My New Year's resolution

Old Year, New Year.

It's a strange feeling to think about the year that is still current but at the same time already past. I think about the things that have happened and have created new memories, the different people I have met, the countries we have travelled to and the good times and the joy. At the same time I think about the people that won't be with me in 2013. And I think about my marriage, as Tim and I will get married this year which makes me really happy. A thousand questions come into my mind : What is going to be next year at this time? Will I have time to plan everything for the wedding? When will I find a new job and finally leave the company?

This is the point where I want to make a New Year's resolution to myself: In 2013 I'll do my outmost to find a new job and to have more time. Time for the ones I love and for myself.

What are your plans for 2013? It's good to think about the things you want to achieve for yourself, the things you want to change. Even if you might not be able to change everything, it's worth a try.

And with this version of Auld Lang Syne, which I really like, I'd like to say goodbye to 2012 and hope to see you in 2013 on this blog again! Thank you very much for reading it!

Kram,

Isabell

My Snowflakes

My Snowflakes are ready! The result is ok, I think. For the next ones I 'll have to buy thinner paper, as it was quite difficult to fold this paper I had and to cut out the forms. I guess I will also have to iron these so that they will look as perfect as Martha Stewart's. :)

I'll use them for decorating the presents for our hosts on New Year's Eve and use some as a decoration for the window in the bedroom, as it is a room under the eaves and has a roof window. It will certainly look nice!

Kram,

Isabell

Snowflakes for New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve I will cut out some snowflakes this year. For Christmas I prefer red, green and white as these are warm colours. But for New Year's Eve I also like white and silver, as it's a little bit more elegant. Martha Stewart has a good description on her webpage how to make these snowflakes:

Photo: marthastewart

Photo: marthastewart

Photo: marthastewart

I'll try that now. :)

Have a good day!

Kram,

Isabell

The last candles...

3 weeks ago I decided to take 3 days off after Christmas and I'm so happy that I did it. I was thinking about going to work as we would like to fly to San Francisco in April and I will need a lot of days from my vacation days for this trip. But now I'm just so happy that I decided to stay at home. It's such a great feeling not to think about work but just relax and to cook without being tired from work, to read a book or meet friends for breakfast that are at home as well.

But at the same time I know that these days between Christmas and the New Year also mean that Christmas is about to end... all the candles are nearly burned down. So I reuse them until there is nothing left, so that Christmas will stay a little longer . :)

Actually I have already started to put some things away, I always do that in stages so that it's not a shock. :)

If you are wondering about the chop sticks :), Tim and I had some salad, plain rice and chicken with a teriyaki marinade today. Delicious! And especially after all the heavy Christmas food.

Kram,

Isabell

Marzipan pigs - German New Year's Eve

One of the things people give each other on New Year's Eve in Germany are Marzipan pigs. It symbolizes Good Luck for the year to come together with the four-leaf clover and the ladybeetle you see on the picture below. We are going to celebrate the New Year together with some friends in the mountains in Oberstdorf, so I already bought some pigs today:

The other thing you give as a present are four-leaf clovers together with a chimney sweeper, because here in Germany it's a lucky charm:

Photo: mainpost

Tomorrow I will also buy fireworks for Tim and sparkler for me :)

Kram,

Isabell

The Hobbit - an unexpected journey review

The days between Christmas and New Years Eve are perfect days for watching a movie in the cinema. Tim and I wanted to watch the movie "the Hobbit" already on the 12th of December when it came to the cinemas in Germany, but we didn't have time. We went to the cinema that shows the movies in the original versions in Munich and it was in 3D.

The first thing that was unexpected was the way the movie was filmed. We thought that it was due to the 3D version that it looked strange but now I read that they used a High Frame Rate with 48 frames a second instead of 24. This gives the film the look of a sitcom, rather than a movie. It was strange and it took some time to get used to the look.

The movie itself was at some parts a little bit too long with parts where nothing happened and then all of a sudden there was one action fighting scene after another. All in all the movie was good and funny in some parts thanks to the actors, but it's not the same like Lord of the Rings, it's only similar.

Photo: decca

Lazy peaceful days

As you know I love Christmas, but I also like the days between Christmas and the 31st of December. All the gifts have been opened and are lying under the Christmas tree. These are the days when you still have all the Christmas decorations and can just enjoy. No need to plan, to prepare or to think about anything. You can spend the time together with the ones you love. I think in most families this is when you finally get the peace of Christmas.

I also would like to show you 2 of my Christmas presents, which I really like:

The carafe from Sagaform.

and the bracelet with the elements from Gustavsberg's porcelain.

Have a peaceful day! :)

Kram,

Isabell

Flying back home

Today is my departure back to Germany. It has been great to celebrate Christmas together with my family even if there have been some sad moments as well. We found some small letters which my Grandma had written and put in a box together with her Christmas ornaments. In these letters she thanked us for the Christmas we had celebrated together, this was very touching and emotional for everyone and something no one of us had expected. At the same time it was as if she would have been there too.

Tim and his Mum and brother will be at our place when I come home and I really look forward to meeting them. Currently I'm at Copenhagen airport and waiting for the flight back home, they have even decorated the airport:

Kram,

Isabell

Some Pictures from our Swedish Christmas

Hope you are celebrating a nice Christmas! I just wanted to show you some pictures from Sweden to show you how we celebrate it and show you that I'm fine :).

We had a lot of food the last 2 days and it's good to take a walk now, even if it's already dark. My family is waiting so I'll write tomorrow.

Kram,

Isabell

God Jul! Frohe Weihnachten! Merry Christmas! Happy holidays!

In Sweden it's usual to send out Christmas cards to family and friends, so here is my Christmas card from Aina Stenberg-Masolle to you:

From all my heart I'm wishing you a very Merry Christmas together with your friends and families!

Jan Olsson Vykort

Kram,

Isabell

Yule Goat

One of the things that are very important when celebrating a Swedish Christmas is the Yule Goat. Normally people put it under the Christmas tree, but my Yule Goat is to big so I always put him close to the sofa. Someone (I think it was my Dad) told me that the goat symbolizes the devil and as everything in the world has a good and evil side, Christmas is not an exception. I don't know, for me it's just an ornament made of straw that has been there since I was a little child and for me it belongs to Christmas just as much as all the other things and I know that it's really Christmas when the Yule Goat is standing in our living room.

Jul in Copenhagen - Christmas in Copenhagen

My sister and I have just arrived at my parents house in Sweden. It has been very nice in Copenhagen. The city was decorated in every window and they had little lights everywhere. We've had a little Christmas shopping tour and I can tell you, what a different feeling. Do you remember my post about the Christmas Shopping in Munich ? It's completely different here. People are friendly and not stressed at all and everything seams to go much slower. After all the stress and aggressive people in Munich city center the last weeks and even on the airport it was really a different experience here. I feel that I can finally calm down and relax. And that's the feeling you should have before Christmas, isn't it?But I wanted to show you my best friends decoration, right?

Her decoration is mostly silver, white and blue, but in a very cosy way:

and instead of a Christmas tree she uses some branches and put them in a vase and decorates them:

We will have dinner now together with my parents, so have a lovely saturday evening!

Kram,

Isabell

Christmas tree decoration

Everything is a little bit earlier this year and I already had to decorate our Christmas tree before going to Sweden. We normally do this on the 23rd of December, but the Christmas tree has to be ready, as Tim's Mum and brother are coming to our place on Christmas Eve. And I want everything to be ready when they arrive, so that they feel at home. I've got many different ornaments, some made of wood, some made of straw and some made of textile:

Tim helped me with it and it's always so nice to decorate the tree together. At the same time I was also a little bit sad to leave Tim here and to go to Sweden without him, even if it's only a few days. 

Kram,

Isabell

Going to Sweden

My sister and I are taking the flight to Sweden today and we will stay one night in Copenhagen at my best friends home. She lives in the center of Copenhagen and I only see her twice a year. Do you know the feeling, that there are some people you might only meet a few times a year but you have the feeling it was yesterday you met them? It's the same with her. We can talk for hours and we laugh a lot.

We first met when she came to Munich together with her parents at the age of 10. She couldn't speak a word German at that time and the school principal knew that there was also a Swedish girl in his school : me. I still remember the moment he came into the classroom and she stood behind him very shy not knowing what was going to happen. And he asked in German :Where is the Swedish girl? I remember how happy she was when I spoke Swedish with her and she could finally understand somebody. Ever since then we have been best friends. Unfortunately she went back to Denmark after having passed the university-entrance diploma.

I'll show you some pictures of her decoration and flat, because she has the typical Danish way to furnish her home and I really like it. As she lives in the center of Copenhagen we will also have a look at the city and I would also like to see the Tivoli at Christmas:

Picture: Boelck

Have a nice friday all of you!

Bye Bye Germany :)

Kram,

Isabell

Table decoration for Christmas

It's time to think about the decoration for the Christmas table. I've collected some pictures as an inspiration:

Living at home

Miaw Inredning och Design

Sköna Hem

emdi

gardinerpraliner

ettnyttliv blogg

inredhemma

For the butter, you just need to cut it in very thin slices and use a cookie cutter to cut out these fir tree forms:

Living at home

Kram,

Isabell

Christmas at Bullerby

When I was a child, one of my favorite stories was "Christmas at Bullerby" from the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. My Mum always read it for us a few days before Christmas and after Christmas it always disappeared together with the decoration until the next year. I can still feel the same joy I felt as a child when watching these pictures:

kinderbuchpostkarten

kinderbuchpostkarten

kinderbuchpostkarten

It's Ilon Wikland that has created the illustrations for this book. I simply love them.

Kram,

Isabell

Tips How to Handle Christmas Gift Wrapping

It's about time to wrap the Christmas gifts. I've done that today, I've listened to Frank Sinatra's Christmas songs and have eaten some of the gingerbreads that I have bought during our trip to Nuremberg. Nuremberg is famous for its gingerbread and I can understand why :) But now I would like to give you some inspiration for your own Christmas gifts:

Living at Home

You can also cut out the stars from a gift wrap paper with patterns.

Sköna hem

I especially like the wrapping with the newspaper, it's environment friendly and if you add the star like in the picture shown above it's nice for Christmas!

Martha Stewart

Ikea

Or use kraft paper like Martha Stewart and decorate with branches or cut out patterns like in the picture from Ikea and use it to decorate uni-coloured gift wrapping paper.

I used the Ikea wrapping paper from the Julmys series and added a fir branch. Hope I was able to help you to find inspiration! 

Kram,

Isabell

Ernst Kirchsteiger Jul 2012- Christmas 2012

I was so happy to see that Ernst Kirchsteiger has started the Christmas series. That's so special, I love the pictures and they way they film it. You can click on this link to watch it: (It's Swedish)

http://www.tv4play.se/program/jul-med-ernst?video_id=2250836

If you like Scandinavian Christmas, this is an absolute must-watch, even if you should not understand it, the pictures are worth it and the inspiration you can get from it. :)

Kram,

Isabell

Braided hair

One of the main differences I realize between Sweden and Germany is that women often braid their hair in Sweden or have nicer hairstyles. And it's so easy to do that! I must admit that I also braid my hair more often during summer than during winter. I guess it's because of the caps and beanies I wear during winter. But it really does look nice, doesn't it?

It's the same with the training in winter, you tend to get really lazy. During summer it's no problem, I can grab my running shoes after work and go running. But right now it's very dark outside when I get home and my weaker self tells me to light the candles and have some Linzer Augen biscuits instead. :)

Kram,

Isabell

Christmas Tree

I love the day we buy the Christmas tree. Then I know it's not long until Christmas Eve and I love the smell of fir when entering our living room, that's one of the scents of Christmas. As I will fly to Sweden on Friday we bought the tree already today. We've been looking at a lot of trees but as we can only have it in the corner at the entrance to the living room we are a little bit limited concerning the size of the tree, and it's not easy to choose "Mr. Right" of all the Christmas trees.

But we've finally found one and I can use the cute Christmas tree mat with the bird and the tomtenisse.

And the Christmas tree stand from my Swedish grandma. It's very very old and not easy to use but it also belongs to Christmas.

I'm happy :)

And I'm wishing you a Happy Third Advent!

Kram,

Isabell

Oh, by gosh, by golly It's time for mistletoe and holly

For the first time ever I bought a mistletoe and placed it on top of our kitchen door. I've taken a cotton "God Jul" (Merry Christmas" in Swedish) ribbon to fix it and as you know red, green and white are my favourite colours for Christmas. And a new tradition is born :)

and of course here is the song "Mistletoe and holly" from Frank Sinatra:

Kram,

Isabell

First Snowboard Day of this year's winter

After a Lussekatter breakfast we took the car and drove to Austria to go Snowboarding. Munich is ideally situated you can drive to Austria, Switzerland or Italy within a short time. We went there very early in the morning and they were only few people. Perfect! After a few hours of riding we went to a hut that has this nice goulash soup, I can tell you it feels good to have some warm soup after some hours in the mountains.

Snowboarding is such a great fun and it feels good to do some sports after all the Christmas and Pre-Christmas food. :) Now I will take a hot shower and then we go to a Christmas market which is very close.

Kram,

Isabell