Another year over...

So, since I'm going away this evening to celebrate with some friends tomorrow, I have to say a few things about this year of 2006, which turned out much better than I thought at it's beginning.

It started badly (who ever wants to start a new year crying?), and had another low point in February, but strangely enough, these two bad things actually set the direction for the year, which led me to this point where I am now, with my happy social life, friends around the world and so many things to look forward to. Strange how things turn out sometimes...

I got back from my Erasmus term in London in late January, and then had another two weeks of hard work for this paper I had to rewrite. Then the low point in February, but then, lo and behold, Miss Lazypants suddenly turned into Miss Motivated and signed up for 11 uni courses, and enjoyed them all (and finished them all, no more dropping out). Then summer, and big changes, hard won changes. (I read my horoscope for 2007 a week or so ago, in some sort of magazine, and it said there that 2006 would have been a year of great changes for me...then I remembered that I *had* read that in previous year's horoscope and had disregarded it with a laugh...) And a new term, with 12 courses, and sports courses, and new people and friends pouring into my life.

Ok, noone is going to be able to make any sort of sense of what I'm writing right now, I'm sorry. It's a fine balance to strike between saying things and not falling into a rant. I could rant about some things - but I'll spare you the stuff.

Anyway. What does my horoscope say for next year? That I will be able to make good use of the changes that have happened this year. That I will not fall back again into old patterns of behaviour (if this is true, nothing can go wrong anymore, I'm safe, hah). That I will be able to do something really good in summer/September (when my thesis should be finished and the final exam taking place, so fingers crossed). That someone special will turn up who can be relied upon (so maybe, someone I haven't seen enough of to have any sort of well-founded opinion about but still managed to gain my interest without so many words will return and show his face again? Hm? *ponders*).
If these things have any value in them, I should have a fantastic year. A hard one too (after all, 2006, which turned out great in the end, was quite hard in many parts), most likely, but ooooh, if it turns out good in the end, it will all be worth it, I suppose.

I'm not going to put up any resolutions here. If I did, they would sound quite familiar: Buy less stuff. Make more stuff. Save money. Work hard.
So, I'll just say that I'll try to make the best of things as they come. Go me. :)

May everyone who reads this blog, and worked their way through this post, have the best possible start into 2007, and may the year continue as good as it starts, and then get better! I'll see you again when the numbers have changed...

*wanders off into the sunset, whistling*

Getting things in order

So, after a long while of trying to ignore the huge backlog of emails I yet had to answer, I managed to reply to most of them today, which means that I have one or two swaps scheduled every month until around March/April, hehe. But at least it's sort of organized and nice now, and no more worrying about me not getting back to people - they now all heard from me. What a relief. :)

For the rest of the evening I'm going to put a few other things in order...make my hair a little darker again (I only did that at the end of October, yet now, when some light hits my hair, it goes all reddish, ick), organize my feeble but still overspilling craft supplies, and hopefully I'll finish the presents that my sister got from me for Christmas and her birthday (her birthday is the 26th, heh).
And Saturday I'll hopefully manage a good general cleanup, so I can come back from my friends' place where I'm going to spend New Year's to a tolerably clean and lovely home.

At least, that's the plan. Let's see how it goes.

[Out with the old, in with the new! Trash some useless trash today! :)]

Merry Christmas...

...everyone!

I just finished decorating the tree (my happy task every night before Christmas) and I'm finally getting into the spirit. My throat hurts from singing in the cold. My presents are half-finished at best. My room is in chaos. Christmas time is finally here! :)

I hope you all have a great day tomorrow/today, with your family and friends around you! Enjoy the holidays! I know I will. :)

*saunters off humming some Christmas carols*

Now I lay me down to sleep

...with my assignments written (although I missed an important point about them, which I will talk about with my professor tomorrow - reading instructions *properly* a few days before the text is due IS helpful indeed, or rather, would have been. :P)
...with a nice book to read (Pride and Prejudice, which I last read when I was around 17 or so - this time it's for uni, but I'll enjoy the whole business tremendously!)
...with only tomorrow to go until it's finally Christmas holidays!

Today I went into town after uni, to get a few more presents together, and I pretty much hated it all, I was tired and headachy, and all the crowds and hustle and bustle and music in the shops and in the street and the lights - it just annoyed me. I'm sorry to say so, but it did. Thankfully, next year there probably won't be 12 courses to do work for at uni, and I'll do the little bit of Christmas shopping I need to do early enough to be able to avoid town on these last few days before we finally all settle down for some quiet quality time.

This evening, thankfully, I did some cookie baking. My mum did one batch of cookies yesterday (which I missed), and then one today (which we arranged beforehand so I could do the work my mum loaths and I love - we made Vanillekipferl today, and when they're out of the oven, you have to cover them in this mixture of powder sugar and vanilla (sugar), something my mum hates to do, but I really like it, for some reason - childhood memories, I suppose).

And tomorrow, once I'm home from uni, massage course and climbing course, I'll take a loooong hot bath and say hello to the happy times ahead. :)

Unlucky Tuesdays

Well, well, well.

Last Tuesday I lost the wonderful pair of black and white gloves that my parents had brought for me from Iceland last spring. *sob* I went into a bank in the evening to use the cash machine, and left them lying on top of the thing...when I noticed, and hurried back, they had already gone.

Today, just before I left the house, I put on my favourite bracelet, which I had bought from Etsy only this summer...and when I arrived at my seminar, I noticed it had disappeared! *SOB* Just gone, I guess I didn't close it well enough or something, anyway, it could be anywhere, on the street, in the bus...it's just gone.
This is what it looked like:












It was called The Guardian and I used it as my Good Luck bracelet. And me, silly, me, I just lost it! How can I be so mindless!?

I don't know whether these two episodes are supposed to teach me something...and if so, whether it is to finally get a bit more organised again (because life, just now before Christmas, has turned into one huge mess for me), or whether I should learn a bit more about letting go (maybe something unresolved left yet that I should deal with? I guess so, hmmm...), or something else entirely? I don't know.

I'm just really sad about the bracelet. It was lovely. I might have to get back to Tish and beg and plead so she will make me another one - but how to tell an artist you have simply lost her work? Hmmmm. Not so easy...

Anyway, I'm once again posting to avoid homework, which I really shouldn't be doing...especially not when I should really be in bed. Byeeee!

A few things...

Well, I'm trying to get back into posting, so here I am again! I'm just home from this huge eat-out with the Aikido people, and I think I won't be eating anything for at least tomorrow. Too much food! O_O
And I haven't laughed so much and so hard for a long while, there came a stage where I really had to struggle to get my breath back. I wish I could tell the world what we talked about, but it's not that easy to tell, so, sorry. The fun you can have with stupid topics, amazing. :D

Anyway, I just checked Carolyne's blog, and she has this lovely list in her current entry, and since I can't sleep right now anyway because I'm stuffed, and need something to do that my mind is still able to do (no homework for me anymore, but other writing might still work...), I think I'll do this, now.
So, here we go:

4 jobs I have had
3-week internship in a company (me as secretary, woot)
babysitter for friends
Au-pair in Texas and Ireland
Hmmmm...can I call myself full-time student? As a job?

4 places I have lived other than where I am now
London, UK (how cool does that sound?)
Tralee, Ireland
Houston, Texas (for three weeks only *brrr*)
a different street in this city, until I was 2 years old

4 movies I could watch over and over
The new Pride and Prejudice movie (saw it two weeks ago and can't wait to see it again)
Who framed Roger Rabbit (not seen in ages but it just popped into my head right now)
Pirates of the Caribbean (every time I see it I notice something new)
Hmm...Bridget Jones or Hero? Both of them are nice to watch and rewatch...
(I haven't watched enough movies lately, I need to use my holidays to watch all those recorded ones I collected over the past few months/years)


4 TV shows I love
Starmania (Austrian version of Pop Idol and all that stuff) - because nothing is better than coming home Friday evening after a long week, flopping down on the sofa and watching something nice and quite mindless
Was gibt es Neues (Austrian comedy show, I just love those guys)
Caroline in the city (if it were still running)
The Simpsons (again and again and again)


4 places I have been on holiday
Bibione, Italy
Dublin, Ireland
Kopenhagen, Denmark
Paris, France

4 websites I visit daily
Cute Overload
Little Miss Meshell
Dilbert
Bookcrossing Austrian forum

4 Favorite foods
Rocket
Lasagna
Chicken Tikka Masala
Sushi

4 places I would rather be
In bed, asleep, and no need to get up tomorrow (ha, I wish)
Wherever Mr. "Now I'm here, and now, for 6 weeks or more, I'm gone, hahaha" is (...)
On a beach, be it night or day - with a nice book or without it - either Banna beach in Ireland (oooh, how I miss thee!) or, judging from the evil pictures Meshell has posted, Rottnest Island ;)
Some place that still gets snow


4 people I am tagging
Anyone who reads this - you know you want to!

Aha, and I'm sneezing again, so I guess I'll get myself to bed no matter whether I'll be able to sleep or not...

I'll be back!

Silence

..is golden, as some say. Anyway, I've been quiet for some time now, I guess I should get back into the posting fun.
Why am I not posting that much lately?
Because, all of a sudden, I have a social life! Wohooo!
Really, seems as if since that day in August when I managed to make a decision, my whole life turned upside down - which is great! I'm still not quite used to it, but - fantastic! I like myself much more like this. :)
Anyway, this is the last week before Christmas - at this time, in seven days, I will already be lazing on my bed, surrounded by books and whatnot...or I'll still be sitting in the living room with my mum and maybe my sister, working on the puzzle my mum wants for Christmas. Mhhh, it will be fun!
My swap packages for the time being (those that should arrive around or before Christmas) are sent, and I finally have time to concentrate on the gifts for my family. And I'm slowly getting into the Christmas spirit - I was in town Saturday afternoon, doing some carol singing with some colleagues of mine (we're supporting an organisation that helps children with cancer - very good). Good fun, and we were really good as well, and I (yes, I , me, Miss "Ooooh, how I hate presentations *shaky hands*") volunteered to do some more singing...in front of ALL OUR PROFESSORS *argh* *screams* That's what I meant with my life being upside down, it's all changing, and completely different and...weird. Fun. Good times. :)

Hm, I haven't written for such a long time that this is all over the place now, but yeah, I guess you can all see that I'm one excited happy little girl right now. Life is good.
And I'll soon write some more exciting stuff again, promise. ;)

And the winner is...

Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me
me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me and ME!




Ahhh, it feels so good, I cannot describe it. This year, with so much to do and so little time, I really had my doubts at some points throughout the month. When I suddenly was 8k behind at the beginning of last week, I was pretty down. Sad and sorry for myself. I wondered how I would manage to catch up, how I should do it?
But Inspiration came in a form I hadn't expected, and it not only helped me gain thousands of words only dedicated to this one cause, it only helped clear my mind on one issue I was suddenly starting to have doubts about last week as well (which was also causing me to feel weird and somewhat down in the dumps).
But now all is good. Thanks to Lilly from the forum, I flew over the finishing line today, almost 6k written in around 3 hours or so. What joy! (Lilly, in turn, reached the finishing line about 10 minutes ahead of me, thanks to me. Wow. And I do not even know her, you know? :D)

In the Nano forums, I already thanked the whole community there in the German forums, which is the most motivating bunch of people that I know. But here I would like to thank all my friends around the world who checked in sometimes during the month and cheered me on, thank you, all of you! It would only be half the fun if it weren't for people like you. :)

Now I will have to wait 11 more months until the whole fun starts all over again.
I can hardly wait! :D

My name is Red - Bright Red

Inspired by the nail colour from hell, I decided to photograph some other nice red things that were important this weekend:
1) The nail polish. Amazing, that colour. It blinds my eyes.
2) Gluehweinsterne (mulled wine stars) - fruit gum with mulled wine aroma, bought yesterday and the bag is almost empty now, uh oh.
3) My new PIN letter. I have my new phone number. Adios, old contract. (And all that goes with that.)
4) My earrings, worn today (to match the nails, no less).

I'm starting to really look forward to Christmas now. It will, without a doubt, be the best one in years (unless anyone dies, which I hope will not happen!). Finally, a quiet day, a quiet evening, no more stress. => happy! :)

My own private little joke

See this bright red, which is almost a criminal offense?
It has its own little story, which I am not going to tell.
However, I have had this nail colour for many many years and today...today was the first day I ever wore it, and the last one as well.
My own little joke. ;)

Weekend

I'll be gone for the weekend as there's this big family event far far away to the west (Germany, that is), which I have been looking forward to for quite a while because it's SO rare to get all of my family in one place at the same time. Some of my cousins I've only ever seen once so far, and that not for long, and years ago...how fun it will be to see 'all grown up'! :D
I'm taking my laptop with me so I can continue working on my Nano stuff, which is slowly taking shape...I hope I'll have some time for that as well. And yeah, some books are going with me as well, for the car ride...need to get some of that uni reading done as well.
Anyway, hope you'll all have a good time, and I'll let you know what happened once I'm back!

Status Report Update

Haha! I actually wrote up the status report to make some confessions, and then I conveniently forgot them... :P
Well, there are a few things that haven't been going so well. Like, the lunchbox thing! Usually I'm just way too tired to pack myself a lunchbox for the next day. And in the mornings, of course there's no time at all! So. :P Not much progress on that front yet.
Also, I said no more books, and magazines only if I manage to get an exam with a grade of 3 or better. Well, I did the one at the beginning of October, and I got a 3 (I hadn't studied, at all, bad B, bad!), so I went to buy myself a magazine. But! I didn't! Oh no! I bought myself a book instead! :-O
Yeah, I know...but it's about Pilates, so actually about health stuff, so it's not too bad, is it?
The other bad thing? I bought some make up stuff when I really don't need any. But I wanted to try something out. Too bad. :P Well, I actually like the nail polish I bought quite a bit, not so sure about the other stuff yet...but well. I hope I'll stop with buying this kind of stuff again now. :P
Anyway, I needed to put that down. I'm not perfect! ;D

Status Report

So, how am I doing on all my several projects?

Studying:
Going ok. I don't manage to read everything I should be reading, but so far it's working out somehow. Also, already one presentation down, only 3 (or something) to go. ;)
But, somehow I feel quite good doing all these things. It keeps me occupied and I never sit around thinking "Now what should I do?" as I'm always doing something!
And every week, I like my supervising professor more; I think I definitely made the right choice when I decided to write my thesis with him. Good, eh?

Doing sports:
Oh, still love it all! With Aikido, two weeks ago I had a day where for some reason (ok I can guess why) I didn't manage to be concentrated enough and had some problems to do things correctly, but last week was fine again, and lots of fun. I'm losing my fear of falling, which is brilliant. I can do those forward and backward rolls quite well by now, at least better than a few weeks ago, so it feels like this huge success. :) Also, I really like the people doing the course, it's always fun to practice and talk with them.
The massage stuff is also going well, we finished the legs and have now started with the back, and oooh, it's brilliant! :)
Climbing this Tuesday was hard, since we had a break of 3 weeks or so, and at one point I almost lashed out at some guy who was trying to help me, just because I was getting so frustrated. (I didn't - thankfully.) But the first bit went quite well - the warming up, really felt good - it was just that after that bit my arms were already pretty much exhausted. :P
And Qi Gong, always good. I always feel loads better afterwards. :)

Meeting old friends, making new ones:
Going brilliantly!
Went to a cabaret show with my sister on Wednesday (Hader muss weg, for those elusive Austrian readers), would have gone to a meeting afterwards but all the people had left already (:P). Yesterday, one of my oldest friends celebrated because she finished her studies on Wednesday, so I met her and her boyfriend and some people from school, really fun as well. I talked so much that my voice disappeared halfway into the evening, and I had to coax it back with a cup of tea. ;)
Also, see below with Bookcrossing. :)

Crafting:
Uh oh. Nothing for a while. But I finished a paitning last week and put it up in my entrance hall, and I bought some more beads to make something nice for some swaps that are currently on. So yeah...not much doing, but some thinking about crafting.
Oh, wait - I did some origami at this Japanese festival we had last week. ;)

Swapping:
Two swaps that are supposed to go out next week or so, and I'm receiving more and more requests! Yay and Argh! I guess I have to update my swap post and tell people I'm all excited about hearing from them, but that it will just have to wait a couple of...months.

Writing:
Well, I managed to drag my Nano-novel over the 1/3 mark yesterday, but I'm a little behind by now. My plan had been to take it to 20k this weekend, let's see whether that works out, as the weekend ends in about 21 hours, and I'm currently writing here and not in my Word document. :P

Refashioning:
Well, except for the two t-shirt refashions I did in October (there was a t-shirt refashion competition, and since there were only three people who did something for it, I'll soon receive a runner-up prize! How exciting is that!) I haven't yet done anything, although I really want to. Ok, so I dyed a few things in this lovely lavender-like colour (should have been violet, but lavender/mauve suits me just as well), but haven't yet done anything with them (not even ironed them, I know, I'm sooo bad. :P) Hope I'll get around to this tube-top thingie I really want to make soon.

Bookcrossing:
Woohoo! Went to my first meeting ever today, and it was so much fun! Actually, one of the girls there studying the same as I do, so now I have a new friend at my department, hehe. We even like the same kind of music - brilliant! I left a few books at the meeting, and got some new ones, which is so exciting! I would soooo love to read them all at once, and now, but of course, no time yet. :P
(So yes, I met some new people here!)

So, as you can see, I'm WAY busy, but I'm also feeling really good about it all. I have these moments of exhaustion, but they only last a very short time now, since I am getting better and better at counteracting these. I could say I'm having the time of my life, but I guess I'll keep that for the moment when I finally manage to talk to Mr Elusive.* ;)

Hope everyone else is also doing well...I am reading your blogs, and I'm commenting whenever I have anything useful to say! I'll be better with posting here again once November is over. ;)

*Funnily enough, at this point in time only my friend's boyfriend would know what I'm talking about...

Winter is here

Hey people!
Actually, when I was at uni, I thought I'd tell you tonight about how temperatures have really dropped, and it was freezing cold, and around ze zero degrees. But I have something better for you...it's freakin' snowing! O_O
Now, when I asked my dad, he told me that yes, two years ago we had snow this early...actually, on October 24. But, of course, last year I wasn't here, and so this time around I'm like a wee little girl and jumping around the flat screaming "I can't believe it! Snow! §%?#!"
So, in about 10 minutes, I'll be leaving this house (Qigong is calling) in my winter coat (already! Woot!), and crunching ont the first few flakes of this year! OMG!
*overexcited*

Iced Salad or My Mind Crumbles

I have a small story for you, to let you know how I am doing:

On Saturday, my dad bought some salad for me. Rocket, which we only get here in those pre-washed plastic bags. I love rocket. I can only hope I write about the right salad. ;)
Anyway. I had half of the bag for lunch on Saturday. Then I put the bag away.
Today when I came home from uni, I knew my mum would bring some fish from town later on, so I wanted some small snack-like thing to eat. So I open the fridge and look for my salad. It isn't there. "Strange," I think to myself. "Who in this family could have eaten it? I can't think of anyone...and they only came back from their trip yesterday evening, too. How mysterious!"
I eat nothing but have a cup of tea and wait for my mum with the seafood goodies.
15 minutes ago she called me into the kitchen and asked me why the heck I had put my salad into the freezer.
You know, I'm asking myself that as well.

Check my progress!

Ok, I know it looks kinda ugly right now, but I promise, once the whole thing starts the one bar is gonna go and all that will be left will be the progress bar.
Yep, next Wednesday Nano starts, and as you can see, my blog is trying to shape up for it! Once the little ship reaches the end of its bar, madness will begin, and I will start counting my nervous breakdowns as well as my words written! ;) And so can you! (the words written at least, I'll keep the breakdowns to myself.) Throughout the whole of November, whenever you look at my blog, you'll see how I'm doing...and if you want, you can cheer me on, too. ;)
The way things are looking time-wise, I'll need all the motivation I can get - or live without sleep for a few weeks...we'll see. :D

Ugh

I had two hours of sleep last night as for some reason I didn't manage to fall asleep before 6am. My legs feel like lead. :(
I have uni courses from 10.15 to 16.30, and a meeting with someone I'm doing a presentation with. I'm not sure I'm going to make a lot of sense today...
My mum says its my fault for falling asleep for an hour yesterday in the later afternoon. I blame the pot of (green) tea I had late in the evening - even if it would completely suck if I should already be this sensitive to any form of caffeine or theine. (Because, should I ever succumb to the lure of coffee again, will that make me go through the roof or what?)
I feel like sleeping for the rest of the day, but of course that won't happen.
Guess I'll have to make the best of it and try to look as awake and super-smart as possible...which might just be a little hard to do, since I feel like going "Graaah!" at everyone who talks to me. :P

Update: Ok, so I had courses until 17.45 (usually would be 17.30), I was probably feeling hopeful when I put it down as 16.30. ;) And it was pouring when uni was over. And I came home at 19.15. Ugh again.
Now, you might say: "Hey, you probably fell straight into bed! Go you!" but I didn't. Instead I felt this pressing need to dig out one of them old tapes I recorded when I was 12/13 and listen to "Do you remember the first time" by Pulp over and over again -while singing along and dancing around in my room. :D If that's not sleep-deprived and slightly demented behaviour, I don't know. ;) Ok, so singing and dancing around is GOOD, obviously, but doing it for over an hour, with the same song on for most of the time, and LOUD, while completely wreckedly tired - that's the demented part. Anyway, it felt great. So, as you can see, I had a wonderful end to a hectic day. :)

How the Wii works

Ok, so most of the people currently reading this blog will have no idea what I'm talking about...but hey, soon you will!

Now, what for most of my time at uni* has been something of a second life/career has been my videoplaying self. Blame it on the boyfriend, I got quite addicted. Ok, I should maybe explain: I played videogames before...Super Mario, Tetris. But he got me into RPGs.

I'm not going to talk about my Playstation career now, because that would take way too long, and I should be studying. ;) But just to let you know, I do follow the news to some degree, and this winter/spring, there's two new consoles coming out, the Nintendo Wii, and the Playstation 3.
Now, the Wii has this really funky controller, which will introduce all new gameplay options and whatnot, and yeah, if I ever get rich (and don't die tryin') I'll have to get that one as well.

Anyway, what I found today was this amusing video making some fun of the controller (and Link, everyone's favourite green clad kiddie hero).

Watch Link getting bashed

And now I should go back to reading the one part of the Canterbury Tales still left for tomorrow's lecture. Dumdedum. :)

*Until about one year ago, I should add. I'm way too busy right now...sadly.

Write your heart out 2006

...or NaNoWrimo 06, as it's usually called. ;)

As you can see, I have some time on my hands today for writing my long outstanding posts here - I stayed home from today's sports classes because of sore throat and headache, which I really don't want to develop into a proper cold. So I'm sitting here in my cuddliest warmest winter jumper, with scarf round my neck and a big pot of tea in front of me, doing my best to use the time well and do some reading for uni and writing for myself. :)

And this whole post is basically about writing for myself.

NaNoWriMo is a fantastic thing and I'm glad it exists. It entered my world in 2004 when a friend of mine posted about it in one of the forums I use.

Before I go on - what is this all about?
Well, it's about writing, quite simply, and about writing a lot in a short time. The thing is called "National Novel Writing Month", and even though it has been very international for a long time, the name as it is just works so nicely, they've kept it.
The goal for all those brave ones who sign up is to write 50,000 words of prose (fiction) in the month of November (ie 30 days). You have to start your story fresh from the start, so no continuing old stories. The purpose is to let yourself write without inhibitions. Don't worry about being perfect - just worry about reaching the right word count...that's enough worry for one month! I think Chris Baty (the crazy SF guy who invented the whole thing) says about it something like "writing with abandon" or something. As in, leave behind your inner editor and just write until your fingers hurt and your keyboard breaks down.

If anyone is still asking "Why would I want to do such a crazy thing?" here is my personal answer (you can find some answers on the Nano page as well):
Because it's fun. Because you will most probably surprise yourself. Because it has this great philosophy of not putting off good things forever but to throw yourself into what you love doing (ie writing for most of those who join in). Because the joy that finishing your novel brings will propel you along through all the winter dreariness and will boost your self-esteem through the roof. Because if you don't write this great story, noone will. Because imagination and creativity are such essential parts of our lives and usually live a sad underdog existence in our daily routines. Because you will meet people who share your passion. Because you will be inspired and inspire others. Did I mention it's excellent fun?

Now, let's continue with my own story:
In 2004 I had this great idea. I even knew how it was going to end. But I was missing an essential thing: A computer. I tried writing things by hand and then typing them when I had the chance, but duh - I failed miserably at around 12k. I still want to write that story someday, no matter how crazy it really is. (And it is, believe me.)

In 2005 I was in London. That alone was a very good and inspiring thing. Also, I had this library at hand with a pc lab that was accessible 24 hours a day. Yay for me! And so I wrote and wrote, with only three courses to do and no boyfriend or family demanding time away from the pc, and I finished my wonderful (crazy) 50k a few days before the deadline. I still have to write the ending though - and I will, soon.

This year of 2006 will be crazy (just like my stories, but not as nice I'm afraid). I'm doing lots of uni courses. I'm doing all the sporty stuff. I should be reading a whopping lot, and I think my professor would just be delighted if I did some work for my thesis. Also, I'm building myself some sort of social life now, very unusual as I didn't have such a lot of that for the past few years.
And - I will write this great and crazy story. Plus I will finish the story from last year. I will go mental around Nov 20 and have some nervous breakdown or scream at everyone who even so much as looks at me, but hey! ;)
On the computer front, all is well - I have my own notebook now, I have good access to the family pc...nothing to worry about anymore, thankfully!

I'm still trying to convince my surroundings to join in. My sister might be thinking about it, but as she has a lot to do as well and she's not as crazy as I am, she probably won't join...I'm working on convincing my best friend with the argument that she writes some stuff for her role-play character anyway...Tuesday evening she started musing about maybe writing one of the adventures down and that it would easily be enough material...so I'm still hopeful on that front.
Funnily enough, Meshell joined without knowing I did, so now we can kick each others behinds when we get, well, behind, which is great! ;)
I'm still thinking about putting up posters at uni etc. After all, I mentioned Nano in one of the articles I wrote for the spring edition of our departments magazine...noone sent me an email about that, but hey, maybe I just need to remind people a bit. Maybe I can bribe/convince the lecturer who does the Creative Writing course (which I did once, and we only have the one, and I don't have time for it now :P) to do some promotion in the course, that might help as well.
Anyone have any other ideas?

So, if anyone reading this has a glimmer of interest, but isn't too sure, let me know and I'll convince you. ;)

And if anyone wants to read what I produced in 2004 and 2005, hey, sure! Just don't expect a literary masterwork...rather, prepare for some crazy fantasy stuff with linguistic elements, and in the case of my later story, a good insight into what value shopping might have! ;D

Pretty little things

This is the earring post which I meant to write about two weeks ago...

The story goes like this: At around 14, I muse aloud about maybe having my ears pierced. My best friend promptly gives me some earrings as a present. After that, of course I had to have it done - even if I had changed my mind (I probably did still have some doubts back then). So, shortly after, when in town with my mum, she says "Hey, why not do it right now, right away?" And woopeduh, we're in the shop and I'm having holes shot into my ears. Ouch.
Even worse - I meet with my boyfriend in the evening and he's all like "Oh nooo, why the ears, oh my God, why did you do this?" etc. I feel like a complete idiot.
Result: For ten years I had my ears pierced, and for ten years I haven't really worn any earrings. Case closed.

And then, now, boyfriend gone (in German there is this nice expression for it which I'm not sure I can properly bring into English, so I'll leave it, but for the one German reader that already told me she's here (YAY) => "gegangen werden", ok? :D), I decide to indulge in a complete earring buying spree, and to wear them almost demonstratively...like a sign that the past is now truly over and done with.
Edit: Ok, I think the best translation I came up with is "he has been gone". Passive voice. Does that make sense?

So here are the results of my indulgence - all of them bought on Etsy.

Kathryn Riechert
These were the first ones I bought, and they're incredible! Kathryn wrote in her description that these are perfect for every day, and she's right! I could really wear these every day - if I hadn't bought such a lot of other ones! ;)
These are sterling silver, with little white pearls dangling beneath the discs. The detail on the discs was hand-hammered into them, and they really do reflect the light amazingly. I'm totally in love with them. :D


Patricia's Art
Of course I couldn't resist these! I mean, pearls! :D
I love these as they are pretty and not too extravagant while still being quite unusual. I think they're a little like me - not very loud but very interesting, ha! *makes herself look good*
At first I was worried that these would be too long for my comfort, but after wearing them for an evening I didn't even want to take them off anymore!
So, these are ceramic pearls with nice chinese designs on them (might be some I Ging stuff, but I'm not sure) and the slightly rosy pearls. Mhhh.

To stay a bit on the safe side I also bought the following two:

Funnily enough, I haven't worn these yet! No, I always went for the big and colourful ones instead of these safe and classic little pretties. Who would have thought?
Anyway, these are tiny, and both again with pearls (a word which I continually keep typing up as perals today :P).







Just a Tish
What can I say? Tish makes fantastic things! She selects the stones she uses by their character, ie their energies - if you believe in that kind of stuff. I do to some degree (*outs herself*).
She gives nice descriptions of what the stones she uses should help with.


These earrings, called Alice, use citrine and moonstone. This means they are good for intuition and for dispelling fear. Moonstone is a very feminine stone, too. :)
(If you're interested, you can look at her Items Sold list and check for details of what the stones can do.)


These are called Wink. ;)
Made of rutilated quartz and black/blue glass crystals.
Now, this quartz, if it fulfills everything it promises, then it should:
Get energy moving (good for me as I'm a lazy slob), assist with mental focus (which I sadly lack very often), and attracting love (a-HA!). Now, currently I mainly hope for some energy. Who knows, at some stage I might also hope for some love again. ;)

Now these are real fun. Called Catnip because Tish's cat was so fascinated with them! :D
I admit I haven't worn these yet as they're probably the most unusual ones I bought. Why should I wear them? Well, because they're fun of course, and because they might just help my memory and also with removing sorrow, both of which would be exceedingly good things. :)
(Stone is called carnelian, if anyone's interested.)


Danglebeads
Ok, so this is where I went a little crazy. Meshell had posted the ones she ordered on her blog, and I just fell in love. So of course I had to order my own, and try not to order the exact same ones that Meshell bought. Thankfully, that was quite an easy thing to do, as the selection is huge. Except for the red ones, I managed! :)

Of course I couldn't resist these as the colour was called "seamist green" and I'm an inland girl who is an ocean freak. :D
What is really fantastic about these is that when I had them I found out that one of the shirts I bought at some stage fits perfectly with a jumper I bought on a different date and the earrings match up perfectly with the colour of both of these! What a great coincidence! I might just be perfect at buying matching outfits when I don't bother about it! ;)

These are just nice and fresh and blue. Go perfect with another jumper of mine. What luck! :D







These are the red ones that I couldn't resist. Once I fit into my jeans again I will wear jeans, black jumper and these pretties....mhhh. :)






And I had to get hematite ones! Duh. But I bought different ones than Meshell did, so I'm ok, right?
Anyway, I haven't worn these yet because the only times I tried I was wearing a lot of black already, and it just looked too dark and dreary. I'm sure though that the perfect occasion for these will soon come my way.



These would be perfect for spring! Pity it's now October and cold. but I'm still wearing them! At least they remind me of spring. :)







And finally these. this is my absolutely most loved colour. I guess you could call it teal, or petrol, or bluegreen. I just love it, it's perfect! And so are these. On Tuesday I could get no useful outfit together, so I was wearing black and dark grey (ugh) and felt like an idiot for trying to put useful clothes together at 2.30am. So I put on these earrings and a scarf somewhat the same colour and felt a little better about it all.
But still, no more choosing clothes for the next day at that sort of time - I have no creativity and useful thoughts whatsoever at that stage I guess.

So, these are all the many great earrings I bought! I think it's 13 pairs or so. Wow.
But they've really paid off, I feel better when wearing some, not so boring etc, also like I at least did some little work on the way I look, which does wonders for my poor self-esteem.
Lastly, they are also great when I feel a little fidgety during class - I can just pull one of these from my ear and play around with them a bit. ;)

And that concludes this very very long review. Please check out all the pages/shops of the people I bought from, they make wonderful stuff!

I dream of smoking

I'm not a smoker. I never smoked. I never will smoke.
However - in my dreams I do.

I just remembered a minute ago that this night again I was dreaming about me smoking. I'm not kidding you. In my dreams, I'm actually a quite accomplished smoker.
Now, I had a lot of practice (in my dreams), because I dream these things repeatedly. Not the same dream over and over, but different ones, connected by the fact that my Dream Me is chain-smoking. Sure, I do not smoke in every dream I remember, but in a disconcerting number of them.

I can guess at what Freud and all psychologists might have to say about that. I probably had some traumatic experience in my oral phase and now, since I surpress that fact in my real life (I suppose?) my Dream Me/subconscious is free to smoke however much it wants to.
At least that's my guess - if anyone here has any other ideas, let me know.
(Fact: No one in my family smokes. My friends don't smoke. Only a few people I know smoke, and they're mostly colleagues from uni who I don't have much to do with.)

There are probably many possible reasons for this. But is there a solution? Are there any methods available for weaning my Dream Me away from the bad stuff?

Because it really messes with your life when you wake up and can't remember for quite a few minutes if you have ever smoked or not.

Duhhhhh bi duhhhh

Ok, so my brain for writing is taking a break...I have loads of unanswered emails and loads of things I want to write but don't want to write *right now*. :P
Problem: November isn't far away, and if anyone here knows me, they know what I'll be doing in November - writing my Nano stuff. (If you don't know me, and don't know what the heck I am talking about, I will write about Nano soon).
So, I have to get my writing enthusiasm into gear, and be quick about it.

But! Even though I haven't posted, and now owe three swap reviews, some (5?) sweet reviews, one earring review (hello to Perth!) and all sorts of other stuff - at least I managed to get and send in pictures for three of my swaps. Pretty good ones too (I think). So that's something done at least.
I'll get the ones for the other two swaps taken soon, and then I should probably work on new swaps - sorry to those people who are waiting for me to reply!

In other news, uni has started and it is hectic but fun. I have NO idea how I am planning to get all the work done, plus work on my reading list, plus work on my thesis, plus eat and sleep - but I'll work it out somehow. And if that means not reading everything for some course, well then, sorry course! I have to sleep sometime. ;)
(Oh yeah, add the Nano stuff to November. That is going to be soooo crazy this year...)

Maybe some bits about the sport classes I keep going on about. I am doing four very interesting and different things: Aikido (with my sister), sports massage (very neat), sports climbing (with my sister), and Qi Gong (or Ch'i Gong as I probably should write it - explained to us today). That's a lot, and even more so for little me who has avoided all serious sport for the last 6 years (yeah, back then, I was dancing - that's AGES ago, wow), except for going for walks and some very light jogging, and the bit of cycling that I do to get from A to B and back again.
Anyway, 4 courses. Of course, massage sounds easy, but when you do the massaging, you're actually quite active - so not just pure relaxation, haha. Qigong is probably the most relaxing of all the four things.
And they're all fun! Amazing but true! Yes, even the climbing stuff, which is hard, and kills my feet and hands, and is frustrating because we have a difficult wall with slippery holds and I'm a complete newbie. It's still fun! :)
It was probably insane to sign up for that much stuff in a semester where I already have to do much stuff, but what's the saying like? All is allowed in love and war, or something like that.

Just so you all know I am enjoying myself and have not forgotten about swaps finished, still outstanding, and all the other stuff!

Tired now (and for the last 8 hours or so :P), so off to bed it is.

Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

I, Barbara,

Pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing.

I Pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle pre-loved items for myself.

I Pledge that I shall create and craft items of clothing for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium.

I Pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!

And I will do so at least until the end of 2006! Take that, H+M!

Rest and Resolutions

In the danger of sounding paradoxical - soon uni will start again (tomorrow, sort of), and soon I will find some rest and peace again. Haha.
Honestly, paper writing always gets me on edge. In the danger of sounding paradoxical again, my thesis should be so much more fun than those endless term papers! By now they annoy the hell out of me, no matter how interested I might be in the topic and how much I'd love to write about these things.

Anyway, October 1 which just passed here marked the beginning of my new resolutions for the rest of the year, which will hopefully make up for not having any sort of resolutions this past New Years.

They are mainly concerned with spending less - far less. Close to nothing would be preferable, though that will probably not happen.

To achieve this, I have resolved the following (I might miss a few things now, I have a longer list elsewhere):
1. To not buy any more clothes. To help with this, I joined Wardrobe Refashion 06. I think I need the group pressure, uh, group support here.
2. To not buy any more magazines, books etc. I have some exception clauses here:
a) If I absolutely need a book for uni reading and it's gone both from my department's library and the main library, I may consider buying it.
b) If I finish any exams during this term, and my grade is either an A, B or C, I may buy myself one single magazine as a reward.
To further my goals in this respect, I have deleted my credit card information from my Amazon account, YesAsia account and PayPal account.
3. No more other fun but unnecessary stuff like video games, CDs, DVDs, jewellery etc.
4. No more Etsy purchases (unless as per point 5).
5. I will only buy bath stuff when I run out of a certain product. Which means - only when I have close to none toothpaste/shampoo/conditioner/what have you left will I buy a new one. And yes, I may buy these from Etsy, as the stuff they have is good stuff.
6. I will pack my lunch for uni instead of spending good money on not so good food, and for this purpose have ordered and received my own little lunchbox set! Hah. Won't that be cute..by which I mean slightly childish but fun.
7. I will give my credit card to my parents so that when I need - or think I need - to use it I will have to ask them for it. Boy, that should help.
8. I will get bank statements on how my account is doing every Friday - and I will actually look at it. ;)
9. I will buy craft stuff only when a) it's for a definite project, and just the amount I need and b) I know I will actually finish said project within the week. Better to use what I already have though, sure.

I guess that's the main stuff...it should work. :) All these are from October 1st 2006 until January 1st 2007. I guess Christmas will just be sooo great when I can wish for some books etc. Yay!

Something that doesn't fit into the 'saving money' stuff is that I will get back to what used to be my usual weight, which somehow went ballistic since March. The sports courses I signed up for (starting tomorrow! Me and my sister will be learning the coolness of Aikido - I hope - on Mondays from now on. Hah.) should help - although I signed up for them just because I wanted to, and not because of the weight thing.
Hey, at least I'm not joining Weight Watchers! ;)

In other news, I learned yesterday that one of my friends is going to get married next summer.
Now *that's* amazing...

Change of plans

Hey, to everyone who was looking forward to calling me Miss Lazy - sorry! I'm not renaming this blog. No, the paper isn't finished - but I received an email from the professor I'm writing it for that it's not due by end of September, but by end of October! Yay for me! This message was so incredibly motivating that I read around 30 pages (with tiny script!) and took some more notes last evening (for said paper). So, I'm not really lazy, right? In fact, I will in a few minutes go back and finish the book I'm reading for the thing.

That reminds me about yesterday evening, when I was sitting on my bed doing the studying stuff, and it was just hilarious - I was drinking Croatian (non-alcoholic) beer which my sister had brought back from her last holiday (she didn't like it), eating Japanese peanut snacks which Babs had sent, and reading about English sonnets. What fun! Multi-cultural study time! (Oh yeah, and I was listening to Nick Cave, so that's Australian music thrown into the mix!)
I should do this more often, it was good fun. I don't necessarily need to drink beer (I rarely do, actually), but I'm sure I can have some cultural mix-up fun more often. :)

Anyway, the actual change of plans is - I will finish the one book today, and start working on the other paper I need to do tomorrow. And I need to email my thesis professor that I won't be writing the one term paper I said I'd maybe do - it just didn't work out with the first half of my holidays being again taken over by emotional chaos and most of the other half with getting over it. (Yeah, I'll actually give him that explanation...he'll understand, he's cool ;D).

No worries friends, your time to call me lazy and be nasty about me not writing anything much will come, next spring and summer when I write my thesis. I'll need all the incentive and motivation I can get to stick to the writing...you'll help me out, right? ;)

And now, some food, and then back to my lovely sonnet (the paper is about translations of Shakespeare's sonnet no. 66, and my own ideas on translating it, if anyone's interested).

A package from Melbourne

Last week on Tuesday I received one huge package. Ok, I received several packages, but one was huge. Like, really big. And inside, there was another big thing. A big brown paper bag. I immediately knew what was inside, and immediately thought Pei might have gone a bit crazy:




























See that heap of fabric? See all that fabric? O_O














Look at all these! I think Pei, together with Babs, has enlarged my fabric stash by at least a third! And yep, I didn't have any patterned fabric before...now I have LOADS! These will make a lot of pretty things! :D

Next item up is also fun. Pei said she'd send me a kangaroo shirt, and I should send her a No kanagroo shirt (one of those funny touristy ones we have here). Well, she had herself a deal. And here's my pretty Australian roo shirt (hers isn't nearly as pretty, I blame the lousy tourist industry here!


















I already declared this to be my official thesis writing shirt. As in, when I'm wearing this shirt, I'll mean business! :D

Then there were also some great postcards. Genius me took pictures of them still in the bag, but in return I'll later on show pictures of what I've done with them.


















See those sunsets in the back! Just perfect!

Next, some delicious Australian goodness: Tim Tams! And see what sort of flavours she chose for me, how can a girl resist? (Honestly, I don't know how I've kept my fingers off them for a week!)














Get that? Creamy Truffle Temptation! Whoah!

And now, in the spirit of keeping best for last, look at this here:














It's the absolute fabulous final goodie bag! Owl Number One - Koo! Very well wrapped but still stylish - Pincushion! And in the background, but no less important - Funky Letter!
Yep, this is the part where my insides went a little soft, as did my brain, and I was turned into Super-Sop for a few hours. The pincushion is the most beautiful thing! Small and delicate and so well made...I don't even want to stick pins in there! And then the owl - the brown fabric is the softest ever, and he's tiny...both of them joined Sammy. What can I say! Thanks so much Pei! Still quite stunned over here!

I hope I can manage to do some 'action shots' at some stage, so the kind people at GYS get some happy interesting pictures that they seem to crave so much. I'll have to enlist the help of some friend (or sister/brother) and get some cultural landmark shots, crazy happy grin included. :)

Anyway, this was fabulous! I can only hope she likes my package as much, when she wrote she had received it she hadn't opened it yet! Ayeee! *looks hopeful*

What fun!

I was just about to start writing my stuff about kwoozy's package from last week (she received mine today! Yay!), when the doorbell rang, and of course, when the postman rings, that means we get packages. And with we I mean myself. ;)
Guess what! My third swap package arrived! That's all of the first three! Wohooo! This one was Lori's, fresh out of Oklahoma! So much fun stuff!

Anyway, I'll write about kwoozy's package, and then about Lori's, and then I'll collapse (approx. 2 hours of sleep tonight, I know I've said it before many times, but -> NO MORE COFFEE! Argh). And then, after collapsing for a while and thinking nothing, I'll hopefully study to avoid my new title of Miss Lazy Slob. Some work ahead of me. :P

Study? Do sports instead!

Ok, so the paper plan didn't work out - even though I did write a very motivated almost 2 pages for the first one this weekend! Guess I'll have to work a little faster. I'm not giving up yet! I'll manage to finish it by Wednesday, and if not, you can all call me Miss Slob. In fact, I will temporatily rename this blog if I don't finish it. That should be some incentive...
Instead of doing much studying this weekend, I went for this huge dinner with my family today. We were just the usual five of us, but we ate a whopping lot. Phew!
And (not because of the dinner but because we're super-motivated) my sister and I will tomorrow sign up for some courses the sports institute of our university is offering. I've got a shortlist here of 5 things I'd be interested in (2 of which my sister can't do because they're at the wrong time for her, but for me they'd work, heh), and tomorrow morning (that's one big AM, we're meeting at 8, brrr) we'll sign up for at least two of them. How's that for going-for-it? ;)

And, ahhh, the studying will come, it will come. I'm hopeful. :)

Also, my write-up of the lovely package I received from kwoozy will follow soon. I waited several days before sending her an email about it and still went all soppy and whatnot, it's almost embarassing - OK it is - but my writeup should really be fine. No more self-help-book rhetorics, I promise! :P
And I'll post the much needed pictures...

What happened this past week

Haven't posted a lot lately, and this post will large still be without pictures because I feel soooo lazy today!

Last week Monday (the 4th) my sister came back from Paris, and she didn't only show me the fab things she bought for herself, but she even brought me something! Supercute silver-and-blue necklace! Yay, my sister knows what I like! :)
Then on Tuesday she left again for Carynthia. Ain't she great? ;D

Last week Wednesday (the 6th) I started sorting through the huge pile in my room for things to (hopefully) sell on the market on Sunday. In the process, I found these two crafty sand things: sand art - filling coloured sand into a frame, once belonged to my mum and she never ever used it in the last ca 15-20 years, AND Make your own sand bottle - bought by myself, or for me by my parents, on our holiday to Cornwall, now *does the maths* 8 years ago and I never used the stuff myself either.
Well, last Wednesday my parents went out, so I took over our dining table again and used up these two things. The super sand art frame thingy didn't quite turn out as planned (I just wanted to pour the colours into layers, which would have looked nice with the colours I had - anyway, I messed it up by shaking the frame too much and did something completely different in the end) but the sand bottle does look nice. :)
I still haven't closed these two things properly, I probably should, before I pour sand all over the place...
Anyway, pictures will follow! (Already took them last week but too lazy to post.)

On Thursday my sis came back again!
Also, Monday through to Thursday, I had to do my first online registrations for next uni term - probably the last where I will really take lots of courses...
It was the first time we had to use this online system, and I was sort of worried that it would be a huge mess, system failing, trying to call the secretary, being on hold for ages because 50 students are calling at the exact same time - but none of it happened! I got all the courses I needed, and most of the courses I wanted (I gave up one of the places I got because someone else needed it more and I didn't really need the credits anyway), and now there's just two days of registration for me to go which shouldn't be too stressful. No more compulsory courses to sign up for. Te-hee!

On the weekend with my sunflower-induced hayfever attack I made two necklaces, no pictures yet either (not even taken yet). A very nice white one using some of the blue beads I received from my friend T, and another one in three shades of blue (very simple).

On Sunday was the market, for which I had to get up shortly past 5am. Jeeee-sus! It's just not for me. My sis and I managed to make our way somehow, and we even sold some stuff. Not such a lot, but we made around 40€ each, which isn't too bad for mainly sunbathing (ok, the sun got too much later on, as already mentioned, but still - sitting around, drinking hot tea in the morning and cold water in the afternoon, being visited by friends - well at least my sister was - doesn't sound too bad). Ok so we were dead tired. BUT! I also bought something, taking 5€ from my earnings...I didn't venture far or I would have bought far too much junk, so I just took a look at our neighbours place - in fact, she asked us several times to watch it while she went to get something to drink etc. And what did I discover! A fabulous tea set, a lovely bowl, and some other nice stuff. We-helll, I went and bought the tea set for 3€ (6 cups, stove and tea can!) and the pretty bowl (dark brown on the outside, light turquoise crackle glaze on the inside) for another 2€! Another incentive to start frequenting second hand stores...

We went home at 4pm, pretty much exhausted. The rest of our family had a late lunch prepared, and aftereating that together I had a shower and a short flop on the couch, but we were off again at 6pm for our family game of pool billard. O-m-g. Have I ever been so tired? Yes, I know I have, and far worse...but I usually didn't try to hit little balls with a long sharp stick at those times. HOW I managed to still be so fab that my mum wouldn't believe that I only ever played pool before for like 5 times or so (the "fab" is entirely my description, in comparison to other people it surely wasn't - I just had some probably waking-dream induced bright moments) I don't know. Every time I sat on one of those fantastic chairs they have, I sort of folded in and forwards, and felt like a balloon losing air. And why the hell I drank beer when I was already feeling like something wet and floppy I don't know either. But hey! It was fun! We laughed one hell of a lot! We had good food! It was a wonderfully nice evening! It reminded me why I love my family!
But as soon as we got home (and I had checked my emails for one last time :P) I fell into my bed and slept like a stone that has been hit on the head with a baseball bat and injected with morphines and what-have-you.

And this week, yes, this one, I will officially name Christmas Week. Five (!!!so crazy!!!) packages on Tuesday, another one and a new notebook on Wednesday, another package (yeeees, the Amazon one) today...whoah. I'm still keeping all the stuff that I so far got in the envelopes etc - I have no idea where to put things in an orderly fashion - because after the market, where not all things were sold of course, my room is again just a little bit messy, but I'm working on it.

Yeah, the Amazon package...amongst other things, I now have 3 new craft books (actually, what means 'new', these are amongs the first ones I personally own...other than them, just one for those friendship bracelets which I bought at least 10 years ago and the book with decorative patterns inside from a few weeks ago...all others that we have here at home technically belong to my parents and are mainly for children's stuff).
I know I write too long in brackets - often longer than outside them. :P
Anyway, I now have two books on t-shirt reconstruction and one on making books. Well...guess I'll start with the t-shirts as the bookmaking stuff requires more tools, and I'm not the richest student around (especially not after all these packages...yikes). Anyway, I think with the t-shirt books I'm quite well-employed for the refashion plans (both the books and my soon-to-be-implemented plans will receive extra posts sometimes).

And after writing this exhausting report (why am I so lazy today? is it the approaching change in weather? I can only hope so...) I will run myself a bath and then laze around some more with my books and then sleep.
Which means that tomorrow I will type with fury so I can keep my promise to myself and finish a paper per week from now on. Wish me luck! :)

Sweettooth Thursday III - Keiko Green Kiss Matcha Mapan & Ginger Matcha Mapan

Yep, I'm still working on that very successful shopping spree two weeks ago. :)
These were the second part of Keiko treats that I bought myself (along with the chews from last week). These little treats were actually available in several more flvours, but I stuck with these two for the moment.


















Don't you just love the packaging style?
Anyway, these are once again very 'simple' things: The ingredients list just almonds, honey, matcha (green tea powder), wheat wafer for the pale-faced ones, and almonds, honey, matcha (green tea powder), wheat wafer ginger, for the other one. So I guess no baddies inside these!

Anyway, so these are simply two wheat wafers (Oblaten, for you German speakers - there's probably still none but who cares! :D) with this creamy almond-honey-matcha paste between them. And you just bite into them and chew this sweet stuff, enjoy the taste of honey and almonds, the light hint of green tea (and maybe a hint of ginger with the second one), let it melt away in your tongue, and start over.
The matcha taste isn't very pronounced, it's rather subtle, and if you want to really get it, you better be a slow eater. I guess you could also just wolf them down and be done with it, but what a waste that would be!

I have to admit to being and almond (and honey!) freak myself, and I like my green tea when I manage to have it, so I really enjoyed finding these goodies. Again, they're a little expensive (they're portioned at 40g and I got mine for €2,50 each - which could have bought me three 100g chocolate bars at the next supermarket) but I think for a piece of goodness to treat yourself to sometimes, they're not bad. They're definitely slow food, and with a subtle combination of ingredients, so I'm not surprised they're sold in our tea shop (ignoring the fact there's actual tea in there :P).

Actually, on the subject of tea in there, maybe these would also work as an afternoon pick me up (as advertised on the chew packaging), who knows. Not sure. I probably shouldn't test these in the evening when I'm more lively by nature anyway. ;)

As you may have guessed, these are also made by Keiko, the company on which I didn't find much information (I'll review some better supported candy next), but I decided to check Wikipedia for the entry and found the information that Keiko is a Japanese female given name, and means something like "happy/blessed child". I suppose that at least explains the female deco and the intended effect of their products, right? :)

Excitement overdose

Ok, another Etsy package arrived...
Now I'm missing one more with what will be my new uni bag inside...plus an Amazon package is to arrive either tomorrow or Friday...
I'm drowning in exciting new stuff!

And then I went out and finally bought myself a notebook.
(...)

I've been without my own computer for more than 3 years now, I think (I try to forget :P), and had to pester my family all this time. Finally, my own piece of electric gadgetry again, yay! No internet yet (I told my father we should wait with installing this so I actually do my writing and don't get tempted to much), so I'll still sit here for that, but yay! Sitting on my comfy bed and writing my papers! Yay!

And new wool for my mum to knit me my yearly winter jumper! And one ball of yarn for me to finally learn how to knit, and to remember that I know!

Also, I think one of my swap packages finally arrived at its destination!

So yeah, I'm a little overexcited about everything right now...I'll hopefully post something about it all tomorrow, when another sweet review is due as well. This blog has been sadly lacking in pictures these past few days - I'll have to remedy that.

Christmas come early

Well, we have blue skies, lots of sun, sunburnt me...and 5 (in words: FIVE) little packages arriving at my door!

O_O

*stunned silence*

There is one huge envelope from Kwoozy (aaah!) and 4 packages from my shopping spree last weekend - on Etsy. (I guess all those people I bought things from should feel hugely thankful to Meshell whose blog introduced me to that page!)

Well, I will further my training in composure and restraint and will again only open them after my shower.
And then I'll probably further my training in WRITING IN FREAKING HUGE LETTERS WITH LOTS OF !!!!!!!!

September Sunburn

Yesterday my sis and I were at a market. We here call them flea markets for some reason, in the UK they're called car boot sales, no idea how other people might call it. There's one held in our district every year; we went last year and decided to go this year as well.
And it was *freakin' hot*!
Ok, at 5.30 am it wasn't, it was pretty cold, but once the sun reached our little place, we were more or less cooking for the rest of the day. The consequence: we now both have a ridiculously strong sunburn on arms and chest, my arms haven't been this dark in years (I'm naturally fair-skinned and, as mentioned before, a lazy stay-at-home) - and today I have a headache, so still not many emails written, I think I managed two or three. They will come though!
I'll write about the exciting pool billard we played with the rest of our family afterwards (how I still managed to hit the right balls half-asleep I don't know) and other fun later on.
Must sleep soon. *huge yawn*

Hayfever

It's a beautiful and warm start into September, and a final attack of hayfever announced itself in the past few days. Well, today it struck with full force, and my head is consequently incredibly fuzzy. Which again means that everyone who's waiting for replies to their emails will have to wait a little longer - can't write much sense like this.
Will go back to mindlessly putting beads on string and hoping for colder weather. And rain. Lots of rain.

Sweettooth Thursday II - Keiko Green Kiss Matcha Chews

These are part of last weeks bounty of sweet treats. Actually, I found several things made by Keiko, but I already tried these so they'll be reviewed first.
I first tried green tea sweets only a short while ago - maybe a month - so I was glad to come across several more. The first ones I had (which will probably be reviewed some other time) were hard candy, so I was delighted to find these chews.














As you can see in the picture, 1) the packaging is cute and stylish at the same time 2) the individual candies are wrapped in one of those starchy papers that you can eat with them and 3) there must be a third point because Western people just love the harmonious flow of that, so I'll just repeat how cute the packaging is - look, even on the individual wrappers...and such a beautiful green! Ok, enough about the decorative aspects. How do these taste?

I have to admit that I never had matcha tea before, and green tea only in the one variation I so far bought (which I love). I wouldn't even know where to find Matcha in this town. But well. Even though green tea isn't the same as any other green tea, there must be some similiarities, right? Right.

The important thing with these is that they're quite hard at the beginning (at least mine are, I suspect all are, because one whole bag of flukes would just be too much bad luck for a girl with a lucky turtle). Anyway, you've got to have these in your mouth for a while, to let the starchy paper melt away and to soften up the whole thing. The good thing is that the softening works very quickly, and then you get the beautiful taste of green tea. And you can chew your heart out for a couple of minutes, which is a bonus for me. Here we again reach a negative - it really does only last for a couple of minutes (if you do chew, I suspect that if you just use it like hard candy it will take a little longer to vanish). Here again another good thing - the aftertaste lasts you for a while. No more chewing, but some lovely green tea taste left anyway. Mhhh.

The packaging says something about them being the perfect perk-me-up. I just had one so if I feel any more awake until I finish writing it probably works. ;)

The company, as I said, is called Keiko, go to their American site here. (The link given on the packaging is apparently not current anymore.) It's a Japanese company, and the chews are made in Japan (says my bag, at least, not that much info on the site). They're speciality is, quite evidently, matcha, which they sell as the green tea powder that it is, but also use for all sorts of sweets, like the chews I just reviewed.
They have loads of stuff I haven't bought yet, because, I have to admit, these aren't that cheap. My bag of 50g cost me €3.90, and I guess there were around 10 or 11 pieces in there. Not that many! But tasty nonetheless. :)

For all my Austrian readers (hehe, who am I kidding), I got these at Heissenberger in my lovely hometown, but I guess all of their stores might carry these. For all other readers, I have no clue, sorry, but I guess you could write them via their email address and ask. They seem to exist in the US and Canada, at least, and I admit I haven't checked for other countries. You might also be able to order them online.

I admit I'm not as hot on these as on the ginger (stupid pun, sorry, not intentional), but they're certainly nice and fresh, and as a form of portable green tea, they're great! (More intense than the hard candies I tried, definitely.)
So, I hope I found you green tea lovers something new to try out! Enjoy. :)

Swap No. 1 - The beautiful package from Babs

It took me a day, but I think I can now write about what I received in my package from sweet and sunny California.

When I saw the package in the mailbox, I almost couldn't believe it - I hadn't thought it would already be here! But it was! And then I showed some of the most restraint I've ever shown and took a shower, cooked lunch, ate lunch - and only then sat down to the table and slowly slowly opened it.

I knew what would be in it: A t-shirt, some sweets, maybe some fabric. But I didn't know exactly what sort of t-shirt, which sweets, and whether there would really be fabric.

Well, looky here:













It's all here! T-shirt, fabric, sweets, postcard, and (!!!) lucky turtle charm! Oh my God! Such a lot of stuff! :D

I immediately tried on the t-shirt and it fit perfectly - perfectly, I say, probably better than most of the t-shirts currently in my wardrobe (yep, gaining weight sucks, but covering it up with a fantastic t-shirt like this which is fitted yet HIDES IT ALL is the best thing ever). I also love the print! Babs sent me some pictures of t-shirts she could get and which would be sort of my favourites, and I picked out two...and this was one of them. So lovely. It looks even better real than on the picture - and while I usually worry whether print t-shirts won't look funny when worn, this one doesn't. :)














Four pieces of fabric, I'm so in love with these! And look how they're tied up nicely! :) There's the fiery pink one, then one with a white, green and lilac circle print, a blue one with some gold flower print (very subtle, very nice) and a lovely brown one - I do not usually fall for brown, but this is such a great print! I know you can't see it that well in the picture, but I'll post some better ones soon.

The sweets are of course all great! I told Babs that I liked anything with nuts (esp. peanuts), and that's what I got. Plus! POCKY! I have Pocky! I didn't even tell her about that, I think (or did I? Maybe I did after all...) yet here it is. After reading about it so much I will finally eat some myself. :D

And here's the sweetest and tiniest bit:













My mum noticed this before I did (cunningly hidden in the fabric) and was completely fascinated. She thought it was the cutest thing ever, and for a short while (very very short) I thought I'd offer to give it to her. But yeah, I didn't. Instead, this lovely tiny lucky turtle now lives in my purse and already helped me today to find the perfect pair of shoes! Thanks little Japanese turtle!

And thanks Babs! Receiving this package just felt amazing! :)

Oh yeah, about how wide my grin was...approximately like this:

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;)

Catching Up: Some things I got lately

Here's a couple of things I bought before I left for my holidays:













This extremely cute cup...I know I have enough teacups, but this one was just too sweet to pass up...I found it in the homeware department of large supermarket...where I usually never go. I guess I'll better stay away in future as well if I want to save money (and space, at that). :P

And then I also found this:


















It's actually an originally English book translated into German. My translation back into English: Knitting - Hot trends for cool girls. Now, it's evidently aimed at teenagers, a group I no longer belong to (and I don't really think of myself as 'cool'), but:
1) It's for beginners 2) It's easy stuff 3) The things still look great!

Evidence:*


















I do hope that this will be a further incentive on my personal long hard road to knowledge of knitting.

And here's a few things I got on my holidays (all in one shop, lol):


















Things I bought myself: Teacup and the two pendants. Things my mum bought for me: The bracelet.
This was a small shop in Hermagor, a town we passed through when on our way to the Garlitzklamm. It was fun, the shop is run by a couple from the Netherlands who used to visit Austria in their holidays and always dreamt of moving here (they love mountains - and the Netherlands have so few of them). They managed just that about a year ago and now own this great shop which sells all sorts of things - wooden toys for kids, souvenirs, glassware, herbal teas, things made with semiprecious stones...a very nice and light shop. :)

And here another shot of my beautiful new teacup (yes I know, another one :P) for your viewing pleasure:


















And finally - two sets of beads I received from my friend (I shall call her T, she's the one I had my crafting Wednesday with and who is now in China) for my cat-sitting over a weekend. As if taking some time to cuddle her cats wasn't reward enough! Look at these, they're beautiful!





























*(Note: This isn't me, it's a picture from the book. I have no idea about knitting yet, except knowing that whenever I try it ends in failure. ;P)

Catching Up: Holidays

I promised some pictures from my 5-day-holidays with my parents.
They'd planned to stay for two weeks in an apartment belonging to a family friend, located in Carynthia, at around 950m altitude, on a lake (called Weissensee). They tried to convince me and my brother to come visit them, and while my brother preferred to stay at home (he's usually out and about almost every weekend because of swimming tournaments or stuff like that), I decided to got for the second week.
Now, it was simply fantastic...fresh air! All that green! Beautiful but autumny cool weather! Ahhh...
In those few days, we did some hiking, went around the lake on our bikes, went swimming for very short periods (lake at around 18°C, refreshing but COLD), lay around lazily soaking in some sun, played some minigolf (or crazy golf, as it's called in the UK I think), had lots of good food, and in the evening sat around our fun electrically heated tiled stove and watched TV or read our books or wrote some stuff (for example, I tried to get some start on that paper writing business that I keep on talking about but delay doing wonderfully).
It was extremely relaxing. I loved the fact that I was out and about in the air such a lot, here int he city I'm the worst stay-at-home (although I'm working at it :P).

Ok, and now that you read all that stuff about how nice holidays are, here's some pictures to show the beauty of the location....














I went for a short cycle on my second evening and enjoyed the silence, good air, and a fantastic sunset.














On the second whole day I was there, I went hiking with my dad. This is part of the way we had to walk (picture taken from the ship we took to get back to where our bikes were).


















The day after, all four of us went to the Garlitzklamm (Klamm= fume or gorge in English). I took loads of pictures of waterfalls and the waterway. The trail was quite an adventure, lots of climbing etc...


















Here's the view of the gorge from the trail we took back to the car, which ran quite high above. You can't see the water, but you can see where the thing runs, sort of.














On Saturday we first had bad weather, so we played crazy golf and then, when it cleared up, went for a boat ride with a rented electrical boat. Mhh, beautiful.













Goodbye-shot of the lake from the one bridge that exists across it, immediately before we left. Beautiful, isn't it?

I have lots more pictures and I hope I'll put up some of them someplace else soon. Knowing myself, it might take a while though... ;)

Waaaah!

Oh My God!
I just went to collect the post from the mailbox....and O_O there is this small package inside, and and and...I got my first swap package! From Babs! It's already here! *bounes up and down*

Now, I must contain myself and take it slow, take pictures etc, instead of just ripping it open!

Gaaaah!

*happy*

Update 2 hours later:
Guess who's a lucky girl? I'm a lucky girl! Very lucky! Very happy! I'm extremely happy I found out about GYS...I can honestly say that in the past four weeks, this has changed my life (sounds cheesy, but it has). Thank you Babs and all those others who are and will be swapping with me! It's the best thing ever!
Detailed write up of what I received and how wide my grin was a little later when I've calmed down...

Number 3

Yay! My first three swap packages are sent! Not yet received but sent! Oh goody!
Now, patience until they arrive. :)

Anyway, this means I can now set up some new swaps. A huge SORRY to those people I haven't even emailed back yet, it's been a bit chaotic these past few weeks, so much stuff going on. I'll get back to you soon, and I'm looking forward to swapping with all of you, it will be lots of fun! :)

And now I'm finally going to tear myself away from the screen (so many nice crafty blosg to look at! So many new crafty books I have found and would order from Amazon if I shouldn't leave now!) and will do something useful for the upcoming flea market where my sister and I will again try our luck - we made some good money last year, after all. Plus, more room in my room! Perfect! :D

Oh, and sleep. I need sleep. I do nothing all day but I'm sooo tired. Mmmh.