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.

Midnight Memories

I have a younger sister, which you guys probably already figured out by reading some of my previous posts. My sister turned 18 this May and since 18 is a big birthday in Germany (or maybe everywhere in the world?) I figured that her birthday present had to be super special. My sister and I are very close and there is one thing that we both love to do together: yam to One Direction while driving in my car. So when One Direction announced their world wide stadium tour I knew that I had to get us tickets to see them live in at their show in Düsseldorf, Germany. My sister was so excited when she opened up the envelope and got even more excited as she found out that not only her and I were going, but also my best friend and one of her two close friends.

I think we started counting down the days at 200 something when I bought the tickets in January, but time, as usual, went by so fast! As we were planning everything concert related I obviously also started thinking about what to wear and when I searched the web for outfit ideas and maybe some cool 1D merch to buy I stumbled over this page called X Apparel London. X Apparel London makes super cool shirts and accessorizes and they have a section where they offer special 1D and 5 seconds of summer shirts. I loved the shirts the second is first saw them and I also saw this offer where they sell 5 shirts with all the boys last names on them for cheaper if you buy them together instead of just one. 5 of us had tickets to the show, so I thought why not buy the shirts from X Apparel London and have each one of us wear one the 1D boys' last name. The girls thought the idea was great so we ended up purchasing them. 

me, my best friend, my sister & her friends before the show

On July 2nd we left home around noon since we had a almost 3 hour road trip to the stadium ahead of us. All the girls were super excited and the played not only One Directions, but also 5 Seconds of Summer's (the opening act) album on our way to Düsseldorf and had a lot of fun singing the songs we were about to hear on the top of our longs. I am pretty sure the cars passing us thought we were nuts and I don't blame them! The actual excitement started when we saw the signs at the stadium after arriving. 
Sadly, the fives of us had to split before going in to the arena, since my sisters friends didn't have since while the three of us (sister, best friend and I) had. My sisters friends ended up standing in line for about two hours, while we "only" had to wait for 45 minutes, which was annoying enough since it was super hot that day and we all wore jeans and our shirts instead of shorts and tank tops. 

me and my best friend waiting in line. can you guess our favorite 1d members? 

Can I just say that even if you are not a big fan of the boys you also would have had a "wow" moment after entering the arena. IT WAS HUGE. I work at a soccer stadium and I shouldn't have been surprised at all, but seeing the stadium with the stage and thousands of screaming girls was quite something. Luckily our seats were awesome, we had such a good view on the stage and the little runway they had set up in the middle of the stadium. 

Before the show the played songs and music videos and showed some 1D and 5SOS related commercials and oh.my.god. the fans went crazy. They screamed so loud without any of the boys being on stage or anything, I covered my ears because these girls were crazy (in a good way, I guess). 

Around 7pm the opening act 5 Seconds of Summer went on stage and they totally rocked it! They were SO good and very nice to the crowd, I really enjoyed their set! 

A little after 8pm One Direction finally got on stage and they were awesome. After this concert I am even more of a fan than I was before. They played around 23 songs and they're as good live as they are on the records, they just owned the stage. They were jumping and dancing around (very cute and funny!) and talked to the crowd (which made the girls gone wild, as you can imagine) and seemed to have a very good time and so did we. I have been to a few concert before but the Where We Are Tour show was definitely one of my favorites so far. 

If you live in America and or any of the places the "One Direction On The Road Again Tour" will play at I highly recommend to try to get tickets, even if you are not a fan of the boys and just like their or that kind of music. If you are more into pop-ish (punk) rock I would go and try to see 5SOS, just saying. 

So yeah, after all, all of us had a very great day and even though we didn't got home until almost 4am (although the show ended around 1015pm) we had a very, very great day. I talked to the girls and they also said that the enjoyed every second of it and that they are sad that it is over.

What I wore:

- Zara black ripped skinny Jeans
- X Apparel London shirt "Horan 93"
- Nike Vortex in red
- H&M purse 
- Rimmel London Lipstick "Kate Moss 107"
- Rimmel London Rouge & Bronzer

I hope you enjoyed this very long post, even though you might not be a fan of One Direction. Tweet or e-mail me your thoughts, I love to hear from you!
Twitter: @germerican_lj Email: germerican-lj@gmx.de

Where to find the 1D shirts:
http://www.xapparellondon.com/

Be brave. Take risks!

First of all: I am sorry for not blogging in May and most of June. Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I was busy with school, studying and figuring out the next steps in my life. I don't want to talk about that, I'm keeping this for another post. 


For me this year has been all about taking risks. I decided for myself a while ago that I can only, truly, be happy if I do whatever I like without caring about other opinions. I wear things I would have never worn last year, I get braver and braver when it comes to fashion. Some items in my closet are out of my comfort zone and I when wearing them I have to be very confident about myself and my body, but at the end of the day it was worth it, because I did that for me. I do not know who many times I have heard "Are you really gonna wear this?" or "You sure you want to buy this?". YES YES YES, I am, I do. 
I want to walk around with a back pack while going shopping. I want to wear these colorful shoes no one likes. I want to wear lipsticks in different shades and colors and I want to have strong eyebrows. 
But my life isn't only fashion and make-up, that's just smart part that makes me, me. I want study abroad, alone, without my family or friends close. I want to meet as many interesting people and travel as many places I can. I want to spend a lot of money I should have saved for "more important things". I want to be a little bit stupid. I want to live the moment and not think about all the scary things that growing up brings along. I want a second tattoo, with a important meaning. And I want to sit by the ocean, my favorite thing to do.

This post might seem a little bit odd and it is very unstructured. I wanted to share some thought with you and let you know that behind these words there is a 20 year old girl, who's life isn't just structured, just because her posts might be sometimes. I am like you. I have hopes and dreams and plans and wishes. 

I can't wait to share my summer with y'all and focus on my blog and my little blogspot world. 

Follow me on Twitter if you don't already to stay update with what I do or what I love and hate (@germerican_lj). Also, I love to write E-mails with my readers: germerican-lj@gmx.de

xx,
L. 

Made near Big Ben - Rimmel London

Until a couple of months ago I wasn't really into make up. Of course, I have been loving lipsticks for quite a while now, other than that I would wear mascara or eye liner or blush, but that's about it. In October I traveled to Berlin with my mom and sister and we stopped by to shop a little bit at the KaDeWe. For those of you never heard of the "Kaufhaus des Westens" before, it is a german mall filled with high quality and luxury stores. There is a section on the first floor filled with make up. So when I decided to get myself a new Chanel lipstick I also looked around a little bit to check out the make up and thought it was really cool. A couple of weeks after that I stumbled over Tanya Burr's & Zoella's YouTube channel and that pretty much changed everything. I got interested in all kinds of make up and since then my collection has been getting bigger and bigger. Though I love brands like Chanel, MAC or Yves Saint Lauren, sometimes I just don't feel like spending a lot of money or cosmetic products, mostly because I am a student with a little income and I don't like asking my parents for money, because I like to be independent. BUT I found a perfect alternative to expensive make up and the alternatives name is Rimmel London. I used to own a couple of nail polishes, but around December or so I started buying more and more of their different collections and I am convinced. So convinced. Rimmel London might be "cheaper", but that does not mean that the quality is less good than from a more expensive brand. Today I would like to share my Rimmel London products with you.

Number one is my Just Let It Go make up remover. I got this just recently, because I couldn't get my normal make up remover. I do like this one, the make up comes off completely, but it doesn't have any oils in it, which makes my eyes really tired after taking the eye make up off. I don't know why that is so, but other than that it's a pretty good eye make up remover. 

Next is the Shimmering Maxi Bronzer which I love so much. It gives your face such a nice touch and doesn't look too much even if you're a little bit paler. I wear it almost every time I put on make up and I prefer it over blush. 

Let me tell you that the Stay Matte Powder is AMAZING. It comes in three different shades, all depending on how pale or tanned you are. The powder is almost invisible when you put it on and it looks so good. I can only recommend this to you. 

Before finding the Wake Me Up Foundation I didn't like foundation at all. I don't know if I just chose the wrong products, but for some reason you could always tell that I was wearing foundation and it made my skin very dry. Not so the Rimmel London foundation though! When I put it on it's barely visible, just like it's part of your face and it's very moisturizing. I am not looking for a new foundation at all, because I am so pleased with this one.

Everything I said about the foundation is the same with the Wake Me Up Concealer. I used to use a cover-up stick when I had rings under my eyes or a red spots in my face, but that's history. The concealer is so good and because my foundation and this has the same shade of color there is no difference to see. 

Swatch 

Next is my Scandaleyes Shadow Paint. The shadow paint is a liquid eye shadow and my new favorite. I am so bad with eye shadows and finding this was a big help. You just put it on and blend it which I find super awesome and easy. It looks very good on the eye and I am sure that I will get some more colors in the future. It stays on the entire time and it will look good until you take it off. Thank you Rimmel London for this! 

Swatches

You probably remember the left lipstick from the "mwah" post I did in February and since then 3 more Rimmel London lipsticks became a part of my lipstick collection. Yes, I am obsessed with coloring my lips. Mostly every time I look around the Rimmel London section I find a new lipstick I like. They're just really lasting and do not dry out your lips too much. I love the left one because you can wear it with so many different styles of outfits and if you don't know where you going to go to or what you will do later you can't go wrong with a color like that. The right one is more of a night lipstick, I like to wear it for dinner or when I am out in the evening.

Swatches

Talking about my new Rimmel London lipsticks. I chose those ones because I liked the color a lot for the spring and summer time. I like to wear the left one when I go to school or if I feel like putting some lipstick on when I go to the store. It's super awesome to wear at any time the day. The other one is more of a pink and I like to wear it for shopping or going out for lunch or a coffee with my friends. 

Swatches

I know all of my Rimmel' lipsticks are of a similar kind of shade, BUT they are not the same. I was happy to find the Color Rush Lip Balm, because they are very handy (they don't get lost in big purses) and they are super moisturizing. Also, the colors look so nice and they are more than perfect for the summer and spring. I don't like wearing dark lipsticks during the day when it is hot outside, simply because I find that better for the colder times of the year. I was excited to find the left one, because I like the peachy shade and it's also so good to wear at any time of the day. The right one reminds me of raspberries for some reason, but it looks so good on the lips. That's, by the way, the lipstick I wore on my cousins wedding (which I made a post about). 

So yeah, this is my collection of Rimmel London products. Like I said, though they're only drugstore make up I can not recommend every single one enough. Why spend a lot of money on things if you have such a great alternative? 

Do any of you wear Rimmel London make up? If so, what do you think? Tweet me (@germerican_lj) or send me an email (germerican-lj@gmx.de).

I can't wait to hear from you!

xx,

L. 

Little Black Dress

Like One Direction would say:

Little black dress, 

just walked into the room.

Making heads turn,

can't stop looking at you.

There are a few clothing items every girl should own at least once, and personally I think a short black dress, or a little black dress as we like to call it, is one of it. You can't go wrong with a black dress on a night out, it's traditional and chic and it will always make people give you compliments, no matter how simple it is. What I like about the "little black dress" is simply the fact that it is so mutable. You can wear it with jewelry and heels for a night out or a nice dinner or wear it with some accessories and flats or sandals, but you could also wear it on a warm summer day with some sneakers - like I said: you can't go wrong with a little black dress. It will always make you look elegant. 

What I am especially excited about in this post is that this is my first post where I feature some of my friends and family. I promised that I would do that and I am really glad that it worked out. 

Dress - ASOS (Sold out)
Lipstick - MAC "Rebel"
Sandals - Kurt Geiger 

As you can tell, I kept it simple in this little black dress outfit. My dress is from ASOS Petite, but sadly it's sold out. My flats are from Kurt Geiger and my lipstick is the color "rebel" from MAC. The only make-up besides the lipstick was my Bourjois chocolate bronzer, which I highly recommend. It suits every skin color and it is available on ASOS. The only jewelry I combined the outfit with is the ring my boyfriend got me. 

My beautiful sister styled her little black dress, also from ASOS and also seemed to be sold out, with a pair of strappy wedges and like I did, she wore no jewelry but a single ring. Sadly she can't remember anymore where she got the shoes from, but I will try to get some information about that and update you guys on Twitter.

This is one of my best friends from the states and she's a pro at wearing dresses and looking chic. She wore that dress at a event with some nice black heels and a pearl necklace. You can not go wrong with a pretty dress and a pearl necklace, it will always make you look elegant. The dress is from a boutique in Charlotte, NC.  

Dress - H&M
Lipstick - Rimmel London by Kate Moss 107

This one is one of my best and longest friends here in Germany and she wore my H&M dress, which I got about two years ago. The zipper makes it look a little bit more casual, which is cool, because that makes it easy to pair it with sneakers, but if you wear it with heels or sandals it will look just as awesome. Her lipstick is the Rimmel London Lasting Finish Matte by Kate Moss in the color 107. 

Last but not least, this is also one of my best friends from the states and she's wearing a not completely black dress. The first half is a dark red and the lower half is black. She styled the outfit with a nice cardigan and ankle boots, making it look casual but also stylish and trendy.

I hope you enjoyed this post and all the different styles shown by me and my friends. Maybe you got some inspiration out of it and some new ideas of how you want to wear your little black dress next time. 

I got some alternative to some of the dresses shown above here:

Black Dress with a collar (similar to mine)

http://www.asos.de/ASOS-PETITE-Exklusives-ausgestelltes-kleid-mit-Kragen-und-B%C3%BCndchen/12t7ew/?iid=3631979&SearchQuery=asos%20petites%20%20collar&Rf900=1465&Rf-200=4&sh=0&pge=0&pgesize=36&sort=-1&clr=Black&mporgp=L0FTT1MtUGV0aXRlL0FTT1MtUEVUSVRFLUV4Y2x1c2l2ZS1Td2luZy1EcmVzcy13aXRoLUNvbGxhci1hbmQtQ3VmZnMvUHJvZC8.

Black Dress with a zipper

http://www.asos.de/ASOS-Kurzkleid-mit-Rei%C3%9Fverschluss-im-Stil-der-00er/12xjv9/?iid=3519804&SearchQuery=black%20%20dress%20%2090s&Rf-200=4&sh=0&pge=0&pgesize=36&sort=-1&clr=Black&mporgp=L0FTT1MvQVNPUy05MHMtU2thdGVyLURyZXNzLVdpdGgtWmlwLVRocm91Z2gvUHJvZC8.

If you have any questions you can either tweet me (@germerican_lj) or send me an email to germerican-lj@gmx.de

xx,

L.