Well, I guess, this is it. Only a few hours are left until the new year. So I think it is the perfect time to look back a bit on topa.
I started this blog in April 2013. Today I am having some hundred followers and about 6.000 views on my blog. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? Not to forget all the great friends I made via blogging! It is such a nice atmosphere in the blogosphere, way different to any other social media sites.
I created topa to blog about the cool things that are going on in my hometown LEipzig, since I have been asked a lot before by friends and visitors, where to go and what to do. But LEipzig is a busy city and I am busy myself, so I didn’t wanted to make topa something like a cultural magazine. So I did what I did before blogging. I went out, explored neighborhoods and took some pictures on things that seemed new and kinda special to me. So after all, this blog is my point of view and my view on LEipzig. Not everything on it is everybody’s taste. It’s just a bit of my world and the things I am interested in regarding culture and music, books, places to go, art and food in particular. ‘Cause these are the things that make my life a bit more colorful. Besides that, this blog is about my own experiences on creating something.
But blogging itself was a new experience. Let’s see why.
Through blogging I’ve learned a lot:
1. I learned how to blog.
2. I learned how to use a good camera.
3. I learned how to edit pictures and how to work with Photoshop (which I did the last time about ten years ago). ;-)
4. I learned to focus on things in general.
Through blogging I started being creative again:
1. I started to take advanced pictures.
2. I started to create more fancy dishes.
3. I started to draw again.
4. I started to write again.
Since this is a review on this blog, here we go with some things I thought I could blog about. First of all there were three challenges. Challenges are fun things to do, let’s see how I have passed.
1. Cooking vegan once a week: This challenge turned out pretty good, ’cause since the beginning I am eating a lot vegan and vegetarian meals. I wanted to do that to help myself eating less to nearly no meat at all. And I am doing good so far. :-)
2. Digital Detox Sunday: Well, this challenge was a great idea. But it is hard! Very hard. It goes well with turning off the smart phones and not visiting social media sites. But it is hard when it comes to reading (blogs) and watching a movie. Or listening to music, which is mostly on mp3 or CD in this household. ;-) So I guess, I am doing between good and not so good so far. Let’s say I am still trying. ;-)
(There is no picture. Read on to see why!) ;-)
3. 100-push-ups-challenge: Hm, I failed. :-( But I need to say, I tried very hard and I was good at it the first two weeks. But it is not that easy, if your significant other, who joined you by good-will, is giggling all the time. ;-) So I gave up on this one.
And here we go with my very favorite posts in every section on this blog:
1. foryourears: Björk’s bastards. Since it reminds me of the great experience seeing her live in Paris in March this year, where I went with my lovely one and my best friends.
2. foryoursoul: About cooking in general #6 – grow your own. It is not a recipe, but it is my favorite post, ’cause I was so so surprised and happy, that I had grown so many tomatoes, since it was my very first tomato-growing-experiment at all. And they turned out so good.
3. foryoureyes: Drawings – Sitting Bear. Definitely my favorite post in this section, even if it is hard to vote for only one, ’cause it includes photography, drawing, concerts, plays. But this drawing surprised me, since I haven’t made a sketch in years and it turned out so good – at least from my point of view. And so it encouraged me to paint more. What I am doing since then. :-)
4. foryourmind: Timur Vermes – Er ist wieder da. I loved reading this book. Since I use to read a lot, really a lot for work, I sometimes don’t like to read in my spare time. Then I prefer watching movies or doing practical things like cooking. But this book was so hilarious, I read it through in record time. ;-)
5. where am i?: Where have I been #12. I love asking this question. It is a funny way to introduce some new or old cool things of LEipzig. And this one is my favorite, since I really liked how that place had changed into something great.
Last but not least I wanna thank you, dear reader, for following, reading, commenting and liking. It means a lot to me and I am looking forward to a great new blogging year! :-) See you! ;-)
topa 