Virtual Coffee Date | September 2025

Today we are meeting in my place. It is raining heavily and the air smells great. We open the windows, wrap ourself in blankets and listened to the sound the drops make on the foliage. It is meditative and calming. Until the kettle is interrupting the silence. We make ourselves some herb tea gathered from my terrace garden and the neighboring woods. We carry our steaming cups back to our sofa spot, snuggle in the blankets and settle in for our coffee date.

If you and I had coffee…
…I start with exciting news on my Arctic. I have talked to the guide. we chatted for an hour and could have done much more but needed to head into a meeting. I am so excited. He shared photos and I finally decided on the tour I will take. It will be the shorter tour where we sleep in tents. Not only is it a more authentic experience but it is also cheaper. We will meet no other groups during the week and the date is the best fit. So here it is March 8th will be my start of the arctic experience. I have bought the first piece of base layer. The guide said he can get me a whole set including socks for around 120€ if I don’t mind that its is the camouflage green. He has a deal with the supplier of the Swedish army. It may not be the color I would choose but who knows if I will ever need it again. I’ll ask for underwear and socks for Christmas and buy a leggings myself. I have the contract here I need to sign – but first read. Then I am off to booking flights to Kiruna, Sweden. Can you tell I am excited?

If you and I had coffee…
…I share that the past weekend was spend doing taxes. It wasn’t the preferred time to spend my weekend. I need a weekend from a weekend. But we never get it done earlier and only for the latest deadline our accountant gives us. At least it is off our chests for a bit. Other than this the last weeks have been very busy for both of us. Not that we are making that much money though. The industry is a lot of hustle right now. No one wants to spend money for marketing. The budgets are on old or very small. Everyone needs a ton of consulting which you can never really budget. Making our days very full with not much outcome of crossed of things on the to do list. It is a bit exhausting. Luckily I am doing a lot better than my husband and his company. Some prayers and good thoughts are welcome. If there isn’t a huge shift within the next three month he might have to file for bankruptcy. It’s a bit trying these days.

If you and I had coffee…
…I tell you about this new to-do list software I have bought. I rarely buy stuff for myself. I always tiptoe around and trying to tell myself that other tools – free tools do the trick as well. Well, after complaining for weeks and months that my current system is not really working anymore. That I would love to have a better system of keeping tracks of my to-do lists I did look at a ton of different tools. There were a few that have AI included. They schedule the tasks depending on the estimate time and deadline directly into your calendar. Unfortunetely these are expensive.e 30$ and more a month. I did not spend the money on those (even though I almost wish I did). Anyways I did by myself an annual plan for the TickTick app. It is a pretty solid to-do list app that integrates with my calendars and also includes a habit tracker. It also has daily to-do lists, overviews what is coming up in the next seven days, an Eisenhower matrix and I can forward emails to the tool that I can then put into task. I know lots of these things can be done in microsoft or apples native tools. I tried the apple tools but was not happy. The to-lists are just not very customizable. And the TickTick app does give me daily, weekly and annual statistics of my productivity. I have religiously used it for a week now. And I have a feeling I am getting so much more done and wasting less time. Or I am wasting it setting it up right now. Right now I still haven’t figured out all features. I am hoping that once all those reoccurring things are perfectly logged it will take away some of the mentale space I have occupied for those task. For example I added in “Clean Bathrooms”. Now it has popped up twice on Thursdays and take a guess. We have cleaned bathrooms two weeks in a row. Another motivating this is that my paper planer is getting filled with all the things I have DONE. It is satisfying seeing it written down as well as digital. Not sure I keep it up but for now I do.

If you and I had coffee…
…I mention that our new leasing car is ready to be picked up. Only a few month after we were supposed to get it. Unfortunately we have t pick it up across country. Our previously cars we had to pick up about an hour from Berlin. We always made a little happening out of it. Breakfast in the train, 2 hours of strolling the Volkswagen factory grounds, before picking it. It was always less expensive than having it delivered. When we signed the new contract we did not think much about this part as it was perfect the last three times. Unfortunately the model we are now getting is not being handed over at the factory. Now it involves a 7 hour train ride, overnight and we have to do it on a weekday. Overall this is so time consuming and not at all cheaper. We are a bit annoyed to be honest – mostly at ourselves but the service of the dealership is also questionable. Sigh. I guess we are still going to make it an event. And since we haven’t had any vacation since February I guess we could pretend it is a weekend trip? Well, at least we get a new car out of it.

If you and I had coffee…
…I briefly let slip that coming Sunday I will be presented during the parish assembly as a candidate for the church council. I don’t know yet everyone who is running with me. I don’t how many candidates there are. I am cautiously excited. I know it will be a lot of responsibility and time invest. Right now I am not even keeping it up on a voluntary basis so I am conscious and a bit scared what I am signing up for. But I guess it is all a thing of priorities in the end. And by the time I would start my role – in case I do get elected – I am done with the arctic and don’t need to train every day. (Not that I want to stop after.)

If you and I had coffee…
…I enthusiastically describe that we have binged the show “Nine Perfect Strangers” last week. It is a bit like The White Lotus but not as disturbing. White Lotus was at times disgusting and too close to the truths so that it overwhelmed me. But Nine Perfect Strangers was a bit different. They still all had their weirdness and vices and things to carry. I wasn’t two fond of the last couple episodes. They were a bit over the top but overall this was a fun one to watch. Have you seen it? Or read the book?

If you and I had coffee…
…I ask if you will be going this year’s NaBloPoMo. Only six weeks until November. I am planning to join of course. I am hoping to have a few posts prepared before we start because I know my November is a busy one. If I don’t prepare I will fail this time around. I am also wondering if I should set another challenge by writing very short posts. But then I have so many ideas of things I want to talk about. Argh… not sure yet. Let’s hear your thoughts.

If you and I had coffee…
… quickly add that you need to head over to Kyria where I answered a few questions on living in a different country. It was fun walking down memory lane.

The rain is taking a break. Time for you to head back out. I’ll take you to the bus stop and we pass this little spot on the bridge before we arrive. We hug and promise to next time check out the little new coffee shop that opened in the neighborhood.

How do you keep track of your to-do list? How is your industry these days – struggling or blossoming? What is the weather like in your part of the world?