christine's sketchbook

Olhão, blue hour

2012-01-05T09:00:00.004+01:00

from our hostel's roof terrace we had the perfect view
over the old city's flat roofs at sunset.
a memorable last night, also for the huge Cataplana we ate an hour later.

Olhão, ria formosa

2012-01-05T08:50:00.003+01:00

we spent the last two days of our trip in Olhão,
which is a town in the Algarve east of super touristy Faro.

the pictures above are from the nature reserve Ria Formosa.

praia da falesia

2012-01-04T10:48:00.003+01:00

after driving south from Evora through the heat for hours
we stopped at Praia da Falesia to cool off
before heading further east along the Algarve coast to our final destination.

swimming, looking over the blue water back at the red cliffs,
was one of my favorite moments of our trip.

Évora

2012-01-02T21:00:00.001+01:00

our next stop was the beautiful city of Évora.
it was quite hot, so we wandered around a little (picture 1)
and took lots of café breaks and mid-day naps.

as the sun was setting the town became lively again (pictures 2 and 3),
and so did we (picture 4).

bye bye Lisboa

2012-01-02T13:31:00.003+01:00

our last nigth in Lisbon at the torre de belém looking out over the water,
and our last coffee in Lisbon the next morning before heading further south.

sintra

2012-01-01T16:02:00.003+01:00

hello and happy new year!
thank you for stopping by here once in a while and for saying hi.
I wish you all the best for 2012!

.

there are still a few more pictures from portugal,
I hope you're not tired of them yet.

the ones above were taken in Sintra,
where we climbed misty Castelo dos Mouros.

cabo da roca

2011-12-04T10:43:00.004+01:00

from cascais we drove further north up the coast to cabo da roca,
the westernmost point of europe.
bottom picture: the little village of azenhas do mar.

Cascais, red and blue

2011-11-13T22:00:00.005+01:00

we stopped at Cascais, which is half an hour west of Lisboa,
to see the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego by Eduardo Souto de Moura
(who won this year's Pritzker Prize).
the building is a monolithic volume in red concrete, and was absolutely breathtaking.

unfortunately we were only able to see Aires Mateus' Farol Museu de Santa Marta from afar,
since it was closed that day (bottom picture).

Lisboa, parque das nações

2011-11-06T19:16:00.007+01:00

top:
Álvaro Siza's absolutely amazing, super thin hanging concrete roof, built for Expo 98.
I really liked the combination of different colors of tiles and concrete.
Siza is one of my all-time favorite architects. I posted about some of his buildings before: here and here.

bottom:
Santiago Calatrava's Oriente station, also for Expo 98

Lisboa, green and yellow

2011-11-03T15:00:00.000+01:00

we passed the building in the top picture every day.
it was at the corner of a quiet little square,
and I really fell in love with it.

do you have that problem of not knowing how to post portrait format pictures?
I like my pictures to have the same width,
but it means I cannot see all of the first picture on my 13" screen...

Lisboa, random

2011-11-02T21:24:00.006+01:00

Lisboa, azulejos

2011-10-23T14:36:00.004+02:00

pretty tiles all over Lisbon.

how are you?
I hope you're having a nice sunday.

I'm doing some stuff around the house,
baking, cleaning, enjoying the beautiful light.

Lisboa, fonts and patterns

2011-10-20T20:04:00.003+02:00

Óbidos, souvenirs

2011-10-19T13:07:00.003+02:00

just one last picture from Óbidos.
it didn't quite fit in with any of the other posts,
but I really really like it.

Óbidos, last light of day

2011-10-18T21:19:00.005+02:00

more Óbidos, after sunset. so quiet.

Óbidos, sunset

2011-10-18T20:34:00.005+02:00

the town of Óbidos feels a bit like a museum, it is perfect in every way, and quite popular with tourists.

fortunately it was very chilly towards the end of the day
and the streets were deserted
so we had it mostly to ourselves in the best light of the day.

blue skies and mosaics

2011-10-15T14:43:00.003+02:00

at the roman ruins in Conímbriga

Buçaco

2011-10-10T23:45:00.004+02:00

the mountain forest of Buçaco
is very calm and very beautiful, and has great views over the surrounding landscapes.

a few hours in Porto

2011-10-09T23:15:00.005+02:00

this is the first of many portugal posts.

we arrived in Porto on a saturday in september.
we have been there before to visit our dear friends J+M,
so this time we only stopped for lunch before heading further south.

they took us to a restaurant with an amazing view just below the bridge that crosses the douro.
if you only have a few hours in Porto, this is the perfect place to spend them.

late

2011-09-27T20:51:00.004+02:00

on my way home from work late in the evening some time this summer,
I like the light in this picture so much.

summer

2011-09-25T22:34:00.004+02:00

two of my favorite things this summer:

1 getting up early on saturday mornings and head across the square to shop for groceries at the market
2 riding my bike to work through the park every day

I hope you had a nice weekend.
have a great start into the new week!

wandering

2011-09-24T17:48:00.005+02:00

some pictures from a walk back in June or July,
again with my lomo LC-A.

.

I was wondering, how/ where do you get your negatives developed?
I usually get them developed and scanned since I don't have a scanner at home,
but it's quite expensive.

I have also researched scanners before, but could not decide whether to get a negative scanner
or a regular one with a special device for negatives.

do you scan your negatives yourself?
I'd love to hear your suggestions!

wilhelma

2011-09-18T14:55:00.003+02:00

hello, I'm back, relaxed and with enough memories of summer and sun
to face, or maybe actually look forward to, the upcoming colder months.

I'm not really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow,
but it is so nice to be back home.

pictures to come soon, but for now some photos taken in august with my lomo lc-a,
at Wilhelma, stuttgart's botanical garden and zoo.

away!

2011-09-02T23:26:00.002+02:00

just a quick hello to say gooodbye:
we're off to two weeks in portugal.
see you soon!

sunday brunch + goodbye

2011-08-21T22:48:00.005+02:00

my little brother M is flying to the States today
to do a phD and start a new life in Seattle with his girlfriend L.
I am very happy for the two of them,
but also a little sad to see him leave.

by coincidence M spent the last two months in Stuttgart,
and it was very nice to have him so close by and to see him so often.
last week on sunday he came round for brunch at our place.

...

thank you so much for all the nice comments on my last post!
I have yet to post a picture of the framed print I promised,
mainly because, well, it's still not framed.
T has been very busy at work (more on that soon) and we've had visitors every other weekend,
so we have not had much time to work on things around the flat.
hopefully soon.

summer has finally arrived here last week,
the city and the office are very quiet and empty because everyone's away.
I'm really enjoying it a lot,
but also looking forward to our trip to Portugal
which is now only two weeks away.

how is your summer so far?

screen printing

2011-07-15T07:47:00.003+02:00

I really love workshops, getting your hands dirty.
screen printing was a lot of fun, we were a small class of three,
so there was lots of time to try things out and to talk with the teacher.

this is a first glimpse of my desgin,
I haven't taken any pictures of the finished prints
but I'm planning to frame one this weekend,
so I'll show you some details soon.

have a lovely friday and a great weekend!

print workshop

2011-07-10T22:55:00.007+02:00

above are some pictures that I took in the print workshop of Künstlerhaus Stuttgart,
where I took a screen printing class about two months ago.

screen printing was a lot of fun (I'll show you pictures soon),
but I couldn't stop looking at all the other areas of the print workshop,
so the next day I brought my camera to capture some of the details.

.

I've been feeling a bit restless and not very motivated
to blog or take many pictures lately.
it might be the indecisive summer weather,
or the fact that our summer holidays are still eight weeks away.

but I've also been enjoying a few new things lately:
taking lindy hop classes, which is great fun (although we're not very good at it yet)
riding my new bike to work through the park every day
cooking and baking with all the fresh summer fruit and veg
and our new sofa, life is so much better with one!

kitchen

2011-06-20T22:41:00.003+02:00

our apartment came without a kitchen,
and we decided to get a nice one, one that we can sell on to the next tenant some day
because it fits the space (looong and narrow) perfectly.
so at least designing fancy kitchens for the last year did pay off a little.

the kitchen is from ikea,
simple matte white doors with an oak worktop.
having it installed was almost as much as what we paid for the units,
so we decided to do it ourselves,
with T's job at the university coming very handy
because the woodshop let us borrow all the tools we needed.

it was a lot of work, but also fun,
and looking at it every day still makes us very proud!

koblenz and the rhine valley

2011-06-14T23:47:00.002+02:00

we spent Sunday in Koblenz, which this year is hosting the bundesgartenschau
(= the national garden show). the city looked great,
and we took the new aerial cable car that now connects the city
with the forteress on the opposite bank of the river Rhine.

after a day full of walking around we finally jumped on a train at night
that took us through the beautiful Rhine valley (bottom three pictures)
back home.

after dark

2011-06-14T22:51:00.005+02:00

some pictures from my friend M's lovely wedding last saturday.

I took only my D90 (which I have not used very much lately) on our trip
to practice a little, I always get confused by all the options,
shooting film in my K-1000 is so much easier.
As always the after dark shots turned out fine, so I'll only show you some of those.

do you know what you're doing with your digital SLR?
any tips on catching the light just the way it is,
the way that film does? let me know!

at home

2011-06-09T22:56:00.003+02:00

some random pictures from our flat.
we're still without a proper living room
but the sofa should arrive any day now
and we're working on shelving for our books.

in germany we've got another three-day weekend coming up.
we're going to a friend's wedding in Koblenz (which is where I lived until I was 19).
I haven't been in there in 7 years, so I'm really looking forward
to spending a couple of days there.

what are your plans for the weekend?

oh, London! Pt. 3

2011-05-31T19:28:00.003+02:00

some pictures from our friends J and P's wedding reception
at 6 st chad's place, a quiet space with perfect light
in a tiny back alley just a few steps from busy king's cross station.

later that night there was music and dance, and a few tears
when J held a lovely speech, sounding all british (he's german) and grown-up.

these are the last pictures from our London trip in april,
although we had almost a complete other day before we left.
I must have been busy just looking at familiar streets
and talking to familiar faces, I think.

oh, London! Pt. 2

2011-05-24T19:45:00.004+02:00

more London pictures, this time all of them taken at the Barbican's recently re-designed foodhall.

the Barbican is one of my favorite places in London,
it's an inner city oasis, a perfect spot for a break.
I really liked the new design of the foodhall by SHH, especially the different uses of light bulbs.

you can see more pictures of the Barbican (and read more about my love for it) in this post.

oh, London! Pt. 1

2011-05-22T19:46:00.002+02:00

finally, some pictures from our trip to London back at the beginning of April.
it was my first time there since I moved away in july of 2009,
and it was truly wonderful to be back.

we saw a lot of our London friends and colleagues,
and many friends from university that came to our friend's wedding.

it is amazing how a few years of not seeing each other is forgotten in an instant,
it felt like we had never been away.
especially after having moved to a new city at the beginning of the year
it was really nice to see some old friends, I've missed that a lot lately.

London felt so familiar, we had great weather,
and I think a part of my heart will always remain there.

1 the scolt head on englefield rd. used to be our local. this is where we had our wedding party for our friends in march 2009.
2 lamps in the vintage furniture shop on essex rd
3 my favorite tree around the corner from our old apartment
4 the fishmonger on essex rd.
5-7 brunch at mood for food, another favorite on essex rd.
8 steps on northchurch rd.

inside in black and white

2011-04-27T23:06:00.000+02:00

these pictures take me back to january and february, although some were taken later.
but they do have a very wintery feel to them, don't they?

tea and winter light in our new kitchen (1 and 2)
my friend A's kitchen (3 and 4)
my favorite cafe in the neighborhood (5 and 6)

outside in black and white

2011-04-27T22:58:00.002+02:00

some black and white pictures from earlier this year.

hello spring, hello friends

2011-04-20T20:40:00.005+02:00

oh dear, it's been a long time!

with lots of things to do in our new flat and with spring outside
I have not really had the patience to sit down in front of my computer at night
after I've spent most of my day in front of one already.

last week I finally picked up three rolls of film,
but now it feels strange to show you wintery black and white pictures from february
with all the colors and smells and sounds of spring outside the window.

so I decided to start with a few taken in our new flat:

01, 06 there's a farmers market across the square from our place every saturday, and I insist on buying a bunch of flowers every time we go.

02, 03 while the front of our flat (living and bedroom) face west, the kitchen with wintergarten faces east, and I love how the light comes in in the morning, blue from the west, and bright and yellow from the east. we've had really nice weather here in the last weeks, so there's always almost sun in the morning. our bedroom has a very pretty ceiling.

04, 07 I inherited this rosenthal china from my granddad when he died two years ago, and it's been stored in boxes in my parents' attic ever since. I love having it with me now, and imagine him and my grandmother (who died before I was born) serving tea on it on a sunday afternoon.

05 more market bounty, and another set of tableware from my granddad (I'll have to show you more pictures of it some day, it's my favorite ever and we use it every day).

we're heading to the north of germany on friday to spend easter with my family.
I wish you happy easter and a lovely spring weekend!

my week

2011-04-05T07:50:00.003+02:00

I have also fallen victim to Instagram,
so I have a couple of pictures to show you from my last week
while I'm waiting for my films to be developed.

1 breakfast this morning: rhubarb compote on bircher muesli
2 the new cafe in the barbican in london last weekend
3 happy pigs at hackney city farm, also london
4 johannesstrasse, one of my favorite streets in our neighborhood
5 more breakfast

I'll be back with some "proper" pictures soon.
Spring is really in full swing here, suddenly over the weekend
all the trees turned green, my favorite time of year.

under construction

2011-03-29T20:37:00.003+02:00

hello friends,
just a quick note to say I am alive, and very well.

I started my new job six weeks ago, and it's getting better after a few weeks
of feeling a little overwhelmed and not quite knowing where I fit in.

we moved into our apartment a month ago, and while it's still lacking essential living room furniture
our boxes from NY finally arrived two weeks ago and most things are more or less unpacked.
it's a very nice apartment, and we feel incredibly lucky that it's ours.

on thursday we're going to London for the weekend for a friend's wedding,
it's my first time back in over 1 1/2 years and I can't wait to see our friends and the city.

more soon!

lately

2011-02-14T15:55:00.004+01:00

what I did in the last weeks:

look out the window (ever changing clouds over the city)
plan things and make lots of phone calls
drink lots and lots of tea
and read (I love the design of these books)

this is probably my last post for the next two or three weeks
as today we are moving to a different apartment for the remaining two weeks
before we can move into our new place.
the next place has no internet at all, and I'm not sure how long it will be
before we have internet in the new apartment in march
(experience with deutsche telekom tells me not to expect too much too soon!).

thanks for all you nice comments lately,
and I look forward to being back here soon!

hello stuttgart

2011-02-12T19:36:00.004+01:00

these were taken over the last weeks, and although I didin't feel
like I was taking very many pictures, they do sum up the time we've spent here quite well:
apartment-hunting (and by this getting to know the city a little better) and coffee breaks.

the center of stuttgart is surrounded by a u-shape of hills, so whenever you walk out of the center
you have a view over the city, which I like very much.
it also helps understanding where things are located when you're new in town.

1 a tower on top of the killesberg (one of those hills) with a super thin structure, it gives you a great view over the area
2 coffee break in the sunday morning sun
3 these fluffy pompoms grow all over town, I really like them
4 the sun has been shining a lot lately, perfect to take shadow pictures
5 grüß gott - this is how you say "good day" here in the south of germany (I'm not used to that yet).
this is the entrance floor of the house we will be moving into in march - we really did get the apartment!
6 a nice picture from a not so nice part of town
7 the city center, schlossplatz (the main square) reflected in the art museum's glass facade
8 another coffee break in a cute little cafe in heusteigviertel, a new favorite

there's more good news, funny how things don't happen for ages, and then they all happen at the same time:
I accepted a job offer on friday, and I will start work next wednesday.
I'm very relieved after all the hoping and guessing of the last weeks.

thank you so much for all the nice comments on my last post,
and have a great sunday!

almost home

2011-02-09T10:24:00.005+01:00

it's time for a little update I think. how have you been?

I'm doing well, things are slowly settling into place here
a little more than a month after we arrived.

we're slowly getting used to the quiet nights without sirens, honking and car alarms,
to trams that make no sound running in their tracks,
to speaking german everywhere (and to being understood everywhere,
which is a little dangerous if you're not used to it!),
to being able to walk most places.
we've been eating insane amounts of sausages and pretzels,
and the excitement of shopping in german bakeries has not worn off yet (oh, I had missed them SO much).
it's nice to be in our friends' and families' time zone again, and to call anytime.

we've been looking at many many apartments in the last weeks,
and while it's not official yet, it looks like one of them might work out this week.
it will be so nice to have our own place again.

a couple of weekends ago we flew up north to see my parents and my grandmother,
and we drove back with the boxes that I stored in my parents' attic five years ago.
I have only unpacked a few things since we are in a temporary apartment right now,
but it was so nice to see a few old friends, like my Tivoli radio.
I can't wait to have our boxes from NY arrive and, for the first time,
have all our belongings in one place.

and while I can't quite call it home just yet
I feel that we've arrived in the right place to stay for a while,
and I know that it will only take a few months (and our own apartment),
until this new city will be home. that's all I want for now.

farewell, my lovely

2010-12-25T05:05:00.007+01:00

hello again, and sorry about the long silence!

two days after my last post T and I received an email we had been waiting for quite a while,
and since then everything has been a bit of a blur.
we will be moving back to Germany at the beginning of January!

T was offered a job in Stuttgart starting this January, and although we are now leaving NY a little earlier than we thought,
it seemed like the perfect chance to move back to our home country, which we were planning to do some time in the next year anyways.

While NY as a city is amazing I was often tired of the long distances and the crowds
(especially in Manhattan and during rush hour), of too many people that seem to be constantly on the edge.
On weekends I loved the city, but during the week I felt it was taking so much of my energy.
I also often felt a bit isolated from my family and friends over here,
like I was in a good place, but on the wrong continent!

I am looking forward to living in Germany again(we've been abroad for five years now),
having all our belongings in one place for the first time, being closer to our families and many of our friends,
and the general feeling of having arrived in a place where we will be staying for a while.
I'm not a good nomad, it takes me a a long time to really feel at home in a new place,
but this next time we have no plans to move on, at least for now.

I am a little sad that we don't have much time to say farewell to the city, but maybe it's better that way,
at least we will make sure we come visit again soon.

We have booked our moving company for January 3rd, said goodbye to a lot of friends and colleagues already,
and are flying to California for a week tomorrow morning, to make sure we see a little more of this country
before we leave.

Thank you for listening! I wish you happy holidays and a great new year,
some time to relax with your favorite people, and to do your favorite things.
Thank you for visiting this place these past 12 months, and thank you for all your comments.
I'm often not very good at responding, but I read every single one of them, and they make me very happy.

The two pictures above show some of the things that I will miss very much:
the view from our apartment, with the sun rising between the buildings and shining into ours,
and our Saturday mornings, having breakfast while listening to Wait Wait don't tell me and Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC
followed by a walk around the neighborhood to take T's shirts to the dry cleaner.

Love,
Christine

fort greene

2010-11-29T05:41:00.003+01:00

some pictures from our walk to fort greene today.
the sun was shining and I took my new 35mm lens for its first walk.
I'm very happy with it, it makes my digital camera's view
very similar to my film camera with its 50 mm lens. what more do you need?

somehow I never seem to get tired of tree shadows on houses
and balustrade shadows on stoops and walls
and soft red and blue and yellow tones.

I hope you had a great weekend wherever you are!

egg creams at brooklyn farmacy & soda fountain

2010-11-22T03:32:00.007+01:00

I had passed the brooklyn farmacy and soda fountain on my bike a few times
and had always wanted to check it out,
but this article in edible brooklyn finally made us go a few weekends ago.

we ordered egg creams, a drink I had never heard of before reading the article,
but was intrigued by after learning that used to be a very typical brooklyn drink which is now experiencing a comeback
(our friend N who grew up here remembers his dad taking him to get egg creams at the corner diner).

I also love the fact that the drink, despite its name, does not include eggs nor cream
(one theory being that someone americanized the french words chocolat et crème).
The list of ingredients is short: cold milk, chocolate syrup and seltzer
(which makes for a very interesting sparkly sensation).

I really liked the old-school and family feel of the place,
and I'll back, maybe next time for one of their amazing looking sundaes.

a day in early september

2010-11-11T21:27:00.005+01:00

last week I finally picked up two films
and one of them still had a few summer pictures on it.

on a weekend in early september we took our bikes on the train up to the cloisters,
and then rode down manhattan's west side
all the way to our favorite bar for summer, the ear inn,
to have shandies on the sidewalk,
and later a burger, inside.
I remember wearing shorts that day, it feels so far away now!

milan

2010-11-08T00:15:00.004+01:00

we only had an afternoon to spend in Milan
which was really not enough time at all.
for some reason I only took pictures of the duomo,
which I loved from the outside (probably because it looks like a cake with very elaborate icing),
but I was slightly disappointed by the dimly lit interior.

we took the elevator to the roof and had a great view over the roofs of Milan
(plus got a closer look at all that icing).

Milan, I'll be back!

como in blues and grays

2010-11-02T02:53:00.007+01:00

I'm always torn between showing complete stories or situations
(including images that are not beautiful themselves, but maybe show a beautiful setting)
and showing only the images that I truly like (if by themselves or grouped with other images).

I feel there is a difference between images that remind you of a beautiful setting
(because when you look at them you remember how you felt when you were there)
and images that are truly beautiful themselves (for me these are often the ones that
perfectly portray the atmosphere of the original setting, or even an ideal and slightly abstract version of it).

In this case I chose to not show you lake Como as the sun went down.
the setting was very beautiful in person, but in comparison looks so disappointing in my pictures.

so this is Como without the lake (but in matching tones):
1 the duomo
2, 3, 4 giuseppe terragni's casa del fascio*
4 the hotel facing the lake
5 very impressive pipe details

I really liked Como with its narrow streets and squares, the surrounding hills and the lake.
we only spent about two hours there, but I would love to some day come back for a little longer.

* it was impossible to get a good shot of the main elevation. here are some great ones though.

blue hour

2010-10-31T19:23:00.005+01:00

we usually arrived back at the hotel just as the sun went down,
with enough light to imagine how nice it must be there during summer.
it was definitely too chilly to use the pool.

our Italian colleagues were incredibly nice, and made us eat incredible amounts of food.
we would usually go for lunch and dinner
with at least two courses per meal (we would try to only have one course,
but somehow they would always trick us into eating at least two!).

apart from eating we visited all the factories and different showrooms,
it was so nice to see where all the furniture is made
(kitchens and wardrobes in a pretty big factory with clever machines and amazingly few people,
sofa covers in a small backyard shed that used to house the founders' small carpentry company back in the 60s).
it felt great to see how much the production is still rooted in the area.

we also had a chance to see a bit of Como,
and spent an afternoon in Milan.
pictures soon, and I wish you a lovely rest of the weekend.

hello!

2010-10-30T18:41:00.004+02:00

hello again after two weeks of absence, it's good to be back!
the first week, as you know, I spent in Italy,
the second week was full of too many problems at work, being very sleepy by 8pm,
resentment of all the noise and stress of NYC, dreams of moving back to Europe,
and the greatest sunny and warm fall weather (clearly NYC trying to get me to love it again).

today the weather is cooler but very sunny, and it's impossible to not love this city.
and in a minute we will take our weekend neighborhood walk to pick up dry cleaning (T), films I dropped off two weeks ago (me) and maybe a coffee or some fancy-food shopping, and definitely some picture taking.

above you can see the hotel that me and my three colleagues
stayed at during our time in Italy (first two pictures).
I will show you more soon.

Thank you so much for all the nice comments on my last post,
and see you soon!

off

2010-10-16T20:09:00.002+02:00

after a busy week with lots of work and the parents in town I'm off to Italy:
work is sending me to the factory and headquarters
(somewhere between Como and Milan) for a week of training,
and I'm very excited (especially about not seeing my own desk for a week)!

I'll see you soon, have a great weekend and next week!

concert in central park

2010-10-10T20:52:00.003+02:00

more lomo pictures from july:
we met some friends for a free ny philharmonics concert
and a picnic in central park.
we arrived just before it started so we ended up far from the stage
put close to the speakers.
as the sun went down the light was amazing
most people were lying on their backs, perfectly quiet,
listening to the music,
looking into the sky or falling asleep for a little while (I did).

usually T does not like to show his face here so much,
but he made an exception for this picture
because I love the light and the colors and all the detail in it so much.
thank you T!

manhattan from LIC

2010-10-07T05:00:00.003+02:00

a very dramatic looking manhattan skyline
as seen by my lomo from long island city in july.

july

2010-10-06T06:13:00.002+02:00

fall has definitely started in NYC this last week,
with way too much rain in all shapes and sizes
and way too few clear skies.

I like looking at summer pictures,
those hot NY summer nights seem so distant already.
The three above were taken in july
at one of the celebrate brooklyn concerts
in prospect park.

adjaye on lomo

2010-10-04T04:55:00.004+02:00

I have always admired david adjaye's work
and there is actually one of his houses
not far from where we live.
We passed it on our bikes one hot day this summer
and luckily I had my lomo with its wide angle-lens with me.

I love the alternating matte wood and glossy glass panels,
and the way the sky and the surroundings
are reflected in the glass.

beach

2010-09-29T04:45:00.002+02:00

and now, back to summer here in NY:

on a particularly hot weekend at the end of august
we went camping at the beach on fire island with friends C and M.
apart from the mosquitoes hungry for our blood
it was a lot of fun

setting up camp, picnicking,
watching the sun set over the dunes,
a red moon rise over the water,
and, later, a glow in the east soon followed by the rising sun.

black + white

2010-09-27T05:20:00.002+02:00

a bit of weekend sewing,
I'd had this pillow on my mind for a while.

how was your weekend?

hello berlin goodbye germany

2010-09-25T19:06:00.003+02:00

our last two days in germany last august
we spent in berlin.
I didn't take many pictures this time.

but: I have lots more nyc summer pictures to show you.

have a great weekend!

blue in germany

2010-09-23T13:12:00.002+02:00

just two pictures, the first one taken on the road
somewhere betweeen bavaria and berlin,
the second one in the blue hour in nuremberg.

the last days in germany before we flew back to ny
where a bit melancholic, and these two pictures describe them very well.
it's been four years now that I last lived in germany
and leaving always makes me realize how much I miss it.

forest

2010-09-20T04:33:00.006+02:00

while staying with T's parents for two short days this august
we went to the forest to collect these.
the light was amazing.

styrsö (03)

2010-09-15T05:12:00.002+02:00

more styrsö rocks, perfect light.

styrsö (02)

2010-09-14T05:16:00.003+02:00

some more pictures from styrsö.
the two middle ones were taken in our very cute hotel room
with the best wallpaper ever.

styrsö (01)

2010-09-13T01:02:00.004+02:00

back to august:
after arriving in göteborg we took a tram to saltholmen,
and from there the ferry to the beautiful island of styrsö
where we stayed for two days.
we rode bikes around the island, swam in the sea,
and had great food.
two days was way too short.

summer weekend

2010-09-08T04:54:00.002+02:00

going back to work this morning after a three-day-weekend was tough.
it's still summer here, and we did lots of summery things:

we met Mel + husband (visiting from London) for a very nice brunch,
rode our bikes round carroll gardens and red hook,
visited the cloisters and biked down manhattan's west side past hundreds of bbqs,
and rewarded ourselves with drinks and dinner at our favorite bar.

I don't think I have ever lived anywhere with such a long, reliable summer before!
also, I think all weekends should be three days long.

stena

2010-09-04T03:18:00.003+02:00

every night at 7pm a stena ferry leaves kiel to arrive in göteborg at 9am the next morning.
at the same time a second ferry makes its way from göteborg to kiel.
the ferries spend the day in one of the two cities.
for me the huge boat has always been part of kiel's cityscape.

every night at around 8pm the ferry passes by the town where my parents live
and I always love seeing it leave the bay.
so this summer we decided we should be on it.

we waved goodbye to my mother standing below us on the quay,
waved to my dad sitting by the water an hour later,
and enjoyed the wind and the sunset on board
before falling asleep at 10 pm to the rhythm of the motor.

yellow

2010-09-01T17:57:00.002+02:00

the light and the colors were just perfect when I took this picture,
and it came out exactly they way I had hoped.
strange how sometimes it works out so well, and sometimes it totally doesn't.

I still have lots more pictures from our summer vacation to show you,
I'm trying to get back into posting more regularly.

Thanks for stopping by!

northern summer

2010-09-01T05:49:00.003+02:00

summer in northern germany: air 19°C, water 20°C
bamboo with a windy hair style
and cake made by my mother with berries from the garden.

aquarium

2010-09-01T02:41:00.005+02:00

a visit to the kiel aquarium
is one of my favorite things to do when I visit my parents.
the guy in the last picture really made us laugh.

sun and clouds and colors

2010-08-23T04:08:00.002+02:00

more pictures form the same day, with the weather changing
from sunny to cloudy about every 5 minutes:

1 beach chairs, perfect for this kind of weather
2 grapes in my aunt's garden
3 fishermen's crates by the harbour
4 lindenau wharf
5 matching colors

ferry

2010-08-23T02:41:00.003+02:00

part one of our trip was to my parents' place outside kiel by the baltic sea.
I always enjoy the ferry ride across the Förde to visit my aunt.

back

2010-08-17T13:50:00.004+02:00

we're back from two wonderful weeks in Europe,
still slightly jet lagged and reluctant to accept
that we've returned to our daily lives already.

I have lots of pictures to show you.
the one above was taken on the island of styrsö in sweden
(our favorite place of the last two weeks).

how have you been?

escape

2010-08-04T08:48:00.004+02:00

this is where I am right now. we escaped NYC on friday at lunchtime
and arrived in hamburg early saturday morning to a cool 12 C.
it's been windy sunny and rainy, but we've been spending lots of time outside
and went for our first swim yesterday.
my parents have been feeding us well these last days.

from here we're off to göteborg tonight, from there to southern germany to see more family,
on to berlin to visit friends, and then back to NYC.

the picture above is last year's, this time I'm traveling with my K-1000 only,
so there will be no pictures for a while.

Sorry for neglecting this space and for not answering any comments lately,
I always love to hear from you and will be back very soon.

Enjoy your summer!

more summer

2010-07-13T02:31:00.004+02:00

what we've been up to lately:

1 trying to sleep at night (this fan makes it easier)
2 bike everywhere
3 spend dusk outside (mostly due to infernal temperatures in our apartment)
4, 5 july 4th bbq at a friend's rooftop in greenpoint

summer at ps1

2010-07-11T16:59:00.004+02:00

I've been taking more pictures in the last two weeks,
trying to catch this summer on film.

the pictures above were taken at last week's ps1 warm-up,
an event that makes hordes of people swarm to otherwise very quiet Long Island City.
It was great fun, and the light was just perfect.

how is your summer?

chicago in april

2010-06-30T04:03:00.004+02:00

remember the weekend trip to chicago I told you about in april?
I realized that I never uploaded any pictures.

it was super foggy, mostly rainy, and very windy while we were in town,
but I still liked it very much and was sad to leave after only two days.

1 view from our friend N's apartment. later that day you couldn't see anything at all!
2, 3, 4 anish kapoor's "cloud gate" was breathtaking, but needed polishing
5, 6 the art institute's new wing by renzo piano
7 cruising along lake shore drive

more soon!

summer mornings

2010-06-28T03:19:00.003+02:00

I have not been in the mood to take pictures lately, I don't know what's wrong.
I have carried cameras round the city for days without using them a single time.
my lomo lc-a and my Pentax K1000 have had the same films in them for more than two months. still not finished.

I haven't been up to much in the last weeks, just generally enjoying summer.
the city is magical in summer. I'm so grateful to be able to live here for a while.
we've been biking around brooklyn. meeting friends to watch the worldcup.
eating and drinking outdoors. endless iced lattes, ice creams, smoothies, frozen yoghurts.
it's been pretty hot for the last three weeks, although not that humid yet.
it is completely dark here by 9 pm, and sometimes I miss the long northern european summer daylight I grew up with.
but I also love the dark hot summer nights here.

at the beginning of august we will go to germany for two weeks
to visit family and friends. we haven't been there since last september.
I can't wait!

manhattan sunset

2010-06-01T13:37:00.003+02:00

this weekend we went to see what they call manhattanhenge:
the sun setting in line with the manhattan grid.
it felt like a very special moment, everyone stopped to stand in the street and watch
until the sun disappeared.

zoo

2010-05-31T19:37:00.003+02:00

some pictures from our visit to the bronx zoo yesterday.
T let me borrow his canon G9 for the day.

hot pink

2010-05-27T03:24:00.002+02:00

today was a super hot day (somewhere in the mid-nineties, or 36 in Celsius).

I'm not crazy about the heat during the day
(except for the first 15 minutes after exiting an air conditioned space)

but I love the heat when it's dark,
maybe just because, being northern european,
it is something that feels very exotic to me.

I'm off for dinner (outside!) and a little walk before bedtime.

how is the weather where you are?

sunday

2010-05-24T03:38:00.007+02:00

yesterday was a perfect sunday. I went to the MoMA with my friend M. to see the Marina Abramovic exhibition
(which starts with a performance that visitors can take part in, see pictures above).
you can read a great review here and here (thank you Petra for introducing me to artist and blog!).
the rest of the exhibit was interesting, but somehow performance art isn't really my cup of tea!

after the exhibit we sat in a little garden with a waterfall on 53rd street,
I walked through midtown to my subway stop

and later took a little walk around the neighborhood with T. to admire the day's chalk drawings.

café regular du nord

2010-05-12T03:22:00.004+02:00

a few pictures from a little cafe in our neighborhood
that we visited for the first time a few weeks ago. I think we'll be back.

how have you been?

a few thoughts on wearing things

2010-05-01T22:08:00.009+02:00

Over the last year or so I've been thinking a lot about the things I wear, where they come from
and where they go when I stop loving them or when they fall apart. I've been trying to make more and more
of the clothes I wear, to not impulse-buy things, and to invest into fewer but better quality pieces.
But sometimes I find it difficult to stick to my good resolutions.

I'm a big fan of Zoe's blog, she has my greatest respect for having joined the wardrobe-refashion pledge for life (!)
and writes a lot about purchasing less new things and mending things you have.
Inspired by the Makeshift Project Zoe invented her own little project in march wearing only clothes she has made
(with the exception of shoes, tights and socks I think), and now another one this month: Me-Made-May.
She asked for readers to join her (in a light version if one doesn't have a full self-made wardrobe), and that's what I'll be doing.

So for all of May all the tops, dresses, skirts and leggings I will be wearing will be made by me.
That will necessarily lead to me wearing at least one hand made item per day, but also lets me wear items
that I don't really see myself making any time soon (cardigans, jeans, underwear).

I won't be posting too much about this on my blog, but if you're interested hop on over to the
Me-Made-May group on flickr and have a look at what everyone is doing.

I hope you're having a great weekend!
Today it's summer here in NYC.

away!

2010-04-23T23:16:00.002+02:00

after a couple of very fun but tiring weeks we are off for a quick weekend-getaway to Chicago!
I'm super excited since we're also planning to visit farnsworth house tomorrow.

have a lovely weekend wherever you are!

top

2010-04-17T19:43:00.003+02:00

today I picked up a roll of film taken with my holga since last fall.
these are from the top of the rock in october when my parents were visiting.

I hope you're having a nice weekend!

boston (2)

2010-04-13T02:37:00.004+02:00

some more pictures from boston in january.
the top three were taken at the ica (designed by diller sofidio + renfro),
a place you should definitely visit if you ever have the chance.

there are beautiful views over the water from under the cantilevering roof,
from the top floor gallery, and the amazing suspended mediatheque.

boston (1)

2010-04-06T12:36:00.006+02:00

hello again!
this post has been sitting around as a draft for a week now
and the pictures are from our january trip to boston
so everything's a bit slow around here right now.

we had a relaxing and also productive weekend at home and in the neighborhood.
I bought some film last week and have been taking pictures
(mostly of blossoming trees) all weekend.
it's so much fun after a full month of only digital.

how have you been?

31/31 + goodbye march!

2010-04-01T14:06:00.006+02:00

so these are the last one of my daily pictures this month.

march is probably my favorite month, the transition from winter to spring
is just the most amazing time of the year,
the days getting longer, and nature waking up and preparing to bloom.
every year, again and again, I am full of wonder, and cannot believe that it will really be spring soon.
and then summer.

also, this march, with finally starting a proper job, felt like the true beginning of my life here.
every day I am so grateful that I now have a job to go to,
and I still can't really believe that it's true.
being without a job for a few months really puts things into perspective.

goodbye march. and thank you!

30/31

2010-03-31T04:50:00.001+02:00

tonight we had a delicious mushroom risotto with asparagus
while the rain continued to fall outside.

good night!

29/31

2010-03-30T14:54:00.001+02:00

another rainy day, it feels like we'll all be swimming away soon.
finding the new yorker with it's bunny cover in the mailbox brightened my day.

28/31

2010-03-30T13:22:00.001+02:00

rainy day, tired tulips.
some sewing, not much leaving the house.
great sunday!

27/31 + lincoln center

2010-03-30T01:08:00.003+02:00

on saturday we took a guided tour of lincoln center.
it was very interesting, I had no idea how many great buildings are part of it.

sadly, photography wasn't allowed inside any of them,
and it was very cold, which is why I didn't take very many of the outside.
I'll have to go back sometime soon.

26/31

2010-03-28T21:06:00.003+02:00

finishing this book on friday night led to confused dreams about timetravel and rebirth.
I really liked it though, and would definitely recommend it.

T gave me this book last year after a man in a bookstore in London introduced himself
as the author and offered to sign a copy of the book if T wanted to buy it.
when we later googled him we found out that he does this a lot.
I really like this story, and I'm glad I read this book which I otherwise never would have done!

25/31 + perfect spring day

2010-03-26T01:05:00.002+01:00

today was sunny and mild again.
I left work at 5:30 (which is actually an acceptable time at my new job - I love it!)
and it was still light when I got home.

the last picture shows the magnolia tree next door, it's starting to look so pretty.

24/31

2010-03-25T16:24:00.001+01:00

preparing our favorite muesli with apple and grapefruit for breakfast
(the only picture I managed to take all day).

23/31

2010-03-25T03:20:00.002+01:00

T's parents arrived in NYC last night.
we met for dinner and walked them back to their hotel in midtown.
this was one of the windows we passed.

22/31

2010-03-23T13:46:00.005+01:00

the first day at work was not bad, everybody was very nice
and I actually managed to get a little bit of work done already.

rain has been raining on our newly cleaned windows all day,
but spring is definitely in the air and there are huge buds
on the magnolia tree next door. I can't wait!

21/31

2010-03-23T01:18:00.004+01:00

on sunday I rode my bike to a brooklyn burdastyle sewing club meeting.
T and I did part one of our spring cleaning (part two will need to wait til next weekend)
and then rode our bikes to meet a friend for a delicious dinner here.

20/31

2010-03-23T01:15:00.003+01:00

on saturday I helped T and his team take pictures of a model
and enjoyed the view from the 24th floor and the sunshine.

thank you all so much for the birthday wishes,
and all the other nice comments you leave here, they always make my day!

19/31

2010-03-20T00:08:00.002+01:00

I'm 29 today! can't believe another year has gone by.
I'm off now for drinks and dinner and look forward to more nice weather this weekend.

I wish you a nice one, too!

18/31

2010-03-19T03:47:00.003+01:00

another sunny day, a haircut, a walk around town, a run in the park.
and now a bowl of soup and another episode of one foot in the grave (the best bbc series ever)