family – that lemon life

The Italian Flair

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? I hope so far you’ve had a great week and a nice Friday, considering the current situation. This just seems to never end, does it? To be honest, I’ve had quite enough of it now, Covid can really go eff off now. I’ve had to move my flight twice already and will hopefully be able to finally go back to London next Sunday (fingers crossed). I truly can’t wait to be back in my favourite city and to see my friends again, I’ve really been missing them like hell.

As probably just about everyone, I’ve been trying to stay as positive as possible. And one way I’ve been doing this is looking back on some happy moments of 2020 – because there were actually quite a lot of them, surprisingly – and I recently got the chance to go through pictures on my camera. And that’s when I saw that I still had some pictures of my holiday in Venice left on there that I had not seen before. As some of you might have read and seen in my first post about the trip that I published a few months ago, the time my mum and I got to spend in the beautiful city of Venice was one of the most amazing weeks of the whole year and I’m still so incredibly glad that we went. Definitely one of the best ideas ever.

As the pictures are so nice to look at and kinda brought me back to the trailing streets of the fantastic city, I thought it would be nice to share them with all of you, to maybe add some sunshine and Italian flair to our Friday. As always, I hope you enjoy the pictures and would love to hear your thoughts and comments. And, naturally, I wish you all a lovely weekend and thanks for reading. x

Bye 2020

2020 has been the toughest year for me to endure, for so many different reasons. It took from me what was supposed to enrich my days, my year, my life. It stole months in London from me, concerts, adventures. It took time from me, but also gave me some back in exchange. If a year could ever be described as the most chaotic ride on a rollercoaster, then it would be this one.

At the end of 2019, I had just moved to London three months beforehand, had just started at a new university, and was just about to finally grow roots in my favourite city on earth. I was running from one concert to another, also thanks to my job as a bartender at a concert venue. Obviously, it wasn’t always easy and obviously, there were things I would’ve changed, but I was probably the happiest I had been in long. 2019 filled me with an amount of love and utter happiness I hadn’t felt in a long time. I couldn’t have imagined what was about to come, what was waiting around the corner. But I was happy, that was what mattered the most. And surrounded by people that I loved more than anything else.

Now at the end of 2020, I feel like I’ve just run a million marathons at once. And still, I am here, with a smile on my face, because as with every rollercoaster, there are countless ups and downs. And let me tell you, 2020 had a lot of downs. For everyone. But it also had a lot of ups. Ups I never expected to come. Ups that make me eternally grateful for everything that happened. I’m only a few steps away from being 25 (yikes). I’ve survived a pandemic that will hopefully fuck off soon. I finally made London my home by making it my own together with the bestest friends. I’ve said yes to a lot of adventures and have said no to paths that I knew weren’t the right ones for me. I put up fights that weakened me at that moment, but that I only came out stronger from. Now I’m the owner of my music magazine, something I’ve been dreaming about for years. I’m head over heels stuck in a crush for a guy I definitely cannot have (how surprising of me). I’ve met the most incredible people, have built up the most loving friendships, and have received opportunities I wouldn’t have dared to even dream about. I feel like I have finally found myself and my place in the world (just about). I’ve changed a lot and everything around me has as well. But I’m still me, just older, maybe wiser, definitely more confident, and still surrounded by people I love and cherish more than anything.

There’s no way I can tell what 2021 has in store for me. In store for the world. The only thing I can do is hope. Hope for a better future. And a year that will give back what the last one has taken and fill my life and the planet with love and happiness. If all goes right, it will be the start of something great, a truly better future, one that I will be proud and excited to look back on when I’m old and grey. That is what I’m hoping for. To sit right here in a year, filled with even more gratitude, joy, and love.

2021, please be good.

Hola everyone. This is my take on a short essay-ish text on 2020 and the start of the new year. I can only hope that 2021 will be a lot better for all of us, so I’m staying positive all the way. How was your 2020? I hope despite all the chaos and destruction it was still nice and gave you a lot of lovely memories. I truly hope you enjoy my text and please don’t hesitate to leave your feedback and comments down below or to get in touch with me to discuss it further. And until then, I wish you all a very exciting happy new year again, an amazing week, and, as always, thanks so much for reading. x

Bella Venezia

Hola everyone.

And welcome back to my blog and also a new week. I hope so far your Monday has been nice and that you enjoyed the past weekend. I personally spent most of the weekend exploring London and working on our uni magazine LDN. So far, I’m honestly super proud of what my team and I have achieved with the mag so far and I truly can’t wait to finally hold the first print issue in my hands. Although this is technically not even my own magazine, the past few weeks have felt like I’ve been building up something that is mine. Something I can pour all my heart and creativity into. And although I spend almost every free hour either working on or thinking about the magazine without really getting anything back in return, by which I mean money and such, it has made me happier than I could have ever imagined. It almost feels like I was meant to be the editor of the paper. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

On the other side, it could also be that I’m spending so much time working on the mag to get my mind off of missing my family and my home, especially my cat and my dog. Unfortunately, both haven’t been doing super well, which has left me feeling completely useless and helpless. Thankfully my parents are doing the most amazing job at looking after both my babies and I can’t wait to be with them again in two months. I think it’s just also been very tough for me to live without a pet for the first time in what feels like an eternity. It’s like a piece of myself, of my soul was left behind when I moved away from home. Actually, my flatmate Elena was meant to come with her feline friend Gatto, but getting him to London from Italy has proven more complicated than we thought. So getting our new furry child has been our number one mission ever since. So that might be another reason why I’m busying myself with the magazine and also basically burying myself in plants. It’s as if my brain and soul are looking for anything that is alive besides my flatmates for me to look after and give my love to. To be honest, you could probably do some psychological study on this, because, I’m not gonna lie, this is a bit weird. But hey, it’s what’s keeping me sane and happy these days, so there we go.

Additionally, looking back on my amazing summer – despite Corona and all that crap – has helped me a lot with staying positive. And part of that utterly beautiful summer was the trip to Venice with my mum, which is what I want to share with you guys today. Finally. I know, I’ve been talking about this for so long and never got around to showing you the pictures of our phenomenal trip, but I guess better late than never, right? So here they are, finally. My favorite shots from Venice.

To be honest, my mum and I both came to the conclusion pretty quickly that a trip to Venice could never possibly have been any better than ours. Although it was a risk to go to Italy in the middle of Corona, we knew that it would be worth it all and it truly was. I don’t think Venice will ever be this beautiful again. We all know what Venice looks like in the summer – now imagine that same city but just without the people. Because that’s what it was like. Empty. Not like Zombie Apocalypse empty, but empty for Venice standards. And gosh, the weather was just so amazing. And the food was even better. I remember not really loving the city the first time I went there, but that trip definitely made me fall head over heels in love with it. It is definitely a trip I will never ever forget. And one that rewarded me with memories and pictures filled with some much beauty that they will prolong into eternity. But, just see for yourself.

And yeah, now we’ve already reached the end of today’s post. As always, I hope you enjoyed the pictures and me babbling a bit about my life and my time in Venice. I truly hope you’re doing good in these rather stressful times and that maybe this post helped you get your mind off stuff for a short while. I’d really love to hear all your thoughts and opinions, so please don’t hesitate to leave any comments down below. And until then, I wish you all the best week and, of course, thanks for reading. x

I’m back (ft. new tattoos)

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing on this beautiful Friday? I hope you’ve had a nice week and a lovely day so far. And, as a matter of fact, I hope you’ve had some amazing past four weeks, because that’s how long I’ve been gone for. I know, you’re probably thinking ‘where the hell has she been???’ and, to be honest, I don’t even know where to start the explanation. Going into this summer filled with uncertainty and discomfort, I would’ve never thought it would turn out like this, but I guess I straight up made the best of it, because in the past month, I’ve not been on just one, but two holiday trips and I’m already packing up for another one next week. Can you believe that? I’ve been to Belgium to surprise my friend Lauren, then we went to Amsterdam, then I was home for a week, then we flew to Berlin for a week, now I’m home again and I’ll be leaving for Italy on Sunday with my mum for our yearly mother-daughter trip. There is just soooo much going on, holy moly.

As you can probably guess, this has led to me piling up a huge stock of topics, events and themes I want to talk to all about and share with you guys. It’s massive, that I can tell you – starting from me attending my very first Tomorrowland (still can’t believe that happened), to all my trips and up to a very special online gig I attended with Lauren at 4 in the morning a few days ago. So much amazing stuff coming up, so please stay tuned and excited for more.

For reasons of actuality, today’s post is about something very very very special that kind of connects to everything I just talked about. Looking at the title of this post, you can probably already tell what it is about. That’s right – I got new tattoos, as in more than one. As in two, to be precise. As you all know, I’m overly in love with tattoos and have my goal of getting like half of my body covered with them set as a personal mission. For all of you who know how Marzia Bisognin-Kjellberg, Pewdiepie’s wife, looks like, including her amazingly tattooed arms – that’s what I want right there. And as the stubborn person that I am, I’ve spent the past years working towards that goal, with all the passion and love for ink that you can possibly imagine.

I know some people get tattoos of designs that they like, but for me it’s always been essential that I have a special meaning connected to every single one of my tatts – the most recent two being no exception. First of, I got a teeny-tiny heart on my left wrist to symbolize the three months that I spent in Berlin during my first ever stay abroad. It may not sound like much, but I was alone for the very first time in a new city and new country and looking back, I think it was the most vital time for my personal development. I don’t think anything has ever had such an impact on my personality as those three months. They made me who I am now. So that’s that.

And for the second one – well, that’s just too special to even put it into words. Before I booked my appointment, I knew that I wanted it to be something that would re-connect me with my grandpa. I know I’ve never really talked much about him on here, but back when he was still here (he died in 2009), he was the most important person in my life, apart from my mum. He was my best friend. And I just loved him so so so much. And as I am a very sensitive and call it “esoteric” soul, I still feel like he’s always close to me, watching over me and watching me grow into the person I am destined ot be. Thus, I wanted a tattoo dedicated to him and after much deliberation, and lots of drawing on myself, I decided on getting a picture of us both together tattooed on my arm. I had already found the perfect artist in Berlin – her name is Daana Avni and she’s literally a tattoo wizard (check her out here) – and after I had initially messaged Daana, it only took a few hours until we had fixed the appointment.

The appointment itself was absolutely amazing and to my surprise it all went down pretty quickly and pain-free. Daana was an absolute angel and made me feel super welcome and appreciated and listened to all my thoughts and answered all my questions. I think what made the whole process even more special though was that it all happened in Berlin, one of my favourite places on earth. Before I had even decided on getting a tattoo, getting some new ink done in Berlin sounded like an absolute dream, a rather impossible one too, but now I’m back at home with these two beautiful new pieces of art on my arms and I couldn’t be happier. I love both of them so much I can’t even put it into words and I’ve been proudly showing them off every day. Tattoos really just are the coolest things ever.

And there you have it, guys, these are new tattoos. I hope you liked reading about their story and I hope you like their look as well. As I already said, I’m utterly obsessed with them and can’t wait for the next ones – getting closer to my goal, tattoo by tattoo. As always, I’d love to hear from you, so please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. Also, once again, sorry for disappearing for so long, hope you didn’t mind too much. I wish you all an awesome weekend and, of course, thanks for reading. x

There’s Nothing Like Film / Part 2

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? I hope so far you’re having a lovely Friday and that your week has been nice. Lots of good and bad stuff happening right now, huh? On the one side, there’s the world being in literal shambles, dumb politicians and us being stuck at home, on the other one there movements finally changing the world, Taylor Swift releasing a surprise album and us finding new ways to connect. When I look at the world, I often remember what I read online about a month into quarantine – if this never happened, this version of you right now would never exist. And I see that as both something good and something bad. And it makes me wonder a lot, mostly about which version I would prefer. I think it makes you reflect on life, which I think is really important.

What a philosophical start, huh? But truly, I think taking a good look at the world is so important right now. Which is probably why I love photography so much, because it makes you look at the world, and in most cases in different ways. It makes you see the beauty in things that you never saw before. And now that I have this film camera, that I’ve been carrying around with me basically all the time, I see this beauty in the world in a way where I have the power to capture it in that very second that I’m taking a picture. Including the surprise of not really knowing how the picture will actually turn out. Which makes me feel a bit nervous and super excited at the same time. And it has kinda also made me love imperfection. You know, with a digital camera you can just perfect every shot, because you can change just about everything. But with a film camera, there’s only so much you can do besides just taking the picture. So when a picture turns out to be blurry, that’s just what it is. That’s how you captured that moment. And it might not be perfect in the way we know it, but it’s still that moment in a picture, so full of life and creativity, and that’s what I love about it.

So last week, I finally got my second roll of film developed and I’m just so happy to share the finished pictures with you all today. I haven’t been photographing with film for that long now, but it’s already been such a learning curve. I’ve been trying out different types of film for now and I think with the roll I’m currently shooting on, I think I’ll try out different stages of light, just to see how the camera really works with that. But so far every shot has been super fun and I love seeing how the pictures turn out depending on how I’m taking them in those very moments – the pictures down below were taken at home, during a holiday, when we went hiking, at all kinds of places.

I think compared to the first roll you can clearly see how both the type of film and me getting acclimated and more used to the camera have changed the quality of the pictures (here’s the link to my first roll of pictures). Which again is super fascinating. I’m already super excited to see how the next one’s going to turn out and I can’t wait to show the pictures to you once they’re developed. And until then I hope you enjoy the pictures down below. As always, I’d love to hear your opinions, so please don’t hesitate to leave your comments and thoughts down below. As always, I wish you all a lovely weekend and, of course, thanks for reading. x

Let’s go for a hike

Hola everyone.

And welcome back to my blog and also, depending on when you’re reading this, another lovely start of the weekend. I hope you’ve all had a great week and that you’re doing well. I, for my part, am doing pretty good. I’ve been spending the past few days tinkering about either in the garden or the kitchen and I’ve also recently taken on doing yoga again, which is making me feel at ease, thank god. I seem unable to get this feeling of like I’m hanging in the air off of me. One second I feel great, and the next the realization of everything that happened the past few months and the longing for the summer that should’ve been hits me like a train, which always drags me back to that sad hole I was stuck in for so long. I guess that’s what all the newspapers have been saying – this whole ordeal hits and affects us, the youth, way harder than anyone would think. But I know that we as a whole are strong enough to get through this together. I will do too.

Anyway, spending a lot of time surrounded by nature has helped me quite a lot in processing all of this, and thankfully I went on another little hike a few days ago with my parents. Actually, I visited them on their holiday for a day to wander across the mountains together, which actually wasn’t that far away from where we were on our last trip (click here), and I’m so glad I went because it was just so damn beautiful. There are only so few things that can beat the view you have when you’re up on a mountain and looking down on the world. It kinda makes you feel infinite.

And as I knew the trip would be absolutely magnificent, I obviously took my camera with me to take a few shots, which I would like to share with you today. Basically, the whole hike consisted of lots of greenery, little to no people but even more cows. It was lovely. And I hope you think just the same about the pictures. The only bad thing that came from the whole day was that I had immensely underestimated the strength of the sun, which lead to a little surprise in the form of an intense sunburn on my shoulders that I’m still coming off of. I’ve now moved onto the shedding phase, I feel like a snake.

Alright, and now I’m gonna stop oversharing again and let the pictures do the rest of the talking. As already mentioned, I hope you enjoy the pictures and please don’t hesitate to leave your comments and thoughts down below, I’d love to hear them. And until then I wish you all a great weekend and, as always, thanks for reading. x