happy halloween everyone

After a horrible work party last night (playing the bar tender and having dance music blasted through my ears is my idea of torture!!), we are celebrating Halloween by going to Memphis.
We will be checking out Graceland and the Gibson guitar factory(boys idea) and the shops(Veronika and my idea), eat lots of food as you do over here. Can't wait to have fun with everyone.
As I am NYC bound very early tomorrow morning, I truly hope to get some sleep in between all these exciting things.

Here are some impressions of our second pumpkin carving adventures...

Hope everyone has a lovely  Halloween x

I heart and MJ

Just came back from a great evening with too much food at this Italian place and the cinema. We watched "This is it" - the Michael Jackson saga. So much talent, so screwed up. It is utterly sad!!
Anyway the most exciting part about it was that before the movie started we saw the "I heart" trailer! It caught me entirely off guard, so I screamed!! It is awesome and if you have no idea what you are doing on November 4th - click here and check out cinemas near you. That is if you live in the US of A by the way. I really hope that it will get a European release as well.
Those guys and girls are world changers and I am so so proud of them!

a principal on the roof

How boring would life be if you only had one or two seasons every year. I must sound like a broken record, but fall is amazing at the moment.

Sarah and I spent the afternoon raking leaves. A few minutes into it, I was aching all over. Talk about working out, who needs a gym when you can have a front yard with trees in it!!

It was Pizza night tonight and there were eleven of us sitting round Anne's parents house. I'm all about food and eating together. Cooking is such a fun thing for me to do and sitting round a table and enjoying a great meal just doesn't compare to anything. 

Anyway, while we were enjoying food and getting ready to carve some more pumpkins, it turned out that Robert's principal was going to spend the night up on the school roof. It was part of a charity auction where students and parents have been raising money for the school. 

Having heard that, we jumped in the car and off we went to see him. Sami took a guitar and we taught him an Austrian song. He was fun and even did all the actions :) I really hope he wont freeze up there tonight. Good on you Mr. West!

creating things

I've been wrestling around with this coat I have to make, trying to make a not so great pattern fit, etc.
There is something about working with your hands though. I love it! You take scraps of material and sew a few seams and voila you have a bag/t-shirt/jacket/shorts/skirt. Honestly if everything you work on would materialize that quickly, life would be lovely :)

We will be carving more pumpkins today and going out to trunk or treating. I like all theses new traditions and we'll see if I can hang on to them back in Europe. Hopefully the pumpkin carving will last!!
As a treat I got to see ChiChi on skype today. Miss that girl and always wish she lived a bit closer!

rain and pain

Yesterday I talked to one of my friends who seems to be going through fire at the moment. Good fire that is, but it still hurts like crazy! There are dangerous prayers you can pray in your life and I think "God refine me" or "Take everything that's not You away" can be counted in that category. I remember asking God to break me, I'll never forget how quickly that one was answered!
We were talking about what God is doing in our lives right now and I, for the most part, still feel like I'm in a big waiting room. There are so many questions when it comes to life and what will happen in the next couple months. I have no doubt that He will come through and that amazing history is being written along the way, I have too many stories to tell to deny or not to believe that. It's always the waiting part that brings out the things rooted in your heart. The wonderful Christine Caine has been preaching about that for the last couple years. When Jesus said, "Ask and you will receive" we see 'ask' and 'receive' but no-one wants the 'and you will' part of the sentence. So true and this can lead to a whole season of searching and digging around and getting into the word, etc. I guess that times like these will fuel us for whatever lies ahead of us and as another friend once pointed out "Time spent searching is never wasted!"
And for those who want it all and struggle not being on the front lines sometimes, I was reading 1 Samuel this morning and there it says

"The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike." 1 Samuel 30.24

If you ask me, that's an eternal principle and God will honour what you do when He hands out our rewards one day, no matter how small you think it is you are doing.

My Glorious will be back in Nashville tonight, playing at the Basement. I'm really excited about it.
There are plans of trunk or treating tomorrow night and more pumpkin carving as they either got eaten by the dog or rotted away in the heat :)
Also on the list of things to do, were talks about going to see Anne's brother in law play softball but it's been raining for a day and nobody wants to play when it's as miserable as that. We'll see.

inspirations and forgotten birthdays

First of all, I have to confess that I totally forgot Jetty's birthday this week. He is married to my best friend Lisl, studying hard to become a preacher and a super star all-together. I'm so glad to have him in my world and if it weren't for him, I would have never conquered my fear of heights and made it up those rocks in Italy this summer. Thanks for pushing me friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jetty!!!!

Miss the two of them lots and am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to spend some time with them and the rest of the gang after Christmas!

As for the inspirational part. A couple of weeks ago I was reading an interview Oprah did with Jay-Z and he said something that has been stuck in my head ever since. Thought you might like it too:

"There is the gift, there's the spirit and there's the work - all three have to come together. If one of those things is off, it can stop you from becoming who you were meant to be"

naps and beautiful fall

When I woke up from my afternoon nap around 5pm I was so confused and couldn't remember what day it was, if it was morning or afternoon, etc. Love nap time but as good as it is, it is even more confusing!

Robert had his last soccer game today, so after we said bye to the boys and Veronika, we braved the cold and went to watch team red. Driving around the area, the trees are changing colour every single day, it looks breathtaking.

on Wednesday we were cooking up a storm for our amazing host family

Sam the chef

beautiful Sarah and Anne

Veronika!!! so glad she got to come

braving the weather this morning at the soccer game

hard to imagine that everything was still green last week

front yard

fashion show prep and more arrivals

No worries, I've not given up on this so far, but no sleep and too much to do does not mix well with sitting down to write, it turns out.
I've been busy sewing the last couple days as we've got the Prophetik fashion show in Franklin today. Can't wait to see it all fall into place!! There are more RSVPs than fit the building so it'll be fun. The boys will be playing and there will be sword fighters, gymnasts, dancers, horses, etc....
Sound more like a circus? Definitely but I'm not the creative force behind that!
So so excited to get some female backing in form of Veronika who is arriving tonight.
More later x

pumpkins and world changers

Nobody has ever been as excited as me about getting to carve a pumpkin. You got to understand that we don't do that in Austria. We eat pumpkin as Sam pointed out yesterday.
After work was done for today, Sarah and I jumped in the car and bought 4 pumpkins. It was awesome!!! Never underestimate how much fun this can be. Especially when you have other people around.
The boys were so against it - being rockstars must be tough as you're too cool to do anything - but after we were finished they carved their band logo into one... Pictures will be released in their due time :)

Got to catch up with my bestie Ruth today on skype. Nothing better than that. Her poor boyfriend had an accident playing rugby today. Kinda scary but nothing is happening out of God's hand and I know first hand that He can do miracles. He just healed my friend Sophie, unbelievable!!

In other news. When I was working in Sydney, our team was working on a documentary called The I Heart Revolution - We're All In This Together. I can't believe it will be in cinemas next month and history will be made.
If you're in the US, Canada, Australia, NZ or South Africa, you really have to go and watch it!!! It will change lives and mindsets. How do I know? Because it changed mine.
I'm so proud of the team (especially Danielle, Kelly, Glenn, Paul and Joel who have given their all to do this) and can't wait to see the entire film.

my brothers would point out how ridiculously small my head is. it really is

our finished works of art

the whole gang in the kitchen. thanks guys!!

crazy people and the weekend

The kind of place my glorious got to play last night was what we would call a dirt hole. It was the most aweful place one can imagine, but they had two girls drive for 7 hours just to hear them play so what to do?? Again random random people - a guy ran around with a cut of mannequin's head all night that had a lit cigarette in its mouth, a girl who was so drunk and kept undressing herself, the singer of the last band threatened to play naked, etc. 
Anyway it was an awesome show in the end and everyone was like "this is the best we've ever had here" which is not hard to imagine after someone told us that nobody ever comes out to hear you play unless you play death core or whatever they call that :)

My poor sleeping abilities had me up at 8 o clock this morning and somehow everyone else was still asleep so I missed church once again. Can't tell you how I miss London or even Sydney for that matter. Thankful for modern technology and podcasts. Had a lazy morning watching SNL in bed, ha.

The boys came in the afternoon and the twins, Sarah and Yaya walked around Radnor lakes again It was freezing today but unbelievably stunning.

Isn't it beautiful, it reminds me so much of Austria.

Went out to Broadway in Nashville tonight and went from bar to bar. There is live music at every single one of them and it's fun watching them. Not my music at all but it fits here.

work and play play play

Just woke up after a great night sleep and keep laughing at all the things that happened yesterday.
I finally started on the samples yesterday, great fun to sew again. As there was not enough material, I decided to go for a walk in the freezing cold with Bob and Missy and Missy's friends. There is nothing like walking in fresh air and being really hot but having icy skin.

The boys came later and we booked our flights for NYC. As I finally got to use my miles I paid all of $10 - talk about a bargain. Can't wait to see all my Brazilians. As Missy can't help it, when there are people at the door, she just has to feed the entire bunch and we were treated to delicious chilli con carne and chocolate cake.
We finally made it to the venue and got thrown back to Challenge times at the Art & Fun Factory. Old horrible industrial building, really small and everything was painted black. Turns out it was more of a heavy metal club - haha.
As always the most random collection of characters ever. We sat in the bar before My Glorious were up and in walks this older guy with a walking stick who had a rather homeless look going for him. He walks straight to a sofa, reaches behind it and pulls out a massage table, opens it up and lies face down on it. Nothing happens and we're like "what the heck is going on" but nobody seemed to notice or maybe this happens every night, who knows. So after a couple minutes another random guy comes and starts massaging him, telling us how many English bands have played there.
If there is one thing I've never witnessed it's someone getting massaged in a heavy metal bar :)

work

play

project runway and other fun things

Having a night in is so much more favourable to me than going to a birthday party of someone I've never met. That was the case tonight and I'm glad I didn't have to go.
Maybe it's because I'm extremely shy when I meet new people or because I hate to open my mouth in front of people in case I have a bad English day. There are many more reasons but it was nice to have a home cooked meal and hang out with Anne's lovely family watching Ratatouille, followed by Project Runway -weird combo but fun. While watching TV I've been knitting all evening and I have to say that nice things are on their way for Christmas :) I'm getting experimental and I think it's due to my encounter with the before mentioned The North Circular.

Before I finish off with some photos, a big thank you goes out toward the BBC iplayer - there'd be no Radio 1 overseas without you!!! It was nice listening to Zane Lowe at work, it brought home a bit closer. I am also thankful for The Uniform Project, I loved todays take on the "uniform" dress. So simple, so sweet.

at Rumours after our bike ride

loved the colours of the leaves on that tree but my camera is really bad with night shots

putting the bikes up after

peppermint tea at work

friends united in far away places

Yesterday was a bit of a  boring day, but all made up for when the boys got here and we had dinner with our friends here in Franklin.
Sometimes it's just good to have people around that have known you for ages. Makes things easier.
Can't wait to hear them play and travel with them for the three weeks that they are here. Lots of laughter and crazy stuff to follow I'm sure!

bike rides in downtown

Last night we went cycling.
There were eight of us and we all dressed up as if we were horse back riding in the English countryside (or whatever we could find and people thought was English haha).
It was so much fun and I finally got to see a bit more of Nashville.
Thanks to biking everywhere when I was in Austria in June, I didn't feel like dying once!! Progress!!!
It was funny as people kept staring at this group riding their bikes, apparently it  doesn't happen very often around here... one guy was yelling "get a car" at us - yeah things are different in America.
I wish I would have taken more photos on my digital camera instead of my old old SLR one, but we'll see how those will turn out. As the film roll expired a while ago, it could be interesting.

The boys are arriving in a couple hours and I can't wait to see them. It will be great to have family around for a bit!! More on that later, I'm about to start a new book - which marks number 17 on my list, 10 more to go until the end of the year. Oh dear.

God encounters and soccer games

Today something happened that has never happened to me before... I blew up in front of someone, like a crazy volcano that erupted out of no-where. Usually I am the most mellow person ever and would never pick a fight, this all changed when I head butted with this person.
After all this happened and I'm feeling like the last person anyone would like to have around them, I walk into church and they had baptisms and after we sang The Redeemed. A song, written by someone from within my church and I just started weeping before God. It was extraordinary, a sense of coming home and all the anger and negativity melted away and I felt like being lost in a sea of grace!!
Isn't God amazing, when you're at your worst and feel like this is the end, He comes and lifts you up and seats you at His feet, just to be there in the presence of the King. Words cannot express how much I love Him.

As I said before, I love quiet Sundays so the rest of the day was chilled out. Lunch, hanging with my Tennessee family, skyping friends and family, watching Robert play football(soccer for all you Americans), watching movies, more knitting, playing board games, etc There's nothing better!!

Some photos of what's been going on...

Sarah, Anne and Yaya waiting to be seated at Friday's

These are two photos from yesterdays Oktoberfest -  which was a fun experience. It's always rather amusing when people try to dress up in German/Austrian traditional clothing. So wrong somehow!

I forgot how fun it is to watch little boys play ball. Some of them are almost scared to hit the ball others turn around when you cheer them on and others are like little rascals that fight like crazy just to get that ball.

and on a side note, I got to talk to this little man today... and than I missed his parents again... so need to catch up with them!!! If you are reading this, MISS YOU lots London family. love love love

songbird

Watched Regina Spektor last night on Saturday Night Live.

Love that girl to bits, so much talent it's unfair.

Go buy her album everyone!!

work parties

Today was a fun day. It started out with a lot of inventory on the farm - yay!! But than we worked out that I'll be doing sample dresses for the next couple weeks, which will be amazing, as I'll be getting to hone my skills on the sowing front.

Tonight , the prophetik gang, went to the six fifteen magazine launch today as we will be featured in next months edition. Kinda lush as we got picked up by a limo and driven to this great house where the party was at. 

Nice setting and yummy food and open bar, but I reckon not enough people for that massive house. As downstairs was boring we went exploring the house and found this dance floor room and for most of the night the seven of us dominated that room :) For all the times that my friends tried to get me out dancing in London, I was making up for all that tonight!!

At some point Anne turned to me, saying "this is so weird, this is a work party!!!!". We almost lost our designer up there, when it filled up haha. Despite that we made it to Rumours, a wine bar, and had a little white wine session with the team, which was lovely and good to see everyone in a none working environment and plans were made for next week. 

Octoberfest in German Town is on the list for tomorrow. Don't think they have caught on that I'm not German, but whatever. 

A much needed skype session with everyone is scheduled in though, before things will get crazy in Nashville tomorrow afternoon... Can't wait to catch up with you all.

And before I forget, Sophal this is going out to you!!! Love you lots and can't wait to talk to you soon x

music city and its perks

There will be a fashion show on the 23rd October and things are going a bit crazy right now. Nothing out of the ordinary but when Anne suggested we leave work early and go to Live on the Green tonight, I thought that that was the best idea ever.
One of the radio stations has been hosting free concerts on the green every Thursday for the last six weeks and we went to the last one of the series. After some frozen yoghurt (or in my case dairy free sorbet yay) we headed into Nashville and got to hear the last bit of Ricky Young. Headliner and main reason for us to go was Citizen Cope

He was amazing and the atmosphere was great. Haven't smelt that much pot since I don't know... maybe Bondi haha. It was good to be outside and enjoy life!!
Good night world, I'm off to bed now.

the closet saga continues...

I stopped counting how many days I've spent inside our office closet now. I finally managed to clear and count the entire kids line, which is tiny compared to the millions of T-shirts that need counting, etc.

Anyway it was amazing weather today and I started my day sitting outside in the sun, reading my bible. It was awesome and something I rarely get to do. If I'd do that at home, it would result in a) me reading a sentence and freezing to death or b) being rained out.
Got an email from these lovely people

who are having fun at before mentioned conference. We keep missing each other on skype due to silly time differences but sending a massive LOVE YOU this way.

long hours

Just got back from work after a long long day. Should have gone straight to bed but as I had a tiny little salad all day, Anne and I snuck into the kitchen and had corn chips and salsa. Nothing better than a midnight snack.
We had a photo shoot today to get everything sorted for our web stores and I can't wait to see the pictures.
Feel like I've been steaming clothes for the last week while listening to U2 as it was the only cd they had at that studio. Thankfully one of the models, saved the day when he found some cds in his car. Plus he needs an extra mention as he killed the largest cockroach I have ever seen in my life!!! Thank you thank you thank you. I still think all animals with more than four legs shouldn't exist and cockroaches have to be one of the more horrible creatures anyway!
Kinda sad not to be in London right now. Hillsong Conference Europe starts tomorrow. So if you're anywhere around London/England/Europe get your cute little but down to the Excel centre and let God change your life. I'm serious, these conferences have impacted me in a lot of ways and I can't think of a better place to be.
More later, got to catch some sleep before it starts all over again tomorrow.

how I love lazy Sundays

So I missed church today. Don't exactly know how that happened but for the first service everyone slept in, apart from Anne who was at church around 7.30am to set up, and while I was in the shower everyone else left to go to the second one.

Can't tell you how much I miss church back home. There is something powerful when you gather as one on Sundays and the presence of God is there. I truly am blessed to have that environment in my life and am all the more thankful for where I have been positioned in life. It could be so so different and I'm experiencing that right now.

Got to talk to my family though which was nice. The time difference we are having at the moment is horrible, even Australia was a lot easier for some reason!!

As it was raining all day it was a lazy day... watching TV, knitting, eating left overs, playing board games, etc. It's so amazing when there is no rush to be anywhere. Makes you slow down and enjoy life a   whole lot more!

The football game yesterday was fun. Vanderbilt Commodores vs Ole Miss

Rather boring game I have to admit. Despite a packed stadium the home team lost tragically but I'd always return for the people watching part of it!

Back to the fashion world tomorrow. Can't wait to hear weekend stories - Jeff was a judge at the Miss Tennessee pageant. He wanted Anne and me to come last night but I could never do that. Would feel sick about the whole deal. Has nobody learnt anything from Little Miss Sunshine???

one of the best feelings in the world

Just got off the phone with my favourite group of people

taking to this weirdo now...

it's okay though... he's my brother :)

things to do while in the US of A

As many of you know, I'm in Tennessee at the moment. I got the chance to come to Franklin and gain experience at Prophetik, thanks to my friends in My Glorious. They will be here in 2 weeks time and I can't wait to have them around.
So far my time with Jeff has been very random as the team is made up of THE most chaotic people I've ever worked with. They are lovely and rather comedy worthy, so never a dull moment.

There are a couple things I want to do while I have the chance to be in this part of the world.
One is to see my favourite Brazilians in the WHOLE world - they live over in CT and although I had Christmas and New Year with them last year and the beautiful Lidia came over and stayed with me in London earlier this year, I don't see them enough. We used to share a house together in Sydney a couple years ago and they are like family to me.

Another thing is to go to a sporting event. Don't care what to be honest, have never been following anything ha, but yesterday Anne's dad told us that he got tickets for a college football game happening today. We're going to take her little brother and his friend and will be off in a couple hours. Can't wait.
In your face Ulrich!!! He is my brother and plays for the Lower Austria Titans and he'll be green with envy...

Other things are going to concerts, taking a road trip, eating Mexican/Cuban food in all its splendour, stocking up on all things Clinique, buying books, visiting the Jack Daniel's distillery which is around the corner, and the list continues.
More of that later, gotta talk to my besties in Austria now.

this is going out to my Zekestar

Today was a crazy day. Talk about working with insane people!! But as always life would be rather boring without it though.
Got picked up this morning and Jenn who's got the orientation of a tree(wanted to use an animal but they probably all have very good instincts haha) took a wrong turn and headed in the complete opposite direction. Instead of arriving at 9.30, we got there at 11am and it was downhill from there on. Very funny though.

Anyway. Two weeks ago when I worked at Estethica - the ethical section at London Fashion Week - I had a favourite stand. The label is called The North Circular and they had the most cosy stand ever, complete with grannies in comfy chairs knitting away. In their honour I got some bamboo knitting needles and cotton yarn today. We'll see what this will turn into.

Concerning the heading, I'm missing my little Zeke friend a lot this week. As they still don't have internet, there's no one calling me Yaya right now and I miss it. We used to sing our little L O V E song and as soon as we get to V he starts giggling like crazy. This is for you Zekestar!!!

fall is here

When I heard this morning that it was the last day of September, I have to say it freaked me out a little. At the beginning of this year I made a list of things that I wanted to accomplish this year, new resolutions and old ones that are ever evolving.
One of them was to read 27 books this year. Easier said than done, never thought 27 would be that many!! I've read about others who read 40 or 50 books a year. Respect guys! Anyway had 30 minutes at Borders this morning and got out armed with a new book, which I can't wait to start.
Other than that, it was a slow day. Spent most of it cleaning out the Prophetik closet... oh the joys of being an intern again.
Can't complain though as I get to enjoy the pretty sight of Tennessee! What a difference to London. Sun is SHINING, it's almost hotter than our summer, everything around me is green and lush and we had an amazing sunset tonight.
The family I'm staying with has a pumpkin outside the door and although it makes me laugh, I love the colours fall brings with it. If it weren't for spring, this could almost be my favourite time of the year.