Happy Halloween

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Mummy’s Movies

No, I haven’t been to the movies. Not, yet, but I am optimistic that I will eventually go out and watch a movie again one day. Maybe when I do not fully breastfeed her. Maybe when I have caught up on sleep. Maybe next year ;-)

Anyway, that doesn’t stop me from watching movies. On the contrary. I think DVDs were invented by and for mums. You can watch them anytime, at home, you can stop and restart them when the little one wakes up and you can watch them again, when you poor sleep-deprived and slow baby-brain forgot the plot or the ending... In short: hurray for DVDs!!!

The two latest DVDs I watched are very different, but I can highly recommend both of them – to both mums and not-mums:

Babies

Documentary about babies (what a surprise!) with 4 babies from Namibia, Tibet, Japan and the US

What I love: that there is no narrator, you just see and listen to the babies and their families; amazing pictures, touching stories, surprising many similarities and little differences across gender, culture and continent

What I don’t like: that I have to say goodbye to the four lovely babies after just 2 hours

Sex and the City 2

I don’t think I have to explain to anybody what Sex and the City is ;-)

What I love: the girls, the fashion and the over-the-top lifestyle

What I don’t like: surprisingly little – a lot of my friends said that they didn’t like the second movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed it – of course it is unrealistic, of course some dialogues are a bit direct – but that’s what it is all about, isn’t it?

Friday Flowers

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Autumn definitely arrived in Germany now. No denial possible. The leaves have changed colour and lots of them have already fallen off the trees. It is cold, it rains a lot, and people are getting grumpier. Therefore I want to send you some spring flowers today.

Happy Friday!

Wedding Icons

On Wednesdays I share everything wedding with you: tips, projects, organisation, photos, faux-pas, fun things and golden rules I ‘learned’ from my own wedding. I feel I need to give something back to the fabulous blog community who helped me stay sane and enjoy every second of my ‘big day’.

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No - I don’t mean the standard ones: hearts, rings, bells, doves etc.

I mean icons that you choose to repeat in the decorations of your wedding. Icons which might not be typical or particular romantic, but which have a special meaning for the couple or make home-made wedding decoration look consistent and professional.

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My friend N. has chosen snowflakes as icon for her December wedding 4 years ago. Because every snowflake is unique – as unique as the bride and the groom and each and every one of their guests. On the day no snowflakes fell from the sky, but everywhere else there were millions of unique flakes: punched out of the invitations, as confetti on the tables (the beautiful leftovers from the invitations), stamped on the menus, projected on the walls, metal ones in the bridal bouquet, even the desserts were decorated with sugar snowflakes,... It was beautiful! Special! Romantic! Winterly! And I still have to think of this wedding whenever I see snowflakes. Like this beautiful stamp set from MUJI.

picture from here

Ruby Tuesday

It is really time to plan my Christmas presents. And this is my little present to myself for being so well organised ;-)

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One-handed miracle

Every Monday I will post something related to babies: inspiration, craft projects, baby news, and discoveries I have made in this new and exciting world for me. I hope you come along on that rollercoaster ride with me.

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My little one – like all babies around the world – is a true champion in learning. New skills, new sounds, new moves... It is incredible what these little people learn in a very short time.

But mums and dads are not bad, either. With the birth of their child, they also develop new skills very quickly. E.g. doing everything one-handed, because one hand is always filled with the little one. Or busy entertaining the little one.

Among the basic one-handed skills a new parent develops are: eating, getting dressed, doing housework, opening the mail, filling the washing machine, reading the paper, writing, typing on the computer,... – you know, all these everyday chores

Level 1: all of the above, but with your LEFT hand (if you are right-handed) resp. your RIGHT hand (if you are left-handed) – we have all been there ;-)

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Level 2: eating sushi with chopsticks and your left hand – mission completed last week, hurray!

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Level 3: navigating an IKEA trolley (topped with 2 kitchen cupboards and a mirror) with your left hand – I still have no idea how I managed that without seriously hurting anyone or damaging anything ;-)

I wonder what the next level will be... but we keep on learning ;-)

Why has no one told me...

... that it is Christmas in only 2 months?

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I cannot believe it!!! I wanted to look for great presents for my loved ones super-early this year. Because I wanted to spend all Advent (time in December leading up to Christmas) baking cookies, crafting decorations, drinking hot chocolate, visiting lots of Christmas markets... in summary – enjoy the magic time before my little one’s first Christmas. And now I am running out of time again!

P.S.: Yes, there were some hints ('Lebkuchen' in the supermarket, Christmas baubles at Ikea,...), but somehow I managed to ignore them ;-(

Things I wear for the first time in 3 years...

... because there was no use for them in Australia:

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At the moment I enjoy wearing them as much as I enjoy eating German ‘Wurst’ and bakery specialities again. I am not sure, however, that I will feel the same a few winter months on ;-)

Friday Fish

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Happy Friday!

Black Board Art

Pieces of art found here

Ruby Tuesday

A hint of Christmas, but not too kitschy. I ♥ them.

Found here

Happy Anniversary, again!

Another advantage of having a two-day wedding with registry and family dinner on one day and church and big party on the next day (apart from having a lot of time to celebrate with your loved ones) is that you can celebrate your love twice every year.

So cheers to you, my love!

Happy Anniversary!

Darling, I love you even more than I did two year ago!

Festival of Lights

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Yesterday the Festival of Lights started here in Berlin. Until October 24th buildings across Berlin are in illuminated in all colours of the rainbow. Every night! Plus there are amazing fireworks as well. Isn’t that a wonderful start into the dark winter season?

A little Wedding Wisdom

On Wednesdays I share everything wedding with you: tips, projects, organisation, photos, faux-pas, fun things and golden rules I ‘learned’ from my own wedding. I feel I need to give something back to the fabulous blog community who helped me stay sane and enjoy every second of my ‘big day’.

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What is most important for a great wedding?

A happy, relaxed couple.

Easier said than done, I know. But it’s true.

All guests will look at you and if you are happy, they will be happy too.

So eliminate everything that stresses you and enjoy yourself!

12 on the 12th

My favourite blog initiative ever. On the 12th of each month, bloggers around the globe take 12 photos of their daily life and post them. Not only great for getting to know other bloggers but also as a personal visual diary. So please join the fun with Caro here

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My kitchen in the last couple of weeks (I hate microwave dinners!)

My kitchen today and hopefully finished tomorrow (fingers crossed!)

Are our moving boxes and furniture from down under in there?

No in here (it just looks so small because the picture was taken from the 6th floor ;-))

My little one thinks trees are absolutely stunning (from the pram perspective)

Lands end is here...

... and there the urban jungle starts

And that’s my Berlin – Curry & Coffee (well, maybe not tonight ;-)

Looking forward to your photos!



10-10-10

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What a date!

For obvious reasons the churches are full of bridal couples, the streets echo with the sound of horns celebrating those couples and the sun is shining in Berlin as if it was summer and not autumn.

So to all brides and grooms out there – have a beautiful day!

And to the rest of you: Whatever you do today, have a very special day!

Last minute culture

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We have been to an amazing exhibition today. In one of my favourite museums – the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin. In my opinion the exhibitions there are always excellent and it is neither too big (exhausting) nor too small (disappointing).

Teotihuacan is a pyramid city in Mexico which dates back more than 2000 years. I have been there 10 years ago and am still fascinated by the fact that they still find new artefacts today although they have been searching for centuries. A truly mysterious place with a unique atmosphere and full of amazing objects which you can see in the exhibition: Quetzalcoatl, the feathered snake, Tlaloc, the god of rain ... and many more.

So, go there and have a look yourself if you can. But you have to be quick. Unfortunately tomorrow is the last day of the exhibition. Hence last minute culture...

Friday Football

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Soccer actually rather than football. The German national team plays against Turkey tonight. In the city with the biggest Turkish community outside of Turkey – Berlin. And I reckon I now live in the street with the biggest Turkish soccer fans in Berlin. Which means: a chorus of horns since noon, red flags on half of the balconies, black-red-gold on the other half, a big party no matter who wins and a lot of very disappointed fans (dito) and fireworks (triple yipee!).

Happy Friday!

What happened?

I know I told you I would be back more regularly. And I know that has been more than a week ago. Actually even more than 3 weeks ago. So what happened?

Well, basically I think I have been a little too optimistic, when I said that it is done. And that there is just a little organisational stuff to do. It was a bit more than that and still is. I still spend hours and lots of money at IKEA and in various hardware stores. I still haven’t finished catching up with family and friends. We still haven’t got a kitchen – but we are working on it. So a lot of work happened...

... and we celebrated the wedding of a very good friend of mine. I’ll definitely talk more about A’s wedding in the coming Wedding Wednesday posts. It was a wonderful, wonderful party and a highly emotional service and I was amazed by all the little and bigger things that made this wedding unique. So more about it soon.

We also celebrated 20 years of German reunification. Which is not only a national holiday for us, but also a very personal one. Andi is from former East Germany, I am from former West Germany. Without the reunification we wouldn’t have met, we wouldn’t have fallen in love with each other, we wouldn’t have had our beautiful daughter – a true all-German girl. In short – my life would have been very different. And not half as wonderful as it is now.

Besides I spend a lot of time with my little one, who is growing by the minute and learning new skills every single day. I still cannot get enough watching here discover the world, her hands, toys, her new bed, interesting sounds, ... You’ll definitely hear a lot about her as well in the coming posts. You know those proud mums just cannot help themselves ;-)

So thank you very much for being patient and for occasionally visiting this little neglected blog of mine. I promise to take better care of it in future.

Have a wonderful Thursday!