365 things - week 19

Houston, we have a problem.
I think, I am done.
I've reached 365 things.

The reason I finished my project 33 weeks too early is, of course, life. :o)
As you guys might know we are moving to a new place this weekend. It's the flat of two friends of ours who are going away for five weeks. They leave on Friday. My little flat here will be taken over by another friend on 1st of May.
So, naturally, we're packing. And of course we took this as an opportunity to do another major sort-out - especially in the attic.

Last time we moved we just chucked everything up there without looking at it too much. The compartment was full to the brim with stuff we have double from combining both our households, stuff that hasn't been used in years and stuff that we got once and always kept, thinking it 'might be useful someday'.

I'll get the car from my parents tomorrow and we'll load up all the things we packed and readied today and drive them down to the Brockenhaus. That's about 2/3 of all the things we had upstairs, and some more from down here.
Left after that will be furniture, kitchenware and such - things that will stay here-, random small stuff that will be disposed of and lastly the things that we want to keep.
We are both trying to keep this load as small as possible. We're not opting for 'live out of your backpack' or 'own only 100 things' (-not atm! ;o) ), but we know that we will move again in June and probably a few more times during the rest of the year, and we are intending to keep these moves as simple and light as possible.

I must admit, I have neither photographed nor counted all the things that I've decided to get rid of - but believe me, it is way enough to get up to 365.

Now I'm not really sure how to proceed here. Should I continue posting things from my list (there are still some left), even though they will be gone by the time you see them? Or should I just call it a success and end this post series here?
I have to think about it, and I would love to hear your opinion!

In your face!

As promised on FB, I started on another part of bathroom-greening: Finding ecologically produced make up. I did some research online yesterday to be prepared for the shopping. It is not hard to find companies that produce natural make up and make an effort in producing ecologically and fair trade.

Body shop is a great option of course, but I find it a bit on the pricy side.
Elisa just told me that Lush does cosmetics, too. I haven't checked it out yet but since I like their shampoo I can imagine that other products might be nice, too. Pricy, of course.
In the end I got my stuff at Yves Rocher. They have a store philosophy that's similar to Body Shop, but their emphasize is more on natural ingredients and saving wildlife and less in social matters. I found they have a nice selection and their prices are more affordable than BS. I think it's a good thing to support companies who might not be wholly organic yet but are on a good way and making a visible effort.


However, all these companies use normal package made from mostly plastic. Googling around for Cosmetic lines I found a relatively young French company called Couleur Caramel that doesn't only produce naturally and sustainably, but also uses paper, wood and other biodegradable materials for their containers. It looks veeery promising and I am really excited about this discovery. Sadly they are not selling in Switzerland yet. I might be able to order stuff or find a shop close to the border in Germany or France. I definitely want to try them out.

eyeshadow case

powder

gloss

You've just gotta love these packages! So clever and the most beautiful design I've ever seen! I wanna have my bathroom full of these!!


Do you have any other secret tips on cosmetics?  I'd be thrilled to hear about your choices!

A night out

Catching up on London happenings - this was the last big night out over on the isle.
One thing we've been really looking forward to in London was to eat a lot of Sushi which is quite expensive in Zürich and more on the affordable side (at least for people with a Swiss paycheck) here. So we had a belated B-day dinner with friends on Friday.

Look at all that food! Mjam! It was the best sushi I have ever had. That doesn't mean a lot, because I only started eating sushi two years ago, but everybody else said so, too.
We also got a great dessert, but Bagpuss ate most of it... ^^

Somebody then requested we have birthday cocktails, and since the bar we went to had quite a cool menue we tried everything that sounded interesting. They were all very beautiful.

Some people were a bit greedy...

Some people liked theirs a lot...

And other people just had a lot of fun! :o)

A new furry friend

When we arrived here in London and I first stepped into Trev's room, I noticed this furry pink thing hanging in a corner of the wardrobe.

It's a saggy old clothcat, and his name is Bagpuss. All British children know Bagpuss from a TV series about him and his friends.

The shows are incredibly cute and contain lots of great songs and stories. We've been watching them in the evenings and I think it's quite sad that there's only 13 of them!

Anyways, this particular Bagpuss looks very much like the original one, and I liked him from the start.

The best thing about him though is that he's not only got 'bag' in his name, he *is* also a bag:

I had assumed that Trev got this as one of these faux-pas-presents that you get when you're a kid, for example when some old and silly aunt can't really remember if you're a boy or a girl and just wants to buy you cute things.
But the truth, dear friends, is much more fun: Trev actually bought this Bagpuss-bag for himself when he was eighteen. His old schoolfriend Francis said he remembered quite clearly when they used to go out and Trev - wearing a long black leather coat, army boots and full goth makeup, slung Bagpuss on his back. Hehe, it must have been such a fun sight. I'm deducting stylepoints though because they never took a picture. :o(

But he said it is ok that I adopt Bagpuss, so I have been carrying him all around London, and he was quite happy to go out and show off his style again.

And because he is very very British we took him out for a picnic in the park today. Loveleeey!

30 pictures

I saw this post yesterday over at A Lost Feather and thought it would be a fun opportunity to dig into my pictures. I admit, it was also a little challenge.
I'd love to see your version of this. Will you drop me a line if you have one, so I can go and look?

1. Someone I spend a lot of time with:

  

2. A picture of myself:

3. A picture of someone in my family (my baby sister):

4. A picture of something that makes me happy (random randoms in the sun):

5. An old picture of myself:

6. A picture of a sibling (my other baby sister (and me.)):

7. A class photo (can you find me?):

8. A random photo of me and my significant other:

9. a picture i’ve never posted before:

10. a relative of mine:

11. a person i can tell everything to:

12. a picture from everyday life:

13. a picture from a place i love (St. Martin d'Ardeche, France):

14. a picture that reminds me of old times:

15. a picture from a great night:

16. an unusual picture:

17. a picture of my spare time:

18. a picture of (some of) the people who are closest to me:

19. a picture of a person who is always there:

20. a picture of a time in life i miss:

21. a picture from last summer:

22. a picture that makes me sad:

23. a picture i always laugh about:

24. a crazy picture: 

25. latest picture of myself:

26. a picture of my parents at my age (aren't they the cutest??!):

27. a picture from the best days of my life:

28. a picture from my favorite vacation:

(photo by Ibolya Eckert)

29. a picture of an accomplishment:

30. a picture I'm satisfied with:

Phew, aahm,I tried to get this done in under an hour and utterly failed. But I think I was faster than you, Sarah! ;o)

That's it for today then, sweeties, 'cause I have a date with some lovely Sushi! <3

Self portrait Thursday - W16/11

Jupp, there we are. Week 16, me in the park complete with sunglasses and strange hairstyle ;o)

With my camera and my new treasure book: "Guerilla Art Kit" by Keri Smith. Supporting local business - bought at Dulwitch Picture Gallery. ;o)
The gallery is right across the park which is right down the road from us. Every time I walk down the road flanked by cherry trees that are covering everything with their sweet pink blossoms right now and step into the park where all the neighbourhood seems to be soaking up the sun these days, I feel like I'm wandering around in the world of Mary Poppins.

 

It's so lovely how a park seems to be the extended living room of all the people living around it. Parks are definitely on the top of my list of lovely things in Britain.