recent buys (shoemania)

Hi guys!

My day was boring, so instead of writing something I'll show you my bargain purchases of the last days:


comfy and cozy soft Norwegian style slippers for at home (7 Euro from Deichmann)




a pair of ugg-like knit boots that I wanted for wearing them around the house or to the supermarket or so. I think they look stupid as "normal" outdoor shoes...and they're not even water-proof, that's why I wanted cheap ones and now I finally found them (8 Euro via Ebay)




two pairs of unworn Primark shoes (both for about 8 Euro and both via Ebay)
They make me happy because there is no Primark in my area here so these are normally hard to get.




DVD "Michel aus Lönneberga" (7,99 Euro from Saturn)

My German and Swedish readers will remember this TV show!
I loved to watch it when I was younger, it's about a Swedish boy called Michel (in the Swedish original his name was Emil). He lives on the Katthult farm (which still exists today) in the village Lönneberga, where he plays tricks on everyone. The most famous episode is when Michel puts his head into the soup bowl and doesn't get out anymore.
Perfect for curling up on the sofa and reveling in childhood memories :)


I'll be back with something more interesting tomorrow (I'll be in the city to do some christmas shopping, can't wait to roam the shops!)

Have a lovely day!

couscous salad recipe

Hi guys!

When I mentioned the couscous salad the other day I was asked to post the recipe, so here it is. I made this salad for the first time and it turned out as really delicious!

The recipe in German can be found at chefkoch.de, click here to see it.



You need (for 6 portions):

500 grams (instant) couscous
1 red bell pepper
2 beef tomatoes (or a few small ones instead)
200 grams ewe's milk cheese
2 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of balsamico
olive oil
1 lemon
parsley
caraway
cumin
salt and pepper
coriander
water
pignolias or almonds




1. Prepare the couscous according to the instructions on the box.
Whisk 100 mls olive oil with lemon juice and salt and mix it with the couscous.
You might have to add a little more oil and lemon juice if the couscous is still too dry after a few minutes.



2. Press the garlic and fold it in.



3. Grate one lemon paring (I left this out) and add this and the spices to taste.
Most important are parsley, caraway, coriander and cumin!



4. Dice the tomatoes and bell pepper and put them into the bowl.



5. Chop the onion and fry it until it's transparent. Add the balsamico and simmer it until the onion pieces have absorbed it. Put everything into the bowl with the couscous.



6. The couscous absorbes lots of flavour, so you might have to correct the seasoning now (especially with the four most important spices).



7. Crumble the ewe's milk cheese on the salad.
If you like you can also add the pignolias or almonds now.



8. Finished! Bon appétit!



It was really easy, even for a cooking noob like me.
I let my colleagues at work try it today and they liked it very much.
It's spicy and tastes completely different than a normal mixed salad.

If you try it please let me know how it was :)
Have a nice day!

trick.

Hi guys!

How have you been? Hope you've had a nice weekend so far?
We had two friends here yesterday evening, it was so much fun. We don't see them often because they live where I used to live before I moved to Düsseldorf (a tiny village in the country near the border to the Netherlands).
So we had planned to go and have a drink in the old town with them, but before we had a super-funny evening here at home with beer and cookies and Guitar Hero and Gran Turismo.
I was so involved in playing PS3 that I completely forgot to take photos.



sweater: gina tricot, jeans: h&m, necklace + scarf: accessorize, shoes: thrifted, tote bag: emily the strange



At midnight we finally decided to go to the old town to eat something and for letting our guests have a typical Düsseldorfer Altbier. So we took the tube there and the funny thing is: our two guests were so overwhelmed by all the crowded pubs, all the people in the streets, well let's say by the "big city nightlife" in general, that they couldn't decide where to eat or what to drink and felt uncomfortable in the crowd.
Eventually we took a taxi back home, went to McDonald's, grabbed some beer at the petrol station and there we were back in our living room. Our total time spent in the old town was about 15 minutes.
There's no place like home right? ;)






How do you like my new oversized sweater?
This is what I wore yesterday, perfect comfy everyday look. It's finally freezing here in our part of Germany and I can't wait for us to get this winter's first snow! I love snow, I love winter! Everyone else hates it but I'm a fan of the cold. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong country...
Anyway, the sweater is so soft and cozy! This and its wonderfully loose fit made it impossible for me to resist. Since we have Gina Tricot in the city I refuse to buy knitwear somewhere else (well except for 2nd hand via Ebay), they simply have the coziest knitwear and their knitwear is most often even cheaper than H&M.









Here you can finally see where the title of today's post comes from.
Yes I know I'm a bit late, Halloween is long over, but I haven't shown you this tote before although I use it pretty often.
So say Hi to Emily ;)

Alright, so now there's a couscous salad that wants to be made (I'll post the recipe in the next days) and lots of laundry is waiting too.

Have a lovely Sunday!



now playing: chevelle - panic prone

needing your help: hat or not?

Hi guys!

Remember the pretty black hat I had on my winter shoppinglist the other day? Well, I ordered it from the H&M Onlineshop and now it has been lying around here for days and I'm still thinking about if I'd really wear it out or not.
Thank God H&M gives you 14 days to try on the items before you have to send them back.

Somehow I like it on me but I cannot form an objective opinion about it because I find it so pretty and my view might be dazzled by this ;)

(product pic via h&m.com)




So, what do YOU think? Keep or send back?
Does it give my looks the perfect quirky-cool touch or do I look like a dork?


Please leave an honest comment, I can take it ;)
You can also take part in the voting I posted over at my Chictopia.


Thanks and have a lovely Saturday!

thank god it's friday

Hi guys!

It's Friday - finally, yay!
I love our Friday routine: after work Patrick and I go to the supermarket to buy all the yummy things we want to eat over the weekend (I plan a spinach-feta-strudel for tomorrow and an oriental couscous salad for Sunday).
But my perfect Friday night begins after the shopping. I grab some food (baguette with melted cheese and a salad this time), put on my pyjamas and start to read blogs or edit photos or click around on Ebay, basically I do all the internet stuff that got neglected during the week. This is how I relax :)



parka: vero moda, shirt + cardi + pants: h&m, belt: thrifted, necklace: six, scarf: souvenir shop, shoes: akira



I'm behind with posting my outfits and I didn't manage to keep the chronological order, BUT now that I have the weekend to catch up with it everything's fine.
Tomorrow will be the first time this week that I'm at home at noon time so I can take advantage of the daylight when taking photos.
I took today's photos when the light was already bad and you can see my camera did it again: funnily enough its reaction on bad light is overexposure. Awesome...


Have a wonderful weekend! :)
Happy Thanksgiving to all my US-readers!



now playing: deftones - beauty school

f*ck you public transport

Hi guys!


Oh what a day, what a day, crazy!
I'll tell you about it in a kinda journal style today because I saw/red it over at Head to Heart yesterday and liked it a lot :)
But I'm sure it doesn't come across as cute as hers.



8.05 AM
I'm tired but arrive at the bus stop earlier than usual. Need to take the earlier bus to copy something for my first seminar this morning.

8.25 AM
Still at the bus stop. The bus was supposed to come at 8.15. Called the public transport company and heard that the bus goes 19 minutes behind schedule. Awesome, got up earlier in vain.

8.40 AM
Fat woman in the bus yells at me, I yell back correcting her grammatically wrong sentence. Bad temper...

9.10 AM
Finally arrive at uni. Still need the papers for the seminar so I head to the philosophy library. Have to discover that the reserved book shelf is empty. Ask librarian, head over to the big main library. Find the book there but realize that I don't know which chapter to copy. Look up the seminar's website and see that all texts are online and only waited for me to print them out, gaaaaah... Head to the library's printer room but the only coin-operated printer is broken. Don't own a copy card...

10.00 AM
I skip the seminar, get a coffee and kill time in the student's council room.



dress: thrifted via ebay, cardi: h&m, belt: vintage, tights: department store, boots: bullboxer, headband: accessorize



11.15 AM
Next class "The Historical Avantgarde": have to recite a dadaistical poem in English. It mostly consists of the word "laugh", I do well, I'm glad I didn't slutter. Art history students whisper about my nice pronunciation.

1.00 PM
At the bus stop again. Want to take the bus to work. Bus is overcrowded, have to wait for the next one. Gaah what's with the public transport today?!

1.50 PM
Arrive at work. Eat my first snack of the day: ciabatta sandwich with tomatoes, mozzarella, olives and green pesto. Yum! Drink my second coffee with lots of milk.

4.15 PM
Have my 5 minutes cigarette break. Use it to call the public transport company and make a complaint.

6.00 PM
Closing time! Tinkered with the idea of going to the gym but my headache and the darkness outside make me wanna go home.

6.45 PM
Finally arrive at home. The public transport was behind schedule again...



Can you believe it? The tube and buses were one big mess, so annoying!
But fortunately I'm in a good mood though because I have sage tea, honey waffles and my laptop in front of me ;)


That was my day. How was yours?
Have a good time!


P.S. Sorry for the overexposed photos, I couldn't get better ones with my crappy cam :-/

fossil ad inspiration

(all pictures borrowed from fossil.com)


Hi guys!

Today I only have a quick post about my new favourite ad campaign for you. Yes it sounds weird that I have a favourite ad campaign and yes I agree it seems I'm still not completely away from the wish to work in the marketing business someday... BUT you have to admit the dark-haired girl in the photos looks just wonderful with Fossil's nice fall/winter items!
She's a modern Snow White somehow :)









I must admit I've never owned one single item by Fossil in my life but when I clicked through their website to find the ads I saw some very nice things in the bags- and clothes- and watches-section ;)








For example these pretties here:



watch ES2454



necklace JA3678



dress Jerri



bag Maddox Convertible Tote



Patrick is sitting next to me at the desk and I told him "Aaaw look how pretty these things are! Especially the bag and watch!" *cough* broad hint *cough* ;)


Have a lovely day!



now playing: maximo park - books from boxes

banana bread - my first attempt

(photo from rebeccagoings)

Hi guys!

I've been planning to try out some baking recipes for beginners because I'd love to be able to create yummy cakes and cookies and other treats for parties. We're invited to a New Year's Eve party and I'd like to bring something delicious, so I clicked through lots and lots of online recipe collections and picked out some easy stuff to practice (this is the very first time I baked without a cake mix, how embarassing ^^).
I found the recipe here (in German), but I thought it would be nice to translate it for my international readers ;)



banana bread (southafrican version)

275 grams flour
10 mls baking powder
1 mls baking soda
1 mls salt
175 grams butter
200 grams sugar
2 eggs
125 mls milk
2 mls vanilla sugar
3-4 bananas (approx. 250 mls)


Here we go



1. Mix the butter and sugar and beat until it's creamy.




2. Mix in vanilla sugar and the eggs.




3. Mix in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour and the milk.




4. Crush the bananas with a fork and mix them in.



5. When the dough is creamy put it into a greased cake pan (or leave out the grease and use baking paper instead).



6. Put it into the oven at 180 degrees for about 60 minutes.



Et voilà...


...the banana bread!
Okay I admit it's a bit dark on the upper side, but I told you I'm a noob to baking ;)
It may not look nice but it is so yummyyyyy! And it was really easy too.



Have a great day!