Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Summer Nights

I have always had a love for fire. Growing up we as a family would often hike or drive up to little fire places in the woods to make a fire and grill sausages or just enjoy it. It was our idea of picknicks especially in the spring and summer months. I would always be so fascinated by fire wanting to hold a stick in it to see the blaze in its full glory.
Today I still love fires. For me the perfect summer night means sitting around a fire with friends while the moon rises and the stars become visible. It means listening to the sound of the fire and the crickets chirping. I could sit there forever and just think, talk and be in that moment.
Yesterday Melina and I drove up to our friend's house to just hang out for a while. The few hours we spent there felt like a piece of heaven on earth. Not only did we enjoy food together and great talks but the things we did stirred up the child in me. I felt completely free and myself and happy in that very moment. We jumped into stacks of hay and sat on David's horses. We ran through the sprinklers to cool down from the hot day. Later we made a fire. We just sat there talking being right there in this moment without constraints of time. I believe it is in these moments that we grow personally and spiritually because we pause. We pause, ponder, rethink, decide, act, change.
And so as the fire was burning down I thought about the fire we carry in our hearts and how I feel so related to fire. Fire spends warmth, fire infects others. Fire is passionate. And I never want to stop being passionate about God's plans for my life and the things he puts in my heart to do. For I know that God is fighting on my side.

xoxo Ramona

* Picture from here
** my sister and I on one of our picknicks

Monday, June 27, 2011

Dear Mr. X

I know you are out there. I know.
Sometimes I sit here and I dream of you. Dream of Picknicks, of dances in the rain and holidays in the VW.
And then I wonder where you are. I wonder when we'll meet and how.
I miss you. I need you. Please hurry.

Yours forever.

xxx

Ramona

Friday, June 24, 2011

The Tree of Life

I think I have mentioned before that The New World by Terrence Malick is one of my favorite movies and people who spend a lot of time with me know that I speak of this movie very often.
So of course I was really looking forward to The Tree of Life expecting it to be as brilliant as The New World. And yesterday a group of friends we went.
And I was captured.
I don't want to waste to many words on it as I feel my words will not be enough to describe what I was watching, what I saw and what I felt. And so in this little effort to pay tribute to this masterpiece I am showing you the trailer and will say the following:



Life and Death
Love and Hate
Good and Evil
Grace and Nature
Heaven and Hell

... and everything in between, the struggle, the journey, the questions and conversations with God.

Hope you have a great weekend!

xoxo

Ramona

Monday, June 20, 2011

Somebody else's eyes

This weekend my family and I took a trip to Munich to go to a wedding. My sister's fiancé (only 3 more weeks!) and my best friend came along. All cramped in one car we took the ride. We listened to old music from when we were in our teens, sang along and realized some of the lyrics and how not so great they were.
The trip was beautiful and fun and we laughed and all had a great time.
This weekend I again was amazed by how wonderful my family is. Sometimes you just have to see things through somebody else's eyes. Put yourself in their situation and watch it from the outside. And all of a sudden it all became more beautiful. And in viewing it from somebody else's perspective I started seeing myself as a result of my family. The influence they have on me. The way they shaped me by doing things a certain way. They always encouraged me to walk with my eyes open and really see things. Appreciate the beauty of a drive. Appreciate God's creation. They shaped my strong interest in history and culture and people.
We have taken so many roadtrips together and they left their fingerprint on my life. When I was little I used to complain about driving so long, wanting to go outside. Now I am thankful to be driving through the Austrian and Swiss Alpes, taking detours just to see beautiful things. I am thankful to take a couple of extra hours in order to visit castles and learn about history.

Now my eyes are open and I see God's creation and I am thankful. My eyes are open and I see my family for who they are and I am so grateful for how special and crazy and different it is. Now my eyes are open and I want to know more about history and culture and people.
Sometimes all it takes is to see things through somebody else's eyes to appreciate what is given to you in your life.
xoxo

Ramona

Friday, June 17, 2011

No Fear

The new So you think you can dance season has just started and if you have been following this blog for a while you know I am addicted to that show. I believe dance is one of the most beautiful and powerful ways to express a story, feelings, interpret music. It is a form of art which is very close to my heart.
Anyways I am certain that throughout the next few weeks there will be quite some video posting of certain dances.
This week there was a routine choreographed by Sonya Tayeh and the theme was about what you can accomplish without fear. It really got me thinking because if you imagine this there are no limits. Seriously. No Limits. And then I think I am in Christ. There is no fear. Only love because love casts out all fear. Wow. So I guess the question for today is. Are you ready to go all in. No fear. Nothing hindering you. Are you going to fight?
Here's the dance. May it inspire you!



On a side note: I'll be in Munich over the weekend to attend a wedding! What are your weekend plans?

xoxo

Ramona

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Hats and Glasses

There is a blog breeding but I just haven't sat down and written it. It's things that have been on my mind lately. It's some things really important to me so I really want to take time and write it.
But for now... just a few snapshots from this past weekend (they are all taken by my friend Melina and edited with Instagram - hence they're pretty).


you(th) on Friday nights and glasses
Dessert on Saturday - my friend Sara is amazing in making cakes
ONE on Sunday - best times with friends
Watches this and this movie and finally started watching the new So you think you can dance season. In Love
xoxo

Ramona

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A trip away - Scotland and Edinburgh

Indeed our last day started with this breakfast. Unbelievable I know. But when you're in another country you have to experience everything. Get the whole cultural package. Plus it actually tasted really really great.
It was the day of our departure and although we had only been there a bit more than two days it was the perfect get away. Sometimes that's really what we need. A weekend away to see something else in order to get back on track. I believe taking these times of rest is so important. I need them for sure in order to stay creative and in order to keep dreaming. We can get so caught up in daily routines and what's right in front of us we forget to dream and envision things. That's what this weekend actually helped me do. Dream. Envision and see clearly again.
We took the train back to Edinburgh and still had a couple of hours before our flight. The time we used to explore Edinburgh at least a bit. I definitely have to go back and really see it. Not just from the outside but really go to the buildings, take tours, learn about the history. But that would be a whole trip on its own. A cultural trip so to say.

I think Edinburgh had a very special feeling and atmosphere and I really enjoyed it. It was different. The architecture was not like it is in London or other places in Europe I have seen. I gues the picures speak for themselves. 
It simply amazed me that you have the capital of Scotland and right behind some of these buidlings is a landscape like this. The only thing missing was a Scot playing the bagpipe.

After some coffee we took the bus to the airport to fly home. Home to an amazing life. Home with new memories and things you will get to tell your friends and kids one day. Things you will never forget. You come home and you restart and figure it all out. You live your dreams. One day after another.

xoxo

Ramona

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A trip away - Scotland and the Abbey

Our next day began with a Scottish breakfast and with Scottish I mean the real deal. Meat, haggis, sausages, baked beans, toast, coffee, juice and everything you could imagine. But the great thing was that the lady from the B&B made everything from scratch and only shopped locally. It was wonderful and something I definitely normally don't eat. And it lasted for most of the day.
As I've said before we had planned on visiting the Arbroath Abbey that day and they opened up everything for us. Apparently we were the fist visitors. Hence the only ones the time we came. I considered it to be perfect to have the place to ourselves in calm and rest.
And we took some fun pictures. The weather was incredible again! We were overwhelmed that at the exact time we were there it would not rain. How beautiful. Ok. the Arbroath Abbey is beyond anything I had ever seen. It was one of the old ruins, grounds covered whith the greenest grass and you could only imagine its former glory with the big windows and the sound of a choir singing or an organ being played.
And seriously the light was perfect. Morning sunshine the seagulls singing or screaming whatever you want to call it and we the only people there. We were in awe.

We did explore every single bit of the abbey and spent hours there imagining the 17th century or thought about William Wallace and Braveheart. Well, at least I did.
From the Abbey we walked back to the harbour and had coffee at the harbour restaurant were we also made reservations for dinner. We loved it there. The whole flair and the view to the sea. 
We relaxed, read our books and sipped on flavoured coffee before we took another walk out of town and then back to enjoy some more tea and scones at the cutest little café in town. We were lucky to even get a table there. The waitresses were all wearing little white hats and it all sort of looked like in a past century. I was a happy girl.
What would a Scotland vacation be without a proper picture of a man in a skirt. We asked this young man if he would be willing to take a picture with us. The funny thing about it was though that he was drunk (see the bottle?) and as we asked him what he was up to his answer was nothing. Just walking, drinking and enjoying the day. We could see that.
Ok, I admit I love water and the coast and so I took every chance I could to take pictures of it and the seagulls and the sky. 
I love this last picture. It is so a friendship picture and perfect vacation shot. At least in my opinion.
We then returned to the B&B knowing that this was our last walk there as we were going to head home the next day. But we still had dinner before us and had planned on making it really special.
And special it was. We had amazing food. Well, fish and chips, but really great! It was that last night there that for me personally was really special and kind of brought a lot of things of the past months together for me. We just talked about everything and laid everything out and things started making sense again. I knew once I got home there were some things to change and do about it. I actually did when I got home. I took a long bike ride and discussed it all with God and he really brought up some things I had to change and reminded me of some dreams and asked me some really crucial questions I had to answer. It was perfect and I can really say that since then things did change and my attitude towards some things really has changed.

xoxo

Ramona



Monday, June 6, 2011

A trip away - Scotland

It is about time I share our time in Scotland with you. I know it's already been months but I just didn't find the time to prepare the pictures and get it all ready for you. But here we go. As there are sooo many pictures I want to share this will be a three-parts blog and very picture heavy but I hope you'll enjoy it.

The trip to Abroath, Scotland was kind of spontaneous and very much needed. Sometimes you just have to get away for a weekend to be able to see clearly again. And that's what this whole trip was about. And sharing it with my best friend made it even better!

We stayed at the cutest Bed&Breakfast you could ever imagine and it was perfect. The lady who ran it brought us tea upon our arrival and we just spend a little bit of time in the room to relax before we took off to take a walk. Also I must add that she already checked for our breakfast the next morning which was either Scottish breakfast or very typical for the village: The Abroath Smokie - yes a fish! We chose Scottish for the next day.
And so we went out and walked to the beach. I had never before been to the North Sea and it was so different than any of the other seas I had seen before. Melina and I just walked and walked, talked, stopped at some bench to read a book or just watch the sea. There is something magical about watching the sea. At least for me. The rolling in and out of waves. The sound it makes. The air it creates. The different lights you get. It was beyond beautiful. And the greens were so lucious so beautiful. So not what we normally see. We loved it!
So yes, we were just there. Being ourselves. No obligations, no calendar or appointments to follow. There was room to play and just do whatever we wanted to. We breathed in the air, let the soft sea wind blow through our hair and laughed.
We walked into town and checked out the Arbroath Smokie, well the place they smoke it in there special way. We cruised through the harbour and it was so clearly a little fishertown. We loved it!
I cannot really explain to you how extremely beautiful the weather was. I mean when you think of Scotland you think of rain. But we had sunny weather, no rain and the the most spectacular cloud compositions in the sky. 
After lunch we strolled through town and then back to the beach where this time we actually went down to the sand. The reason we're wearing hats is. Well, it was not super warm. It wasn't cold but with the wind it just felt nicer to wear hats. Can you believe that green? It is like watching movies shot in Scotland. It looks exactly like that!
That little fella was dead actually but we still took a photo of him. And while Melina was collecting shells and stones we talked more. We dreamed about things we want to accomplish and do in life. Places we yet want to visit. Talking about the craziest things we would like to do and things we wanted to do when we were little. There is something about dreaming when you're somewhere else. I then decided that when I get married one day my husband and I will for sure visit Scotland. The roughness and greeness and wind are more than romantic. They call for adventure and yet they allow you to just be.
As the sun was slowly setting we took a nap in our room and enjoyed some more tea before going out for dinner. Our room had a great view of the Arbroath Abbey. The place we had planned to visit the next day.

xoxo

Ramona


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