Random Thursday. Worst travel experience.

Hallo meine Lieben,

welcome to another Random Thursday and thanks for reading and participating! I hope you are having a fantastic week!

I have to say that one of my worst travel experiences is connected to one of the best vacations I ever had....if that makes any sense. 

David and I decided to go for a road trip to Colorado and Utah. We drove all the way from Ohio and things were fine the first 1,5 days. The evening of the second day I started to feel really bad but I thought it would be better the next day and there is no reason to worry. 

I climbed an arch. Surprisingly,  I did not fell down. 

I spent a pretty painful night in a hotel room but was positive that I would wake up feeling fine. At that point I did not know what was wrong yet.

The next morning I woke up feeling even worse than the day before but I did not want to say anything since I did not want to ruin the vacation. Plus it was my birthday. 

We got ready to drive to our next destination and I felt so miserable in the car....still pretending that things are fine. 

We wanted to camp the following night and David was excited to do some hiking and see some fantastic places. When we arrived at the camp site I felt as miserable as never before but I thought that I had to be brave and fight against the pain so I helped setting up the tent and collecting fire wood. I could barely walk but as I said, I did not want to admit that anything was wrong. It was our first real vacation together and I wanted it to be memorable.

I already had a feeling of what was wrong because I had these problems before...but I think I wanted to suppress the thoughts of it because that would definitely ruin the vacation. 

I tried to look completely healthy. Sunglasses help.

But yeah, the next day I woke up even worse and I was not able to deny it anymore. I admitted how bad I felt...I guess it was obvious. But I did not admit how terrible I really felt. David had planned a hiking trip for that day but there was no way I could participate. But I told him he has to go anyway and I would stay there and read. I am sure that was really disappointing for him (and I am sure he thought that I was a pussy but as I said, I never felt so bad I my entire life and that means something because I already had some really nasty and painful stuff). I wanted to be brave...to not ruin the trip. I did not think about ruining my health at that point. Which was probably stupid...

But yeah, when David came back in the evening I knew that I needed some help. I knew that something was wrong with my kidneys again. But I did not say anything about it. In case you don't know, I have a stupid kidney disease so I have problems with my kidneys all the time. Infections, kidney stones and so on. 

So we went to a pharmacy and I tried to explain my problems to the pharmacist without saying anything about my kidneys (stupid, I know). He thought I have altitude sickness and some other diseases I did not have. He told me to see a doctor but as I said, I did not want to go to not ruin the vacation.

So I got all kinds of stuff you don't need a prescription for. Herbal teas, cranberry pills and so on. I also bought a thermometer....I took my temperature and was shocked to see what it was more than 104 degrees but did not admit it. 

I have to admit that it was kind of relieving to have to crawl trough tiny holes since it gave me a reason to spend some time on the ground which made me feel better. 

So yeah, I still don't know how I managed to survive this vacation but I went to all the places we wanted to see...even when I had to sit down every 100 meters and it took forever to get to places. I stayed in the hotel rooms when David went for an adventure that I could not take part in....I refused to go to a doctor and I just thought that I have to be brave. I even went rafting. I just had to sit there and try not to fell into the water.

As I said, I have never felt so sick in my whole life. But I made it. Is it stupid to feel proud? I guess it is. It was definitely stupid not to admit how bad I feel. I risked my health. 

(If kidney infection is not treated promptly, there is a risk of serious complications, including kidney damage and blood poisoning (sepsis). It is usually treated with antibiotics. In many cases, patients with kidney infection are hospitalized. Found here.)

I mean, I know my health problems. 

When we got back from vacation I finally went to see a doctor and of course, I had a really nasty kidney infection. If you ever had a kidney infection that you know how that feels. If not, I read on the internet that people describe it as the worst pain they ever felt. I agree. And I had a whole in my eye once. 

So yeah, I finally got treatment and it took me a while to recover but gladly I did.

I know that I will never be so stupid again and will run to the doctor as soon as I experience that pain again. 

But yeah, the vacation was fantastic because I saw some awesome places I had never seen before. But I do admit that it would have been even better without the nasty kidney infection.

How can you get sick at such a fantastic place?

(And a recent one: the stupid Parisian woman who decided to crash into my car definitely helped me to have another bad travel experience. You can read about it here.)

So now tell me....what was your worst travel experience?

My penguin-self, a candy lane and dating shows.

Hallo meine Lieben,

yes, I know, I am too late for Ten On Tuesday but you can check out Alyssa's post here. Hope you are all having a fantastic week. 

1.True story. Sometimes easy to forget. 

source

2. I might have to move to Robbie Williams' hometown Stoke-on-Trent. Why? Because Robbie's 40th birthday will be next month and the town will celebrate it by naming three roads in a new housing development after his tracks Angels, Candy and Supreme. I decided that I want to live in Candy Lane. 

3. I still can't believe that Robbie Williams isn't more popular in America. And that nobody cared for Take That but for N'Sync instead. Come on, America!

4. You can find my penguin-self here. Poor little guy! I feel you!

5. There are lots of reasons not to wear wool. I guess the main reason is the animal cruelty but did you know that sheep don't need to be shorn? People are mistakenly led to believe that ‘sheep need to be shorn.’ Truth is that Sheep naturally produce only the amount of wool they need to protect themselves from extreme weather conditions.

source

6. Have I ever mentioned that it's my dream to live with sheep, donkeys, chicken, cows, pigs....It would make me so happy. 

7. I finally started to work out again. Yes. It is true. And I want to stick to it. Now I just need to get over the fact that it is too cold to go running. And get a yoga mat and weights. 

8. I am really enjoying Instagram right now. My user name is Katrin_locc if you want to add me. 

9. A girl who went to my school will be on a terrible German dating show. I can't wait to watch it with my friends and make fun of her. Mean, I know. But I guess you have to expect it when you take part in a shitty dating show. 

10. Next new recipe I want to try out is a vegan risotto. Any recommendations? Do you like risotto? What cheese do you use? 

source

And what is your favorite meal right now? Please share, I need some inspiration!

Have a great Wednesday!

Five Things. A vegan butcher, a sheep necklace and a fruity mustard.

Hallo meine Lieben,

happy Sunday! I hope you are enjoying your weekend and you are not snowed in. 
Please check out my friend Celeste's post here where she talks about 10 things from around the world. You don't want to miss that.

1. A book series. 

There is a book series called "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch which is under the top 20 of my to-read-list. And that means something because that list is huge. 

On the cover it says "What would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz". I think this was enough to make me want to start reading the series. I am planning to download the first book at some point today and start reading it. Here is what it's about (according to Goodreads):

"Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he'll face is a paper cut. But Peter's prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter's ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic."

Em gave it 6 out of 10 points so I try not to have my hopes up too high but the story sounds so interesting that I need to check it out myself. You can find her review here.

2. This shirt.

sitproperly

Star Wars and vegan. Perfect combination. Yoda has always been my favorite character so I think this is pretty cool. It is from an Etsy shop called sitproperly. I wish I could buy everything from Etsy I want. 

3. A vegan butcher.

This story sounds kind of strange. A butcher from Frankfurt, Germany who went vegan last summer decided to start producing and selling vegan counterparts of his normal meaty products. It is such a success that he decided to open a store which only sells vegan products soon. People travel from far away to get his vegan ground "meat" made of rice or wurst made of buckwheat. He says he sells more vegan meat than regular meat now. I hope that means that he will stop being a butcher at all and concentrates on the vegan "meat". I don't really know how you can combine that because I clearly could not slaughter any animals. But I like the fact that a butcher became vegan and started producing products for vegans. Yay for that. You can find the whole story here. Unfortunately it is only in German.

4. This necklace.

Vaute Couture

It is the "In my heart" sheep necklace from Vaute Couture, a company I really adore because they sell the most beautiful all vegan dresses made of recycled materials. And I really like anything sheep-related. 

5. This mustard.

source

You know, I always get addicted to different kind of foods and then I want to eat nothing else but that...well, my newest food addiction is fig mustard. I can't even describe how it tastes but it is fruity and spicy and yummy. I just dip it with bread, that is how good it is. 

I hope you are having a fantastic Sunday!

Random Thursday. My favorite snack food.

Hallo meine Lieben,

welcome to another Random Thursday with a fantastic topic. Lin, Em and I are happy that you are a part of it. Thanks for reading and commenting and posting!
I hope you are having a fantastic week and are all doing great!

I love snacking. Probably a bit too much. I try to eat as healthy as I can but sometimes you just need something not so healthy when you sit on the couch, read a book or watch a movie. That is when I need my snacks....

Vegan marshmallows.

source

The fun part is that I did not even eat marshmallows before I went vegetarian and later vegan. I never cared about them very much but I am craving them since I went vegan. Em sent me these as a surprise (thanks again) and I love them so much. I could eat them every single day because they are just so yummy and fluffy. 

I am also a huge fan of gummi bears. Thankfully you can get lots of vegan options right now. The "mean" thing is that they usually come in huge bags which means that I can't stop eating before the bag is empty.

Salt & vinegar chips.

source

Swedish "Punsch rullar"

A very delicious bright green deliciousness which is made of marzipan, oatmeal, dark chocolate and rum. Pretty heavy stuff but so good. 

All kinds of nuts.

Pecans, walnuts, cashews, peanuts, almonds, macadamia...whatever. They are great when you are on the go plus really healthy so you can only win I guess.

Dark chocolate.

source

Honestly, who does not like chocolate? Do you know somebody who does not eat chocolate. I don't. 

Fruit bowl with yogurt, coconut flakes, raisins, walnuts and chocolate syrup.

That is my go-to dessert, I probably eat it at least 4 times a week. It is so good, yummy and kind of healthy. At least that is what I tell myself. Well, maybe when you skip the chocolate syrup. You can use all kinds of fruits but I prefer bananas or mandarin oranges. 

Pudding.

Pudding reminds me of my childhood. I am a huge fan of the pudding "skin". I know lots of people hate it but I always use huge bowls when I cook pudding because I want to have as much skin as possible. It also tastes delicious when you add some cookies when you cook the pudding. Just saying....

Marzipan.

Oh marzipan...I love you. Most marzipan is vegan anyway (almonds and sugar!) but I always check the ingredients list. Marzipan is also great for baking. And covered with chocolate.

Raisin broetchen.

You can find my recipe here. They are really easy to make and also great when you are on the go. You can also eat them with some spread like a vegan Nutalla version. That's how I prefer them. Which brings me to this....

Vegan "Nutella"

source

This one is my favorite. It is so good that I love to eat it with a spoon. Probably not the healthiest thing to do but definitely something that makes you happy. 

As you can see: I like to snack! Now I am curious...what is your favorite snack food? Please share with us!

Ten On Tuesday. Sweatpants and squirrels.

Hallo meine Lieben,

hope you are having a wonderful week. Sorry I still haven't found the time to sort through all the Paris etc. pictures but I haven't forgotten about them. I will share them at some point soon. Please bare with me!
You can link up with Alyssa here.

1. I could spend hours watching cute animal videos or looking at funny animal pictures. I can't help myself but animals always make me happy, no matter what. That is why I can't see them suffering.

2. I mean videos like this one. Found it here.

3. Or rats holding teddy bears. You can find more of them here.

source

4. Sometimes I just hate to talk and want it to be quiet. 

5.  I should really follow this advice. I don't know. I feel like I don't most of the time and I have no idea why. There are always other things to take care of and that is kind of sad.

source

6. And here are some of the things that make me happy: reading, crafting, spending time with animals, photography, going for a walk, window shopping, volunteering, painting....oh and reading and reading and reading.

7. I got the comfiest, warmest sweat pants (or ugly pants as David and I call them) last week and I can tell you that I am looking forward to putting them on at night every single day. They are the best pants I ever wore just because they keep me warm and make me feel relaxed. I wish I could wear them all the time. I know how sad that sounds. By the way: Today is international sweatpants day. Woohoo.

8. I just read that today is also Squirrel Appreciation Day! Squirrels and sweatpants? I think this is the perfect day.

source

9. I am trying to read as many books as possible this year but I am only on my fourth book right now.  I think I need to make some extra time for reading this weekend. 

10. My bunnies love to eat cranberries. Which shows again that my bunnies and I pretty much love the same things. 

Have a fantastic Tuesday!

Five Things. Remembering the good old days.

Hallo meine Lieben,

happy Sunday! I hope you are all having a fun and relaxed weekend. I am still feeling a little blah but I am hoping to be back to normal soon. 
Please check out my friend Celeste's post as well, this time she even shared Ten Things.

I have been looking through all my all pictures lately...you know, my laptop almost died lately so I am pretty happy that I got to save them all. So I decided to take you on a trip through time and share some of my favorite pictures with you.

I love this one because you can clearly see that we had lots of fun plus because I always look like a douche in all the pictures we take. There is rarely a picture which I can take seriously but I made peace with the fact that I always look a little weird in our pictures. This one was taken during a canal ride in Amsterdam in 2011. You can see the the parking garage only for bikes in the background. 

This picture was taken in Canyonlands National Park in Utah during our road trip from Ohio to Colorado and Utah. I have never seen such an impressive environment and I enjoyed every minute of it. Maybe except the fact that I got a kidney infection and had a 104 degrees fever halfway through the vacation. And that I almost died while white water rafting (water is pretty much the scariest thing in the world.).

This picture was taken after one of the first concerts we went to together. I think during my second trip to America. I like the picture so much because you can clearly see that we had a great time at the concert. And that is why it makes me so happy to look at the picture. 

Another picture in which I look like an idiot but I still like it a lot because it was taken during my first trip to America and it reminds me of the great time we had together. I know that we took hundreds of picture together because we just did not want to leave each other and fly back. This picture is also on my wall in a huge golden frame. 

You can clearly see that we are not that great at taking selfies but we tried to capture us and the impressive fountain at the Forums Shops at Ceasar Palace in Las Vegas. And we failed. Still love the picture because the trip was just so fantastic and I hope to visit Vegas again at some point. This picture was taken in 2013 by the way. 

Bonus picture - five are not enough.

Okay, I had to add this one because it was taken on our wedding day and I think it is pretty obvious that we are kind of happy with each other. Probably one of my favorite pictures ever. David's sister took it and she really is a great photographer and good at capturing the most important moments. 

Hope your week will be fantastic!

Random Thursday. Five things you didn't know about me....

Hallo meine Lieben,

how is your week going? I hope it is fantastic! I am feeling a bit under the weather this week but I hope I will get over it soon. Maybe I just need some chocolate because chocolate always makes you feel better. Today's words of wisdom. 

So here you go. Five things that you did not know about me before. 

Number 1.

When I was a child I totally looked like a boy. It was horrible. I only liked boys' stuff.  No barbies or things like that. I had one Barbie doll and I cut off her hair and dyed the rest of it green. I loved getting dirty, playing with my He-Man action figures and I had short hair. I still like He-Man but now I also like girls' stuff like make-up, shoes, clothes etc. 

Number 2.

2. I don't like my legs. Not at all. I always have bruises and my knees look like soccer player knees. So I never wear shorts. Also one of my legs is longer than the other one. Which you can't really see but I know it. 

Number 3.

The smell of incense makes me really sick and one time I passed out because of it in church. 

Number 4.

I love to wake up in the middle of the night and watch TV or read a book. It is a great feeling to wake up and know that you can stay in bed for another couple of hours. I also  like to start eating candy in the middle of the night. The only annoying thing is that I have to get up and brush my teeth again. 

Number 5.

My favorite movie as a child was Pretty Woman (still love it) although I had no idea what Vivian Ward's job was. I just thought she was poor and Edward Lewis rich. 

And now I am curious: please share some things that I did not know about you before! 

And have a fantastic weekend!

Ten On Tuesday. A cat paradise, a mad bunny and a nightmare.

Hallo meine Lieben,

I hope you are enjoying your week! You can link up with Alyssa here. 

1. I love to watch cooking shows although they mostly cook stuff that I would never ever eat. I wish there would be a vegan cooking show. 

2. I made a vegan Pad Thai on Sunday night and it was delicious. Well, it still is because I cooked way too much. I was too lazy to convert cups into ml/grams etc so I just estimated/ used the whole package of all the ingredients I needed. 

3. I want this too. It is from a German designer, Stefan Hofmann. I am sure the cats would have lots of fun. You can find more amazing pictures here.

source

4. "Over the weekend, the Dallas Safari Club auctioned off an opportunity to hunt and kill one of the world’s last remaining black rhinos for $350,000. These critically endangered animals are now under additional pressure from trophy hunters. " The world is so sick. This makes me sad and angry. I thought they would stop it. You can still sign a petition to the US Fish and Wildlife Service not to issue the import permit. This could still stop the madness because without permit mo killing -hopefully. You can sign here.

5. My bunny Tiffie is mad at me because I took him to the vet yesterday. He needs to get his teeth cut on a regular basis and I can't even tell you how much he hates it. My vet likes Tiffie a lot. He even cuts his teeth for free. That's why I pay him with candy and chocolate.  

6. I really need to get motivated to exercise some more again. But I am procrastinating by telling myself that I need some new workout gear first. I am horrible.

7. India’s richest man bans sale of meat in his grocery stores. You can read about it here. 

8. Sometimes you need some inspiration.

source

9. I need something like this. It would save me so much space and you could hide all the stuff you don't want to see all the time. 

source

10. I know I said this before but driving in Paris is a nightmare. Never ever again. It still haunts me in my dreams!

Thanks for reading! Have a happy Tuesday!

What Paris taught me.

Hallo meine Lieben,

I hope you are having a fantastic Sunday. I got my laptop back and I am surprised that it actually works again. I already made plans to buy a new MacBook but I guess I can save that money at the moment. Phew! What a relief! So now I can finally work on the posts about Paris and the other trips David and I took. 

Today I want to start by sharing some of the lessons I learned while I was in Paris. 

source

Lesson #1.

It is NOT a good idea to drive to Paris by car. Take a bus, a plan, a train. Whatever. Just not a car. You will regret it. Trust me.

Lesson #2. 

Parisian drivers are a nightmare. They don't look left or right. They honk all the time. They don't care if they scratch your car when they try to park. They leave a roundabout from the inner lane. 

Lesson #3.

Parisian drivers don't care when they crash into your car as long as nobody starts to bleed. Because "it's just metal.", "insurance will pay for it." and "you are still alive."

Lesson #4.

Nobody at the English speaking police emergency hotline speaks English.

Lesson #5. 

Parisian police does not care about a car crash as long as nobody is injured. 

Lesson #6. 

I lose most of my French speaking skills when I have a car accident. I can speak enough French to buy the cheapest Metro tickets available. 

Lesson #7. 

It is not much fun to drive through Paris when you just had an accident and your GPS stopped working. 

Lesson #8.

It's not that easy to find your hotel in Paris without a GPS. 

Lesson #9.

It makes you feel better to yell at the guy at the emergency hotline of your rental car company when he starts to bitch around. 

Lesson #10.

Paris is not the most vegan-friendly city in the world. 

Lesson #11. 

There are way too many people taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower. 

Lesson #12. 

You have to wait in line for at least 3 hours when you want to see the bones of 6 million people. And then you will wonder why you don't see any hands or feet, just skulls and upper arm bones. 

Lesson #13. 

You will feel very relieved when you come home after a Paris trip and did not have another accident.

Lesson #14.

Paris is still a beautiful and fascinating city...even when you have a car accident and are totally angry and pretend to hate the city. 


Have you ever been to Paris? 
Happy Sunday!

Five Things. Food addictions, a crime novel and a petition.

Hallo meine Lieben,

hope you are all doing fantastic! My laptop is at the computer doctor right now and I feel bad for the poor thing. And myself. Hope I will get it back soon. Fixed. I miss that thing. Sorry for the lack of posting...things will change soon hopefully. At least I was finally able to catch up on some blog reading.

Please check out my friend Celeste's Five Things as well. 

1. This bath bomb.

 source

I love Lush, especially their seasonal products. This bath bomb is called "Sex Bomb" and it smells like jasmine, ylang ylang and sage. It is vegan and cruelty free. And it looks to good to use it to be honest. Love to spend some time in the tub with a bath bomb and a good book.

2.  This book. 

source

On January 17 I will finally be able to start reading another Icelandic crime novel by
Arnaldur Indriðason. I will definitely stop by the book store that day because I just can't wait to hold it in my hands. It is the first book of a new series and sounds very promising...

3. This food addiction. 

source

I tend to get obsessed with different kind of food every couple of weeks. And then I don't want to eat anything else. Right now it is mandarin oranges with coconut flakes, agave syrup, walnuts and soy yogurt. It is so good. I eat a huge bowl of it every single day. Sometimes twice. But I will do an exception on Sunday and finally cook the vegan Pad Thai I found in my new cooking book.

4. True crime.

 source

I re-discovered  my love for true crime books, thanks to Emily! I got the book as a Christmas present from David and immediately started reading it. I did not have much time for my favorite thing to do yet (books) but I can't wait to read more of it and check out all the other books Emily recommended. 

5. This petition.

source

Seems like you all feel the same way about declawing like I do. It is a horrible and cruel thing to do. Lots of you have never heard about it before either. I could not believe that people actually do this to their cats. So please sign this petition speak up against de-clawing cats. Thank you so much!

Here is what the website says:

Mutilating your pet because her natural behavior annoys you might seem incomprehensible but happens every day across the United States. Declawing cats doesn’t mean a nail trim; it is the equivalent of amputating most of a human’s fingers and toes.

Declawing causes serious pain in the short term and can result in chronic pain and lameness for life. As a result, declawing cats for non-medical reasons is illegal in many countries, including Australia, Germany, the UK, Israel and Switzerland.   

Although many individual vets refuse to carry out the procedure, the American Veterinary Medical Association’s vague guidelines on the topic provide no end of loopholes. This milkwater position has got to change. Deliberate, unnecessary cruelty to animals, legal or not, is not something any vet should participate in.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!