Friendship.

Friendship – it’s cheaper than therapy, and often deeper too. Nuture your friendships and they will continue to grow. Invest your time and love, look out for them, support them, listen to them. The best thing you can give anyone is your time.

“A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be” – Douglas Pagels.

Everyone is a friend, until they prove otherwise. True friendship is hard to come by. Choose your friends carefully – put aside those who bring you down or those who are all take and no give, leaving you feeling drained. Hold on to those who add to your life.

In Friendship We Trust!

Berlin, Ich Liebe Dich

Guttentag, readers! I’m sorry I disappeared… again! I’m not long back from Berlin with the Beau and we’re already missing it terribly. Have any of you been? We had a fantastic time. It’s the most incredible city, always hiving with activity, always things to do, places to see – we had a great time exploring, particularly in the old East. Even though we were due to stay for four days, we liked it so much, we jacked in our flight home, booked into our hotel for another night and caught a late flight home the following evening. #ilovespontaneity :)

I was going to make this entry like a diary, detailing what we done daily, but I thought it may be better to blog about why I loved Berlin.

A city steeped in history and culture, primarily surrounding the Berlin Wall/the GDR (German Democratic Republic). Some sections of the original Wall are still intact, in what I imagine is solely for the benefit of curious tourists. Berlin seems to be caught between the past and present – is keeping sections of the Wall a sign of survival and triumph, that the Berliners pulled through such a cruel and restrictive regime? Or does it indicate that the city has been so deeply affected by the Wall that it serves to define it? The damage the wall done to the city, and to the Berliners lives, is still evident – could it be permanent? You can feel it in the atmosphere, a city conflicted by the past and present.

The Berlin Wall

The Stasi were the secret police of the GDR, and are recognised as being one of the most formidable organisations in the world. The original headquarters, the newly renovated ‘Stasi Museum’, is open to visitors, as is the prison, though we didn’t have the time to visit the latter. The headquarters were fascinating and definitely worth your time if you are visiting the city. Many of the rooms are exactly as they were when occupied – including Erich Mielke’s office and personal space, large conference room and the canteen. The feeling of being in the exact building where such decisions were made, orders given, and countless lives ruined and torn apart, was incredible, in a conflicting way. Extremely interesting, but also left you feeling cold. There were many exhibits of original spy paraphernalia – from coats and handbags with built-in cameras to portable radios equipped with audio-recording. It is estimated that there was one informer for every seven people in East Berlin.

The office of Erich Mielke – head of the Stasi – exactly as it was, with original furniture, telephone and shredder (seen just behind his chair).

A grey concrete jungle, but dotted with beauty. As a whole, Berlin is not the most aesthetically pleasing city - particularly the East, as the typical cold and grey Communist infrastructure still dominates, a harsh and constant reminder of their long oppression - but it has hidden gems of beauty. One of the things we enjoyed doing most was hopping on the U-Bahn/S-Bahn and exploring different places off the beaten track. We also went on two walking tours – the Cold War, and the Third Reich – and both of these brought us to places we would not have found otherwise.

One of the most affordable cities in Europe. I was not expecting Berlin to be inexpensive, but I was proved wrong. You can eat, drink, travel and sleep very well for very reasonable prices. €25 gets you a three-day, unlimited travel pass on all of Berlin’s public transport for the entire city, even extending to Greater Berlin, including Potsdam (another beautiful city we visited during our stay). All in all, Berlin is a must-see, and I intend to return again one day.

I will leave you with some more photos. Between the two of us, we took about 1,000 (yes, really!) so I’ll just share a handful. Auf Wiedersehen for now!

Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) – particularly beautiful at night.

 The very impressive Reichstag. Engraved on the architrave is ’Dem Deutschen Volke’- For the German People.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

We visited Berlin Zoo and Aquarium – recognised as one of the world’s best.

Sanssouci, Potsdam. The photo doesn’t capture how beautiful it was! We decided to visit one evening on a whim and had the entire grounds to ourselves. There’s something romantic about walking in the rain.

A few weeks in pictures

Hi everyone! I must apologise for my lack of blogging these past few weeks (or month, maybe?!) but I have been rather lacking in the inspiration stakes, so all attempts at writing (which I did make, in my defence!) have been futile. I wasn’t happy with anything I wrote and didn’t want to post just for the sake of it. And I’m also sorry to say I have no pearls of wisdom to offer on my return, as for the past while I have been using my laptop solely for job-hunting purposes.

But I do have some nice pictures to share with you! I know I know, not very original in blogging, but heck - I love Instagram! So here’s a little glimpse into what I’ve been up to in my absence from the blogosphere…

1. I got a fringe! I know, this isn’t really a big deal, but it’s amazing what a change in hairstyle, even a small one, can do to your confidence! I love it. When I started this blog I wanted to do outfit posts and things too, though when it came to it I’ve been shy! Maybe someday.
2. Some new books. I’ve been trying to fill my spare time with reading. The Beau lent me ‘The Shipping News’, and I got a copy of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ at a car boot sale for 25p. (25p, yeah seriously! I’m still blown away by this! I haven’t been to a car boot sale since I was little, but I’ll be popping by more often to see what little gems I can find.)
3. …and a book on Berlin! A little trip coming up very soon… :)
4. Getting the summer shoes out! I know the mainland UK is in the midst of flooding, but thankfully the weather here in Ireland has been kind lately.
5. The Beatles entire collection loaned to me by the Beau, as when my other iPhone bit the dust, my new replacement was lacking lots of music!
6. Babysitting. Most weekdays we have Lauren, my niece, for a few hours which is all kinds of wonderful. She is two and is starting to string sentences together - adorable. “Aunt Sarah come help me” – she never fails to make me laugh, and amazes me every day.
7. Watching old Disney classics. On VHS! Could I be any more old-school?!
8. Using jewellery. Ok so this sounds a bit daft and obvious, but I realised how much beautiful jewellery I am lucky to own but didn’t always wear – not because I don’t like them, I love them – but it was just something I didn’t always think of doing. This is a photo of a necklace my mum got me for Christmas. It is inscribed with ”If music be the food of love, play on” and on the back, it says “Twelfth night”. It’s so stunning and unique!
9. Laying in bed, reading Glamour. My favourite!

How to be your own best friend

Although I am blessed with some very special people in my life, I really believe in the importance of being your own best friend too. There is nobody you can trust more than yourself, nobody knows you better than yourself and there is nobody you can rely on more than yourself.

The stresses and pressures of life can take their toll on anybody – making it even more important to maintain a strong and confident sense of self.  True happiness comes from within, yet most people seek contentment outside of themselves – longing for a better job, the desire for shiny things. Yet so often we feel disappointed in ourselves, when we should be paying the same love and positive attitudes towards ourselves that we do our loved ones.

Trust yourself. Trust that any decisions you make are the right ones. Why do we trust the judgement and instincts of others yet mistrust our own? Confidence is one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal – much like insecurity, it dictates our behaviour, thoughts and action, although positivity has more energy than negativity. It goes hand-in-hand with acceptance. Have confidence in whatever you do, your feelings, and accept that whatever you are doing is good. A classic Disney quote: “Always let your conscience be your guide.”

Enjoy your own company. Although socialising is important, spending time with yourself  is vital to our well-being. If you are only alone when nobody is available, you’re settling for your own company when you should look forward to and enjoy it. Me-time is not a luxury – it’s a necessity! During a hectic schedule, it can be hard to see how blessed we are. Me-time allows us to deal with stress and to revitalise our minds as well as our bodies. 

Forgive yourself. Learning to forgive yourself for wrong-doings or failings is often so much harder than forgiving others, even if they done the same thing. Failed endeavours can plague you for years. It’s important to remember this fact – yes, fact – everybody messes up sometimes, it’s human, it’s learning. Emma Baskerville, a psychotherapist, said: “We hold on to mistakes to verify any negativity we feel about ourselves. I did this thing, so I must be a bad person.” Let go of old guilt – continually punishing yourself has no gain.

Respect yourself. We respect our loved ones for many reasons, not just landmark achievements. We respect their wisdom, moxie, loyalty, integrity. Give yourself credit for your own positive attributes, and accept compliments you receive. Respect stems from self-value. When you refuse to let others disrespect you or be treated like a walk-over, it shows strength and self-respect. “Respect yourself and others will respect you.” – Confucius.

The importance of being a lady

“Always be a lady,” my mum taught me. And it’s something all mums should teach their daughters. Personally, being thought of as a lady is probably the highest compliment I could receive. Normally I don’t mind what people think of me as such, and I don’t care for labels, but being thought of as a lady is the one label I hold with great importance.

So I thought I’d write a little piece on the importance of being a lady, and ladylike behaviour, as it is something that we see so little of nowadays. And I don’t mean going back to the Victorian age. I, as much as any woman, appreciate the sacrifices women made for the vote. 

Firstly – being a woman does not automatically make one a lady. There is a difference! Ladies aren’t born, they are made. Women with loose morals and those who behave and dress provocatively hide behind a thinly veiled ‘freedom of expression’ argument and defend their behaviour as ‘liberating’. They call it modern life and insist how times have changed – but to me, like so many things, class and elegance is timeless, and should never be thought of as outdated.

Ladylike behaviour seems to be regarded as old-fashioned, as more and more women aspire to the look and behaviour of many female personalities. There is no air of mystery, nothing is left to the imagination and values are compromised as a result of changing culture and the current century. A woman should have self respect (and this goes for men too, who should be gents. I would never be with someone I couldn’t respect, or who had no respect for me) and keep good values intact. If one does not have self respect, they will not be respected.

There are misconceptions of ladies being boring, restrictive and conservative. Clothes are a significant area of this. Dressing elegantly does not mean covering up from head to toe. It is possible to look elegant and sexy, without showing a lot of skin. You would never see Kate Middleton falling out of a nightclub in a denim mini-skirt, sans underwear. Or Audrey Hepburn, a classic icon of elegance. 

My little niece is two years old, and I worry about the sort of world she will grow up in. 

Adventure.

Adventure (noun): An unusual and exciting or daring experience. Discovery. Exploration. Expedition. Voyage. Inspirational.

Adventure is the opposite of television. It is not sitting in front of a computer screen til all hours. It is discovering new places, whether it be a far-off paradise or a town nearby that you’ve never visited. It is the most wonderful feeling to be with someone who makes even going to the supermarket or IKEA feel like an adventure because they bring fun, laughter and silliness to even the most simple of things – everyday, normally mundane things are brought to life. Make everything you do an adventure and life will be more colourful.

Go for a walk on the beach at midnight and stargaze. Go UFO hunting. If you’re bored at 2am don’t just sit on Facebook or YouTube, go for a drive or to the airport (as it’s always open!) with a friend, or your other half, and drink copious amounts of tea, get lost in deep conversation, watch the planes come in.

Act on spontaneity.

What does adventure mean to you?

The magical spirit of The Muppets

Do you ever go to the cinema and laugh the whole way through a film? Not just small chuckles, but real belly laughs? I’m not sure about you, but this is not something that happens for me very often at all. However, when myself and the Beau went to see the Muppets, this is exactly what happened. Hearty laughs and smiles the whole way through! Sadly, these type of comedy films are few and far between in recent years. But the pair of us left the cinema grinning from ear to ear.

Innocent, charming and relentlessly upbeat, The Muppets’ return to the big screen is a delight for all ages. What better way to escape the cynicism of modern day life for a couple of hours than letting yourself be taken away by the bright colours, catchy songs and a witty script laced with an ageless humour? Although the term is overused, it can truly be defined as a feelgood film, featuring an ideal world and way of living, which manages to refrain from being cheesy or ‘goody-two-shoes’.

It was a star-studded watch, with celebrity cameos popping up every so often in the form of Jack Black, Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, Whoopi Goldberg and Dave Grohl to name just a few. The characters are fantastic – even the bad guy, a Texan oil magnate who aims to destroy the old Muppet theatre for millions (he is wonderfully named Tex Richman!) was so likeable. Kermit is his usual, introspective and optimistic self, Miss Piggy’s inner diva is out in full force and the rest of the cast are as fresh as ever. Jason Segal and Amy Adams were the two leading actors, both giving first-class performances, but of course the real stars of the show were the muppets themselves.

A happy ending in a feelgood movie like The Muppets is a necessity. We were rooting for the gang to reach their target of $10 million, we wanted them to get their old theatre back and be back in business. The ending was predictable, but quite simply, it couldn’t have ended any other way.

The Muppets is a universally appealing film, guaranteeing laughs in abundance and an undeniable lift. I can’t fault it at all.

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