenge on your blog kindly leave the link to your blog in the comments, I'd love to follow.

2011 - the year in retrospect

Following last year's tradition I look back at the year.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?
Bought my/our very first own Christmas tree (at age 35)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't make any resolutions but may make some for 2012. Most likely involving weight loss.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
The world's best roommate gave birth to a baby boy in Summer and hubby's best friend became father of a beautiful baby boy on hubby's birthday of all days.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
Egypt , Austria and Ireland

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you didn’t have in 2011?
More willpower.

7. What dates from 2011 will be etched upon your memory, and why?
June 25th, hilarious family reunion

8. What were your biggest achievements of this year?
Watch less TV and read more.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Holding back when I should have voiced my honest opinion.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Luckily nothing serious. A cold and a week ago I had twisted the knee that I injured badly a few years ago.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Gifts for family and friends. Personally for me? My new smartphone.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Hubby's behavior. He's simply the best and amazes me over and over again.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Nobody's I know on a personal level. However, I am appalled by politicians and idiots the world over.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Towards our mortgage, vacations, dining out or BBQs and books.

15. What did you get really excited about?
My new smartphone and returning to Dublin - my old love.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Lana del Rey - Video Games



Adele - Someone Like You




17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
a) happier

b) same

c) same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Spend more time with family and friends and I wish I had done more sightseeing and gone on more trips in my own country and my own city.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Complain. Germans love to complain. We've mastered it almost like an artform. I have nothing of importance to complain about. That much I have learned this year.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
This year there wasn't enough time to travel and see our families but we did spend Christmas with six of our closest friends. We had Raclette for Dinner and exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve and enjoyed a wonderful and fun evening.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? That answer hasn't changed since last year. I am still in love with my husband. Apart from that I am also still in love with that same DSLR camera that I fell in love with last year.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
"Bauer sucht Frau". (Farmers looking for a wife). It's hilarious and one of my guilty pleasures. Especially love it while reading comments about it on Twitter. Same goes for "I am a celebrity, get me out of here"

23. What was the best book you read?
NAMA Mia! by Ross O'Carroll Kelly (or Paul Howard)
I also thought that I would enjoy Steve Jobs' bio a lot. I didn't. Even though I am a sucker for memoires and biographies, I was disappointed to find out that Steve really was the asshole I always thought he was.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Tim Bendzko. A young German artist. Me likey the dude.



25. What did you want and get?
A new smartphone, time with family and friends, a two week vacation doing f*** all and a happy hubby whose new position allowed him to spend more time at home.

26. What did you want and not get?
The new iPhone. Eagerly expected, then disappointed when all that came out was the iPhone 4s. That's why got the Android Samsung Galaxy II and I could not be happier with it.

27. What was your favorite film of 2011?
Given that I haven't watched a lot of movies in 2011 I'd have to say "Paul". Simon Pegg is simply awesome.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 35 and celebrated the occasion with the hubby and our closest friends with a neat little party on the day.

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Knowing that everyone was healthy and safe.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2011?
Same shmame as last year's. Dark pants, V-neck sweaters and tunics

31. What kept you sane?
Knowing that in the end it doesn't really matter.

32. What political issue stirred you the most?
Political unrest and revolution in the Middle East, crisis in the Euro zone, the inability of a great nation's government to get their act together before lashing out at others. You know who I am talking about - I am not only looking at you Germany...

33. Who did you miss?
Everyone I didn't get a chance to see this year. My family and far-away friends.

34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
NOTHING is more important than your health and it is ok not to sweat the small stuff. LIVE and ENJOY life to the fullest. You only have the ONE and nobody is going to live it for you. In the end nothing really matters because we are all going to die.

35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Tim Bendzko - Nur noch kurz die Welt retten
Muss nur noch kurz die Welt retten, danach flieg ich zu dir. Noch 148 Mails checken wer weiß was mir dann noch passiert denn es passiert so viel Muss nur noch kurz die Welt retten und gleich danach bin ich wieder bei dir.

Now if you are looking back at your 2011 - please link back. I love reading those.

Sláinte from Ireland

Mr. Snuggles

Ooopsie Daisy

Maybe I should have waited another day before returning to this blog. I could have celebrated the anniversary of my seven-month hiatus but whatever.

For those of you who remember me, I gave the old blog a tiny makeover. Then fooled around with my new Android Smartphone and accidently deleted all the pictures from most of the blogposts, which were saved on Picasa. Fuck you, stuff in the Cloud! I hate you.

Not to worry though. I still have all the deleted pictures on my harddrive at home but I will not bother going through 600+ posts and adding all the photos again. Besides, who reads through the archives anyway? So that's me. Back. With a bang (that only the village idiot manages to make).

It's good to be home!

mondays suck

I wasn’t even in work for an hour when I was ready to go back home. The day had started out crappy already with a jetlagged husband that didn’t want to get up, nothing in the fridge that would pass as breakfast and a litter box filled with turds so big you’d think we gave shelter to a pair of Siberian tigers and not a pair of tame cats.

I was willing to give this day a chance but my hopes were thwarted when I came into the office, put my laptop into its docking station and then watched it do N O T H I N G. Fearing a lengthy call with the remote IT guys, during which I would have to tell them that yes, I did check that the power cord was plugged in and that no, since the computer won’t boot it was NOT possible for them to remote connect to my laptop, I went to grab a coffee from the machine and pressed hot chocolate.

Just what I need in an office the size of a medium kitchen with an average temperature of 80° F because it is harboring 8 geeks with at least 16 workstations that run around the clock.

Anyway, I’m home now, sitting on the couch, waiting for the new episodes of my favorite tv show to start and saying oooommmm, hoping for a better day tomorrow.

noms

I finally have the hubby back. He returned from Seattle after a week long business trip. The last few months just flew by with me feeling a bit on the sidelines. The hubby's been to Turkey, Norway, England and the US already this year, while I, well I've been stuck at home. Okay so he was away on business and not for pleasure but I admit that I am just a l i t t l e bit jealous. However, he's not called 'world's best husband of the world' for nothing. A title he truly deserves because he's just awesome. He always thinks of me when he's away and that means he always brings something back. This time it was clothes and this:

He just knows what I was craving.

Cat man du

What we do all day (and night)