Happy New Year!

As I saw all of my blog friends New Years entries I thought I can't leave this year behind to make one, too, lol. But I have no fotos to post, so this will be a short entry! I wish all of my readers a lovely start into the new year. I've never made new year resolutions, but for 2012 I have some things I wanna do and plan, also for this blog! Thank you for always reading and supporting me! Let 2012 become a wonderful year for all of us!

I still have some fotos from new York to post, and of course I still have to announce the winner of my giveaway, sorry I'm so slow, behind with all things! See you! To all of you who celebrate, have a great feast!

Christmas Eve

Hi friends, did you have a nice Christmas? I had and I'm gonna share my fotos about that day with you, but before that I have to retell you about Friday, the day before Christmas.

It was my last working day before the short holidays, and we had such trouble at he company, cause our receptionist lady opened a letter with an unknown white substance and a threatening letter! Some moments later police and fire department were standing in front of our door and nobody knew what to do, we were told to just continue work until we hear from the police. Well, nobody did think it was something like a serious attack, but still, the unknown was kinda grueseome. Two people who came in contact with the substance were brought to the pubic health department and were given some tablets, and then the police finally said it was just a bad joke. Gosh there are so sick people running around... I hope the police will get the culprit soon.

Well, after work I met up with Alina and Charlotte to watch the new Twilight movie! I've never been a fan of these movies, but I like to amuse myself with it, so why not. It was so much fun to see the girls again so that I can give them their presents, too ;) Have some fotos!

 No flash picture from Lotti and Alina, they are both so photogenic!!

 Alina and me with the tickets!

 Lol, look at our faces hahahaha

 @MacDonalds! Lotti and Alina both have i-phones, such cool devices! ;) My phone is almost three years old, lol

 Presents from Lotti and Alina

Finally Christmas Eve!! We had to decorate our tree, this year I had the idea to put on many of my cute plushies as well, cause the tree was so empty! It is super kitschy, but also super cute, don't you think?? Then my siblings came to our home, we played our annual board game, I won this year! XDDD Then we had a super gorgeous dinner, made some family pictures and then opened the presents! I picked out the nicest fotos for you!!

 The top of the tree was my sis idea! Can you spot all the plushies?? XDDD

 Close up!

 The presents!

 I love this year's tree so much! <3

 Our vietnamese style Raclette XDD

 Merry Christmas! 

 Our family picture! Normally I don't post pics of my other family members, but for Christmas it is okay! From left to right, bro, lil sis, mum, me and elder sis :)

 I think my mum is gonna send these to relatives... I tried to make my best smile, lol

 While opening the presents!! I got this lovely pink polka dot scarf from my friend M.

 Thank you so much!

My presents! But I forgot some XDDD

Thanks to all who send me mails, letters, cards, presents and other Christmas wishes, you've made my Christmas 2011 an unforgettable day. See you next posts and enjoy te rest of your short holiday ;)

Cafe Relax with Theresa

Hi guys, actually I wanted to post about Day 8 in NY, but decided to postpone it, cause today I got to meet up with my lovely friend Theresa for the last time this year, so I thought better post about that! We exchanged Christmas presents (will be opened on Christmas Eve), made X-Mas Purikura and had yummy coffee in Cafe Relax, where we also had a small dinner :) Have some fotos!

 Our beloved Caramel Machiato :) Oh we are so addicted ;)

 Super cute Theresa, I loved her outfit that day, it was so casual chic, totally my style, too! Too bad we don't have a full body shot of our outfits ;_;

 Cafe Relax menu, oh I wish my japanese calligraphy would look like this, I own such a pen but I still have to practise a lot! My japanese handwriting is not too bad, though (no I'm not conceited, lol)

 We shared this super super super yummy salmon salad with grilled vegetables! 

 We met two of Theresas fellow students in Cafe Relax (oh the world is so small, specially Düsseldorf), who made this foto for us, thank you again :)

 The presents I got! Can't wait to open them on Saturday!! ;)

 Our purikura, and my entry in my puri book ;)

 Oh and I wanted to show you this huuge Kitty tin I bought only recently, there were some baking ingridients in it so I'm gonna make some Kitty cookies soon!

Last but not least, some of the Christmas cards I got recently!! I already sent off a bunch, too, hope they will arrive punctual, but I rather doubt that, hahaha! So sorry if you get your cards after Christmas!! XD

Okay, that's it for today, have a good night and see you next post ;)

Back home in Düsseldorf and Day 7 in NYC: Staten Island Ferry

I'm back from the virtually dead! Sorry to make you guys wait for so long till my next post, but since my return home three days ago I had jetlag and had to cover up missed sleeping hours, hahaha! I didn't manage to do anything, and there still so much to do till Christmas next week. Wait, did I say next week?? Wheeeeeee! Time is really running, I have a pile of Christmas cards/letters to write, clean up my room, there is also work starting all over again tomorrow... Thank god at least most of the presents are already bought and wrapped up, I still need to get some more things and we also don't have a tree yet... Meh, so many things to do and I have no time, lol.

At least I'm back to blogging and commenting again, I have so much to catch up to I guess! And starting next week I'm free to see all of my friends again, whom I missed so much! Can't wait to see you and retell about my trip, and also to give you your presents. So any one who wants to see me you better hurry up and book an appointment, lol. XDDD

So now about my seventh day in NY, we took the Staten Island Ferry to have a free glimpse on Miss Liberty. Yeah, we were to cheap to pay 15 Dollar each to see her right into her eyes, lol. The Staten Island Ferry is for FREE and we could see her from a distant view, but that was totally fine, we could also enjoy the skyline from Manhattan, it was lovely! You don't even think about that fact that Manhattan is just a small island surrounded by water only, hahaha. Have some fotos!

 I wore my new coat that day, it was so windy on the ferry!

 On the way to boarding

 On the ferry, on the background that must be Brooklyn Bridge :)

 Random sea gull ;)

 There she is Miss Liberty ;)

 The sea gull posed for our foto XDD

 Manhattan Skyline, 20 minutes away by ferry

This is the new tower built at Ground Zero, it is already higher than any other buliding around!

Do you see the beautiful blue sky and the sunshine? We had such lovely weather almost every day, except for the two days right at the beginning where it was raining, we were so lucky with the weather, when I returned home Düsseldorf's weather really hit me worse, lol. 

Okay, next post: Top of the Rock Obeservation Deck in Rockefeller Center and Fifth Avenue! XD See you around and a nice start to the week to all of my working friends/followers, let's give our best (even though I already know it will be hell to get out of bed on Monday morning...)

Day 5&6: Changing Locations and Meetup with Ashley

Hi friends, sorry I haven't updated for such a long time!! The last days were sooo busy and at the end of the day we were so tired I only had energy left to shower and then watch TV in our hotel room, usually we're on the road walking like 10-11 hours a day XD But today I'm giving my best to retell you Day 5 and 6!

On Day 5 we changed our hotel location from Queens to Midtown in Manhattan :) Finally we don't have to take the train and shuttle bus any longer, we can walk to places like Rockefeller Center or Times Square easily! On that day we just had lunch at the best Ramen-Ya in New York (well, according to Time Out Magazine) and bought sweets as souvenirs for friends and family at home ^^

On Day 6 we managed to meet up with my friend Ashley! Well, actually she was Charlotte's friend, when both were studying at Waseda University back in our Tokyo times <3<3 We met during the earthquake when Ashley didn't make it home and had to stay with us in our apartment in Ikebukuro. Sometimes life is awesome and can get you to such connections, hahaha ;) Anyways, it was soooo lovely to see here again, last time we met it was in the immigration office back in Tokyo when we both got our re-entry permits... Thanks again for that lovely day, dear, you are too sweet and were looking so cute! ;) Ashley posted about the day here, you should really check out her blog!

 View from our new hotel room :) West 57th Street

 Our room is located on the ninth floor

 It is quite spacious!

 Christmas Tree in the Hotel Lobby

 Our lunch, yes you can tell, we do love Ramen and japanese cuisine in general

 Broadway

 We went to Hershey's Store

 Many of you might have seen this foto on facebook already ;) As I write these lines to you the amount of sweets has trippled, lol. I think it has reached 15 Kilo now, hahaha.

 Columbus Circle, near our hotel. See me with a coffee to go from Starbucks of course XDD

 NYPD camping van?? :)

 My outfit of the day, yeah, I do look the same every day... XD

 In Macy's furniture department, see all the postcards I wrote?? The frog was watching, too XD

 Little snack at Starbucks XDD honestly, if we are not shopping we spend our time and money at Starbucks!

 Ashley and me at Union Square Station, she was looking so cute, and her make-up was awesome! We decided to meet up at Penn Station at McDonalds, but there were three of them in and ouside that super huge station, and I tried to call her but the stupid public phone just took our one dollar and it didin't work. I was so afraid of not finding her, but thank God we found the right place and could meet, it was a miracle, haha.

 Union Square, Ashley told me many famous people live here!

 Union Square is such a lovely place!!

 In front of Grace church :)

 Stolen from Ashley :)

 This too! We had dinner in a super nice Izakaya ;)

 Ashley tried out her new Purikura app, I phones are soooo aweseome XD

 Washington Square 

 Macy's Believe <3

Finally a picture of the three of us ;) This one turned out well!

Thank you again Ashley for spending the day with us despite your tight schedule (it takes her about one hour to Manhattan), for showing us the NYU area, SoHo and the yummy Izakaya :) Hope next time we'll meet it will be in Germany <3<3<3

So stay tuned for the next posts, we "visited" Miss Liberty via Staten Island Ferry, shopped yet again and got to the Top of the Rock observation deck in Rockefeller Center ;)