Hair New Era

The morning is my favorite time of the day. Today I had an especially good one.

Our local Jazzercise, where I have been exercising regularly for three years, has finally introduced a 6:00am class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting today. I had never thought that I would actually enjoy getting sweaty by 6:15 in the morning - but I did! It was a great class, and I felt wonderful afterwards, full of energy, ready to face the day.

Back home I took a quick shower and then drove Kaefer to school. Coming home after that was so nice - the entire day (well, until 3:00pm when it is time to pick up Kaefer again) lay before me with absolutely NO appointments. Bliss. Shortly before eight, I was in my studio (aka the dining room), painting. I'm currently creating journals, getting a lot of inspiration from Jeanne Oliver's class "Creatively Made".

But it was a walk into my yard that really got me - the sun was out, it was such a bright and beautiful morning, and wherever I looked there were drops of dew. I had to grab my camera and take a few pictures.

This summer, Kaefer and I are both working on sketchbooks. We have decided that each of us will finish 25 pages before the fall. We bought two 5"x7" spiral bound sketchbooks with heavy recycled paper and carry them with us pretty much everywhere.

I’m 51 today.


Turning thirty and forty was no big deal for me. However, when I turned fifty last year, it dawned on me that more than half of my life was already over. How many years would I still have? Twenty? Thirty, if I’m lucky? And how was I planning to spend those years?

Those were the questions that occupied me for the first half of last year, and I only knew that I didn’t want to go back into an office job I didn’t enjoy, but do something where my heart was in it and that nourished my soul. I read books, I took my first e-course with Visionary Mom that helped me to name my dreams and formulate what I really wanted to do. Exactly around that time I started reading “Taking Flight” by Kelly Rae Roberts. She mentioned her blog in her book, and just out of curiosity I switched on my computer and visited her website.

Oh boy… She advertised her very first e-course, “Flying Lessons”. I read the outline and I knew that this was the course for me. This was exactly the answer to all my questions and my search. This was IT. I signed up the very first day – and it was the best thing I did for myself this last year and it has changed my life quite a bit.

I started my own blog without really knowing what I was doing. I “met” people in blogland who have become friends. I found enormous support and was amazed at what others were doing. I became serious about my photography, found so much inspiration that led me to try new perspectives, to take pictures of completely different motives than I did before. It was fun and incredibly encouraging. I made more art than before and I even showed it on my blog. It was a whirlwind.

Years ago I had stopped to make any New Year’s resolutions because I knew that I usually wouldn’t keep them. And honestly, who cares whether I loose ten pounds or not (actually I did over the past year! Without a resolution – but a lot of exercise). So no resolutions for 2011 either. But I have a few wishes for my birthday.

I want to be truly authentic. When I write or comment, it’s ME who spills out those words, my thinking and feeling. It’s not what I think others want to hear or read, but something that is ME no matter whether it is “popular” or not. It is okay to be different and to think differently. It is also okay if I can’t express myself perfectly. Everybody who comes to this site knows that I am not a native speaker, that some sentences will sound funny or weird. What the heck? It doesn’t matter. Being authentic means that I’ll be vulnerable. It needs a lot of courage, but I want to do this. Perhaps it’ll hurt sometimes, however, I can gain so much from that. It is perfectly okay to be imperfect.

There are other wishes – like doing more art, getting more serious about my photography, opening my Etsy store, read, write more and worry less, but being authentic is the most important one. Many bloggers had a certain word for the new year - my word for 2011 is

In my post on the last day of last year I said that I would love to share our winter trip to the desert with you. This I will do step by step since I don't want to "flat you" with one super-huge post and endless pictures. Plus, I'm still sorting through the photos, so this is a work in progress.

Our original plan had been to go to the National Parks in Utah. Those belong to our favorite ones, we had been to all of them repeatedly, but we love them so much that we never tire of them. There are always new trails to discover and revisit spots we cherish. However, the weather forecast for the region was wet, wet, wet - we weren't really keen on that. We had hoped for snow since the Red Rock Country looks so beautiful with snow, but there wasn't any in the forecast. So we checked out which places were dry and sunny - Arizona and New Mexico, no surprises here. So we went southeast.

And happened to have a full day of rain while driving down I-5 through Central and Southern California! The closer we came to the south the heavier the rain became. The Grapevine area was terrible (and it was already dark at that time)... Driving through L.A. was actually way easier than I had thought and we arrived in Palm Springs in the evening. The next morning was dry (not for very long though as we got to know later on) and we decided to spend the morning in Palm Desert - wandering along El Paseo, a long boulevard with nice shops and interesting sculptures.




Finally I found an Anthropologie store - the very first one for me (there aren't any where I live). I pretty much got blown away by this one - the displays are so creative and beautiful (the prices, though, are not!), it's a mere pleasure to wander around the store and take it all in.

Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenge really got my thinking cap on this week. "Community" is the theme, and if possible connected with food. Think Thanksgiving, huh? After all, it's November. But I thought there must be more to it than a turkey and a friendly gathering of family and friends.

And I remembered the third weekend in December back in Tübingen, Germany, where I spent twenty years of my life. It's a medieval university town with its typical old buildings that look like they're straight out of a fairy tale by the Grimm Brothers. Narrow lanes wind among those houses and cars are not allowed within the city center. It's a huge pedestrian zone that makes wandering the old alleys so peaceful.

This is the setting for one of the most beautiful traditions of the town: the Christmas Market. It's nothing like its big siblings in Nürnberg, Stuttgart or München and so many other cities. First, it only takes place from Friday to Sunday and not weeks and weeks and weeks. Second, it's not commercial. There are tons of local artists who sell their work, school classes who raise funds for their annual end-of-the-year trip, small local environmental groups who fight for preservation, neighborhoods who try to raise awareness and money for the disabled - the list could go on and on.

So that's the eye-candy. The next is the food - just one word: delicious. The food is mainly local specialities, the best time to eat "Bubaspitzle mit Sauerkraut" (a thin rolled kind of potato pasta with sauerkraut and sometimes bacon), one of my fondest memories in the food department. There was a guy with a complicated portable special oven who made Swiss Raclette that was to die for. Of course there was Glühwein (mulled wine), very welcome in the cold. None of the food or the drink was allowed in any kind of plastic or paper container, everything had to be re-usable! So you bought a beautiful mug with the words "Tübinger Weihnachtsmarkt" written on it and this could be refilled at any booth that offered Glühwein or juice punch (I still have half a dozen of those mugs - each year has a different color). Most of the plates were eatable - envision big sturdy waffles for apple strudel! No trash!

Throughout the market you could listen to music. Children were singing, little choirs stood at the fountain in the market square, someone played the violin, another one the bagpipe, and again another one the flute. There was a cantata concert in the main church. There were jugglers and clowns. It was a very festive atmosphere.

We felt like community, we were community. People spending three days in the cold in order to help someone else. To serve others. To share stories. To entertain children and their stressed parents. To bring smiles on the cold faces, red cheeks from the mulled wine.

That third weekend  in December, no matter whether the sun was shining, it was raining or snowing, was spent in the streets among those medieval buildings. It was freezing cold - always. But everyone was there. Community.

I never thought I'd see the day when I dubbed camo as "classy," but I guess today is that day. Thank you, Andy Warhol. Leave it to good ol' A. Warhubs to elevate an everyday soup can, a banana - or yes, even camouflage - to something artful and wall-worthy.

Also, that gargantuan arrangement of gorgeous hydrangea; the classic Saarinen tulip table; and the simple pops of color mixed with bright white plus dark, dark floors really helps. Whew! So many design elements mixed into one effortless, but gorgeous, room.

Camouflage silkscreen print by Andy Warhol. Photo by Douglas Friedman for C Magazine, via Destined to Design.

...what if your windshield wipers swept over this instead today?

I know it's pouring cats and dogs out here, but wouldn't this cheery rainbow be a welcome sight?

Dutch artist Helmut Smits created this windshield rainbow using acrylic paints like this:


Concept and execution by Helmut Smits, photo by Lotte Stekelenburg. Originally spotted via DesignLoveFest.

Last week I won my first give-away on a blog - a beautiful print of watercolor pumpkins that was painted by Rhonda of Roban Studio.


She also included this cute Halloween card that she made as well. I love her art, and she is also a fantastic photographer. You can check out her beautiful blog here. And - she has a very creative way of announcing her give-away winners!

Every Friday Rhonda does the Art Walk Friday where everybody can join in with whatever medium. This week's theme was "Fall". While at the pumpkin patch, I studied the sunflowers and took several shots of the big flower heads with the busy bees.


Thank you Rhonda - it was a good day when I discovered your blog!

The sweetest Where The Wild Things Are quote has been made into a print by Dear Colleen on Etsy. I've talked about her work before [check it out here - it was a good post if I do say so myself! :) ] but I truly adore this new print - wouldn't it be sweet for a Valentine's Day gift or hung on the wall on the way out of an entry? Oh and did I mention that it's only 29 buckaroos? Sold.

Print available here.

Spotted on roblahblog.

Folks. I AM BACK. :) I've missed you all! Fo reals. Did you all have nice Labor Day weekends? Ah, the last holiday weekend of the summer. When did it get to be September?? I feel like summer just started and now it will be over - officially - in 19 days! (Though Labor Day weekend really feels like the true end of summer.) Boo.

In the meantime, I'm grasping on to the last semblances of summer, which to me right now is feeling like a nautical tone - for the home, clothes and accoutrement. Here are some of the nautical items inspiring me right now: