My Handbags - Part One

I believe that every girl has at least one weak spot when it comes to shopping. Mine are definitely handbags. When people ask me "where did all your money go?" I have to reply with "I am carrying it with me." I have always liked a nice bag to complete an outfit, but during the past few years it has become an slight obsession. My mom can't understand why I spend a lot of money on designer handbags, she always says "how many expensive bags does a 21-year old need?" Truth is I don't just carry designer handbags, I also own a few high street store purses, it is just a coincidence that a lot of the bags I love are from designers. I absolutely love to watch videos about peoples handbags- and shoe collections on Youtube, that's why I thought I would write a post about mine. 

DISCLAIMER: This blog post is not sponsored. All opinions are my own. I have purchased most of the items on my own, some were presents from my family. 

I own quite a few bags, that's why I have decided to split my collection in two blog posts - the bigger ones and the little ones.

I bought this shoulder bag a few years bag at H&M and to be honest, I totally forgot about it until I found it again recently and I have used it a lot again ever since. It's pretty casual and perfect for during the summer. I think it was around 20 -25€ / 21 - 27$ back then.

This is the biggest bag (size L) out of the "Longchamp Le Pliage Nylon" collection and it was a present by my parents for my 19th birthday and something very different for me, as I used to carry mostly smaller and dark colored bags two years ago. I really like the size, though at the moment I mostly use it as my gym back. You can purchase exactly the same bag here. 

This is my newest Longchamp piece and I got it for my 21st birthday from my grandparents. I am obsessed with my "Le Pliage Backpack" and I wear it all the time. It's so nice to go shopping (for example) and have both hands free, instead of using one to carry a handbag around. You can purchase it here and here. 

This "Louis Vuitton Sac Noe" is one of the rather expensive one pieces out of my whole collection. I bought it about two months ago at the vintage store. I prefer the Louis Vuitton bags vintage instead of brand new, because I like the way the light brown leather looks with the patina. For those of you who don't know what a patina is. Patina is when leather turns darker over the years. The light brown leather of a brand new LV bag will be even lighter, kind of white-ish. You can purchase the exact one (new) here. 

I know, this bag has seen better days. It looks so used, because it used to be my every day school bag. We used to use laptops in school and I was looking for a bag big enough to fit my mine when I found this one on Amazon. You can find the same one in a different color here.

I bought this "Kurt Geiger Saffiano London Tote" as an Christmas present for myself via the Harrods Online Shop. I saved up for this "treat" for a while, but I am so happy with this bag. It is so beautiful and I can wear it with literally every kind of outfit style, dresses, jeans, etc. You can buy the exact one in a different color here. 

I got this Coach bag as an graduation present from my parents last year. It is one of my favorite pieces (though I would probably say that all of my bags are my favorite). It shape and color is perfect to wear on a daily basis, with every kind of outfit - no matter what color it has as you can combine black with everything. I don't think the sell the exact one anymore, but you can purchase a similar one here.

This "Louis Vuitton Speedy 30" was my first more expensive designer handbag and I bought it almost two years ago at the same vintage store, I also got my LV Sac Noe from. The Speedy is such an iconic handbag and I believe that it doesn't matter how old you are it will always suit you. You can buy the exact one (new) here.

I bought this shopper at H&M two years ago. It is the handbag I mostly carry for work. I love the size, you can fit everything you need and more in it. H&M doesn't sell the exact one anymore, but you can buy similar ones here and here.

About a year ago I was super obsessed with the "Alexander Wang Rocco Bag", but it was (and still is) way out of my prince range. Luckily I found a very similar bag (not a AW fake!) on eBay for around 25€. I love its style and the silver parts on the bottom! Its edgy, I really enjoy styling it with a casual outfit.

I am very excited about this light blue trapeze shaped bag, as I only bought it today! I don't own a bag in that shape or color, and I believe that I will carry it all the time during spring and summer. You can buy the exact one from Zara here. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my "babies", as I like to call them. I will probably upload Part 2 of my collection, the one about my smaller bags within the next few weeks.

I would love to hear about your "weak shopping spot" and which of my bags you liked the most.

Tweet me @germerican_lj or email me: germerican-lj@gmx.de

X's O's,

L.

Goodbye - See You Later

Something that is part of my daily life routine is distance. From my "About Me" or earlier posts you will know that I have a American father and a German mother and we live in Germany. My dad's family though, and some of my best and closest friends live in the states. I feel like long distance relationships is something you read about a lot. People who fall in love, but live miles away from each other and are willing to give their relationship a try. Barely anyone talks about the friendships. Is that not a common thing? Having best friends living across the world? Do people not have best friends on the other side of the world? I don't mean being separated for a year for Work&Travel, I mean constantly. And what about your family on the other side of the planet? Don't you love them as much as the ones close around you? 

Today I would like to give you a little insight on my "long distance friendships". Like I said some of my best friends live in the USA. The distance from my town to where they are from is 6,269km/3.728miles. A flight from my nearest airport to theirs takes about eight hours. That is a lot of distance isn't it? We're so far away from each other. A lot of people have said to me "you do know you won't be friends with them forever, right? They're too far away." I don't believe that. I don't agree. When I first met one of them six years ago because of a exchange program, she wasn't even staying with me. She was staying with a friend of mine, but it was me and her who became so close. Six years later and I have seen her almost every year. We have traveled other countries than Germany and America together. We have climbed the Eiffel Tower, a glacier in Norway. We went to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and danced in the rain on a dutch beach. This May we are going to ride donkeys in Greece and explore the beautiful island that is Santorini. This is a special friendship, let me tell you. Through her I have met her sisters, who I adore, and one of her best friends who I am now lucky enough to call one of my best friends as well.  

"Long distance BFF's" is what we like to call each other. It's our hashtag. It isn't as hard as anyone says it is, you know? I talk to them on a daily basis, even if its just a quick text saying "hey". We keep each other updated about ours lives. It will sound weird, but the great thing about a long distance friendship is that we aren't around all the time. We don't know each others friends personally, we have just heard stories about them. We can tell each other everything, be completely honest with each other just because we aren't around. Does that make sense? It is so easy to talk to someone who is impartial. To have someone listen to what is going on and have them give us advice. Our friends on the other side of the world might see things in another perspective and help us to get our thoughts in order. I tell my best friends everything. I cherish them so much. We are each others biggest supporters, our rocks in not so great time. All that with distance, without being psychically there. So no, having best friends on the other side of the world isn't hard. Its the best thing and the worst thing at the same time. The best thing because if they're true friends, like mine, you can always count on them. Because we are so far away from each other, we always reply to each others text, we send little gifts - we just make a little bit more effort. When we see each other in the summer or over Christmas break we always do fun things to make the visit as special as possible. The worst thing about it is obvious: we don't get to see each other a lot. 

I miss them, so much. But I am lucky to know them because they are some of the most interesting and special persons I have ever met. They're hard workers and smart and intelligent and beautiful. They deserve this blog post. 

To you, you know who you are: thank you for being my best friend on the other side of the world. See you soon! 

I will upload a blog post about having family on the other side of the world soon.

Thanks for reading! If you have family or friends that live far away from you feel free to email me (germerican-lj@gmx.de) or tweet me @germerican_lj - I would love to hear your tips and experiences.

X's & O's.

L. 

Love Is All We Need?

Warning: This is probably going to be another post where I ramble on. My speciality. 

Lately I have been thinking a lot about love. What is love, who do we love, why is love so important? When we were kids things were simple. You loved your daddy and mommy, siblings, grandparents and favorite toys - and once you're older you will meet your Prince Charming and live happily ever after. Spoiler: it's not that easy. 
Taylor Swift once said:

“When I was a little girl I used to read fairy tales. In fairy tales you meet Prince Charming and he's everything you ever wanted. In fairy tales the bad guy is very easy to spot. The bad guy is always wearing a black cape so you always know who he is. Then you grow up and you realize that Prince Charming is not as easy to find as you thought. You realize the bad guy is not wearing a black cape and he's not easy to spot; he's really funny, and he makes you laugh, and he has perfect hair.”

Taylor is right. As usual, because she's Taylor. As easy as that. The older I get the more I realize how complicated things are with love. You don't just fall in love and everything is perfect for the rest of your life. Especially during the last two years or so a lot of my (female) friends haven't been treated very nicely by their significant others at some point and still decided to stay with their partners for longer than they should have. I know what you're thinking right now "Why are they so stupid to stay with someone who doesn't treat them the way they deserve?". I have been thinking that more than once, trust me. In fact I used to be that girl that stayed in a not so happy relationship longer than I should have. When I ask my friends why they don't just dump their boyfriends they always have the same response: "I love him. It'll get better". And eventually it will, but sadly mostly it won't. Hard, but true. Of course there are also my oh so bubbly, happily in love friends, but those are not the kind of people you write blog posts about, right? 

I have asked myself "why do we bother with love so much?" Now that I am not in a relationship anymore I see things much clearer than they were. I think humans are designed to need love like the air they breathe. Which is fine. But is love really all we need in life? Do we really just need that one person to be completely happy? I certainly don't think so. I do agree it is a huge part of our lives and being in love is great, but I don't necessarily think that relationships are the most important thing in life. I am sorry if I sound cynical - don't get me wrong, like I said I think love is wonderful, just not "all we need".

In my last blog post you have read about the change I made during the last half a year and some of my views on life. During the last few months I have been happier than I have been in a long time and I am single (doesn't mean that I was always super unhappy whilst I was in a relationship, to be clear. I just can 100% focus on myself now, which is very important to me at the moment.) So here is what I think is most important in life: Happiness. I truly believe that you can't live a great life if you aren't happy. Remember, you only get on shot, right? Surround yourself by your family, a good group of true friends who bring out the best in you and try to see as much of the world as you can, our planet is beautiful. Also work hard, you'll need the money to fulfill your wishes. 

To all of you hopeless romantics out there. Prince Charming will come. You might have to kiss a few frogs and maybe the person who you think is your "The One" will turn out to be more of a Rumpelstiltskin, but I truly believe that every single one of us will meet the right person someday, maybe after meeting a few wrongs before. You won't end up alone with a bunch of cats, I promise. And if you do end up without a man (which I highly doubt!) that's okay too. Cats rock. 

I would love to hear some of your fairytale stories - the good and bad ones. Email me: germerican-lj@gmx.de or tweet me @germerican_lj.

X's and O's.

L. 

What I am wearing:

Fedora Hat - ASOS

Sunglasses - ASOS

Necklace - Tiffany & Co.

Shirt - Zara

Jeans - Dr Denim

Shoes - Toms

Bag - Louis Vuitton Sac Noe 

The New Me

Dear You,

I want to apologize. It's been almost six months since I have last blogged and I feel like I need to explain a few things. When I started this blog on February 13th, 2014 (Happy One Year Anniversary Germerican!) I was so motivated and excited about having my own little corner of the internet, talking about what I love and maybe creating someones favorite webpage. Looking back 2014 was probably the worst time for me to start a blog. At first I was very busy with graduation from school and thinking about what I would like to do next. The next step in my life. First I thought about going to University right away, but I wasn't really passionate about the courses I had originally chosen and I ended up deciding that I wanted to do a few internships to find out what I enjoy and what not before I go to University, but I feel like at the same time I was trying to find out who I am at a person and what my place is in this world. Not going to lie, those months were pretty hard. I wasn't too busy with my internship (although I enjoyed it) and after a while I felt useless and stupid for deciding against starting University in the fall. I felt like a total loser and I wasn't happy with the life I was living. My parents and best friends were so supportive. They listened to me crying over the same thing over and over again and tried to help me out of my little hole. At the same time some things changed around me and I was constantly anxious. Me stressing about life wasn't helping my anxious moments at all. Things were building up so much that I got an panic attack during a very awesome Ed Sheeran concert that I attended with my best friends. I think that was the point were I realized that I am not 100% okay. It sounds stupid, but just the fact that my life wasn't working out the way I wanted it to be made me feel so bad. In December I started a job at a shoe boutique to make some extra money for University and things gotten better. On New Years Eve, while watching the fireworks with my gorgeous best friend, everything changed. It sounds so cliché, but all of a sudden I saw things clearly for the first time in months! I knew what I wanted in life and I knew who I wanted to have around.

I won't call 2014 the worst year of my life, because not everything was bad, just my school situation sucked and at the time I couldn't focus on anything else. 2015 on the other hand has been great so far. I have distanced myself from people who don't want my best or don't bring out the best in me and I feel really good about it. I don't regret that choice at all. I have decided for myself that I want 2015 to be the year I focus on myself and my happiness and so far, so good. It's only March but I truly believe that 2015 is going to be a lot of fun. On New Years Eve I have decided that I want to spend my money on other things than shopping. Don't get me wrong, I will still buy lots of clothes and accessories (I have bought two designer handbags so far, stay tuned for a blog post), but I also want to invest in trips and adventures.  Last month I spend a lovely week on the spanish island Fuerteventura with my mom and so far I have another two trips planned which I will eventually blog about. Also, since I am telling you all about my past months and what the future will bring, so far I have gotten accepted to two Universities in the Netherlands, which I am thrilled about, but I will talking about University in another blog post I think. Oh and speaking of change, I recently have started out working 5 times a week, including doing Yoga, and I feel awesome. I highly advice everyone who gets stressed out easily to try out Yoga.

Sorry for the unstructured and very long blog post, but I felt like I owed those of you who actually like to read my blog a explanation. YES, I will continue blogging. Last night I actually thought about deleting the blog, but my lovely Lindsey basically forbid me to do it - you should thank her. No, but really. I want to feel excited about my blog again and I have already planned a thing or two. 

Thank you for reading this post and if you have any questions or suggestions on what I could blog about send me an email to: germerican-lj@gmx.de or tweet me: @germerican_lj.

I am excited of what the future brings. 

Lots of love, 
L.

PS: I would like to say thank you to my parents, sister and amazing friends Alicia, Carina, Heather, Lara & Lindsey. You all have been so supportive during the last six months and I love each and single one of you lots and lots and lots. You guys are the greatest humans exciting on this planet and I feel sorry for everyone who doesn't know you. Also thanks to Kirsten who is the funniest person I know. That deserved to be mentioned in this post. X's & O's.

PPS: I don't have long hair anymore. In February I had 10 inches cut off, which I have donated to the Little Princess Trust - an organization that makes wigs for little girls who suffer from cancer. Check them out.

Okay. Bye now. X

Pumpkin Carving Fun

Hello everyone!

 

It has been awhile since I have last blogged, but here I am again. October is one of my favorite months of the year, maybe because it's my birthday month, but mainly because it means that Fall has finally returned. Don't get me wrong - I love summer, sunshine and hot beach vacations but personally I think that the world looks the prettiest with colorful leaves and that Fall season is the best fashion season. Who doesn't love big scarves, boots and jumpers/sweaters? Another thing I like a lot about October is Halloween. I usually don't dress up myself, but I love seeing little children dressed up as spooky creatures, full of excitement and joy when they go trick or treating - and I love the Halloween decoration. That's why two of my best friends and I got together last week and did something that is just a must during Halloween season. We carved pumpkins! Balu (my friends cat in the picture above) was keeping our company and since he's a black cat like my own, he just had to appear in this post. 

We had so much fun during the process and we were pretty proud of us once we were done. I think we did a pretty good job! 

my finished pumpkin

Alicia's finished pumpkin

Navina's finished pumpkin

Lara's finished pumpkin

I would love to hear what you guys think of Halloween and its traditions! Are you dressing up, if so what are you dressing up as? Did you carved some pumpkins yourself? Message me or send me pictures. As usual you can contact me either via Twitter or via Email!

xx,

L.

Summer Outfits

Hello!

I know, I know, it is mid-August and I am only now uploading this post. I have to apologize, I took these pictures almost two months ago and I only now decided to upload the post. Truth is I felt like something special additional to the outfits in the post was missing and I was kind of looking for this something to cross my way, but it didn't. I am not saying I don't like the post or the outfits, I do that's why I am uploading everything now. I didn't want to waste the pictures and although summer is almost over in a lot of parts in the world and uninteresting for those who live there I figured those who are luckier and can actually enjoy the warm weather for a couple more months might still find my outfit ideas useful and inspiring. 

Outfit #1 "Lazy and simple - but cute"

This was one of my favorite outfits to wear the past months! I wore this very simple little black dress with a sun hat and jelly shoes. The sun hat is such a summer must have, especially for a beach vacation. I tend to get head aches very easily, which is why I need to protect my head while I am in the sun - my head was perfect: stylish and useful. A lot of you might not be fans of my salmon-pink jellies or find them childish, but I am absolutely in love with them. Not only are they super affordable, they are also very "in style" this summer and so comfortable. Let's not forget the practical part of my shoes: when I went on vacation in Spain with my sister in July I wore them by the beach and while everyone else was disgusted by the sea weed I just walked straight through it, thanks to my jelly shoes:). This is a perfect during the day outfit, even if you just chill in your garden reading a book. My dress and shoes are from ASOS and the sun hat is from H&M - it's last season but H&M always has sun hats in stock during the summer, if you are interested in getting one I am sure you can find a cheap similar one. The book I was reading is called "Gone Girl", by Gillian Flynn. As a lip product addict I have to add that my lipstick is a the Chanel Rouge Allure No. 90. 

Outfit #2: The festival look

Those of you who enjoy the summer festival season a lot might be interested in this outfit. To me festival outfits have to be comfortable, but cute at the same time. I wore my Topshop crop top and paired it with some high-waisted black shorts I got last summer at Forever21 when I visited my best friends in the state. Personally I don't think that someone can spend a whole day (and night) at a event like a music festival dancing and standing around in heels, that's why I decided to put on my white Vans. Honestly I can think of more comfortable shoes than sneakers, they're perfect for days you are on your feet the whole time. Taking about comfortable: I decided to wear my black Longchamp back pack instead of a handbag because #1 I am obsessed, #2 it is SO beautiful and #3 it is just so much easier. You don't have to carry it around and have your hands free for drinks or simply when you throw your hands up in the air to dance haha:). You can still put a lot of stuff in there though, so that's good. If you do not like back packs I would recommend to wear a small cross body bag. For jewelry I kept it simple and wore little gold ring and two bracelets. The one with the colorful stones was a present by either my mom or my grandma when I was a lot younger and the gold one was my Christmas present from my best friend Heather which is from Alex and Ani. As a lipstick I wore my favorite red - the Rimmel London Kate Moss 107.

Outfit #3: summer weddings 

Sadly the lightening was horrible when I took those outfits pictures, please excuse the sun spots on me. Summer are perfect for summer weddings, that's why I decided to take pictures in a outfit perfect for this kind of occasions or maybe a nice summer dinner. I wore a basic striped dress from Forever21 (which is also last season) and paired it with some white wedge heels from Primark. I kept my make up very simple and did my brows, put some mascara and rouge on. My lip gloss is "Afternoon Tea" by Tanya Burr. For jewelry I wore my Tiffany & Co. necklace (as always).

Outfit #4: An everyday look. 

This is an very casual every day look you can wear for shopping or hanging out with your friends and family. My striped shirt is from H&M, my high-waisted jeans shorts are from Levis and my slippers are Birkenstock and probably my favorite summer shoes. I have had them for about two years now and I still love them so much. I am not wearing any jewelry but my typical necklace and in addition to the whole outfit some white headphones from my local media store. 

I hope you enjoy these outfits and do not find my writing (in general, not only this post) too boring. I am very, very stressed with making Uni decisions at the moment but I will try to blog some more in the future.

Send me your outfits if you use mine as an inspiration!

xx,

L.

Käsespätzle

hello! 

i'm finally back from vacation and ready to keep focusing on my blog. i have a few post that already have been written, but there is still here and there something missing, that's why they aren't online yet. 

besides the shopping, sight seeing and the views there is only one thing my best friends love SO much and that's the food, especially something called käsespätzle. spätzle are some kind of special kind of pasta and they're basically just over-baked with cheese. sadly you can't get the mixture they like in the states and i never can send my besties enough of them, because yeah, they love it so much :). i decided to make up a very, very easy recipe for you guys to make them yourself. 

step 1: 

get out for ingredients. you can take what ever cheese you like. i'm not sure if you can get spätzle (just the noodles) in your local store, but if not i found this link for a bag of 12 on amazon.com: 

http://www.amazon.com/Bechtle-Traditional-Spaetzle-Blackforest-17-6-Ounce/dp/B000S4EICE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1407345404&sr=8-4&keywords=sp%C3%A4tzle

step 2:

put about a liter water into a pot and cook it, as soon as the water starts boiling you add the noodles and cook them for about 10 minutes. don't forget to stir them every once in a while.

step 3:

after 10 minutes you get rid of the water and let the spätzle cool down for a second or two. 

step 4:

now you put as much noodles as you want on a plate and cover it in cheese. put as much as you want on it, if you don't want a lot you can just sprinkle a little bit on top.

step 5: 

when you're done preparing your spätzle with the amount of cheese you like, you simply but it into the microwaves and let it in there for about 40 seconds - 1 minute - AND VOILA. you're done.

if you're trying out this recipe please let me know, either via email (germerican-lj@gmx.de) or on twitter (germerican_lj) (#germericanljblog) how it works out for you. 

enjoy!

xx, L.