Frau Haselmayer's pretty things - Interiors, Design, DIY, Photography, Kitsch...

Say NO to ACTA!

2012-01-30T12:37:00.000+01:00

First SOPA and PIPA and now ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)? Probably you have no idea what I am talking about and think I have turned into a crazy political activst? I have not. But I am a political person and I do believe in an open and free internet (which does not mean I support file sharing and copyright infringement!). I promise will eventually continue to share more fun things than this but if bills like SOPA/PIPA and ACTA pass and internet service providers are forced to control everything we do and share online there's probably not much to share on blogs anymore except some pictures of my cats...phew, at least Paxon can continue to ramble on the internet ;)...well, I may be dramatizing but there will be restrictions using blogging services, twitter, youtube and such. For sure. So if you care about the freedom of the internet, please take a minute or two and get informed. Oh, and ACTA is not only about the internet it's also about seed patents and generic drugs.

Sign the petition at avaaz.org: ACTA - The new threat to the net
Learn more about ACTA on laquadrature.net
Watch ANTI-ACTA - What can you do? on youtube
SOPA goes ACTA: Der europäische Copyright-Blackout kommt noch! - Wer unterstützt ACTA und wie ist der Stand der Dinge? auf netzwelt.de

SOPA? PIPA? - What the hell are you talking about?

2012-01-18T04:24:00.000+01:00

If you have no idea what SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are about and why many sites, such as wikipedia.org or wordpress.org, will be blacked out tomorrow, go educate yourself. Watch the video below and/or visit some of these links...

Read about the English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout
sopastrike.com
Fight for the Future
The Problem with SOPA (And How to Stop It) on copyblogger.com

Noch nie von SOPA oder PIPA gehört? Auf digitalegesellschaft.de findet Ihr viele Informationen "Warum SOPA auch uns angeht" und welche Auswirkungen SOPA/PIPA auf Europa bzw. Nutzer von Social Media Plattformen, wie Twitter, Facebook, etc., (und somit auch auf deutsche Blogger!) haben könnte...

Hier findet Ihr die Erklärung, warum die englischsprachige Wikipedia am 18. Januar aus Protest gegen SOPA für 24 Stunden abgeschaltet wird.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

12 von 12 / 12 on 12th of January 2012

2012-01-12T21:22:00.000+01:00

I FINALLY managed to take 12 pictures of my everyday life on the 12th of January 2012! I planned to take part in 12 von 12 in ages but somehow I always forgot or was too busy. Or too lazy. Anyway, here are my 12 picutures of the first 12th in the new year!

1. Morning cuddling with Mini, 2. Working on an ad for a client and editing images, 3. Framing photos for our living room, 4. Late breakfast

1. Planning our grocery shopping trip and what we eat on the weekend with my new Martha Stewart Everyday Food - Great Food Fast cook book which I got for Christmas, 2. Writing my shopping list, 3. We went shopping to look for a new weekly planner for 2012 but I didn't find my beloved Cool Diary from teneues, 4. Saw the Meine Kochschule von Johanna Maier on sale and now regret not having bought it...I think I have to go back to the book store later this week and buy it. Johanna Maier has been on my amazon wishlist forever as she is one of my favorite cooks!

1. Had a little snack in town: "3 im Weckla" (3 Nuremberger bratwurste in a roll) - a typical Frankonian snack, 2. Graffiti near the Bratwurst vendor, 3. Dinner: Goat cheese in Serrano ham with arugula salad, 4. Sepnding my evening on the couch with the cuddling kitties...so got to see them sleeping like this for the 3rd evening in a row!

See all bloggers taking part in 12 von 12 on January, 12th 2012 over at draussennurkaennchen.blogspot.com.

Lamp options for my new office

2012-01-11T23:30:00.000+01:00

I'm currently sourcing lamp options for my new office (our former living room). Right now there is still the IKEA Maskros pendant lamp hanging in the middle of the room...totally misplaced. I narrowed it down to the following options...and I am either leanding towards a ceiling lamp in the middle of the room or a pendant lamp to hang over my desk. I really love the Classic pendant lamp with a pink textile cord from N.U.D. Collection and I plan to hang it over my desk but I'm afraid I might be blinded by it. My second choice is the rosette shaped ceiling lamp from heine.de but it's actually way over my budget (I didn't plan to spend more than 50 Euros on a new lamp...pretty hard, I know, as nice lamps are rare anyway!). Any other lamp ideas? Does anyone have a NUD pendant lamp and can you recommend it?

1. White pendant lamp from NORDAL available at car-moebel.de for 49,90 EUR
2. FOTO pendant lamp from IKEA in white for 19,90 EUR
3. Artemide Teti lamp available at connox.de for 36,00 EUR
4. Pendant lamp from SEBRA available at www.car-moebel.de for 44,90 EUR
5. Classic pendant lamp from N.U.D. Collection available at connox.de for 36,00 EUR
6. Ceiling rosette lamp from heine.de for 119,99 EUR

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T19:05:00.000+01:00

Happy 2012 from me, Paxon and Mini!

I'm in love with my new Garland lamp...

2011-12-29T11:32:00.000+01:00

...although it's not really new. I bought the Garland lamp by Tord Boontje at Habitat at least 5 years ago. But I never knew where and how to hang my Garland lamp. Now that we changed rooms and the Maskros lamp from IKEA is too large and kind of too dominant for our new, smaller living room. So I decided to give the Garland lamp a try. Like I read on the internet before it was a pain in the ass to wrap it nicely around the lighting fixture and the bulb. And of course I didn't like the way it looked on the light fixture alone. (I guess you need two garlands to wrap it nicely around the light fixture without showing too much of the fuxture.) So I detangeled parts of it again (Ugh!). Added the lamp shade. Arranged the garland again inside and at the bottom of the shade. And ta-da. The garland and the shade look perfect together. I love it. Now I just need to buy a different bulb...

Light fixture: IKEA Januari
Garland lamp and lamp shade: Habitat (Not available anymore...unfortunately Habitat went bankrupt earlier this year and stopped selling lamps and accessories. Much to my regret!)

Rearranging and a fresh start

2011-11-30T23:42:00.001+01:00

After I set up my work space in the living room a little more than a year ago I actually never moved bavk. What was planned as a temporary solution turned into a permanent set up. And the room that was once my office turned more and more into a storage room. Now that work as gotten a little slower and now that we FINALLY finished renovating the kitchen buffet cabinet we decided it's time to change back rooms.

Temporary work area in the living room

But after some pondering and measuring and discussing we decided it makes more sense to turn my old office into our new living/TV room. And to turn the living room into my new office. This way I have finally more space and light (!) to take pictures. And I even might be able to set up a little client meeting table in the future...

My former office almost empty and waiting to be cleaned and painted...

All my work and art stuff in the living room...ugh! Tons of work ahead!

So the following days will be spend rearranging, painting walls, sorting stuff, moving furniture,...I secretly wish someone would come over and pick up all the stuff I accumulated over the past year so that I could start free of junk into the new year. But I know this won't happen...however this will be a fresh start anyway! A much needed fresh start! All the stuff and clutter and the temporary work area in our living room started to wear me out. Left me back feeling overwhelmed and dissatisfied with our current working/living situation yet unable to change anything. So, I have no idea how everything turns out and if I will like it in the end but at least it'll be some change. A fresh start.

Instagram Photo Prints

2011-11-24T23:08:00.001+01:00

Somehow I always thought the resolution of Instagram photos is too low to have them professionally developed. But turns out I was wrong. When I ordered photos last month I just gave it a try and had some of my Intragram images developed, too! And they turned out GREAT! Much better than I thought! Everybody loved them! I ordered my prints at fotopost24.de in the smallest available square size which is 13x13 cm / 5,1x5,1 inch. See, even Mini loved them :-)

I gave most of the photos away to a friend who requested photos of Mini but I think about re-ordering more images to make a picture wall or have lots of them framed next to each other in one large frame.

And below one of my favorite images of Mini!

Beautiful October day in Munich Neuhausen-Nymphenburg

2011-11-02T03:59:00.000+01:00

On Saturday we spend a beautiful sunny and warm October day in Munich. Though Munich is just a 2 hour drive away and I've been there dozens of times there are some boroughs I haven't discovered (fully), yet. One of the boroughs we strolled around during this daytrip was Neuhausen-Nymphenburg – and I can't believe what I've missed so far! Look at all those beautiful houses from the late 19th / early 20th century. So much amazing architecture! Oh, and there are tons of beautiful little stores, too, but these deserve a blog post on their own!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T13:58:00.000+01:00

Taken on Saturday in Munich Neuhausen-Nymphenburg. More images to come...

Old Kitchen Buffet Cabinet - a work in progress

2011-10-23T23:01:00.000+02:00

Remember the old kitchen buffet I acquired back in May? Yes, MAY! I can not believe it took as 5 whole months to figure out what to do with it. Actually it was much more work than we anticipated...and I was several times this close to give up and throw that damn thing away! But last weekend we finally managed to borrow some FESTOOL sanders from our friends and started working on it again - and I am super happy to report that we are almost there! Another coat or two of paint and then we can put the tiles back in again and we are DONE!

Say hello to...

2011-10-11T01:17:00.000+02:00

...Mini. I can't believe it's already Mid-October but the past three weeks kind of flew by. We adopted this sweet little kitty from our friends and while she is super cute and tons of fun we all (especially Paxon) have a hard time adjusting and sleeping through the night ;) This kitty has engery! And there was also a visit to the vet and lots of extra cuddling for Paxon because he got sick a few days after we brought Mini home... But Paxon is fine again and I hope that the two of them get along well one day...

Citroën DS3 by Orla Kiely

2011-09-21T23:30:00.000+02:00

Citroën teamed up with Orla Kiely and created a limited edition of the 500 DS3s. UNFORTUNATELY the Citroën DS3 by Orla Kiely is only available in the UK! (Why Citroën, seriously why?) The car is available in Orla Kiely's signtaure Multi Stem roof design (in white) and with a Spot Stem roof (in metallic grey) as well as in two variations of her acorn pattern (Green and Multi Acorn). I'm not much into cars but this one makes me want to sell ours (a Peugeot Partner) and get an Orla Kiely Citroën DS3 instead.

Or can I at least have these pretty brown stem pattern floor mats, Citroën?

Or the headrest covers? Aren't those perfect? Citroën, please bring this Orla Kiely car to Germany!

Can't stop listening to...Lana del Rey

2011-09-14T12:58:00.001+02:00

"Sometimes a recording artist will just sneak up on you out of the blue and take over your entire brain."* This is exactly what happened last night. I couldn't sleep and was aimlessly surfing the web when I stumbled over Lana del Rey - and was completely taken by her. By the sound of her voice. Her videos (which she puts together herself from old movie clips, cartoons and video footoage shot with a cheap camera !). Her look. Her aesthetics. EVERYTHING! I'm mesmerized. Hypnotized. In love!

Obviously her videos (three so far...Video Games, Blue Jeans and Kinda outta luck) made her way to the blogsphere some time a ago but I have never heard anything of her so far. No idea how this could happen?! Head over to her webite lanadelrey.com or her Youtube Channel to listen to her songs. Unfortunately they are not available yet but you can preorder them on iTunes. I'm off to listen to her songs for another 24481544554 times...

* from turnstylenews.com where you can also find a interview with Land del Rey

DIY - Thrift Store Lamp Makeover - Before & After

2011-09-08T23:30:00.000+02:00

I found this lovely lamp a few weeks ago in my favorite thrift store - for 4 € / $ 5,50! So how could I not buy it despite the fact that it was anything else than perfect. The shade was old and made of ugly beige/brown fabric and the base was, well, too brown for my taste. And although I had a totally different shade in my mind when I bought it I think it turned out pretty cute...

I picked up a large Skimra lamp shade for 6,99 € / $ 9.00 at IKEA and spray painted the base white. Thankfully we had a cable with switch in white (!) from some broken IKEA Grundtal kitchen sports a left and S rewired the lamp for me. So the lamp including the makeover cost me a little more than 10 €. I found an old price tag on the bottom which says 64,00 (DM) which is about 30,00 €. But back in the days (I guess the lamp is from the 70ties according to the fabric and switch!?) 64,00 DM where A LOT of money for a little table lamp. It's from a company called BIKO Leuchten which I have never heard of before...but I really like when there comes some information, a little story with a thrift store find. It makes me wonder where my finds have lived before...

Getting ready for Fall...with Stripes

2011-09-05T15:06:00.001+02:00

Sources: Striped Cotton Scarves from mare2.de for 16,50 € / Cloud Blue Striped Scarf from s.Oliver for 12,90 € / Dark Green Striped Shawl from s.Oliver for 7,90 € (on sale) / Kallia Bag in striped canvas and lime yellow leather details from milloo (etsy) for $75.00 / 3 Style, Light navy stripe and beige bag from BagyBAg (etsy) for $58.70 / STOCKHOLM Yellow and white XL French Messenger with 8 pockets from ikabags (etsy) for $59.00 / STOCKHOLM Messenger/Diaper Bag Ticking Navy and Ecru Stripes from ikabags (etsy) for $59.00 / Blue/White Striped Scarf from H&M for 14,95 EUR / Striped Fleece Backpacks from POKETO for $58.00 /Kallisto bag in stripe canvas and orange leather from milloo (etsy) for $96.00

Getting ready for Fall...with wedge ankle boots from ECCO and Clarks

2011-09-01T14:30:00.000+02:00

Where did summer go? Where did this year go? I have no idea! But suddenly it is September, Fall is around the corner and I feel so ready for some darker, neutral colors: browns, taupe, tinted greys, greige, dark charcoal...

Ever since I disvovered the Shiver Wedge ankle boots from ECCO last year I want a pair of these SO BADLY. They are like the perfect boots for me. Ankle height. A small wedge heel but not too high. Comfortable! Last year I tried to score a pair on sale but, well, they never went on sale. And before I could grab a pair they were sold out everywhere! Bummer! I regretted not having bought them all winter and spring! The happier I am now to see that the ECCO Shiver Wedge boots are back. Plus they are even cheaper at amazon.de this year! Double-Score!

Besides the Shiver Wedges from ECCO I also found a couple other pretty wedge boots from Clarks and Gabor...
Top (left, right) Ecco Shiver Wedge in Coffee, Clarks Marylin Zoe
Second row (left, right): Ecco Shiver Wedge in Warm Grey, Clarks Mews Buzz
Third row (left, right): Gabor Wedge Boots in Elefante, Ecco Shiver Wedge in Black
Fourth row (left, right): Clarks Mew Buzz, Clarks Hazelnut Ice
Bottom row (left, right): Both ECCO Lakota - Does anybody know if these are available in Germany, too? The black Lakota boots with the soft sock lining are availabke at ECCO UK for £ 165.00.

The August Break: Last Monday in August in pictures

2011-08-30T01:01:00.000+02:00

This is what my Monday looked like...

I headed off to a morning meeting with a client. Hit the thrift store afterwards...saw some pretty Polaroid cameras...

...some hideous sequined dresses, ties and dressing gowns...

...and fancy orange teapot that I kind of regret not having bought. And lots of vases...

...on my way home I found a stack of brand new IKEA catalogues next to a mail distribution box and took the chance and grabbed one. Afterwards the cat and I took an extended nap and I decided to take the rest of the day off because I didn't feel well....

SCOTCH NATURALS - Non-toxic, eco-friendly water-based nail polish

2011-08-25T09:30:00.001+02:00

SCOTCH NATURALS is the first non-toxic nail polish with a water-based formula. Scotch Naturals nail polish is vegan, cruelty-free, fragrance-free, toxin-free, hypoallergenic and biodegradable. AND it comes in 17 gorgeous colors! I love every single one! Plus the packaging is awesome, too!

Available at scotchnaturals.com (US, $14.99 each) or allforeves.com (Germany, 14,99 € Stück).

Top (from left to right): Tartan Swizzle, On the rocks, Neat
Second row: Whisper, Leprechaun Lynch, Caleigh
Third row: Heather Blush, Ceasefire, Hot Toddy
Bottom: Highland Mist, Kiltlifter, Black Tartan

Images from scotchnaturals.com

StickyGram - Turn your Instagram images into magnets

2011-08-18T07:45:00.000+02:00

Anyone out there having an invite for StickyGram for me? StickyGram is a new printing service that turns your Instagram photos into cute little magnets. How cool is that?! Just upload your Instagram images and 9 magnets (each 5 by 5 cm) will be printed and delivered to you. Plus they offer worldwide free shipping! Only drawback is that it's currently on invitation only. :-(

Images from stickygram.tumblr.com

The August Break: DIY Projects

2011-08-17T22:08:00.000+02:00

Finally found the energy to tackle some neglected, half-done DIY projects like re-doing the old kitchen buffet I acquired back in May (What? Did really alredy pass a quater of a year?) and to spray paint my newly thrifted lamp base (not without painting mishaps though, see how the paint chips off in the last picture?! Ugh!)...

Pretty Packaging Ideas: DIY Confetti Giftwrap

2011-08-16T13:49:00.000+02:00

Monica from 3@12 shared the most beautiful gift wrapping idea on her blog. She wrapped the present for her friend in brown Kraft paper (sold as Packpapier in Germany), used some double sided tape and sprinkeld it with multicolored confetti made from art paper. Done! I ♥ it! It's simple, yet cute and playful. Plus it's super easy and a packaging idea that doesn't require advanced bow tying skills (which I don't have)...

DIY colorfoul IKEA sideboard (aka Fauxdenza)

2011-08-11T03:34:00.002+02:00

I need some color today after this pretty crappy day...I found this awesome DIY sideboard or Fauxdenza on LIVET HEMMA - IKEA's interor design blog. (For those of you having no idea what a Fauxdenza is, check out this post on doorsixteen.com).

This sideboard is made of painted Ivar cabinets mounted to the wall with a wooden (kitchen) countertop. It's like Christina's colorful bench turned into a piece of living room furniture. It screams summer. I need some happy furniture! Furniture that makes me smile everytime I look at it! I wish I hade some space left for a Fauxdenza like this - I would definitely build one for myself.

Image from livethemma.ikea.se

The August Break: August 4th to August 6th

2011-08-07T11:30:00.000+02:00

August 4th: Cleaning

Snapshots from a trip to the wholesaler on Friday, August 5th. Isn't the Grana Padano packaging on the right prety?

Bought some magazines (jamie and Living at Home) on Saturday, August 6th

Reginette with Ragù alla Bolognese

2011-08-07T01:38:00.000+02:00

Some more images from Wednesday, August 3rd: Reginette or Mafaldine (one of my favorite Pasta) with Ragù alla Bolognese

On my table today

2011-08-03T21:39:00.001+02:00

HKS N color swatch book on my desk, my breakfast (a left-over donut and a glass of milk) on the kitchen table.

On our balcony

2011-08-02T05:08:00.002+02:00

First home-grown radishes ever, Marjoram, Basil and Parsely

August Break

2011-08-01T23:27:00.001+02:00

I'm taking part in the August Break. The plan for the August Break is to share one or more photos each day in August- or whenever I feel like sharing. A plan that I don't have to stick to?! That sounds like a good plan. I have quite a few deadlines in August (like tomorrow for example) but I try to take some snaps of my everyday life each day in August and share them here...

So here are my first two images from August, 1st:

Homemade Olf-Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts from Lara Ferroni's book Doughnuts: Simple and Delicious Recipes to Make at Home (buy it!!! - it's an awesome little book with great recipes and beautful pictures), Chili Sauces from today's dinner: Potstickers

Bruschetta with Tomatoes and Mozzarella

2011-07-22T23:53:00.002+02:00

I thought I'd share some snaps of my favorite dish these days: Bruschetta. Ever since I discovered this delicious white bread the tiny Greek supermarket in our quarter sells, I can't stop making Bruschetta with tomatoes and mozzarella.

Toast or pre-roast bread slices for one minute on each side. Dice tomatoes (drain afterwards if the tomatoes are very juicy) and put in small bowl. Mix with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, basil and/or parsley. Put tomatoes on pre-toasted bread slices and sprinkle with mozzarella. Grill for several minutes in your oven until cheese is melted and starts to turn golden. I use the grill function of our oven and grill the Bruschetta for 4 minutes at 220° C/430 °F on the top rack. Drizzle with (chilli infused) olive oil before serving. Buon appetito!

DIY - Christina's Colorful bench or the prettiest thing EVER

2011-07-21T01:16:00.000+02:00

I'm in love. With a bench! With this colorful bench Christina Diaz and her boyfriend gave a make-over to be exactly...
It's the prettiest piece of furniture I've seen in a long time and it makes me want to got out, get tons of colors and paint something... paint EVERYTHING! COLORFUL!

Btw. Christina is an extremly talented photographer, born in La Paz, Bolivia, who is currently living in California with her boyfriend and their 14 year old "puppy". Check out her work and her blog at christinadiaz.blogspot.com.

Here's how it looked before:

They applied some paint stripper, scraped the old paint off and we primed the wood with an indoor/outdoor primer. Afterwards they painted it with 20 different shades of color...

Paint colors she used for this bench are (from left to right):
1.sea pine-benjamin moore
2.southern breeze-behr
3.bright citrus-behr
4.chianti-martha stewart
5.gold rush-benjamin moore
6.savannah moss-benjamin moore
7.hallowed hush-behr
8.marine magic--behr
9.powdery mist-behr
10.summer harvest-behr
11.(repeat)bright citrus-behr
12.(repeat)gold rush-benjamin moore
13.fuchsia kiss-behr
14.(repeat)chianti-martha stewart
15.(repeat)southern breeze-behr
16.autumn malt-behr
17.(repeat)sea pine
18.(repeat)savannah moss-benj. moore
19.brown teepee-behr
20.(repeat)marine magic-behr

I ♥ every single one!

And this is where Cristina got her inspiration from...an old necklace...

Now head over to christinadiaz.blogspot.com and have a look at her beautiful images...

IKEA Catalog 2012 - My favorite details, styles and trends

2011-07-20T14:55:00.003+02:00

OK, you might have already seen it over at 23qm Stil - the new IKEA Catalog 2012 is out! Well, at least online. We'll have to wait another month or so until we can hold it in our hands. Here are some of my favorite spreads from the new IKEA catalog...

Earthy & Industrial

Lots of neutral colors mixed with industral elements such as lamps or an old wooden ladder. Country style / Cottage furniture mixed with clean lines. Playful, feminie details and lots of pillows and blankets in an industrial loft with large windows...

On the Swedish countryside

These two images make me want to move to the Swedish countryside in a pretty house in with an winter garden right away...

White & Color

Lots of white with colorful accents.

Love the polka dots on the wall!

I like the idea of creating the impression of a headboard with wallpapering the wall behind the bed and framing it with two tall cabinets. Plus this offers lots of storage!

I'm not so sure about the green wall but otherwise a nice workspace.

Bold & Minimal

Lots of grey with colorful accents - very NYC.

Nice and clean workspace integrated in the living room.

Wood & Nature

Wood. Natural colors. Calmness.

Such a calm and beautiful bedroom.

I want this bathroom! This is probably the same size as ours sooooo much nicer! I don't need a big bathroom but I want a pretty bathroom.

Images from http://onlinecatalog.ikea-usa.com/US/en/2012/IKEA_Catalog/

I expect the German catalog to be more European. This one is very Swedish Countryside meets NYC to me although I like lots of details. The kitchens are kind of disappointing though this year. But, we'll see...

Marimekko All Star Chucks by Converse

2011-07-18T19:19:00.000+02:00

I think it's about 18 (!) years ago since I got my last pair of Chucks - oh, my, I can't believe I am already THIS old...I was always annoyed by people crying over their age and now slowly but surely I turn into one of these poeple myself... Anyway, these All Star Chucks from the Converse ♥ Marimekko collection by Converse make me seriously want get some Chucks again...

Some Instagrams from the past two weeks...

2011-07-17T06:13:00.000+02:00

Our cat Paxon checking out the newly sprout plants on our balcony.

A little walk through the fields of the Knoblauchsland. Yes, the vegetable growing area close to where we live is called Garlic Land ;-)

Some snaps of our living room.

The prettiest onions ever, strawberries with mint infused cream and some ladyfingers I made with some left-over cake batter.

Cleaning and testing our new old blender and some books on my night stand that I am currently reading/have have to read yet.

Teriyaki marinated Flank Steak with Sushi Rice, Zucchini-Lemon Loaf Cake (this is my recipe for today's sonntagssüß and I'm going to post it on kitchenklatsch.com later today and some Burritos which we had numerous times in the past weeks.

Ahoj-Brausepulver brings back childhood memories. And cold-brewed coffee still tasts like coffe ;-)

Ahhh...what happened to Blogger?

2011-07-15T12:17:00.001+02:00

I've only been away from blogging for two weeks only and now everything looks completely different? What happened? Well, I see what happened and I know Google made a lot of changes to their services recently but, oops, I feel a little bit overwhelmed by the new layout. Did anyone already check it out? Do you like the changes?

The past two weeks I took a little unplanned blogging break. I guess I got sucked in by instagram (I actually wanted to share some instagram pictures in this post but then I was staggered by the new Blogger layout) and Google+. Are you on Goolge+ yet? Yes, then say hello and + me! Plus there was lots of work that kept me busy and when I had some time off I tried to cope with the humid heat we recently had. While everybody was happy that summer finally arrived in Germany I felt exhausted and weary 24/7. Since two days the weather is back in the low to mid 20's and I finally feel better and energized again. I wish the weather was like this all summer!

So, how have you been? I'm off to check out the new Blogger and your blogs...

Krimi-Tausch - Crime/Thriller Bookcrossing

2011-06-28T15:09:00.005+02:00

Caro of sodapop-design blog had the awesome idea to cross come crime novels/thrillers. So, I have these books to cross (sorry, German book only):

Karin Wahlberg/Der Tröster
Karin Wahlberg/Die falsche Spur
~~Carin Gerhardsen/Pfefferkuchenhaus~~ (going to P in Berlin)
~~Simone van der Vlugt/Klassentreffen~~ (already gone)
~~Andrea Vanoni/Im Herzen rein~~ (going to P in Berlin)

Leave a comment or send an email if you are interested in any of these books. If anyone living in Germany has some crime novels in English to cross, please drop me a line! And now head over to Caro and see what she and her readers are giving away...

Home Decor: Paper Tiles Wallpaper from Louise Body

2011-06-26T06:21:00.001+02:00

The new wallpaper line Paper Tiles from Louise Body makes me want to rip out the butt-ugly tiles in our kitchen and decorate the backsplash with these gorgeous paper tiles instead. Such a pretty and affordable option to real ceramic tiles. Available in seven designs and various colors at louisebody.com for £20.00 per meter.

Images from louisebody.com, via Lobster & Swan

Inspirational Homes: Old train station house in Denmark

2011-06-23T04:02:00.000+02:00

This old station house in Aarhus, Denmark is pretty much my dream house. (OK, maybe this is not the first time I am saying this...but I really LOVE this house!) I discovered it the website of sköna hem and instantly fell for it. It's gorgeous from the outside and from the inside!

The old, disused train station house from 1901 was in pretty bad shape when the new owners bought it. They renovated it one room at a time within one year - they added new wooden floors from old lumber, mixed a concrete kitchen counter and sink with thrifted furniture. And, oh, those old stoves!

But look (and fall in love) for yourself...and head over to sköna hem to check out the complete article.

Images from skonahem.com, Photos: Mette Helena Rasmussen, Styling: Tia Borgsmidt

frauhaselmayer.com on Freckled Nest

2011-06-21T04:11:00.001+02:00

Leigh-Ann of Freckled Nest is celebrating her 5 year blog anniversary with a reader appreciation month - she invited all her readers to submit a banner which she shares on her blog for the month of June! YAY! So head over to frecklednest.typepad.com and check out all those amazing blogs, websites and online stores of her readers! And welcome to everybody who came to frauhaselmayer.com via her blog! Thanks, LA!

Kate Retro Dot Bag by storksak

2011-06-17T14:00:00.002+02:00

The Kate Retro Dot bag from storksak has been on my bag wishlist forever (see this post from January 2010). Some weeks ago I discovered that it is currently on sale at storksak.co.uk for £69.00 instead of £98! So I grabbed the chance and finally ordered it. And what can I say? I LOVE IT!

Tons of space to hold all my stuff! Several outer pockets and pockets on the inside. Beautiful leather trim and chunky silver hardware. A removable shoulder strap. A key chain holder. And for those of you who have babies it comes with an insulated bottle holder and padded changing mat... Perfect for moms and non-moms like me :-) I wish more regular bags came in diaper bag size!

PS: I promise my blog will not become a bag blog! No more posts about bags in a while...

YAY! Stripes! Shiny Leather Mathilda Bag by Orla Kiely

2011-06-07T20:01:00.000+02:00

New on my bag whishlist - the Shiny Leather Mathilda Bag by Orla Kiely with bold black and white stripes. But at a price of £403.00 / $635.00 it's gonna stay there forever! Sadly :(

Images from orlakiely.com/uk.

Kunsthalle Würth in Schwäbisch Hall

2011-06-05T16:34:00.003+02:00

One of things you have to do in Schwäbisch Hall is visiting the Kunsthalle Würth. It's a private museum founded by Reinhold Würth where high calibre artworks are shown in rotating exhibitions. (The entry is FREE!) Past exhibtions included among others Edvard Much, Tomi Ungerer and Georg Baselitz. Right now the Kunsthalle Würth shows a large exhibition of works from Niki de Saint Phalle ranging from her early paintings to her late sculptures, which I would have loved to see.... The Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition is shown till October 16th, 2011 and I hope to be back to Schwäbisch Hall before this date. Back in 2009 when we've been to Schwäbisch Hall for the first time we had the chance to visit the David Hockney - Just Nature exhibition.

Oh, and I almost forgot that the architecture of the building itself is worth a visit. It was planned and built in 2001 by Danish architect Henning Larson.

And not to forget the Cafeteria at the Kunsthalle! Have I ever mentioned that I love museum cafés (ans stores!)? Plus this one offers extremely DELICIOUS cakes!

In the Cafeteria of the Kunsthalle Würth they displayed this AWESOME collection of paintings David Hockney painted on his iPhone with the Brushes app. OK, I just NEED an iPhone, too!

Evening Walk through the Old Town of Schwäbisch Hall

2011-06-04T22:15:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I drove to Künzelsau to visit some business partners I have been working with for more than 2 years... It was a lovely warm and sunny day and afterwards I drove to Schwäbisch Hall which is less than half an hour away. It was just past 6 pm and the light was really magical. I took a little evening walk through the beautiful, picturesque Old Town...

It was the second time I've been to Schwäbisch Hall and I will be back with more time to explore for sure. I'm in love with all the Fachwerkhäuser (timber framed houses) and all the beautiful details. Their are almost no cars in the old town and lots of restaurants and cafe where you can sit outside. You can really feel that the people love their town and take care of it... there are so many houses with flowers and little benches in front of them. And the prettiest hidden and tiny gardens and backyards throughout the whole town...

M2 ROOMS in Schwäbisch Hall

View all images from Schwäbisch Hall over at my Flickr account...

The New York Cab Bike from Gazelle - the perfect summer bike

2011-05-28T15:35:00.000+02:00

My friends have the most stylish bikes ever! T's bright yellow city bike from Gazelle (it's called New York Cab - how can I not love a bike named New York Cab) screams: Summer. Sun. Fun. Shopping trips to the farmers market. Picnics at the park...

Images taken by my friend M.

Pure Green Magazine...and dreaming of a garden

2011-05-27T02:17:00.000+02:00

I've never been particularly interested in gardening or owning a garden... but after almost 10 years of living in an apartment in the city I'm kind of longing for some outdoor space. Some green. A partio. Barbeques in the backyard. Homegrown strawberries and tomatoes...

Issue 5 about gardening and outdoor living of Pure Green Magazine didn't help to cure my longing for a garden. Quite the opposite. I spend way to much time browsing through real estate websites looking for cute little houses to rent...

If you haven't checked it out you should definitely flip through Pure Green Magazine on issuu.com. It's beautiful.

Below some images of our friends' garden that I took last week...

Banana-Vanilla Milk / Bananen-Vanille Milch

2011-05-20T04:34:00.000+02:00

I had completely forgotten about Banana Milk until last week when I stumbled over this post on Carmen's blog retro meets vintage. It's been years since I made some for the last time... I remembered I had this lonely, ripe banana sitting on my kitchen counter so I grabbed the banana, 2 cups of cold milk, and some Kaba Vanille (some instant powder to make vanilla milk - yes, I know, totally not healthy, but it reminds me of my childhood days so I guess it counts as comfort food and comfort food is always good, right?). I put everything in the blender until smooth. Usually I'm not a huge smoothie fan but I love banana milk. No idea how I could forget about it?! It's DELICIOUS! And the perfect way to start into the weekend...

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):

500 ml (2 cups) whole milk (really cold!)
1 banana
2 tsp. Kaba Vanille (can be replaced with 1 tsp. sugar or honey plus a pinch of vanilla extract)

Put everything into blender and mix until smooth. Serve right away and enjoy!

Happy Friday!

Old Kitchen Buffet Cabinet and a LOT of work

2011-05-11T18:45:00.000+02:00

I've been dreaming of an old kitchen buffet cabinet (Küchenbuffet in German) for some years now. BUT the thing is we have basically no space left in our apartment (and even less in the kitchen!) for new furniture...and even though I've been looking for a kitchen buffet on ebay every now and then I never bought one. But last week when the kitchen cabinet below was offered on the Freecycle mailing list for free and only a few minutes away from us I couldn't let the chance pass. We picked it up yesterday and today we started sanding and removing the paint...unfortunately removing the paint with the paint stripper we bought yesterday doesn't work that well. The green color comes off very easily but the white paint below is kind of resistant. So, well, maybe we just sand it and fill in some cracks and minor damages and paint over? Any other ideas? Still a LOT of work ahead...

Inspirational Homes: Bright and airy apartment in Oslo

2011-05-10T02:41:00.002+02:00

I stumbled over the images of this beautiful bright and airy apartment in an old farmhourse from 1900 in Oslo on bo-bedre.no via emmas blogg. Love all the white mixed with some colorful splashes and how the owners mixed old and new furniture. And especially the kitchen and dining/living room area are great...

Images from bo-bedre.no, Photographer: Inger Marie Grini

Thanks for friends who bring over some apple cake...

2011-05-05T15:14:00.001+02:00

The past days have been really slow. I have been really slow. I didn't know what to write about here. I didn't feel like reading other blogs. I didn't get work done like I wish I would have. Lots of emotional family stuff is going on and kept me feeling upset and stressed out. We spend a lot of time in hospital visiting a dear friend. The Flammkuchen I made yesterday evening turned out insipid. I feel completely uninspired and unmotivated. And all the pretty and inspiring things on the internet make me feel like a complete failure who doesn't get anything done when I'm not feeling well aynway... and so on... and so on... I wish I could just hop on a plane and escape the daily routine and worries for a while...

But enough whining and venting. I am going to cook myself some comfort food (pasta) now and have another slice of the apple cake our friends brought over last night. Thanks for friends who bring over cake (and liverwurst, haha) and listen!

And afterwards I'm going back to work, stop worrying and try to gain my inspiration back... what do you do when you are down and lost your inspiration? Do you write about it on your blog? I'm not sure how I feel about writing it down here...

DIY - Paper Doily Table

2011-04-28T03:50:00.001+02:00

OK, I just had to give this paper doily thing a second try. And I couldn't be happier with the result! I used a small paint roller for lacquer works this time! Not spray paint (like it did last time)! The first doily I tried to paint over came off right away nevertheless...but luckily I was able to remove it completely and paint over the spot. So you need to work very carefully but yet quicky otherwise the doilies might get stuck to the paint (again). It might also depend a lot on the color you use. The solvent-containing spray paint soaked the paper doilies completely and glued them onto the wood. The paint I used this time was water-dilutable and even if some of the paper was stuck to the wood again the paint did not glue it onto the wood and it could be easily removed even after drying... Doesn't it look pretty?

So here's what I did:

Clean wooden board to make sure it is dust free. If there is already some old paint on it you might want to sand it first.
Prime table top with several coats of while acrylic paint. Let it completely dry after each coat.
Trim paper doilies. (See that little edge from punching on the smallest doily in the picture? You want to remove those first!) Apply removable spray glue to the bottom of the paper doiles. Go outside for this work and use some old cardboard or some sheets of newspaper to protect the surface you are working on.
Glue paper doilies to tabletop and press firmly onto the surface to avoid paint running under them.
Masked edges with masking tape (if you like).
Put some of your paint on a large plate or - even better - use a paint roller tray. Carefully dip one side of your paint roller into the paint and roll several times on your plate or tray to make sure your roller is evenly covered with paint. But: you just want a thin coat of paint on your roller. If the paint drips from your roller it is way too much and might run under the doilies! Start painting on a spot on your tabletop with no doily. After some stroke start carefully rolling over a doily - starting from the middle of a doily to the outside. If you roll completely over a doily it might stick onto your roller and coil itself up. Yup, this did happen to me.
I used about 2 to 3 coats of paint until it covered the white base completely. This time I did NOT let each coat dry but tried to work as fast as I could because I wanted to remove the doilies while the paint is still wet.
After I was done with painting I removed the doilies very, VERY carefully with some tweezers. However, at some spots the paint had already dried and I took some time and some fiddling around to remove all these teeny tiny paper scraps that were stuck to the surface. But eventually I removed all of them and I looooved the result.

Tools / Paint used:

White acrylic paint
Colored acrylic paint
Spray glue (non-permanent!)
Paint roller for working with acrylic paints
Old plate or paint roller tray
Lace Paper doilies in different sizes and shapes

Sweet Easter Scones & Savory Cheese Biscuits

2011-04-23T14:29:00.004+02:00

In case you are still looking for some ideas for your easter breakfast or brunch, I posted these sweet and savory scones recipes on my food blog...they are super easy and quickly to make and taste DELICIOUS fresh from the oven.

Here you can find the Sweet Raisin Scones recipe, and here is the Swiss Cheese and Wild Garlic Biscuits recipe.

Happy Easter! Frohe Ostern! Buona Pasqua! Joyeuses Pâques!

DIY Mishap - Paper Doily Tray

2011-04-19T15:10:00.003+02:00

I saw this GORGEOUS table on the left in the DIY insert of the last issue of the magazine Brigitte and wanted to try this, too. I used a wooden canvas, planned to paint it and use as a tray. I followed the instructions, used some removable spray glue to fix the paper doily on the wood. But then I used spray paint instead of applying the paint with a sponge as stated in the instructions. Oops! The spray paint kind of soaked the paper doilies and glued them on the wood... um, well,... next time I better follow the instructions...

New York Mini Cheesecakes

2011-04-15T02:58:00.004+02:00

Are you looking for a sweet treat for your easter brunch? These mini cheesecakes are prefect for a brunch, easy to make and I promise everyone will love them... I posted the recipe on my food blog www.kitchenklatsch.com.

The Granny bike from Sparta - prettiest bike EVER

2011-04-12T15:24:00.004+02:00

My friend M took some photos of her bike, the Granny RT bike in Dutch Blue from Sparta...isn't it prettiest bike EVER?

Spraypainting

2011-04-11T17:15:00.003+02:00

...took a little break from working at the computer today to spray paint some candle stands and a bowl from the thrift store.

Ostermarkt Nürnberg / Easter Market Nuremberg

2011-04-09T14:55:00.000+02:00

Yesterday the annual Easter Market in Nürnberg opened its doors and in the evening we took a short stroll over the market... The Easter Market is the first major market in Nürnberg of the year (besides the daily farmers' market on the central market square) and there are over 80 vendors selling kitchen goods, housewares, potters, candy, food, fabrics and much more...

More information about opening hours on nuernberg.de.

My new old kitchen shelf - Mein neues altes Schüttenregal

2011-04-08T13:25:00.010+02:00

Last week I belatedly received my birthday present: a new kitchen shelf with some old glass drawer-containers built by my Dad. The drawer-containers were thrifted by my parents about 25 years ago and then given to their friends. By the end of last year they gave them back to my Dad asking him to build a small kitchen shelf for the old glass drawers for my birthday! It took a little while until my Dad finished it but now I have it in my kitchen! YAY! I always wanted to have an old "Schüttenregal"!

Plus some more photos of pretty things in my kitchen below...
(1) An old coffee grinder from said friends that gets to be used every day. (2) A box of Austrian icing sugar - isn't the packaging lovely? (3) Some thrifted cutlery.

Tissue Paper Pom-Poms

2011-04-04T12:40:00.005+02:00

I made tissue paper Pom-Poms! Pom-Poms! Pom-Poms! Love the word!
I got this pretty branch from my Dad on Friday and but it felt a little bit naked after I put it in a vase. So when I took some time off from work to hang out on the couch on the weekend I decided to finally try Martha Stewart's Tissue Paper Pom-Poms tutorial...and it's probably the prettiest and the cheapest decoration I ever made. In total I used 3 paper napkins from IKEA and some yarn. Here are some photos of how I made them...

Images Corinna Haselmayer for frauhaselmayer.com

(1) Unfold napkin and cut in 4 long slips (about 9 cm / 3 1/2" wide and 38 cm / 15" long). Cut again in the middle of each slip where the napkin was folded. Stack the two slips of napkin.
(2) If you want to make small paperflowers cut again lengthwise and stack the two slips.
(3) and (4) Make 1,5 cm (about 1/2 ") wide accordion folds and trim the ends and the middle as seen above. Tie some yarn around the middle to fix everything and to hang it later on.
(5) and (6) Seperate layers and carefully pull the away from the center. This my get a little bit tinkering especially with the little flowers but it's worth to seperate all of the fine napkin layers but definitely worth it. For detailled pictures of each step follow Martha Stewart's Tissue Paper Pom-Poms tutorial.

Cute Cupcake Bookmarks

2011-04-03T17:06:00.005+02:00

Images: (1) shop.moses-verlag.de, (2) - (4) Corinna Haselmayer for frauhaselmayer.com

My friend gave me this über-cute magnetic cupcakes bookmarks...I guess there's no need to say that I LOVE them!!!!

They are from moses. Verlag and can be bought directly from their website moses-verlag.de

iPhone snapshots of my livingroom

2011-04-01T10:34:00.004+02:00

The Granturismo Donna bike from ABICI ITALIA - perfect for spring

2011-03-27T14:51:00.006+02:00

Isn't the Granturismo Donna bike from ABICI ITALIA the PERFECT bike for spring? Now that spring is finally here and the days are warm and sunny I dream of living by the sea and riding to the beach with my mint Grandturismo bike ...

But the 4 new Pantone colored bikes are pretty cute, too!

You can buy the ABICI bikes from abici-shop.com (German only).

Furniture Favorites: Bolia Less Sofa

2011-03-24T15:05:00.003+01:00

I wish we were in need of a new sofa and I therefore had a reason to buy this awesome sofa with a chaise lounge from Bolia. It's the Less sofa and it's on sale (50% off!!!) this week at bolia.com.

Magazine Love: donna hay magazine & delicious magazine

2011-03-22T00:31:00.000+01:00

I plead guilty for severe magazine addication. And I spend definitely way too much money on these two magazines today - the latest issues of donna hay magazine and delicious magazine but I can't help...I just love food magazines too much.

For the world with love: Get green power

2011-03-18T08:16:00.003+01:00

No, after much consideration I decided not to chime in and join the bloggers day of silence of www.forjapanwithlove.com. Don't get me wrong, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, go to ShelterBox USA and donate for the victims of Japan as the initiators of www.forjapanwithlove.com suggested. ShelterBox is a great thing! Or donate to the Red Cross.

BUT I honestly think it is not the time to stay silent.

Do educate yourself about how to get green electricity - Ökostrom for those of you living in Germany. We will sign up for green power today! I know, we should have done this a long time ago...but today is finally the day to get 100% green power!

Or do join the anti-nuclear movement (Anti-Atomkraft-Bewegung).

Do not stay silent if your government still supports nuclear power!

We can not prevent earthquakes, tsunamis or hurricanes in the future BUT we may prevent further nuclear disasters like the one happening in Japan right now or the Chernobyl disaster. I am 32 years old and experienced two nuclear disasters! Two disasters too much!

For the world with love! For Japan with love!

Update: If you are interested, we signed up for green power and biogas with naturstrom. They are an independent electricity provider (we didn't want to buy our green power from a provider that sells nuclear power), the electricity comes 100% from renewable resources plus they invest a lot of money in new resources.

Thrift Store Finds

2011-03-16T15:33:00.005+01:00

I just wanted to share my thrift store finds from yesterday. Some pretty plates, the cutest set of Babushka / Matryoshka dolls EVER (with a bird and berries painted on their bellies and lots of glitter! yay!), some cooking books (with hilarious food photos from the 80ties) and this beautiful piece of Japanese stitched fabric artwork (see below). Does anybody know more about this kind of artworks?

Snapshots of my weekend

2011-03-14T13:47:00.006+01:00

Of course I spend a fair amount of time this weekend watching the news coverage from the devastating earthquake / tsunami / nuclear catastrophe in Japan...to take my mind of the terrible news I played a lot with Paxon...and then there was some work to be done on Saturday and some left over apple cake to be eaten (see the recipe of my Grandma's typical German apple cake at kitchenklatsch.com. And of course I had to run to the news stand (actual to several) to get the new German jamie magazine after seeing it again and again on the internet. On Sunday evening we made some vegetarian tarte flambée (Flammkuchen)...and had to deal with a very hungry and very annoying but also very adorable cat ;-)

Day Bag from swedish hasbeens

2011-03-11T18:57:00.002+01:00

I need some color on this otherwise mostly gloomy and depressing day... so, how do you like this leather bag from the famous clog manufacturer swedish hasbeens? The pink Day Bag is my favorite!

Kelim Rugs by Sandra Figuerola from magazin.com

2011-03-10T23:56:00.003+01:00

Images from magazin.com

I'm not in need of a new rug but these Kelim rugs designed by Sandra Figuerola caught my eye. They are available at magazin.com.

Cute Cat Notebooks and Fabric Tapes from YOZOCRAFT

2011-03-07T13:02:00.007+01:00

I discovered these über-cute cat notebooks from my Flickr contact YOZOCRAFT last week and instantly fell for them. Dosn't sweet cat remind you of Paxon? ;-)

Oh, and I take some of these pretty self-adhesive fabric tapes, too, please!

Images from www.yozocraft.com

Available at www.yozocraft.com. Yes, they do ship internationally!

Fossil Weekender Bucket Handbag

2011-03-04T12:04:00.004+01:00

Images from fossil.de

I am starting to develop a serious love/hate relationship with Fossil. I love all the gorgeous handbags they are making but I hate that I can not afford to buy ALL of them. So please, Fossil, stop making all these pretty bags I want!!!!* ;-) Especially ones like the new Weekender Bucket Handbag which looks like the perfect bag for spring. It's large enough to hold all my belongings incuding my DSLR camera or some notebooks. But on days you have less things to carry around you can easily flap parts of it over, attach the strap on the inside, and voilà, you have a smaller bag. Perfect! Plus, you can carry it like a tote bag or crossbody as it comes with a detachable strap plus a handle. And did I mention that it's gorgeous?

Available at fossil.de, fossil.com (it's on sale there!) or at amazon.de

*No, of course you should not stop making those perfect handbags, Fossil. I would be lost with my beloved Fossil Key-Per Messenger bag. But I wouldn't say no either, if you decided to send some of them over...

Joanie teaware range by Ella Doran for habitat

2011-03-02T12:09:00.005+01:00

Images from habitat.de

I'm in love with the new Joanie teaware and linen range by Ella Doran for habitat. "The Joanie afternoon teaware range is inspired by Ella Doran's burgeoning collection of tea plates both from family heirloooms and charity shops, creating a collection that is playful and creative, and one that inspires lots of tea parties and home baking." (from habitat.co.uk)

Available from habitat.co.uk or habitat.de...when is habitat coming to the South of Germany? Nürnberg? Munich?

Thrift Store Find: Lamp with wire-frame lampshade - Yay or nay?

2011-03-01T22:08:00.010+01:00

I found this small lamp two or three weeks ago at the thrift store for about 1,50 € and couldn't resist buying it because I thought that the lamp base was lovely. The wire-frame lampshade was hidden under a hideous beige plastic cover with a layer of brown/yellow lace. Ugh!

My initial thought was to recover the wired lampshade with some nice fabric...but the longer I have it uncovered the more I fall in love with the bare, crooked wire frame. It remindes me of the lamps I've seen some time ago on the website of sköna hem.

What do you think? Should I make a new lampshade for the lamp or leave it like this?

Some reminders for 2011...because life is too short for...

2011-01-10T03:14:00.004+01:00

Last summer my friend M brought me this two napkins from their US trip and I keep them on my fridge as a reminder ever since. I do not have any resolutions for the new year as I do not really believe in resolutions...but keeping these little reminders in mind for 2011 sure won't do no harm...

2010 in Pictures, Part II

2011-01-04T00:53:00.001+01:00

Continuing my review of 2010...

APRIL

I finally filled my Mason jars and put them in my kitschy kitchen shelf. Aren't they pretty? I had to take some more pictures of my kitchen...

Easter was spend with family and friends and turned out to be very color coordinated...it was all about yellow, orange and red...

MAY

On May 1st I finally launched my wedding photography and paperie website which I had been working on for months...

Later that month we went on a little shopping day trip to Austria and Switzerland. Oh, Migros, I love you!

Painting my new IKEA Bekväm step stool in white and baby blue was my mini DIY project for this month...

June

We treated ourselves with a new toaster which makes the most perfect sandwiches...

...spend some warm summer days on our balcony...

...and I exchanged some pretty magazines with Kay and diefrauimhaus.com.

And we made another daytrip to Austria and Switzerland...

New Year, New Diary - Cool Diary from teNeues

2011-01-02T19:29:00.009+01:00

After three consecutive years going through three different Moleskine journals I thought it was time for a change. Sorry, Moleskine. Like last year I wanted to get a red Moleskine calendar in first place but as soon as I saw it in the store I knew why I never gotten one and always went for a black one - the red is just not right...it's too orangey for my taste. And then I spotted this new (or new to me) CoolDiary from teNeues and was immediately sold. The red / argyle one is really, really pretty...but the black / pink one had to be mine. I always loved my Moleskine journals and the quality of them is of course excellent but, hey, why not try something new with a new year. And I'm not someone who follows a brand religiously. The teNeues Cool Diaries come in lots of different sizes, as weekly or as daily calendars and in different colors/patterns....you can check them all out at www.teneues.com.

Plus, now that the year has already started they are on sale at amazon.de. I ordered the XXL Cool Diary in Black/Neon Pink (also available in Red/Red) for 7,50 €, which is a steal I think...

Bottom images from www.teneues.com

Welcome 2011

2011-01-02T00:15:00.000+01:00

2010 in Pictures, Part I

2010-12-31T20:27:00.002+01:00

Before we ring in 2011 I wanted to share some images from this year that somehow (ok, mostly because of my laziness) never made it to this blog. So let's start with...

January

2010 started pretty slow with a cold and watching the fireworks from our living room...

Also picturewise the year started slow...I didn't feel very inspired and picked up my camera only a few rare times...so there is not much to share...

February

In Febraury the hibernation was over and I kind of got my inspiration back. We installed some Ribba picture shelves in the kitchen to display my thrift store finds and kitschy knick-knacks...

We've been to one of my favorite cafés in Nürnberg, the Hans Sachs 10 (formerly known as Sachs & Söhne) at Hans-Sachs-Platz.

I discovered another lovely place to have coffee and a piece of cake - the Café Fernweh - at Willstraße 14 in Nürnberg Gostenhof. Such a cozy place that indeed makes you want to feel itchy for new destinations (Fernweh means wanderlust or travel bug in German) ...

At the end of Febraury we have been to Munich with our friends M and T for a little daytrip. We strolled thorught he city, had dinner at ocui (I have written about ocui on frauhaselmayer.com before...check it out here).

We've been to one of my favorite kitsch stores in Munich ever - the apartment shop at Barer Str. 49 in Munich's Maxvorstadt. More information on qype: APARTMENT shop around the world, Maxvorstadt, München. They carry the cutest stuff and all well-known brands, such as RICE, House Doctor, Riess,...just to name a few. Do you see the colorful pots from Riess below? Little did I know at this point that I get crazy about buying inexpensive second-rate quality Riess products later this year...

While the boys went to a Soccer game we continued our stoll through the city and ended up at the Stadt Café München for a hot chocolate to warm up from our stroll through wintery and snowy Munich.

March

..was kind of slow, too and, spend cuddling up on the couch with the cat and occasional trips to the airport to watch the planes and dream of far away places and to pay a visit to the international news stand...

...oh, and I did some trift store shopping where I found these AWESOME Mason jars and I made some delicious cakes, like this Eierlikörkuchen (eggnog chocolate chip cake)...

To be continued...

We will now have Raclette and a cozy New Year's Eve at home. Hope you have a great NYE wherever you are and happy new year! Here's to a fabulous 2011!

Secret Blog Santa 2010 / Weihnachtswichteln 2010

2010-12-23T16:41:00.007+01:00

I had the pleasure of taking part in this year's Secret Blog Santa / Weihnachtswichteln organized by Caro from sodapop and Nadine from anmutig again. Here are my Secret Blog Santa presents from last year. And I was more than excited to find this sweet little package from basisRIKE in my mailbox. Rike send my a cute teeny tiny stamp (yay, again a stamp...I loooove stamps since my childhood days), a wooden magnet that will soon find its way to our fridge and a small Moleskine notebook. I love everything. Thank you so much, Rike. Anf thank you Nadine and Caro for organizing everything. Merry Christmas.

PS: I hope so much that my Secret Santa present arrives soon, too...I sent it out almost a week ago but it hasn't been delivered yet. Sorry :( Please hurry up, DHL!

Gift Guide for Girls: Laptop Bags and Gadget Sleeves from Orla Kiely, Cath Kidston & Fossil

2010-12-09T15:09:00.012+01:00

Now that I own an iPad and a smartphone (yes, I was the last person on earth not owning a smartphone) I started looking for some pretty gadget cases to protect both of them. Of course I found some pretty other things that I do not necessarily but wouldn't mind getting for Christmas, too. Like the Work Bags and Laptop Sleeves Orla Kiely designed especially for Apple products. Arent't they GORGEOUS?...they are my ABSOLUTE favorite. Available exclusively at apple.com.

Images from apple.com

And aren't these cases from Cath Kidston the cutest? I am seriously considering getting one of those iPad cases.

Images from cathkidston.co.uk

Oh, and these Laptop Bags and E-Reader Sleeves from Fossil are awesome, too. I looooove the Fossil Key-Per Messenger Bag my friend M. gave me as an early birthday gift in August and I wouldn't mind getting a matching Key-Per Tech Envelope for my iPad.

Images from fossil.de

SoLebIch Advent Calendar: Lebkuchen Brownies Recipe and Giveaway

2010-12-06T12:50:00.005+01:00

Head over to solebich.de and find out what is hidden behind door number 6 of the SoLebIch Advent Calendar...I promise it's delicious! No, it's DOUBLE-delicious! Plus you can win some of our HONIG & PFEFFER Lebkuchen over there...

habitat Favorites: For your table

2010-11-22T23:38:00.003+01:00

White Porcelain + Gold Accents + Forest Animals + Pixel Style = PERFECT

Images from habitat.de

New habitat website & online store

2010-11-20T04:12:00.008+01:00

I'm a HUGE habitat fan for years now and I'm happy to see that they launched a new website and - most important - an online store. FINALLY! There is no habitat.de store in the south of Germany and everytime we've been to a city with a habitat store, like Duesseldorf, Hamburg (great habitat outlet store!), Strasbourg or Lyon, checking out the local habitat store was one of the first and one of my most favorite things to do.

So I can say that I am beyond excited that I can now shop at habitat from home. Plus they have a huge sale going on right now and offer free delivery for home accessory orders over 50 €, too. So it's definitely worth to check out their new website / online store at habitat.de or habitat.co.uk. Especially since the website is pretty nice itself, too.

I am going to post some of my favorite habitat.de items within the next days...phew, that's going to be hard since I could pretty much buy every single piece habitat.de has ever made...

Rugs from heine.de

2010-11-19T13:27:00.003+01:00

When I looked online for rugs (I'm still not sure whether to keep the rug for our living room we got two weeks ago at IKEA or not) I stumbled upon heine.de. Never ever would I have thought of heine when it comes to buying a rug. Biiiiiiig mistake when I see these pretty rugs and Kelims. Have a look at heine.de for the details and even more rugs...

Images from heine.de

ePure phone by swissvoice

2010-11-12T10:49:00.010+01:00

Well desinged phones are a rarity...I'm not talking of cell phones but landline phones. In the early nineties when I got my own line I had to have one of these babies. A swatch twin phone! Anyone remember these? I loved it! Nowadays I probably wouldn't call it a design highlight but compared to the phones back then it definitely was. Eventually it was replaced by a Siemens cordless gigaset phone because, cordless was the way to go. I hated it. The battery was always low. And it was beeping for HOURS whenever the battery was low which was, well, ALWAYS. It was heavy as small dumbbell.
For the last 10 years two BeoCom 6000 from Bang & Olufsen have served me well. And even though one has gone kaput over the years it is definitely the best phone I've ever had. But honestly I'm not willing to invest several hundred in a new landline phone at this point. So the ePure phone by swissvoice looks like a worthy successor. It's costs a mere 70 € and I think the retro inspired yet modern design looks good on almost every desk. Or even in your living room...

Available at memo.de.

Images from www.swissvoice.net

Pretty things: Miix Spoon Set from MoMA STORE

2010-11-05T01:00:00.005+01:00

These pretty spoons from Chi-Wing Lee available exclusively at MoMA STORE are definitely on top of my Christmas Wish List.

Image from momastore.org

Perfect for dessert or coffee, these teaspoons are made of fine bone china and have a traditional handle design. The white handles are unglazed and the spoon tips are dipped in glazes of assorted colors. Dishwasher- and microwave-safe. Set of five.

IKEA PS Maskros Pendant Lamp

2010-11-03T23:55:00.008+01:00

It took us almost 2 weeks but we finally managed to assemble our shiny, new and GORGEOUS Maskros Pendant Lamp from IKEA. I've been in love with this lamp since I saw the first images on the internet more than a year ago but there was no way to put this huge lamp up in our living room. But then some weeks ago I heard the rumors on the internet that IKEA brings out a smaller version of it...and not very long after the first rumors I saw it in our local IKEA. And I instantly grabbed the chance and bought it. The small Maskros lamp is about 55 cm (21.5 inch) in diameter and retails for 49,00 € at IKEA Germany. It was much easier and faster to assemble than I thought. And I absolutely LOOOOOVE it.

All images © Corinna Haselmayer

Out & About in Munich: ocui - open cuisine

2010-10-27T14:39:00.006+02:00

ocui - open cuisine is one of our favorite places to have a late lunch in Munich. Their Pizza is delicious...and I love the interior.

Images taken by Corinna Haselmayer

nobel bopel, Bergen - Coffee & Furniture

2010-10-18T23:50:00.007+02:00

I love furniture and I love cooking and baking...so the idea of mixing a used furniture store with a café sounds like the PERFECT combination to me. I could spend my days cooking and baking and buying furniture without remorse.

I found the images of nobel bopel on Siw's blog design shimmer. Thanks for letting me share them on my blog. nobel bopel sounds definitely like another good reason to visit Bergen.

Images taken by Design-Shimmer / Logo from nobel bopel

Help...

2010-10-15T23:46:00.005+02:00

...I'm suffering from FBA - Furniture Buying Addication. Seriously, it's taking on dramic scales. Not money but space wise. Ask anyone around me and they will confirm that I am somewhat crazy when it comes to furniture...but I just can't say no to a nice table or a pretty chair. So I bought this old kitchen table from ebay for basically nothing. (How could I not?) Actually I only bought it because of its fancy pattern on the table top which I plan to use as a photography prop. But now I'm unsure if I should really tear this table apart and just use the table top (as planned) or if I should find a place in our apartment which means throwing out my desk or my crafting table. Argh...such an hard decision! What should I do? I need your help!

HONIG & PFEFFER Lebkuchen Verlosung auf ohhhmhhh.wordpress.com / HONIG & PFEFFER Lebkuchen Giveaway on ohhhmhhh.wordpress.com

2010-10-13T15:29:00.003+02:00

Schnell auf zu Steffis Blog ohhhmhhh.wordpress.com um bei unserer HONIG & PFEFFER Lebkuchen Verlosung mitzumachen...Wir verlosen ein Einsteigerpaket oder ein glutenfreies Paket. Der Gewinner wir schon heute Abend gezogen!

Hurry over to Steffi's Blog ohhhmhhh.wordpress.com to enter our HONIG & PFEFFER Lebkuchen Giveaway...we will draw the winner in the eveing (CET).

Livingroom TV/Storage Combination using IKEA BESTÅ

2010-10-13T05:42:00.003+02:00

I really like this Livingroom TV/Storage Combination using IKEA BESTÅ I found on x4duros.com, a Spanish Interior Design Blog. It looks simple and clean yet upscale and doesn't scream IKEA.

Images posted with permisson from x4duros.com

Home Office Inspirations and Ideas, Part I

2010-10-11T05:03:00.017+02:00

A new week already? Middle of October already? I have absolutely no idea where this past week has gone. Lebkuchen season has started and orders keep coming in at HONIG & PFEFFER, which makes us really happy but also really busy...another reason why I didn't notice how this past week went by is that I found out that the pain in my leg and my back might come from my desk / office chair combination. And although both are high quality and ergonomic designed (my desk is from fortschritt and my office chair is a giroflex 64) I think they might just not be right for my size. Well, it only took me only 7 years to figure this out...but better late than never, right? I instantly moved my monitors to the straight side of the desk (my desk is shaped like the Galant Corner Desk left from IKEA and I used to sit on the side with the corner) and switched desk chairs. And while this setup is noticeably better for my back and my leg, it is only a temporary solution. So we paid several visits to IKEA last week and I did a lot of researching on the internet...and here are some of my favorite home office inspirations and ideas so far...

Products (top to bottom):
Desk Lamp Step from Bolia
Analogue Wall Clock Flap from habitat
Desk Labora from Bolia
Work Table Lamp in Yellow from BoConcept
Work Lamp Forsa from IKEA
Armchair Nils from IKEA
Slipcovers for Armchair Nils from BEMZ
Table Top Manali & Oak Trestles Kusa from habitat
Armchair Mademoiselle from Kartell
Garland Lamp from habitat, designed by Tord Boontje for 25,00 € / on habitat.co.uk on sale for £ 16.00
Desk Lamp Antifoni from IKEA
Eames Plastic Side Chair DWS from vitra, available from connox for 309,00 €
Desk BESTÅ BURS from IKEA for 279,00 €
Desk Micke from IKEA for 69,00 €
Pendant Lamp Bristol from BoConcept for £299
Pendant Lamp Foto from IKEA for 29,99 € / $29,99
Aluminium Chair EA 105 from vitra, available from smow from 1433,00 €
Armchair Jefferson designed by Alexander Lervik for Kinnarps
Desk MOBYDISK from skandiform designed by Ruud Ekstrand
Desk Chair salida net from drabert available from Pape + Rohde starting from 437,82 €
Chairs Kevi from engelbrechts available in 9 colors

Interior Images are © and from (top to bottom):
(1) Bolia.com
(2) Bolia.com
(3) livingetc.com, FUNKY DRESSER STORAGE
(4) livingetc.com, GEOMETRIC BORDERS
(5) livingetc.com, INSPIRING STUDY
(6) livingetc.com, MODERN STORAGE
(7) livingetc.com, MUTED MIX
(8) livingetc.com, BRIGHT AND ORGANISED

All product images are © and from the manufacturers' websites.

I ♥ Sisterbrandt Interview on thesweetspot.dk

2010-10-09T04:27:00.007+02:00

I adore the work of Sabine Brandt/Sisterbrandt ever since I found her website and her blog several years ago and have been folling her ever since. Her book covers and cookbook designs are an endless source of inspiration, especially since I'm dabbling more and more into book design myself lately. (If everything goes well my first cover design will be published in several months - but I don't want to jinx it...) So when she blogged this screenshot on her blog I had to click on the link to thesweetspot.dk right away. And not only did I find this lovely interview with her but also the awesome blog thesweetspot.dk - run by Laura Scheuer Trøstrup, who works as a product developer, desinger and stylist and runs her own company reFORM. At thesweetspot.dk she shares interior design tipps, shopping tricks, links, furniture finds,...be sure to visit both blogs if you don't know them yet...

Granny Wall Shelf by Beerd van Stokkum

2010-10-04T19:32:00.005+02:00

Imagse from beerdvanstokkum.com, found via theofficestylist.com

Unfortunately there is no space in our apartment for some additional shelves...otherwise these floating Granny shelves by Beerd van Stokkum were definitely my first choice. They are available directly at beerdvanstokkum.com for 125,00 € + shipping per piece.

I'm not rich but my life is full...

2010-10-02T15:20:00.005+02:00

Image taken by Mavis

I hope I always remeber this.

(If anyone knows the original source please let me know...)

Thank you Bemz!

2010-09-30T16:54:00.003+02:00

...for sending my this pretty bag. I love it!

Bemz send me this shopping bag as a thank you for taking part in thei online survey...

Rug Cube Kelim by house doctor

2010-09-29T23:46:00.006+02:00

Images from nordhjem.dk

Ever since I saw the Cube Kelim rug by house docotor for 50% off on nordhjem.dk and on lindgrenhus.de I'm ohhhh so tempted to buy it and replace the old rug in our kitchen with this beauty...

Clothes & Accessories by house doctor

2010-09-27T17:16:00.004+02:00

Images from housedoctordk.blogspot.com

Can't wait to see the new Clothes & Accessories collection by house doctor in the stores. I especially want to have a closer look the brown leather bag and the scarves...now I only need to find a store in Nürnberg that sells the new house doctor accessories...

Pretty cushions and table runners by luminous and emerald

2010-09-26T13:09:00.007+02:00

Images from luminousandemerald.com

These pretty sofa cushions are handwoven by Textile Designer Sandra Kuwartowski for her own label luminous and emerald. luminous and emerald stands for one of a kind handmade couture accessories and decorative home textiles. Sandra Kuwartowski studied textile design in Hamburg, Edinburgh and Basel and was trained in weaving and printing at the Grennan Mill Craft School in Ireland. For her home and kitchen textiles she interweaves finest merino, cotton and silk yarn. Her hand printed fabrics are made of organic linen. She gains inspiration from vintage clothes, snippets of magazines, exhibitions, fairy tales, sayings, song lyrics, yarns and fabric remnants.

You can order on her website/online store at www.luminousandemerald.com

Oh, and aren't her table runners pretty awesome, too? They are made of oatmeal colored natural linen from Ada & Ina natural linen fabrics with screen prints, embroidery and appliqués.

White Rabbit Nightlights

2010-09-24T03:40:00.005+02:00

Images from pippikakka.de

I want the these two nightlights from White Rabbit for our nightstands. The owl and the bunny. Aren't they cute? Available from whiterabbitengland.com or in Germany from pippikakka.de.

The 10 most popular homes from boligmagasinet.dk

2010-09-23T00:15:00.006+02:00

Images from boligmagasinet.dk