new routines

Hi all!

Another week has passed, damn I somehow can't manage to blog more than once a week at the moment.

 It's because of work and the household and all these other things that are part of daily life. I have new routines and everything is a bit more structured again now. I love to blog but I also spend my spare time doing martial arts again. It's time consuming but I missed it and really enjoy being back to training. I'm also back to the Weight Watchers Online programme because I flipped the switch and want to go back to my feel good weight.

Let's talk martial arts first.

Some of you might remember that I used to go to Wing Tsun training at least once a week in Germany. Shortly before I came to Australia my trainer decided to move on and learn some more himself, so the class was history anyway.

When I came to Perth I realised how much I missed doing martial arts. I had enjoyed doing it before and it had given me confidence, self-esteem and of course physical fitness. I really wanted all of this back, so as soon as I was financially stable again I started looking for a new challenge.

I eventually chose a Mixed Martial Arts school not far from our house where they don't teach Wing Tsun but Muay Thai and Kali Sikaran.

Muay Thai is also known as thai boxing and focuses on clinch boxing, punching and kicking. Kali Sikaran is a form of Filipino stick and knife fighting combined with elements from kickboxing.

Both fighting forms were completely new to me (resp. still are) but it's fun, a perfect stress release and helps me get in shape again too.

I usually go to the classes twice a week, one day Muay Thai and one day Kali, but I ideally want to go twice a week for each. That means four days a week one hour training after work. I still have to get used to the new routine but after only three weeks I can already see how beneficial it is for my body and mind.

//shirt: new yorker // top: vero moda // necklace: accessorize // bag: ebay // belt: l.a. golden // jeans: only // shoes: minnetonka //

Next let's talk weight!

I have gained a good 3-4 kilos in the last four months (that's exactly the time I've been in Australia now). I'm not even surprised! There were just too many new foods to try and three months of unemployment let the laziness enter my life. The other day I finally stepped on the scale again after ages (we don't have a scale at home) and almost fainted. I decided it's enough now! Some years ago I had lost 15 kilos and now I have gained 10 of them back - no thank you!

I registered with Weight Watchers again because it has worked for me before. I count points, I eat low carb and high protein meals, I am much more aware of what I eat again - and all of this is beneficial for my health too. I have only brought a limited selection of clothing for my year abroad and I don't want to grow out of them because I can't afford to buy it all new in bigger sizes.

So much for new routines.

I sometimes still can't believe how healthy my life is now. No cigarettes, (almost) no alcohol, lots of fruit and veggies - it's the complete opposite of the life I lived at home in Germany.

It's all a matter of attitude and will power, I know. However I have to admit it's so much easier when you make a cut and start from scratch again like I did when I left my old life behind and came to Perth to see what the future holds for me. Crucial turning points in life can be healthy if you take them with the right attitude. I wasn't even aware of this until now that's it's four months later! It's crazy...

Sometimes I miss having beers and cigarettes with my friends like I used to when we went out in Düsseldorf. That was just part of the fun! But then again I have fun here too, it's just a different (healthier) kind of fun.

I can't wait to see where all of this will lead me. It's such an upheaval phase of my life! It's exciting and scary and challenging and uncertain. It will be an adventure to find out what life has planned next for me.

Anyways, I should stop rambling now.
It's getting late and I have to prepare healthy snacks for tomorrow.
Have a good day lovelies!

the giants

Hello loves!

I know this should be a Valentine's Day post because the blogosphere is full of belated ones right now, BUT screw Valentine's Day because I have something better: art! I also don't celebrate Valentine's Day and forgot to prepare something romance-themed for the blog.

So art it is instead. Big art. Giant art. The Giants!

The Giants are two huge puppets brought to the Perth International Arts Festival by the French mechanical marionette street theatre company Royal De Luxe.

If you are interested in the whole background story you can find an article about it here.

The Giant Little Girl and the Giant Diver roamed the streets of Perth last Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They each walked different routes through the city and surprised the audience with actions like riding a giant scooter, taking a giant wee in the street or taking a giant shower before going to sleep in a giant bed. Pretty gigantic huh?!

Their strolls were always accompanied by a parade of musicians, volunteer helpers and of course the puppeteers (all dressed in red velvet in over 30°C by the way).

Jarryd and I went to see the Giants on Sunday on their last day of performance and it seemed all of Perth was there to say farewell - oh boy, it was so crowded!

Also the people sadly were a bit aggressive about having the best spot and view on the sidewalk and got a bit too snappy so that I spent most of the time telling these idiots to leave me the f*** alone. I moved back and forth to not have everyone's head in my pictures and as soon as I moved people around me were like "Don't you dare blocking my view, I've been here since 8 in the morning!" It was exhausting and made me really angry, ggrrrr....

The parade was still fun though and I was able to enjoy watching the giant puppets walk around regardless.

In the very end they shot confetti rain and vintage postcards into the air and I picked one up as a souvenir because this is something I'll probably never see again in my life: guys in red velvet suits operating giant lifelike puppets in the name of art. Crazy!

Afterwards we headed to La Veen Coffee and Kitchen, one of my favourite places in the city, to rest a bit and fuel up with coffee. And as if giant puppets wouldn't be enough art already, I also have some colourful outfit pics from our subsequent graffiti stroll for you. Ha! My blog has never been so artsy!

// dress: h+m // tote bag: ebay // shoes: target //

All outfit pics were taken by Jarryd. Thanks Babe!

Hope you enjoyed this!

Have a lovely day!

funny bits from applications - on working in the recruiting business

Hello hello!

So I've been in my new job for over a month now and would like to tell you a bit about it because it has an utterly funny side to it.

Let me keep it short and sweet: I'm a receptionist and office administrator  for a labour hire / recruitment agency here in Perth. I work with a nice young team in a chic and trendy suburb and I'm allowed to wear (very) business casual clothes.
It's basically perfect and I love it.

Bonus: I learn a lot about Human Resources and recruitment.

My main task every day is to go through all sorts of applications and presort them for the recruiters. We mostly receive emails from backpackers and people from abroad so their English is often a bit...broken. Then again even if they're native speakers, some of them come up with weird stories in their resumes too.

I would like to point out that I'm not laughing about their English skills and I do not mean to imply that they are stupid!! They just sometimes write funny stuff in their applications and I have collected the best expressions so far to make you guys chuckle a bit too.

Here we go.

// jacket: cotton on // dress: pimkie // necklace: flea market //belt: l.a. golden //
bag: ebay // shoes: minnetonka // 

So these are my favourite funny bits from the applications so far:

"The first thing I did after leaving school was purchase a bouncy castle with the money I had saved over the years. After creating my own flyers and single handily pushing them through thousands of doors in my local area I now had my own Bouncy Castle Business making a profit of [...]"

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"I would like to learn about Australian cocking and culture!" (he meant cooking)

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"I would take the cables from the conveyor belt and pack them into boxes again and again and again" 

(passive-aggressive way to describe production line work experience)

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"Worked as a farm hand (fart-time)."

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"I had my braces removed last summer and will smile a lot in the job!"

These are my favourites so far. It's amazing what I was able to glean in only one month hm?!

Recruiting is a sometimes annoying but definitely fun business!

To make this a proper outfit post: the pics show what I wore to work the other week.

The Darth Vader bag and the sailboat dress are tried and tested favourites of mine. If I have one of these "a closet full of nothing to wear" mornings I can always rely on the sailboats.

The khaki green jacket is a new piece! I couldn't resist browsing the Cotton On sale in my lunch break the other day and found this versatile little number for only $15.

Hope you enjoyed this! Have a good day!

meet my pink tiger

Hello people!

How are you?
I'm utterly happy today because it's raining and storming here! We even have thunder and lightning too! This weather reminds me of home (good old rainy Germany) and it's such a nice change to the heat we've had for weeks before.
I can't wait to experience the Western Australian winter weather! I'm pretty sure it'll be right up my alley, not too warm and not too cold, just right probably.
By the way can you believe I'm most likely the only girl in Perth who stubbornly wears tights all summer through? You will hardly ever see me without tights because as long as the temperatures don't rise above 40°C I will still wear my light sheer 15 DEN tights.
I don't know how all the other girls can do without a thin layer of nylon covering their legs!? It's not much warmer because 15 DEN is so thin, it's almost not existent. It's also so much nicer to wear sheer tights when you don't have the time to shave every second day (and when you don't have the money for waxing and the likes). AND at the office sheer tights are a blessing when the aircon is running all day.
Okay, enough ramblings on hosiery. I just needed to get this off my chest so I don't feel like a complete alien here in the city of bare waxed tanned beach legs.

// dress: h+m // cardigan: bigw // necklace: brandy melville // tote bag: cotton on // bracelet: accessorize // shoes: minnetonka //

This outfit is one of my new favourites at the moment. I love the combo of the dress and cardigan because it's so springy. The dress was an H+M sale bargain I bought shortly before leaving Germany and it was totally worth the 7 € I paid. It's cheap polyester quality but has the loveliest shape and fit.
The pretty pink tiger on my new tote bag was the perfect bright pop of colour to go with the floral print, don't you think? The bag was only 2$ at and the money goes to charity projects. The shoes are oldies but goldies: my trusty second hand mocs! I bought them dirt cheap on a German swapping (and buy/sell) website.
Looking at this outfit makes me happy because the whole combo in total is less than 50 bucks. Yes yes, I love me my bargains...

Well, that's all for today, I can't think of more things to talk about right now. I think next time I'll show you some more Perthian street art or tell you a bit about my new job. Not sure yet which post will come first.
For now I'll say goodbye and spend a cozy rain storm night in bed.

Toodels!