Have you ever wished that a day had more than 24 hours? Or that your house would magically clean itself? Yes?  Then congratulations, you are perfectly human! Lucky you, cause if you were superhuman I would be seriously jealous right now. I think I would most definitely pass on other superpowers like flying, extra strength, or being unbreakable, if I could only get more stuff done in less time. Either way, what I’m trying to say is that getting life done requires some serious strategy and tricks up your rolled-up sleeves. Here is a collection of some easy strategies that I have developed over the past years that help me juggle life as a full-time working, part-time creative, neat-freakish, active person, and loving mother. (more…)

So, there has obviously been a lack of blogging here lately. Time is not an issue, we have always had too little time and still have. Or as Lincoln likes to put it: You can never have too much thyme. The reason for the absolute newslessness is simple and ridiculous at the same time. After all the extremely busy and eventful craziness in the past three years, the past four months just seemed too boring to report about. We have basically just been living, getting settled, working, keeping a big household, being a family, and waiting for summer. Sounds like a lot and still is something, right? But after migrating, getting married multiple times, moving a few times, having our first baby, and so on, I feel like I need to have news like we are expecting triplets or win the lottery in order to top that.

Anyway, I think I have to readjust my vision to see the smaller things as something big enough to write about again. Really, there is only nothing to write about, if you sleep all day and night with no vivid dreams and ear plugs in. Therefore I set this new year’s resolution now and today: I will try to blog once a week. From this day forward. Through better or worse. ‘Til me forgetting my wordpress password do us part. Even if it’s just a photo or video upload.

Cheers and happy new summer!

It seems like only a few days have passed since Milo was a tiny and helpless baby. Today in this new year he is such a grown infant who is taking anything but baby steps towards becoming an active participant in this world.

Just three weeks ago he lost most of his baby hair and now his brand new thicker hair is already a quarter inch long. His deadly grip has gotten even stronger and whenever he gets hold of two adult fingers, he pulls himself up to a sitting or standing position. We used to be able to just lean him against the back of the sofa to mind our business for a few minutes, but now that he discovered his abs, he comes to a sitting position within a minute, eventually kisses his feet, and rolls to the side. Now Milo plays contently with all his toys for hours. He paralyzes the toy with his eyes, then quickly grabs it with both hands, and shoves it in his mouth, looks at it once more, and shoves it back into the mouth.

Since Milo can sit in his high chair now and used to get really jealous about us eating dinner, we started giving him some oatmeal. Most of it – if not all – still ends up on his bib, but he is having a blast with the mess.

This year is going to be a big one for Milo. Not much longer and he will be unstoppable exploring the world. He will move into his own room and be our little big boy. So many people say that they miss their tiny newborn baby and are sad seeing the kids grow up so fast. But honestly, as cute as he was as a newborn, I love seeing him grow up. I’m honored to be there with him in every new thing he learns. Seeing him grow up and learn so fast makes me nothing but proud.

My friend Magdalena regularly sends me a good magazine from Germany. It is called Neon and reports about topics that are of interest for people between 20 and 30. While there is one shallower section about fashion and lifestyle, it is more geared toward the educated crowd with a university degree and has sections on society, world, practical tips for every day life, love, work, friends, culture, etc. – overall a nice mix of interesting topics and I always enjoy reading it.

In the last issue there was an article about “Do you have the right job?”. It asked whether you are satisfied with what you are doing, if you should change your employer, and which are the factors that determine happiness with a job. (more…)

Schon seit einigen Wochen hatte ich eine neue E-Mail im Anschlag und heute bin ich heilfroh, dass ich sie nie verschickt habe. Denn im Gegensatz zu dem, was ich heute schreiben kann, wäre sie regelrecht depressiv ausgefallen. Vor einem Monat war ich so niedergeschlagen, dass Lincoln mir freiwillig und umsonst tausende Nadeln in die Haut gestochen hat. Nach all dem Drama mit Einwanderung, Eingewöhnung, Joblosigkeit und allgemeiner Wirtschaftsflaute, war ich gegen Anfang Dezember mit meiner ganzen Kraft mal so richtig am Ende. (more…)