Finding Focus

With this post I'm going to say Thank You so far and Good-Bye for a two-week break from blogging and surfing through the world wide web. This is the time of year that I really have to focus on my studies at college since exams are coming up :) So, I'll be back around the 10th Dec. and be sure to check back then ;) There is so much more to come, cannot wait to play with the keys again and let my mind flourish.

In the meantime: read and dream a bit with Dreams by OFF Color, it's such a nice magazine full of dreamers, believers and thinkers ♥

So how do we find focus?

Take a step back. Back away from the browser and the phone, and give yourself a moment’s space to think.

What do you really want to do right now? What’s most important? What kind of person do you want to be?

Maybe you have 5 things you want to do. Pick one. Subtract.

Read on here if you want to find focus by Zenhabits.

See you guys back in December ♥

Love, Minh

Birthday Weekend ♥

Just wanted to give you guys a small impression of my birthday weekend :) Everything started on saturday when I was preparing for family and some friends, I've baked a bunch of cookies and also tried myself at baking a Vegan Banana Chocolate Cake - post is coming up ;-). Then, I've had a lovely dinner with the family and received some mail from England and Berlin :) Sunday morning, I met up with other friends for a nice breakfast with delicious food and got loads of tea for winter and study time ♥ Once again: Thank you so so much for all lovely wishes, words, gifts and time you've spent with me. Friends, You are the best :) xoxo 

And wuuhuuu, I cannot wait for the skydive next year ♥

All black everything

The other morning when I had to prepare myself for Uni again, I was thinking: All black everything :) So, this was super easy for me and I really like mixing and matching different fabrics of black clothes. I combined some leather with cotton and added a bit of gold. My favorite Zara pants with the flower pattern (love the details: pattern and zippers ♥) went with a grey-black sweater from Vero Moda; the leather-arm blazer from H&M, which I just bought, worked well as a second layer and since I were at school, I had my fake-leather UO backpack with me. The shoes are some old ones from Goertz and the accessories are from friends :) How do you like this black outfit?

Food Friday: Chocolate x Chia x Peanutbutter Cookies ♥

Inspired by this super-fast and super-easy recipe of 'a teeming mind', I just had to try these Chocolate-Chia-Seed Cookies! I adjusted it to my preferences and the ingredients I've got at hand, so this turned out as some super-chocolaty Chocolate-Chia-Seed Cookies with a Peanutbutter swirl!!! :) I really like this recipe because you can have four big cookies right away, try it and let me know how you like it ;-)

Ingredients for 4 bigger cookies:

- 4 tablespoons whole spelt flour

- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

- 2 tablespoons raw Chia seeds

- half a teaspoon baking powder

- 4 to 5 tbspoons honey (instead of agave syrup)

- a handful of almonds

- 3 tbspoons coconut oil

- 1 tspoon cinnamon

- 4 tbspoons soymilk 

- some creamy peanutbutter

Mix all ingredients together (except of the peanut butter) until you've got a nice dough, put four equal parts on the baking sheet and swirl some peanut butter on top of the doughs. I hope you know what I mean =D Well, look at the pictures ;-)

Bake at 200°C (395°F) for about 10-15min. and then you'll have some delicious chocolate-cookies with a peanut-twist :) Perfect for christmas-time, so have fun baking and enjoy ♥

21st Birthday Wishlist ♥

Well, another year is over and in two days I'm turning 21 :) I'm having a smile on my face right now because thinking about this year, it turned out really good.. so far ;-) There's a nice German proverb to it: Don't praise the day before nightfall! But we'll stay optimistic, right?

When I first came back to Germany in September 2012, I had a reversed culture shock since I wasn't used to everything anymore =D I had to adjust myself to German seriousness, but also to Vietnamese conventional lifestyle again (parents ;)), but that wasn't enough: friends and family had to get used to me and my new lifestyle now, less partying, more exercising, stuff like that, a lot has changed and if you want to know more, read on here. Unistress came along the way and the past winter was really about 'adapting' to my 'old' life again, but trying to stay the 'new' ME. Throughout this year I've met interesting people, some became friends, some I had to let go, and I think that anyone gets into thinking whenever another whole year passes. 
Time is flying so fast, right? 

This year, I'm not having big 'material wishes' compare to the last birthdays or rather: if material wishes like a pro-camera, a smartphone (yep, haven't one! yet! =D), I buy them myself ;-) This list here is really about things I need or would like to have for comfort.

Since I'm running around with my green metal bottle with hot tea inside, and it's actually not doing its work, I am looking for a NEW Thermos Bottle :) Simply plain, nothing special, just to have more than a cup on the go and to keep my tea hot for more than half an hour! Talking about staying warm, I'm also back in running and going to get myself a nice pair of Running Shoes, as well as a Running Headband. Super cold outside, but if you have the gear, move your butt I'm saying ;-)

How hard is it to NOT find a grey hoodie? Just scrolled through shopping-sites, impossible!!! I really like hoodies, but don't own as many because I can be picky with those. For my 18th birthday I've got a really nice grey one and am still wearing it. Now, three years later I'm seeking for a different color than grey =D Oh boy, but this selection is not better because it's all black: really fell in love with that super-cute and stylish Panda Sweater (always wanted a panda-sweater ♥) and the Black Hoodie from Naketano which would be more sporty.

Other than the more practical wishes for my birthday, I was thinking of buying D&G-TheOne again since my bottle is almost empty, but also thinking of changing my perfume, don't know yet ;-) Oh and I've just noticed the white nail-trend at my friends' fingers, so I'm totally digging the Essie Blanc Color-matte and pure whiteness :) 

Looks like this birthday wishlist is super long, but I think it's quite fair since most of the stuff I honestly need =D Broken running shoes, freezing ears, NO working thermos bottle and a new hoodie, which I get once a year at most =P are the reasons. Nevertheless and most importantly I cannot wait to spend some quality time with friends and family, have missed them so much since I don't get to see them everyday, week, month ;-) ♥