Hello.

I haven't been around here much. Life hasn't been that generous and kind that it can be at times. 

How to Make 2018. Better

I am always a bit sceptical towards those who claim to be "passionate about self-development". Self-development just sounds like a bunch of nothing, a bunch of motivational quotes without any true value, reminds me of NLP, and I have nothing good to say about that one.

However, by no means does this mean I am a stagnation proponent!

For a moment there I though I might be a member of a group that doesn't view self-development as a goal. But that is not true. Of course I want to be a better person than I was yesterday.

Happy New Year.

Hello, lovely people. I hope you're devouring all the nice food there is!


Happy New Year!


I spent the last day of the last year doing light housework (I thought I would vacuum the day after; I don’t know if this officially counts as light housework as well, but the vacuum cleaner in this house is hard to handle and I usually need a shower afterwards).



Three Months in New Zealand

I am sitting on a terrace, looking at a palm tree in the backyard. The sun is stroking my face. Actually, no, this is an understatement: the sun is aggressively burning my skin, at least that’s what I feel, even though I just applied sunscreen. My laptop keyboard has become hot in mere minutes, so each stroke feels like a little burn on the top of my fingers. And my typing is pretty fast. I even have that in writing. So, that's a lot of burning.

Today marks three months since I landed in Aotearoa, or New Zealand if you please.  

Down Under

I just moved to New Zealand!

Musings: Berlin (heart emoji)

I was decluttering my laptop the other day, which is something I'll probably keep doing as long as I live, and  I found a short piece I wrote in 20 minutes last year just a couple of days after having left Berlin. This was actually a part of the test for a certain job: they wanted to check my written English and I was supposed to write anything at all ASAP. So I let my heart speak.

I didn't get the job eventually; if I recall correctly, I was told the piece is good but then they never bothered to contact me again. I read it now, after more than a year, and decided to publish it. Here's a different love story.

Three Months Later—Where I Am With My New Year's Resolutions (ed. 2017)

I feel like I always start these posts with OMG it’s already ____ (fill in with the name of the month) I cannot believe the time is going by so quickly blah blah blah. On one hand, yeah, it’s hard to believe it’s actually April (and I’m still in my home country, as my plan was to move some time ago and it still isn’t happening), but on the other hand, it means three months have passed since NYE and, yeah, this time it feels like three months. Maybe because I’m unemployed a freelancer? I feel like days are passing by faster when they’re filled, and now I’m kind of responsible for filling them, and it’s not really going the way I had wanted.

Anyway… it’s time for my quarterly check-in to see how I’ve managed to stay on track with my yearly resolutions, and if I have in the first place. With some of those I’m super happy, with others… not so much. But there’s still room for change, and time, obviously, since I’ve got almost ¾ of the year left!

Why I Will Never Hire A Life Coach—And Why I Think You Shouldn’t Too

I was in my early teens when I first heard the term, and it sounded downright  silly. A life coach? Someone who will teach you how to go through life? Yes, life is scary sometimes, if not all the time. Yes, I can be the most clueless person when it comes to what I should do next—in terms of whether I should go to grad school, take down that job offer, text a boy. Buy this or that. But does one really need a life coach?

25 Things I'm Looking Forward To In 2017

When you think of 2017, what do you see?

I don't know exactly. I was sure my 2015 would be better than 2014, and it didn't happen. I believed I could make 2016 anything I wanted it to be, but it sucked big time. So I'm now being cautious and not setting an intention of a great year. But if I can stick to my resolutions and just do some little things I will enjoy, it cannot be a bad one. So, here's what I'm looking forward to this year. Anything you can think of? Think small. Think big. There are probably some awesome things, or just nice things, that are ahead of you.
Spoiler alert: mine are not burgers, despite what the featuring photo says. But then again...

New Year's Resolutions: Chapter 2017

The post-NYE days are slow and so am I. Also, living alone means there's no heaps of food so I'm missing out on the magic—BUT only for a couple more days, as I'm going home for Christmas. (We celebrate it two weeks later.) Food and family, yay! I might have just reached that age where that's enough for happiness. However, I won't let myself be super lazy, and when I'm lazy, I'll make sure I at least read or watch something. So, here are my New Year's resolutions for 2k17. (Also: check out this post where I stated some of the NY resolutions you might borrow. You'll see I did too. 😊)

New Year's Goals You Could Add To Your List

Apparently, I'm not a woman of a plan. What a hideous way to start off a post that talks about New Year's goals. No, wait, don't go!

I mean, I was; I made a detailed schedule for the blog and felt committed to it—only to fall ill just in time to not finish those posts that needed to be finished, let alone follow the schedule. Heck, I didn't even open my laptop. I felt I should say goodbye to everything and everyone, as the previous couple of nights were pretty heavy on me. (I hate getting sick. I never do. And then I do and then I freak out.)

Anyway, here's something I think you would find useful. If you're a New Year's resolutions freak like I am, but you're not sure what goals you could set for yourself, check this out. Nothing is too demanding, yet it might help you in your everyday life, or just make you feel like you own it. Or make you actually own it. 😉

Things You Need To Do By The End Of The Year

Last year I wrote an article on things one should do in order to end the year on the right foot. While I still stand by the things I said (check them out!), I decided to be more specific this year. Here’s my list, hopefully it will inspire you to do some of those things by the end of the year yourself, or give you some ideas!

Six Months Later—Where I Am With My New Year's Resolutions

Hello there! While everyone else does their designated check-ins and weekly and monthly reviews and what not either on the last day of the week/month or the day after, well, it seems running late can be my charming feature. Not that charming? Oh, okay. I thought…

Well, July 1st or 27th, I guess the story is the same. Did I enjoy the second quarter of the year? I hated it. I hated it so much and I still hate the thought of it. Six months ago I wrote here this “might be the greatest year of my life if I make it so”. Well, that was optimistic. Six months later my life is falling apart and I’m this little fella. But hey, if I’m able to crack a joke or two or write about it and not sobbing at the thought of EVERYTHING… I guess I’m fine. (Though I am sobbing quite often. Yeah, I was always that girl.)

Advice To My Teenage Self

If only they made a travel machine already! I have some advice for a version of myself that wore glasses and had a bunch of spots on the forehead. Since I did it all wrong, I can only try my best and swim in this muddy puddle they call life. If she had only done things differently... well, here it is, just in case they do invent a time machine and we find a way to access a blog in 2006. that doesn't yet exist.

Three Months Later—Where I Am With My NY Resolutions

Time for a quarterly check-in! OK, well, the time was some weeks ago, but it's kind of difficult to think about blogging once you're homeless. ;) This post has been written in several goes, on a plane, on a bus, and in two or three homes. But here it is now! Again, I think it’d be stupid to go on and about the speed of light, and by speed of light I mean ‘wasn’t New Year’s Eve just the other week?!’, so I’ll cut straight to my goals for 2k16 and how I did in this regard. I welcome and encourage you to share your own resolutions and thoughts on how you did in the first three months of the year.

Instead of Weekend Reads #47

Hello guys n gals, just wanted to check in real quick in case someone visits looking for Weekend Reads. I am in the midst of the apartment hunt and it's going waaaay slower than I had thought. People are crazy, apartments are shit, I'm giving up my criteria one by one because, well, beggars can't be choosers. Still, it's nonsense what kind of flats are being rented. Basic living conditions, anyone?!

I Stepped Out Of My Comfort Zone And I Liked It

I've loathed PE classes my whole life. When I learned, sometime around age 13, that there isn't such thing at the university, that was a thing in life I looked forward to. A lot. (Un)fortunately, I wasn't one of those kids whose parents made sure they got exempted from PE classes by asking a physician to make something up about their (in)abilities. In fact, I even worked out during my period, because I'm a lucky bastard that doesn't feel any physical pain—only wants to eat everything. (And my everything is probably everythingier than your everything.)

A Journey of a Thousand Miles

Hi friends!

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I am taking the first step exactly as I am typing out this post.

Or rather I had already taken the first step some months ago, but there's still a long road ahead. OK, I'll stop being all mysterious and tell you what I'm talking about.

What You Can Expect Here in 2k16 and Beyond

Apart from my regular (okay... semi-regular) Weekend Reads, in more than two years of running Wandering Polka Dot I think I have never actually written a "catching-up" post. You know, the one where people just sit down and write whatever comes to their mind, intertwined with what and how they've been doing recently. I think you need to acquire a certain following of people that are genuinely interested in the blogger... and I never felt I could do that. Though I do a mini happy dance every time I get a comment and love you for that!! 

2016 - Another Round of New Year's Resolutions

Hello guys, and Happy New Year to you!!! I hope you had a good time wherever you were and whatever you were doing. I also hope you had a reasonable amount of alcohol and that the 1st of January is treating you right. ;) I hope you're evaluating your 2015. and drawing good conclusions from it, knowing how to make 2016. better in every regard. What are your plans and wishes for the year? Will you just go with the flow or are you more on the freaky side like me, with tons of plans? You might remember that I shared my goals for 2015 with you a year ago, and I was also tracking my progress every three months here on the blog. (Yep, I still owe an overall post on how I did in 2015!) I plan to do something similar again, because even though I didn't manage to have a perfect score, keeping my goals and plans public has helped me work on them. 

So what do I want from 2016?