Hello guys! :) Yesterday, my boyfriend and I had spent the evening in Vienna to do some Christmas shopping today. As he had arrived at my apartment at around 6pm, almost starving, we decided to go to our favourite restaurant in town, which is called Levante. As I already mentioned in a lot of other posts, Levante is the restaurant my parents and I always went to and still go to when we're all together in Vienna. Esther loves it too, btw. :) As usual, we ordered our favourite meal named Iskender Döner, which basically is kebab prepared from thinly cut grilled lamb, topped with hot tomato sauce over pieces of pita bread and generously slathered with yogurt. Iskender kebap is one of the most famous meat foods of northwestern Turkey. Alright, now enough with the food descriptions, here's what it looks like:
Mhmmmmmm! :) After dinner we went for a little walk down the 'Graben', one of the most beautiful places around Christmas here in Vienna.
We were walking around and kept looking at the beautifully decorated shop windows.
Knowing, that the next pictures will probably cause a fight with Esther, Mike and I also went to Esther and my favourite shop, our temple, to put it in more dramatic words.. Meinl. Meinl is a high-end supermarket that offers products from all around the world, which makes it particularly interesting for us Austrians, I guess.
As we looked at our bellies that did not seem to burst from congestion yet, we decided to once again splurge on something, -both financially and calorie-wise. So we went to the typical spot every single tourist goes to when visiting Vienna. Cafe Sacher.
Cafe Sacher is situated next to Hotel Sacher, which is a five star hotel in the first district of Vienna, next to the State Opera. The Hotel was founded in 1876 by Eduard Sacher and is world famous for its specialty, the Sachertorte. Of course, we couldn't resist and get one for ourselves. :)
Expectably, the service there is excellent and we didn't even have to wait long to get a table. :)
Hey guys! :) How are you? Enjoying the pre-Christmas season? :) Well, I gotta be honest with you .. I thought I'd enjoy it a little more this year as I already started thinking of present ideas months ahead, however, I still seem to not have enough time on my hands to actually buy the presents! As I am not the greatest fan of Christmas shopping at Mariahilfer Straße in Vienna..
... I mainly order stuff from Amazon (thanks again mum for always picking those packages up from the post office! :) ). And I know, I know, Christmas shouldn't always be about buying presents and encouraging the commercial takeover instead of the emphasis on love and devotion on Christmas Day. But you gotta be honest, getting presents from other people and standing there with nothing to give in return doesn't feel so good. But don't fear! If you're in the same pickle like me,- remember that you still have time and if everything else fails, just write a little card, with a few photos in it and give the person you love a hug. It'll be enough. :)
Alrighty, now, as I had just worked my way through the past week full of university stuff, work and other things to do, I'm already in the middle of another busy week of museum work, writing my seminar paper (yes, I'm still on that, it's ridiculous..) and of course, Christmas shopping.
To rewind the past weekend (if you're interested in seeing it) in pictures:
First of all, on Friday, I had to paint a picture for one of my relatives who really loves the motive of northern lights. Her daughter gave some inspirational newspaper pics to me that seemed most appealing to her. I therefore tried to come as close to the references with my painting as I possibly could.
After I had painted the first colour on the canvas though, I was like: "My god. I totally ruined it. What's that weird peepee-looking river doing on my canvas?" I reluctantly got back to work. I thought,- how much worse can it get. But it actually got a little better..
I forgot to take pictures of the steps in between, but you get the idea, right? :) Well.. and the almost finished version was this one:
I actually wanted to perfect it a little more as I kept thinking that that's not really a depiction of nothern lights, more of a sunset scenario. However, my aunt was totally smitten with it and already took it home without any further overpainting. So all that was left to do was to wash my hands. - That part actually took longer than painting the painting itself. :)
On Saturday I had yet another creative job to carry out for some dear friends of mine who wanted me to take pictures of their baby boy! He's such a sweet little fella and I really enjoyed the shoot. He was quite the professional, I must say. :)
On Sunday, my family and I had a marvellous meal and enjoyed the beautiful sunny afternoon.
Alrighty. And that was pretty much it for that week. :) It really stuns me how time just shoots right by.. It flies! There's hardly any time left for me to do some Christmas shopping,- as I mentioned before. Urgh! But what the heck, I'll find some time. I hope. :)
So you guys, I wish you all a lovely night, stay healthy, stay cool,- don't freak out over present buying like me and enjoy your rest of the week! :)
Hey guys! :) Christmas Day is almost here and you know what that means, right? It's time for the ultimate Christmas Tag Challenge in wich we'll answer 21 questions related to the topic and of course welcome all of you to do the same! Just write your answers in the comment box below if you want to participate! :) So let's get started, shall we?
ESTHER
1) Whats your favourite Christmas song? Damn, that’s a hard question! I really love christmas songs
... ALL of them! I guess my favourites would have to be »Deck the halls«, »Good
King Wenceslas«, »The First Noel«, »Hark, the Herald Angels Sing«, »Joy to the
World« and a lot of german songs.
2) PJS or dress up on Christmas Eve? Dress up!
3) Favourite Christmas smell? Gingerbread, roasted apples and the smell of snow. 4) Favourite holiday movie? Love actually. 5) When do you put your decorations up?
My mum always decorates our house at the
beginning of december. I don’t »do« themed decorations.
6) Ultimate Christmas colour? Red Velvet. 7) What does your Christmas dinner look like?
We don’t have a traditional meal on christmas. When I was
little we used to eat something my dad always had when he was little but
nowadays we usually have a cheese platter and some bread rolls.
8) Santa Claus or Christkind? Christkind, of course! 9) Real or fake Christmas tree? Real! We have never had a fake tree. 10) Do you like receiving gifts or giving gifts better?
I rather like to give presents. I don’t mind receiving them
but I usually think it unnecessary for people to get me anything.
11) Are you a pro-present wrapper or do you fail miserably? I wouldn't say I'm a »pro«, but I am not the worst neither :) 12) What's your most memorable Christmas moment? I don't really have one in particular, I love them all! 13) Have you ever had a white Christmas? If so, when? Sure! I don't remember when though ... a couple of times. 14) Where do you spend your holiday? At home. 15) Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Day? Christmas Eve. 16) What Christmas traditions are you most looking forward to?
The moment we’re standing under the christmas tree on
christmas eve with the candles burning. We always sing christmas songs (along
to an audio cassette) and it always sounds horrible because only my grandmother
is a good singer. It’s always hilarious because most of the time we don’t
know the lyrics as well, so we’re just humming along, whilst my father always
grumbles the few words he knows especially loudly.
The second moment I love is when we’re finished opening the
presents and are just sitting in the living room surrounded by gift wrapping
paper, thanking each other and admiring the presents.
17) Best present you've ever gotten?
When I was a little girl I once saw a huge stuffed golden
retriever toy in a store and begged my parents to buy it for me. Alas, they
declined my pleadings but I continued to dream of this toy for the longest
time. I was overjoyed when I saw it waiting for me under the christmas tree and
named it »Shadow«.
18) All time favourite holiday food? Christmas cookies! Before christmas day I am very strict
about eating them though. My family and I only eat some of them only on the
advent-sundays, which is a tradition I love. Every advent-sunday we light the
candle(s) on our advent wreath and sit together drinking tea and eating some
christmas cookies.
19) What's on your Christmas wishlist?
Books like »Howl« by Allen Ginsberg, »autobiography« by
Morrissey, and a whole lot more I don’t remember right now.
20) What's your Christmas Day/Eve routine?
I usually don’t eat much breakfast because we go to a
restaurant to eat some lunch (usually with friends) at a friends restaurant.
Afterwards we used to go to the cinema together but ever since we have a dog I
stay home with my mother and our dog to go for a walk together, whilst my
father and sister go to the cinema. After the walk my mum and I prepare for the
evening.
When my father and sister get back from the cinema, my
grandmother and uncle come to our house as well and we have christmas eve.
After opening the presents we eat some dinner and talk until it is very late.
21) Do you have New Years Eve resolutions? Nope.
VICKY
1) Whats your favourite Christmas song?
First question already such a difficult one.. I have to say that I enjoy the oldies more than the newer songs, so my choice would be.. Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt. Oh wait, no.. maybe it's White Christmas by Bing Crosby or The Drifters. But there's also Have yourself a merry little Christmas by Ella Fitzgerald. Ugh.. no I also love Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin Stevens OR All alone on Christmas by Darlene Love. Alright, you know what, - forget it- I love them all! :)
2) PJS or dress up on Christmas Eve?
Dress up! 3) Favourite Christmas smell? The smell of Christmas trees.
4) Favourite holiday movie?
Ugh, again.. hard to answer. My family's tradition is to watch Love Actually every year the week before Christmas Eve. I already start crying at the very beginning,- but who doesn't? We really love that movie. :) But one classic I've always loved and will always love is Home Alone!
5) When do you put your decorations up?
As I am one of the laziest people on this planet I never put decorations up in my apartment in Vienna, however my mum starts decorating our home around the end of November.
6) Ultimate Christmas colour? Gold.
7) What does your Christmas dinner look like? For years we've had this tradition of eating different varieties of ham, mayonnaise eggs, cheese etc.. and later cookies of course! :)
8) Santa Claus or Christkind? Christkind!
9) Real or fake Christmas tree?
Fake! A few years ago my mum decided to not get a real one anymore as it simply is too much work to always pick up those needles that had fallen off the tree when carrying it inside our living room. Of course, my first reaction when I was a kid was like: "NOOOOOOOOO!!! WHY??? I WANT A REAL CHRISTMAS TREE!" Now I consider it reasonable, as for us kids it's always cool and fun to have a real Christmas tree but we don't see all the work involved with its preparations and cleaning most of the time. And it honestly doesn't matter,- except of the missing smell you can't really tell the difference. :)
10) Do you like receiving gifts or giving gifts better?
Giving! I just love the preparation part of presents and always put a lot of effort in each of them. :)
11) Are you a pro-present wrapper or do you fail miserably? Pro-present wrapper!
12) What's your most memorable Christmas moment?
There are a few I guess.. But the most memorable one would have to be the following: When I was a little girl my mum always put a huge chair in the middle of our living room door on December 24th to block the entry to not allow me to take glance at the Christmas tree and all the preparations going on in there. In the evening, right after we had come back from church, the chair was suddenly gone and I could see the reflection of the Christmas tree's candlelights on the living room walls! However, we still had to wait for the Christmas bell to ring which was operated by the Christkind a.k.a. my dad in order to enter the room. As soon as that bell had rung and the Christkind had flown outside I ran inside and was immediately overwhelmed by the sensuous smell of our Christmas tree and the beautiful lights! Marvellous! :)
13) Have you ever had a white Christmas? If so, when?
A few times, back in the 90ies .. It rarely snows nowadays on Christmas Eve in Lower Austria.
14) Where do you spend your holiday? At home. Or in the museum working. :)
15) Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Day? In Austria we open presents on Christmas Eve! 16) What Christmas traditions are you most looking forward to?
Cookie baking, I guess. But we already did that. :) So I guess.. the eating part of Christmas Eve and listening to Christmas Songs.
17) Best present you've ever gotten?
My plushy polar bear friend Pezi. I got him from my sister when I was 11, I believe, after she had come home from Paris. He was wrapped up in a silver, shiny paper (I vividly remember that) and I remember thinking to myself - "what kind of weird lump is that?". As soon as I unpacked the present, though, I realized that I was in love. As I was holding this skinny, white and naked polar bear -who was happily grinning at me- in my hands I knew he'd become my best friend from that day on. And it's still true to this day. :)
18) All time favourite holiday food? Cookies! :)
19) What's on your Christmas wishlist? A healthy, happy family. Oh, and Boy Meets World the Complete Collection. Hrmhrm. (I'll buy that myself.)
20) What's your Christmas Day/Eve routine?
In the morning I get up and exchange presents with my boyfriend and then he usually drives home to his family. For lunch we have a traditional plain soup with dumplings and I've also made it a tradition to always go: "Oh no, not again, mum! We eat that soup all the time!!"- when the soup is served. We do, however, only eat that soup once a year and I always said that as a child because I didn't want to eat it. It still drives my mom crazy when I say that. Haha.. :) I then style my hair a little bit and prepare the outfit for the night. In the late afternoon my granny and I go to the "Kindermette" at our local church where I also meet Esther's and my close friends Lisa and Lisa M. Lisa M. plays the guitar during matins and before my granny and I go back home we always wish each other a merry Christmas. At home I get dressed and we have an aperitive in the dining room. Sometimes my mum still puts the aforementioned chair in the living room doorframe so we have to wait for it to dissapear. :) Then we walk in and recite the Lord's prayer, wish ourselves a merry Christmas and hug each other. Then comes the "Bescherung",- which is the present giving part of the night. As most of us are already very hungry at that part, the presents are being exchanged awfully quickly and we're already moving back to the dining room to indulge in the yummy Christmas food. :) In the later evening we sit in the living room, listen to Christmas songs and enjoy our presents. We never, ever turn on the TV that evening and pretty much always go to bed before midnight. Well and that's all! :) I'm already really looking forward to this year's Christmas Eve!
21) Do you have New Years Eve resolutions? Oh boy, no. I've given up on those! :)
Hey guys! :) Alright, here are 3 things that made me extremely happy today:
❶ I got my result from the ultimate horror art history exam that I took last week and it turned out that I've got a D! I was so unbelievably happy when I found out, I cried half the day as it was the last real knock-out exam I had to take in my academic career. If you're happy and you know it clap your hands ..
❷Second
thing is that I got such a super cute present from a very good friend
and art history colleague of mine, Anja, who gifted me those marvellous
things that you can see right here:
We
did a little application photoshooting today and as a thank
you/Christmas present I got these really sweet gifts. Thanks again Anja,
you made my day! :)
❸Last but not least, I got a package from Paperchase. If you're a frequent reader of this blog, you'll probably already know that I am obsessed with Paperchase. On Monday I ordered a few things in their online shop, mainly present boxes, wrapping paper and stuff.. Stunningly enough the package already arrived here in Austria 3 days later (that's even faster than Amazon!) and I got a SMS from my mum on Thursday which said: "Your package larger than a piece of furniture just arrived.." and indeed, she was right ..
Not
exactly tiny, right? My mum already made jokes about our neighbor (who
brought it to us) who looked like the guy in the post office spot
here in Austria:
Haha.. :) Well, and after having a giggle I of course started unwrapping immediately. I can't show you the whole content, though, as there might me some presents for other people in here who sometimes take a look on this blog. :)
Oh and that's just me, chillin' in my super fancy box..
Alright, now here are my favourites (that I CAN show to you):
.. Christmas cards (so cute) ..
.. basic gift cards ..
.. gift tags ..
.. wrapping paper ..
.. a photoalbum for my future niece ..
.. a travel wallet for passport and so on ..
And muuuuuuuch more of course, but those I especially enjoy! :) Alright. That was pretty much it for today. I spent the rest of the day grinning like an idiot, listening to Christmas songs, eating cookies and taking pictures of our house!
