November is a busy time of the year. And if you’re following my blog, you know that I’m busy getting ready for visitors and two upcoming trips. That’s why I really don’t want to give the impression that I’m complaining in any way 😉 My to-do list is long and I should probably drop some of my projects. But because I love working on my blog so much, I need to carve out the time for it.
Life in general
I’ve been making an effort to stay focused, be in the moment and to only do one thing at a time. Have you read the book The Happiness Project? I haven’t finished it yet, but one tip really stuck with me: Take care of tasks that take less than 5 minutes right away, don’t add them to your list. Matching this topic I found 20 quotes about living in the present moment.
Honestly, I can’t believe that it is November 10th and my birthday is on Monday. Time is just flying right now. I already mentioned in my post from yesterday that I’ve been working 3 days/week since September. Therefore, our daily routine has to be well organized. But I also feel that ever since I started this new work life, I’m more focused and get way more stuff done than before. And I appreciate free time even more. Things like going for a hike with my friend, having time for my girls or meeting my husband for lunch are precious. And I was much better last month to clip posts and articles I enjoyed.
I’ve been meditating every morning for the last 3 months. While I’ve been using mostly different apps, I tried a couple YouTube videos once in a while and this one is a great 10 minute morning meditation. You should try it.
DIY
Feeling the urge to sew? This is a cute tutorial for a Girls Tunic Dress that is pretty simple. I adopted it to make these Halloween costumes for my daughter and her friend.
These are two of my favorite fall/winter cocktails:
Parenting
The Fragile Generation is an excellent article. This part of the last paragraph really resonates with me: The more adults step back, the more we believe kids will step up, growing brave in the face of risk and just plain happy in their independence. YES!
If you’re raising Third Culture Kids like we do, this article is a must-read. And if you’re raising teenagers in the US, this is another good write-up about teenage anxiety.
Probably because I’m a teacher myself, I’m very restrained about getting involved with how my children’s teacher teach and handle situations. Luckily our girls are very self-sufficient at school. (Because we raised them to be responsible for their work and to try to solve their own problems.) This NYT article gives you some good ideas how to enter a parent teacher conference and how to be really heard by your child’s teacher.
Reading
On Tina’s and San’s blogs you can find some good books to read.
The shootings in this country really scare the heck out of me. Nicholas Kristof makes meaningful suggestions how to reduce shootings in the US.
I’ve mentioned before that occasionally some people seem to dislike my pronunciation. I might have found the solution to this problem in this article. Cheers!
Mahlzeit and Feierabendbier are definitely two important rituals of German work culture that I’m missing here.
Miscellaneous
It’s just plain awesome that Adidas makes running shoes from recycled ocean plastic. I need new shoes anyway and I will definitely give them a try.
You need a calendar for 2018? This is a beautiful German wall calendar. Flow is one of my favorite German magazines. And my blogger friend Stefanie made a beautiful calendar with her creative photographs.
We watched this show on Netflix and I absolutely love it.
I have a 5th grader who wants to participate in next year’s talent show at school. We came across this YouTube video and it is hilarious. It’ll put smile on your face.
My cousin is arriving tonight and I’m so excited to have family visiting.
Have a wonderful and happy weekend everyone!
