The Meaning of Michelle #BOOKREVIEW

(Source: http://images.macmillan.com/folio-assets/macmillan_us_frontbookcovers_1000H/9781250114969.jpg)

Welcome to a new post!

Last week as I was browsing for the next book that I would like to read, it was also the time that my timeline was spammed with Michelle Obama pictures and videos, mainly because of the inauguration.

I am not the type of person that typically reads autobiographies, but I somehow still found myself googling them, because for some reason I was just so curious to find out more about her. I love browsing people on Wikipedia, but I still wasn't sure about reading a full biography about here which could easily talk about lots of things that aren't true.

However I randomly found this new book that had literally just come out, and I thought it sounded so interesting. If you are in any way interested in Michelle Obama, her past and the things the amazing things that she did whilst evolving into this powerful woman we all know as the ex First Lady of the United States, then definitely keep on reading.

I have to mention though, that me being only 18 years old and not having grown up in Germany, I have practically no memories of former Presidents or First Ladies. Obviously I am now educated about it, but I couldn't tell you now how I felt about their way of influencing the country in the way that I can with Barack and Michelle Obama.

And even with them, I don't know much about their beginnings in the White House. I was only 9 or 10 years old when they moved in, and definitely not interested in anything politics.

Considering that though I still remember my dad making me watch the news, and them showing the candidates. I don't know whether I ever told my parents out loud, but I clearly remember thinking: ,, This guy looks nice. I hope he wins." You might be thinking, why the hell am I telling you this, but I am pretty happy that I still remember this moment, because it shows that I have been raised the right way concerning prejudices against people because of the colour of their skin, if I might say so. 

There were a lot of people that still had a lot of prejudices against the Obamas even if or when they got elected, even if a lot of people think racism is a topic of the past, not the 21st century. Especially during their second period in the White House, I feel like I have gotten a lot better understanding of them, and I don't think I am the only one.

I have come slightly obsessed with them, and even though I don't really know much about the political side of things why some people aren't big fans of Barack Obama, I still wish I could keep them in that spot. And I am not only saying that because I am not a fan of the new President of the United States.

I feel like the Obamas are such nice people, and especially Michelle has really inspired me in the past like two years. I could literally sit there for hours and just watch videos of her being on Ellen or re-watching her carpool karaoke episode with James Corden.

If Michelle Obama has inspired you in any way or you're just interested in her as a human and the things she did, here's a book you might enjoy, because I definitely did. The book I am talking about is called 'The Meaning of Michelle'. The book was edited by Veronica Chambers, and actually is not like the usual biography at all. In fact, 15 different writers have their own say about Michelle Obama and their experiences concerning her, most of them also including some stories from their personal lives and talking about how she inspired them and how Michelle herself evolved over the years in the White House.

You can get the book for 22,99€ on Amazon as a hard cover version or for around 13€ for your Kindle, which I think is quite a good price concerning how much the hard cover is (although I think with such a pretty cover I would definitely love to get the hard cover version one day just to display haha).

I actually don't want to get too deep into the actual content of the book, so I am going to tell you some basic facts about it and my general opinion on it. Considering that this isn't a story and most of the authors talk about totally different topics and tell different stories of their own, that would probably give too much away anyway.

But that's basically what it is, several different people talk about their experiences in life and along side that talk about Michelle's experiences, how she has changed over the years and how they inspired her. Some facts are mentioned more often, but in general everyone is talking about something else in some way, and not everyone that has written a piece about her has actually met her, so you can see different sides of experiences here.

There are articles by married couples, articles from people that worked at Hamilton or have experienced something similar to being a First Lady themselves. Some are just normal working mums, some talk about her fashion, others have gone through very similar experiences in their younger years as her and others have moved to Japan with their families and have still been inspired by her.

I have to be honest when I say that were one or two articles that I didn't enjoy as much as the others, but apart from that I have found it to be so interesting and educating at the same time. I love how the writers didn't purely talk about the things that have happened to Michelle and the things she has done for the world and America, but really showed in what and how many different ways she actually had and still has an impact on people's life.

It's not my favourite book, but I would still give it 4 out of 5 stars if I had to rate it. I think it's definitely a really nice read if you're interested in Michelle Obama and her road of inspiration, but also if you are just looking for a quick and slightly different read in between when you just don't really feel like starting another Science Fiction or Romantic novel. 

So what do you think? Is it a book you could be interested in? Or have you read anything similar that me or someone else reading this might like? :)

I really hope you enjoyed this post, have a great day ♥

Love, Jacqueline Xx

P.S. All rights for the picture used above goes to it's rightful owner! I do not claim any copyright for it! I am not using this picture to gain money, but purely for fun and inspiration!

New In The Skincare Drawer

Welcome to a new post!

I haven't done a beauty related post in quite a while, and I thought since I have recently ordered some new skincare bits, I might as well show them to you today, and maybe some of you will be inspired.

It is one of my goals of this year, not only to use up all the skin and body care bits that I already own, but also invest in some better skincare. And since I got some vouchers for my birthday and Christmas, I just couldn't resist ordering some straight away.

I really focused on trying brands I haven't tried yet but wanted to, and also get a variety of brands and different products instead of getting pretty much the same things from just one brand.

If you are interested in seeing a proper review of any, or maybe  even all products, please let me know, and I'll totally do one! :)

Clinique Extra Gentle Intro Kit

I had been walking past these Clinique sets for so so long, yet I never got one because I was a little scared I would spend money on it to either not end up using it or my skin reacting badly. Yet, this time I somehow forced myself to do it, especially because I wanted to get the moisturizer and it was literally the same price without the other two products, which is pretty much why I decided to go for this.

It includes an Extra Gentle Cleansing Foam (45ml), a Clarifying Lotion (100 ml) and a Dramatically Different Moisturizing Cream (30ml).

So far, I am pretty happy with it, although I am still not quite keen on the smell of the clarifying lotion. But I will report back once I have properly tested it!

Origins Mask Samplers

Bloody hell I cannot tell you how happy I was when I realized that Origins are now selling small one use pots of their masks. I have been wanting to try them for ages, but never got them because the thought of spending so much money on a mask that either me or my skin might hate kept stopping me. But this time I just had to go for it, and I cannot wait to try them. Let's hope my next order will include a full size because I have completely fallen in love with it.

If you've ever tried any of their masks, please tell me what you think and which one's your favourite, I'd love to find out. :)

Khiels Turmeric & Cranberry Seed Energizing Radiance Mask

To be honest with you, I actually didn't buy this one, but you got it for free if you ordered for a certain amount of money, and I just could not resist trying something from Khiel's. And can we just talk about how freaking cute this tube is?? It's so small, I'm still not over it and I've had it for like two weeks already. I'm so ready to try this, and I am definitely keeping the tube once it's used up, just to stare at it haha.

I really hope you enjoyed this post, especially because I don't do as many beauty posts anymore. I'm really sorry if that's annoying you.

If you would like to see some more beauty related posts, or maybe you would like to see something completely different, definitely contact me, I am open for any inspiration! 😊 Definitely leave me some inspiration on what other products and brands I should try this year as well, I really want to invest a little bit more in my skin!

Have a phenomenal week! ♥

Love, Jacqueline Xx

Best of Women's March Posters

Welcome to a new post!

I had actually already been working on a blogpost, which was halfway done already when I got home to find all of my social media feeds spread with something else, that completely made me change my mind. I am really sorry if the sentences that are going to follow are a complete mess and really not that well written, but my creative juices somehow left me, even though I've got so many things to tell you.

Yesterday, millions of women, and even a huge bunch of men, from all over the globe decided to march for the protection of our rights and safety. Call it a march against a certain new President of the United States, if you want. Seeing so many people, who are all so different and probably have various different goals in life, coming together to fight for something like this, is truly breath-taking. If you went online yesterday, I don't think there could have been a way to not pass tons of pictures of the marches and posters.

I just think it's absolutely incredible what the human race can do, and what our society is capable of. Yes our generation is the one that apparently only cares about technology and nothing else, but if you take a deeper look at the events of yesterday, you will realize, that our generation is awake, and we know what we want.

We don't want to be thrown back into a society of over a hundred years ago. We have learned from the past, and we won't let someone like Donald Trump destroy those achievements that our ancestors, and even some of the people that were still marching along yesterday took so long to fight for. "We are all created equal." - so why should we let someone tear those voices down. We are equal, and we are strong, and all of us deserve to hold the same rights, no matter if our skin is dark or light, no matter what we believe in, no matter if we are a woman or a man, love men, women or both, no matter if we're a person with little money or a person with a lot of money.

You can become president and change things, but that doesn't mean that we won't fight against it. I am not American, I am German, and I am going to fight for this just as much as an American woman will, just as much as any other woman or man will do from all over the globe that doesn't want to give up any of her or his rights.

 I'd like to quote Michelle Obama here and say: "When they go low, we go high!". So that is what we are going to do. This man will not only try and change things in the US, but with that he will have an impact on the rest of the world too, and we can't allow him to do anything to take away our rights and our lives.

We deserve what society has fought for for many years, and we won't let anyone take that away from us!

And to celebrate this, here are my favourite posters from yesterday's marches.

I don't think there's anything else needed to be said. I am so proud and happy that all of these people took part in the march. And even the people like me, who weren't able to go to any march, we were all with you. Everyone deserves the same rights.

Have a good week ♥

Love, Jacqueline Xx

P.S. All rights for the pictures used above go to their rightful owners. I do not claim any rights for them. I do not use them for any gain of money but for to raise awareness and inspire!

How To Plan an 18th On a Budget

Welcome to a new post!

If you aren't aware, I recently celebrated my 18th birthday, and had a really lovely party with all of my friends and family. To be fair, it's actually been nearly a month since my birthday, which is absolutely crazy, nevertheless I still felt like doing a little - hopefully helpful to a few people -  blogpost on how to plan a birthday party like that, especially without spending more money than necessary. It's still not the cheapest thing, keep that in mind, but there are things that make it easier.

Planning a birthday party can be either very stressful, or pretty alright, considering how much you've got planned and when you start picking up your work. Which already leads me to my first tip...

TIME MANAGEMENT & GENERAL STUFF

Time management is the key to stress relief when you are planning a bit of a bigger party. Don't wait until a week before the day to start your planning.

I advise you to start looking for a location three to one months before the party is supposed to happen, if you are not planning on celebrating at home or another free property possible to you. I know that may seem like a long time, but I actually saw some people struggling to still find a spot a month before the date.

I personally invited my guests around 3 weeks before the party to make sure that most of them would be able to come. Definitely don't wait to long, because otherwise there is a risk that a lot of people will already have plans for that day.

Also try to write down any ideas and plans you have got beforehand, so that you kind of half a plan of the things you need to buy and get done before the party.

We ordered dinner about two weeks beforehand. Definitely don't wait until the day because in case you are planning on wanting a huge stack of pizzas, not every place will be able to do that in time for you.

We bought decorations about a month before the party, but I guess you can even do that the week before the party, depending on your preference and time plan. Depending on how much you want to decorate and need to prepare, you should probably start around a day before the party. That way you easily notice whether anything is still missing and you need to get before it's too late.

INSPIRATION & DECORATION

This was probably my favourite bit about the whole thing, plainly because I just love everything that involves a little bit of creativeness, decorating and scrolling through Pinterest for hours. I know I keep saying this whenever I talk about finding any inspiration but again - Pinterest is the place to go. Not gonna lie, I've probably had a Pinterest board filled with birthday party inspiration since like Summer. Even if you just want to do little decoration or whether you are still looking for some foody ideas, you can find everything on there.

Shopping decorations is another fun part of it, although I do have to say that having your birthday around Christmas definitely makes it a lot easier because you can pretty much buy anything Christmassy and wintery.

I really recommend you go looking around any cheap cluttery stores instead, like 1€ shops. We made the mistake of making it the last place to go on our little trip, and we might have saved quite some money if we would have gone there first. There really is no need to pay 12€ on Amazon for a pair of beautiful, golden 18 balloons, because they sell them for less than 3€ in these shops.
They honestly have a lot of nice stuff, and considering that quite a few bits you will get you might not use again, it doesn't really make sense to spend too much money on it when you can get pretty stuff for really pretty money.

Also, if you have the possibility, time and motivation to do anything yourself, any kind of DIYs I definitely recommend you to do so.

I will link my inspiration board for my birthday HERE, if anyone is interested in seeing all of the ideas I have had. I have actually used quite a few of them, even though it ended up looking totally different to my first thoughts on how I was going to do it.

FOOD & DRINKS

Definitely don't wait to long with the food planning. Ask yourself in time what kind of foods you will need, what would be the easiest to get or make and if you could let any family members or friends make anything to add to it. Don't do everything yourself, because that will be way too much stress unless you are only planning for a small group of people.

Try everything to release some stress from it, because you will want to enjoy the day and not want to spend the day worrying about all the different things you need to bake and cook before the guest come, and still get ready at some point.

We personally ordered pizza even though that wasn't our dream option, but there was no way we would have been able to prepare so many snacks and cakes for the rest of the day and still make dinner. It's also easy and pretty much everyone likes it, and not too expensive either.

Pinterest also has some amazing things on there if you actually are looking into making a few things yourself. Definitely ask some people that might have an idea about it and plan how much you actually need so you don't end up with a hungry group of guests or way too much food left over.

Also, try and kind of plan what and how much you need concerning drinks. What do people drink, what would you like to try, how much do you need of which, are there any people that need certain things like non fizzy water or any other non alcoholic drinks for the drivers and kids?

Take into consideration, that there will always be a few people that won't end up coming and cancel last minute because someone's gotten ill or anything else. My dad likes to say that 10% usually cancel, if that helps anyone.

MUSIC

Not everyone might want music at their party or be really bothered about it, but I personally really wanted a really good playlist, without any music that I wouldn't enjoy. I literally only put stuff on there that I liked, and even though it now contains over 300 songs, I will be able to look through it and listen to it for many more years to go.

I can definitely recommend getting a free Spotify premium thingy for something like a party, because it's truly awesome, you basically have every song on their except for Taylor Swift, and if you don't want to spend any money on it you can stop the contract when the free part is over and still use it, just with those annoying adverts back in. But that's obviously up to you I guess.

FUN & ACTIVITIES

This probably won't be a point everyone is interested in, but I wanted to make sure that we would capture the day somehow and not make it get boring if people don't feel like chatting the whole night. I mean alcohol helps with a bunch of teenagers slash young adults, but there is always that one possibility.

I personally love photography, and so what I decided to do was not only bring my camera, but also get disposables. You can't re-do pictures, you can't look at them until they have been printed and they are sooo much cheaper than getting actual polaroid cameras. Sure, they don't have that cute frame, but if you wanted to you could still edit that on the pictures afterwards. If you want to save money though, definitely get these.

We had so much fun with them, and I really wish I would have gotten more than 3 cameras purely for the fun. A lot of these pictures would have been deleted on a normal camera, but let me tell you, they turned out so bloody awesome.

I also prepared some things for a little photo session with my actual camera, which you can easily make yourself or buy for little money, and it definitely makes it so much more fun to take pictures.

Activity wise I didn't prepare that much, but as we are all into playing card games at the moment, I made sure to have some there if anyone wanted them. Cards Against Humanity is also a nice idea, as long as you are not planning on playing it with your grandparents maybe, but I guess that's up to you haha.

SAVE, BUDGET & BORROW

Here are some other tips to save money for a party like that if you don't have the biggest budget. Put some money away for it a few months before the party, which you only use for that purpose.

If you only have a certain amount of money available for this, definitely budget. Try to make a list of how much you want to spend on food, drinks, location, decorations etc. And also try your best and stick to it. It doesn't always have to be the most expensive and beautiful decoration for it to be an amazing party. In the end it's not the decoration that counts but the night and the people itself.

Borrowing is also a tip. Whether it's just borrowing some bowls, decorations or extra tables that are needed - you don't have to buy everything! Especially with cakes and salads, you can also ask some people whether they would be able to make you something. It's not only time and money saving, but also is a slight stress relief for you. Don't be too afraid to ask.

I know some of these tips might have been obvious, but you never know who you might inspire and help with posts like this. You are free to leave any suggestions, ideas, tips whatever below and share them with us, obviously.

I personally really enjoyed planning that party, and even though I would never work in a job that includes party planning, it definitely made me want to organize a few more parties in the future...or just little get togethers.
It can be a really fun process if you do it right and do it with a smile on your face. It might get stressy and not everything will turn out the way you want it to, but remember that it will all be worth it in the end. Keep smiling, don't forget that. 😊

Have a beautiful week ♥

Love, Jacqueline Xx