diy dress

When you don't have the means to go shopping for new dresses or are not satisfied with what's in your closest, you use what's in your hand, right :)
My mum had some fabric I nicked a couple weeks ago. Never knew what to do with it - it's off white and has a blue and red flowers and leaf print on it. Not my usual style but you never know what it might come in handy for.
First I thought I'll make a simple shift dress but ended up making more of a belted grecian halterneck style.
Darn easy to make and very comfortable to wear!!

(again crap bb photos haha)

weekend roundup pt 3 - the wedding

bride & groom arrived by ferry from across the Danube river

the happy couple

 massive banquet

friends

people could participate in this artwork

Right I took about 5 photos at Margit & Lothar's wedding on Saturday - very much not like me on normal days, but remember number 1 there were so many friends to catch up with and number 2 I was feeling under the weather for most of the day! Stupid idea, going to open air gigs in zero degree weather(not really haha).
It was such a fun day. Even the 90 min drive their was hilarious as I hadn't seen the boys in years.
Let me explain, I spent my entire youth with these people. We went to youth together, have been to countless camps and retreats and especially during summer we saw each other pretty much every day. Had tons of bbqs and just hung out. For the first time ever I was the youngest one in a group, which had it's perks: you always got rides home ha!! Cheers to my parents who were the most relaxed people ever.
There are so many memories that include this group of people and it's always fun to see them again.

Back to the wedding.
For a city girl like me, this was new ground haha Lothar picked up Margit by ferry from across the river and the entire wedding party waited for them at the dock. Brass band in full on uniforms included. The streets had been blocked so the entire party could march up to the church. Felt like a parade, people on the side of the streets were cheering :)
It was a nice service, incredibly long, followed by refreshments, before we drove to the reception. It must have been the biggest wedding reception I've ever been to. Close to 250 people all fit into one room.
We ate delicious food, listened to speeches, watched skits and games, heard a funny/random band and in general spent the entire day talking with people.
Great to see everyone and meeting kids and a brand new baby boy.
Favourite moment: when the couple entered the church and walked up to the altar they went to greet one of the priests. He was an old guy and tripped over a step and went down for a second. 400+ people stopped breathing for a moment haha. That's kinda mean, but you should have been there :)
Congratulations to the happy couple. They literally change this world, one person at a time. He heads up a centre for people with mental and physical disabilities and she runs a refugee housing project.  Thanks for leading by example, you guys are awesome x

weekend roundup pt 2

Every year at the end of June, half of Vienna flocks to Donauinselfest. For some reason I really thought that it would be a great idea to go into the city and watch Soehne Mannheims play it up.
Now Donauinselfest is the largest open air festival in Europe, it's set on an island in the Danube river, has multiple stages and is free of charge. Over the years they've had some amazing acts play there and some really crap ones - you just gotta check first who's playing and if it will be worth the whole trip haha.
As everyone around me seemed to busy or old(seriously?!) I went anyway and while I was on the train arranged to meet up with Carina - who studied with me in Australia - and two of her friends. Can I just say, they saved my flippin' life!!!
As I had cycled home before I went out, I was so heated up that I couldn't even feel the temperature drop. So glad I took a jacket with me at least but was absolutely freezing the entire time we were there. When it started to rain and I was about to cry - Soehne Mannheims hadn't even entered the stage yet - the girls got round me in a huddle and protected me with their rain coats haha. Lifesavers!!!
Finally they started to play and they were great. Not as good as last time I saw them, but weather conditions weren't anywhere near as horrible back then :)
Love the Soehne collective, every single one of them so talented! Hopefully next time I see them it will be somewhere inside or on a hot summer's night haha

(sorry for the crap photos -all taken with my bb)

weekend roundup pt 1

Sometimes I wish I could just get everyone together and not always pick who I see, but than I get an entire day to spend with special people and it's the best thing ever haha
Don't know what possessed me on Friday, but I decided to cycle to see my friends Reini, Johanna and little Miss Liah. There's no doubt I'm in way better physical shape than last time I did that, but it's always easier when you have Ruth and Ian coming along :)

love the look of this building... the colouring of the destroyed facade is just perfect

 Miss Liah - still looked at me like I'm the enemy for the first couple hours but in the end she gave me cookies and let me carry her down the stairs. WIN!

 cuteness

After lunch we took a walk, got some ice cream and went to see my brother. Good times haha
Could have stayed there for much longer but left at dinner time to cycle those 12km back. Who needs a gym, seriously?!!!
Such a good day with the girls and boys. Loved it and can't wait for baby number 2 to arrive :)
More on this weekend later x

hail storm

The day after summer officially started, the sky turned black and emptied out every last bit of water it held and threw ice at us. What's that all about, summer???
I was working at home and thought the windows were not going to stand the weather aaahhhhh...
The fresh smell the storm left us was totally worth it though.

things to look forward to - this weekend

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be heading to Vienna for another weekend packed with fun things.
There will be...
lots of catching up with friends and therefore
cuddling lots of babies
a wedding - my friend Margit will marry her Lothar
lots of music - mainly Soehne Mannheims @ Donauinselfest
hang outs with my completely insane brothers
and more fun :)
Can't wait for the wedding, it will be sort of a reunion with my old youth gang. Haven't seen some of them in years!!! Time flies when you're having fun right.

diy birthday banner

I made this "happy birthday" banner for the party on Saturday... am still loving the fabric I dyed last year. It's all the same cotton fabric, just dyed with different plant materials :)

It turned out really well and she liked it too. yay!

the next big 3 0

Remember when I said that Simon was the one to start the season of all of us turning 30?
Well this weekend it was Lisa's turn to be celebrated and cheered :)
It was the perfect plan: celebrating in the middle of nowhere on her grandma's farm, where we can all literally set up camp and stay over. Saturday came round and it rained, rained and rained some more. Instead of getting better it got worse by the minute and the people kept coming. Great ingredients for an incredible party!!
They had rented a big blow up tent - kind of like a bouncy castle without the bouncy floor. It was awesome. Here's a selection of photos...

 tapping the barrel of beer to get this party started

 getting all the yummy salads ready

 two very important ingredients for Hugos(told you it was gonna be the drink of the summer!!)

Drew and Jetty shared bbq duties all night

 for about ten minutes the sun came out to set - mind you it was still raining - but we got the most amazing rainbow... how crazy is the light on either side of the rainbow!

sun setting behind the barn

and than it doubled up!!!!!

 Ruth, Hugo and rainbow :)

 the old bathtub collects rainwater - filled to the very brim

 lovely birthday girl

half the crowd inside the tent

 when it finally stopped raining around 11pm the boys started playing Kubb

 and than we danced - mostly around that torch in the middle haha

more dancing and Kubb - until dawn, oh yeah!

One of the best parties ever to celebrate an amazing friend!

Maybe what I loved most about that night is how everyone who said that they were gonna come, ended up coming despite the torrential rain. We all donned our wellies and layered up like crazy(after hours of dancing in the field layer after layer was shed though haha). 

How good are friends and family, they don't care about the weather but come to celebrate their friend! It was such a great bunch of people and I'm sure that night will be remembered for many years :)

Lisa, thank you for being an incredible host, rockstar and most of all friend. Love you and can't wait for all the years to come. Wherever life will take you, it will be fun to share the different seasons ahead of us xxx

cherries

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm trying to recover from one of the best nights we've had, but more on that later :)
Anyway I got given more cherries from my neighbours. This time a whole kilo!!
To not let this go to waste I looked into preserving recipes and found a yummy one in my beloved Tuscan cook book.

Cooked cherries in syrup with mint! Ruth, Ian and Lisl stayed for lunch and we had some for dessert today with left over mascarpone and soy vanilla ice cream. Ridiculously good!

Blur

Lately I've been listening to lots of old Blur stuff. Can't believe that they've been on a "shelf" for so many years and I only just got back to their music.
Memories of my first couple trips to England in the mid 90s come rushing back when I listen to them. Such an amazing time and Alex James was the hottest person on planet earth, ha! Oh teenage years what's happened :)
Have a fun fun Friday everyone x

blueberry pickle??!!

Stumbled upon this pickle recipe collection.
How cool does this blueberry pickle look?!

There is a blueberry farm just outside the city and ever since last year Lisa and I have talked about spending an afternoon in that field picking.
My mind always goes straight to making jam when it comes to preserving blueberries, but this might be a fun add on :) To be honest I wouldn't even know what this should taste like - I've never had blueberries in a savoury way - so this should be interesting. If it doesn't turn out great I'll love it for the colour anyway haha.

(image from Saveur via Small Measure)

A21 campaign - new video

The other day I was driving around Salzburg and got completely overwhelmed with the thought of all the women and girls caught in sex slavery. It breaks my heart again and again as I always come back to the question "what if it were my sister or friend?"
Chris is right, statistics seem so anonymous and dehumanizing, but every single one of the 27 million slaves has a face, a name and a family.
The A21 campaign does a phenomenal job and the stories coming out of their work in Greece and Ukraine are nothing short of miraculous. Every life counts and together we can do this!
Help spread the word and let's all start to do something(for ideas click here).

Salzburg at dusk

Sunday night I decided to walk into the city to meet up with friends for drinks. They were all involved with a conference for teenagers and snuck out after they had finished their worship night.
Usually I would ride my bike but unfortunately the front light broke off so I can't really see and therefore decided to walk. It wasn't as far as I thought and a a beautiful stroll at night. Just look at the moon in the second picture - almost too much haha
It was great to see Dave and Tom again and catch up on all things youth work, church and life. Thanks for taking time out - poor boys were camping out in a sports hall with 200 boys. Can you imagine the smell :)

random act of kindness

My next door neighbour, an elderly lady, just knocked on the door to hand me a bowl of cherries! She had just picked them in the garden. How nice is that.
Butter is already softening in the kitchen so I can turn them into some kind of yummy cake!
It's the little things in life right. Love stuff like that.

happy father's day

Let me tell you something about my dad.
He is the nutty(probably the wrong word as he is the only sane one in the family ha!) professor of our tribe and constantly working - sometimes I wonder if the words "relax" and "pause" are at all in his vocabulary?!
Patient beyond words he still answers my stupid questions (believe me they mostly are as I tend to think out loud) and loves me despite how different we are. He never set limits to our aspirations and dreams of what we wanted to be or where life was gonna take us kids and so correct when it came to equality - there was no difference between me and my brothers: they learned how to cook just as I had to learn how to change car tires haha
I love him heaps and know that one day my kids will have the best grandpa in the world!

fun DIY over on Smile and Wave

Rachel of Smile And Wave is having a blog party today and lots of people are sharing fun DIY projects. So so good. I'm loving the picnic basket revamp and Emma's frozen bananas!!
To see for yourself head over there and explore :)

more special birthday celebrations

Continuing on in our big 3-0 series that started this year:
the amazing Lisa turned 29a :)

mixing hugos

 Drew guarding the door

 Sophie made the coolest cake!!

 cake and hugos(might be my new favourite drink)

birthday girl :)

the return of Lenny

There was only seven of us and it was such a nice relaxed evening with yummy pasta and lots of cake to celebrate a lovely friend.

Don't think Lisa knows how great she is. She is one creative and talented girl and I'm blessed to have her around :) 

Happy happy birthday friend, love you to bits xx