Happy Birthday Tommy!

Happy Sunday

It's no secret that I absolutely love stripes. Couldn't resist ordering these beauties from Joules. The sweater was a catastrophe, unfortunately. Never ever have I seen such poor quality on a piece of garment. Needless to say I returned it, as well as the white dress. It made me look as pale as a ghost. With a coupon and free shipping, I only paid 15€ for the blue striped dress. Bargain numero uno.

Sunny Summer Sunday

After four days of non-stop helicopter noise and police/emergency sirens, we were rewarded with the finest ( and quiet) summer Sunday as a compensation for that insane G20 madness. So we finally took our bikes for the first tour this year. 

What's growing?

My "Grow your own" obsession continues. The latest project is a pineapple. It's so easy ( at least in theory): cut the crown, put it in water, wait for the roots to grow, then plant in soil. We'll see if it works. 

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday and a June recap.

Hubby surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of 25 roses for 12 1/2 years.

In my Garden

When we moved into our new apartment ( which I just realize I never blogged about, but might do so in the future), we fell in love with the idea of having a patio and a lawn area. Despite it being much smaller than our balcony in the previous apartment, I somehow manage to make most of the limited space. After replacing the lawn with a wooden deck this spring, I created different zones that seperate the space into three main areas: sitting/ dining, relaxing and growing.

Peonies

Homemade Strawberry Marmelade Recipe

As soon as we got home from strawberry picking, I started to process our harvest. One portion went straight into a blender, for a refreshing and healthy strawberry-rasperry-smoothie. Another portion went into the freezer.

Summer Date: Strawberry Picking

Planten Un Blomen

Hamburg is a VERY green city, with numerous beautiful and well maintained parks. One of the largest and prettiest is "Planten Un Blomen". It's a gem, a paradise for tree and flower lovers, an oasis no matter what season. You can walk around for hours, or just sit and relax and enjoy being alife on one of the many benches and chairs, on the lawn near lakes and waterfalls or under a tree.
Countless blooming flowers make for the most colorful experience on a sunny day.

DIY Bright Colorful Abstract Painting

English tutorial coming in a minute ;)

Ölfarben sind einfach herrlich. Ich liebe die Konsistenz, da ich bevorzugt mit dem Spachtel arbeite, statt Pinsel. Es gefällt mir nämlich gar nicht wenn Farbe einfach nur dünn aufgemalt wird, und man die Struktur der Leinwand durchschimmert sieht. Schön dick muss es sein.

Leider bin ich viel zu ungeduldig, denn Ölfarben haben eine sehr lange Trocknungszeit. Wir reden hier nicht von ein paar Stunden, sondern Wochen, ja sogar Monaten. 

Darum male ich sonst hauptsächlich mit Acryl- oder Aquarellfarben bzw Guache, aber hier liegt noch ein ganzer Satz Ölfarbe rum, und die möchte ich gerne aufbrauchen, denn vom liegen wird sie auch nicht besser, ganz im Gegenteil. 

Tulips

Amaryllis

Golden Girl Birthday Party in Gold and Pink

English text coming in a minute ;)

Mama hat Geburtstag!
Und weil dieser ziemlich undankbar auf den 23. Dezember fällt, geht er natürlich schon ihr Leben lang immer etwas unter im allgemeinen Weihnachts-Trubel. Jedes Jahr sagt sie: "ein Weihnachtsgeschenk brauche ich nicht, aber zum Geburtstag, da wünsche ich mir etwas Schönes"
Also versuche ich jedes Jahr Ihren Geburtstag zu etwas besonderem zu machen, suche einen Platz in der Wohnung der nicht weihnachtlich geschmückt ist, und baue dort die Geburtstags-Ecke auf.

DIY Easy Knit Hat

I can't knit, haha. The only pattern i can do is a basic one, I don't even know what it is called. It is good enough to make my own scarves, hats and leg warmers though.

Last year I purchased a blanket set from We Are Knitters. The manual wasn't very precise and kind of made for advanced knitters. Very disappointing. I expected more, considering it was listed as a beginner's project.