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Pregnant through the Tuscany – part II

Pregnant through the Tuscany – part II

As I wrote in part one – these holidays would be the best before a new chapter in our life would start.

Ok, the start of these holidays were mainly food and toilets.

I love to eat, I always did, but pregnant I was eating more and was craving fresh and healthy food (mainly) so not the typical pregnancy cravings but the healthier version of them. Especially breakfast, I love breakfast.

Italian Breakfast

Fresh fruit daily, without would have been a nightmare, so it was great that Marzia’s father had his daily walk over the farm and that he stopped by to give us some fresh peaches out of their garden for the bambini.

My daily breakfast was greek yogurt with peaches and while writing about it I could just eat it again although I’m not pregnant.

Greek Yoghurt with Peaches

In Siena we sat on the Piazza del Campo the year before eating Pizza out of the box, just enjoying the sunshine and watching people. This year I preferred the Caprese Con Mozzarella Di Bufala.

Caprese Con Mozzarella Di Bufala

There was lots of food this year but honestly, what would Italy be without food, still nice but something would be wrong. They have so much wonderful food that not eating would be a shame. Besides I had to eat for two now, hadn’t I 😉

I mentioned toilets earlier but don’t worry, all I ate stayed with me, I just had the wonderful pregnancy urge to go to the toilet felt every half an hour. That’s not a big thing when you are at home but it can be really annoying when you are in cities or sometimes even villages and you have to find public (eeewww) toilets. My best friend was a disinfection spray in my bag and wet tissues.

My baby was so wonderful, growing inside of me without bothering me with pregnancy sickness, heartburn, nausea or other pregnancy signs. OK, I had a bit a bloated belly but hey, I had nothing to hide, it looked even a bit like a baby bump.

Baby bump or bloated

It looks even more than a baby bump and not just bloated when you place your hand on your belly 😉

My husband was the happiest daddy-to-be you can even imagine. Our mood was really great and we are often fighting for nothing, two stubborn minds, but during these holidays I cannot remember that we had lots of senseless fights about who bought the wrong water or other life-changing topics.

Parents-to-be seem to be full of oxytocin.

Parents to be

I love stunning views and could sit and look at them for hours just thinking nothing, during these holidays I was loving to sit and just watch the ocean, breathing in the salty air and thinking if our baby would realize the change from Munich to Italy, thoughts what he or she feels, tastes, do embryos taste even at that early stage?

Sunset

Hours could pass like that without me being impatient or bored.

As I’m a bookworm I surely took a book with me to the beach but I think I read if at all the introduction page and the remaining time my thoughts were everywhere but focused on that book.

Book Beach

What I was reading at night was Deepak Chopra’s “Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives: A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy” and I can recommend that to every pregnant woman. I loved it!

We had not only our wedding anniversary but also my husband’s birthday while we were in Italy and I always wanted to visit the archaeological site of Pompeii since I heard the story during my Latin’s lessons in school.

If not this time when then? That surely wouldn’t be something with a baby or toddler so the next years not on our list.

Wedding anniversary in Pompeii, the biggest catastrophe you can imagine not only for couples but for whole families – thanks that we both don’t believe in bad luck or better said will always find the opposite if something is bad.

More about Pompeii in part three – the little embryo is already 13 months old and needs my attention now. I hope you stay with me.

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A happy new year 2014…

A happy new year 2014…

…to all of you out there!!!!

I’m partly back, but as my husband is still with me I will not post too regular during the next two or three weeks.
Whenever we are together the time we have is precious as we know the next weeks of being apart are just around the corner.
The weeks when I’m alone I love to focus on writing as my evenings or weekends give me the time to do so.

But a small update here – we spent a wonderful Xmas time at my parents with lots of food and fun and joy. After Xmas we went to Belgium for two days where we visited a part of my husbands family and welcomed the newest family member who’s just three months old.
We spent nice hours there again with food, fun and joy.
I love how welcome we both feel in the other’s families.

After our return to Munich we prepared our first New Year’s Eve together and enjoyed the fireworks in the middle of Munich – my crazy (mahjnoon) husband dragged me to the Marienplatz and everyone who knows Munich can imagine that it’s not too much fun to stand in the middle of a crowd. It was hard to stand straight with so many people pushing and trying to get closer that I was happy when we left. We walked through the cold night for almost two hours and knew that we have a warm place waiting for us with cake and candles to enjoy this first night/morning of the new year. A perfect start!

Today I started to work again so the normal day to day routine is just a few days away but before that we will spent the weekend in Salzburg and enjoy a bit of wellness, spa and sightseeing.

Hope you all had a wonderful time as well as a good and healthy start in 2014!

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The life of my dreams – how would it be?

The life of my dreams – how would it be?

I think this is one of the questions many ask themselves, how would it be?
Do I want to be rich, do I want to be kind of perfect, do I want a big career, or just a tiny house and lots of children?
If I should answer this question for myself my life would be like that:
First of all I keep my husband in my life, I think that’s a good thing if he’s reading that, and I want him just to stay as he are and I want me to stay the way I am.
To be honest we already have a quite good life, but I would like to make some adjurations.
We need a home!
Not that we’re homeless right now, but a home where we are together most of the time. At the moment he is traveling lots between work and home, so I would dream of less work and more home but with the highest salary.
For my job I would like to switch from a full-time job to a part-time job also with the highest salary and with changing the job itself.
Okay, we are talking about dreaming, wishing how it could be, right?
So we will have a house by the sea in the south of England, obviously completely furnished in our style, including a few amenities like steam bath, Jacuzzi, a mid size garden, enough rooms for us and two kids, as well as one or two guestrooms with bathrooms en suite, a big kitchen and a big living room.
Our second house, yes, I’m not joking, will be exactly like the first one. The style could be a bit more oriental, a few palm trees in the garden and it is built in Libya.
So here we go, to be more realistic I wish Libya to be a calm country where we can spend half of the year while it’s winter in England.
In both houses I dream of having a room for myself with Gardenview where I can sit down quietly to write, to read a book or to start my paintings again.
I dream of less stress in our lives so that we can spend lots of leisure time with our kids and the family.
In between wish – keep all of them healthy and happy for a long, long time!
I wish our bank accounts to be always full with enough money so that we don’t have to worry about things.
I wish to have two kids, and for them I don’t care if it’s a boy and a girl, two boys or two girls, I just want them to be healthy and happy children that are raised in a loving surrounding. So, that they can say one day when they are grown ups, we had a beloved childhood.
I also wish for my husband and me that we stay healthy and are able to see them grow and have children themselves.
If I am dreaming on we are traveling each year to another destination to discover the world.
One of my personal dreams would be also that I am able at one point in time to send a book written by myself to many publishers just to see if I am able to write from a publishers point of view.
A wider view for sure would include a healthy environment, less poverty and a reduction of all the bad things in this world which are so present and which we see daily in the newspapers – no more wars, people living in peace, etc., but I’m not sure if I can heal the world in my dream.
I mainly dream about my small family circle as these are the most important persons for me. Nevertheless I could imagine as well that I don’t just travel to the nicest spots of this world but also see where is need to help. I don’t mean financial help as I haven’t dreamed of the super super lottery jackpot but to maybe volunteer in some well picked help organizations from time to time.
I’m not that selfish and when it comes to my future kids I want them to know that not everyone has lots of luck.
But back to my dream, I exclude parts like which type of car I want to drive as cars are there to get me from A to B, so not too much luxury needed. As long as the motor works in the morning and it’s a safe car I’m happy.
I wish for inner peace, this is something personal as well and I think I will never stop worrying, but to have an inner peace calming me down would be nice.
I wish I could learn it a bit from my husband, he seems often more relaxed than I.

What else do I wish for? Honestly, nothing, as when these dreams would come true I would be happy. Happy like a general happiness. There will always be dreams and wishes and they will change throughout the years but from my current point in life this would exactly be it.

What are you dreaming of?

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How I Went From Shy to Less Shy

How I Went From Shy to Less Shy

How I Went From Shy to Less Shy

I was pushed to it mainly when I started my job.

Before, I wouldn’t say I was too shy but unsure or uncertain in many things.

Still like being the teenager and not an adult so how to argue with them about something which they should know better just because they live longer.

Also when meeting new people, it’s not that I was totally quiet but I was holding back with my opinion in first place and even more with private stories. You never know if they may talk you over or try to use it against you.

The lack of self esteem is something normal at an younger age I believe, at least it was the case for me, but when I had to take ownership for my work I was quickly getting more and more confident.

Not only in business where you develop a kind of knowledge about your business but also for me as private person. Part of my job was and still is to work with people around the world and its not a fixed team for the next ten years, no, it’s changing, sometimes very quickly.

New team members, new staff hired, new clients, things and people are moving and to adapt to this world you need to develop a style of getting along with all these changes and cultural differences.

I can never expect that one client is working as the other and for my internal staff I realize that for example the hungarian team member is not working exactly in the same way as the israelian is even if it is exactly the same job.

To be honest, I like it, it’s sometimes driving me crazy but most of the time I’m happy to be in the position to meet so many different persons. I learned a lot for my life even if some tasks like holding a speech in front of several persons was scaring me in the beginning.

Learning while doing is the best for me as you have to go through it and I can say that it was always a lesson learned for me and I was proud when it went good. So no reason to be scared, you will be proud afterwards when it went fine and if not you will have learned what to change for the next time.

Another important part for me was to get used to write and talk English as this is the main language in my business. When I started I had my school English plus a few books I read, nowadays I’m talking as if I never did anything else, this may not be perfect and there may be mistakes but I’m neither an English teacher nor a native speaker, so as long as the main part is good and people are able to understand what I’m saying or writing I’m fine.

Why do I name this post “…from shy to less shy” – am I only less shy?

You could assume I’m not shy at all now but the truth is, I’m still a bit shy and it’s good that way. But it’s something I know, I’m pretty good in hiding it so that most of the people are not realizing that part. It’s not visible, it’s like my inner shield telling me to be cautious or careful. I’m not the one talking about every single moment of my life as long as I don’t know the person in front of me. Sometimes not even when I knew them better for good reasons, as we all know not all people are nice just because they act in a nice way and I never was the person who wants to be topic during lunch for others.

The less I talk about me, the less they have to talk about me.

Only a well picked small circle of friends knows how I am really and they don’t even know everything – that’s enough.

I learned to never arm people with information to use it against me one day. But what counts the most as always is to stay yourself and to be authentic.
Keep the faith and take care!

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My favorite…body oil

My favorite…body oil

When I went to Parrot Cay back in 2008 we stayed at the Como Shambhala Resort on this island and that was the first time I got into contact with their own beauty series.
Besides the fact that I like almost all products my absolutely favorite is the “Como Shambhala Invigorate Body Oil”.
The scent is seducing, it’s a mixture of several essential oils, biological ingredients and it is smelling like a spa version of mainly lavender, sweet almond, peppermint and eucalyptus.
When the bottle was empty I was searching on how to buy it being back in Germany. As a shipment from the Turks and Caicos islands wasn’t my first thought. It’s not too cheap and I didn’t want to pay a fortune on it. Google helped and I haven’t expected that there is really a shop in Munich selling it. Lucky me! I don’t use it daily, it is something special and thats how I treat it. A 100ml bottle is lasting several months, sometimes I just pour a few drops into my body lotion which is neutral, this is a nice way to save it for a longer period.
But for all who want to try it also, my best tip is the following webpage: http://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/
This page is addictive as you find products there which are not available everywhere and this is something I like.
They don’t sell the body but the massage oil which is even better (ingredients are exactly the same). I just rub a bit onto my skin and the scent is surrounding you within seconds. For me always a short time-out and also nice to calm down before I sleep. I love this scent!

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How to spend the weekend?

How to spend the weekend?

How to spend the weekend_ (1)
I’m over thirty and I love relaxed weekends, am I old now?

Not sure how you think about it but since one to two years I’m glad if weekends are completely free and I don’t have to go anywhere unless I choose to. I use the time to sleep and no to party.

If working weeks were tough and took most of your time it’s a pleasure to know that two days will follow to just “do” nothing.

Sure, doing nothing is not possible but what I mean is only doing things which I like and where’s no stress behind.

I for instance I like to sleep long, so dates for a breakfast which many like so much are a hassle for me. Instead of putting me into weekend dates I rather wake up late, stroll in my sleeping gown through my flat with a coffee in my hand to slowly wake up. I may start the dishwasher or the washing machine, clean up a bit but all this done in slow motion. And to have still enough hours to read, write, go for a walk, do the food shopping is calming my mind. More preferable than curing the headaches from the night before, at least for me.

Who made the rule that weekend shopping should be done before lunch time? Instead of standing in a row to be next at the cash point I prefer to go in the afternoon when everyone else is preparing the night out.

I’m a “dinner” eater, means I’m mostly cooking late and eat only small things throughout the day. It fits into the work week because I wouldn’t be able to prepare a lunch each day and instead of eating fast food I start during the evening. Some would say that’s not healthy or eating after six o’clock will make you fat. I haven’t discovered any lack so far and I’m more than far away from overweight. Snuggling up on the couch with a cup of self-made soup is what I like so much more than running through the days to meet one appointment after the other.

I spent lots of time with thinking, planning, and writing but also with listening to music, meditation, watching DVDs and conversations. Heading to concerts or clubs would be stress to me nowadays.

It’s sounding as if the poor MisssFaith is a lonely person. No, it’s not like that, I just surround myself with persons I like and who are thinking at least in the same direction as me.

You could call it a well-sorted inner circle, that takes time but it’s worth the effort but that’s another topic.

Fortunately all of my close friends and family are similar to what I like. I can call a friend at eleven pm and we just talk for two hours. The following Sunday’s are starting late as well and except of the visit to supermarkets the schedule is similar.

I try to focus as best as even possible to avoid stress factors (they are hunting me quite enough during weekdays). And besides of being at least two days relaxed it has the nice side effect that I really like it to go out once in a while. Because it’s special and not my usual way of spending the free time but also because I’m not bored then.

There was a time where I was totally bored because it were always the same persons, the same location, the same food and most worst the same small talk.

Pretty awesome that this ended and I’m honestly a tiny bit proud that I went out of this reoccurring circle. My life is now more comfortable, finding inner peace instead of crowded places, and yes, maybe more adult, haha.

Enjoy your weekend however you like it best.

MisssFaith