Flimflammed

Hip hey!

Carnival is the great time of nonsense in the year's circle. This time i decided to be again part of it... ;)

Well, that's not me of course!

...and neither this! That's my nephew ;)

Isn't it said that people use to disguise themselves as the person, animal or thing what they have always wanted to be? Well...

As a psychologist i would say it is better to act out one's feelings that way....

=^+^=

and even the ministry of witchcraft dropped round

...and by the end of the day i was like that:

Adapting mainstream

Or: "The great fixing year continues - stories from the do-it-yourself workshop"

Each and every student's home has got many many pieces of furniture by Ikea. I love Ikea really very much! But i actually want to have "special" pieces of furniture that fit each other AND that fit within our flat, which is settled in an old town house of the 15th century. So you see, you either renew totally everything of the flat, so that modern furnishing doesn't seems out of place, which would mean to do away with the chunky wooden floor, but i couldn't have the heart to do that!

So we chose the second possibility, which is to adapt everything that's inside the flat to the style of the house.
In one special example i'm currently concerned with, i repainted Ikea-chairs (which were called Stefan). The goal was to give them a certain dark-wooden tone that fits the floor and the wooden old windows. And by the way - and in using a certain glaze - those chairs should look a bit more antique.



Here you can see the metamorphosis: on the right handside the original chair, in the middle you can see on that's in treatment right now, and on the left you see the perfect chair...



Well, almost perfect! Of course there'll be then a soft cushion on it - life is hard enough after all ;)

And when finished i lent back in my chair enjoying perfect music:



Cheers, Ingrid the handygirl

Planes

You said that for every aeroplane i see in the sky, there's somebody thinking of me right at this very moment.

Does that mean, if i see thousands of planes, there's so many times and so many people thinking of ME?

Best in the world

Since i just recently figured out that i will be soon living in the middle of Innsbruck's "fan mile" of UEFA's European Soccer Championship 08 which is going to take place in Austria and Switzerland. I don't know yet if that's good or bad, but i know that there will be party going on all night and drunken crowds under my window, so i think it'll be better to take holidays from work...

But since every cloud has its silver lining, the Spanish team will be playing in Innsbruck, which is much to the pleasure of all the Spaniards here which are not so little!

And as i think Spanish food is already best in the world - well besides Indian - i prepared my favourite dish last weekend: Chipirones y patatas a la gallega, which is squids and potatoes the galician style. Hmmmm delicious!



Unfortunately i cannot delivery you the smell yet via internet, but be assured, we had the greatmost pleasure in enjoying this meal ;) ...although i am not the best cook in the world, but i am not so bad i flatter myself! =^+^=

Btw: i found a cartoon on multiple choice tests - which i personally lovehate very very much!



Prof says: Read attentively the exam and then choose option a or option b.
Subtitle: Life is like a multiple choice test, sometimes it leaves you nothing more than a bad option or a worse option.

Umbralliant days

There are days when you get drowned without an umbrella. Somehow it's kind of out of use to use an umbrella - at least as far as i can judge from people on the streets. I remember my parents being also behind me to take an umbrella along when it was raining outside but nowadays even children run around in driving rain without any umbrella. At least it has been common to take an umbrella where i come from - even if it is another time...



At least, i tend to use umbrellas properly.
I don't mean to say that all things were generally better in former times. But when i come across people walking in a threesome using the whole of the pavement and you have to step down on the street to pass, i am actually longing for more sense in sidewalk-traffic.

The great-disposable-year

This year Stefan's Mum proclaimed the official "great disposable year" (originally titled "Das große Wegschmeiß-Jahr"), which means you throw away all the things which you haven't been using for ages. Maybe it has been inspired by Ikea's Knut, where you throw your Christmastree out of the window, but i quite liked the idea very much and so i chose to apply it to our household.



By the way: a big welcome back to our computer, he chose to stay alive for a little while longer.

The sense behind all the throw-away thingy is simply to get rid of all the stuff you don't need anymore - which has already been long over due... - and to finally get the things you really need.
E.g.: thing you don't need - guy driving his car (So you got a car..! Fine, and you know how to use your throttle very effectively... Good.... you're such a *$%~!^^*+ mmmh, let's look for a good spanish cuss word - no! let's look for)
E.g.: something you really need! True love could be this - but maybe it's already too hackneyed to be longed for?



Well, that's rubbish then... Ò_ò As it is, it's simply better for you in the long run to chuck away all your old ugly plates and to go and buy beautiful ones which make you smile when you eat from them. (quote: Maria José P.) - Not that i am now trying to promote diverse furniture stores, but sherds still bring good luck ;)


This is a work made out of shard by Patrick Shia Crabb

And concerning one of my favourite avocations - eating - i should really think about an inventory in my store cupboard. Maybe i should say adieu to my sister's christmas-cookie i forgot in a drawer...

But more than all this one should free oneself from all the material burdens that keep you from really living your life: to get rid of all the mental blockades and to change your point of view and see, life is great and it's worth living it!


Somehow i found more folk thinking about that topic...

In that sense i wish you a perfect yeaar 2008, let's see how this disposable year works out...
Slainte and cheers, Ingrid

Computer-Monster

Now i should know, why our computer chose to not work properly anymore...



Whaaaaa!

Adoring memory

Well well, i know i will not keep my promise not to issue another post in the old year - but i cannot!
Through friendly advice i have found something very very beautiful which is a hommage to a beautiful man:



Maybe you can remember the episode of Princess Fantaghirò and the gorgeous sorcerer Tarabas played by Nicolas Rogers. I do remember very well - and how all the little girls were sighing because of him *ggg*

Best wishes

This will be my last entry for this year, so be glad you have endured my blog ^^
I'd like to seize the chance to say thankyou to my readers - though elected few but faithfull. Thanks for reading all my mental produce and be sure to stand by in 2008 - if you don't have other things to do.

Have a merry Christmas, fine holidays and a good take off for the New Year!
Blessings, Ingrid


(Reindeer by Patience Brewster)

Building bridges

Today is an important day for Europe:



the number of countries belonging to the Schengen Agreement increased and the external border of the community went eastwards. Yippie, finally free travel between "old" EU-states and the new former Eastern Bloc states.



Since i come from a town that lies on the Austrian (Salzburg) bank of a river that seperated us from Germany, i have been always sensitive for borders. I think, borders should be bridged since they were set up always by someone that didn't think about the people living on each side of the border balk. But even worse are boundaries inside people's mind and i hope that this enlargement of the Schengen area will add to people's openmindedness...

Xmas all over

Hi there!
Ever heard of Xmas-fever? Watch out, you may be already infected! It is everywhere...



I mean, Innsbruck is lovely indeed at Christmas time...



...and THIS is the place (amongst others) where all the Xmas-virus comes from. I have been infected too recently - as you may see in our flat:



I even got friendly with the Christmastree Stefan carried home...



Dear goodness, i barely recognize myself! Tz tz tz!
Fortunately this fever will reach its peak soon and then decline, phhew!




Get Myspace Christmas Countdown



Ooops! See, i didn't manage to escape! I turned into an elf!!! Whaaaaa!

My psycho-elfish crew

Hope

Mas yo prosigo soñando, pobre, incurable sonámbula,
Con la eterna primavera de la vida que se apaga
Y la perenne frescura de los campos y las almas
(But i, poor cureless sleepwalker, continue dreaming
of eternal spring of life, which but expires
and of everlasting viridity of the meadows and the souls)
Rosalía de Castro



When days are becoming cold, dark and dull, i always keep longing for a brighter, sunnier place. Every year over and over again. After all i detest snow. (Well, you may argue that i'd better live somewhere else than in Tyrol...) I prefer warm weather and - most luxury of all - the sea nearby! Well, someday i will hopefully live in a warmer fields, but until then i will only have the chance to dream of and yearn for the sea...

"Es ist schon so lange her.
Es war schön, und zwar sehr.
Ich will wieder ans Meer!
Endlich wieder ans Meer..."
(995er Tief über Island, Sportfreunde Stiller)

Welcome to the club

I have actually never been very keen on being a member of any kind of club.
But there are certainly some "organizations" were you can take some benefit from, like Ikea Family or... yes, McD's Junior Club where i was definitely bound to enroll our daughter - although she is still very young, but already a proud member of McD Junior Club (no advertising included *ggg*)

Living in a fairy tale

In christmas time, our dear Seilergasse turn into "Fairytale-Street"



if you pass through the street, you are surrounded by fairy tale creatures, being fastened to the houses:

Fairy tale

(click to see more photos!)

South Tyrol

Since it has been very very cold here in Innsbruck city for the last days, i found a very neat way to flee from here easily:
i chose to take part in a university's excursion (again) to South Tyrol, which is - as the name already tells - south. South of the Alps and so it is mainly untroubled by snow and cold in winter! How convenient!



A view in the lovely city of Meran. Note: while landscapes north of the Alps are already "gifted" with thick white snow covers, you may enjoy a nice late autumn afternoon south of the mountain range.



What a wonderful world! After all a journey from Innsbruck to South Tyrol should only take you about 2 hours. Depending on where you're going.



The most interesting sight has been Castle Tyrol:




... with its most impressive romanic portals:




...and mediaeval frescos:




(At this point i was humming the lines from David Gray's "Nos da cariad":
"Hold on to St. Christopher
The sky is murderous red
Go to sleep my one true love
Our glory lies ahead"...)

All in all Castle Tyrol is place very worth visiting, not only if you're interested in Tyrol's and South Tyrol's history and contemporary history but also because of its rich (culture) historic treasures!

Sportfreunde Stiller in Innsbruck

One of my favourite bands lived up to its name to be one of the most stirring indie live bands - at least in the german speaking area ;)
Sportfreunde Stiller live in Innsbruck:

Poem for lonely winter evenings

Some say love it is a river
that drowns the tender reed
Some say love it is a razer
that leaves your soul to blead

Some say love it is a hunger
an endless aching need
I say love it is a flower
and you it's only seed



It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking
that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
who cannot seem to give
and the soul afraid of dying
that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been too long
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed
that with the sun's love
in the spring
becomes the rose
("The Rose" by Bette Midler)

Allergic to Munich

Munich has always been something like my favourite town:



very close by, easy to be reached, plenty of sightseeing and shopping facilities, nice people.

Last time i have been there, i didn't feel that cosy anymore...

I was strawling along the shopping street when all of a sudden my eyes began to upswell as if a bee had stinged me and my lips and fingers were itching too *Oh my goddess*:



I immediately fled to the next coffeeshop to sit down calmly and see if it would go away or if not, call for a doc. Fortunately it turned out to happen the first alternative *sighing*!

Later on i asked my doctress about that and she said it might very surely have been an allergic reaction to something in the air over there in Munich.
I just hope, that doesn't mean i cannot go to Munich anymore cause that would make me very sad! -_- (I will see a doctor at the allergy department this week for further enlightenment on that subject!)

Need sponsors?

While listening to FM4 radio - an austrian radio channel - i stumbled over the funny song "Sponsoren" by Christian & Lollo.
Even if you may not understand the words, you might as well guess the meaning:
two young ambitious musicians yearning for sponsors... =^+^=

Changing View

Last weekend we had some proper weather here in the Alps, so we decided to run up the mountains. No no, of course not by foot, bike or anything which would cause me to cry. A cablecar would do as well!



Take this one for instance!
The cablecar that runs up the "Nordkette", which is a chain of mountains north of Innsbruck, and soon you will be lifted up more than 2.000 m above sea-level.

Looks like that...





The landscape is like that: cliffy!



And if you keep your eyes not well peeled or you're simply hiking very thoughtlessly you might as well be surprised by thick fog:



PS: But of course we made our way out of the fog - as you can see, we arrived at the hut in time to take the last cable car downhill. Before we even had a little time to pop the corks for my birthday... ;)