DAYDREAMING & THE TRAVEL BUG

What a weekend you guys! Eastern Germany is fighting this huge flood, folks are out to help everywhere and what do I do? I'm staying at home sick to my stomach, stuffed nose and throat. Brilliant! My area isn't affected very much but I feel with those people living in the badly damaged areas close by. Kinda crazy to think that yesterday my family and I were sitting outside idly eating dinner, whilst only 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) from here people are fighting for their houses and lifes! I'd love to help, but right now it's just not possible for me. Also it's getting more and more and dangerous so people are leaving and the military is taking over now. Prayers for the people are greatly appreciated! 

Because I couldn't just sit around all day, pittying myself for not being fit and ready to help, I tried to find something to keep me busy. Whenever I need distration I like to daydream ... mainly about the future. That Is why I pulled out My cool Campervan. It's my rainy-days joker! 

Going on a trip through all of Europe with a campervan or caravan is defintily on my life-long bucket list. Or maybe drive down the Westcoast from Seatlle all the to San Diego. Oh the travel bug ... 

Since I love this book so much I wanted to share some of my favorite pages with you. Jane Field-Lewis and Chris Haddan write great books and leave alone the photos are an inspiration for everyone who likes colors and crafting.

Aren't these campervans just the most darling thing you've ever seen? They are so retro - You could jump in and travel back in time to see Woodstock with these! I've always had a weakness for cute looking cars but I'm seriously over the moon for these. 

After I graduate from High School I'm planning on taking a year off... It's completely crazy but I love the idea of doing my europe trip before I get too old for it. I think once you've gotten used the comforts of an apartment and having a steady income it's hard to let go and just take off. Obviously this is pure daydreaming ... but who knows what will come?

This is my very favorite photos from the book. VW busses aren't just cars - they're a lifestyle! What would I give for a beauty like this one? 

Dreaming about a life on the road gets me excited! I have no idea whether I'm made for it or not but it feels so good to look forward to a future with this as a possibility. The world is ours kids! Let's conquer it!

Lots of Love, Tabea ♥ 

CELEBRATING, FAILING & CHEERING UP

Yeay today she's talking about books again! How exciting! Naah actually not, I really just needed a good starter picture for this post, so I won't scare you away, before you even considered reading this. Well I' gonna talk a bit about the book, too, later on but for now I felt like I should just share some other things.  

Today we can celebrate the one month-anniversary of days-in-a-lifetime! Wooop! It's been a great month I can say. I created a lot more than I used to and pressuring myself just that little bit to put up a post every other day really fueled that process.

There's no sunshine without rain though and today I wanna give a shout-out to all those failed DIYs and craft projects. Remember the picture of the painted book the other day? Well, this is what it turned into... 

Gaaaw! What ARE THIS? (I love Jenna Marbles - sorraaay!) I think we can all agree that this was quite a fail. I mean, you can see where I was trying to go with this but ... man ... I just never got there. Sadly I spent most of the last portion of glitter I had lying around which I wanted to save up for something special. There goes that, I guess. Even bigger bummer... Obviously this wasn't the first project ever that didn't come out the way I had imagined it, still this kinda made me a bit mad. Because I wasted that glitter you know? And because I 'wasted' time. Even giving it a do-over (which I'll go for) won't give me that back. 

Which made me think of other things that have made me grumpy these days... Like this for example

Maths. We've been really close friend ever since I'm a junior. I didn't do well on pretty much every test this year. With sucks since I used to be pretty good at maths. In this photo I didn't even show you my own notes, these are my best friend's 'cause mine are just ... yeay not that neatly written I'd say. I got frustrated over the last few months and also I build up a fear of the upcoming final exam (it's tomorrow!). Seriously, I've been freaking out about that for the last weeks! I put in a lot of study time but still felt overwhelmed with new chapters coming up all the time and mistakes I made repeatedly. 

Tonight though I pulled out 'The hundred-year-old-man who climbed out of the window and disappeared' by Jonas Jonasson. I was gonna lend it to my friend and before I stuffed it in my backpack I open up the first pages just f. And there it was again. The quote that I kinda fell in love with back when I read this book some time ago. 

"It is what it is, and it'll be what it'll be." 

Just like that all my problems seemed to be much smaller. Do you ever have those moments when a quote really helps you calm down or cheer up? I realized it doesn't matter that I wasted time on the journal, because in actuality I didn't. I just learned something new. Mistakes make smart, too, you know? And maths. Yeah, I don't how the exam will go tomorrow, but I feel a lot more content about its outcome, whatever it might be. I'll give my best, in the end, it'll be what it'll be anyway.

Jonasson wrote a fanstastic book and I'd really recommend you reading it. But even if you don't, I just felt that there are a lot of people out there who feel like me when it comes to the bigger and smaller obstacles they face in life, so I just wanted to spread some godness to make it all a bit better.  

Also if you feeling a bit down like me today, watch this Video by Meekakitty. She's awesome and I love her voice & message. 

Let's all relax for a bit and be graceful for the problem we DON'T have! Because .. (imagine me singing) .. Alway look on the bright side of life ... (imagine me whisteling) ... 
Lots of Love, Tabea ♥

ON HABITS AND JOHN GREEN BOOKS

Hello there! I hope you all had a great first day of this week  and that those of you out there being on vacation like me enjoyed their time off! 

So yesterday I started reading ' Will Grayson, Will Grayson' by John Green. It's the forth book by him that I read. I already went through 'An Abundance Of Katherines' (I read the german translation), 'Looking For Alaska' and 'Papertowns' (that one I also read in german). I'm not the kind of girl that reads multiple books by the same author, unless they are part of a series. So coming back to Mr. Green for the forth (and probably not last) time made my think about habits and consistency. 

I think habits are the greatest and worst things in life at the same time. During daily life I'm often annoyed by habits since they make me feel like I'm stuck in this routine that is just totally dull and not inspiring at all. Like when I can't get myself to wake up early in the morning to work-out. Or when I come home and check literally all social networks possible (talked about that here). All those things are really just a matter of habit. And that is why they are so hard to get rid of. On the upside though, this is the great thing about habits. You can build them by training yourself. I think that it's such a great thought to actually be able to control your behaviour in such a way.

The training method is relativly easy. Get off your butt and do it. Over and over again - until you get off your butt automatically. Wow, I'm sure I just enlightend somebody. Hahah no, I'm kidding. But seriously, doing something over a longer time will turn into something you do without thinking. My tipps for making this method a bit easier are: 

Use a calendar and check off each day you did the thing you want to become a habit. Share what you do with friends, it's great to have someone else ask how you do or maybe even join you. I did write in my journal for years and it wasn't until last Christmas when I gave my best friend a journal that she started loving it, too, which encourages me even more to keep on going. Reward yourself. the first three to seven days are the hardst when starting something new I find, so I like to get myself a treat when having kept on track for that time. Especially when 'working-out more' is what you want to do, this is a true helper because the actual achievement of a dream body probably won't come until some time later. So eat that ice-cream cone! You deserve it! 

I already said, sometimes I just feel stuck with my life (who doesn't??), so over the course of the last 6 months I changed quite a bit about my habits. I became more serious about journaling again. Not only do I do it on a daily basis, but I also want to focus on emotions more. I was sick of writing the same things every week like 'Today in math we did this..', 'For lunch we had .. and after school the bus was late..' etc. You get the jist. So I really make an effort now to write about how I felt in certain situations. Sometimes it is hard being honest about these things when talking to people, but want to be honest with myself at least. 
Also I spent the month of january developing a work-out routine and for some reason - I'm still working out to this day without some coach kicking my butt. The magic of habits! 

I'm not saying this will work always and for everything. I was gonna get into the habit of art journaling with my 30 day art challenge. Technically I failed on that one already. I don't want to say I didn't have the time (worst excuse ever...) but for me there were thing to be done that had a higher priority. Also I feel like this 'do it on a daily basis' kinda kills my ideas from coming. Usually I work well under pressure but this time.. naah. I will still keep you updated on my journaling this month though. I hope to still get about 30 pages done. 

So yeah, to make a long story short, I love creating new habits and I think everybody should do so as well! It's your life, it's in your hands! Get that new routine going you imagened for so long! Work-out, write on a daily basis or start taking the time to fix yourself a healthy lunch every night to get you through the next day (BEST habit I ever started! I love food...)

Lots of love, Tabea ♥

P.S. Out of the four books I read, Will Grayson is the best - I haven't gotten to the end though and unfortunately those aren't always the best part about John Green books - sorry Mr. Green, love your characters but your ends are always a bit .. flat? Anyway, I just wanted to recommend this band mentioned in Will Grayson to you. They're called Neutral Milk Hotel  and their album In An Airplane Over The Sea is pure genius
! You should all go and check them out and dance and sing crazy to it like I did. I love it. 
If this whole post did not make any sense to you because you have no idea who John Green is... go check him (and his brother) out here!