29.03.2012

there is a little deli next to timo's office in pennsylvania that makes the best hero sandwiches. sometimes, as a treat, he brings me my favorite, ham and cheese, but tonight he did the whole enchilada, cannoli and lemonade included. 10 bucks of pure joy!

28.03.2012

this morning, while doing the dishes i realised how matchy-matchy they are. i know it's silly, but things like this really make me smile.

27.03.2012

today fiona is exactly a year and a half. you know how often you hear parents say how fast their kids grow? what a gross understatement. i already can't remember her being so small that cutting her toenails was my worst nightmare. or her fitting perfectly across my chest for her non-stop naps. or her wearing these doll onesies i am saving for her memory chest. it is scary beyond belief, but it doesn't really matter because my heart is growing more and more every day from loving her so much, and eventually it's gonna pop and that will be it. surely you can't fit this much love into one puny human.

26.03.2012

jules once took a picture in a liverpool cafe of a sign that said "where there's tea, there's hope". in my case, there's also plans. maybe because of the lively spring that invaded us so suddenly and so unapologetically, there's a lot of plans being made in our house. plans and strategies and decisions, all that good stuff. and tea.

25.03.2012

today for lunch i made slow-cooked pigs' feet with potato mash, and after yesterday's culinary experience you know we had to try and make our own fried pickles. they were amazing. yes yes, i'm a simple girl with simple pleasures...

24.03.2012

today it's been a bit chillier and rainy, so we could only take a short trip to nearby clinton. it's a small historical town and they have a really nice outdoor museum hosted partly by this red mill. it's called red mill village museum. i wonder how they came up with that name. either way, the main street had some really cute shops and after walking around for a while we went to smash burger and ate fried pickles. sweet mother of invention, what a treat.

23.03.2012

tonight we took an evening walk in the neighbourhood. there seem to be fruit trees absolutely everywhere, all in bloom, all raining down soft petals of white and pink, making everything look really magical and pretty. i like magical and pretty. i also like cute mailboxes.

22.03.2012

today i went on a "cupcake wars" tour of nyc. i hit billy's bakery in chelsea and baked by melissa and magnolia near grand central. to be honest, after having my absolute winner, the daisy vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting at billy's, i was all sugared out and i ended up hauling the rest of the buys (a "grand central" cupcake from magnolia, six tie-dye, cookie dough and cotton candy mini cupcakes from melissa and a box of macarons from financier) all the way home. i have to mention how beautiful grand central station truly is, and how much i enjoyed hanging out in bryant park with fiona all afternoon. new york in spring is just extra alive.

21.03.2012

the best part of being a stay at home mom? the afternoon naps. it's not just that you get to nap (as if that's not awesome enough in itself), but it's cuddling up with baby in the bed and sharing this really special time, now, before she won't even want to be seen in public with me, let alone give me hugs.

20.03.2012

come on, garden state. squeeze it out.

19.03.2012

thank god for 25 degree weather in march (celsius that is). it's so sunny and warm and it is putting me in the best mood. fiona squealing with happiness at being unleashed outside is pretty sweet too.

18.03.2012

it's been a beautiful week-end, another one for the books. and probably a sign that we're getting old: while everyone is crowding around busy cities to get drunk and celebrate st. paddy's, we run off for a quiet few days amongst seagulls and windy marinas.

17.03.2012

we decided to travel as often as possible, so we are spending the week-end in mystic, connecticut. seen here, timo shares his red velvet cake with fiona in the mystic drawbridge ice cream shoppe.

16.03.2012

another reason why i love the husband... it's not enough that he made popcorn for friday night movie, he also went and got proper movie popcorn bags.

15.03.2012

once in a while an art toy makes me want it so bad i wanna cry. today brandi milne's "go bunny ride" came in the mail and it is so awesome in person. it's also one of only 100 made, so it's double special. daheim!

14.03.2012

today fiona and i spent the day in east village. i wanted to walk around and see the area, as i will do with all of nyc because baby, i’ve got nothing but time. but i also had one place in mind i really wanted to see – the joe strummer mural featured in the „redemption song” video, as sang by him. that video always makes me cry, so it was pretty emotional being there, knowing all those guys from those other bands i love and appeared in the video also stood there. that aside, the east village is fabulously punk. get me a place on st. marks place and i might think about staying.

13.03.2012

there are three college campuses around our house, and today i went to explore one of them. these campuses are the most underrated parks, i tell you. st. elizabeth college is small, but they still have a huge front yard and beautiful stone benches where you can sit under our lady of the rosary of fatima’s watchful eyes and eat a bagel while listening to the birds chirping and watching the baby sleep. also, today it was crazy hot so i could go out in a dress. welcome, spring. stay.

12.03.2012

boy, they really meant it when they wrote „rainbow cheddar fish” on the bag. ah, sometimes chemicals are useful. more chemicals!

11.03.2012

oh, we did a lot today. we drove to philadelphia, we saw the liberty bell, we walked around the old city where we met cleaver-wielding mannequin girl, timo had philly cheese steak from a street vendor and then we drove some more and saw an amazing orchid exhibit at longwood gardens. i really love a day like this, when at the end of it it feels wlike whatever you did in the morning happened a week ago. you know, because of all the stuff you did. that day. i’m so tired.

10.03.2012

i don’t know how this happens, but every time we have to go to a street parade, activity which requires standing around on a sidewalk for hours, it is freaking freezing outside. it was like this in germany, it’s the same here now. i’m talking st. patrick’s day parade in this case, and other than the cold and fiona being grumpy due to said cold, it was pretty fun.

09.03.2012

so it turns out eating sashimi two days after having some severe form of food poisoning is probably not the best idea in the world. i wasn’t 100% anyway, but now i’m all nauseous again. and the funniest thing is we only got sushi for my grandpa and he didn’t even show up in time for dinner. barf.

08.03.2012

my present for women’s day was that i could get out of bed, which is great because my whole body aches from lying down for so long and i’m weak and dizzy from not eating. so i thought today’s picture should be of some flowers, and the only ones in the house are the ones in my dresser. you’re welcome.

07.03.2012

today i was crazy sick. i don’t even know what is wrong with me, but i spent all day in bed and fiona had to stay with me too so i could watch her. i wish i could fit in her dolls’ cot, it’s way prettier than our grown-up bed. please let this be a 24-hour bug.

06.03.2012

i haven’t bought art books, actually any books of any kind since i got my kindle from timo, but today this came in the mail and made me giddy. it’s hard to not tear out all the pages and frame them. i’ll totally end up doing that.

05.03.2012

welcome to my home. shoes off please. yes, it’s a bit draughty here, do i look like i care? shoes off i said!

04.03.2012

today i hopefully put the first bricks to the foundation of something really cool, possibly the coolest thing i’ve ever done if i follow it through. and this art is part of the inspiration for it. here’s to sowing guts and reeping glory.

03.03.2012

today my grandfather is leaving for chicago, so me and fiona are on our own until timo comes back tomorrow. i took this picture in the morning when we woke up because i thought it's funny how you can't tell where the baby ends and the sofa starts.

02.03.2012

yesterday timo went to germany for a few days, for work. it must be weird for him to be there but not be able to go home (he is in hanover, not dusseldorf). so i'm spending the evening with grandpa, eating nature's popcorn.

01.03.2012

as the sun sets on yet another martisor-less 1st of march away from home, grandpa plays another game of solitaire, on the computer this time. actually my mom sent me and fiona a martisor each, so it's not that bad. thanks mom!

29.02.2012

timo has a new relaxing technique and he is getting really good at it. i always encourage his hobbies, especially when i get pretty things out of them.