Vienna weekend roundup

Going home is always filled with squeezing as much as possible in and than only doing half of it because the weather wont permit anything else.
My lovely friend Margit is getting married in a month, so all the girls got together for her hen night. The original plan of hiking up to a hut and staying here for a night, fell through so we went up to Moedling and had a night of catching up, celebrating the bride and lots of fun things!

 you can look over the entire city - Vienna that is

 It felt a lot like a high school reunion, strange to think I've known most of them for up to 15 years and missed the last six of those :) Good thing that we will have the wedding in four weeks time and it will be fantastic.

We had a fun skype date with my favourite Zekester and his parents :)

Sadly the young designer's market wasn't happening as it was rained out :( but Judith and I braved the rain to watch my brother play football in the afternoon. Very thankful for wellies and umbrellas!!

My brother's friend Flo brought his three little boys along - it was their first time at a game and as it turned out the next day young boys are really impressed by how my brother runs sideways and backwards ahahahaha
I lasted until half time and went over to the lovely Fischers to finally meet Miss Evie:

Isn't she beautiful!!! Got lots of baby cuddles and a delicious meal... So good to see them.
Time is always on the tight side but thankfully they're all not too far off.

family

To say that my family is crazy is an understatement! We're all rather on the mental side and life is never boring with them!
This weekend, I got home just to say bye to my parents who were off for a weekend of celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries in Upper Austria :)  Great how much we plan weekends together haha
Anyway we had a 20 min window where there was all five of us. Let me present the outcome:

 how funny are my parents... love how my dad is holding an umbrella hahaha

 remember the cute little dresses I made??? we kinda repurposed them for a bit :)

 lampshades

Love them more than life xxx

sponsor @ Just Giving

Lots of my London friends are running a 10km run this coming Monday to raise funds for summer camp.
Wildlife summer camp is probably the craziest, funnest, maddest, most glorious week you could ever think of. Hundreds of teenager get together and camp somewhere out in the countryside, have fun, do crazy things, make new friends and above all encounter God.
Honestly the best thing ever! Life changing experience (you can check out highlights from last year over on youtube).

My friends Tanja and Maria still need some sponsors, if you have a couple Pounds/Euros/Dollars, they will make all the difference in someone's life! Visit their Just giving pages here and here.
You guys are world changers. Thank you heaps!!!
For the entire crazy experience please watch these three videos - could not stop laughing!!! Love those guys :)

birthday celebrations

Even though it wasn't her birthday yet, we all got together to celebrate Gerlinde's birthday Sunday night.
She is Lisl's mum and my Salzburg mama :) One incredible lady.
Over the years wherever I've lived she's always sent me cards and little pieces of Austria(the world's tiniest advent wrench, Mannerschnitten, christmas cookie recipes etc.) so I wouldn't forget Salzburg and them! Basically everything you need when you're on the other side of the planet.
It was good to go out for dinner with the family, just relax and have fun.

flower microphone

Happy happy birthday Gerlinde, love you lots x

out the window

I look at these beauties every morning when I have breakfast. Isn't the colouring amazing? I'm not a big rose person - daisies will always be my favourites as they're so simple - but I love the subtle smell that wafts through my window and the yellow with tiny bit of purple/pink is just gorgeous.
Apparently they've been growing for years and nobody actually takes care of them in particular and they still turn out like this :) What a Creator, right!

Natasha Bedingfield @ Andy.artmagazine.cc

image via Andy

Sami had the chance to interview Natasha Bedingfield while she was in Vienna last week.
He did a great job and the interview(all in German unfortunately) is definitely not one of the usual sort :)
Just click here and have fun reading!

mending clothes

This afternoon was spent mending clothes.
Can't believe we don't do that anymore, Schniffi and I had the best time "repairing" her clothes - from sewing up stuff to crocheting pieces to repair a bag - so very random but lots of fun.
The lovely non-consumer advocate has this slogan on her blog saying:

"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" 

How clever is that! I wish this mindset hadn't got lost from our grandparents generation to ours... Don't know what happened in between, but I for one want to get back to that.
Fashion is one of the worst waste producing industries we have right now. Every season styles change and as there are many many shops around that sell you the hottest new trends for next to nothing, just as much perfectly wearable clothing enters our landfills.
Why not try to brake that habit? I bet there is more than enough in your closet and if you dig through it you'll find treasures you didn't even realise you had.
Plus you can mend a lot more than you think. We fixed 3 pairs of jeans, 2 jumpers, leggings, shorts, sweat pants, etc today. Get some friends, mend your belongings, have a couple drinks and chat away :)

Minefield - My Glorious

Sami sent this out with the words "most expensive music video ever made" haha

Love it especially the Alarm!!!! part :) Watch it and spread the word!

soundtrack of my life... the last couple days

My knees been out for the last five days and it hurts! (Long story short - doctors verdict: knee is okay but strained - I'm too "delicate" to continue running. Broke my little heart and I'll have to go back to doing yoga)
This whole knee episode brought back random songs into my life. Do you ever think of a song or just a line of a song that suits your situation at that moment? For example, I've got really bad insomnia sometimes and the first thing that comes to my mind is "If I could sleep a little" (Sleep by the Dandy Warhols). Weird right!
The entire time my knees been hurting I've been humming "It hurts" by Angels & Airwaves(the song has nothing to do with bad knees haha). So when I made my way to the hospital The Prodigy's "Take me to the hospital" was playing in the back of my mind. Horrible song choice but it's there.
To top it all off when I took my bike to cycle home the song that got stuck was Mark Ronson's Bike Song "gonna ride my bike until I get home" Love it!
How on earth do we remember all these things? Is it just me or do other people have these kinda problems :)

swim wear by MbMJ

(image via MJ newsletter)

This landed in my inbox yesterday...
Striped, high-waisted bikini. Be still my heart. Marc Jacobs, I'm your biggest fan.
For more swim wear click here. In love with the Simone Stripe Romper!!

My Glorious a musical sneak peek

My Glorious have put Minefield - a new track from their upcoming album - up as a preview for a limited time. I've had the privilege to listen to it every night while we were on tour and I'm a fan because even I can sing the ooooohhhh part haha It's awesome anyways so go and check it out!
Listen to it on their webpage or on their facebook page.

tea tea tea

Peppermint tea might be the only addiction I have and to ensure that I have some on hand all the time, I bought a mint plant!

It's been growing so I cut it down and dried my first few sprigs a while ago. (People always comment on what the heck is hanging up in my lounge room :) )

You can't believe how good it is - the flavour so intense that just the smell of it would make you forget coffee in a heartbeat :) 

Plus it's totally sustainable and organic. Makes me feel good and I've been drinking peppermint sun tea with lemon all week!!

Jupiter Jones & My Glorious once more

We'll be back on tour with Jupiter Jones in the fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I, for one, cannot wait for it! Yippeeee so pumped about this, absolutely made my day. Watch out Germany, five crazy Austrians will be on the loose come October and November :)
Details to be found here.

RinglRingl at young designers market

My lovely friend Romy of RinglRingl fame will be selling at a market in Vienna at the end of May.
If you're anywhere near, pop over and buy her funky, colourful earrings - they're made of South American nuts and seeds, all natural :)

Saturday, 28th of May from 9am - 2pm

Yppenplatz, 16. Bezirk Wien, near Brunnengasse

It's a young designers market and I'm sure there will be something for everyone. If you can't make it check out her online store.

(image via her blog)

a very relaxed Mother's Day

Sunday was kind of perfect.
I celebrated Mother's Day with my Salzburg family. Because of all the travelling on both sides I hadn't seen them for months!! Well I see the "kids" all the time but I hadn't seen H & G in ages.
It was a sunny day and we had lunch outside on the patio. G is an amazing cook so there were tons of food and so many salads to choose from. Four days later I'm still stuffed haha. Best part was the fruit salad!
We just sat outside all day, potted some plants, ate some more and never stopped talking... It got really cold that in the end Lisl and I just sat wrapped in blankets :)

 the way H wears his glasses still makes me laugh :)

 dirty fingernails...

current sewing projects

I've been back to sewing lately. That is when time permits it.
As a lot of my friends just had babies in the last month or two, I decided to make a couple dresses for the girls :) Quite simple when they're that tiny!

Last week I decided, since it's getting quite warm right now, that I need to make a pair of shorts. I've been trying hard to find a pair that fits me, their always a weird length or too wide, etc. so why not come up with my own one.
There was some leftover fabric in my closet that I wanted to use up, but I had no idea if it would work, so I made a sample pair out of basic cotton.

I just rolled up the hem and I'll tweak the waistband - probably lengthen it a bit and take away from the shorts part... pockets could change... who knows. It's a start and I've got until July haha

Yup you can see my undies - no need to tell me :) Don't forget it's a sample!!

happy mother's day

Let's talk a bit about mums for a second...
I'm not a mum - yet (had to put that in otherwise my poor brother would freak out haha) - but I have an amazing one. A bit  lot on the crazy side but I couldn't wish for a better one :)
Sadly the society we live in has decided to snub or rather look down on mothers and the job they're doing. I don't know why it is like that or when it changed?
In my eyes they do an incredible job and are the ones who actually shape more of our world than we could ever think. I am constantly learning from them and am grateful for all the ladies that have gone before me and impacted me. I wouldn't be the same without them and the wisdom they've passed on.
So here's to my mum and all you mums out there - old and new - I think you're wonderful and do an unbelievable job. This is to honour you for sticking it out with us.

I am beyond thankful! 

Love you xx