The Monk inside of us

This posting comes without a story. The pictures tell the story.
If you don't get it, you probably live your life without a Monk inside you.





I am open to suggestions. :)

spring - final level part I

As soon as the horsechestnuts start to bloom, spring soon turns into summer.
This tree grows in a court where I work. The horses had a meaning, 200 years ago, the emperor put his hundreds of horses up here. Cavalry and so ...

No time to loose, here come the bow-stockings. Those wondering, where they come from, I "portraied" them already around Easter. Back then I only owned them in khaki and decided to get the bold color, too. Have been well adviced by a fashion-expert in town, Liane, to go for bold. :-x


As you can see I am not very experienced in selfportraits below the waistline. The "shooting" ended up in a sort of bizarre Ashtanga-Yoga, I spare you the pics.

our old new president

today where presidential elections in Austria.
The former president, Dr. Heinz Fischer won, impressive 79%.



You can tell by looking at his face he truly enjoys being in charge. His wife seems to be good with it, too.
What makes them especially happy: 79% implies also people who vote conservative at cabinet-elections, today voted for him.

IKEA

Today I drove to IKEA, spent 3hrs, for the first time after probably a decade. Many things have changed, to the better! Not only designs but also logisitcs. Very convenient, service- orientated, smooth running business even at Saturdays.

I have been planning to get myself y dressing-table (is this really the proper wording?). I don't like putting on Make Up in artificial light in the morning. Since there is no daylight in our bathroom, I will install a Make Up corner in my bedroom. Mr Paula is ok with it.

Well, he probably would not be ok with THIS:

This strange baroque table is the only result the ikea-website provides.

Well, good I went there because in the shadow if baroque, you find ...
the perfect dressing table!

At least for my taste. I know, circles are a difficult shape. Too perfect, that's why people rather choose the elipse.

I dare the circle!

What I find appealing? Less is more. The surface is glossy, the color ivory-white. The mirror is the perfect circle and the angle is adjustable. The info in the label says " drawers which run very smoothly" ("Leichtläufig").

The moment I opened them I new this table had to become MINE! :-D
I hate drawers which run "stuttering", these are just perfect. mmmh. The only pitty is, i have to wait until the bedroom has been painted (will take one more month). I could have bought the table another time but I did not want to find it being out of stock.


Having enjoyed a late Saturday's breakfast at home, I could easily pass on at the restaurant, energy level still ok.
Then came the blinds, curtains and curtain rods. Something we could not figure out for the last decade. The painter who will refurbish the appartment end of May is a real pro: he forced us to get all the stuff he will screw on the walls. He wants the appartment to be done when he is done with his painting. Like that we have to fix all those interim and not so well working solutions we have been living with for quite a while.

Glad I did NOT go for the grey but the white blind. Those blinds are great, the filter 100% of the daylight.

Where there is shade, there is light.
Uuuh. Lamps. The biggest challange in interior decorationg. At least when I listen to all the people around me. "I have to buy a lamp for the dining space". Responses "Oh, good luck" "It is impossible to find a decent lamp in Austria. You need to go to Italy" "Wow, lamps, I need lamps, too. They are so difficult ...."

Well, lamps come easy, if the designers could start designing lamps we like.
Am I going insane? I like this copper-lamp in the center:
This would be a so-called safe choice. A bit too "blah".
And then there is the working-surface in the kitchen. The one where I only see my shadow in front of myself because I am in the way of the ceiling-lamp and the onion on the board in front of me. Solution: lets put spots on the ceiling above the working-surface.
Not so easy in 2010. Mr Paule hates halogen bulbs, because they need so much electricity. We both can't stand energy-saving bulbs because they still are no substitute to old fashion light-bulb which is warm and has a total different spectrum compared to energy-saving bulbs.The only light-bulb spots are in aluminium. I have to sleep over this decision.

Too bad we have 2 intact coffee-press-machines at home, the classic ones, by Bodum, made of glass. Because this species of coffee-press-machines isn't only very cute, but also keeps 0,2 litres more then the glass one at home does plus it keeps coffee warm because of the insulation.

Well done, Anne Nilsson. Anne, you probably like Alessi in the 1930s as much as I do!
I went there on my own and I can tell you it is the best way to visit IKEA - on your own, accompanied with a digi-cam (in case you are not sure and need a 2nd opinion). When I first took the picture of the dressing-table I thought I might need to show the picture so friends, but I was too fast in deciding.

Why I think it is the better way to go on your own? Seeing all the stressed out faces of couples and families, they did not have as much fun as I had. Ususally, 2 people make their way through IKEA on different speed and even different paces. (there are lots of short cuts). Also I like to spend some moments in "useless" areas, such as plants or carpets. I know I wont buy any plant but it is nice checking out on them, from a macro-view point in slow motion.

The last chapter, heading towards the dressing-table. My water-bottle with the 2ns refill. The clock says: 3rd hour
HA!
This was the best decision, besides not-buying-the-taupe-blind: Not lining up at the wrapping counter (ist this the proper wording?) with a grouchy face like all the other who had been lining up there. It takes about 10-15 min. until it is your turn. So I turned around and ...

got myself a Hot Dog plus Soft Drink with a refill for 1,50 EUR.
The tin-foil-wrap in the back is to be seen later on.
The onions on top where so crispy! I did not know we could get Hot Dogs like that in Austria. I only see them on 30ROCK. Double smile on my face!

The cart is still half-empty, because the dressing-table has to be patient and wait until his mistress has regained her energies.

After a first cup of Cok,e I refilled with swedish cranberry juice. Boosted with suger and fat I returned to the queue, humming a song with a smile on my face, sipping cranberry juice. Yes, this was me. And the secret is: don't line up but enjoy a sunny break!

Back on the roof of the parking-deck, it was time to say goodbye. I admire the system. 100% Ikea, even when it comes to carts:
I knew I would enjoy the raspberry-vanilla-almond-paste-chocolate-coated dessert best at home, so that's what I did, got my pastry wrapped in tin-foil, unpacked at home.
There wont be any pics of the dressing table in the bed-room until mid-june, when the renovation is finished. You can bet to find some pics online.

I hope you enjoyed my trip. I still have the smile on my face.

PS: I tagged this posting with "Italien Design", there are two italian designs, found the 2nd one, besides Alessi?

spring - next level

The flowers in "Unsere Gärten" (= public flower-beds in town) surprise me, every day a new climax.

Right across the tax office, you find this beauty. I strongly recommend zooming in: doubleclick on the image and then zoom in further more.
delicious petals in fuchsia and purple!

These blossoms mirror my mood after turning in my "return of tax", since I am looking forward to finding some money returning to my bank account.
:-)


The trees are just amazing, like snow in spring. So japanese.
Don't you think this looks like an artificial snow installation, somewhere in Kyoto?

tulipe blanche

Back from the outskirts of Vienna, this particular flower-bed next to a main street impressed me:

Flower-beds like this are part of "Unsere Gärten", which I pictured
earlier on.
They usually choose 1, 2 species and then it becomes sort of unreal:

In my opinion they did a good job on choosing purple and off-white. A few metres futher ahead again flower-beds in front of a church in purple and white. The heavy rainfalls last week obviously contributed it's part for making this work out so good.

idyllic spring

spring has arrived.
last weekend we enjoyed the silence thanks to the shut down of the sky above Norh/Central-Europe. It is such a privilege living in a world without air-traffic.
I know, many are affected in their business. All of a sudden firms find alternative guests for their panels who live around the corner, in the same city.
Why not choose the panel low on Co2-emissions first hand?




The best birthday-get-together of my best friend. frizzante and apricot-strudel from a traditional patisserie in Vienna.

denim and routines

This ad caught my eye. I never paid attention to pearls other then white. But seeing this ad I kind of fall for them.
Whoever is wearing them right now surely enjoys them around the neck. Timeless with class.

The spirit of this ad brings me to the time when my mum got this pochette. She must have been about 3-5 years younger than I am now. Now call this a long-term investment! Unfortunately we can be sure the new pochettes will not last that long. boo hoooo.



I have had it in a box in the basement, dusty and rusty. I washed and cleaned it inside out, now it has the status of a nice little companion in my bathroom.

Washing and cleaning brings me to my face.
DHC Deep Cleansing Oil led me to my first international ebay-transaction EVER. I bought this from HONG KONG. it took weeks, months until it arrived due to customs.



After months of pumping foundation on the back of my hand, dabbing the brush into it and finally stippling it to my face I had this genius idea (partly long term memomory of a youtube video I once watched where make up artists use ceramics as a palette. I started pumping the foundation on this little dessert-plate. It is fun! Like oil-paining. Well, I actually are painting, just not with oil, since I prefer oil-free foundations :-)

The brush in the background as well as the DHC result from makeupalley. Where would I be without the trillions of postings and reviews you find there. MUA (short for Makeup Alley) empowered me to spend a month's income on Make Up (ok, I had literally nothing in my drawer back then except lipstick and eyeshadow). Now I am what you could call well stocked. It is easy to look great, glowing and stunning with High End Make Up in your face. I will probably never return to Drugstore Brands. What I like most about High End MakeUp is the service you get in the perfumeries and department stores. The Sale Assistents choose for you, put lipstick-strokes on THEIR backs of their hands, have lots of ideas on their mind and they choose right. I will write a posting on some goodies I found thanks to gifted Sale Assistants. And of coure I am NOT immune to a Make Up Artist from Bobby Brown who adores my Armani Maesstro mascara so much :-D
Whatever boosts the immune system during a long winter works for me!

Miserable photoshopping on Sarah Jessica Parker

I hope, this is not the actual VOGUE US May Cover.

If it is, they stated a very poor example of photoshopping. Everyone knows she has wrinkles. Come on, around the eyes - not a single wrinkle?

In my opinion this image is not glamourous but looks cheap, "thanks" to post-production.

If VOGUE US can't stand mature women, they should put Lindsey Vonn on the cover. Or any young lady where you wont mind the photoshopping since it is not ridiculous.

In Sarah Jessica Parker's case it is so ridiculous.

So, lets hope this preview is just a fake, for Vogues's sake.

coffee and delicous cakes

we fell in love with the perfect shape of the water-glas.
and of course the coffee ...

we obviously love wearing cocktailrings:

at night, when I have some energy reserves, you find me in the kitchen ...
since it snowed not only on the mountain tops but also at 1000m I decided to give the cocoa-muffins a chilling finish.

would there be any colour being cooler than silver? the silver stuff is suger. next time I put 3x as much on it.

happiness in green and pink

here 2 examples of things that make me happy:


I like it when the Ficus Benjamin has new leaves.

This nailcolor was a free give-away for my client-card of a local perfumery.

1 coat, quick drying, very resistant. I had it on my nails over the weekend. Was nice, with the awful grey weather outside. Evertime I looked down on my nails I had to smile.

I chose the ecstatic pose for a screaming color :)

Easter-Colour-Play

You are gonna love this post! Well, at least I hope so. The colours make me very happy, so Easter-spirited.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves. ok?

it all starts with finally squeaky-clean windows.



after the windows I need some energy!

I might have looked at those easter-m&m's way too long, because I bought some colors I never bought before. At least not for my LEGS! or better: My legs turn to m&m-lEGGs.



I did not buy the yellow socks, my skin is way too pale to match the yellow. I decided to get the khaki-coloured ones. (see below, end of posting)


so many ideas how to wear those capris: with my Y3 skirt, navy blue shorts, Pucci vintage dress ...




I fell in love with these repp bows on the navyblue-capris I bought yesterday:



ahhh, those bows! :)
First I was very unsure if I should get the stockings (under-knee-lenght). In the end I could not resist.


tomorrow I will feel blue. more to come ...

Am I the only one with this problem: whenever I upload a picture to a posting, it hops on the top of the posting, it never arrives at the spot I want it to be, where my curser is. How could I change this? Did I oversee anything important?