just wandering

 

There is still so much snow here in MUC (my nickname for Munich :D)
It amazes me!!! But thanks to that (and the new Nikon L810 my boyfriend gave me for Christmas)
I have been able to take quite a lot of photos when walking to the train station. I normally 
take the bus, but I consider these 40 minutes well spent 🎵💖 

 I LOVE SNOW!!!

In search of Gifts

I have finally completed my Christmas shop & wrap. It´s been so much of a hassle, I already am 

a bit miffed at the whole idea of presents. Why on earth has Christmas become so comercial?

I just wish you wouldn´t have to contemplate for hours on end whether you should buy a coffee machine or a new vacuum cleaner or an expensive gown - before you go mad and it´s the famous faux-pas socks all over!

That being said, it was nice to meet up with my family at the Winter Tollwood, which is a nice 

cozy market where there are tents, works of art, food & drinks, clothes, trinkets and even concerts.

It is a great place and me and my sis managed to snag a sheepswool pullover for Dad (which you dont have to wash, only air) and a festival bag (because we are planning to go to one next year).

My sister bought me the loveliest dress, all lace in an ivory shade. We found it at a Tollwood exclusive stand selling french lace garments. <3 Looove

I bought most of the prezzies for my girlfriends at the Body Shop and it was there where I found

my very first BB cream that I actually felt like buying. Its this one: 

Body Shop tea tree oil BB cream

and I don´t regret it one bit! It has a nice light texture, the coverage is good and it contains lots of tea tree oil, which I personally like very much. Hooray! I don´t know about recommending it, since everybody has different skin, but it was very hard to find a BB cream that hadn´t gotten a lot of crappy comments online - asian BB creams seem superior. But now I have this one, so I will try using it instead of this:

and see how it works out. I hope it will do for my circles and blotchiness/oily skin/redness/ whatever.

I bought a Clarins product in France, but it is a tinted moisturiser and I will only use it in summer:

Créme de Soins by Clarins

Did a Photoshoot with Laura as well. She gave me this book for training:

It´s fab!!! I´m learning lots of new stuff about bases, highlighting, conturing etc. 
I hope I can become better at doing make up. Let´s work hard! (not to forget studying for exams as well...blegh)


My only wish right now is for there to be snow...

 

Thinking out Loud

Christmas Eve is approaching fast, more like galloping towards me like a horse frothing at the mouth. I am looking forward to seeing my family again, but I just despise Christmas shopping so much!!

So far I got about half of my presents and I thank Amazon.com deeply for saving my sorry skin *bow*

On the bright side, I have been creative with my dear friend Laura, who has been increasingly successful in her independent photography. She has her own store on Etsy now, you can go check her out :

                                                           WOODMOUSE ART on ETSY

It is on a whole new level, as she is getting clothes from designers shipped to her place and she then creates an atmosphere and takes photos.

As of Late, I have been doing the Make-Up & hair-do for her shootings and it has been so much fun.

I have my own set of Make-Up brushes now, as well as combs and an eyeshadow pallet.

It is an altogether new experience for me, but it is essentially not that different from painting pictures ^^

✨

     ✨   BH-Cosmetics range (very inexpensive)

Some of the beauties that Laura took photos of & I made up :

pretty Jana in Marmotescu collar, the headband is mine

cool Jonas as fashion-concious Halloween Zombie

delicate Nina in Ventriloquist Court steampunk outfit

No regrets

listening to : "Last Goodbye" by The Kills 

This is my literally the last day at the Lycee, tomorrow I'll be leaving.

I am not sad, as I had it with sleeping alone and I want to breathe in the scent of warm wood

that always fills the apartment I share with my guy. I want to embrace him and feel home again...

But it is a bit weird imagining that I won't be walking these stairs, or sharing tea and jokes with the office ladies here or talking a little promenade through the park. 

I will miss them. 

As I have been painting so much and as I don't have any cadeaux or presents, I decided to

give my paintings away. Some of them are already taken, but I'll feel free to post the others here:

Mon petit péché mignon

or "my little weakness"

While fearlessly taking the bike to the city in spite of the rain, I came by a really cute shop. 

It was crammed full of little clocks, cups and porcelain, jewellery, umbrellas and pretty boxes.

Take a look

Of course I went and splurged, paying 90 € for little tidbits to take back home to my friends. 

I don't know if you can say it was worth it, but I love my picks:

Lisbeth Dahl umbrella - all covered in frills & stars

A cigarette case and perfumed letters and cubes by Givre Blanc

golden sugar crystals and sugar pearls for my baking girls & cook bf

Atsuyo et Akiko Star Dia necklace 

I found out that Lisbeth Dahl and Atsuyo et Akiko are well known brands and have their own online shops. 

  You can find Lisbeth Dahl online  here  &  here 

   

   Mind you, the shop is only for the UK, so if you live somewhere else,

   just type Lisbeth Dahl and your home country into the search field

    in your browser.

Atsuyo et Akiko you can find      here   

they sell a lot of tutus, shirts and jewellery for children too and have a Atsuyo et Akiko Disney collection.

On Selfies

 

Selfie after Magnum ice treat

So I was feeling kind of down today. More like very depressed. I did what I usually refreign from doing: Stuffing myself with chocolate cookies and sweetened coffee from the vending machine. But it didn´t help me one bit. Instead I felt worse. After work I stepped outside. I noticed the delightful breeze and the trees swaying in the sunshine. "Maybe it isn`t so bad after all.." I started taking photos, of myself, my sourroundings. And it made me feel so much better. This in turn left me feeling embarassed - was I really that shallow and superficial? 

I have been reading various opinions & articles on this, my favourite by far being 

this one by Dr John Grohol .



He states another psychologist named Shelly Turkle. She writes:
" These days, when people are alone, or feel a moment of boredom, they tend to reach for a device. In a movie theater, at a stop sign, at the checkout line at a supermarket and, yes, at a memorial service, reaching for a device becomes so natural that we start to forget that there is a reason, a good reason, to sit still with our thoughts: It does honor to what we are thinking about. It does honor to ourselves. "


I could relate to this statement somewhat, but I think it depends wether you have problems fitting in or 
if you are perfectly fine living in this fast-paced world of ours. Admittedly I have a problem with adapting, so my nostalgic moments are plenty. 
Everybody needs to find their own truths.

I myself will take care in the future to have better insight and stop and think for a moment. After all - the Selfie cannot cure my depression, it can only make me feel good for a moment.

Sweetheart will bargain

listening to "Audience of One" by Cold War Kids

Feeling totally hyped for shopping!!!  

ASOS miniskirt in rosé

Although I have to watch my money, because I still have to send half of my stuff back home and need money for the train ticket - Yes, I will be returning to Germany next month!

Am secretly scheming to get my sister to come. I know being a grafic designer is demanding, but come ON!

I want to do her something good after all, it is beautiful here. 

My latest addiction is the Kimono Dress at ASOS - God, how I am craving for it!!! I feel like a drug addict, because I haven't got my credit card with me, which incidentally means Bye Bye to online shopping for now. It is Killing me! 

Now I know what the main character in Sophie Kinsella's novels feels like. Resquiat in Pace, shopaholic self. 

Have in fact another addiction that is actually doing me good - the App & website of 

Duolingo 

Should you be using this cool tool, go ahead and add me, I'd love to be able to learn with others ♥  

This is my link >>   https://www.duolingo.com/Yumebi 

I strongly recommend it for learning the basics of languages. If you are a lazy bum like me and would rather do other things than learning dry grammar and words - this does the trick! It has a game-like level system and you loose hearts when you make mistakes, but when you advance a level - OOOoooh, it feels so good!

It is so addictive I made it to Level 9 in two days! Now I cannot wait to try the other languages too.

... Will actually continue my french lessons now - Au Revoir!