Love can cross borders

Love can cross borders,

even more,

love opens a new door for you

to discover life – trust and

start the journey,

not many are blessed

to take this chance.

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My husband & my best friend

My husband & my best friend

My husband & my best friend (1)

My husband and my best friend are one and only person.

I truly believe that this is the key for a good relationship.
We are not only husband and wife, we are also best friends.

There’s nothing I’m afraid of telling him. In good times and in bad times, I think that’s the most important part of it. Whenever there is something happening to him or to me we are calling each other and telling each other the news.

I want him to be the first person to know whatever is going on in my life, and fortunately he’s thinking the same way.

I not only love him, no, I trust him, I rely on him, I adore him, I laugh with him, I cry with him, I just want him to be around and to be the most important part of my life.
There are for sure many couple things we are doing together, grocery shopping, candlelight dinners in the evening, serious couple talking or future planning, building up our home, holding hands while strolling through the park, visiting the family and helping each other through tough times.

But there are on the other side also many friend things we are doing together, like sitting in a coffee gossiping about people walking by, chatting about nonsense the whole evening long, watching movie after movie and eating unhealthy things, clothes shopping (even shoe shopping although he is a man) or just sitting on the couch and talking for hours.

The time I spend with him is the most precious time in my life, even if we are fighting from time to time about stupid things, every second belongs to us and this is what I love most.

Whoever said that relationships have to be totally serious is wrong. Most important from my point of view is that you have to find the balance, the balance between being serious as a couple but also having lots of fun.

For sure if you’re tying the knot this is serious, but just because we are now husband and wife doesn’t mean that our personalities changed completely, we are still allowed to laugh out loud when we want to and to take life just as it is.
All facets of life should be displayed in a married life as well. We go through fun times and through sad times, we act serious and not serious, we behave like adults and we behave like children, and if you found the person where you can be all at once without getting a serious or a strange look, then you can be sure that you found it, the love you were looking for.

Keep it safe, hold onto it even if times are hard, it is a gift and it is so unique.
Many out there trying to search for it, they sometimes lose sight of the importance and search for something perfect and get frustrated because they’re not able to find it.
It will find you!

But it will only find you when you stop searching and if you get a way of wanting something perfect, it will never be perfect. It just can’t be perfect because we are humans. I’m truly convinced that these relationships happen by accident, accident in the best sense of the word accident. They hit you when you’re not expecting it. That’s the surprise of the meant to be.

Nobody ever told me that I have to go through so many struggles before this happens, but in the end I can say all these struggles were worth it. We found each other without searching and that was the best thing that happened to us. Now it’s our task to keep it going and we will give the best in us for the future.
Stay faithfully and never stop hoping!

 

Insanity or just a bride to be?

Insanity or just a bride to be?

Did you ever plan a wedding?
My wedding ticker on the web is telling me “31 days to go”. And yes, you got it, I have a wedding ticker. Is that still me?!?
I tried to look at myself and what I’m up to during these days and realized that I am one of these brides I was joking about before. If you would have asked me how to marry the clear answer was in the same second “just a tiny formal celebration and then off to honeymoon”. Where is this woman now?
I catch myself being more on google and wedding web pages than sleeping.
And I start to make these noises. You know, these bride noises when she’s looking at something soooo cute, like “Aaaaaah” and “Ooooooh”, which means “I need that too!”
My husband to be is already asking me almost daily if we are still within the budget. Me, the one who tried to save where possible, seeing myself thinking about wedding bubbles where the price is three times higher than for normal ones.
Is that phenomenon normal or is it just me going insane?
But at least I’m still able to judge properly and I don’t know how exactly but yes, I kept the budget (so far).
31 days and while the day is getting closer I seem to relax mainly. Mainly because my subconsciousness seems to have another sight. A few days ago I woke up and knew that I dreamt of an awful wedding but luckily I wasn’t able to recall details.
As nice and perfect as a wedding should be, it’s a bit scary too, isn’t it? It’s not that I have doubts, not at all. It’s more than sure that I will say “Yes, I do!”, I mean the whole day. Will it be like we want it to be? Do we have higher expectations than what’s possible? And how will I survive my speech? Yes, the bride’s speech. Which is unusual, I know, but I said I will do it and now I have to. No way back. Just because I did it more than often in my job doesn’t mean I will get a word out on my wedding day – this was my personal misjudging. Here we go, the bride will look like a zombie while crying and trying to finish a sentence in front of all. I have to rehearse before but it will never reflect the situation…lets hope I’m doing it at least with not too many tears and interruptions.
For the time being I’m just happy that almost everything is prepared and planned so I have around 20 days to calm down. How to do that best? Any tips – they are more than welcome.
Still faithfully,
Miss Faith

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Wedding traditions

Wedding traditions

Which wedding traditions do we want on our wedding day and what is completely not our style?
There are so many typical things and some are even “expected” by guests but what we decided is to make our day as comfortable for us as we want it.
So here’s a list of traditions we will/may have:

– the husband is not allowed to see the bridal gown before the wedding day! That’s for sure.
– the wedding kiss – maybe even double as my husband could kiss my forehead also as this is more convenient to him.
– something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
– the husband has to be at the registry office or the place where the wedding will take place before the bride arrives. My dad will guide me into the room.
– a little girl which will bring the wedding bands to the couple
– flower petals, this is a maybe as we have to check first if it is allowed.
– cutting the wedding cake
– witnesses, even if they aren’t officially needed nowadays. They will be his uncle and my dad. Quite nice as we have a Libyan tradition inserted where both, bride and groom, have an older married man as witness.
– gifts for the bride’s parents, sisters and brothers from the groom and vice versa (means from the bride to the groom’s family)
– to feed each other as sign of the caring for each other. It can be milk, dates or the first piece of the wedding cake.
– carry the wife over the threshold.
– a morning giving

What we for sure don’t want:

– spending the night before the wedding apart.
– hen night
– dancing
– bridesmaids
– kidnapping the bride
– a penny in the shoe, I will wear sandals
– wedding newspaper
– doves
– games
– veil dance

The list may grow on on both sides, I have the feeling as if we are still at the beginning of our planning although many things are prepared or planned already.
If you have nice ideas please which aren’t listed here please share them – at least the bride can never get enough hints and tips on what’s possible…

Greetings from the bride to be, Miss Faith

The Wedding Wish Jar

The Wedding Wish Jar

I read a few weeks ago about a nice idea for the wedding party.
The wedding wish jar, comes from the US, and is a glass where guests put little notes in on which they pin down wishes, tips, nice words for the newlyweds.
We are not connected to the US at all but I want this jar on my wedding as I like the idea.
It’s even nice to say we take it with us on honeymoon afterwards to read in peace what our guests wrote and recap like this the happiness from our wedding day.
That’s our wedding wish jar, which hopefully soon is filled with lots of notes.

Faithfully, the wedding Miss maniac bride Faith

Wedding maniac

Wedding maniac

My intention was to write posts during my days off around Easter and what happened?
Google seems to be my best friend nowadays and I spent time on thousands of bridal dress pages, wedding tradition pages, wedding planning pages, wedding…pages.
Here comes the wedding maniac – that’s the new nick name my husband to be gave me shortly.
But that’s how women are, isn’t it. I would be scared if I’m not planning and checking and organizing and and and – I told him he has to appreciate it as a sign of my love for him and to have the day planned as best as possible 😉

I promise to try my best and write ‘updates’ from time to time.
Faithfully, Wedding maniac formerly Miss Faith

What I Would Say To My 20-Year Old Self?

What I Would Say To My 20-Year Old Self?Now obviously this won’t work if you’re younger than twenty (although feel free to change the age to suit), but what would you advise yourself if you could go back in time? What mistakes, errors, decisions and more would you change if given the chance? Would you change at all?
I read the question some time ago in a magazine and pinned it down to think about it. What would I advise and would I do it at all? Was my life exactly like I wanted it to be so far or were there major mistakes, times I regret totally?
If I’m honest it wasn’t always like I wished it would have been – I don’t know if there are really persons who could say everything was perfect at any time. But on the other hand, even if there were times I never wish back, they made me the person I am today. Don’t we have to make mistakes to discover ourselves? I think we have to as otherwise we would never be able to judge for ourselves what’s right and what’s wrong. Learning never was easy, so why should growing up be?
If it comes to every single emotional experience it was important to live it and feel it, even if it was painfully sometimes.
But what about style and fashion? In this case I would say to my 20-Year old self not to try out curly short hair, never cut it too short as you will regret it for sure. These fat heels were never nice even if people want to tell you this right now, don’t buy them! Ah, and nobody needs a fake diamond on a front tooth, it may be hip for some but you just ruin your tooth.
And what about drinks and food? Here I would have also a few recommendations. Never have too much Ouzo, believe me, you can’t stand it and will end up drinking liters of plain water as if you crossed the desert. On the other hand you are always staying away from cinnamon, this doesn’t make sense as it will take just a few more years until you will love it, so why not to give the yummy taste a try right now?
As you see, I may be able to recommend and give some hints and tips but only about kind of unimportant things in life. If it comes to the seriously important experiences, we all have to go through them on our own and I would rather regret to beware my 20-Year old self of one of them than giving her the back up that everything will be all right in the end.
The 35-Year old can assure to the 20-Year old that the next fifteen years won’t be all fun and easy going but they are worth it to move forward and stand up whenever you feel that you were knocked down by life.Good luck and cheers from Miss Faith

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Stay with me…always!

Stay with me…always!Another stay…has come to an end…
For almost the whole last month we had time together, my husband was back home here with me and we had lots of things to plan. The wedding should take place in August and we will not be able to have an actual date until all our documents are submitted in May and reviewed by the German registry office.
Nevertheless we should have a plan in place by then on how to organize things quickly as we cannot move the wedding to a later date – all docs have to be ‘not older than six months’.
Besides I was working full time this time and had no holidays in between as these vacation days are also needed in August and September. A tough time where we had small fights due to me being stressed and nervous from work but even more lovely moments until deep in the nights.
You want to spend as much time as possible together and therefore the evenings were extended up to two or sometimes even later in the night. Snuggling up in front of a movie, talking, eating, just time for us. The result is a major lack of sleep and the knowing that it won’t be easier with every goodbye. No, it’s getting worse. I thought we will get used to it to be apart and then back together but the truth is that I can’t wait for the day when we have one home where we both belong to without saying goodbye for two months.
This evening is kind of strange as I’m back to the being alone status and I don’t like it.
Skype will be started later on and no more real hugs and kisses.
I will start to write more again during the next weeks now, at least this is time filled with sense and I know my love will read it over there.

Stay faithful!

Wedding brainstorming – part I

Wedding brainstorming – part IMy mind is crowded during these days with everything related to our planned wedding.
A wedding is exciting but what do you think a binational wedding is? I didn’t thought that it’s so hard to plan as you need to keep in mind the timeframe.
Biggest problem for us will be the final date.
As long as all personal documents from my future husband are under review we just can stay calm and wait for a reply. This reply is essential for the further planning as it could be good, means everything is ok and we can go ahead and schedule a date, but it could also be that we have to bring something additional and the whole package has to be send in again for a review.
As not even one of these papers has to be older than six month we are facing a tight schedule.
What does it mean exactly? It means we have to plan a whole wedding within a half year but we won’t be sure until around eight weeks before the wedding if it could really take place or if we have to start the whole process again.
Did someone ever planned a wedding within six month? I think that’s already a challenge but what about eight weeks?
The main problem is that we cannot invite someone more than eight weeks before as we will not have a date. And who will be able to confirm his or her attendance without exact dates?
Therefore we have no clue how many guests we will have, how much food we need or which location will fit.
A wedding planner will quit his job at this stage as its almost impossible to book a location within eight weeks unless you don’t care about how it looks like. I do care! The last I want for my wedding is a crappy location. To get out of this challenge we said we will have a small intimate celebration with just family and best friends around so that all will fit in the garden of my parents house.
This plan was nice until some became aware of our upcoming wedding.
The draft guest list went from around twenty five to fourth five within a couple of weeks.
It seems as if our loved ones are sure they will be able to attend without knowing a date, which is causing us the next problem. My parents garden is really so nice but it’s not a park!
Where to start and where to stop now? I have no idea, my fiancé will be here with me in a few days and I can’t wait to discuss all these things with him face to face instead of talking on Skype with interrupted connections from time to time.
Until then I try to stay calm and stop thinking too much. Everything happens for a reason and I believe in it even when reality let me struggle from time to time. As long as I can think it was fine in the end.
Faithfully, Miss Faith

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How to be a real and true friend

How to be a real and true friendWhat are the most important things in real friendship and how can friendships last?
Many pretend to have hundreds of friends but are these real ones?
I cannot believe it as from my point of view a friendship is a relationship growing over the years and we have to “work” on it. Trust is one of the basics as is honesty. We all haven’t just happy days and the phrase “in good and in bad times” is not only valid for marriage. Real friends are the ones who smile and laugh with you and not about you and who are not ashamed of sharing tears with you when times are not good. They share their last piece of bread and invite you for dinner when you ran out of money or food.
But only taking is no friendship, you have to act the same way.
We are living in a stressful world and what I appreciate about my real friends is that regardless of when we had the last meeting or phone call we stay friends – it’s like having spoken the day before even if it were two or three months and nobody is angry as we understand that all of us have enough to do and are sometimes just too tired to pick up the phone and dial a number.
When meeting friends face to face focus on them, you scheduled a date to have them around you so the worst you can do is focussing on something else or talking only about yourself. If you want to be friends you have to be one yourself.
Selfish or not interested persons are the ones without real friends at the end because no one can bare to be put in the background on every occasion.
Sure there are times when one or the other has more to talk about and it’s normally regulated by life but as soon as you realize that the topics are always about others and never about what you experience, feel or go through it’s time to think it over.
Either you are able to discuss it honestly and maybe the other person just didn’t realize and promises to change and be more attentive or it’s time to say goodbye.
I said goodbye last year to a few and after almost one year without them I can say, I don’t miss anyone. Even better, I’m truly happy to have no contact any longer because there are so-called friends who can eat you up and suck your energy. These are the ones to kick out as soon as you realize as they don’t do any good thing in your life, they just live in their little world and suggest themselves as the key of the universe.
Going seriously to your list of friends and decide who is worth to move forward with and who not is a great thing. Free yourself from negative persons and surround yourself with the true and real ones.
I rather end up with just a few real friends instead of having many fake ones!

Keep the faith, Miss Faith!

A wedding in Greece 2009

A wedding in Greece 2009
You are getting more memories about the travels in my life.
One amazing and completely unexpected was attending a wedding in Greece. I didn’t knew either bride or groom. My best friend from childhood days called me a few weeks prior to the wedding date and asked me to accompany him. He was invited by them to their wedding in her home town and didn’t want to go alone. A nice surprise as it was more than a welcome for me. I hadn’t planned any holidays and to go to Greece for five days was a good plan. Two other friends of him travelled there also and we decided upfront not to stay for the two days but to stay one week and hire a car. Mid September promised to have nice weather and it turned out to be true.
We four met at Thessaloniki airport and from first sight it was clear that we like each other and will make the best out of this short stay.
The couple was awaiting us at the hotel reception to give us the time schedule for the wedding days and they were so lovely. Since a long time a couple I met which was truly meant to be together. For the first night we just picked a small local restaurant and ordered a mix of different local dishes – try it if you ever go to Greece – it was delicious and not our last visit to a local restaurant. For the next evening the eve-of-the-wedding-party was planned where I’m not entirely sure if it was German or Greek or both’s traditions. It was a mix of cultures with the typical throwing crockery but also live music to dance the sirtaki, greek barbecue and German music, people talking without knowing the same language, an amazing evening or night to remember. But it was only the start. The big wedding was on the next day and fortunately not starting in the morning as we all were a bit sleepy. After a long and big breakfast the women were getting their hair done by an extra ordered stylist whereas most of the men went for a nap on the beach.
When all were ready we drove to a small Greek-orthodox church in the middle of a tiny village. It was so small that not even all guests were able to stay inside during the ceremony but that was handled easily. Doors just left open and from outside you still heard partly how the ceremony was conducted. But before we all including the stylish groom were waiting for the bride to arrive. The stylish groom? He was wearing a shiny light blue suit with a solver belt and silver shoes. Sounds weird but it was first suiting him and second to know he bet with the bride to surprise her with an unnormal outfit and she wasn’t believing him. So the moment they met in front of the church was lots of laughter and also lots of love flowing between them. The ceremony itself was held in Greek but was nice to watch. After that lots of rice was “raining” on the newlyweds which is still allowed there. I learned that its forbidden in Germany because the doves are eating too much of it and then kind of explode afterwards. And then the party started. You an say about Greek people what you like but one thing they absolutely can is celebrating. Even the oldest stayed until late at night and danced the Sirtaki. I can’t remember when I danced the last time a whole night long but this night was great. And after all the different courses of the menu also a good thing, some may take Ouzo as digestives, I prefer the Sirtaki. Many ended up after lots of ouzo and dancing to go for a swim in the early still dark morning hours which amused the rest of us. We went to bed around five in the morning which was a clear sign that the wedding was a full success not only for the bride and groom but also for the guests.
The few days we stayed afterwards were great relaxation and a bit of visiting heritage sites in Greece. I still have a reminder in my flat from this wedding as the bride was giving me one of a few olive branch crowns. She explained that her task is to give them to the persons she wants to get a special portion of luck in future and even if we met just a few days before she decided that I’m one of them. I was honored and this crown has now a place in flat, I keep it there as a reminder of this wonderful stay. Amazon.de Widgets

Thanks to Anna and Dino!

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My ten guilty Pleasures

10 guilty pleasures

My ten guilty Pleasures

I read an article about guilty pleasures and tried to put a list of mine together. It’s not as easy as I thought in first place but in the end I succeeded.

1. Shoes&bags

Seems as if I’m a typical woman but honestly, it was the first coming to my mind. And seeing my lack of space for them it has to be true. I already sorted out shoes I’ve never worn but still can’t walk by a shop taking at least a glimpse.

2. Cake

…with lots of cream on top and I melt away. Ok, I have luckily no weight problem at all but sometimes I feel a bit guilty because we all know that fresh fruits or vegetables are the better food and too much sweet stuff isn’t healthy but if you put a piece in front of me I can barely resist.

3. Sleeping long

When I hear friends or colleagues they think sleeping until ten a.m. is long. No, I mean really long, which is lunch time or even worse. From time to time I feel a bit guilty here as well as the early morning hours are really nice especially in summer when it’s not yet too hot and the sun is rising over the city but these moments are not too often seen by me. And if seen just because I just went to bed by then. I’m a real night owl and wouldn’t I have a job which forces me to sit on my desk in the morning I would switch my life to the night hours. When everything is quiet outside I’m active and also productive. Most inspiration is hitting me in the middle of the night.

4. Hot chocolate with cream

Another sweet stuff. But what is more calming on a cold winter day? I also like tea but the hot chocolate is the yummiest.

5. Romantic movies

Oh yes, I’m a totally romantic. Give me everything from Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Brontë but also new romantic comedies. I’ll watch them all and can’t get enough of it. Why a guilty pleasure? Because sometimes the feeling hits me and I start to think if I’m getting stupid with only watching stuff like this. Where are the high intelligence movies with so much deep sense in them? But then I quickly decide I don’t need them. Most of the movies I watch are in original language means English, so that is already a proof for me not to be too dumb headed. And even if not in original – who cares, it’s one of my pleasures and I love it!

6. Magazines

Women magazines, this pleasure started to get worse when I began to travel so much for my job. What else should you do while waiting for the next flight? Ok, many are working during waiting hours and I had my laptop with me but after already eight or more hours at work I decided for myself it’s time to calm down the mind. And for sure these magazines are also feeding my pleasure topics one, seven and eight with lots of information about what’s new, what’s a must have, what to try soon and maybe to stop by the duty free to catch something.

7. Buying clothes

Here I’m really guilty! I started a few weeks ago to clean up my wardrobe and what I realized is really insane. Do you also have double and triple layers of shirts, pullovers and many other stuff? Every style and every shade of my fav colors is present, long sleeve, short sleeve, no sleeve, print on and without print, lengths varying, in the end far too much. I have two wardrobes, a small one and a big one and both were completely full. What I promised to my fiancé is to empty the smaller one for him and I’m not yet there. At least I’m improving as I see free space now. But only because I want to minimize the amount doesn’t mean the fashion industry stops designing and selling. My aim is now to only buy one new piece after I took out at least five old ones.

8. Beauty products

Yep, creams, body lotions, make up, nail polish, perfume, I love it all! And they promise to make me looking brighter, shiny, rosy, tanned, young, sun kissed, natural, so I have to try if it’s true. Who doesn’t want to get the most out of the own beauty and smelling like an exotic jungle queen, an erotic lady, a sporty women or like a flower. And samples are not making it better, some even worse if the result is great and then you realize how expensive the original product is and that you are not buying it. This is a guilty pleasure circle as you will find more products each day. Some are now in my daily use and for all those thousands others just send me samples, haha, I promise to give them a try!

9. My two unique tattoos

To list them as ‘guilty’ pleasure is strange because they belong to me nowadays like my right leg or my nose. But there were a few short moments before I decided to get them under my skin where I was thinking if it is something where I feel guilty in the end. Getting a tattoo is a decision which is not reversible. At least not easily reversible. My fear, which vanished quickly, was to be stamped. But who would stamp me, only people who don’t know me, my life, my way of thinking, so I don’t care. I love them! They are what I am.

10. Staying up too long

This may be a reason for number three. I am a person who has to force herself to sleep. It’s not that I’m insomniac, not at all. I lay down and normally it doesn’t take two minutes and I’m in the land of dreams. It’s more that I like the nights. It’s silent, it’s dark, and it’s the time to focus just on myself. No phone is ringing, no emails are dropping in, I have free time to do whatever I like to do. There are so many things I like during the night. Writing is one of them, but also watching old black and white movies on TV, putting a mask on my hair, reading, having candle light around me which only shows its full beauty when it’s dark outside, checking the web and read stories there or shop online and just let my thoughts run in every direction, getting inspired, making notes of things I want to do or to see. I’m completely calming down but with my mind fully awake. Sleeping would also calm me down but I would miss the hours to think about my life. So I feel guilty because I have a lack of sleep and then I feel guilty because I slept so long the next day but in the end it’s what I am.