Looking for Hooded Scarves or Hats with Ears.

It's starting to get cold again and i'm sure it won't be long until i'm dusting off snowflakes. Around this time yesterday it dipped down to 2˚ Celsius, which is absurd considering that Autumn just started last week.

I like fleece scarves better, as it tends to keep me warmer. As for wearing beanies, i own one and usually only wear it when it's super cold. I've got a rather large head, so my sister likes to tell me, and whenever i wear a beanie i feel like it just emphasises its existence.

Or maybe i'm just paranoid.

But for the longest time i've wanted a fleece hat with little ears propped on top. For no other reason but i think that they look cute. I haven't quite decided which one i prefer more, a hooded scarf or just a hat with ear flaps.

I guess when it dips down below zero degrees Celsius, one does not care so much how silly one looks. Staying warm should be ones' priority.

And so i scouted for them on Etsy.

But i need YOUR opinion, as i can't decide, which one would suit me better...

Doriumlux

qutewear

TheBunnyCafe

gobbolino

ForwardMotionArt

And how cute is this bear hooded scarf with pockets!? I would totally buy this but i'm not sure how reliable it is to order from dililo.com.

And no.

The company name is not called dildo.

o.O

dililo

Has anyone ordered anything from them? Should i even trust them?

But after clicking ADD TO CART, a new window opens and says, "Store is currently offline. Checkout is disabled."

I guess that means, no.

So, if any of you have any other links to other places where i could purchase something similar and that ships Internationally, my soon-to-be frozen ears and i would be very grateful.

We are Three.

I remember telling a friend that i'd never fall in love again and the chance of finding me dead in a single room apartment covered in scratches and stinking of cat pee were high.

How dramatic, i know.

But i honestly did feel that's how my life would end. I was depressive and couldn't see the positive out of any situation.

Then three years ago to this date, J walked back into my life after thirteen years. Or more like, i walked passed his, he recognised me and said, "hi...".

A definite case of being at the right place, at the right time.

And like an extended Summer fling, we spent the following months wrapped up in a long distance relationship unsure whether our lives would ever intertwine.

But as fate would have it, our lives did.


And so as i sit here sipping my morning coffee, shielded from the foggy 2˚C air, i am unable to imagine what my life would have been like had we gone separate directions.

All Good Things Do Happen in Threes and i am very grateful we've reached the three year milestone.

But we won't be able to celebrate today and pop open that chilled bottle of rosé tonight. J's got an all day and night event he has to take care of at work. But he promises me an Anniversary weekend.

Where we're going and what we're doing, he won't tell me. He says it's a surprise.

For all i know it may just be another bicycle ride around the block.

-__-

I guess you'll just have to find out next week.

Switching Lenses + No Food Pics + Rides

Scattered clouds filled most of our weekend. And so on Saturday we decided to go cycling again! My regular routine would only involve a few steps in the apartment and that also meant rarely stepping out the front door. So cycling three days in a row has been an interesting adventure and definitely more exercise than i had ever imagined.

I'm not complaining.

I actually don't mind it. I'm just happy that there are bicycle paths to follow. And majority of the time bicycles share the same path as pedestrians, so i'm not squeezing past parked and moving cars. Which is a good thing for the cars as i have this fear that i'll lose control of the bike and end up scratching them.


We took the path through the forest again but his time taking another route that brought us to a spot that explained the towns' involvement in developing the area to be more green.


There was a freestanding pane which one could look through which indicated the new dunes and what the area used to look like prior to 1996.

And so we took the opportunity to take another photo of us.


J's been really stressed out at work. And combined with the lack of gratitude and trust, not to mention having to work over hours without getting paid, it's obvious it's starting to take its' toll. He deserves so much better.

So anyway, back to our adventure...

I've been meaning to get the screws on my glasses tightened and to get my eyes checked. It had been over three years since i got them examined and wanted to know if they had gotten any worse. I'm not exactly blind if i don't have my glasses on, things are just blurry without them. I am short sighted and would much rather see things without squinting.


So we went to an optician and walked into Knipschild - a family run business that has been around for over 40 years. And the man, who i can only assume was the owner, was super nice and spoke very little English. He sat me in this old school looking chair with a contraption which swung out and that stopped just in front of my eyes. He then told me to read out loud the letters on the far wall whilst he twisted the knobs and made the necessary adjustments.

I had never seen anything like it. It looked so modern despite him saying that it was a much older model.

Gone were the days when the optician would place weird looking glasses on my face with several slots for the glass plates.

Well turns out my eyesight has only slightly gotten worse but not so much that i have to change my glasses. Which is good to hear because getting that stuff changed here is super expensive.

I explained that previously i had been using monthly BIOMEDICS contact lenses but since moving to Germany i switched to some cheaper brand that was easily found at the supermarket. But that still cost me 10 Euros for just a pair of monthly lenses. And since i usually don't wear them continuously anyway, i often stretched the time to nearly two months.

Which probably explains why my eyes were always irritated and red.
He then suggested i try DAILIES which says have "blink-activated moisture released from inside the lens with every blink — all 14,000 of them per day! A great choice if you have sensitive eyes." [source]

And so the optometrist gives me a free pair to try.

I immediately felt a difference and decided to buy a box of 30 one-day lenses for 24.90 Euros. I know there are several online places where i can order them for slightly cheaper, so if it works out i'll do that.


We then had a super yummy lunch at an Asian restaurant in the middle of the city. It's been ages since i had Chinese food, so i was excited. I'm much more of a Pasta kind of girl but i do occasionally enjoy a hot meal with rice.

So anyway, i took photos of the food as the portions were massive and the prawns were really fresh. But as i was going to pay, the unfriendly Asian chick behind the counter told me to delete them and went on to say i wasn't allowed to take photos.

Had she of smiled and been a bit more nicer about it, maybe i would have mentioned the restaurants' name and encourage others to go and eat there.

But she wasn't nice. So no promo for you!

Perhaps she had some kind of superior I-AM-ASIAN-AND-SO-ARE-YOU complex which made her think she could speak down to me like i was just some kid. I mean she was super friendly to everyone else except with me.

J said, i should have called him over and pretended i didn't understand.

Oh well whatever.


We then made our way to the funfair that's on for the next few days. And had we of not eaten so much i'm sure we would have gone on a few more rides. So we were careful to choose rides that wouldn't make us hurl.

We chose a tame looking roller coaster. It looked somewhat slow from below. And since nobody was screaming, it couldn't have been that bad.


That was until i got on.

There was one section that made a sharp 180˚ turn that made you feel like the cart was going to fly off. I'm one of them people that can't stop laughing on rides and depending on the shock value of the ride, i do like to scream.

It was fun though.


We then went on the ferris wheel since J had never gone on one before. I imagined it suddenly breaking down or parts falling off as it squeaked and swayed slightly as the wind blew.


We soon found out it could even rotate giving us a 360˚ panoramic view of the town. It wasn't exactly the most exciting as the average building in this town is no higher than a few floors. So all you could really see in the vicinity were the roofs of houses and tree tops.



We didn't make it on this ride because we knew we'd feel spewy after that. Instead we watched many look paler than usual after the ride was over. Definitely not for the weak of hearts.


So after having spent a great afternoon in the city together, we made it home just in time for the sunset. And so that J could play a few rounds of that game i like to call, The Clicking Little Ships game.

The Wheels Keep Turning.

We ventured out again yesterday evening but this time instead of going through the forest, we took a more direct route into the city. Our mission was to buy a Magic Set for Little L. It took us about 20 minutes and that was just because we were cruising at a casual speed. By cutting through the side streets, a high school and a few car parks, we only had to stop at two pedestrian crossings to cross.


And then it led us to the Water Tower which apparently has a Youth Café built inside. And this is where we stopped to take a few pictures of us and our surroundings.


Earlier this year they finished building the theatre. [Click here to view the interior photo gallery].

It's a place for small scale concerts, musicals, dance productions and dramas. It's so much more modern than the other buildings in this town, that it sticks out like a sore thumb. It kinda reminds me of a glass pig with a section hanging out as its' snout.

One of these days we want to check it out, maybe even check out a play.

Within a few short minutes we arrived at Karstadt and parked our bikes right at the front entrance. I loved the fact that we didn't have to look for parking and buy a ticket, as we would have done had we driven by car.

Although i could do without the bruised crotch, thanks very much.

-__-


So J bought a few presents for Little L; a magic set and two Nintendo DS games that were 70% off!

J also managed to find me a fitted black puffy vest lined with fleece. And because i'm not exactly the biggest 30-year old out there, i managed to fit in a children size 152. Which means i didn't have to pay for an adult size and it only cost me one cent short of 9 Euros.

Being small compared to the average European does pay off after all.


Our next stop was Das Weinhaus. The shop itself is set up in a traditional house built in the 1800s and has various decoration pieces to add to the nostalgia of the place. J needed to order some wine for an event his company is having next week.

So whilst he tried a few sips of wines, i got to try some too.

I then ended up having a particular liking towards one particular white sparkling wine. I'm not much of a wine drinker but that stuff tastes good. And so J mentions to the owner that i liked rosé and whether he could recommend one. We soon find out the sparkling wine that i had liked also came in a rosé.


And then he hands us a bottle of GRAND C Brut Rosé... for free!

I just did a price check and it comes up to nearly 18 Euros a bottle. And compared to the regular supermarket kind that we would normally buy, the GRAND C we were given was about three times the price.

And so we're saving it for our anniversary next week.

Riding On Two Wheels Instead Of Walking.

It was 6 AM yesterday morning and J's clock radio had just gone off. As usual the headlines were being broadcast on one of the radio channels. I lay there waiting for her to finish so she can move on to the weather. I was expecting her to give a "lots of rain" forecast but instead she says, "lots of sun".

Hearing that immediately put both J and i in a better mood despite that it's still dark outside and that we both aren't Morning people.


As J is getting ready for work and i'm waiting for our perfect cup of coffee to be brewed, i open the shutters to see a clear sky. Quite the opposite from the days before. There's something about seeing the sun and a blue sky that puts me in a better mood. Maybe it's the lack of them that makes me appreciate them even more.

12 hours later...

We needed to return some DVDs at the library and instead of jumping in the car like we always do and taking that 10-minute ride, J suggested we take our bikes.

J managed to buy a second hand bicycle from the rental place during Summer and i still had my bumble bee bicycle from last year. But since i had that fall, i wasn't too keen on the idea of riding on the main road especially during peak hour. And even though many of the roads have bicycle paths, the thought of them driving so close makes me super uncomfortable.

J assured me that we'd take another route and so we took the back road knowing that at one point it had to end up at the library.


We crossed a road and it wasn't long before we were cutting through a small forest that was tucked behind some small streets. Streets that we wouldn't ordinarily turn into if we went by car. The forest eventually lead to a stream and a huge playground. Having lived in this town for nearly a year and compaining that there wasn't any nice places to walk to nearby, we were extremely excited. Had we known of this place earlier, i'm sure we would have made more of an effort to step out of our front door on the weekends.


Pardon my messy fringe. I should wear a headband to keep it in place.

The temperature was just right. Not too cold and not too hot. It was somewhere along 19˚C.

Seriously though, i had no idea breathing in fresh air felt so good! I say this because having not smoked for over 9 months, i could feel my lungs expanding. My senses were on overdrive.

And for once i wasn't out of breath.


Although riding up this ramp to get over to the other side was a bit of a bitch. It's no wonder my muscles were aching this morning when i woke up. Muscles that obviously had not been used in a very long time.

I would have thought with all this extra padding i developed on my arse, it would add more cushion.

I tell you now, it didn't work.

Ouch.

I want more suspension and/or extra padding on my seat.


Us cutting though another park and me taking another break so i could take more photos. Bless J for his patience.


We had found heaps of chestnuts on the ground. Or as the Germans would say, Kastanien. We even saw one father and daughter greedily pick them all up from the floor to take home in bags. It is the season after all.

I swear people must have thought i hadn't seen nature before.

I felt like such a tourist taking pictures of practically everything. Well in some sense i am a tourist despite having lived in Germany for now, thirty-one months and have registered this town as my place of residence.

But at the moment, i felt like one of them... a bike rider.

They don't need to know that yesterday was my first time out on my bike in ages.

Nobody looked at me funny. Everybody was just minding their own business and speeding along on their bikes. You'd be amazed how many people here actually do ride their bicycles to and from work.

I remember times when i'd be walking back home from German class and hordes of cyclists would pass me. Envious that they were so much further ahead of me when i just made it to the traffic light.

I'd get home nearly an hour later feeling like an idiot for choosing to go home by foot. And often when the weather was crap, i'd opt to waste my money and pay 2 Euros to use the bus. It didn't take me long to realise walking in snow up to my ankles is really hard work.


So anyway, we got to a church. The same church we walked past when the floor was cover in snow during Winter. But this time instead of naked branches above, we saw them covered with various shades of green and rusty coloured leaves. It was so beautiful and in that sense, i really love that about Autumn.

After having done our errands, we made our way to the city centre which was just metres away.

The road that runs along the shops is blocked off from cars and only pedestrians and bike riders can go through. But it was already past 7 PM and as usual all the shops were shut. So we took the long route back and rode through the side streets and paths that we wouldn't ordinarily go had we gone by foot or car.


By the time we got home the sun was just about to set. The full moon was behind us and we couldn't stop saying how much fun we had and promised we'd do it again today.

Well seeing that that was the first time i had properly ridden a bicycle in over two decades, i wouldn't be lying if i said, that it was the BESTEST bike ride EVER!

I feel my confidence riding on two wheels slowly rising.

Yummilicious Cupcakes

The night before my sleep was disrupted from yet another lost battle with a mosquito. And combined with an eczema flare up and some ongoing issues concerning our patchwork family and lack of communication, i woke up feeling completely unrested and super itchy.

And so during the day i just needed an excuse to get me away from my computer/work.

I had already done the dishes. Changed the sheets. The vacuuming. The laundry and ironed the shirts. What else was on my To Do list apart from work?

What about baking?

And so i wanted to make something relatively straightforward and turned to Joy of Baking.

The best part about this recipe was one did not need to blend the wet ingredients first and then alternate by adding the dry to the mix. Most recipes require the ingredients to be combined in stages as that tends to effect the results.

But with this simple recipe i could just put all the ingredients together at one go and then mix.

I did however make some minor adjustments but that didn't make much of a difference. The texture was still very light and continues to be moist even on the second day.

And when i peeled the paper away it came away easily. Meaning less cupcake wastage and more cupcake for me!

Yellow Cupcakes
Serves 12

Ingredients:

• 195 grams - white flour
• 200 160 grams - granulated white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons - baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon - salt
• 110 grams - unsalted butter margarine [ALSAN], room temperature
• 1 large medium egg, room temperature
• 2 large medium egg yolks, room temperature
• 7 ml [1 1/2 tubes] Dr Oetker Butter Vanilla Aroma
• 1/2 3/4 cup plain yogurt, room temperature
• Chocolate sprinkles.

Instructions:
Switch the oven on and preheat at 175˚C. Line a muffin tray with cupcake holders and put aside.

In a big bowl sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Then add the margarine, egg, egg yolks, vanilla aroma and yogurt.

Beat the wet and dry ingredients together at low/medium speed with a hand mixer until the batter is smooth and satiny. If the mixture doesn't combine well and looks too dry then add a little more yogurt to the mix.

Use a rubber spatula to make sure you get all the sides and any flour you missed.

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and set the timer for 10 minutes, after which point the surface should look slightly cooked.

Pour some chocolate sprinkles on the top and continue baking. Reason being is that the sprinkles will remain at the top and not sink inside once the batter gets too hot.

Bake for another 12 minutes or until the surface is a golden brown and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Guten Appetit!

Blood Suckers

I blame this fickle weather we've been having. It's not warm enough to run around in just a t-shirt and not cold enough to bust out the winter clothes. One day rain, bursts of sunshine the next day.

I don't like this kind of weather but they do.

She comes out at dusk and waits for her victim. She lurks in the shadows. She can smell me and before i know it she attacks like a vicious beast who takes no mercy. Her feeding frenzy begins and my immediate reaction is to strike. To scratch.

"Something keeps biting me!"

I know she's there but i can't see her.

Small welts appear and so i respond by indenting my nail in its centre to form a cross. Whether that helps with the discomfort, i can't be sure. It starts to itch.

It always starts to itch.

And so i scratch to give me some relief. My skin is red and so it starts to bleed. Another scar, perhaps?

Another lost battle.


The heated air indoors is starting to dry up my eyes. The air is sucking the moisture out of my skin but i don't dare open the windows until it's safe.

Safe until it's daylight and those bitches are off feeding their young.

One more hour until sun break. But it's not yet cold enough outside to freeze her larvae and keep them dormant. I want them asleep and away from me!

Or better yet, dead.

Alcohol & Hibernation.

Summer is nearly over or should i say, has ended? Autumn officially starts tomorrow. Leaves are turning various shades of orange and the sun is showing less of herself these days. The temperature hovers just below 10˚C at night and somewhere in the late teens during the day. I think it may even be cooler this week.

I'm so not looking forward to Winter.

So anyway, on Friday J thought it would be a good idea to celebrate the weeks' end by knocking back a few alcoholic beverages. We figured if we go out on Friday then we have both Saturday and Sunday to just hibernate at home.


We knew of a small Salsa Cocktail Lounge in the city centre and so we decided to check it out. Turns out the cocktails were much cheaper than most places and at 5 Euros per cocktail, who could complain.

Only problem was we got there too early and the place was empty.

But hunger got the better of us and so after our drinks and tequilas, we decided to get something to nibble on. We walked over to Café & Bar Celona, which was just around the corner and the place looked like it was invaded by teens. I told J i couldn't help but feel like i had dipped myself into the Fountain of Youth. He said, why dipped? Shouldn't it be submerged... or dived?

No surprises, we blended in quite well.


We ordered our beers and Bar Celonas' famous thin pizzas. Famous because when we first moved here, we couldn't believe how thin the base was and couldn't stop talking about how yummy the pizzas were. So when our order came, we made a close examination and concluded that the base was basically one big tortilla wrap. And there we thought it was fresh dough painstakingly rolled out paper thin.

Our night out drinking ended just shortly before 10:30 PM.

I know, how sad.

Just when the hip happening people started going out and having a life, we headed home.

Never mind, my heels were killing me and all i wanted to do was curl up on the sofa. Maybe we were just bored knowing that there's really nothing to do in this town.

On Saturday we decided to drive to the DVD store to rent out The Women, Avatar, Guess Who? and some other scary movie that J wanted to watch but i didn't.

We originally wanted to check out the sauna and pool but then realised trying to peel us off the sofa required more willpower. And instead we spent the whole weekend glued to the TV stuffing our faces with various food groups including these super yummy addictive Swedish cookies.

♥

And since the kitties are banned from sleeping with us in our bedroom, Luna and Yoshi were more than excited when we brought our blankets to the living room and we all snuggled up on the sofa together.