dear fall

thank you for bringing us

gorgeous yellows, 

oranges, 

reds

and that deep blue the sky is painted every day

thanks for

sunny and crisp days

the wind that starts to sting your cheeks when you cycle

thanks for pumpkins and seasonal food

beautiful sunrises I get to see on my way to work

and sunsets I gasp at when riding home

thank you for the first snow

and that you are an altogether stunning season

you are wonderful and might just be my favourite season

thread

My parents sent me a box full of random old thread when I was in London only that I could ship it back to Austria. Life never fails to surprise me...

Oh the possibilities!!! Can't wait to start sewing again.

oh the weather outside is frightful...

Are you ever in a situation and you know just the right song that fits that exact moment?
Well this is what greeted me Monday morning...

It just wouldn't stop snowing and it is October!! So while singing "let it snow" I built myself a fire. Take that weather.
If I say tiled stove or covered fireplace, people will think I'm nuts but it has become my new best friend and creates the best heat you could ever imagine.

look what my friends are up to

If you are anywhere near London in the next couple weeks and love art, please go and check out what the lovely Hannah Beth Stenberg has been up to.
She is one talented girl and her work is part of Showcase London at Richmix Arts & Culture Centre. Tickets for October have already sold out but there are still some available for November and December. Details are on their webpage.

Go and support young artists people!!!!

weekend fun

Some time last week my friends decided that it would be nice to have one last hike before it starts snowing and everyone changes to skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, etc.

All said and done five of us hiked up "Nockstein". I do consider myself to be fairly fit these days, I cycle everywhere and try to go for a run once or twice a week, so I assumed that this hike would be easy. WRONG!!! It has been a while since I dug out my walking boots and now that I've lived far away from mountains for so long, I don't even own a pair anymore! (massive thank you goes out to Lisa who let me borrow her boots).

The boys went ahead and left Andi and me all puffed behind :) How on earth are you supposed to breathe when you have so much to talk about????? 

Nevertheless as much as we were sweating, there's nothing quite like standing on top of a mountain and enjoying the amazing landscape...

The rest of the weekend, apart from church and sleeping, was spent hanging at the EheG and Lisa cooking beautiful food for us. I'll just say Spicy Chicken Corn Chowder!!!!! Yuuuuuum!

It was amazing to sit, eat, drink and just chat - for two days straight haha. Ruth and Ian joined us Saturday afternoon so lots of toasting them and us girls clicking our way through wedding, design and photography sites to get inspired for the upcoming festivities.
Yay for spontaneous hang out weekends and amazing friends. Life is amazing people.

exciting news in anglo-austrian relationship

My oldest and best friend Ruth and her lovely boyfriend Ian announced their engagement last week.
Hip hip hooray!!! I started screaming in the car when she told me and scared the crap out of my colleague who was sitting next to me haha. Well these things only happen once, right :)

This pic is from June 2008 but it is one of my favourites.

Love you guys, couldn't be happier for you!

NYC family

HILLSONG NYC LAUNCH from Hillsong Television on Vimeo.
This video just made me weep, excited, humble and in awe of how amazing God is! We're one big global family and cheer you on NYC.
Have a wonderful Sunday everyone x

flea markets

Courageous as she is, my bestie decided to sell clothes and other stuff that has been lying around for years, at a flea market the other weekend. They picked the coldest morning ever but equipped with three thermos of tea and a can of coffee, Lisl, JD and Michi set up shop in a massive under ground parking lot and tried their luck.
Sometime around lunch we rocked up with more hot tea and to keep them company.
Flea markets are their own little world. I admit I am a people watcher and the way stand holders were interacting with people strolling along was fascinating :) No other place will you meet such a mix of people.
Despite the weather being absolutely freezing, it was such a fun time and I really hope come summer they'll do it again.

dreams and what we make of them

I must have said that before but one of the reasons to move back to Austria was to start out on a creative adventure. The plan was really simple... get a warehouse and turn it into a workshop so we have space. Everyone's been a bit annoyed with creating stuff and never being able to finish and because there's no room for it, to always clear everything away. The result was that stuff got put in boxes and it was such an effort to put everything out and stuff it back unto shelfs every day.
So we've been looking and looking and after weeks we finally found the perfect spot. A lovely little warehouse tucked away in a courtyard, perfect for the four of us. Anyway the day before we were ready to sign the lease one of us pulled out and we had to cancel the whole endeavour.
Now what do you do? Go about sulking or believe that there is something better out there for you?! In a couple weeks it will probably make sense to all of us. Even though it sucks to be in this position right now, we're not gonna give up! And you know what I can't wait for the day we get the keys to it and we will celebrate!

month of birthdays

Since when has October become the month with that many birthdays???
Maybe the answer lies within having a calendar haha. Anyway happy birthday to Maria, Nikki, Andi, Chris, Jetty, Monica, Thomas, Will, George and Berni.
Feel like I'm in a celebration marathon. The more the merrier right. love having every single one of you in my world. You make it all the more colourful and fun!
Off to celebrate some more. Have a fun evening every one x

fall in all its glory

Had to drive to Zell/See today, one of the most picturesque places you'll ever see if you have time to go there :) I spent almost every summer and winter in that area from when I was about 8 months old! Crazy right! It is a place very close to my heart and I'm loving all the trips there for work.
Wish I brought my camera though... Every single mountain top was covered in snow - not long ski/snowboard people - and in the valley all leaves are changing colour. Stunning, it takes my breath away and just imagine how much more there would be if we wouldn't destroy so much of it with our greed?!

pumpkin soup

How vibrant are these colours!!!! Made some spicy pumpkin soup the other day to warm up :)
I love this season, when the weather turns grey and all you want to do is cuddle up inside and enjoy a book and some tea.

celebrations

We all went out for drinks last night to toast the gorgeous Andi R on becoming a full fledged doctor. Can't believe she's an intern at one of the local hospitals now!! Considering she started out studying economics and could have had an arts scholarship if she wanted to, yet finished her studies in no time... She is one very talented girl. So so proud and excited for this new season in her life :)

awww to have all the lovely people in one place makes me very happy!

London friends and catch ups

There is something I am reminded off every single day, I am blessed with the most amazing people in my life!
Got to chat to so many great people while I was in the big city. Lots of friends from college who all came to conference. Flat mates, church friends and people I consider family :)

Sadly there's only a couple pictures, wish I would have gotten out my camera way more. Thanks guys and girls for the chats over coffee and dinner!!!
Special shout out goes to the amazing Zoe Boomer who took time out from her jet setting life style to come and hang with me :) Instead of a pic of her I'll put up a pic of her latest collection... love love love

(last image by Zoe Boomer)

blog action day: water

Almost a billion people across this planet do not have access to clean drinking water. 

The results are terrible. More than 3.5 million people, most of them children, die of water related diseases every year.

As horrible as this all sounds, there is a solution and we can help! Check out charity:water - who have teamed up with toms shoes!! - and water for water for ways to get involved.

In my part of the world we have an abundance of clean water, but even we could do with a few changes: Reduce your shower times, 

Turn off the tab when you brush your teeth

Collect rain water for watering plants

and next time you boil eggs instead of chucking the water out let it cool down and use it for your plants - it's packed with lots of nutrients from the egg shells - who knew!

Remember the lovely Brooke Fraser... her birthday wish was for people to donate to mycharity:water. The goal is to raise $50.000. The beautiful thing about this girl is that she and her husband are not just choosing to have people donate money for a cause but instead setting an example by being the first to give money themselves! Beautiful people inside and out!! Let's get behind them!

London - day out on the south bank

Maria's mum - Brunni - and one of her friends - Ute - were in town this week as well and after meeting them all at church - and providing the world's worst translation service ever! - I decided to hang out with them on Monday.
They chose the best day, sunny and not a cloud in the sky, so after meeting at Westminster we spent the day walking down the river. Catching up, taking heaps of pictures, having lunch and ice cream, etc it took us forever to walk all the way to Tower Bridge to sit down for coffee :)

Thanks ladies for a fun day!!!

London - HC 2010

I don't even know where to begin when it comes to conference.
The whole thing kicked off Thursday night with a killer opener and Brian laying the foundation of what was to come over the next two days. What followed  were two days packed with wisdom, God encounters, salvation, joy, laughter, fun(next time you see Matt Redman ask him to tell you a drummer joke!), lots of friends, cake and b'day party, family dinners, late nights, chats, etc...

When Jentezen closed the conference talking about "love never fails" I was crying, standing in awe of what a mighty mighty God we have!
You know it's not about the conference, but the fact that every single European country was represented at this conference. It's about mobilising the church and see her rise up in this part of the world. A place we haven't taken in way too many years and I can't wait what will unfold when we just continue on this journey. Unbelievable stuff!!

As I was looking after Mr cuteness aka Zeke himself, I got to sit in one of the parent suites and had the best view in all of the O2 arena. Thanks hillsong kids for the royal treatment :)

Go over here and watch the highlights. And someone's taken the time to put all message notes up there as well!!

London part 1

What can I tell you, going to London is like going home for me. When I got there it felt like I had never left the city! Weird right, as so much has happened over there and here in Austria.
Feeling a bit brain dead due to lack of sleep, so here are a few pictures. Stories will follow tomorrow when I can sort my head out. There is only that much a human being can take in over a week :)
Only thing I can say and will continue to shout from the roof tops of wherever I go " God is amazing, amazing, amazing, awesome, awesome, awesome and bigger than our hearts!"

still alive :)

I've been in London for the last couple of days for Hillsong Conference Europe, which was unreal, and am enjoying a few extra days with friends and almost family over here. Feels like I've never left and I guess that is a great sign.
Stories and pictures to come when I'm back in the land of hills that are alive x

cutest baby girl I've ever met

the adorable Miss Liah, I couldn't get enough of her...

some of the best people I know

As I mentioned in a previous post, we had 24 hours of prayer this past weekend. Weird how things change and evolve. I was kind of disappointed. When we started this whole TPC thing years ago, it was unique for being a gathering of all kinds of confessions within the christian faith. Everyone was there from catholic to pentecostal, evangelical to methodist, etc. It truly was a stand - to show the world that we can be one! United in friendship and cause!
Turns out I'm getting a bit old for this kind of stuff haha. It was so teenager focused and I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend right at the start of our school year, to get pumped and encouraged to walk with God in your every day life.
Anyway, there were four reasons this weekend turned out really great and they were Reini, Johanna, Liah and Carina :)

It was unbelievable to catch up with amazing friends.
Sometimes I think I'm just called to listen... Do you ever feel like that? Really wonder what God has in store for us and I know that we've only seen a glimpse of what is to come. Thank God, otherwise it would be a sad old life. But we will go from strength to strength, from glory to glory until one day we'll meet with our creator. How awesome is our God right!
Some of the best conversations took place over the last couple days. Not always easy or happy ones but so worth it. Those people will change the world they live in and I'm glad to be part of it!!

proud and pumped

We've known for a couple days but now it's out there :)

24 hour prayer

A couple weeks/months ago I wrote about the Austrian Prayer Congress. Well it's almost here! Starting tomorrow at lunch time, people from all over Austria will gather to pray for our nation and meet with their creator. I'm really excited about it and expect great things from it.
Apart from amazing God moments it will also be a time to reconnect with friends and people who I haven't seen in a while. More on this later, have a great weekend everyone x