Zumba

Really missing my zumba class at the moment. This is one of my favourites though.

Song...

Lately I can't get this song out of my head:

Symphoniacs

Loving this band at the moment - amazing talent. Already bought their album for Christmas presents.

Church

This is our local church. After living here for two years we finally got around to going to a service on Friday evening.

We're not very religious but we both have some roots in the church. We married in Nico's family's local church and Isabella was christened there but now seemed like a good time to move things closer to us.

We'd like to go on Christmas Eve and to take Isabella more regularly but we hadn't managed it on a Sunday yet. Then we looked into it and discovered that they have a monthly youth service with lots of singing and it seemed perfect for our little music lover.

We wrapped up after dinner on Friday and headed over. Isabella was excited as she is with all new experiences. Her little face when the band got going made my week. She loved dancing, singing and flirting with the many teenagers.

It was nice that the youth congregation planned and delivered the service and I really liked the choice of songs and got into it myself - even though I hate singing in public.

Isabella gets excited just driving past the church now and we're really looking forward to our next visit.

Carpool Karaoke

Lately, I can't get enough of the Carpool Karaoke videos on youtube. This was the first one I saw and it never gets boring.

Isabella's favourite is 'crazy glasses man' a.k.a. Elton John. She has to have her sunglasses on to watch him and dances around like crazy.

Brilliant concept and some really good guests.

What does the fox say?...

Keeping us entertained this weekend:

Tune

Haven't been able to get this one out of my head since I heard about it. I really like Corinne Bailey Rae, so I'm glad she's got some new work out.

A-ram-sam-sam

For weeks Isabella has been singing a cute little song with actions at home and we've been trying to work out what it is.

It has actions that remind me of 'wind the bobbin up' but there's no German equivalent.

Nico finally realised that it's the song in this video and she goes crazy when we sing it together.

Bills

Christmas Music

Having seen the Coca-cola advert and hearing Germany's Xmas favourite - Last Christmas by Wham on the radio, I'm ready to say it's Christmas though I am still waiting for the big one:

I've got my xmas videos lined up for school so it won't be long until I get to enjoy it.

Summer Manifesto #8 Listen to more music

This one kind of fell into place with very little effort on my part. Normally, I listen to the most music in the car and I go through phases of listening to certain albums on repeat. To be fair I've been quite good at switching it up and listening to new things over the last few months.

Despite not being in the car as much in the holidays, we've had lots of different music on while we sit on the terrace and it's so much more relaxing than being in front of the television. I may need to keep this one up in some form even when it's too cold for sitting out.

Summer Manfesto #8 Listen to more music

With sitting out more on an evening, this has been ticked off without trying really. It's been great to switch off more on an evening with my knitting, a book, or just talking, and some nice calming background music.

Isabella is very musical but I like to listen to normal, 'grown-up' music too.

This is one I'd like to keep up, even when it gets too cold to sit out.

30 things - Play a song on the guitar.

We're a little way past my birthday now but I wanted to revisit my list and see what I could achieve at 30.

This week I learned some basic chords for a song on the guitar using this video:

I find the instructions really clear and it was nice to play along to a real song at the end already.

I learned a couple of things- playing the guitar is harder than it looks! I always thought my fingers were pretty flexible thanks to years of playing the piano but I'm still trying to change chords quicker.

Also it's really hard on the finger tips! Nico has given me his old guitar to practice with, with better strings but my fingers were still numb for a while after practice.

It was a fun experience though and good brain training for sure.

I'll be sticking to the piano for the most part but I'm hoping to learn a bit more basic guitar too.

If you're happy...

Guess who learned how to clap! Now I have this song stuck in my head since bathtime. I'm sure it's a sign of things to come!

Music!

As of yesterday morning we are officially a musical family. Since we moved Nico has been getting back into his guitars a lot and Isabella loves to listen to him.

He inspired me to get the keyboard going again and I spent some time learning 'Imagine'. It turns out that Nico can play it on guitar so we can play together soon. 

Isabella is not as convinced about my piano playing though - she just wants to join in. So far though, I'm tipping her to follow in Uncle Florian's footsteps and play the drums.

I forgot how destressing playing music can be. It takes your mind off things quite literally as you have to concentrate but it's quite relaxing too and when you pick up a new tune, it's a great feeling.

Making time for more music is going to be a priority this year - it really fits in with my Thrive theme for the year.  I'm just gearing up for my first guitar song now!

Heinz Ruhmann

source

When I'm not being too lazy, I like to watch more German films; both for entertainment and to improve my language skills. 

A few years ago, Nico introduced me to the Feuerzangenbowle - a Christmas film. It was good but it was back when I struggled to follow feature length films. 

It came as part of a set and recently we watched the Pauker - a film all about a teacher who turns around  that difficult class. This time I followed the whole thing without subtitles and really enjoyed it.

Then, when Isabella was born, Nico bought her a musical toy with changeable tunes. One was a lullaby which I knew straight away and the other, I had no idea what it was. Nico couldn't believe I didn't know it and immediately ordered the film it comes from - another Heinz Ruhmann classic he grew up with - Wenn der Vater mit dem Sohne. We watched it this week and it was another one I loved and could follow easily.

I really recommend these films for anyone who speaks German and especially for those who are learning.

P.S. Here's that lovely lullaby.

A Song for your Sunday

Les Miserables

source

Left to my own devices on Saturday evening, I finally got around to watching this film.  I bought it just after finishing the book which I really enjoyed and then forgot all about it until I was searching for something to watch that Nico wouldn't mind missing out on (I'm saving the SATC marathon for maternity leave).

I really enjoyed the film.  Enough time had passed between reading the novel and watching the musical for me to forgive the changes made to the plot.  Of course, I will always believe that the book is better than the film but this time I really felt that the film was a nice reminder of the story.

The only criticism I would have is that absolutely everything is done through song and it gets a little repetitive.  Of course, I expect a lot of music in a musical but I prefer the likes of Grease where the dialogue is still plain dialogue and the musical numbers generally fit to the story line.  By repetitive I mean that often it seemed the same music was used with different words rather than having a whole new song.  However, the numbers were so epic that I could overlook this.

On the positive side, I liked the acting and the singers were very powerful.  Russel Crowe's singing voice really reminded me of someone else and it is driving me a little crazy but I can't figure out where I have heard it before.  I've probably mentioned before that singing is my big no go so I have a huge level of respect for anyone who sings in public, especially when it's not directly how they learn their living.

P.S. I can't hear this song without remembering this.

Sweet video

So Tom and Giovanna Fletcher (McFly) did it again and brought me and my hormones to tears this morning with this sweet sweet video:

Oh who am I kidding this and this brought me to tears well before I could blame it on the hormones!

Michael Buble

So last night was the amazing Michael Buble concert at the O2 arena.  Here's a little taster: