2013 what I want to do and Happy NEW YEAR!

A new year, new goals!
Resolutions are the kind of things you have forgotten about until halfway trough January. Honestly, no matter how we name it, there is a bit more pressure to it, when I tell you about my personal goals.
Hope it works for me, I keep you updated. :)

• finding our family home…FINALLY. Hope this will happen soon in 2013!
• getting fit in 2013 and establishing a workout routine for two evenings a week
• do more ‘real’ dates with my hubs, having more special time together as it is so precious
• learn new things like how to photoshop
• meet my lovely friends more often, to spend some quality time with them
• try to look more polished and put together in my everyday life getting further with finding my personal style
• be more crafty as it is something I really enjoy but don’t have the proper space in our current apartment
• do more experiments with new recipes in the kitchen, my goal is to try a new cakes or sweets firstly limited for January weekends
• be more organized in everything I do and have something like a schedule
• invest more time in decorating our current place to make us feel more home

So as the year is over in a few hours and we’re running now to attend a cosy New Years Eve party at a friends house. Everything left to say is that I wish a healthy, happy and lucky 2013 for all of you!
I feel great to know you around, even if I’m not all the time, but I try my best to improve in 2013! Without you it would just me doing some journaling ( which would be okay, but having you around is way more fun!!).
So cheers to 2013!!

Source: simplyseductive.blogspot.com via Danielle on Pinterest

xoxo,

Photochallenge December 2012 – Cappucchino Balls with Meringue Topping

Usually I’m no last minute girl. When it comes to presents I’m quite good to get everything ready in advance. Back in school I was mostly ready with presentations or homework ahead of time.
So this months photochallenge over at the lovely Simone from Junglefrog Cooking caught me with my pants down. But as I tried to be something like a domestic goddess this afternoon I had a few options…or not that many as the cookies I baked weren’t that appealing considering the appearance.
So here we go with my Cappucchino Balls which started looking like little dog poohs when I piped the dough on my baking sheet.

But when they got their little meringue tops they started to look like little snow covered mountain tops…or dog poohs with bird dropping on it…as you like it. ;o)

Mingled with my advent decoration and arranged in a little silvery bag it looks really cute and I’m ready to enter this month challenge. I forgot to mention in my last entry posts for the previous month that you can vote for me with linking my photo here…just a little hint, hehe.

Last but not least I want to share the recipe with you for those who are interested.
You need:
3 egg whites, a pinch of salt, 250g icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla sugar, 2 tsp cocoa, 2 tsp instant coffee, ca 250g almonds
Directions:

• whisk the egg white with the icing sugar, salt and vanilla sugar until stiff
• put about 4 spoons beaten egg whites aside for the topping
• mix the cocoa and coffee under the remaining beaten egg whites
• fold in the almonds and pipe the mix on a baking sheet
• pipe the beaten egg white that were put aside onto your little piles

Bake in the oven at 130°C for about 20-25 minutes.
xoxo,

I’m back again…

 

… after the Holidays hoping you spend great quality time with your family and friends. We spend x-mas at my in laws in Dresden. Internet access was very rare due to no WLAN so I couldn’t send my warm Christmas wishes earlier.

We spend lots of time strolling trough Dresden and it’s lovely Christmas Market “The Striezelmarkt” and the lovely little huts around the famous “Frauenkirche”. If you follow me on Instagram (I’m @Minny777) you have already seen those impression but I like to share them with you here, too. I also included a little Instagram live gallery on the right.

Under this Christmas Pyramid you got the BEST mulled wine in so many different flavours you could ever imagine. It’s located next to the Frauenkirche facing the Münzgasse for those who might try it next year! My recommendation is Blueberry Mulled wine and Feuerzangenbowle (served aflame, really exciting!)

Got some really delicious hot cocoa at Dulce in Dresden Altstadt. Those Pralines looked all so tasty that I couldn’t decide which ones to take.

The beautiful sparkly decoration at the building housing L´Occitane. So many great things over there. I love their hand cream, soft skin, great smell!Luxurious decorations at Altmarkt Galerie Dresden ( biggest shopping mall in town)

Dresden Centrumsgalerie (small shopping mall)

Delicious Petit Four on Christmas Eve before breakfast while shopping for some rolls and minced meat. Yum!! Couldn’t resist. Was the first one I ever tried and I will defiantly do it again!

Finally, our tree. It was a bit crooked and the needles were really itchy…ouch! If I wouldn’t have been the one decorating it, I wouldn’t have bothered but…ouch ouch!! Once I was done, it looked really great. Apparently my skills with my mobile´s camera aren’t pretty good, but I think you will forgive me!

So we’re heading straight ahead New Year right in focus. Holiday Season is nearly over, it’s just New Years Eve for celebrating left, so for sure that’s what we’ll do! Wishing a healthy and successful 2013 to all of you!

Source: simplyseductive.blogspot.com via Danielle on Pinterest

xoxo,

Treat yourself!

This is the season to buy gifts, celebrate and make your loved ones smile. It’s crowded in the shops in town as people run to find the perfect gifts and you’re attending different Christmas parties with workmates and friends. Lots of duties on your schedule during the season you should be calm and thankful for every pleasure you have.
To make you feel more comfortable you should pamper yourself with really good stuff and use your free minutes to drink a good quality tea, treat your hands with an ultra rich hand cream, celebrate your morning showers with heavenly smelling shower gel and body cream and infuse your home with great scents.
To make this moments more worthy I have to recommend a brand named Rituals Home & Body Treatments. I love the smell of their whole product range and that is a thing that never happened to me as I’m usually really picky and just tend to like one or two smells. But these ones are all amazing!
Anyhow I picked most products in Cherry Blossom & Rice Milk. The candle is Fresh Fig & Copaiba and the anti-perspiant is White Lotus scented.
Rituals uses natural, renewable and organic ingredients for their products and isn’t tested on animals.

Let me show you what I bought for myself. A lovely duo with hand wash and hand lotion to position next to your sink. Great idea. They also provided cute little trays to arrange the bottles on but my space next to the sink is limited so I haven’t bought one.   To get to know the different products I picked some travel sized(actually not that small, a fair size I think) bottles to figure out what I like.
The Magic Touch cream is so easy to love. My hands feel so soft and I want to touch my hands all the time, can’t stop!
I will try the other products as soon as I can but I’m very sure I will love them, too.

So far until now, have a great Sunday tomorrow with your loved ones and enjoy your time!
xoxo,


P.S.: I registered for their newsletter and recieved a confirmation mail offering 10% off my next purchase within a month. What a great surprise!

My Christmas Decorations

Oh dear, have you seen our friend December? It’s halfway gone, just 10 days until Christmas and nearly 15 until New Year.

I had so much plans and to do’s I wanted to achieve to celebrate Christmas time this year. There are a lot of things on my list and I hope to achieve at least some of them.

Kick start with my Xmas decorations was at the end of November. So far I was really proud that I was on time for First Advent but taking pictures were a tough one as it was so dark outside already when I came home. It was impossible to take good photos and flash is absolutely horrible!

This year I made lots of arrangements for our living room with candles and some fir. It was great fun to put everything together and it was quick and easy. As my mom was the expert with Christmas decoration and amazingly talented to gather everything I hadn’t put up anything last year. Anyhow, this Christmas I gave my abilities a try and think it turned out really cute.

My inspiration came form a Christmas fair where they had Advent wreaths arranged in something like apple crates. What really caught my eye was that everything looked like it happened by accident and just casually put together.

By the way, can you crochet? I have to admit I bought those snow flakes but activating my skills with needle work seems a good idea.

How far along are you with you Christmas to do list? On schedule or way behind…kind of like me.

xoxo,

Shades of Grey Crafternoon Project II

As mentioned earlier this week here is my second project.
It’s more about redecorating an old lamp I took with me from my parents house last year. The lamp shade was really ugly and had a stain on it, so I put it directly in the bin. Finding the right replacement shade was really difficult, too small, too big, too narrow, too whatever. You know the game.
So on my trip to IKEA a few weeks ago where I bought the plain coasters I turned into this beauties, I found a beautiful lamp shade that fitted my imagination and idea for the make over in it’s best way.
So have a look at that ugly bottom…this marble style was even out of style when my parents got it. But as I saw real potential when switching the color, I took it with me. Back then I had some bold bright color like turquoise in mind to make it pop. Anyway my current style now is more neutral and I’m about to switch our home to this style as well.
As preparation I cleaned the bottom with some cleaning solvent to make sure it’s clean and the paint will stick to it.
I’m so pleased with the result. It has such a modern and chick charm and I don’t want to trade it for anything else. The bottom now looks like solid stone or cement or whatever you might call it. The hubs suggested to switch the cable and the switch as well as the color doesn’t fit. For now I’m hiding the cable really well. Perhaps some future place might ask for this adjustment.
Another beautiful piece for our home and the best about it is that I created - okay changed - some part of it with my hands and that feels so good and special.
The third project I was approaching during this crafternoon did not turn out well. I think there are some adjustments I need to make and only God knows when I find some time during holiday preparations and busy work days. But as you can seen it’s trial and error with the projects here. Anyway I hope to come up with this soon.
Hope you enjoy a lovely weekend.
xoxo,

Shades of Grey Crafternoon Project I

Finally, here it is. The first small project from my Sunday afternoon craftwork. I'm sorry that it took me so long to get this post done but I had some issues with the photos as I took them by myself and was struggling at some point with uploading them.
Some weeks ago we had friends over for dinner and I wanted to place the casserole with our food directly on the table so everyone can serve themselves and can choose their portion size. It turned out that the only coaster I owned was a pink one which ruined the table setting as it was very autumn style with leafs and stuff.
As I strolled trough IKEA a few weeks ago I picked up some plain coasters to have something neutral for my next dinner with friends. As you can imagine those coasters where really boring so I tried to spice them up.
Here’s what I did.
 
Aren’t those real cuties? I like the star pattern best as it’s not the classic shape. ( Or is it just my inability to tape the right proportions of a regular star ;o) You never know).
I think this DIY is an easy way to create small presents for your mother, mother-in-law or grandma. When I’m not coming up with another idea, I might pick this, too.
My second project is more about redecorating but it involves some grey, too. I will post about this later this week.
xoxo,

Feta Cheese Dip

To skip some calories in the evening and to stop snacking on sweets I tried to grab some carrots and turnip cabbage with a dip.
I remembered a nice dip a sweet friend of mine brought with her to my birthday party. This Feta Cheese Dip is very easy and tastes delicious.
 
As I would like to participate at Simone’s picture challenge for this month at Jungle Frog Cooking about drinks or food in a glass, I thought I compose a pretty picture and share the recipe with you.

200g Feta cheese
100g crème fraiche
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
I throw everything in my food processor and chop it and mix it and here you are. Because of the garlic in it, you should share it with your loved one as the smell can be very intense.












xoxo,

Fifty Shades Of Grey Crafty Afternoon

Ladies, I enjoyed a lovely crafternoon today and I’m so pleased with the results! For the pictures of my processed work anyhow I need some daylight to get good shots.
Hope there will be some time soon as I’m really excited. :) It felt so good to create something fun with my hands and turning something old into a new treasure for our apartment.

Source: sweetseptembernights.tumblr.com via AnneMarie on Pinterest

Wish you a good start for the new week that lies in front of us!

xoxo,

Cosy Textures: Part Three {Felt}

Hey everyone, great that you stopped by for Part three of my texture feature. 
Felt is such a great material, soft to the touch but still kind of strong in texture so you can make nearly everything out of felt. Connected wool fibers integrate and build this natural fabric. Amazing!

I love having felt around in decoration, home textiles or even on some kind of clothing . I gathered a few things made of felt to show you the various use of it.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Have a lovely weekend and be cosy!

xoxo,

Oh, how Pinteresting Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday to all of you. This week hasn’t gone so well by now as it was really stressful and I was always short in time.
I stop by to show you some lively pins. The theme for this week is nightstands and I found some really lovely ones.
I find it really difficult to keep my nightstand clear of clutter and things that don’t belong on a nightstand. Basically it’s a night light and an alarm clock to get up on time in the morning. Most other things aren’t necessary and distract you from a deep and undisturbed sleep. Some fresh flowers however will help clean the air in your bedroom and make the setting more beautiful.  
What do you keep on your nightstand?

Source: neetmagazine.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: ana-white.com via Tammy on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: jacquelynnicole.wordpress.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: realisticwedding.wordpress.com via Sarabeth on Pinterest

Source: karapaslaydesigns.blogspot.com via Ali on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Kelly on Pinterest

If you are curious what the other girls have pinned this week, have a look over at Michelle’s blog The Vintage Apple.

xoxo,