O come let us adore Him

Happy Christmas lovely people.
Not sure what you're doing or how you're celebrating this season but I want to go back to where it all started and be like the shepherds - surprised by the heavenly hosts and curious to run and see the new born Saviour. So thankful for Jesus, who He is and what He's done.
Sometimes On a daily basis I wish we would live in a less materialistic world and Christmas wouldn't always boil down to crazy shopping and stressed out people.
Hope that this year will be one to remember, filled with peace and you're friends and family xx

quick hello

 lazy Sunday with three Bs :) (image by the lovely Romy from ringlringl)

I'm house sitting at my parents place right now and enjoying the peace and quiet in this heat. Their apartment is about 10 degrees cooler than ours in the city and it's been nice to sleep for 6 consecutive hours again haha. Lots of crafting and cooking going on and recharging my batteries before I make my way to the wonderful city of Salzburg for the festival season. I even brought back my iBook G4 to write this haha old school but still works!
Hope everyone's summer started amazing, shout outs to all teachers who are in holiday mode now :) Enjoy your week everyone xx

May Day hike

May 1st is a public holiday in Austria and most of the time people go hiking. Why? I have no idea, but I was really motivated to get outside and walk. I called on the entire family and one after one kept telling me that they were working. On a holiday!!!
Anyway my mum was up for it and as my brother had the morning off we decided to walk from my parents place to his place. It's a 12km hike through the Vienna Woods, there are perks when you live close to vineyards and hills :)

lush spring greenery

It took us 3.5 hours but we made it, thankfully most of the path leads through the woods otherwise we'd be burned to a crisp in the ridiculously hot sun. Ulrich met us about five minutes from his house but cooked lunch for us never the less haha.
Nothing better than to get out into the open and see creation in its splendour. Thank you God x

spur of the moment getaway

My friend Claudia messaged me last week that she needs a change of scenery and if I'd be up for a city trip anywhere from Budapest to Salzburg. Being the gal that I am of course I said that I would come along.
Friday night we decided to go to Graz and stay at flashy Hotel Daniel, after our friend Steve couldn't recommend it highly enough.
The next morning the sun was shining in full force and we were off :)

 ridiculous spring time weather invited us to relax in the park

funny story: for the entire summer I listened to one of the gentleman of the choir talk about how lovely the tiled roofs are in Graz. A very opinionated person slagging off every other city compared to the beauty of these roofs. Now I'd have to admit that they are quite pretty :)

the design hotel - whatever that means haha - if you want to visit Graz, I'd totally recommend it!

 funniest thing about the rooms: the shower has this massive glass panel looking into the room

a tiny bit weird but nice to have that much light while showering :)

It was a short trip filled with excellent food, great chats, time with God, walking around a pretty city, going to cafes just for the sake of reading the newspapers (if you've never done that, please do yourself a favour and do it), hanging out in the park getting some sun, browsing through lots of little shops, an early night and an unexpected breakfast with the lovely Chris.
Sometimes you need to get away from it all and a mini city trip plus a close friend will make all the difference. Happy weekend everyone x

a Minefield holiday

 It all started off with a stuffed up car... could have totally gone the wrong way but thank God for road assistance and rental cars. A couple hours later we arrived in Muenster and were greeted by two of Germany's best people :) Hooray for amazing friends who open their home to a group of 6 and a half people!

walking around town

 bumming around, reading, writing, playing, talking - felt like being home!

Raphael cooking up a storm

proof that we're all just nerds haha

Thanks Nicholas and Steffi for letting us invade your house, cooking for us(still regret not taking a photo of the cake N made for us - taste explosion!), being so lovely and fun to be around. Love you lots, team MG xxx

holidayyyyy - short and sweet

Who'd say no to a couple of days with their besties... yup no one!
I'm back from hanging out in Salzburg - holidays as they were intended to be: relaxing, reviving and tons of fun.
As half of us were feeling under the weather, Sunday was spent watching skiing and ski jumping haha I guess you have to be Austrian for that ever to be interesting.
The next couple days included: going for walks, first run in 2012 (32 min is not bad, but boy was I hurting the next day), visiting Schniffi, lots of cooking and family meals, knitting, researching, Lisl preparing a talk about social learning for toddlers and reading different articles out loud :), reading, going out to Spleen HQ (watch this space, there will be lots to come!!), playing around with our cameras, re-watching Slumdog Millionaire, lying on wooden sticks to relax our backs - weird right, but strangely comfortable, balcony sessions and mostly chatting from morning till bed time. Happy days.

To top it off, I stopped in Linz on my way back and had a late lunch with Ruth! What a blessed life I live... it's a bit ridiculous, I know xx

advent calendar

For all those weirdos who don't do chocolate, just like me, but still want an advent calendar...
Please check out The Art of Dancing

December 1st - 'Woman' by Wolfmother from lewisnluke on Vimeo.
Shout out to Ulrich and Simon who will have a field day with this one haha
Happy first of December. Had a slight freak out moment when I realised that it actually is December. Which means in a bit more than three weeks I'll be entering a new decade. Cannot wait :)

and I'm off

For a couple days that is. I'll be hanging out with the chickens. Kidding!

I'm taking a short trip to Graz to see some great friends and paint an apartment haha, back to Vienna for a class reunion and on to Salzburg for a girls weekend while all the boys battle it out at EC Schnorres vs the world. 

Football, kubb, hiking and a cabin with no running water for the lads. 

Clothes swap, staying up way too late (best conversations happen after midnight!) and great food for the girls. Hooray!!

Loving this week already :) Happy Monday everyone x

the next few weeks

will be filled with...
... sewing
... writing
... visiting friends
... crafty things
... catching up on some sleep
... dying fabric
... reading (started 52 books in 52 weeks on September 1st!!!)
... hiking
... riding my bike
etc.
This will be my break before tour starts. As much as I'm looking forward to this, I'm really happy for the down time I'm getting right now :)
I'm off to dinner with Ruth & Lisa, happy Monday people x

road trip 2011

It's been a crazy week on the road. Don't know about you, but travelling equals freedom to me. I get cabin fever if I don't get out and explore the world. Such a gypsy at heart.
Here's a little preview

Europe is so diverse... blows my mind every time!

I will tell the whole story in different parts next week while the holidays continue in Vienna. Hooray!!

ps don't forget: if you're in Vienna this coming Thursday, pop in at Chelsea for some My Glorious & Tyler action! It'll be worth it :)

quick hello

Just a quick note from Germany...
Been travelling around Italy, France and now Switzerland for the last week and just landed at my friend Simon's place.
Pics and stories when I get home on Saturday. Road trips are the best!!!!
Hope you're week's been just as fun xx

camping madness

Right I owe a little pics and fun from our holiday last week!
Have you ever been camping? It's the best idea before you go, holds true every time and once you're there you're like "why the hell are we wasting our holiday on this". haha Don't get me wrong it's the funnest time you will ever experience and it will definitely be one you will never forget.
It started out terrible as it wouldn't stop raining the first day but got better and better. Ended up being sunny and 30C!!
My tummy was still aching from laughing so hard when we were driving home. Nobody will believe the things we did so we'll let photos speak for themselves:

Love the craziness that ensues with all this camping stuff and wouldn't miss it in the world. No matter how tired you are when you get home after your "holiday" haha
I do have the bestest people around me! Here's to more holidays - camping or other xx

holiday sneak peak

I am beyond tired... take advice everyone: if you only have a week of holidays, do not go camping. As much fun as it is, you'll return more tired than before :) I need a holiday from my holidays haha
We had tons of fun and were laughing so much my tummy still hurts! Love spending time with my friends!!

I do love this photo, not only because it's the only group photo we have, but also because after we took this shot we went rafting on the river (a 4 hour trip turned out to be 6.5hrs!!!) and the waterproof ton we got, did not turn out waterproof at all.
RIP Nikon coolpix 885 - 9 long years we had fun together, I will miss you x

and off we go

I am packing!!!
What on earth do you take on a camping trip when all of a sudden it's only 15C and the sun wont come out. There is still hope that it will be sunny and gorgeous when we get there but that means even more stuff in my bag(s) haha.
Can't wait to get out though. Love nature and my friends, it will be an epic week come rain or sunshine :) More later, I'm off... yay

skype video madness

This is what happens when you've got two completely insane "grown ups" with a knack of the ridiculous and mix it with a two and a half year old.

Jeremy said that they could be the next youtube sensation hahahaha

Hope you all have a fun Easter weekend and get to celebrate Jesus, who He is and what He's done for us. I'm forever grateful and cannot believe how blessed we are.