February — Cut's Fear Pong ▸ Christine Salus workouts ▸ vanilla soy milk ▸ watching stupid animal videos on YouTube ▸ Flaurel ▸ snowstorm walks with my dog ▸ petting horse noses ▸ Outlander Season 3 (I can't decide if I prefer the book or show because I love them both soo much!) ▸ Loreena McKennitt, especially the Huron Beltane Fire Dance ▸ receiving the loveliest mail from bae Kate ｡◕‿◕｡ ▸ Bibbsch writing such a lovely tweet. I almost cried a little. ▸This workout ▸ Reading Susannah Smiths How the Blessed Live while listening to Sigur Rós ▸ snowflakes in the moonlight, dancing and shimmering like glitter ▸ that E guy who always flirts with me. It’s annoying but kinda cute lol ▸ that sound ice makes when you step on it ▸ Sitting on the terrace on a cold (-6°C) but sunny day (for more than an hour!), reading magazines and observing the birds in the garden. It reminded me of the sparrows of Montmartre, how I pet their tiny beaks. I miss Paris so much right now. ▸ Having the most intense meditation practice; my whole my vibrated and I saw lights underneath my closed eyelids, like lightning but softer, warmer. It was so beautiful. ▸ finally marathoning Stranger Things S2. ▸ obsessing over Finland/Lapland and already planning future trips and stuff ▸ Listening to Equilibrium again. I remember when I first listened to the Sagas album back in 2010. I still love it sooo much, especially Blut im Auge (2:51 still gives me goosebumps, man) and Mana. Ah, so many memories. I need to see them live. ▸ Seeing a robin redbreast - erithacus rubecula - in the garden. Usually I only see blackbirds and sparrows. They're cute too but seeing a robin here is special. I bet I'll be a mad birdwatcher when I'm old, travelling to coastal regions with my binocular and logbook, spending hours in nature trying to find rare bird species and collecting feathers and old egg shells. I like that thought. I think I'm gonna need to buy a good book aboud birds, I find them really fascinating. Apparently there's a word for it - ornithomania. | The not so cuddly truth about the robin redbreast. ▸ Obsessions of February: Stranger Things, The Fall (BBC), birds, Finland, Equilibrium.

March — I've been obsessing over Finland for the past few days, read lots of stuff about the country and looked at tons of photography and stuff, and today I got an unexpected mail from Espoo! I haven't gotten international mail in quite a while so that was really lovely. ▸ Clearing my head by taking a walk in the dark. Tiny snowflakes tickling my face. ▸ Seeing the Leo constellation in the night sky always gives me some sort of comfort. It’s the same with Orion. I feel less lonesome when I see those constellations. I feel greater. Life makes sense. The whole universe makes sense. ▸ Taking a walk in the bird reserve here. I'm pretty sure I saw a pair of lapwings - Vanellus vanellus. And when I was home I spotted a bluetit - Cyanistes caeruleus - and a sparrow - Passer domesticus - fighting, it was the cutest thing ever. I guess I'm really turning into a mad ornithologist. ▸ The photography of Tobias Hägg aka airpixels. His shots are incredible and make me want to buy a drone for myself. Maybe I should borrow one someday. And do a workshop first, of course. ▸ Ask a Porn star - Grossest Porn Set Experience? made me laugh way too hard. ▸ Intense meditation sessions. ▸ Seeing the first butterflies of the year outside - a Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra) and a cabbage white (Pieris brassicae). ▸ Making dish soap bubbles while doing the dishes. ▸ Finding out Stevie Boebi is poly. ▸ Hearing weird noises in the woods. I don't know what it was but I'm pretending it was an UFO. ▸ Seeing a stork in my neighborhood. ▸ Seeing even more Cleopatra butterflies. They're everywhere! It's almost spring! ▸ Finding out there are wild flamingos in Bavaria. I NEED TO SEE THEM. ▸ Making some serious future plans. (Am I finally getting my shit together?) ▸ Obsessions of March: How to Get Away With Murder, Jane the Virgin, the Middle East (especially Egypt, Jordan and Israel) ▸ Starting with Postcrossing again and sending out cards to Belarus, Russia and China.

May & June — I’m still so in love with the live version of Sparks Fly. 3:45 will never not give me chills. ▸ Finding a single ginkgo leaf in the middle of the road. Which is super weird because I've never seen a ginkgo tree in this neighborhood. I put it in my journal. Maybe it's a sign. ▸ Eating blackberries for the first time in my life. Finding them delicious. Having purple-red-blue fingers afterwards. ▸ A little girl playing hopscotch in front of our horse and greeting me when she saw me. I'm always surprised and happy when kids greet me. ▸ Getting three surprise visits in one day. ▸ Lisa and her husband visiting me (another surprise visit), going to the lake and having a lovely time, eating french fries, eating ice cream, taking lots of photos, laughing. ▸ Going to the lake during a thunderstorm. Walking through the rain. ▸ Seeing Venus in the night sky, bright and proud. ▸ Finally being able to do the crow pose. It looks horrible but I'm working on it. ▸ Finding two new favourite workouts and KILLING THEM! 1 2 My muscles are growing and my fat is shrinking and seeing my body change...it's one of the best feelings in the world. It makes me feel so strong, so beautiful. So fucking sexy. ▸ Working on my 2017 Project Life travel journal. It's so much fun, remembering tiny details and words and moments and smells and everything. I want to make a Project Life album for every year of my life. I just need to keep these moments alive. Through art, especially photography and words. I love to do normal journaling too, but sometimes a moment is just so beautiful - so beautiful it almost hurts - and you can't put it into words. ▸ Making out with B. Wonderful, lovely B. I finally realized why I'm so drawn to sex. Because it's such a spiritual act if the person matches with you. It's pure energy. Spiritual, positive radiation. Sometimes I feel like I can't get enough. ▸ Returning. ▸ Watching Westworld S2. And then rewatching it again. I still don't 100% get it but I love it.

July — That woman riding her bike with freshly picked sunflowers in her bicycle basket. ▸ Going to the sunflower field as well. ▸ Another woman picking lime blossoms from one of my absolute favourite trees. Actually they're two trees but they grow so closely next to each other they look like they're one. ▸ Me singing opera tunes in the kitchen, not knowing that there's one of my mum's customers in front of the window. Him telling my mum later that I had a lovely voice. ▸ I usually don't eat much ice cream because I'm vegan but I knew my dad really wanted to go to the little ice cream parlor here (and me and my dad don't really do lots of things together) so I decided to make an exception (I feel bad about it now but oh well, it's too late now anyways. I'm not perfect, not even when it comes to my veganism) and had a whiskey ice cream which was sooooo good. I really want to make a vegan version now, maybe with almond milk? ▸ Eating gooseberries for the first time. I still have to figure out if I like their taste or not.

August

• SOUTH AFRICA. Definitely the most beautiful country I have ever visited. The wildlife and landscape is so incredible I can hardly put it into words.
  • Driving through Mpumalanga and listening to Ngamila. Yeah, that gave me butterflies.
  • Kruger National Park.
    • Seeing all of the Big Five in one day. Magical, incredible, magicaaaaal. I can't even.
    • That hyena walking into the Skukuza camp and walking around, just a few metres away from us. Same with the two warthogs, just standing there in the camp, looking at us. Curious creatures and so much smaller than I thought!
    • Seeing the leopard! I never thought I would see one! And then he was just lying there in the yellow bushes, chilling and being all sleepy, yawning, then looking right into my soul.
    • Sitting on the balcony of our lodge. Hearing weird bird (?) noises right in front of our room. Looking at the stars, seeing the milky way (it wasn't as intense as in the Sahara but still, it was breathtaking) and hearing the trumpets of elephants in the distance. It was like being in paradise. J. and I couldn't believe it was real.
    • Crossing the crocodile river in the dark, wincing at every little sound and being scared of leaves falling on the ground. It was hilarious.
  • Trees that kinda looked like cedars and palm trees everywhere, the smell of water and salt. Sand between my toes. My pants getting all wet and salty because I wasn't fast enough. Lots of laughter. The beach of Wilderness, fog hanging over the water like ghosts.
  • Tsitsikamma, seeing monkeys hanging between the trees. That foresty smell. Walking on the suspension bridge and not being scared AT ALL. Imagining going back and kayaking the Storms River. Seals and hyraxes chilling everywhere.
  • Looking out of the plane window in the middle of the night and seeing a shooting star while flying over Algeria.
• Lying in the lounger in our garden. Watching the stars. Feeling butterflies while looking at Ursa Major.

September

• Songs of the moment: Bring me the Horizon - Drown | Bring me the Horizon - Shadow Moses | Halsey - Hurricane (Acoustic)
• Seeing a shooting star while lying in my bed, Equilibriums Heiderauche in my ears. I could even see the Milky Way, just a tiny bit. I love those clear and magical nights, filled with starlight and that strange divine starseed feeling.