Venice Beach

We've spent our last day in Venice Beach, as we will fly back tonight from LA. It's a funny and crazy place where you can see lots of sports and are many shops along the walkway, that sell tourist souvenirs, pizza by the slice, but also artists, musicians...

Fun place to simply watch people, have a slice of pizza and enjoy the beach...

Isabell

Ruby's Autodiner

For me a typical American restaurant is a diner, that is what you see in many movies and of course I also wanted to have food in a diner. :) We went to Ruby's Autodiner and what I especially liked, was the 50s style of the entire restaurant:

I went for a Cheeseburger, French Fries and Cherry Coke, great combination but I think I will have to run some extra rounds when I'm back in Germany... :)

Isabell

Having a garden

Back in Munich in our apartment we don't even have a balcony, which I sometimes miss. It's great to be able to have breakfast outside, to have a barbecue with friends or just sit in the sun. Here in this house we have a garden and I enjoy it everyday.

This is a picture to show you what I see everyday. 

Kram,

Isabell

Los Angeles

Today we made a trip to Los Angeles, I think that's the biggest city I've visited so far. These are dimensions you can't even really realize, I had the feeling that the city never ends and I've met so many different people and I've seen so many different styles, like this barber shop:

We only spent one day there and we will spend another day on our way back home, but I think you will need more than 1 week to get to know this city a little better. I liked being there but I must admit I'm feeling more comfortable with smaller dimensions :)

Isabell

Our House in Laguna Beach

After traveling to Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay, Cambria and Santa Barbara, we have finally arrived in Laguna Beach, a very nice little town between LA and San Diego and we've rented this house for a week. It's furnished in Scandinavian design and very cozy. After one week of traveling and staying in different hotels, it's good to stay at one place. It was exciting to see all these cities and I'll show you some pictures soon, but it's great to have a "home" now.

The kitchen is great too, they have a huge supermarket close-by with organic food and the greatest variation I've ever seen, so it's really great fun to cook and have good food.

This is a picture from the living room and you can see that we have great luck with the weather, it's still summer here...

This is the view from one of the windows, the blue color you see is the ocean.

I'll show you more soon :)

Have a great day!

Isabell

My days in San Francisco..

...what a wonderful and nice city! Tim and I have spent 3 days here and I can tell you, San Francisco is definitely a city you need to see in your life. It's a mixture of American and European styles and I especially liked the Victorian architecture and the nice atmosphere in this city.

As we are on our honeymoon the hotel in San Francisco gave us an upgrade with this gorgeous view:

And the typical view you have in San Francisco with the steep mountain and the cable car:

These are some Victorian houses which I liked a lot:

And of course I always eat pizza when I'm in America :)

And I also saw a car that reminds me of the TV Series Starsky and Hutch:

And of course the Golden Gate Bridge:

as I have wifi Internet now I can blog again :)

Kram,

Isabell

Start the season of the (candle) lights

I know that many people don't like autumn and winter. But you'll never get that coziness during summer like during autumn and winter. There is something special about the red, yellow and brown colour of the leaves, the way it feels when you come into your warm home when it's cold outside. It's the season and scent of apples, plums, cinut of course also the start of the candle light season.

Kram,

Isabell

Octoberfest Munich Outfit/ Wiesn 2013

The Octoberfest in Munich is one of the world's famous festivals. In 2013 it will be from 21st of September until 6th of October and all the shops are filled with the traditional outfits. If you go to the Octoberfest you should definitely wear a so-called "Dirndl" (which also means "girl" in Bavarian) and is the traditional dress for women or a so called "Lederhos'n" (which can be translated as "leather trousers") , everybody wears it. 

These are some very nice examples which I found in the 2013 collections from the various brands. You can get all sorts of materials, colours and length:

Photo: ludwig-therese

Photo: hallhuber

And of course you can choose different apron colours as well. But be careful where to tie your apron :), on the right side it means that you're married/in a relationship on the left side it means that you're single. 

Photo: limango

Hats are very "in", this fashion trend has started 2 years ago:

Photo: Sportalm

Photo: ludwig-therese

Some people even buy wedding "Dirndl":

Photo:schmittundschaefer

Photo: alpenmaedel

Instead of a "Dirndl" women also wear "Lederhos'n" with different length:

Photo: ludwig-therese

Photo: ludwig-therese

or with knee socks:

Photo: ludwig-therese

and these are typical and traditional outfits for men:

Photo: ludwig-therese

Photo: ludwig-therese

If you should be in Munich during this time, have a really nice Octoberfest!

Isabell

Listen to the radio

You know I like to listen to the radio. I like to listen to documentaries, to the programs with audio books or even classic Swedish radio emissions they have. I listen to German and Swedish ones while preparing food or do the washing-up. It's so relaxing in a way, because the voice on radio are always nice and calm, aren't they? If you're looking for a radio, I found to really nice ones:

A more modern version:

Picture : pure

 And a classic version with the design of orla kiely, which is very 50ties:

Picture: pure

 I like both of them, and you can receive digital programs with these!

Kram,

Isabell

Homemade bread rolls for breakfast

Isn't it nice to have homemade bread rolls for breakfast? When I bake these Rosenbröd I always put some in the freezer immediately after they have cooled down and like this I can have fresh bread rolls everyday for breakfast. I simply put them in the microwave for 30 seconds. Some salted butter and they are perfect. This is the recipe for Rosenbröd and this time I've added poppy seeds.

Kram,

Isabell

Late summer

They days get darker earlier and in the morning when you go to work it's so cold that you can see the breath already now in late summer. I love this part of the year too, I've put many candleholders back on the divers places, back from where I stowed them during summer.

In Sweden I've been in the "stearinljusfabriken" which is a little factory for candles and filled my stock of candles for autumn and winter. So I'm ready for that time of the year :)

Photo: gymglam

But I must admit, I'm also looking forward to having a little bit more summer in California end of September!

Isabell

The candleholders

Do you remember my post about doing things you like ? I just wanted to show you how nice the candle holders look together with the one I already have. Some might think "but they have different shapes" but this is what I like about it and makes it special for me. I also look to combine things you wouldn't expect, you can find that everywhere in our apartment, I mix modern and old-fashioned becasue for me that's what makes the coziness. Modern can be too clean and cool and old-fashioned can be to kitschy and too much, mixing it brings the perfect balance.

Have a lovely start of the week!

Isabell