oh everyday

i love the everyday - even more so when i'm rushing around, am snowed under with work and don't quite know how to get things done. somehow i wouldn't want every day to be exceptional. i find it comforting to make more or less the same breakfast every morning, and to take a bit of time for myself on the sofa, thinking, jotting down some notes, before the day finally starts. i love shopping for banal things - bin liners, milk, shampoo. i love meeting for dinner with friends each and every tuesday. i love putting fresh flowers in a vase, making a quick call to catch up with a friend, sitting at my desk and getting lost in some new text that's waiting to be translated. and although i may not miss the everyday routine while on holiday, i will certainly be very happy to get back to it.

this week's been flying by and i haven't managed to do all i wanted to. fast running out of time, because on wednesday, i'll be on the plane to venice! still, i've made progress with my projects, browsed through some travel guides, bought a bikini, a skirt and a light summer dress. a good week.

off now to pick up my pain au lait at sgaminegg, perhaps some fresh strawberries and then back to my desk. 

p.s.: discovered sgaminegg thanks to berlin reified, a fabulous blog about food, design and life in berlin. go and take a look!

p.p.s.: i just love this blog, in particular this post about riding your bike with a skirt...

corner view: music

lisa picked music as this week's corner view theme. and what a lucky coincidence - last saturday berlin was full of music. a couple of years ago someone must have thought how lucky the french are, having their fête de la musique - and why not jump on the bandwagon, too? ever since, the idea seems to have gathered momentum and there are stages - professional and make-shift alike - in many parts of town where people gather for free open-air concerts. the weather has been good, too (not a given this year, it has rained and rained and rained in june so far), so everybody was out and about and making, or listening to music. i went to see a stage not far from my house in prenzlauer berg. see how everybody was there with friends and family? they were sitting on the sidewalks, on the street, on the scaffolding, on windowsills, on bikes and tricycles. wish you could have been there too!

take a look at the other corner views around the world via jane's at spain daily. what a great idea to make us share glimpses of the corners we live in - thank you so much jane!

see that little guy on his tricycle? he was fast as lightning! (hm - looking at it again, it's not really a tricycle, is it? more of a fourcycle...)

morning!

hope you all had a fabulous, relaxing weekend. i did. lots of lazy hanging around on the sofa, planting flowers on my 'terrace', having coffee with friends and browsing through travel guide books on venice and provence. and it was my first work-free weekend in four weeks. i really needed a break.

as you see, i've also been fiddling with the layout of this page. i like the cleaner look and the bigger pictures. would have liked to have a slightly smaller version of the photos so you don't have to scroll up and down the images when using a laptop, but so far there's only the option to use 400 pixels (the size you can still see down there for the last corner view) or next up 800 pixels, which is the new bigger size. hoping there will be a way to go for 600 pixels at some point, which i think would be ideal. meanwhile, this is it.

before i forget: thanks a lot to fine little day for posting a link on how to get bigger pictures on one's blog! go and take a look.

(these pictures were taken in may, visiting a fabulous friend in london, having breakfast on the terrace. shot with my praktica on 400 asa film.)

hang in there

today, i'll be working on the layout of this blog and it may take me a bit of time to unravel all the mysteries of templates, fonts and picture software. i'm not exactly a technical wizard. so please bear with me - and fingers crossed, the wait should be worth your while.

meanwhile, have a fantastic sunday! i know these guys at blog camp certainly are. have fun!

corner view: street style

sorry to have kept you waiting, but the thing is, this week's corner view is supposed to be about street style. and for several days now i've been trying to pluck up enough courage to actually photograph people on the street. so easy - just spot someone interesting, walk up to them and ask them hey, can i take your picture? shouldn't be a problem, right? only, it is. i swear, there were one or two times, i was that close to doing it. and then didn't. so i've looked through my existing pictures - and was surprised how often i seem to have snapped people anyway. so here goes:

let's face it, berlin isn't exactly the fashion capital of the world and probably will never be. but people here are very relaxed about fashion. it really is anything goes. there are some parts of town, where people are more adventurous and daring in what they wear - say in mitte or friedrichshain (some pictures here and here) - but mostly, it seems everyone just does what they like. you'll see ladies in fur, punks in black with green hair, hipsters in outrageous, self-designed outfits with big nerd glasses, very traditionally dressed turkish ladies with headscarves and young fashion-conscious turkish and russian teenagers. so if you plan on coming to berlin, promise me one thing: don't waste any time on wondering what to wear, you'll fit right in, no matter what.

for more corner views, visit jane at spain daily!

mind that pointer

thanks so much for your comments, i had a lovely weekend, working at the bookshop again (the funnyness is gone). been very strong and only bought two books for myself.

now, i had to show you this photo. you see, my holiday is coming up (only two weeks and i'm off!). the thing is, whenever i go anywhere, my pointer comes out the minute i step off the plane and will be all over the place until i'm back home. i've even been accused of being a danger to my fellow travellers, as in poking their eyes out with my "oh-look!"-pointing finger. i really don't do it intentionally. it must be a genetic predisposition. a theory which would be backed by this very photo, showing me at the tender age of eight or nine months and ... see?!

p.s.: last week booked the ticket for the night train from venice to france, what an adventure, can't wait!

oh quotes

feeling kind of funny. seems like autumn's back, maybe someone should tell him he's a tad early. and i have a bit of a headache, but not badly. so i was thinking. maybe i should post some quotes every now and again. random quotes i happen to like. on the off-chance you do, too. and if not, what harm does it do? so here goes:

we arrived here safely, and, except for the ham sandwiches, we were satisfied with the journey.

julian barnes' parents on a postcard

i think it's re-assuring to know that sometimes the success of a journey is not jeopardised by poor-quality ham sandwiches. on that note.

oh, also just read this blog post by author and illustrator maira kalman. inspiring, go and read!

(i gave this little chinese lion to a friend and had to take his picture after he had settled in.)

corner view: out your back door or window

this is not really what i meant to post, but i left my digital camera at a friend's house and had to go through the pictures i already have instead of taking some new ones for this week's corner view. hope you'll come along for the ride anyway!

i live at the end of a street, very close to the former berlin wall. my part of the street was actually considered borderland before 1989. today, that's hard to imagine, but in berlin, history isn't something that's confined to certain places, it's everywhere and often quite poignant. the stretch of the wall that ran behind our street has since been turned into a park (mauerpark). not far from here, small remnants of the wall are still up (on the second image you can spot some at the very top of he hill) and the wall memorial centre is less than a five-minute bike ride from my house. i think it's a good thing that this no-man's-land from cold war times is now being reclaimed by the local community and visitors alike. on sundays, a big flea market takes place and people hold picnics, there's a little city farm for children, some playgrounds and a freeclimbing 'rock' wall, too. if you happen to know which part of the fences bordering on unbuilt plots and industrial sites behind the park has a hole in it through which to climb, you're bound to find the odd alternative club in an abandonded shed. maybe i'm getting old, but i don't have the first clue of where the current holes are to be found - i just sometimes hear the music drifting our way when the wind's right. 

take a look at other corners here, there and everywhere (many of them much more idyllic than my urban corner):

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad,

caitlin, joyce, ani, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe,kaylovesvintage, trinsch, c.t., jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva,francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana,denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e,janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate,mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte,kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa,britta, virgina,april, rebecca, b, kyndale samantha, karen, kristina, angelina, dorit,goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, mcgillicutty, desiree, di,travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama amanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta,juanita, pamela, inna, daan, myrtille, cris, ibb, susi, jodi, lily, gillian,doobleh-vay 

beautiful disasters & giveaway

have you heard about beautiful disasters yet? it's hosted by london's fab photographer's gallery as a tie-in to their current exhibition the photographic object and calls for pictures that seem to be 'disasters' at first glance but may be anything from an accident to an intended alteration or even mutilation of a photograph. you can still register your pictures until 14th june - go for it! if you just want to take a look though, do. and you can vote for the pictures in their online gallery without even registering.

i've posted some of my pictures on the beautiful disasters microsite (some of which you may recognise). you can vote for them, too, i you care to do so... in any case, have fun browsing their online gallery, some of the pictures are rather stunning! go discover...

as to my giveaway, the little venice travel guide book, it goes to malo! thanks to all of you for your tips and ideas for my trip to venice and arles - they are all really appreciated! plus, thanks to you, i now have a really good reading list and shall be thinking of you as i lie by the pool and lazily flick through the pages of my book (ha, that was mean... sorry... :)) malo, if you let me know your address, i'll get it off to you (email me at twinklestar(at)gmx.de). i'd like to also include a print of one of my photos. if there's one in particular that you'd like, let me know.

monday again

had a busy weekend in  a good way. am helping out in one of berlin's most beautiful bookshops in the museum of contemporary art for a few weeks. and although that means working saturday and sunday, i had a really good time. what a dream to be in the middle of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves all day, right? apart from the selection of books on art, photography, architecture and design, which is quite awe-inspiring, there are also loads of great artists' postcards (this one here is by david shrigley) and other goodies that are either useful in a beautiful way or completely useless but a lot of fun anyway. i like this presentation of rubber bands. the book is a photo book on roadside diners in the U.S. and features a picture of an (untouched by the hands of a food-stylist) dish coupled with a portrait of people working there. nice one!

also went voting for the european parliament on sunday morning. the polling station was in an old school building in my neighbourhood. i think the old sign saying 'walhllokal' (polling station) they put up there must have been from the 1950s. and despite the awful rain that morning and the fact that i had to cycle to work in that weather, those signs made me smile. loved the faded colours on the walls and the crumbling plaster as well. i think it must have been a corridor they opened for polling day that's otherwise not in use at that school (everything else is quite newly refurbished).

hope your weekend was inspiring, too!

venice & arles and a little giveaway

it's june already, how on earth did that happen? this also means though, that i'm on count-down for my first ever proper holiday (weekend breaks aside) since starting out as a freelancer a good four years ago. oh dear, how did that happen - four years without a proper holiday?! but there it is, and on july 1st, i shall be heading for the airport, bound for venice, oh yes! together with a friend, i'll visit the biennial, stay a few days and then take the train to arles, where we'll have rooms at a lovely mas in a village nearby and make the most of the summer in the south of france (as well as of the recontres de la photographie, the photo festival in arles). can't wait!

now, i'm loathe to admit it, but i've never been to venice before and only been once, briefly, to arles. and that's where you come in. i'd love to hear your special tips and suggestions for about anything on these two places - where to eat, drink, which corners (hidden or not) to visit, which books to pack (i'm thinking fiction here), anything. so if you have any ideas or happen to read something interesting - let me know in the comments and there'll be a little giveaway, too. on tuesday, i'll randomly pick the lucky winner of a little wallpaper city guide on venice. go ahead, tell all!

p. s. : after the holiday, there'll also be a giveaway in form of pictures i'm intending to take while i'm there. stay tuned!

oh pretty

i really like this pair of earrings by friedasophie jewlery design (as seen on frolic) - so pretty! also like their necklaces. a little unusual and really rather wonderful. some of the designs look like fragile little twigs, corals or algae. check out friedasophie's etsy shop and tell me what you think!

corner view: beach

hmm. berlin is not on the coast. so where do i find a beach for you?

then again, if you took a map, you'd see that the city is dotted with and surrounded by hundreds of lakes, some bigger, some smaller. many of them can be reached by public transport and/or bike, which is just fabulous. it may take a while to find a place where you can actually access the water, since there tends to be much reed and some people have their houses built directly on the lake, so some of the lakeside is private property. but keep looking and you'll find small beaches, some of them tiny, where you can have your picnic and even go for a swim. i've still got plenty of lakes to discover, which i can't wait for. so far, my favourites are wannsee (which is huge) - where i love to take the ferry (some pictures about wannsee and the ferry over at my other blog, mostly berlin) - and sacrower see, a very small lake not far from potsdam. this is where i took my pictures. what a lovely day that was.

have a good one yourselves!

take a look at other corner views around the world here:

jane, ladybug-zen, ian, bonnie, esti, sophie, cele, modsquad, caitlin, joyce, ani, couturecoucou, kim, a day that is dessert, natsumi, epe, kaylovesvintage,trinsch, c.t.,jeannette, outi, schanett, ritva, dongdong, francesca, state of bliss, jennifer, dana,denise, cabrizette, bohemia girl, ruth, dianna, isabelle, amber, a girl in the yellow shoes, mister e,janis, kari, jgy, jenna, skymring, elizabeth, audrey, allison, lise, cate, mon, victoria, crescent moon, erin, otli, amy, ida, caroline, lisa, dorte, kimmie, la lune dans le ciel, nicola, malo, vanessa,britta, virgina, april, rebecca, b, kyndale

samantha, karen, kristina, angelina,  dorit, goldensunfamily, sophie, janet, nicki, ruth, mcgillicutty,

desiree, di, travelingmama, aimee, sunnymama, amanda, ali, jenell, guusje, britta, juanita, pamela, inna, daan

p. s. : there are some beach bars in berlin as well. i haven't been in a while, but jeanne at sans soucis recently posted some pictures of a 'strandbar' in potsdam and you can also see some here.