completely just brightened my day.

these creatures sometimes just make me shiver.

 

 

one of my oldest and most favourite friend, sasha and i took a hike up the famous 1000 steps the other day. the weather was so kind and we topped it off with delicious tom yum soup from our local thai.

just a couple of photo's of my last day in austria.
definitely amongst a small group of people in this world that i would do absolutely anything for, my friend anna took a seedy night train from berlin, via prague, to surprise me in graz (austria) for my last few precious hours in europe. seriously, is she not the best?! did i mention she was on crutches at the time?
so we made and ate delicious food with my sister & her wonderful family, ventured out into the freezing, but beautiful, city (including climbing the massive hill to the clock tower), played games and listened to wonderful music.
as always, good food, great company & conversation brings the most happiness.

made my first mix on 8tracks.
bit excited about it because it's awesome. bit not because of how the title of the playlist doesn't fit all the way on the picture when i post it on here.
but i'll deal because it's about the music, right?

one of the many reasons i want to call this place my home.

japan and its people are very close to my heart, please keep them and your prayers in yours.

signalnoise.com

this extremely talented irish lad (like that?) put on one of the best shows i've seen in a while last friday night at the autmn leaves festival here in graz. i even scored myself a free album! shh, need to keep that on the d/l though.
unfortunately it's not available outside of the uk till sometime next year, but do yourself a favour and have a listen.
JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW

excuse the cheesy grin. this photo followed a hilarious situation.

missing you lot's, my crazy, free spirited, wonderful, fun travelling accomplice. 

I miss you, Norway. 

i tell you what you already know

here i go

i tell you what you already know

if you love me

with all of your heart

if you love me

i'll make you a star in my universe

you'll never have to go to work

you spend every day

shining your light my way

new music from angus & julia stone is gold. pure beauty.

Brilliant. I'm planning on moving out next year, totally getting one of these.

via Fubiz.

Ever had the goal to read a book a week for an entire year? No? Okay, well this guy here did it and I'm pretty impressed. The list doesn't just consist of your local bookstores top 100 (or most popular) novels, but includes biographies, philosophy books even art.

With the crazy year I had last year, I didn't get to read quite as much as I would have loved, but that is going to change this year. I have a massive list already and am in a terrible habit where I'm reading about 4 books at the same time. Hopefully close to half of the books will be in german this year. I need to get back into that habit.

My 2010 list includes:

War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy **

Just the number of pages that this book has, has intimated me for a while now and I've always said that "one day I'll read that mother of a book", so I figure, why not this year? I'll have a lot more time to read (hopefully) so I may as well tick this goal off the list already. I've been hearing rumors that it's one that needs to be put down and picked up every now and then, apparently you can't do it in one go (meaning over a period of time.. obviously not in one sitting), but I am determined to make it to the end either way. I've already ordered a couple of different copies in for me at work so I can choose the nicest and most sturdy one possible. With a book that big it has to at least be pretty.

1984- George Orwell

I really enjoyed his 'Animal Farm', and '1984' is supposed to be his best work. I really have nothing else to say about it at this point. Although, I am still undecided as to whether to read it in german or english as I have a german copy, but it's never the same to read a translated book when you can read the author's original words.

Eat, Pray, Love- Elizabeth Gilbert*

This book was recommended to me by a friend and has been hugely popular at the shop lately. Something about being on some daily talk show, hosted by an african american woman. Apparently millions of women tune into her show daily and I hear she's even given away free cars to her entire audience! Yes, Oprah did have it as he book club book at one stage but I swear that isn't why I'm reading it. Okay, maybe a little.

Farewell to Arms-Ernest Hemingway*

I'm too nervous to comment anything on this book as of yet, because apparently a friendship that's dear to me is depending on it. I had always planned to read this book eventually and it was given to me by a dear friend this past christmas with a warning that if I do not like enjoy this book, our friendship will have to be re-thought. I loved Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea' so I'm sure that this won't be an issue..

Coco Chanel- Axel Madsen*

Well this one is simple. I've been infatuated with her work for a number of years and this tells about Chanel's rise from being a penniless orphan to millionaire designer- 'inventing' sportswear, the little black dress and No. 5.

The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde*

I love love love Oscar Wilde's work. I can seriously sit reading the book with a notebook and constantly be writing down brilliant quotes. A friend from work and I decided to read and discuss the book at the same time, but I think we both keep getting distracted and have never actually gotten around to finishing it and holding a discussion.

The Vampire-Alexej Tolstoi

Well, a few months ago, I came across something of a treasure chest to me. My parents are both book lovers and when we packed all our things up in germany, a lot of those boxes were full of books. They never really interested me as long as I knew my brother had packed the most important Donald Duck comics. That's right, they were the best. Anyway, I randomly decided to go through some of my parent's bookcases and found so so many classic books. All in german, of course, but I'd been planning on reading more german. So among this massive pile that I'd assorted was this book. That is why.

The Brain that changes itself- Normal Doidge, MD

I've picked up this book a few times already. It's one of those ones you can do that with, that's full of success stories about neurosurgeons changing the lives of a number of people. As well as being one of those 'feel-good' books it actually gives hope to people facing 'incurable' diseases that are being fought and won.

Think Big and kick Ass- Donald Trump

So shoot me. I've read all his other books, except for the one co-written with Robert T. Kyosaki, and even though they aren't amazing business books, they do teach you a lot and get you motivated.

Tuesdays with Morrie-Mitch Albom

I read 'For one more Day' earlier last year and have somehow accumulated two of his other works (see below). I like his style of writing and after, or before, I get through 'War and Peace', I need some lighter reading.

5 People you'll meet in Heaven- Mitch Albom

See above.

Die vermessung der Welt- Daniel Kehlman

A gift from my brother and supposedly amazing. The story of two genius' adventures.

Life of Pi- Yann Martel

This has also been on my list for a while now. It sits on my bookshelf accumulating dust and I keep hearing great things about it and figure it really is about time that it gets crossed off.

Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth- Peter Kelder*

For as long as I can remember my mum has been doing these ancient 'yogic' exercises and believe it or not, they actually work and everything that's guaranteed to happen, happens. So a while ago I decided to give them a go and get her to teach me. She did and in turn handed me the book to read.

The Great Gatsby- Francis Scott Fitzgerald

A classic that's been on the list for a while. I haven't decided which language I'll read this in yet. I have it in both german and english.

Tintenherz trilogie (Inkheart Trilogy)- Cornelia Funke

My sister in law bought me a beautiful copy of the first book years ago and I've since gotten the second, but never actually got around to reading it. They're as thick as the harry potters plus now theres the third and final in the series that I need to get when I'm in europe. I'm just petty like that.

*Currently reading

**I've had the goal to read this book for some time now and always knew I'd read it one day. But seriously, when we say that it usually doesn't happen. So I'm going to make it happen. I've already ordered myself a nice copy from work.

I'll most likely be adding to the list and may not even get around to reading a couple of these. Hopefully that won't be the case, but this list isn't final.

I swear reading and books isn't all I think about all day :) Unless I'm working of course, then it's sort of a given.

If you've read any of these or have other suggestions or comments or any books that your reading, I would love to hear about them.

I'll try to write a few lines about each once I've read it.

This Icelandic bombshell has been dominating my itunes-recently-played list as of late, so I thought I'd share. Her music is pretty chilled out and fun, and I just like her quirky style and uniqueness. I know, doesn't describe her music whatsoever but this is just what I'm feeling from her. 'Birds' is the first song I heard, and I love it.

Actually, I've noticed that my artist choices have shifted to mostly to female indie singer/songwriters. No idea how that's come about, I've never been the feminist or feminine type of and must say that the majority of my favourite bands/artists are male.

I'm not sure if this post makes much sense or has much point to it, it's late and I just finished a 12 hour shift.

Summary: listen to Emiliana Torrini & enjoy good music. Goodnight.

Just sharing the love..

If not familiar with Bon Iver already, please do yourself the favour of listening to them immediately. You will thank yourself.

When and why did I ever stop listening to The Shins on a regular basis? If you are not familiar with this band, I suggest you check them out immediately.
I have a few favourite tracks, but currently I can't stop listening to 'Sleeping Lessons'.
Love.

I wish I was loaded and still lived in europe sometimes. These kids are hot!
The Sartorialist- On the Street, friends in Paris.

On another note, I made my first ever (from scratch) cupcakes yesterday, and either I have wonderfully nice friends, or they turned out pretty great. I picked up this book from work and plan to bake myself through it. Eventually, and hopefully, one day, my cupcakes will resemble those in the pictures.
{note, my cupcakes did not yet resemble those in the pictures... one day..}

Heard of this before?

Actually, I hadn't either until earlier this afternoon when I unpacked it from our man boxes at work. The more I find out about it and the organization I'm suprised and amazed at why/how our shop got it. I think it's pretty sweet though.

They are a non-for-profit organization called the

Yellow Bird Project, working with rock indie bands to raise money for various charities, like the Elliott Smith Memorial fund, AIDS charities, and also design some fab tee-shirts and other cool little items. Bands include The National, Bon Iver, The Shins (!!!), Iron And Wine and The Stars, just to name a few.
I think I'll buy the colouring book.. and will be very tempted to colour it in myself.
Just look at some of the pages!



It's the only way to bring up some rad kids.

As a lot of my friends know, I love stationary. Especially high-quality and expensive stationary. I just like aesthetics I guess and the feel of a nice and pretty note book, or a pen that writes smoothly across beautiful thick paper.
Coming to the end of the year, I'm getting rather excited about buying myself a new Moleskine. If you know about these, you've heard the legendary story of the Moleskine notebook..",which, I won't lie did help in converting me to buying them, but to me it's the diary's simplicity and beauty that draws me to buy them year after year. Its sweet cream paper, leather-bound with little clever things all through it. I'm also a huge fan of the rest of the range and use them for journals, notebooks and they are perfect for a "little black book". Can't wait to purchase one of the write-your-own-travel-books for my travels next year!
I'm using the 18-month softcover planner at the moment and really like the feel of the softcovers, but I'm pretty sure the 12-months only come in hardcovers. Damn.
Another stationary company that gets my blood pumping a little faster is Smythson, though unfortunately still a little out of my price range.

Yes, this entire post was purely about how much I love stationary and especially Moleskines.