BadTasteToast

stumbling through the world

2012-02-19T12:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

How is your weekend so far? It's always over too fast, isn't it?
Well, I took the coming week off from work to go on a city trip to Budapest with my friend Farah. We have booked a cozy little private apartment via airbnb.com and also got some cheap Lufthansa flights there and back. The apartment is right in the city centre, but in a little side road and we can literally stumble from the front door to the beautiful basilica and the surrounding area with lovely cafés and souvenir shops. It will also be only a few minutes to the Danube and to the main shopping street, so we really got the perfect location.
What I anticipate most is the yummy Hungarian food: Langós, Strudel, Kürtöskalacs etc. mmhhh the week will be dangerous for my diet... ;)

♥ cardigan + boots: h&m ♥ scarf: gina tricot ♥ dress worn as shirt: bershka ♥ skirt: c&a ♥ belt: topshop ♥ watch: casio ♥ ring: ebay ♥

Hooray for funny jumping photos in which I lost the control of my facial expressions haha :)
On Thursday when the whole city was celebrating Weiberfastnacht (carnival), I took the chance to head to Schloss Eller because I knew it would be wonderfully quiet there. No promenaders, no children from the nearby school, not the best weather, so for me it was the perfect possibility to take some outdoor pics with the selftimer without being stared at. This is what I hate most about taking pics with the selftimer, these nosy people who stare at you like you're some extraterrestrial visitor or something. Especially when I take selftimer photos with my camera standing on its lens cap and the lens itself leaning on a pack of cigarettes so it won't tilt forward. Haha, well yes, now I've solved my photography secret ;D
Sorry but I need to do this as long as I don't own a tripod.

So, I hope everyone will have a good start into the new week tomorrow!
I will be on holiday until Friday, but of course the blog won't be neglected. As I plan to enjoy myself and to stay away from the internet for the next few days, I already have some lovely guest posts from blogger friends up my sleeve. They're pre-set and fantastic, so please drop in to check them out :)

Happy Sunday!

Oh and don't forget to enter my current
Vedette Shapewear giveaway!

now playing: birdy - comforting sounds

only love is all maroon

2012-02-17T08:45:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

It's Friday again, wow the time passes by so fast these days. It feels like New Year's Eve was only last week but now we're already anticipating spring. It will be the season of sunny weather and sprouting plants in the twinkling of an eye and we will be able to wear our flats and breezy skirts again. On the one hand this is awesome, because I like spring of course, but on the other hand life moves too fast for me. Sometimes I have the feeling, all these things that I'd like to see, make and learn will stay on my mental to-do list forever. I need to figure out how to make some of the points fit into my daily routine, for example learning more about photography, scouting out new locations, visiting more museums and concerts, learning how to sew...
There are girls who seem to handle everything without any problems, who manage to squeeze in a seminar here, an appointment there...
I always wonder if they really are supergirls or if they're just good at hiding troubles?!

♥ scarf, shirt + skirt: h&m ♥ cardigan: takko ♥ belt: bershka ♥ socks: department store ♥ shoes: pimkie ♥ watch: casio ♥

Okay, so the weekend lies ahead of me and I have some nice things planned for the next two days. Tomorrow I'll meet the girls gang for dinner, can't wait! We'll go to Farah's place, cook yummy things and I can clearly see the evening going into the direction of gossping, lounging about on the sofa with stuffed tummies and braiding each others hair (like last time). Could a Saturday night be more perfect? ;)
For most (or maybe even all) of us it will be the last chance to spend time with out friend Jasmin before she returns to Beijing after her "holidays here at home". She's been living in China for over a year and plans to go back and stay as long as possible because she's so happy there. Hence our girls night will also be a kind of farewell party again because we never know when we'll see her again. I'm sure it's going to be a fun night!

Uhm now last but not least I have to admit that I have broken my shopping ban again. "Naughty!" you'll say! And yes, it's true but I have an explanation ;p
I'm a bit unlucky concerning clothing at the moment because unfortunately now of all times everything starts to break or rip. Oh boy! Two weeks ago my only pair of black jeans ripped, so I couldn't wear them to a funeral and had to wear three pairs of tights on the cemetery at -8°C (that's where I got the bad cold from by the way). And if that wouldn't be enough, the other day my house slippers broke too!
So I intractably opened the H&M online sale page... Hey, I did a good job: I purchased new slippers, a few pairs of black jeans (of which one pair really fit perfectly!) and the only thing else I couldn't resist was the camel scarf, that I'm wearing in the photos, for 5€.
These are the slippers :D

Have a fantastic weekend guys!!! :)

now playing: bon iver - flume

snow flowers

2012-02-15T15:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

As many of you might have heard or experienced theirselves, Europe has been visited by a Siberian winter depression for some time now. Actually most places in Germany already had snow, even cities that are not really far from here. It seemed that only Düsseldorf had been skipped... BUT I had a day off from work on Monday and woke up to snowfall! How amazing, I had been wishing for snow so bad! So after breakfast I got dressed and headed outside to take some outfit pics in the snow - finally!
I'm glad I did this in the morning because by the early afternoon most of the snow was already gone. Lucky me! ;)

♥ parka: vero moda ♥ cardigan + loop scarf: gina tricot ♥ dress worn as shirt + skirt: h&m ♥ belt: new yorker ♥ tights: primark ♥ boots: ebay ♥ necklace: flufftail ♥

To tell you a little secret: actually there wasn't as much snow as it seems from the pictures, only about 1cm, but I wanted to savour the rare opportunity and put up my cam's ISO to make it look like a winter wonderland. I'm still a raw recruit when it comes to my Canon's thousand features, but I'm actually pretty content with what I made of the photos via ISO and editing. It looks magical somehow :)

I know everyone is desperately waiting for spring to come, but to be honest I'm wishing for a bit more snow until the beginning of March. Remember that I mentioned a planned city trip with a friend? Well, next week I'll leave for Budapest with Farah and, as I have only spent time there in the summer yet, it would be lovely to visit this city in the winter with snow, ice and the whole shebang. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

What about you? Are you enjoying winter and snow or are you longing for some spring sun?

Have a lovely day everyone!

now playing: birdy - skinny love

valentine veto

2012-02-14T15:25:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

Happy Valetine's Day to all of you out there! :)
If you've been following along for some time you might already know that neither Patrick, nor me are very romantic persons in real life. Okay, sometimes I have these "What if" scenes in my head, like "What if Patrick would fetch me from work to take me to the Rhine and watch the sunset today?". But naaaw, we're not like that in real life. We're rather the type of couple who grabs some thai fast food after work and lounges about on the sofa while watching Dexter. Sorry to disappoint you with unromantic 9-years-relationship reality guys ;)

♥ cardi, jeggings + boots: h&m ♥ dress: only ♥ hat: 1€ shop ♥ belt: primark ♥ necklace: jewelmint ♥ tote: veto merchandise ♥

Against everyone's assumption the symbol on the bag is not a hand forming the peace or victory sign. It's V for Veto, a Danish band I got to see live the other day. This tote is what I broke my shopping ban for because the concert was so great that I had to have a "souvenir", furthermore I love simple tote bags with simple prints. So please don't consider me as a weird wannabe hippie ;) I'm not saying that I'm not a pacifist, but wearing a peace print on a bag is simply not my cup of tea.

Anyway, I hope all you couples and also the singles have a fantastic day today!
Have fun!

now playing: swedish house mafia vs. knife party - antidote

DaWanda spring finds

2012-02-13T15:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

The fact that I'm on a shopping ban concerning clothing, accessories and cosmetics at the moment does not implicate that I don't browse online shops for pretty stuff. Actually I do some virtual window shopping from time to time to keep my shopping lust down ;)
As I haven't done this for quite a while, I thought I could delight you and myself with a DaWanda spring wishlist (yeah a bit early this year, but anyway)...

home decor

// 1. art print via unique decor by ashley percival // 2. cushion via pink bug // 3. cushion via yucan // 4. tray via wohngemüse // 5. mugs via jolijou // 6. cushion via morgenistgesternheute //

clothing & accessories

// 1. scarf via anmut // 2. skirt via julia rau // 3. buttons via andischu // 4. necklace via flufftail // 5. bag via eleven elephant // 6. headband via miss cherry blossom // 7. scarf via wishproject //

Argh, sorry for the partly blurry pics, I don't know why my photo program does this sometimes...
Hope you enjoyed the cute items though ;)

Hey, speaking of shopping and wishlists!
Vedette Shapewear is having a special Valentine's Day promo for three days beginning today:

Have a lovely day!

Vedette Shapewear giveaway

2012-02-12T12:00:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

Today is finally the day to solve the secrets! Firstly I have mentioned before that there will be a really cool giveaway in cooperation with an amazing brand and secondly I sometimes hinted on me shooting a video... Well, here is the revealing:

Vedette Shapewear was so kind to send me one piece of their beautiful shapewear collection, the Contessa bodysuit, to make a video. The challenge was to wear the shapewear in a daily outfit and also to give the viewer an idea of my "profession".
I'm a little excited, this is the first time ever that I'm visible in a video on the internet, woohoo ;)
Hope you like what I did:

Vedette is a US company based in Georgia, that offers a wide range of support garments and shapewear. Their collections go from basic shaping products to "va va voom" lingerie adorned with lace and satin. they offer shaping items for all the important parts of a woman's body to make any bodyshape look well-proportioned and sexy.
If you would like to learn more about their history, mission and products click here.

(all pics via google picture search)

The giveaway:

Up for grabs is one piece of choice from the Vedette basic collection for 3 lucky winners!
(Basic collection means everything on their website that is not labeled "Sensuale Collection".)

The winners will be chosen via random.org on the 26th of February after 8 pm (MET).
The giveaway is open for international entries (I'm very very sorry, but I have to exclude the Philippines because for organizational reasons here).
Once those 3 winners are chosen, they will be contacted and asked to take their measurements for their shapewear of choice.

How to enter:

- The basic steps are that you have to follow my blog via GFC or Bloglovin (find the buttons on the right sidebar) AND like the Vedette Facebook page. (1 basic entry for both together)

Bonus entries:

(please leave an extra comment for each)

- twitter about this giveaway and leave me the lik to the tweet in one bonus entry

- blog about this giveaway or put it to your blog's sidebar and leave me the link to the post in one bonus entry
-add me to your favourites at Chictopia and leave me your username there in one bonus entry

So you can make a total of 4 entries!

Feel free to spread the love by using this pic (or the bigger one at the beginning of the post):

Additional information: The moment the winners got their shapewear, and in case it don't fit them, they can return it to the US office with complete box and covering at their own expense. But as the Vedette people help you finding the right size with your measurements, I'm sure the winners will be completely happy with their items :)

Good luck and have a wonderful day!

miss onion

2012-02-10T22:49:00.004+01:00

Hi guys!

I'm sorry I haven't cared about the blog so much lately, but after my exam hiatus two weeks ago I had to recover from a bad flu this week. I've spent the last days in bed mostly, sleeping, watching Sons of Anarchy and drinking litres and litres of herbal tea. I'm feeling a bit better today, but I'll still take it easy over the weekend. Hopefully I'll be fit again next week, so I can finally go out and take some nice new outfit shots in the beautiful sunny winter weather we still have here.

♥ jacket: vero moda ♥ scarf: marc jacobs ♥ cardigan + belt: primark ♥ plaid shirt: pimkie ♥ shirt: review ♥ skirt: c&a ♥ boots: h&m ♥ necklace: gift ♥ brooch: budapest souvenir ♥

I've been layering stuff like crazy lately because of the icy winds. Above you can see my layering masteerpiece so far, I think I haven't worn so many pieces of clothing in one look before, I felt just like an onion. But it really helped to keep me warm despite the -8°C we had back when I wore this last week.
Btw, see this beautiful new scarf of mine? I love it dearly and been basically living in it since I first took it out of the package it came in. I've won a giftcard for Shopbop in a giveaway of Monochroma.chic the other day and spent it on this high quality wool scarf and a pretty Maison Scotch necklace (which is no longer in stock). I never owned such an amazing scarf before and I admit I had never spent so much money on one item, BUT it's really worth it. The wool is not scratchy at all, it soft and warm and the scarf is long enough to wrap it around my neck twice. I wouldn't want to live without it anymore, I love it! :)
Thanks again to Kristy and to Shopbop!

If you like giveaways please come back tomorrow as I'll finally be posting a lovely giveaway in cooperation with a great online shop! Hope this made you curious... ;)

Have a good day!

now playing: kate nash - take me to a higher plane

good days and point systems

2012-02-06T20:23:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

How are you?
I had a really good day. Uneventful, but good :)
I got some good news at work, headed homeward at 3 pm (I love working only half days), then went grocery shopping with Patrick and that's it. We brought home so many yummy things and now I really have to hold myself back... If you've been following along for some time you already know that I love food! Well, the other day I started to inform myself about the Weight Watchers points program and now I'm trying to stick to my personal point system... God, it's so hard! I've heard that they weren't able to use all their points per day and eneded up having pints left at the end of the day. Okay, seriously, were they eating carrots all day or what? My points are always almost completely gone after lunch. Maybe I'm doing something wrong ;) I will try to portion my meals in a different way, let's hope it will work.

♥ jacket: vero moda ♥ cardigan + hair bow: h&m ♥ shirt + scarf: gina tricot ♥ jeans: esprit ♥ shoes: converse ♥ bag: raleigh ♥ necklace: accessorize ♥ ring: six ♥

Well, I think before someone gets something wrong I have to say that I'm not going to diet like crazy (if you know me, you know I'm not remotely able to exercise so much patience and discipline haha). I have started to work out at the gym regularly, that is 2-3 times a week and I have found out that I feel better and that illnesses like a cold or cystitis seem to stay away now (knock on wood!). However, despite the gym, I haven't lost any weight yet, bummer! Yet no surprise if I look at my eating habits. So this is why I'd like to make a change and see if it works.
Keep your fingers crossed for me please, I will keep you updated on it form time to time.

The outfit was not special, but it was comfy and perfect for uni last week. Furthermore I've been kind of living in chunky knit cardis lately. Jeans, a plaid shirt, one of these cardis and the day is your friend - even when it's 8°C below zero in the mornings ;)

Have a nice day everyone!

now playing: philipp poisel - wie du

a colourful mess

2012-02-04T13:11:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

At the moment Germany is blessed with the most beautiful winter ever! The temperatures are below zero, icy winds blow, but the sun shines bright in the sky at the same time. It's not this wet cold like we had in several winters before, it's a dry cold, which makes it much easier to chose the right clothing. Maybe it's only because I am a winter girl anyway, but I really really love it at the moment. It could be like this all year if you ask me, the crisp sunny mornings make me feel so good and brighten up my mood for the day and the icy air is so clear and feels so good to breathe in.
Okay enough of it, I know there are many of you out there who hate it, so I won't go on about the lovely weather anymore ;)

♥ jacket: vero moda ♥ cardi: h&m ♥ shirt: gina tricot ♥ skirt: vintage ♥ belt: primark ♥ tights: supermarket ♥ boots: ebay ♥

Can you see the bright sunlight in the pics coming through my kitchen windows? Normally I try to avoid taking outfit shots inside, but I really wanted to catch the beautiful light in the pics, so I made anexception. By the way this is what I wore to uni a few days ago. I love the colourfulness, so matchign for the beautiful weather! And believe me, despite the icy weather I didn't feel cold. A simple tube skirt underneath the floral one, two layers of thermo tights and lots of layering under the shirt did the trick ;)
This semester is over for me now and I can finally relax again, it's such a relief. My last uni day was on Thursday, it was pretty cool because in my "Death as a Problem of Practical Philosophy" seminar we watched and discussed the film "Dead Man Walking". I had not seen the film before and was really impressed by it (especially by the actors - Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon). It deals with the pros and cons of death penalty, so if you haven't seen it, I can really recommend it to you.

Oh, it's such a lazy Saturday today. I'll spend the afternoon doing laundry and wasting time in the interwebs. Tonight I'm going to meet a friend for some drinks and that's it. I love stress-free days :)

Have a lovely weekend!

now playing: the killers - smile like you mean it

summing up favourites #11: january 2012

2012-02-03T18:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

Today it's time for some pretty inspiration in the form of my monthly summing up favourites feature!
I have once again collected my favourites out of the many beautiful looks in the blogosphere in my bookmarks et voilà, here they are.
I have to say: kudos! Despite the cold January weather all of the ladies look amazing!

green grass black clouds

flying a kite

strawberry koi

lifesize paperdoll

sweet passion

llymlrs

keiko lynn

mode junkie

daily fashion boost

what olivia did...

What do you think? Lovely, aren't they? :)
Have a nice day everyone!

now playing: rise against - give it all

one month shopping ban report

2012-02-02T20:42:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

After days of reading philosophy texts and writing essays for uni I'm back to my little ol' blog! Another semester has come to an end, oh how time flies...
Apropos time flies, I've been on a shopping ban for more than one month now, can you believe it? At first it was strange because I usually spend lots of time browsing Ebay or swapping websites for bargains, true to the motto "A girl can't own enough clothes!". BUT hey I'm also a philosophy student and think about things a lot, so when I noticed that I had so many unworn pieces in my closet, some even still with a price tag, I decided that it was enough. Clothes have been my favourite items to spend money on for such a long time, but actually there are so many other things that are worth saving for! In my case it's travelling, furniture, photo equipment etc. but in general I also couldn't help thinking about our throwaway society, mass consumption, ecology...
I do not consider myself as a do-gooder, but every little change counts, right?!

♥ cardi + shirt: h&m ♥ belt: primark ♥ jeans: esprit ♥ boots: ebay ♥ necklace: pimkie ♥

Let me explain my shopping ban rules to you: not spending money on clothing, accessories and cosmetics (apart from my daily make-up articles) has the highest priority! I can say without regrets that I have managed to stick to this rule since Decemer the 28th, I've fought back my desire to shop very well (with one exception that I will explain further below). However I allowed myself to swap - now some people may call me a cheater, but I really didn't spend a cent on anything when I swapped, so my rule is not broken. Plus swapping is ecologically correct and it even helps me to get rid of what I don't want/need anymore and to make room for new things. If you find the right swapping partner it's a win-win situation, so in my opinion there's nothing wrong with swapping while being on a shopping ban.
The striped shirt in the outfit is a swapped piece for example :)

To not come across like the ultimate moralizer, I have to admit that I have broken my shopping ban once! I went to a Veto concert last week and as their merchandise is hard to get, I took the chance to buy a tote bag for 5€. I had to! You never know when they will be on tour again.
Anyway, apart from that I haven't spend money on anything clothes- or accessory-wise.
I rather concentrated on my photography equipment, browsed the web for a camera bag, didn't find one, but purchased a lovely new cam strap for ridiculous 15€.

My plan is to stay on a shopping ban until the beginning of March, then in March I'll maybe allow myself one or two new pieces and then I'll probably go on a shopping ban again afterwards to save up for more expensive things like a tripod or so.
I'm starting to not miss shopping and I appreciate that I can spend my time on more important things like university, reading, curling up on the sofa with Patrick. And it's good for my creativity to remix outfits, I need this kind of challenge from time to time.

I think it's very important to consider our consumption habits nowadays (also concerning grocery shopping). Do you know these "I show you my ridiculously huge make-up collection" videos on Youtube? God, they make me sick...
What is your opinion about shopping? Are you a mass shopper, a shopping ascetic or something in between? Do you think of changing your habits or go like "shop til you drop"?

It feels good to be back to blogging, I can't wait to read your comments and to browse your blogs guys! :)
Happy Thursday!

now playing: lcd soundsystem - daft punk is playing at my house

polyvore premiere + vedette feature

2012-01-31T21:17:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

I'm just dropping in to show my first Polyvore set ever. I still haven't figured out all the details of this fun website, but I will practice and probably spend some mornings creating sets there. Still in my pyjamas, browsing Polyvore while drinking my coffee - I think this will be a great inspiration for new outfits. I can't wait for the semester break to begin next week, weeee :)

My set was featured over at the Vedette Shapewear Blog, so if you like, feel free to take a look.

I hope I can string you along with this little post until I have time to take outfit pics again. All the uni stress will be over by Thursday and I can already tell you that there's be a really cool giveaway coming up here... So don't forget to stop by my blog again at the end of the week!

Have a good day!

bear with me

2012-01-29T19:34:00.004+01:00

♥ source

Hi guys!

I apologize for being absent from the blog so much at the moment. In the back of my head there's always the thought of having to publish another post, but actually I don't have to, have I?
Unfortunately I'm still so busy with essays and summaries for university, household and other aspects of the daily life that I don't find the time to take outfit photos, let alone to write a useful post here. Furthermore I got a a bit of a tinnitus from a concert yesterday, so I'll have to visit the doctor and take care about this too next week.
I also don't have the time to browse other blogs and write comments, which makes the whole blogging thing only half as fun anyway.
To cut a long story short: I won't have enough time to care about the blog until the end of the coming week and I don't want to do it only halfheartedly, so I hope you are patient with me a little longer.
I promise I'll come up with cool new posts, for example my summing up favourites for January, after this week (and thus this semester) is over and the corresponding tasks are finished.

Bare with me and have a lovely start into the new week! :)

half an outfit post

2012-01-26T19:50:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

I'm sorry for neglecting my blog and for not commenting back at the moment, but the end of the semester is drawing nearer and I'm so busy. I still appreciate every single comment and I'll try to get back to them asap. I'm glad the uni stress will be over next week, until then I'll go on spending my evenings on reading philosophy and writing summaries and essays, just like the last days and last week. Note to self: stop procrastinating next semester! As if... oh well...

The only escape from the daily grind was the amazing Veto concert yesterday. Fab band, fab sound, great evening in Duisburg!

♥ jacket: vero moda ♥ cardigan, shirt, jeans + boots: h&m ♥ necklace: accessorize ♥ ring: ebay ♥

As you can see above I'm going for the casual comfy look at the moment. Jeans, shirt, cardi and boots is what I wear most of the time because it's perfectly comfortable. Furthermore we've been having some icy wind here, bbrrr.
Sorry for the photos, most of them didn't turn out the way I planned, so today it's only half an outfit post ;)

And now I have to go back to my books, yay...
Have a lovely day!

now playing: iron & wine - walking far from home

a weekend with the girls

2012-01-24T21:18:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

I'm back from my mini weekend hiatus and I bring you a picture-heavy post about the fun time I had with my girls. As I mentioned last friday, our friend Jasmin, who has been living in Beijing for over a year now, is here at the moment to visit good old Germany. She'll only stay until her next visa for China is valid, so as we had our monthly girls nights without her since January 2011, we seized the chance to celebrate her presence this weekend.
On Friday there was a party for her at our smalltown's only pub, including lots of beer and cider, fast food, friends and some silly dancing and posing for the camera. Above and below you can see what I wore, these are the only proper outfit pics I managed to take (before I left for the pub).

♥ dress: gina tricot ♥ cardigan + boots: h&m ♥ belt: primark ♥ necklace: jewelmint ♥

On Saturday we all met at our friend Julia's apartment to prepare dinner for our guest of honour. Julia had planned an amazing dinner - as usual. She loves to cook for others, so she whipped up hearty crêpes with ricotta, spinach and parmesan as a starter, a risotto and original Italian lasagne as the main course and coconut cupcakes for dessert. Okay we helped her, but she made most of it herself, so kudos to the cook!
And I don't know why, but it seems that all our girls nights end up being hair braiding parties when Farah is with us. She always starts braiding someone's hair just for fun and does such a good job that everyone else wants braids too :)

Here is the weekend pictures overload overload for you:

I hope your weekend was just as great as mine was! Here's to having a blast with good friends :)
Have a lovely day!

now playing: defeater - I don't mind

a surprise and spilled beans

2012-01-20T17:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

Wohoo it's Friday again, finally!
To be honest this is a post that publishes itself automatically while I'm already on my way to my hometown where I'll spend the whole weekend with my girls. Our friend Jasmin has been living in Beijing for a little more than one year now and this weekend she will come back home for a short holiday until her new visa for China is valid. We all haven't seen her since December 2010, my goodness this is so long ago. Of course we still wrote her e-mails and uploaded the pictures of our monthly girls night, so she wasn't completely out of our lives, but still our last evening with her is long ago.
We all can't wait to see her again :) So tonight there is a surprise party for her at our hometown's local pub. Well, unfortunately it's not a surprise anymore as one of my friends has unintendedly spilled the beans, but I think it will be a blast nevertheless! Tomorrow we'll also spend the evening with Jasmin, so that's why I'm away for the whole weekend.

♥ dress: promod ♥ cardi + tights: h&m ♥ belt: primark ♥ boots: gamloong ♥ bag: asos ♥ necklace: claire's ♥

As I'm still catching up with posting last week's outfit (*cough* slow blogger...) and after I had to push in yesterday's concert post to not lose the chronological order completely, I today present you what I came up with last Thursday. I remember a wonderfully crisp and sunny winter morning, so I took the chance to wear one of my summer dresses in a wintry style again, that means with a cardi, two layers of tights and my cozy boots.
I was actually not 100% content with the colour combo but in the end it turned out better than I had expected. I love how you can wear the collar of the dress above the cardigan.
Oh and how do you like the cuckoo clock necklace? Isn't it the funniest and quirkiest thing ever?! :)

Alright, so by the time this post publishes itself I'm probably at my dad's house (my accomodation for the night) to fetch the keys and then I'm off to the pub to see the girls! Aaawww I already can't wait and can't stop smiling while I'm pre-writing this here haha ;)

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

now playing: snow patrol - this isn't everything you are

my music: enter shikari

2012-01-19T18:15:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

Normally I don't like to bother you with my personal taste in music. Everyone has a different taste, hence you potentially don't care much about mine.
But sometimes I can't hold it back and have to shout out how amazing a band or artist is. As this is my personal blog and as music plays a big role in my life I think I should actually do music posts more often.

Anyway, this time it's all about
Enter Shikari.

♥ source

Our story:

Well, in the beginning when their music started to be popular in Germany, I didn't like them at all. I don't even remember why, but it somehow wasn't my cup of tea. Furthermore their song "Sorry you're not a winner" was played way too often in all the rock/metal discos around.

After the hype had died down a bit, one day I started to listen through their whole album (the recent one back then, "Common Dreads") and realized how diverse and creative they are. So I listened to the predecessing album again as well and found myself loving it. Sometimes I simply need some time to become friendly with certain bands.
To cut a long story short: I've been a fan of their music ever since and listened to at least one of their albums once a week (especially during my workout in the gym as the tunes really motivate me).

♥ source

The music:

Trigger for this post is their new album "A Flash Flood of Colour" and the fact that I've been a fan for some years.

Their music has always been an ingenious mix of hard guitar parts, electro beats, shouts and clear vocals. I think their style is called Post-Hardcore, but I'm not good at pidgeonholing bands and music styles, so that's all I can say.

Their new album is even more inspired by electro and dubstep, they have some really cool wobble sounds and other electronic effects going on.
I also watched the additional video footage about the recording of the recent album and what amazed was, that they also created many of the sounds for their songs by hand. They recorded parts of the album in Thailand and so one day they marched down the street to an abandonned house there with a snair, drumsticks and other equipment and used the building's very special acoustics to their advantage.
It always impresses me when musicians put their heart and soul into their songs. It's the little details that make songs whole.

♥ source

The lyrics:

What I also value a lot is when bands stand strong for their political opinion and carry out the message with their songs and videos. I think Enter Shikari's lyrics are amazing. They're honest, outspoken but still carefully worded and euphonic:

We begin to learn to smile again
Start to walk that extra mile again
Cos I know that we are one
Fear begins to vanish when we realise
That countries are just lines,
Drawn in the sand with a stick.

They also are clear messages, straight in your face:

Fuck all borders and fuck all boundaries
Fuck all flags and fuck nationalities.

Concerning the quote above: I actually read a text of Amartya Sen, an Indian expert on international law, the other day, where he says that international justice can only be achieved when we constitute laws based on interest groups instead of determining them only within borders and natinalities. The song lyrics immediately reminded me of this.

And there are also wonderfully poetic and metaphoric lines:

There's a train at 12, destination disaster.
It's running on time as time runs faster
On platform two it's destination sustainability
It's delayed though it was suppose to arrive at 11:50.
Platform one it says stand behind the yellow line
But I sit on the platform edge and just gaze at the time.

So basically, the essence is that these guys concern theirselves with economy, ecology, society and the according deficiencies a lot, which - in my opinion - is the best you can do if you have the chance to spread the word with your arts.

♥ source

Uhm well, yes I love this band and highly recommend their music to anyone who loves electro mixed with rock/metal.
If you're not the heavy music type but a fan of poetic words I recommend their lyrics to you.
And if you're none of the above, but interested in political/ecological aspects I recommend you what lies between the lines of their lyrics.

For me it's always important to get an overview of the whole package, meaning not only the music itself, but also the lyrics, the motivation and the people, that's why this post got so long.
But sometimes I just feel the urge to express my admiration for certain things.

That being said, I finish this post by wishing you a good day! ;)

now playing: enter shikari - sssnakepit

o'god the aftermath

2012-01-18T14:30:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

We have reached the middle of the week, only a few more days to go :)
But let's go back to Monday for a second: Patrick and I went to Cologne to see the tour start of a really cool band, namely La Dispute.
They're a very special band because of their amazing lyrics. The songs all tell stories and are written so authentically, honestly and beautifully. When I listen to certain songs, for example this one, it gives me goosebumps only because of the stories that are told.
Anyway, it was a great concert. The Underground club was completely sold out and overcrowded, everyone wanted to see them. It was their first concert of the new tour and it was an amazing atmosphere, the audience was great, sang and screamed along and the singer was so cute. They are all pretty young, that's why their reactions to the enthusiastic fans were really cute. The singer was so happy when he saw the crowd singing the songs, knowing every single word by heart.
I left my cam at home because I knew it would be overcrowded, so unfortunately I have no photos. But if you're interested, then Google is your friend ;p

♥ cardigan + jeggings: h&m ♥ shirt: norma jean band merch ♥ circle scarf: gina tricot ♥ boots: vintage ♥ bag: ebay ♥ necklace: accessorize ♥

Okay, I know you rather see me in playful and colourful outfits on the blog, but all black punkrock/metal looks is actually where I come from. I've been listening to such bands since I was 14 or so and you'll never get the punkrock out of me ;) I like to go back to this style from time to time because it reminds me of the good old times and because I love to underline my pale skin by wearing all black. Furthermore a pair of jeggings and a shirt are so comfortable, hence perfect for a concert. However, compared to the old times, I know now that you don't have to run around like a raggle-taggle tramp to look, ehm, I don't know how to say without using stupid words... let's say to look like you listen to this music!

The t-shirt used to be Patrick's, he's a fan of Norma Jean (the band, not the lady), but last year he sorted it out because it didn't fit him anymore. We were actually sorting out clothes for a colleague of mine who wanted to take them to Kenia (he travels there once a year), but I decided that you can't send a shirt with a "death" and "the aftermath" print to Kenia. However it was also too cool to throw it away, so I kept it.
Last week I found it again and finally altered it, I can wear it as a long shirt now. I could even wear it as a mini dress too if I had the legs.
Anyway, I'm a zombie fan, I love the print. The band is not one of my favourites, but I like some of their stuff too. I plan to make more of Patrick's old shirts mine in the course of the next month... Plus: there are so many awesome band shirts available for men but the girlie shirts most often suck.

Do you own band shirts? Are they altered men's shirts or girlies?

Happy Wednesday!

now playing: norma jean - the anthem of the angry

tumblr faves #3

2012-01-17T13:00:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

Today is tumblr faves day again. I've been doing this feature too seldom, but this will change in the future because I love to show you all the great stuff I stumbled upon since I joined tumblr some years ago. From now on there'll be ten of my tumblr favourites at least once a month ;)
It's such a great collection of inspiring things for me! You can also head over and visit my little tumblr corner if you like ;)
Oh and in advance: I apologize for repetitions, but I love owls and foxes, they appear a lot in my tumblr.
Here we go.

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

Have a lovely day everyone!

now playing: nofx - flossing a dead horse

she makes me feel like it's raining outside

2012-01-15T11:14:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

The title is just a line from an old Blink 182 song, but fortunately this weekend it has not rained so far, yaay. However, even if it's rather sunny, we have some icy winds blowing through the lands at the moment, brrr. But hey, I'm not complaining! I like cold weather as long as it's dry ;)
I was even able to almost finish the mysterious video shoot I mentioned in the last post. I will solve the secret about it soon and believe me it will be really cool!

♥ cardi: c&a ♥ shirt, skirt, hat + ring: h&m ♥ belt: thrifted ♥ shoes: goertz ♥ bag: primark ♥ necklace: gift (souvenir from china) ♥ bangle: swapped via Kleiderkreisel ♥

I'm still trying to catch up with posting outfits I wore this week, I have managed to take outfit photos four days in a row, which is probably my personal record haha. This look is from Tuesday when I had to work half a day, ran errands and spent the evening finishing philosophy papers for uni.
I really like this look, so comfortable and uncomplicated, perfect for everyday. It includes one of the many pieces I had purchased last year and somehow never worn until now. These many unworn pieces in my closet were the reason why I put myself on a shopping ban until March and to change this ridiculous habit of always wanting to buy new clothes as soon as I have a creativity blockade concerning what to wear. I've been doing great so far, I haven't spent money on anything clothing- or accessory-wise.

It's actually really cool to re-discover the content of my closet now that I don't buy new stuff. This hat for example! I bought it last year, can't even remember when, probably in the January sales?! I have hardly ever worn it. But why? It's so cute, I love the cable knit and the different shades of blue paired with the white.
I also re-discover necklaces that I haven't worn for a long time. It almost is like getting new pieces ;)

Happy Sunday to all of you!

now playing: millencolin - ray

only yesterday was the time of our lives

2012-01-13T17:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

It's Friday! How awesome is that?!
Okay, my weekend will be pretty uneventful, but at least it's the weekend, that's what counts. I can't wait to put my pyjamas on and curl up on the sofa with a vanilla chai latte and something to read. Well, I will have to read philosophical texts for uni instead of a nice book, but oh well, at least it's the weekend! ;-p
Tomorrow I will also head out to the forest with Patrick to shoot a special video (more about it soon...), gosh I hope Patrick will be able to hold the camera, he's Mr. Shaky-Hands.

♥ dress + necklace: h&m ♥ cardi + boots: ebay ♥ belt: pieces ♥

This cute colourful ensemble is what I wore to work on Monday, it was just the right (over)dose of colour to brighten up the day. Actually I put together the next day's outfits in the evenings and then I normally change my mind in the mornings haha. But this looked perfectly cute when I laid everything together on the bed on Sunday night and it worked out fine when I put in on the next morning.
I got these boots supercheap via Ebay the other day, they were only something around 7€ including the shipping. Hello bargain! I was a bit sceptical about their slightly cowboyish style but I couldn't complain as they were so cheap, and when they arrived: a miracle, I like them, they really look good. Many ankle boots are not very flattering for my calves, but these are okay. Hooray!

Can you believe that I've worn this belt for the first time on Monday? I bought it about two years ago, can't even remember where, but I know it was 2nd hand. Why didn't I wear it? It's so nice with floral pieces.

Anyway, we have to clean up the apartment tonight so I guess we better get started.
What are you up to this weekend??

Happy Friday!

now playing: adele - turning tables

out and about: mobile snapshots #4

2012-01-11T18:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

Thanks a lot for all your nice comments on my new blog design, I'm so glad that you like it. I don't know if it's because of the fresh new look, but there even are a few new readers who follow along now. Welcome to my little corner in the interwebs and thanks for following folks! ;)

I again collected my mobile photos for another mobile snapshots feature - and this time we're going Lomo!
In times of Hipstamatic and Instagram the modern non-smartphone-owner has to revert to tried and tested methods: online image editing.
I love Picnik's "lomo-ish" effect, so this post is a kind of tiny tribute to their amazing freeware :)

Christmas time

Uhm, I know I said goodbye to Christmas long ago (well actually it was two weeks ago), but come on, it's still nice to look at Christmas trees, no? ;p

Mona this one's for you, next time we'll have a Glühwein date ;)

kitty cat

Kitty cat presenting her fluffy tummy...

...and Patrick getting on her nerves :)

miscellaneous

the Oeconomicum @ campus

yummy apple-cinnamon cupcake

I hope you liked this!
Have a good day!

now playing: walk off the earth - somebody that I used to know (gotye cover, so amazing!)

dressed up as life

2012-01-09T19:04:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

Phew, an afternoon date with hermeneutics texts lies behind me, tomorrow I have to start writing an essay about it. So looking forward to it...not.
I really have to give myself a kick in the pants from time to time until the end of January because I want to finish the philosophy part of my studies this semester. There's a final set of anglistics seminars left for next semester and afterwards I will hopefully be able to apply for my bachelor thesis.

♥ cadrigan, skirt + boots: h&m ♥ shirt: forvert ♥ belt: primark ♥ bag: ebay ♥ necklace: new yorker ♥

Some words about the outfit and occasion: it's what I wore on Saturday. In the afternoon I took my mother and her boyfriend to Sugarbird Cupcakes to try their winter specials (orange-marzipan and apple-cinnamon, yum).
In the evening Patrick received a last minute message from a friend whose punkrock band had a gig in Düsseldorf, so we spontaneously decided to go and watch them. The concert took place in a little shabby backyard club, the audience was friendly, loud and partly pretty f*cked up, just as we like it ;)
No seriously, as the scene for "heavier music" is not really big here, it was cool to have such a concert in Düsseldorf. Plus we got to spend the evenig with some friends and free beer.

Hope you had a nice weekend as well. Did you do anything special?
Gosh, I actually already can't wait for the next weekend. Why is it only Monday today?
Anyway, have a good day!

now playing: crime in stereo - I, stateside

veggie-stuffed pointed peppers

2012-01-08T21:28:00.004+01:00

Hi guys!

Sorry, I didn't have time to read your blogs or comment a lot this weekend and I probably won't make it in the next days either. Actually I have prepared some posts that will be auto-published because I'll have some stuff to do for uni next week. However I will try to not neglect the blogosphere completely ;)

So as I had these photos ready for being posted for weeks and as we had this for NYE, I'd like to show you a yummy veggie recipe for stuffed peppers today.

You need:

5 pointed peppers
200g crème fraîche
100g feta cheese
2 cloves of garlic
200g grated cheese
500ml strained tomatoes
1 onion
salt, pepper, lemon juice

1. Chop the onion and garlic, sweat these in a pan for a few minutes. Then deglaze them with the strained tomatoes and half of the crème fraîche. Simmer everything for about 10 minutes and season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice (and herbs if you like).

2. While the sauce simmers, wash the peppers and cut out the cores.
Then prepare the stuffing: mix the other half of the crème fraîche, the (crumbled!) feta cheese and the grated cheese in a bowl. Add one pressed clove of garlic and season to taste with salt and pepper again.

3. Stuff the peppers with the cheese stuffing and put them into a greased casserole. Spill the sauce over the peppers (and add some more grated cheese if you like).
Bake them for 40-45 minutes at 200°C.

Et voilà!

A yummy veggie meal that can be served with potatoes or rice and salad. Instead of a "real" side dish you can also just serve some bread to dip it into the sauce.

Enjoy your meal! :)

now playing: bob marley - hotel california

look past the blinding light

2012-01-07T16:45:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

Finally it's Saturday, my favourite day of the week. Whew this weekend I have so many things on my to-do list. I need to do some more fine tuning to my new blog design, stick to my resolution to go to gym three times a week (one time left for this week), post the filled sweet peppers recipe we had on NYE, write an essay and a text summary for uni, catch up reading my seminar papers......
So basically I'll probably stay at home all day and try to get things done.
What are your plans?

♥ jacket: vila ♥ cardi + dress: h&m ♥ belt: thrifted ♥ tights: primark ♥ boots: gamloong ♥ necklace: ebay ♥ watch: american apparel ♥

By the way I kept the brown jacket. A few weeks ago I ordered a jacket in two different colours and wasn't sure about which one to keep, well I went for brown. I also like black jackets a lot but this one just didn't feel right in black, the contrast was too hard with my outfits somehow.

Oh and there's a funny little story about my stupidity concerning this watch: I bought it last summer. Why haven't I worn it? Well, it only has one single button but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to adjust the time.
The other day I finally managed to ask Patrick and he adjusted it for me in a heartbeat, but indifferent as I am I forgot to ask how and now I'm still not able to do it myself. Hooray for stupidity... ;)

Have a lovely weekend!

now playing: two door cinema club - cigarettes in the theatre

summing up favourites #10: december 2011

2012-01-06T18:30:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

I'm a bit late, but I still wanted to share with you my favourite outfits from the blogosphere of December 2011. I've seen so many festive, cute and christmassy looks over the last weeks, but these here are my very very favourites out of all the pretty ones:

Delightfully Tacky

In Her Stilettos

K Is For Kani

La Belle Oiselle

Little Chief Honeybee

Miss Twinkle

Monochroma.Chic

Calivintage

Sock Monkey And Gee

Urban Tease

Venila Kostis

Waking Life

All amazing, aren't they? God, how I wish we had a snowy winter here in Germany! I'm keeping my fingers crossed, still hoping it will come before spring arrives.....

Have a great day!

now playing: make do and mend - transparent seas

new design

2012-01-05T21:08:00.007+01:00

Hi guys!

New year, new wind in the sails! I've wanted to redesign the blog for months and today finally had the time and patience to do it (I'm a raw recruit when it comes to HTML, CSS and all).
Here it is, my new DIY layout and I'm glad I managed to make it look like this.
The old design was cute, but a bit chaotic and also looked a wee bit overcrowded, the new one is more coherent and lighter.

Furthermore I switched from three columns to two so that I have more space for bigger pictures (and to get rid of all the dispensable sidebar buttons that seemed to smother the posts).

Anyway, I hope you like it?!
I will do some more fine tuning in the next days, but the basic changes have been made now.

Have a lovely day!

now playing: arcade fire - empty room

new pieces and a resolution

2012-01-04T18:30:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

New year, new resolutions right? I have made up a plan even before Christmas, here it is: after all of the gift shopping before the holidays i wanted to grab some nice bargains in the after-Christmas sales but I was also aware of the fact that most of my money would be spent for a new mattress as Patrick and I have been getting backache every morning for some months now. I also thought of other (rather pricey) things apart from clothing that have been on my wishlist for so long....
Well, in the end I made the decision to finally grow up and don't spend all my money on clothing and accessories. Okay, I admit I could never live without buying anything pretty that comes my way, BUT for now I don't want to buy clothing, accessories and nail polishes for the next 2 months and then we will see.
So I allowed myself some last shopping with the rest of my Christmas money a few days ago and here is what I got (skip the pics if you're only interested in the resolution):

♥ hosiery: primark ♥ hair clips: claire's ♥

♥ satchel: primark ♥

♥ bag: cyh680000 ebay shop ♥

♥ dress: monki ♥

♥ shirt, cardi + belt: primark ♥

♥ bag, bracelet, hair clips + alice band: monki ♥

There you go, I snatched some nice bargains. I always say I'm a hunter and gatherer ;)

Anyway, it's enough shopping for now. This year I plan an expensive Ireland holiday with Patrick and the other day a friend and me decided to get away from the daily grind by spending some days in Budapest next month. I can't wait to travel more in the future, that's really something I will neglect shopping for!
Furthermore Patrick got some news at work: he works for a German TV station and they will send him to Poland for the European Football Championships for 7 weeks in spring/summer. That's amazing but I will miss him a lot, so I also plan to visit him in Cracow once or twice which will be another expense.
To cut a long story short: no more shopping! The only thing I will do is swapping, but I won't spend money on new stuff.

As a motivation and to keep my objects of desire in mind I wrote down this little reminder wishlist:

♥ a Canon Eos1000D tutorial book
♥ a photography seminar
♥ a big and pretty brown leather camera bag
♥ a tripod
♥ an antique drawer for the bedroom
♥ a smartphone
♥ money for traveling

I'd love to be able to tick off all these things at the end of 2012. We'll see how it works, wish me luck!

What are your resolutions??

Happy Wednesday!

now playing: christina perri - arms

vedette shapewear blog guest post

2012-01-03T18:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

Gosh, I totally missed out my guest post over at the Vedette Shapewear blog! I didn't exactly know when they would post it and yesterday I noticed that it was already online right after Christmas - silly me!
Vedette asked me to style a holiday outfit with one of their beautiful shapewear items, in my outfit there's the Contessa bodysuit, so head over and take a look if you like :)

My outfit was also featured here.

Have a lovely day!

2011 blog roundup

2012-01-02T18:00:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

So here it is, the new year. I'm a bit late, but here is my little blog roundup for 2011 including two favourite looks of each months and some words about what happened in my life. Hope you like it!

ohio is for lovers / navy blue like the sea

In January one of my resolutions was to learn how to handle my new DSLR that I bought myself for Christmas 2010. I was (and still am) a newbie concerning DSLR photography so it started then but I'm still learning now a year later.

is there a ghost / the sound of the microwave

February was a hard month to put together nice outfits because it was freezing then. I especially remember our fun but exhausting Berlin trip with Patrick's band, damn was it cold there!

let the music play / bigfoot is not yeti

Carnival was pretty late this year, it took place in the beginning of March. I dressed up as a squaw and enjoyed watching the parade with some co-workers in the city. Furthermore it was my blog's first birthday!

skipping spring / birthday bash no. 1

I remember the weather in April being so warm that it felt like the year had skipped spring and had simply moved on to summer. It was a lovely sunny day when I had my first blogger meet up ever with Mona of Summertime Dreams, who was on vacation in Germany.

going east / birthday recap

In May I turned 25, oh my, I feel so old... I had a lovely birthday celebration with Patrick, my dad and his girlfriend. In the beginning of May, before my birthday, we also visited Patrick#s relatives in Eastern Germany to celebrate his grandma's 70th birthday (hey, do I really have to feel old about my 25 years huh?).

lazy sunday brunch / everytime I look for you the sun goes down

June was a rather quiet month full of sunny weather and weekend activities with Patrick or the family.

a glamourous night / budapest day 3

July was an exciting month! A friend of mine finished her long and hard dentistry studies and invited us to her final ceremony in one of Cologne's most luxurious hotels. I was also really excited about my very first business trip ever when my company told me they'd send me to Budapest.

break down and cease all feeling / I am everything I am not

In August I was utterly happy about the mild summer we had in Germany this year, it was amazing being able to wear tights in summer (I don't like to show my bare legs that much).

wedding bells / every endless day

September: back to Budapest again for another training round with my new Hungarian colleagues. I had to teach them how to work with our company's database and spent another amazing two weeks in the Magyar capital.
Furthermore my friend Nina got married and had a wonderful wedding day here in Düsseldorf!

a fine autumnal day / a condition of the heart

In October autumn found its way to Germany and my favourite season concerning clothing began. I love dark greens, browns, deep reds and all other beautiful colours of fallen leaves. Furthermore we spent an amazing Halloween night at a friend's apartment.

we were born and raised in a summer haze / I like my coffee black just like my metal

November was another rather uninteresting month with not much happening apart from essays and presentations for university - oh and the start of the pre-Christmas hurly-burly!

a nightmare before christmas - literally / christmas recap 3

December was full of Christmas parties and dinner dates and I enjoyed them all a lot. On December the 14th Patrick and I had our 9th anniversary - whew it really doesn't feel that long! And two weeks ago I spent a peaceful lovely time with my family and friends over the Christmas holidays.
Also New Year's Eve was a relaxed and cozy evening at home this year - oh my, are we getting older?!

Well, let's finally say goodbye to 2011. You were an amazing year with lots of exciting new things and old wellknown routines and yes you were a good year. I think I'll stop here before I get too melancholic about how time flies again...

Let's try to make 2012 another awesome year in our lives ;)

now playing: biffy clyro - glitter and trauma

welcome 2012

2012-01-01T17:19:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

Happy new year to all of you!
I hope you had a blast last night and left all worries behind to start a fresh and new year that will hopefully be full of success, fun and love!
Patrick and I had purselves a cozy NYE at home but went outside at midnight to light up some sparklers - oh I love them! Pretty and not dangerous :)

May your lives be filled with love!

May 2012 be a kick ass year for everyone!

May the stars shine for you in the new year!

Let's all try to make 2012 a good one! :)

and in the end it's just another year

2011-12-31T16:23:00.005+01:00

Hi guys!

Wow the last post in 2011, another year is almost over. God I'm always melancholic at the end of each December, it's so unfair that the older you get, the more time flies.
Anyway, how are you going to spend your New Year's Eve?
Patrick and I are going to have a cozy evening at home this year, just filled sweet peppers, sparkling wine, DVDs and the two of us. We always were at different parties the last years and it was always nice but, as I think, NYE is totally overrated, so this time we're not even putting an effort in making it spectacular.

♥ dress worn as tunic: new look via ebay uk ♥ cardi: pimkie ♥ jeans: esprit ♥ shoes: goertz ♥ hat: kleiderkreisel ♥

I didn't plan to post an outfit today as we only left the apartment to do some grocery shopping for tonight. I actually didn't even wash my hair, hence the hat haha. I simply threw on what I wore to work yesterday and thought my new dress would be worth taking some pictures. So I went out on the balcony and took some funny shots in the rain.
I really wish I could wear the dress as a dress instead of combining it with jeans, but it's scandalously short, which is not very flattering for my legs. However I managed to get rid of the 1,5 extra kilos that I gained over Christmas, so hopefully I'll make it to even lose some more in the new year.

♥ necklace: accessorize ♥ ring: six ♥

Now I'm going to prepare the food for tonight and finally wash my hair so I can start into 2012 without an itching head ;)
I haven't managed to do a 2011 blog recap yet, it will follow in the course of the next days.

I wish you all tons of fun tonight! Have a fantastic New Year's Eve and a happy new year my dear readers!!!

now playing: the broken family band - the last song

christmas recap 3

2011-12-29T21:50:00.004+01:00

Hi guys!

Here we go with the last part of my Christmas recap and how I spent Boxing Day. Above (and also below) you can see what I wore, it's almost the same outfit I had chosen for our company's Christmas party last week and I liked the dress so much that I had to wear it again. Also I didn't have my camera with me last week so on Boxing Day I finally got the chance to take some pics then. I actually got this dress at the Promod summer sale, but I think it perfectly works as a Christmas dress too.

♥ dress: promod ♥ blazer: new yorker ♥ shoes: deichmann ♥ bow alice band: h&m ♥

Alright, so on Boxing Day Patrick and I slept in and were welcomed by a lovely late breakfast in the living-room of his parent's. We just lounged about at the table until afternoon, got dressed and headed over to my Dad who had invited us to coffee and cake and to dinner later on.
Everytime I visit my dad I have to tell you guys what a lovely garden he has - even in winter! I asked Patrick to take some photos of me but he's always too shaky, so I used the self-timer instead. That's how this funny picture of the four of us emerged :)
I was also glad to see Waleska again, my dad's dog. She's the cutest dog girl ever and so photogenic!
In the evening we went to a cozy little Italian restaurant, but I didn't take photos there (I'm always afraid of disturbing the other guests). But here is the rest of the pics from the afternoon:

Hm I'm getting a little melancholic now that I have to say this was the last Christmassy post this year. Next year I'll have to start earlier with everything... and I want snow! Where is the snow?
In general I'm always melancholic when the end of a year draws nearer, I just don't want time to go by so fast. I think it will even get worse with my emotions tomorrow and the day after, however I know i will be full of zest for action as soon as 2012 begins.

Have a lovely day!

now playing: biffy clyro - machines

christmas recap 2

2011-12-28T20:26:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

I already posted this look on my Chictopia and Lookbook this morning as a kind of preview on this post (and because I had nothing to do while drinking my morning coffee). So here is the recap of Christmas Day and what I wore.
I got this lovely floral print mix dress via Ebay for about 10 bucks and I was so afraid it wouldn't fit because I never owned something from Urban Outfitters before, but then it arrived one day before Christmas Eve and fit perfectly so I totally had to wear it.
You probably can't really see it but it has a cute Peter Pan collar :) Plus florals? Plus more florals? I like!

♥ dress: urban outfitters ♥ cardi, belt + bow hair clip: h&m ♥ shoes: deichmann ♥ necklace: new yorker ♥

On Christmas Day I drove from my mum's place to Patrick's parents to have lunch with them. We didn't go to a really chic restaurant, but it was an occasion to dress up a bit so that was the chance for my new dress. I thought the clash of floral prints would stand out enough on its own so I combined it with simple black pieces and the skinny belt to match the brownish florals. Unfortunately - as you can see - the belt kept sliding away from the waist, that's why it's dangling around my tummy instead. Very chic *cough*...

After lunch my Christmas journey went on: I visited my friend Farah (who gave me the loveliest measuring cups for baking), my friend Thomas, his family and the dear dogs and met with my mum to visit my grandma in the retirement home.
It was a bit sad because her dementia is getting worse, she hardly speaks because she's lacking of the right words. You can see that she's trying to find them when she tries to speak but then she can't and I don't know if it really is like that, but to me it seemed like she realizes that she doesn't remember words and when she tries to tell us something and we don't understand her that makes her sad. And she can't get out of bed anymore because her circulation collapses when she sits up. However she smiled all of the time when we sat by her bed and sang Christmas songs for her :)

Here is a little collection of photos from my Christmas Day:

three generations in one pic

no that's not the lunch at the restaurant (it's potatoe salad and sausages for dinner)

Patrick parent's have two cats, this is Looky...

... and here under the Christmas tree :) She's called Looky because of her cute looks - obviously.

And this is Mimi her sister.

I hope you enjoyed today's post. I know I can always get you with kitty cat pictures, can't I? ;)
Tomorrow there'll be the last Christmas recap about how I spent Boxing Day and then the Christmas themed posts will be over for this year - just in time to do a blog recap for 2011. And I also still need to prepare my summing up favourites post for december. Ah so much ahead....

Have a lovely day!

now playing: cynic - carbon based anatomy

christmas recap 1

2011-12-27T12:34:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

How have you been? I hope you had a merry Christmas and spent a lovely time with your family and friends.
I'm back from the Christmas odyssey to my people in all the different places and this year I had the most relaxed holidays for a long time. I had to drive a lot to visit everyone but still it was never stressful and I enjoyed seeing my family and friends, having dinner with them and exchanging the presents.
Here we go with Christmas recap no. 1 about my Christmas Eve. First in the morning I wrappe dall presents:

It was so much fun to wrap everything nicely and I put lots of effort in it. It's always a pity that the paper and bows and all is thrown away afterwards, but I simply love the beautiful sight of prettily wrapped presents under the Christmas tree.
To kill the time until my mum would fetch me I baked some macaroons and cupcakes. And in the evening we went to my mum's house to celebrate with her boyfriend and his son. It has become a kind of tradition to have raclette on Christmas Eve, so that's what we started with.

After the food feast we dragged ourselves to the sofa and opened our presents. It was unintendedly funny because my mum and my stepbrother to-be had accidentally bought the same Christmas card for Ralf. Later on we just lounged about and watched Loriot far into the night.

♥ dress: h&m ♥ cardi: zara ♥ belt: topshop ♥ wedges: ebay ♥ necklace: accessorize ♥

the double Christmas card :)

It was such a nice and cozy evening, way better than the stressful and troublesome one last year. I love raclette, I love my presents and I love took our time and didn't have to hurry up or worry about anything this time.

Tomorrow there'll be Christmas recap no. 2 about Christmas day, so check back then if you like.
Have a nice day! :)

now playing: bruno mars - it will rain

the nightmare before christmas - literally

2011-12-23T17:35:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

Omg where does this sudden madness come from? Gosh, I went downtown after work to run some last errands for Christmas and man are the people crazy! I just wanted to take a look at the H&M sale and was also able to grab a few pieces, but I thought it would be a better plan to get all the other things on my shopping list here in our corner of the city. Well, it was not a better plan! I bought Christmas cards, decoration for the gifts, ingredients for my cupcakes tomorrow.... and I got so infected by this pre-Christmas hurly-burly that now at home I notice that I forgot some stuff, great...

♥ dress, cardi + boots: h&m ♥ scarf: gina tricot ♥ belt: primark ♥ necklace: new yorker ♥

I feel so exhausted now, I'm glad we'll have some holidays ahead. Although December has been going by so fast, the last week felt like a whole month to me. The nice thing is: everything for university is finished, all Christmas presents are bought, now I just have to wrap them, bake some cupcakes and wait for the raclette dinner tomorrow evening.

What are you guys up to in the next few days?
I'll be away until Monday, so I already wish you all a lovely Christmas time!
Enjoy the presents, food and time with family and friends! :)

now playing: philipp poisel - bis nach toulouse

a glossy box

2011-12-21T21:34:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

I just finished my last essay for this year, tomorrow I'll have my last seminar before Christmas. I'll hand in the essay and that will be it for 2011, everything else concerning university can wait until 2012.This essay was so time-consuming that I only have a little post about what came in the mail yesterday: my 2nd Glossybox (see the first one here).
It's a nice treat every month: you register on their website and for 10€ you get a box filled with cosmetics at the end of each month (and the content is worth more than 10€ by far).

Look:

It's always wrapped in pretty paper and decorated with a ribbon and inside there are these funny paper snippets. This month it came a bit earlier so it would be there for Christmas, how nice! Here is what it contained:

a full size of perfumy Rituals shower foam, a Fudge hair fluid (haven't tried these two yet)...

... an Ahava foot cream which makes your feet wonderfully soft, a L'Oreal Studio Secrets make-up stick (unfortunately too dark for me) and a Babor lip gloss in a lovely shade and very high-tech. Can you believe it has two mini lamps that go on when you pull out the upper part, so your lips are lit when you apply the gloss?! That's crazy, but fun to use it :)

I also found a way to re-use the pretty little boxes! Above you can see the new home for my nail polishes.

I hope you liked this little review. I'll be back with an outfit post next time ;)

Happy Wednesday!

now playing: the thrills - nothing changes round here

I know I have a fickle heart and a bitterness

2011-12-20T19:20:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

Wow, Christmas is drawing nearer and nearer, it seems December has passed by so quickly and it's almost 2012, help! I need more time! Who else?
There's still so much to do before Christmas. I need to finish an essay about suicide and its prevention tomorrow (for my "death as a problm of practical philosophy" seminar, what a lovely topic for the dark cold evenings isn't it?), I need to buy two more presents, I need to pack my bags for the Christmas days with the family (I'll be in a different place each day, stress!!), I need to bake more Christmas cookies.....

♥ cardi + dress: h&m ♥ belt: topshop ♥ leggings: mango ♥ boots: vintage ♥ hat: via kleiderkreisel ♥

Haha I look insane when I smile! Or maybe it was just because of the day when the photos were taken: I got dressed, it was cloudy but not raining, I marched outside with my cam and th firm conviction of taking some outdoor outfit shots at the castle near our place and a second after I had left the house it started raining cats and dogs and baby elephants. Awesome... not!
So I went back in and took the photos in our kitchen, with the lovely heating in the background, woohoo.

♥ bow hair clip: h&m ♥ ring: ebay ♥

Tonight Patrick and me are going to watch the Muppet's Christmas Carol, he let himself be talked round :) And I'll finish the DIY calendar I want to give to my mum and her boyfriend for Christmas. It's similar to the one I make for me and Patrick every year, simply photos glued on a blank calendar, framed by some scribbling.But they will get a restaurant giftcard too so I'll sit pretty in case they don't like my DIY piece haha ;D

I hope I'll be able to get back to your comments tomorrow night.
Have a lovely day!

now playing: adele - don't you remember

ruins wrapped in gold

2011-12-17T13:56:00.004+01:00

Hi guys!

I hope you're all having a good weekend?!
Mine is packed with to-do lists again, especially today. But that's okay since I enjoyed a free dinner and party yesterday night, it was our company's Christmas party. They had rented a beautiful location called Ufer 8 by the Rhine and the theme of the party was "Stars, Starlets and Paparazzi" so all the girls got dolled up in cocktail dresses or came as movie stars. Unfortunately nobody in our student workers gang brought a camera, I only took a mini bag with me and was too lazy to carry around my DSLR all night, so there were only a few snapshots taken with a colleague's mobile phone (I will show you as soon as I get them). But I plan to wear yesterday's outfit for Christmas again so will see it in two weeks anyway ;)

♥ cardi: h&m ♥ dress: only ♥ belt: primark ♥ socks: department store ♥ boots: gamloong via humanic ♥ hat: accessorize ♥

We still have a rather mild December weather here and still no snow, but it's getting colder step by step so the other day I was finally able to style an outfit with my new winter boots. I snatched them for 25% off during the Glamour Shopping Week back in October and couldn't wait to wear them as I fell in love with their rustic kind of lumberjack look at first sight. Maybe it's just me, but the logo patch with the deer on each side makes me want to go for walks in snowy pine woods and roam wintery fields. Haha, I get taken over by fantasy too much...
Because of this forest feeling I also had to add my fox ring to the outfit :)

♥ ring + bow hair clip: h&m ♥ necklace: via kleiderkreisel ♥

Alright, now I have to go on working off my to-do lists. Tomorrow I'm going to sell stuff at a fleamarket so I need to go and get my Mum's car this afternoon and head down to our basement to look through the piles of rummage and see what I can (hopefully) get rid of.

Have a lovely day! :)

P.S. I really recommend you to check out the lyrics of the song below, they are amazing. I think this guy is one of the most amazing songwriters in the world.

now playing: la dispute - king park

mind is a razorblade

2011-12-15T13:30:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

How are you doing?
Thank you so much for your sweet comments on yesterday's post, I really enjoyed to read them :)

God, this week I'm totally torn between motivating myself to try harder every day (for university, for ticking off all my to-do lists etc.) and a constant subliminal desire to be lazy and procrastinate. Argh, do you know this feeling? On the one hand you want to get everythig done, you want it to be perfect, you want to finish everything that has to be finished before the Christmas holidays and then on the other hand you hardly drag your ass out of bed in the morning, shuffle from A to B, never manage to get everything off your list before it's time to go to bed. I hate that! I'm caught between this at the moment, what can I do? Also it seems the days are too short. Any suggestions? I hate these restless and unsteady phases in life. I don't like myself today, so maybe it's just because of that, I don't know, blergh.....

♥ dress: review ♥ cardigan: c&a ♥ belt: primark ♥ boots: h&m ♥ scarf: gina tricot ♥ hat: thrifted ♥

A little story about this dress: my mum bought it for me a few months ago in summer on one of our mother-daughter shopping sprees. I loved it from the start, it's dotted, it has a zipper, ruffles AND it's dark blue so I think it's perfect! My mum sponsored it for my trip to Budapest, but somehow I didn't wear it there. In general I didn't wear it in the summer, which is pretty stupid because it actually is a summer dress!
So the other day I gave it a go and thought this gorgeous piece can't hang in my closet unworn until next year. And there it was, the polkadot winter look with tights, boots, scarf and hat :) I loved it, very comfy and cute outfit for university or work, definitely a plan B for these days when you can't decide what to wear in the morning.

♥ necklace: six ♥

Above you can see that I finally had my hair trimmed, my tips need this to stay healthy. Sinve I had my hair cut to a little longer than chin-length this summer I can't wait to have it long again! I miss my long hair, I will never change to chin-length again, it made me look so much younger (really too much).
Anyway, the pic above is to show you how nice my layers look now. However the stylist cut them a wee bit too short at the forehead so now I have this short strand dangling in front of my eye all of the time, it sucks! I don't have any other creative idea than pinning it back with a clip, so please grow grow grow for God's sake!

One more day to go to the weekend, woohoo!
Happy Thursday folks!

now playing: josè gonzález - heartbeats

you and me

2011-12-14T20:00:00.000+01:00

9 whole years!

Today is our 9th anniversary and I can't believe the years have gone by so fast!
I'm so endlessly lucky to have found my matching counterpart, I had never thought I would meet someone like you.
There could never be enough of you in my life, never enough of the fun we have.

To quote one of our favourite songs:

"You and I are everything I am not".

Thank you for being my best friend and for spending your life with me. I can't wait for all the adventures that lie ahead of us!

♥ I love you! ♥

now playing: the ataris - i.o.u. one galaxy

christmas bakery

2011-12-13T20:16:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

Past weekend we had a Christmas party with all our neighbors here from the house downstairs in the hall. We put up a plastic tree, decorated the mail boxes and everyone brought something to eat or drink to add to the buffet. There was chili con carne, focaccia, brandy punch and whatnot. I was in charge of the dessert and as I love to bake I decided to bring three different treats: cookies, coconut macaroons and cupcakes.

Above you can see Nutella (choco-hazelnut spread) cookies. Very yummy, very easy! I found the recipe online, the German version can be found here.
Simply melt 200g Nutella (or other choco-hazelnut spread) in the microwave or in a double boiler. Then add 150g flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 egg and 50g sugar. Mix until the dough feels like play dough.
Then form little heaps of dough or cut out cookies, put them on a tray with baking paper and bake them in the pre-heated oven at 150° C for 10-20 minutes (depending on how crispy you want them to be).
Later on you can add couverture and stuff if you like.

Here we have the coconut macaroons, oh I love them! They are to die for, so delicious! And also really easy to make, I got the recipe from a co-worker: beat 3 eggwhites until stiff. Add a squirt of lemon juice and let 200g sugar and a pinch of salt trickle in while whisking. After that fold in 200g grated coconut. Form little heaps on a tray with baking paper (works best with two teaspoons) and bake them in the pre-heated oven at 175° C for 20-25 minutes.
Afterwards you can dip them into couverture if you like.

And last but not least I made these super-yummy Raffaelo (coconut comfit) cupcakes! Mmhhh, my favourite cupcakes ever! I have already posted the English recipe some time ago here and the German version can be found here.

I hope you enjoyed this sweet post ;)
I'll be back with a post tomorrow because tomorrow is a very special day, so stay tuned....

Happy Tuesday!

now playing: lifehouse - hanging by a moment

shop my closet - another ebay edition

2011-12-11T21:50:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

Tonight there's just some self-advertising going on here on my little blog. I put up some lovely pieces at Ebay and if you like you can take a look at them. I offer international shipping on request, so if you're interested in something I can find out the shipping costs for you.

chunky Asos Faux Crystal necklace

Vintage Granny cardigan, size 40

H&M The Garden dress, size M

H&M striped pleated skirt, size 42

Mazine knit beanie

Gil Bret cashmere dufflecoat, size 38

Pieces Norwegian style legwarmers

Zero shimmering skirt, size 42

Vintage genuine leather patchwork bag

Yep, that's pretty much everything I did today, Ebay auctions, listening to Band of Horses... well okay and spent the first half of the day with my dad and his girlfriend to visit the Christmas market.
Hope you had a lovely Sunday too?!

now playing: band of horses - part one

winter pastels

2011-12-09T20:08:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

First of all hello to the couple of new readers and thanks for following along! :)
How are you? I've been fine but busy the last days, but thank God it's finally Friday and I have a wonderful weekend ahaead! Tomorrow there will be a Christmas party with all our neighbours in the hall, we put up tables and chairs, one neighbour brings a brandy punch and a soup, an other neighbour brings a foccacia. I'll bake some cookies and cupcakes for dessert and we'll also do a secret Santa for which I bought some nice little things. It's going to be a very christmassy afternoon.

♥ cardi, shirt, scarf + boots: h&m ♥ skirt: c&a ♥ belt: new yorker ♥ necklace: accessorize ♥

I'm still trying to catch up with posting pics, so this outfit is from last Friday or so. I've worn lots of navy blue, dark green and brown lately so last week I decided to go for a different colour palette. I looked for something not-blue and not-green in my closet and came across this lovely floral skirt which I haven't worn for ages. It's a light summer skirt but with some thermo leggings, winterboots and a scarf (and a coat!) it worked for a winter look as well. And the colours really are different to what I normally wear, pastels are definitely not what I chose for wintery outfits. Nevertheless I liked this change of habits (which lasted only for this day haha).
What do you think, are pastels and florals okay for the cold season?

Happy Friday! :)

now playing: jack's mannequin - dark blue

round my hometown

2011-12-06T20:11:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

Last Saturday was our monthly ladies night when I met my girls for a dinner date. We do this every month, it's always something I'm looking forward to because we see each other rather seldom. We always meet in different cities as our gang is scattered to different places and this time it was our hometown.

♥ dress: bershka ♥ cardi: zara ♥ jeans: esprit ♥ shoes: ebay ♥ necklace: jewelmint ♥ ring: six ♥

With great foresight to all the yummy food that night I decided to wear something comfortable ;) I bought this cute dress during my Budapest stay this summer and I love to wear it with jeans as a kind of tunic. Just added my new forest green cardi and my new dark red wedges (love!) et voilà le outfit was finished.

First some of us met to visit the little smalltown Christmas market and grabbed some yummy hot wine to pregame .
On an empty stomach this really packed a wallop ;) We were so hungry and couldn't wait for our reservation time to come, so off we went to the restaurant as oon as possible.

Hhmmm delicious! On the upper photo you can see one of my favourite dishes ever! I've known this Greek restaurant forever, my parents used to take me there when I was younger and since then I love their Souvlaki! It's the best one I've ever eaten, so spicy and good. I wish I could stuff my face with it every day...

After dinner we moved on to the only real bar in our hometown to let the evening fade with dessert and some drinks. My blissful smile shows that it was another lovely evening with my friends ;)
I hope we'll be able to get on with this tradition until we're old cranky grannies :)

How was your weekend?

now playing: adele - don't you remember

little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky

2011-12-05T18:30:00.001+01:00

(pic source)

Hi guys!

I'm busy baking some cookies tonight, the first Christmas cookies this year :) So I leave you with the pictures of three delightful boxes - with even more delightful content - that came in the mail last week...

Box No.1, so pretty...

...with a little text about the item...

...the beautiful "Poseidon Disc Necklace" from Jewelmint!

Oh isn't it stunning?
I received it as a chic reward via Chictopia.
♥ Thank you so much Chictopia and Jewelmint! ♥

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Box No. 2, nice pure design...

...with lovely wrapping...

...it's my first Glossybox! More info about the concept here.

It contained:

♥ a Kryolan eyeshadow palette "Paris" with different shades of purple
♥ a Dr. Scheller hand balm
♥ a MoroccanOil hair treatment
♥ a Schwarzkopf Essensity shampoo with delicious Gojiberry scent
♥ a full size Avène Hydrance Riche cream

I love it! Except for the drag queen eyeshadow I am totally happy with my first box and already can't wait for the next one to arrive :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Box No. 3 was a little bigger...

...and had a bigger content...

...the Vila "Paula Jacket" in black...

...and the same one in brown!
Which one shall I keep? I'm so indecisive because I love them both.
Black is an allrounder that will go with any outfit, but brown is a warmer colour that looks more cozy and friendly.
What do you think: black or brown?

I hope you liked my three little boxes.
Does anyone still remember the title, respectively this title song of Weeds? I love this song :)

Happy Monday!

now playing: rise against - little boxes, this is SO cool!!! :D

daylight is fadin

2011-12-04T11:13:00.005+01:00

Hi guys!

Today is such a drab and boring Sunday. Nasty weather, perfect for curling up in a blanket with a yummy David Rio Vanilla Chai! Actually I had planned to visit an exhibition about war photography with a friend but she couldn't come so I'm wasting away the afternoon by doing futile things. I browsed different websites, put up some books for sale at Amazon, checked my Ebay auctions and now I blog. That's it. Drab and boring Sunday ;)
What are you doing today?

♥ cardigan, skirt + dress worn as shirt: h&m ♥ belt: primark ♥ necklace: new yorker ♥ shoes: goertz ♥ ring: six ♥

This outfit is maybe a week old, from when it was still mild weather and I was able to wear my brown leather shoes with socks without getting cold wet feet. It's a cute and casual combo for work, I call it my feel-good-scheme: shirt, cardi,skirt. Okay the shirt actually is a dress but as I don't have a short-sleeved denim shirt I converted the dress. I also tried to make the look even cuter with the playful jewelry :) This simple bird necklace has really become one of my favourites because it goes with anything.

Well, that's it for today, I got nothing more to say, well at least nothing exciting, it's so boring.

Have a nice day!

now playing: boy - waitress

summing up favourites #9: november 2011

2011-12-03T19:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

I have decided to do a "summing up favourites" feature each month now with all my favourite outfits of other bloggers. It will always be a kind of recap at the end of the month to reflect on all the lovely inspiration :)
So here we go with the November feature (in fact this time it's only about the end of November as my decision to do this monthly was a spontaneous one).
Hope you like it!

FASHIONPHIA

Urban Tease

Waking Life

What Would A Nerd Wear

Fancy Fine

Fashezine

Beautiful outfits, aren't they?
I hope you got inspired as much as I did.

Have a lovely day!

now playing: tegan and sarah - where does the good go

like a glass of bordeaux

2011-12-02T16:25:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

How are you today? I hope you're all doing fine. It's Friday! :) However I'm taking it slow today to avoid a massive flu next week. I've been ailing for some days, so now is the time to take vitamins, drink tea and rest myself because tomorrow is our monthly ladies night and i want to be fit! We'll go to the Christmas market and to a Greek restaurant, can't wait!

In the pics you can see me wearing my new Calvin Klein lipstick, I'm highly obsessed! I bought it in a CK lip set at TK Maxx a few weeks ago and out of all these lip products this lipstick is my favourite! It has such a rich and creamy texture and is really long-lasting, even on my lips although I eat and smoke...ehm...a lot *cough*..... ;)

♥ hat: kleiderkreisel ♥ top: gina tricot ♥ shirt: pimkie ♥ belt: primark ♥ jeans: esprit ♥ shoes: ebay ♥

Wow, this post ist full of new things, not only the lipstick but also the jeans are new. The other day I decided to be brave enough to go look for some new jeans (this always is a drag), so I went downtown and trawled through the shops but couldn't find something nice. I like Zara jeans for example, but their always cut so ridiculously low (hello muffin top...), so I thought of shops I usually don't visit: Esprit. I really dislike Esprit, this is a trauma from my school time when all the eager beavers wore Esprit head to toe, outfits that 40 year old women wear you know.
But despite my dislike I must say they have very nice jeans and corduroy chinos! Some a bit too pricy for me, but these jeans in the pics have a fabulous cut, they fit me perfectly, they're anti muffin top and only cost me 49,90€. Me likey!

♥ necklace: accessorize ♥ bracelets: six and h&m ♥

Not only the new jeans have found their way to my wardrobe but also these beautiful wedges! Normally I'm not a fan of high heels, but oh I love them dearly since they arrived yesterday! The colour is amazingly pretty, I adore bordeaux! And bargain alert: 10€, shipping included and they were almost brandnew. Thanks Ebay! :)

In all the Christmas presents shopping bustle have you bought something nice for yourselves lately?

Happy Friday lovelies!

now playing: gotye - somebody that I used to know

I like my coffee black just like my metal

2011-11-30T20:33:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

Oh my, I haven't blogged since last Saturday wow. I have taken outfit shots almost everyday but simply didn't have the time to post them, no time! The reason why? Hello pre-Christmas time! Every year by the end of November I notice how much I still have to write for university before our Christmas break, and then there are all these nice things like invitations to dinner dates, Christmas parties, Christmas market sprees (including getting really drunk at the hot wine stand)... Pre-Christmas time is always busy but always fun actually :)
Have you already dived into the holiday mood as well?

♥ cardigan: primark ♥ dress + tote: ebay ♥ scarf: gina tricot ♥ belt + jeans: h&m ♥ boots: vintage ♥

How do you like my Darth Vader tote? He's my new buddy, he accompanies me to work and uni. In his honor I put together an outfit that is as black as his soul. Am I converting to the dark side? Nooo, I couldn't do that, I like Yoda and Obi Wan and R2D2 too much.
As you can see below on the button on my tote I love nerds too... ;)

♥ ring: new yorker ♥

Okay, now I'll try to catch up with reading all your blogs out there. Maybe I'll also prepare another post for tomorrow or Friday to avoid another mini-hiatus...

Have a great day!

now playing: msi - shut me up

blue aztec

2011-11-26T22:26:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

Oh Patrick and I are totally exhasuted, we just came back home from an afternoon with his parents. We had invited them to dinner tonight but they came a little earlier to spend some more time with us. First we had coffee and cake here at home, then we went downtown and walked across the whole christmas market, stopped at three hot wine stands, got a little tipsy, walked down the whole Königsallee and finally went to the restaurant.
God, my feet hurt, I'm so full and tired, but it was a really nice day. The hot wine was delicious, the cold fresh air was wonderful to take a walk and the food was good and filling as well.
Later I will just fall into bed, curl up and sleep like a baby!

♥ cardigan: gina tricot ♥ dress: h&m ♥ scarf: accessorize ♥ belt: primark ♥ shoes: goertz ♥ bag: asos ♥

How do you like aztec prints? In summer I bought a scarf with an ethno-ish print in Budapest and since then I've been looking for more pieces with these kind of print because I like it a lot. A few weeks ago I found this blue dress in the H&M sale for 15€ and couldn't resist, it had to come home with me. Unfortunately I didn't try it on in the store and at home I noticed that it's a bit shorter than my feel-good length for dresses and skirts, but on my confident days I wear it (or on unconfident days high heels will do the trick I think).
As the aztec print is rather eye-catching I decided to simply combine it with black and brown. Et voilà, a cute everyday look.
Plus I also rediscovered my love for black knee-high socks, as you might have seen already in the last days here and here.

So, Saturday is almost over now and I also have some nice plans for tomorrow. My mum will visit me for a nice get-together, I totally want to bake coconut macaroons (first attempt, I'm excited), I want to go to the gym again (to test my new mp4 player) and I also want to put a lot of stuff on sale at Ebay because I need to get rid of my old winter jackets to buy me a new one.

How has your weekend been so far? Do you also have some nice plans for Sunday?

Have a lovely evening! :)

now playing: 30 seconds to mars - closer to the edge

out and about: mobile snapshots #3

2011-11-24T14:30:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

Oh dear, I haven't done a mobile snapshots feature for such a long time! So here it is again, I hope you maybe missed it?! ;)
Anyway, I took some of the nicest shots out of all the many many ones I had collected on my mobile phone for several months now.
Enjoy!

Japanese shopping street visit

yummy vanilla/mango frozen shake

roaming the Japanese book stores

drooling over the lovely home decoratioon

Rhine fair in July

I love fun fairs!

5 loops rollercoaster

"stocking up on autumn clothing" shopping spree

at Promod

at H&M

random shots

in the tram

guerilla knitting on campus

special edition cupcakes at Sugarbird Cupcake back in June

Have a lovely day everyone! :)

now playing: the gaslight anthem - boxer

Altes Teil, neuer Style! contest

2011-11-23T16:00:00.004+01:00

Hi guys!

The German clothes swapping website Kleiderkreisel is hosting a photo contest related to the European week of waste avoidance.
The task is to put together an outfit with at least two pieces that you swapped or bought via Kleiderkreisel and hand it in for voting. I will continue this post in German as only German and Austrian people can join the website.
Btw below you can see my contribution :)

-------------------------------------------------------------

Sooo, meine lieben deutschsprachigen Leserinnen!
Vielleicht habt ihr schon vom "Altes Teil, neuer Style" Wettbewerb auf Kleiderkreisel gehört?
Man stellt ein Outfit zusammen in dem mindestens zwei bei KK erstandene Teile vorkommen, knippst es und stellt sich dem harten Konkurrenzkampf im Voting ;)

Hier ist meine Komposition:

♥hat, both shirts, necklace and ring via kleiderkreisel ♥ skirt + socks: h&m ♥ belt: thrifted ♥

Wenn es euch gefällt und ihr bei Kleiderkreisel angemeldet seid würd ich mich seeeehr freuen wenn ihr für mich votet! :)

Bitte hier unter meinem Foto "Yeah!" anklicken.

MERCI! ♥

Happy Wednesday to everyone!
Habt einen schönen Tag!

no idea

2011-11-20T13:56:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

I hope everyone's having a nice Sunday? It's lovely November weather here, sunny and not too chilly, so the plan for tonight is having a hot chai latte downtown with a friend.
But at the moment I'm lounging around in my pyjamas and browsing the web for Christmas presents. God, it feels like it's getting harder and harder each year to find some nice and creative presents! I don't want to give away the same boring stuff again and again but this year I really have absolutely no idea what to buy.
I still need inspiration for some presents for my mother and her boyfriend, for my my dad and his girlsfriend, for my boyfriend... well actually for everyone! At least I have a halfway good idea for my best friend.
I have found some really cool events in our area here, for example a fairytale dinner show of which the tickets would be great gifts for my parents. Well, here comes the BUT: it's all totally out of my price range :(
I don't know what to do, I'm hoping for some useful flashes of inspiration soon...

♥ cardigan: zara ♥ shirt: new yorker ♥ skirt: c&a ♥scarf: gina tricot ♥ belt: primark ♥ boots: h&m belt: primark ♥ boots: h&m ♥ bag: asos ♥

Above you can see my new favourite bag! It's from Asos but I snatched it via Ebay for only 10 Euro, hooray for a good bargain! How come I always find so many nice things for myself but no good presents for others? Oh boy, I suck... ;)
But I won't fall into the trap of buying something I would like as a present to give it to someone else, that's risky! Risky because I love all kind of kitschy stuff, I think it's very easy to please me, just gibe me something cute-looking and useless and I'm happy. In German there is this saying that simple people are content with simple things haha...

♥ necklace: flufftail ♥

Alright, I think I'll enjoy my afternoon by taking a hot bath now and watching some random TV shows. Out of pure despair about not having any cool TV shows to watch at the moment (apart from The Walking Dead once a week) I began to watch New Zealand's Next Topmodel. Yes, that's right. I think I have mentioned before that I suck, haven't I? ;)

Happy Sunday!

now playing: crime in stereo - the bride

beats & bummel

2011-11-17T18:53:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

How have you been?
God, I had a really awful day. First I was 15 minutes too late for my seminar at uni this morning because of our shitty public transport (when the bus is overcrowded the bus driver thinks it's not necessary to stop at a station anymore....) and then I had to hold a presentation for this seminar and it sucked for some lecturer-concerning reasons...
So instead of fretting about today I tell you something about last Saturday.

♥ cardi: gina tricot ♥ shirt: bershka ♥ skirt: gosha ♥ belt: primark ♥ boots: h&m ♥ necklace: six ♥

Last weekend Patrick and I needed some rest from the busy week, we were both feeling exhausted and weren't up to anything exciting. But then again we also didn't want to hang around at home all day, so we were at least able to pull ourselves together for a little fleamarket spree. There is a fleamarket in our neighbour city, it's called "Gare du Neuss" because it takes place in an old storage building behind Neuss' main station.
Normally its on Saturday noons (beginning at 11 am), but last Saturday it was hosted as a kind of "stylish young market" called "Bummel und Beats" (meaning stroll and beats). There was lots of rummage, but also DIY stands, cake, sushi, a lounge area with vintage furniture and a DJ who put on some electro tunes.
Actually it was a quite nice event but I couldn't help feeling to be surrounded by too many (wannabe) hipsters, that is people who understand "fleamarket" as trying to palm off their used Zara bag on you for 5 bucks less than the original price. Woohoo, that's what I call a fleamarket bargain...not!

But I don't want to be a grinch, it was a nice mix of different things displayed there. I discovered a stand with these lovely DIY strawberry hats that I've seen around the web a lot lately and I was so tempted to get me one but abolished this idea last minute because it made me look like a moon-faced kindergarten child.
Patrick wanted to leave after 20 minutes, he's a person who thinks he has seen everything after one round through the rows. I was able to convince him of going around again because I think a real fleamarket rummage aka treasure hunt has to take some time. Eventually we left after another round, but fortunately I was in a "quick treasure hunt mode" and snatched three lovely things before leaving.

♥ darkgreen Moroccan leather bag - 8€ ♥ darkgreen kitschy suede belt - 2€ ♥ pair of beautiful handmade wooden Russian horses - 12€ ♥

Jackpot! I adore these wooden horses so muchhhhh! I had been looking for something like them forever and the only thing I had found before was a wooden carousel horse figurine with a missing tail.
Now these two Russians live on our book shelf in the living room and the matryoshkas have moved to the sideboard. Giddy-up!
I'm also a sucker for darkgreen at the moment, hence the bag and belt were great finds as well.

How do you like my finds? How do you like "stylish young fleamerkets"?

Happy Thursday!

summing up favourites #8: autumn love

2011-11-15T20:30:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

I haven't done a summing up favourites feature for a while, so it's about time. We all love autumn, don't we? At least I read a lot about autumn being the favourite season of many bloggers because of the weather, the beautiful colours of all the fallen leaves and because of the possibilities for dressing. It's not too warm to wear tights and cardigans anymore and it's not too cold for winter jackets that hide half of our outfits yet. Quite the contrary! We can layer a lot or top off looks with pretty transition jackets, vests or coats.
I have collected 8 looks from the last weeks that really inspire me and from now on I'm going to show you my favourites in a bigger version so you can see the outfits in all their beauty.

Amy of Flying a Kite mixing patterns and looking all lovely in Halloweenish colours.

Lady Moriarty pulling off mustard, beige and dark blue in her amazing vintage inspired style.

Michelle Elizabeth of Mod Fox looking stunning in her black witchy lace dress for a pre-Halloween shoot.

Rebecca of The Clothes Horse in a casual and perfectly chic outfit including one of the cutest autumny sweaters I've ever seen.

Laura of Tokyo And Seoul Dreams rocking her magenta blazer and pretty ankle boots for a dazzling autumn look.

Caitlin of Waking Life in a really cute yellow dress looking all stylish with the lovely accessories.

Isabelle of YeYe! Style Blog in a gorgeous combo of vibrant shades of blue and red!

Petra of Photoblog By Petra rocking a simple but stylish autumny ensemble and looking totally pretty and cute.

Oh I wish autumn would never end...
So, do you like the outfits above? What are your favourites?

Happy Sunday!

now playing: iron and wine - tree by the river

fall wishlist... again...

2011-11-12T20:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

Oh how inspired I am by all these lovely fall wishlists I saw around the blogosphere lately. The post that inspired me the most was the wishlist of Little Chief Honeybee, it's full of delightful pieces. I started to browse the online shops again to put together some things for fall myself and found some lust-worthy stuff. I need to win the lottery soon...

1) Outfitters Nation "Casey" cardigan 2) Pimkie rust colored dress 3) Promod 70s faux leather bag 4) Monki "Leaf" necklace 5) MiMaMeise redbreast ring 6) H&M faux fur hat 7) Modcloth "Head Down Umbrella Up" umbrella 8) Hunter navy boots

1) H&M plaid shirt 2+3) Pimkie mustard scarf and hat 4) Mint&Berry olive chinos 5) Fjällräven "Greenland" Parka 6) Amused by Ameko bag 7) Verabel "The Kaleidoscope Locket" necklace 8) Lulu's "Miss Me Ponie" boots 9) Monki "Polly" socks

1) H&M blazer 2) cute-monstR "Rawwr means..." shirt 3) Casio watch 4) Pimkie brown skirt 5) Accessorize "Leopard Sheer" tights 6) Rut M.FL. "Lyo Big" scarf 7) Eden ankle boots 8) Modcloth "Upwardly Mobile Satchel" bag

I could go on like that for hours....... Sigh.... ;)

now playing: gotye - someone that i used to know

bunny and toy camera

2011-11-11T18:30:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

How do you like the effect in my photos today? I tried out something new. Up to now I only edited my photos by changing the light or contrast in Photoshop or when I felt fancy I used Poladroid or one of the many effects in Picnik. Basically I don't want my photos to be too far away from the real colours and, well too far from reality in general, I just want to make them look a bit more interesting by creating a high contrast or a vignette effect or whatnot.
Anyway, to cut a long story short. I stumbled upon this really cool freeware called Toy Camera, took a look at their website and thought I could give it a go. I love to be able to make photos look older than they are and I must admit I was looking for a PS tutorial for a hipstamatic look for ages but couldn't find one in German (I watched English ones but could never figure out the German translations of the tools and stuff).
So there it is, Toy Camera. I love it! It might be a little too dramatic for normal outfit posts, but it is so much fun to drag in all kinds of photos, I could hardly stop myself from turning all my photo folders into toy camera style ;)

♥ jacket: vero moda ♥ shirt: pimkie ♥ skirt: h&m ♥ shoes: head ♥ bag: billabong ♥ headband: asos ♥ necklace: promod ♥

And now for something completely different: do you remember Fifi Lapin? He's a bunny and he is on one of my favourite totes. Notice anything? Okay, okay I tell you. Fifi Lapin is also on my shirt now, I bought it a few weeks ago in the sale at Pimkie. Pimkie stil has a kind of cheapo reputation in Germany, but I can only take up the cudgels for them again and again as they have really cute clothing in the same quality and price class as H&M.
These Fifi Lapin pieces were a special edition, so I was very lucky to still grab one then. I was so in love with the little bunny that I googled it and found out it's available at bigbartel too. Just a bit more expensive...

Alright, I'm off to play a bit more with the Toy Camera app ;D
Have a lovely day!

now playing: fair to midland - amarillo sleeps on my pillow

noobs

2011-11-10T17:00:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

I just wanted to drop in and show you some things I bought for fall/winter in the last weeks. Here we go, shopping haul!

TK Maxx

Tights, cosmetics, an oversized shirt... bargains galore. I also found this pretty scarf and got it as a Christmas gift for my mother.

H&M

Normally my calves never fit into H&M boots but this time I was lucky, so I bought these cozy warm ones with fleecy faux fur inside.

Humanic

Another pair of cozy warm boots, but in better quality and for the really cold weather, made of suede and lined with faux fur. I especially love the deer patches on the sides :) I snatched them for 20% off with my Glamour Shopping Card last month.

Promod

Promod is one of my favourite brands of all times, they have so many pretty pieces. The other day I went there with a friend and was really proud of myself because I didn't buy a thing - well and then we came across the jewelry on our way outside. Ooh I couldn't help buying these two lovely necklaces! The one in the foreground was even reduced, so I had no choice ;p

online

I actually purchased this CD some time ago but back then they were not even pressed, so I got a MP3 download code. Well, yesterday the corresponding CD arrived by mail, it mad eits long way from the USA to germany savely.
This band Circle Maybe is really cool! Do you know Tieka of Selective Potential and her husband Brett? Well, they're in the band, I came across their music via Tieka's lovely blog.

How do you like all these things?
Happy Thursday!

now playing: the kooks - let's dance to joy division

we were born and raised in a summer haze

2011-11-08T17:26:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

Can you feel that winter is approaching? Well I do and I love it! It's getting colder here, the sun sets between 5 and 6 and when it's dark there is this cozy atmosphere because everything is illuminated - street lamps, shops, apartment windows... They're even already building up the Christmas market in the city, oh I'm already looking forward to chocolate bananas, gingerbread, hot wine punch, Christmas knick-knack, buying presents...
However it's not really wintery yet so I still try to wear my summer skirts and dresses a lot. I like floral pieces styled with boots and knit, I like the romantic, rustic country vibes about the mix of a girly dress with tough boots and a chunky knit sweater or layered shirts.

♥ skirt worn as dress: vintage ♥ denim shirt + boots: h&m ♥ belt: primark ♥ jacket: new yorker ♥ necklace: accessorize ♥

The boots in the photos are one of two pairs of winter boots I stocked up on. Next time I'll show you the other pair as well as soem other new stuff I bought the last few weeks. I'm still trying to get some more cozy cardigans via Ebay and I'm waiting for an awesome winter jacket to arrive in the mail.....
What have you been stocking up on?

Have a lovely day! :)

now playing: ed sheeran - the a team

tumblr faves #2

2011-11-05T20:30:00.000+01:00

Hello guys!

Tonight I'm on a co-worker's birthday party so I thought as a gap filler to the next post I could do another "tumblr faves" and show you some nice pics.

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

♥ source

Have a fantastic saturday night everyone! :)

for the romeos uptown

2011-11-04T18:46:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!

Weekend finally! Although this week was really short because of the bridging day on Monday and the holiday on Tuesday, it still was so exhausting to me. Now that we changed our clocks to winter time it's already dark when I come home and that's what makes me feel like the days are so long. It's 6.22 pm now but it feels and looks like 10 pm, especially after I spent the whole day at the office. I'm somehow totally off the track today so I'm really glad I can relax tonight and sleep in tomorrow :)

♥ cardi + skirt: h&m ♥ shirt: new yorker ♥ belt: primark ♥ necklace: gift ♥ shoes: Goertz ♥

The outfit is from last Saturday when I was invited to a friend's birthday party. Well, it actually wasn't a real party but rather a nice evening with playing cards, drinking beer and chatting about old times and all. It was a really windy day but it was still okay to wear a skirt because I had my mum's car.
I also added some knee-high socks to keep my legs warm. I haven't worn these socks for a long time because of my weight gain and its effect on my legs over the last years, but then I was like "Let's try." Actually I really like how the look turned out although I don't have model legs. What do you think?

Have a lovely/relaxing/fun Friday night everyone!

now playing: the gaslight anthem - bring it on

happy halloween

2011-11-02T20:37:00.003+01:00

Hi guys!

Happy belated Halloween to all of you!
I hope everyone had a spooky night?!
We were invited to a Halloween party at a friend's apartment and damn was it cool! he and his friends had put so much effort in the decoration, it was really creepy: spiderwebs everywhere, fake spiders, skulls, cardboard tombstones, blood stains on the walls, horror movies on TV and even spooky food like this or this.
My costume was a very simple improvised witch. I bought the broom, hat and spiderweb tights at a costume shop and the dress and boots were already in my closet. I also borrowed some of Patrick's ghost make up for my face and that's it.

Mrs. Witch

Mr. Ghost

the bathroom

the coffee table

Resemblance?!

How did you spend your Halloween night?

- All photos except for the second one are borrowed from our friends Wolf R. and René R.!!! -
Thanks guys!

two thousand voices

2011-10-31T17:28:00.005+01:00

Hi guys!

Aah sorry, I still haven't managed to get back to your comments. Tomorrow, I swear! ;) I've been pretty busy the last days, birthdays, Halloween preparations bla bla...
Today we got a last minute costume for Patrick, he'll be a ghost tonight and I'm going to put a fake burn and spooky make up on his face, haha so much fun!
I'm going as a witch, a pretty costume that I had to improvise last minute as well. I already had a black dress and black boots, so I only bought a broom, spiderweb tights and a big black hat :) I was totally inspired by Selective Potential and Tieka's with costume from last year. I'll make sure we take photos tonight so you can see it all tomorrow.

♥ cardi + skirt: h&m ♥ shirt: review ♥ shoes: thrifted ♥ belt: primark ♥

These photos are a little older, they are from a few weeks ago when we had a lovely Indian summer here in the beginning of October. I somehow forgot to post them and when I rediscovered them on my drive the other day I thought I could still post them because I love the colours in this look.
Alright, I have to get dressed and paint Patrick's face now.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO EVERYONE! :)

now playing: strike anywhere - two thousand voices

folding stars

2011-10-29T13:01:00.005+02:00

Hi guys!

It's finally Saturday! And as I took next Monday off and as Tuesday is a holiday I'm looking forward to an awesome long Halloween weekend. We were invited to a friend's apartment party, so I tried to improvise a costume, but more about that after Halloween...
What are your plans for the next days? Something fun I hope?

♥ coat + scarf: h&m ♥ shirt, bag + boots: ebay ♥ jeans: zara ♥ belt: topshop ♥ necklace: new yorker ♥

The photos were taken at the beginning of the week when it was pretty windy, so I preferred pants instead of skirts. I got this mini dress via Ebay and it has the perfect length to be worn as a longer tunic, so I gave it a go with my skinny jeans and ankle boots. I don't really like how the boots underline the shape of my legs, but oh whatever, they're warm, comfy and water-resistant, that's what is important.

Yesterday I met some friends at the Moyo's in Cologne for our monthly girls night. We had some delicious Southern US/Creole food, cocktails and so much fun! You know when girls start to remember school time, talk about teachers, boys, parties back then... some old stories really cracked me up, it was hilarious :)
A few photos so you get an impression:

Now I'll get ready for a birthday party tonight.
I'll try to get back to your comments tomorrow :)
Have an amazing Saturday everyone!

now playing: biffy clyro - folding stars

tiny storms

2011-10-25T21:08:00.002+02:00

Hi guys!

Today I'm just dropping in to post these pictures of last Friday. I'm still having a busy week and there are still some packages for DaWanda, Ebay and Kleiderkreisel that want to be packed, laundry that wants to be ironed, papers for uni that want to be organized and so on.........
I'm looking forward to the next days, there'll be lots of nice things coming my way. Tomorrow I'll meet a friend for a drink, on Friday we have our monthly girls night out at a Creole restaurant and on Saturday I plan to visit a fleamarket and maybe a friend's birthday party in the evening.

♥ coat: H&M ♥ cardigan: pimkie ♥ shirt: c&a ♥ skirt: ebay ♥ shoes: goertz ♥ necklace: new yorker ♥

Isn't this a nice everyday fall outfit? I love checkered shirts so much, especially this classic red/white one, it's super-versatile! The combo with brown and khaki isthe perfect countryish fall palette, no? At least to me it is.
One of my co-workers has made up this dream of her and me having a cupcake restaurant (because I brought some cupcakes to work the other day) and on Friday she said this is how she imagines me to look like in our café, haha so cute! :)
However I noticed that this skirt starts to get tight around the tummy so maybe no more cupcakes in the near future...

Have a nice day!

now playing: crime in stereo - orbiter

paper dreams

2011-10-23T20:40:00.001+02:00

Hi guys!

How have you all been? I noticed that I've been having a quite busy time since my new semester has begun. Lots of things happen but actually there's nothing really interesting; there's just work, university, the household and I try to make my gym work out and blogging and reading fit in there somehwhere too.
What about you? Are you enjoying autumn or are you hurrying from A to B all day as well?

♥ cardi, top + pants: h&m ♥ shoes: kappa ♥ scarf: accessorize ♥ necklace: new yorker ♥

As you might already know I really really love fall but what bothers me is the light. I rarely manage to take photos of my outfits in the morning and in the evening when I come home there's no daylight left so they all get blurry and/or too dark. Not even Photoshop can help me... Any ideas of how to deal with this? I could take photos in my lunch breaks but I carry around so much stuff in my bag everyday and I don't want to bring my camera with me everywhere I go, it's just too unhandy.

Speaking of lunch breaks, I love our university cafeterias for offering a new snack this semester:

Onigiris!
I never was a big sushi fan because I don't like fish and I didn't know there are veggie versions too, but since I tried one of these onigiris I'm over the moon. The veggie versions are available with aubergines and miso sauce, onions and soy sauce etc. There are also some with fish or shrimps for the seafood lovers.
My new favourite lunch snack at university :)

Alright, movie-and bedtime now.
I hope everyone has/had a nice weekend!

now playing: the kooks - princess of my mind

raffaelo cupcakes recipe

2011-10-19T20:49:00.004+02:00

Hi guys!

This week is packed with lots of different things to do for me so I didn't have much time for outfit pics yet and actually I only wore comfortable simple looks the last days, so nothing interesting and fancy.
Instead of an outfit I have this recipe for incredibly delicious white chocolate coconut goodness for you. I tried it on Sunday for the first time and must admit my topping was too liquid to look nice, but the cupcakes tasted so so good! Hm yummyyyyy!

What you need...

...for the dough:
250g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150g dark chocolate
100g butter
2 eggs
200g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
100ml coconut milk
100ml milk
16 Raffealos (or other coconut confection)

for the icing:
400g powdered sugar
200g white chocolate
125g butter
80ml coconut milk
1tsp vanilla extract

1. Pre-heat the oven on 175° C. Melt the butter and chocolate for the dough in a double-boiler or in the microwave.

2. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Slowly add the eggs, sugar, milk, coconut milk and vanilla extract with continuous stirring.

3. Here comes the sweet mess: crumble the Raffaelos (remove the almond inside) and add them to the dough.

4. Fill the dough into the baking forms or a muffin baking dish and put them into the oven for about 20 minutes.

5. Now they should look like this (or prettier haha). Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of them after putting the icing on top so I had to borrow some pics from the German recipe website ;)

6. For the icing melt the butter and the white chocolate. Let it cool down a bit, then addcoconut milk, vanilla extract and also food coloring if you like. Add the powdered sugar and stir until smooth.
Now you can put it on the cupcakes with an icing bag and decorate everythign with sugar crumbles or other decoration.
It can look like this...

...or like this,...

...whatever you like :)

Bon appétit! And happy Wednesday!

P.S. The German recipe can be found here. The pictures 1, 7 and 8 are borrowed from there.

shop my closet

2011-10-17T22:16:00.003+02:00

Hi guys!

I'm sorry I haven't given a sign of life the last few days, somehow I didn't have interesting photos and also no time to blog, but now I've got some future posts up my sleeve for this week.
It's already bedtime so I'm keeping this post short: I have sorted out my wardrobe rigorously and spent the whole Sunday photographing, taking measurements and creating auctions on Ebay.

Up for grabs (amongst other items):

Where?

my Ebay

until Sunday the 23rd of October

What else?

Europe-wide or international shipping on request!
Drop me a line via e-mail or via Ebay if you have questions.

Happy Monday! :)

And for my German readers: mein Kleiderkreisel wird in den kommenden Tagen auch wieder aufgestockt!

a condition of the heart

2011-10-14T20:40:00.003+02:00

Hi guys!

Today was one of these wonderfully crisp and sunny autumn days that I love so much. Unfortunately I couldn't really enjoy it because I had to work from 9 to 5, but I also enjoy the cold evenings and rejoice in being at home in my pyjamas with a cup of tea and a piece of oreo-flavoured chocolate while it's pitch dark and cold outside. Autumn - oh you season of candles, hot drinks and coziness :)

♥ coat + scarf: h&m ♥ shirt: pimkie ♥ cardi: ebay ♥ skirt: c&a ♥ shoes: goertz ♥

What I like best about these aformentioned cold, clear and sunny days is that you can still wear rather summery shoes because there's no need to worry about wet feet! A pair of 100 DEN tights keeps my legs and feet warm enough in the simple leather brogues which again is good because in the summer they turned out to be my favourite shoes for wearing a skirt.
Speaking of skirts: see that I wore my new corduroy skirt again? I love how versatile it is, especially with all kinds of earthy colours.
By the way I wore this yesterday for two philosophy classes and went on a trip to Remscheid afterwards where I visted my Dad in the hospital. He had a slipped disc but the surgery went well and he was in good health according to the circumstances.

♥ necklace: birthday gift and souvenir from China ♥

When I returned from the hospital visit I got off at our district's railway station and discovered what I had never noticed before (or maybe it wasn't there before?): there was a quote sprayed on the backside of one of the ticket machines. It made me smile because I knew where it is from :)

The "Kingdom of Heaven" is a condition of the heart- not something that comes "upon the earth" or "after death."
(Friedrich Nietzsche)

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

now playing: nine inch nails - wish

a fine autumnal day

2011-10-12T17:06:00.005+02:00

"It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day, the sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that rich and golden livery which we always associate with the idea of abundance. The forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet."
(The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving)

Hi guys!
Some days ago autumn has finally found its way to Germany and I was in such an autumny mood that I felt like making hot vanilla chai and reading a bit. I had gotten back my Penguin Book of American Short Stories from a friend and when I was flipping through the pages I saw Sleepy Hollow and remembered that I had never finished it. I love how the narrator plays with the atmosphere of the nature and landscape, one time bright and beautiful, one time gloomy and spooky. I really enjoyed reading it, it totally matches the current weather here that is all cloudy, rainy and cold.

♥ cardi: gina tricot ♥ dress: joe browns ♥ belt: primark ♥ boots: ebay ♥ necklace: six ♥

This is what I wore to work and to the first day of my winter semester yesterday. I took the photos in the morning and five minutes after I went back inside from our balcony I had to put on another jacket over the cardigan because it started raining cats and dogs.
Nevertheless it was still not too cold for a dress, I don't have to wear my knit tights yet.
And this dress, well it's a favourite of mine but I try to not wear it too often for I don't really know what colours to wear with it except for earthy tones and red/pink. However worn with hues of brown, beige and green it is the perfect autumn dress, I love the colours.

Speaking of autumn weather, I treated myself to a rich hand cream:

Since the sudden change in weather from summery sunny to cold and wet my hands started to get very dry because of the cool wind and my normal camomile hand cream from the drugstore was not enough anymore. I heard many good things about Kiehl's and L'Occitane but in the end went for Kiehl's Ultimate Strength Hand Salve because it was a little cheaper. However I plan to give the L'Occitane one a try too as soon as the Kiehl's one is empty.
I never went to Kiehl's before but I was positively surprised about how nice, detailed and competent the service was. The shop assistant asked lots of questions, put lots of other cream samples into my bag and gave some good advice about what to use when and how. Awesome, I never had such a good service concerning cosmetics before.
The hand salve itself is amazing as well. It's rich, soaks in quickly and only leaves a very thin hardly noticeable greasy residue on the skin, so that they feel wonderfully soft and moisturized.

I hope everyone is having a lovely Wednesday!

now playing: jimmy eat world - the middle

tomato ricotta casserole

2011-10-11T19:38:00.004+02:00

Hi guys!

The weekend was pretty exhausting so I was too lazy to blog yesterday. Remember that I was looking forward to Friday night? Well, it was a huge bummer! I missed the concert because my train was late and later on all clubs were so overcrowded that we couldn't get in anywhere. Furthermore I forgot my cam's battery at home so I wasn't able to take any weekend photos.

So instead of posting mentioned not-existing weekend pics I share the recipe of a yummy meal I tried last week: tomato ricotta casserole hhmmmm :)

You need (for 4 portions):

3 green onions
2 garlic cloves
4 tsp. olive oil
200g ricotta
125g cream cheese
3 eggs
salt and pepper
1 tbsp. flour
tabasco
basil
100g depp-frozen peas
16 cherry tomatoes

1. Chop up the onions and the garlic, sweat it with some oil in a pan for two minutes.

2. Mix the ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, basil and flour with a squirt tabasco.

3. Add the onions, garlic and the frozen peas.

4. Oil a casserole dish and put in the dough. Don't forget to add the cherry tomatoes :) Bake it in the pre-heated oven at 200°C for 25-30 minutes.

5. Tadaaa: a delicious low-carb meal that can be served with a salad.

The German recipe can be found here.
Bon appétit! :)

roaming the bailey

2011-10-07T18:59:00.003+02:00

Hi guys!

I'm leaving for the weekend, it will be so amazing! Tonight is a big event hosted by a German radio station, it's 1 Live Eine Nacht in Aachen where they host 20 concerts, parties, readings etc. in 14 different locations in Aachen. I'll start the night at the Two Door Cinema Club concert and later on me and some friends plan to visit at least one of the after parties. I can't wait! I have to leave for the train station in 30 minutes, let the good times roll :)

♥ shirt + skirt: c&a ♥ bag: accessorize ♥ shoes: thrifted ♥

And the weekend program goes on... tomorrow it's my Dad's birthday party and on Sunday me and the girls are going to visit a friend and her cute little baby. So as you might have assumed I'll be back on Sunday or Monday with lots and lots of photos.
Speaking of photos, the pics you see in this post were taken the other day when I enjoyed my day off by taking a walk and visiting a little castle nearby. It's the Schloss Eller but actually it's not really a castle but rather a mansion. I had perfect weather that day so I roamed around the bailey and explored the different corners.

♥ necklace: accessorize ♥ bracelets + hair clip: h&m ♥

As I'm a bit in a hurry I unfortunately don't have the time to write screeds, so here are some more impressions of the mansion and some more lovely sunshine captured in the pics. We could really need some sunshine for the weekend but the weather forecast was discouranging...

Have a fun weekend everyone! :)

now playing: pendulum - salt in the wounds

tumblr faves #1

2011-10-06T23:00:00.000+02:00

Hi guys!

I come across so many lovely, unique, unusual, interesting pictures when browsing the web, so everytime I find something particularly nice I put it to my tumblr.
And then again I find so many more nice pics at tumblr and add some of them to my favourites...
To cut a long story short: I plan to post this new feature "tumblr faves" regularly in the future. Let's see how it will work...

I hope this is as inspiring and entertaining for you as it is to me ;)

source

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Have a lovely day!

now playing: jack johnson - banana pancakes

north park

2011-10-05T18:38:00.002+02:00

Hi guys!

How is everyone doing today? I hope everything's fine, it's the middle of the week so there are only two more days to go until the weekend :)
You know what? After my low point mood last week I have started feeling more productive again and that's so nice. The last few weeks after my Budapest trip made me so lazy because I didn't have anything special to do, no term papers, no books to read etc. Of course I like having nothing to do but browsing the web or watching your favourite series, I mean who wouldn't? However it feels good to do something useful again, especially concerning university. The next semester is about to begin and I hope it will be the final step before my bachelor thesis, it's high time for me to finish this part of my studies soon.
Furthermore I need to figure out how to organize my days for the coming weeks because my uni schedule is fuller than ever this time and I also want to get to a certain gym routine and one for blogging, cooking, homework and housework. Phew...

♥ shirt: gina tricot ♥ jeans: zara ♥ bag: pimkie ♥ shoes: kappa ♥

Okay before I start to bore you with my plans I rather say something about the photos: I told you me and Patrick went to the park on Monday as it was a holiday and tadaa these are some of the pics.
We went to the North Park, a big green area between city, tradefair and the Rhine. It's a lovely place with different gardens, fountains etc. The weather was perfect so a lot og people had the same idea and wandered around, lay in the grass or played soccer and many children floundered about in the water, everything felt rather like a mild summer day.
We took a walk around the main areas of the park, but unfortunately we took the wrong way somewhere and thus missed out the Japanese Garden. I'll try to go there again soon, hopefully before autumn has fully arrived...

I wish there were more days like this Monday, they would make life so much nicer. That's a kind of resolution I made for fall/winter: despite the weather we have to go out more. It's relaxing, interesting and a good way to get me tired so don't lie awake in the evenings. The last few weeks did not only made me lazy but they also ruined my sleeping habits ;)

After our walk in the park we got ourselves some food and dessert to spend the rest of the day on the sofa with some episodes of Planet Earth, aaah perfect day off.
Here is the rest of the photos:

Happy Wednesday!

now playing: my epic - deathbed

let's love death away

2011-10-03T19:47:00.004+02:00

Hi guys!

I hope everyone of my German readers had a lovely long weekend (it's Unification Day today so we all had a day off). Patrick and me spent the whole forenoon in the bathroom to clean it, it was high time to go back to our normal cleaning routine after we had not managed to do it since... well you don't want to know ;)
When the bathroom was all shiny and looked like new we decided that the weather was too lovely to stay inside, so we went to the park and took a walk. We took some nice photos there, it was gorgeous golden sunlight all around and the North Park here in Düsseldorf has lots of pretty corners. But as today is a holiday I was too lazy to upload and sort out the pics, so instead I post my outfit from Thursday. Well, at least these photos also show how wonderful and bright the sun shone the last days.

♥ cardi: zara ♥ shirt; h&m ♥ skirt: c&a ♥ belt: new yorker ♥ shoes: kappa ♥

On our way back home from the park we stopped by a snackbar and got us some Turkish food and then we lounged about on the couch, enjoyed our lahmacun and kebab and watched a documentary.
We started to watch this BBc series Planet Earth, has anyone already seen it? It's a few years old but I had not seen it before. It's so amazing! I love how they always pick out the most stunning places on earth sorted by different topics like mountains, oceans, woods etc.
I'm still a sucker for Skins (I started watching season 5 yesterday), but watching nature documentaries appears so much more useful to me.

♥ necklace: accessorize ♥

So how did you guys spend your (long) weekend?
hope everyone who had to work again today had a nice start into thr week.

Happy Monday!

now playing: biffy clyro - the captain

the riverside

2011-10-01T18:09:00.003+02:00

Hi guys!

I woke up this morning (okay to be honest it was already noon...) with a terrible headache and haven't been able to do anything useful since then. A bit of cleaning up and grocery shopping but that's it. And as summer has decided to make up for the not summery weather in July and August now I've been sweating the whole day. So headache plus sweating is not very nice, actually I'm starting to think that the headache derives from the recent weather. The other day I was telling you about a lovely Indian summer in Germany but forget what I wrote, it's not that nice anymore. I was so looking forward to autumn and now it just doesn't want to come and that's probably what gives me a headache and makes me useless today. Anyway...

♥ cardi, shirt, skirt + bag: h&m ♥ belt: primark ♥ shoes: head ♥ necklace: birthday gift ♥

Last Sunday I met with my Mum after we hadn't seen each other for some weeks (due to my second Budapest trip and all). She was in Düsseldorf anyway due to the unpleasant incident that her boyfriend's mother is in hospital with heart problems. So we met at the hospital, visited Mrs. S. and went to the Rhine afterwards because she and her boyfriend needed some cheering up.
We went to the riverside a bit outside of the city where it looks like in the country actually. There is a little beach, green fields around and a restaurant boat where we went after a little walk.
It was beautiful weather, a nice breeze and later on you could watch the sunset over the water with all the slowly fading different shades of red and pink.

I think I've said it before, I can't imagine to live in a city without a river running through it anymore. Even if you don't see the river everyday you know it's there and.. I don't know, I just like it. I think most people don't even know to appreciate going over the bridge by tram almost every morning and seeing the pretty city skyline. Well, I do and it always makes me think that i couldn't live in a better place :)

Happy Saturday!

now playing: iron & wine - upward over the mountain

sleepwalk

2011-09-30T11:46:00.003+02:00

Hi guys!

I'm just dropping in to post a few pics from last Saturday. I know I'm a bit late, but I finally had the time to sort out the photos that I had collected on my SD-card, so I prepared them yesterday. However unfortunately most of the photos didn't turn out as I wanted them to, I suppose it's because I'm trying to use my cam's manual mode and all the features and settings more now, but I'm still a raw recruit. I still struggle with the manual focus, so most pics were blurred, what a bummer. I will practice and visit a photo seminar soon, I really want to know how everything works because I've been only working with the automatic programs since last Christmas when I bought me the camera and now it's high time to get into the manual stuff.

Patrick's band had another gig last Saturday, so we spent the whole night in Aachen. I try to accompany him to as many gigs as possible because it's always fun to hang out with the band and our friends and because there's so much more going on at the weekend in Aachen than here in Düsseldorf - at least concerning rock music.
Funnily enough I got a comment from a girl yesterday who asked if I was at this concert because she thought she had seen me there. It's a small world isn't it? I have noticed that there are so many bloggers here in the area, I mean Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf, the Ruhr basin... we should really try to have a blogger meeting someday.

Above you can see our friend Wolf. He is a better photographer than me and he took the photo of me below and edited it, I borrowed it from his Facebook. Thanks Wolf!

So as I said, most of my pics were crap. I hope I'll be able to take better ones next time...
Anyway, I'm off to enjoy the nice sunshiny weather now because I'm having the day off (yay!). I'm not sure where to go yet, I was thinking of either going to the North Park with its Japanese garden or to a little castle nearby our flat with a lovely bailey and garden. Let's see where I'll end up :)

Have a great day!

now playing: crime in stereo - type one

every endless day

2011-09-28T17:10:00.000+02:00

Hi guys!

The second to last week of my summer break is going by, Germany is having a wonderful Indian summer now, I should enjoy the mild sunny weather after work, meet friends for a drink or sit on the balcony and read a book... but instead I've been feeling tired and weary for no reason since last week. My life is not stressful at all at the moment and still I can't drag myself out of bed in the mornings without hitting the snooze button two or three times before. It's annoying, I don't know... how will it be when the new semester begins? My days will be packed with uni and work! I hope I'll recover a bit from this weariness until then.
Maybe it's because of all the little ailments I got at the moment. Whatever... It will pass.

♥ cardi: gina tricot ♥ shirt: h&m ♥ jeans: zara ♥ shoes: new yorker ♥ bag: bershka ♥

These photos were taken last week when I tried to style this shirt/dress with jeans. I had tried wearing it as a dress before but was not so happy with its length because I like to cover up my legs from the knee upwards, so I tried an other version with my skinny jeans and I think it turned out really nice.
Furthermore I love to wear these flats with blue jeans, the colours just look so good together, so I always try to put together something that can be worn with this orange-red tone.
I like how they bright effect on the photos make it pop even more :)

♥ necklace: new yorker ♥ watch: casio ♥

Alright, now I'm off to buy some groceries for a quiche recipe and afterwards back home I'll watch a movie and iron the laundry. God I sound like an old housewife, so terrible..... oh well but that's life right? Everybody has to do housework. Boring but necessary...

Have a lovely day! :)

now playing: the ataris - i remember you (best Skid Row cover ever)

mars muffins recipe

2011-09-26T20:15:00.002+02:00

Hi guys!

The other day a certain baking lust just came over me, so I grabbed my recipes folder and looked for something I had not tried before et voilà: Mars muffins. Well, actually the recipe was for Mars Delight but they didn't have them at the supermarket so i took the normal Mars chocolate bars and gave it a try.
Basically when using the basic recipe you can bake these muffins with any chocolate bars you like, I can imagine they would also taste amazing with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for example.

Anyway, here is the recipe:

For 12-18 muffins (depending on the size) you need

320g Mars (Delight) chocolate bars
250g flour
2 table spoons cocoa powder
2 table spoons baking powder
1/2 table spoon baking soda
1 egg
75g sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
80ml vegetable oil
300g buttermilk
a muffin baking dish or these little paper baking cups

Here we go...

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180° Celsius. Chop up the chocolate bars into chunks.
Then mix them with the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.

2. Whisk the egg and mix it with the sugar, vanilla sugar, oil and buttermilk.
Then fold in the chocolate-cocoa-mash bit by bit until all the dry ingedients are wet, so that everything is a well-stirred dough.

3. Fill the dough into the baking form or paper cups with a spoon.

5. Bake them on the middle rack in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes. Afterwards switch off the oven and let the muffins rest for 5 more minutes. Then take them out and let them cool down.

6. Taadaaa! Yummy Mars muffins with delicious melted choco-caramel chunks inside, hmmmmmm :)

I hope you like it!
Sorry to my German readers, this time I can't provide a link to a German recipe because I got it from a magazine. You can still contact me via mail though if you'd like to have the recipe in German language.

Have a lovely day!

now playing: band of horses - is there a ghost

invisible movement

2011-09-23T17:00:00.001+02:00

Hi guys!

No my eyesight has not gotten worse overnight and no I also have not been concealing contact lenses from you. The truth is: these plastic glasses were only 3€ so I bought them just for fun.
Actually I already own a pair of fake glasses, a really pretty pair with lizard print that I put in my shopping bag just randomly when I purchased some accessories at Modcloth last year. But these Modcloth glasses are real geek glasses, they look cute but are pretty big so I never wear them out.
However the cheap plastic ones that you can see in the photos are a bit more discreet concerning the size. well at least as discreet as geek glasses can be, right? Anyway, I wore them out when i had to run errands the other day and got neither strange looks, nor giggles nor whatever, it felt just fine. Unfortunately when I'm in a rush I start to sweat on my forehead so the glasses kept steaming up and eventually I took them off because i had to clean them with the sleeve of my jacket every 5 minutes. But I think I'll still wear them out from time to time though...

♥ blouse, pants + bag: h&m ♥ cardi: c&a ♥ scarf: new yorker ♥ belt: primark ♥ shoes: converse ♥ glasses: claire's ♥

What do you think about wearing fake glasses? Is it stupid for people who don't need real ones? Or is it just an accessory like a belt, headband or necklace?
I must admit I didn't like this trend when it first occured about two years ago but now I'm like why not?! It's a good way to change your looks and style and to try out something new without being forced to spend a fortune on real optical products. My last eyesight test actually showed that I could wear glasses with -0,5 diopter, but that's nothing so why not try to keep my vision good as long as possible and wear fake glasses instead?

By the way I've been having an obsession with this plumish red Maybelline Superstay 24 Color in "Absolute Plum" lately (and I red that when you wear glasses the make-up should emphasize the lips?!).

Have a lovely day!

now playing: kings of leon - closer

hello transition

2011-09-22T15:00:00.001+02:00

Hi guys!

Transition time is here - finally! I have collected dogears in lots of magazines to fill this post with lovely fall pieces I came across when flipping through the pages. Abstract animal and ethno prints, earthy natural colours, flowing and warming fabrics, the fall/winter collections are full of them, I love it! Here they are, hope you like the selection.

Kardinale leo slippers

Felder Felder dress

Timex watch

Lindsey Thornburg cloak

Zara skirt

Thu Thu shorts

Antik Batik skirt

Will Leather Goods bag

Nicola Hinrichsen bangles

Vila cardigan

Buffalo boots

K-Way jacket

I adore fall colours! Can't wait for all the fallen leaves on the ground :)

Have a great day!

now playing: coeur de pirate - c'était salement romantique

it’s a damn good thing you know

2011-09-21T17:00:00.000+02:00

Hi guys!

See how I try to wear my summer dresses before the weather gets even colder? I've bought a few new ones this summer but didn't have the opportunity to wear them or I was not in the right mood to do it. Now I combine them with tights and scarves to make them wearable for the fall weather and it works pretty well. I even wore boots, yes boots! That's how far we are now, the year is almost over. Unbelievable how the months have flown by, no?

♥ dress + belt: primark ♥ cardi: gina tricot ♥ scarf: h&m ♥ boots: bullboxer ♥ hat: kleiderkreisel ♥

By the way, has somebody been watching this TV series Skins? I have some spare time until the new semester begins in October and I was bored, so I started watching it and damn I love it. Is that embarrassing? I'm almost 10 years older than the characters in the story and I didn't have such a fucked up youth, but it's so catching to watch how the different storylines develop. Basically it seems to be especially interesting to those people whose youth was not full of drama, intrigues, drugs, sex and parties. I'm somewhere in the middle of season two at the moment so no spoilers please ;)
I've heard that it was a scandal in the USA because there is so much sex and drug abuse happening in this series, but actually I think it depicts youth in general pretty well because even if the younger me was not like that, I still knew several persons who acted similarly to the characters.
What about you? Seen it? Like it? Hate it? Don't care?

♥ brooch on the hat: Budapest souvenir ♥ ring: ebay ♥

Well, that's it for today. We have to go grocery shopping now andsee what to have for supper, so everybody enjoy your day/evening!

Happy Wednesday!

now playing: letlive - muther

Zalando Fashion Flatrate

2011-09-20T16:00:00.003+02:00

Hi guys!

I couldn't help taking part in this awesome contest when I first saw it the other day. The huge fashion online store Zalando is offering one lucky winner a fashion flatrate, that is a 300 Euro giftcard each month for one whole year, wow!
All you have to do is head over to their website, create an outfit only containing pieces from their immense range of lovely clothing, shoes and accessories, post about it on your blog or Facebook page, link back to them and fill out a little form. I'm not sure in what countries they're having this contest so maybe you should check that out first, I only know about Germany and the Netherlands.
Et voilà, here is what I put together:

This would be an example of a perfect fall look for me. I love burgundy, dark green and cognac brown anyway and I think they're especially awesome for fall because they remind me of fallen leaves. Furthermore there is nothing better than a fun print shirt combined with a lovely cardi and basic pieces like a simple skirt, legwarmers, a university-suitable bag and classic boots. Many people say such a shirt and cardi are too much when put together but I like it playful and a little extraordinary, so I go for it.
The icing on top for me always is delicate golden jewelry like this simple Arena Copenhagen necklace and the matching rather sporty Nixon watch to dress everything down a bit.

Please note that I can only provide the links to their German website because I'm taking part in the German contest.

How do you like the outfit?

Happy Tuesday! :)

where I'll end up

2011-09-18T14:25:00.001+02:00

Hi guys!

The other day I was unpacking my Budapest suitcase and sorting out laundry and still fresh clothing. It was surprising how many shirts and dresses I brought back home unworn, it was such a waste of space in the suitcase that I could have used for something else. I'm a loser when it comes to packing in advance, especially if I know I'll have to live out of the suitcase for more than two or three days because I dress after my mood and need the possibility to choose spontaneously. Actually that's a pretty spoiled attitude towards clothing right? We all know this "whole wardrobe full of nothing to wear" and every time I'm such a dressing crisis I afterwards realize how stupid it actually is. As if there were no other problems in my life or let's say even more important problems in the world.
And still these situations occur regularly. What do to against it? Does anybody have an idea? I sort out my wardrobe, sell, buy and re-sell monthly and it works quite well, but it doesn't keep me from acting so spoiled once in a while...

♥ dress + necklace: h&m ♥ cardi: c&a ♥ jacket: new yorker ♥ belt: primark ♥ scarf: accessorize ♥ shoes: goertz ♥

Anyway, this outfit is the result of throwing together the unworn pieces from the suitcase. I love this look, I think it's typically me. It includes tights, a dress, florals, polkadots, brown accessories, et voilà the perfect everyday outfit. Not to forget tights are much more comfortable than pants :)
Also I can't get enough of darkblue and brown, it's my favourite colour combo this year and it might make it into 2012 as well.
I love that floral summer dresses can be worn for fall so easily if you add some essential things like tights or a scarf. Can't wait for the real fall to begin soon!
How about you? I red on so many blogs that fall is the favourite season, does that apply to you too?

Happy Sunday!

now playing: dredg - ireland

stomping ground

2011-09-17T19:39:00.004+02:00

Hi guys!

I came across these photos while I was organizing my photo folders and realized that I have not posted them yet, so here they are.
A few weeks ago I went to my home village to visit friends and attend the ridiculously small village fair. You know, there is really nothing going on in this place, never has been and never will. So a bouncing castle for the kids, a stereo, homemade cakes and coffee are the highest of highs in this place, but still I love it. I love the "hick town -ishness", I love that I know every single house, tree and fence, I love the endless fields around and I love all the memories I have of this sleepy boring hamlet.
I was invited to dinner at a friend's house later this day, but after I had left I stopped by the dirt road behind the end of the village to take some photos. Excuse the poor quality, I used the self-timer and it was crazy wind there in the fields, hence the nice hair.....

♥ coat, dress worn as top + skirt: h&m ♥ shoes: goertz ♥

I used to hate living there when I was younger, you know, this urge to leave home and explore th world and all. But now I think it would be nice if my mum still lived there, so I could visit her over the weekend from time to time. I would love to stroll through the area and take photos in the midst of this beautiful landscape.
It's so much harder to find outdoor places for taking photos in the city! Especially if you're the strange girl that tries to use the self-timer in public and especially when you don't have a tripod and look for a window sill or whatever to place your camera on.
I really need to buy a tripod very very soon...

Alright, enough melancholy for now. I just didn't want these photos to disappear in the bottomless pit of my unorganized photo folders ;)

And now for something completely different for my German readers:

Ebay hat noch bis Montagmorgen eine Keds Sonderaktion laufen, es gibt dicke Reduzierungen auf viele schöne Modelle! Klickt einfach das Bild:

Also ich finds super, liebäugle mit dem bordeauxroten Kordmodell...

Have a lovely day!

now playing: marlon roudette - new age