if i was a rich girl...

...if I had all the money in the world, i'd do lots of great things with it:

1. save the world and make all people happy

2. throw a huge party for all my friends

and

3. hire someone to wind the bobbin of my sewing machine.

really, i think this is one of the most annoying things to do - you have to interrupt your sewing flow, get all the fabric out and live with an ugly thread overlap. the latter one would even be hard to change with a personal bobbin-winder, but still. i wouldn't mind that one too much.

hope you're having some decent richness dreams as well!

i heart monsters

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seriously, is there anything better than these handcrafted spawns of imagination? these are the guys you meet in your dreams...

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...or the ones that are drawn by children and unfortunately never again after they've grown older and learnt that blue-legged, striped pigs don't exist...

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ok, ok, these guys are not really monsters, but i still think they're a great team:

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many thanks to all the monster makers for giving us these queer fellows! ♥

decluttering galore, or: one girl's trash is another one's treasure

it's been just about time. time for a proper decluttering session. and the perfect point of time, too: i'm going to a clothes swap next sunday.

have you ever done that? it's great. here are the rules:

1. go through your closet and pick everything you haven't worn for the past 12 months.

2. get some girl friends together and have them bring themselves and their unwanted stuff to your house. put it in piles on the floor/bed/chairs/tables/sofas - whatever space is available. in addition to the clothes, it is recommended to bring lots of nibbles and drinks along.

3. now the screening starts: there's enough time for everyone to go through the piles. from that point onwards, keep an eye on everything you like ;)

4. have a short break to breathe, chat, eat and drink.

5. now it's presenting time: every girl presents the items she's brought (including little stories, which makes it much more fun).

6. if you want the item, scream as loud as you can ;) if there are two or more interested in the same item, roll the dice.

7. take all the stuff that's been left unwanted to your local charity shop and be happy about your new wardrobe!

you should try it, it's much fun and we have even extended the 'clothes swap' to an 'everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-swap', which involves bringing books, jewelery, make up, cds, dishes, tableware, small pieces of furniture, fabric, unwanted presents and much more.

happy swapping!

ps. to give yout the right amount of energy for your decluttering session, i recommend:



The Killers - Human

how do you keep track?

my favourite teacher in school used to tell us that "history creates identity". obviously, she was my history teacher, and in 7th grade i never understood what she meant. nevertheless, this statement has been stuck in my head until today.

and actually i think it has two meanings for us - the first being the one indented by my teacher: the literal one that is to be seen in a macro social context, meaning the history of your country and/or your society.

the second meaning, i believe, refers to your own, personal history. we make decisions all the time in our lifes. these decisions and, more importantly, the results, shape our personalities and evoke feelings, likes and dislikes, love, beauty, and more.

but how do we keep track of these moments of our life, also the small ones, that are moved to the subconscious after a certain amount of time? i'm not really a diary person, not in the traditional way, so i had to come up with something else.

instead of writing proper, comprehensive sentences, one after another, i prefer just taking short notes of words, writing down pieces, scribbling little scenes, taking reading notes, writing down lines of songs or glueing right in whatever i get hold of that has some kind of importance to me, either in terms of meaning or beauty.


hope you're having a great sunday.

rain, rain...

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...go away.

It's been raining a lot recently, or maybe not even, maybe it just feels like rain since it won't get bright outside and I'm just so sick of winter and coldness. These months are the hardest, January, February, sometimes even March.

But - as everybody knows - complaining doesn't help. That's why I'm trying to think of positive aspects of this time of the year, as follows:

1. You don't have to feel bad when staying inside.
2. You can think about how wonderful spring and summer will be.
3. You can think about how wonderful spring and summer will be.
4. You can think about how wonderful spring and summer will be.
5. You can try to turn the rain into fun projects!

Here's a little pillow I made last autumn, when I was annoyed by the rain:

And I figured felt raindrops were much better that real ones:

Hope it does not rain too much with you, and if it does, just turn it into something else! ☂

relax.

I think there should be more time to do nothing.

Just sit. Or lie.

And read.

And maybe listen to some good music.


She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

Hope you'll find some time to relax!

chandelier, recycled.

I have this thing for chandeliers. As for this one, since I had seen a similar one in a store, I have been wanting to make one myself.

I generally like the idea of using old objects and materials again, first because I don't like the thought of the throwaway society that we are. Not only are we producing lots of unnecessary waste - also, new things are very often of very poor quality since the producers know that the product will have a short life and therefore just try to produce as cheaply as possible. That's just not sustainable.

Plus, I really like handmade, one-of-a-kind stuff. If I could, I would only buy my furniture from carpenters or other crafty people, who put not only their talent and creativity but also their passion and love in their handmade products.

To cut a long story short: Here's the chandelier tutorial.


Here's what you need:

• Pretty cutlery, like forks, knifes, fish knifes, cake servers or sugar tongs. Sometimes you can get good deals on fleamarkets or garage sales, or ask your grandmother if she has some she doesn't need anymore.
• A bicycle rim, size depending on how you big want your chandelier. You get these at bike stores or flea markets, either used or new, depending on what you prefer.
• Steel rope, about 3-4 meters, depending on how high your ceiling is. I used the kind you get at IKEA to hang curtains.
• Little special screws to fix the rope - building stores offer different possibilities.
  
• Little silver hooks. This one was a bit tricky, I had gotten some from the building store, but they turned out to be not to be very pretty and just too massive for the fragile cutlery. So I returned them and hand shaped little hooks out of silver wire.
• A massive silver ring, in diameter about 4-5 cm (building store).
  
• A light bulb plus fitting and power cable (building store).

Now you're all set!

1. First of all, make sure all the pretty forks and knifes and spoons present themselves in the best light and give them a proper polish. Now, make a hole using a drill machine. The hole doesn't have to be big. I asked for help with that ;)

2. Shape the hooks. I cut the wire into pieces of about 5 cm and shaped the hooks with the help of the round end of a wooden spoon.

3. Rims already have holes in them - some people might think they are for the crossing, but no! they are just made for the hooks and the rope. Put the rope through 3 of the holes and fix it with the screws.

4. Put the ends of the 3 ropes one after another through the silver ring and fix them again with the screws, making sure all the rope pieces have the same lenghth so the rim is aligned horizontally.

5. Now you can either put the chandelier directly to the ceiling or, as I did since my ceiling is quite high, use another piece of rope as extension and another silver ring. Fix the power cable and light bulb so it is right in the middle of the chandelier.

6. Best part - put the cutlery on the hooks and hang them on the rim. Done!

7. Wait until it's dark, switch on the light and enjoy! You could also think of other things to be hung on the chandelier...

It might seem a bit tricky, but it's good fun! I would say it's a one-day project, but can be easily done on a weekend.

Happy chandeliering!

Ps. One of the things I like best about it is the shadows:


Pps. I have not uploaded details, but high resolution pics. So if you click on them you see all the details.

hello, love.

canon eos 400d

may i introduce you to a new member of the family: my new camera. i got it today, a birthday present from myself to myself. i love it already.

i can't wait to shoot loads of pictures!

joey armstrong

take care and happy shooting!

japanese food!

it started about 10 years ago when i first had sushi. it was in new york and the sushi was stuffed with avocado, cucumber and caramelised walnuts.

since then, i have been addicted to japanese food. it got even worse after my trip to japan in 2006 - when i realised that japanese food doesn't mean just sushi, but a lot more. although sometimes it was not easy to explain the idea of being vegetarian (when you're not a buddhist monk), i really enjoyed all different kinds of food.

even the fast food you get at 7eleven is better that some sushi you get outside of japan.

i especially enjoyed the shojin ryori, the cuisine of the monks of buddhist temples. we stayed at one of the temples on mt. koya for a couple of days and had the lovliest tofu, pickles and vegetables. the monks don't eat fish, nor meat, nor garlic or onions.

i also like to go to japanese restaurants. this one was taken in amsterdam: www.japansrestaurantan.nl. i can recommend it, so if you are in amsterdam and feel like japanese food, you should stop by (sorry for the crappy picture, was taken with my mobile, can't wait to get a new proper camera).

ps. actually, while writing this i'm having a big plate of vegetarian tempura sushi. awesome.

keep calm...

derder

i got this today and i love it. you should check out eva's etsy shop.

i don't like the story behind it so much though since it's related to WWI, that's why i won't tell it. i'd rather make up my own story or don't have a story at all. i just think it is a great motto.

here's a ring that i also really like, also because of it's imperfect quality:

kamikaz

it's a hand made silver ring and it says: this too will pass. i think that's almost a kind of buddhist thought and to me it's quite comforting.

ithaca forever?

hello.

my name is julia, i'm a twenty-somethin' girl living in germany.

before starting this blog, i surely asked myself: does the world really need another blog? the conclusion i came to was: the world might not, but i do. it could have also been on a list 'things to do before i turn 30' - who knows.

it is a new year, a new decade, and - quite important for me - i will be 30 in 2010. as i was getting closer to this number, i tried to understand if it meant anything or not. i found out: it might not mean anything to my friends, family, colleagues and people i know, but it most certainly means something to me. i don't actually have a problem with getting older, it's more like you start asking yourself what you expect from live and if you are leading the live you always wanted to. or - if you have to change something.


that's why i like the internet so much: it gives me the feeling that there are many like-minded people out there. it's a great place to share similar thoughts, ideas, expectations and questions.

ps. the name of this blog has something to do with that, as well. i will get back to that later.