Christmas markets and packing parcels

Tags

christmas, Christmas Shopping, Dublin, Ireland, mulled wine, photography, photos, shopping

‘Tis the season to be jolly, go out and spend money too! And I did this in the best way possible, with a good friend at a few Christmas markets.

It was a miserable start to the third of Advent, grey skies and rain forcing the sun to disappear. But my C. and I decided to brave the weather and head out to the IFSC ‘I Believe’ Christmas anyway. After cups of coffee, some mulled wine and yummy twisted chips (yes, the Irish have figured out a new, delicious way to eat potatoes) we found a few last gifts for friends and the rain even stopped.

Then we headed out to the Point and the Dublin Flea Christmas Cracker Market and I am so glad we did. Not only were there more stalls than we could visit but the atmosphere was wonderful and I found a few cheap and unusual bits and bobs.

Happy, I walked home, my bag swinging at my side. On the way I bought some turf and as soon as I got home I lit afire and began wrapping my parcels and gifts. Now I have a basket full of little ‘somethings’ for friends and a few parcels ready to send to family. It truly was the perfect way to spend a pre-Christmas Sunday!

parcels ready for the postman

a bag full of gifts for friends

the perfect day to stay inside

Tags

christmas, photography, photos, rain, rainy days, shopping

I was woken up by the pitter-patter of big fat raindrops hitting against my bedroom window and it hasn’t stopped raining all day. That gives me the perfect excuse to just stay put and enjoy my own company for a while. After all I do have a whole stack of reading to do, a few corrections to tackle and lots of words still to write.

But somehow the lure of an antiques market a short drive away is pulling me out into the autumn windy wet that has taken over the world outside of my front door. So with my Christmas list in my pocket (it is only a few weeks away now) I think I will brave the rain and make  a dash for my car.

And who knows maybe this perfect day to stay inside will turn out to be the prefect day to find some treasures, and if not, at the very least I know I’ll have earned a perfect cup of tea when I get back.

shopping for new electrical goods

Tags

kettle, new electrical goods, photography, printer, shopping, toaster, work

Something is happening in my home that I can’t quite explain, my electical goods are all dieing. First it was my toaster that decided that it had enough of roasting my bread, then my kettle decided to join in and became a little temperamental and stubborn, not always wanting to boil and sometimes just giving up halfway through.

And now my trusty old printer died of internal injuries, an ink-cartridge exploded, destroying the inside of the printer. Sticky, black ink is absolutely everywhere, some of it is even still under my fingernails.

Now, I do have to say that I’ve had all of them for more than eight or nine years, so I can’t really complain, it just annoys me a little bit that they have all decided to unplug at the same time.

Not really being able to cope too well without a functioning kettle and desperately needing a printer at the moment ,while I sort out all the end of year grades, I decided to dig deep into my purse and go electrical goods shopping.

I have to admit that for a while now I have been yearning for a red Morphy Richards kettle. I have been known to wander around department stores with longing eyes, stroking the glossy red pyramid, but always giving in to reason and leaving the pretty kettle behind.

But since circumstances have changed I decided to treat myself and invest in the desired kettle, but my German sensible self didn’t give in to the allures of a matching toaster. While they are very pretty, I just don’t have the space for one with four slots, nor do I need such a big one as I live on my own. But I did buy a very basic two slotted one, plain and silver, a reasonably priced replacement.

The printers where a bit more tricky. I don’t really know much about them and to my dismay discovered that small and simple isn’t really an option you can go for anymore. As I wandered around the shelves looking at all the chunky squares housing printers, copiers and scanners – all in one- I did feel a little bit overwhelmed.

The sales guy,  sensing an easy sell, hopped over and enthusiastically started his theatrical sales pitch, he showed me a printer they had on offer, too expensive for my liking, he then showed me another one, a little cheaper but still not what I was willing to invest. As I kept asking questions – how much do the replacement cartridges cost (after all this is where your money goes), how many pages will said cartridges print, (3-6 cent per page was the cheapest option), how many pages can it hold at a time, does it print double sided, what is the difference between this one and that one (other than price or colour) –   slowly his enthusiasm waned, and finally he conceded that while on the outside they had different specs, inside they were all very much the same: made in China!

When I finally picked a low range one, sufficient for what I need it to do, he exhaled a sigh of relief and I packed all of my boxes into the boot of the car. So last night I spent my time unpacking, setting up and installing the printer. And this morning I am enjoying new electrical goods that do what they are meant to – ignoring my bank balance tipping.

shoes glorious shoes

Tags

Berlin, fashion, high heels, shoe collection, shoes, shopping, style, trippen, vintage, wooden shoes, woody shoes, Yves Saint Laurent, yves saint laurent shoes

I’ve been bad, oh so bad … but it feels good, oh so good … yes I am talking about my new additions to my ever-growing shoe collection. And since I spent a quite day at home yesterday I thought I should share my new foot adornments.

In the Scheunen Viertel (see my blog a walk in the middle) I found a beautiful shop filled with the most divine shoes by a favourite shoe manufacture of mine: Trippen.

walls of back-lit shoes

piles of shoes I tried on

even the tiles on the floor showed shoes

As Trippen is based just outside of Berlin I think a pair of their shoes are the perfect “reminder” of the time spent here wandering around this big city.  So I did end up buying a pair, a little to big as they are all handmade and it was hard to find the perfect fit … but oh they are so comfortable and as you can see in the photo I have been wearing them … lots.

Then I found these wooden shoes by a Dutch company Woody. They are so pretty, comfortable and I think perfect for me.

On my strolls around Kreuzberg ( see my blog cruising around Kreuzberg) I went in to several second hand shops and always came out empty handed. Except for the last one! As luck would have it I found a pair of never worn vintage (not sure if late 80s or early 90s .. or even late 90s) Yves Saint Laurent shoes from Paris. They are a tiny bit to big but with an insole or a gel-patch they should fit perfectly. I have to bring them to the cobblers as one of them is missing the tip of the heel (possibly why they have never been worn) but they are so beautiful and I just can’t believe my luck and at 35€ a complete steal.

aren’t they cute?

and not too high

And that’s not all,  I even bought a pair of bright blue espadrilles, really cheap, cheerful and already a little manky from walking around in them. But I did want to be 100% honest!

I know, they already look well loved

I do truly believe that like the unforgettable  Imelda Marcos, I too will be able to one day say:

They went into my closets looking for skeletons, but thank God, all they found were shoes, beautiful shoes.

sunday flee-market

Tags

Berlin, design, fashion, flee-market, magazines, photography, photos, shopping, travel, vintage

I love old stuff, things that have a story and are a little bit special. Luckily for me Berlin has a vast array of flee-markets and one is even in Friedrichshagen, just up the road from were I am staying.

So this morning, after a leisurely breakfast, I wandered down the Bölschestrasse filled with anticipation. Just behind the train-station a cluttered selection of stalls waited, their goods on display, hoping for a new home.

With itchy fingers and a smile I strolled around, lingering here and there, leafing through old books, picking up bits and bobs, chatting to stallholders. And of course a few rare items wandered into my bag.

all my new things

I bought this colurful bag yesterday at a vintage fair (Berlin Fashion Week) … saw it and fell in love

really clean on the inside and quite roomy

three old magazines, from 1955, 1956 and 1972 … for 2€ a bargin

love the pictures inside … but think I may frame the covers

three Holly Hobby-esque cards for my sister-in-law who loves the style … 1€

a little purse, don’t think it’s real leather but for 1€ perfect for my small evening bags

love the tiny middle compartment

money bags from the bank … sadly empty

a silver ring with garnets

sunday finds

Tags

antiques, antiques market, bottles, cups, dishes, fairs, fashion, markets, old things, photography, plates, scarves, shopping, silk scarves

Even though the Irish skies were still grey and drizzles of rain made my hair all frizzy I had a wonderful afternoon. I took myself down to an antiques market in Dun Laoghaire, a small sea-side town just outside of Dublin.

I love wandering around stalls filled with old treasures and that funny musty smell that seems to waft around antiques. I enjoy lingering, looking, lifting up the occasional piece and falling in love with a  few rare items.

And today was no different. I saw some beautiful things, some odd things and some very ugly things. Sadly I had forgotten to charge my camera (silly me) so no photos of the stalls. However I did manage to find  a few treasures, some for me and two for friends.

My first Sunday find was this lovely little dish, hand painted with poppies from the 1930s in England. I love the quirky shape and the colours, and since it is only about 20cm long and 10cm wide it is the perfect size for those cheeky afternoon cookies. And for only 4€ a perfect little steal!

pretty poppies on a perfect plate

The next goodies that wandered into my tote were three silk scarves. Since my curly hair likes to do whatever it pleases I sometimes like to tie a scarf to keep it in place. But I never seem to find the right sizes or shapes, so I am always on the look out for scarves for my collection. And these were only 3€ a piece, and I though well worth trying out and perfect for Berlin.

silky scarves for my curls

The next item that caught my eye was this odd bowl/plate/sieve. It needs a good clean but I adore the colours and prettily hand-painted flowers. I think it is called a drip-bowl or something like that. Whatever it is called I think it will be perfect for berries, cherries and even radishes. After washing them the water can drip away leaving them perfectly fresh and clean.

pretty posies promising pleasure

aren’t the legs cute?

The next two items are for friends. The first is a cup and saucer made out of delicate bone china and painted in the most unusual colours. It reminded me of peaches and cream, the perfect gift for a perfect friend when she comes to visit in August.

painted in peaches and cream

The next on my list is the weirdest thing I have seen in a long time. It is a large Armagnac bottle shaped like a babies bottle. It even still has it’s label on it. It is so quirky and I think its a wonderful birthday gift for an interesting friend.

I really wonder who came up with this marketing ploy

As you can see I came home with pretty, practical and peculiar things, overall wonderful Sunday finds to make it  a perfect day.

red boots

Tags

clothing, fashion, grafton street, miscellaneous, red shoes, shoes, shopping, style, thoughts, Wizard of Oz, yellow brick road

As those of you who follow my blog now by now I love shoes. They don’t have to be expensive or fashiony as long as there is something about them that makes my heart smile.

This lifelong passion started from an early age and like most little girls I yearned for my very own pair of sparkly red Dorothy slippers. I wanted to dance down the yellow brick road holding hands with the scarecrow, sing with the munchkins and click my heals while making a wish.

Sadly I never got those sparkly red shoes and ever since then my eyes light up when I see a pair of shoes in any hue of rouge, and if I even like the design I find it very hard to resist the urge to want to own.

So yesterday evening, after teaching a class, I walked down Grafton Street making a short shopping list in my head. Sadly I underestimated the danger all those sale signs dangling in the shop windows. Half way down the street the lure of the 70%-Off won me over, so I wandered into a shoe shop.

Luckily for me I didn’t really see anything I wanted, flats with studded, spiky tops aren’t really my style, simmering disco ball stilettos are very low in my “need” list  and as I really only but leather shoes the variety of plastic and faux fur didn’t really inspire me. However as I was heading to the door a flash of red caught my eye and I saw them and they called me “mammy”.

I tried them on and was in love. I may not need them and Mr Winter is on his way out but the little red ankle boats were to pretty to leave behind. So as I stood and admired them in the mirror I clicked my heals three times and mumbled under my breath “there’s no place like home”.

walking through doors

Tags

forgetfulness, memories, miscellaneous, pint of milk, psychology, random, shopping, standing in a room, thoughts

Yesterday afternoon I wandered down to the corner shop to buy myself a pint of milk but as soon as I reached the store, walked through the door I had forgotten why I was really there in the first place. I did some shopping, picked up some bananas, yogurt and a few tomatoes but even though I passed by the milk display it didn’t trigger any memory of need.

After I had paid and left the shop, I strolled back home enjoying the warm sun on my skin and hoping the rays would turn my legs from a cheesy white to a more healthy beige when I passed by a new store selling bits-and-bobs and furniture. On a whim I wandered in and wasn’t really surprised to see not much of interest to me. But in the corner, tucked away behind a lamp and a chair I spied a wooden shelf, a perfect piece to hold a few CDs. Being my daddy’s daughter I haggled 10 euro off the price and with the semi-heavy shelf under my arm I left the store to only remember I still needed milk.

As I retraced my steps and bought the much-needed pint I couldn’t help but think about how odd it was I had forgotten about it in the first place. But then I remembered an article I had read about how walking through doors makes you forget and had to smile, after all I had walked through four doors on my way to the shop, seven if you count the return.

Most of us have experienced standing in a room and trying to figure out why we went in there in the first place, we struggle to remember and mostly we can’t, , but nearly always we ask ourselves: “how could I have forgotten?”

The simple answer would be, we just weren’t really paying attention to what we were doing but the more ‘scientisty’ one is a phenomenon know as the “doorway effect“. Studies have shown that we remember things better if the setting we are in stays the same, this means that as soon as we stand up from our desk and leave the room we just can’t remember that we wanted to make a cup of tea because we changed our environment. The reason behind this is that our brain seems to optimizes certain kinds of memories to keep they “ready”, but then purges these memories when it believes they have expired, to make room for new ones. These kinds of memories are called “event models” and when you walk through a door you are changing venues, making your brain think that what ever happened in the old room is now no longer immediately important and it gets rid of the information. It’s a bit like that stack of papers you keep on your desk, you can’t have everything there as you’d never find the computer otherwise so every now and then you have to file away some stuff to make room for the more urgent paperwork at hand.

Of course it doesn’t have to be  a door that signals your brain it can purge the event models, walking up stairs, answering the phone, even finishing the task at hand can make you forget what you were doing or wanted to do next.

So the next time your standing in the kitchen staring into the fridge, don’t worry you don’t have early onset Alzheimer, you just purged your memory on the way there and maybe if you look  beside the kettle you’ll see a cup of tea waiting for that drop of milk.

peachy roses

Tags

deep freezers, Dublin, fellow customers, food, home, lidl, little old lady, miscellaneous, people, random, roses, shopping, thoughts

As I was wandering around Lidl yesterday, dragging that little blue trolly-basket hybrid (trolsket?) behind me, I couldn’t help but smile.  My fellow customers were just as dripping wet as me and obviously not very happy about it and as I listened in on some of the disgruntled conversations, many not about food and most not in English, it became quite clear that most would rather be elsewhere.

While I was picking out tomatoes, salad and other greens a little old lady wearing a pink plastic hood over her hair was chatting away to her much younger companion. She was listing a strange selection of food that she needed, I mean what kind of combination is condensed milk, sugar and onions? And as she pointed at different items she told the young fellow by her side how her husband use to love his oranges, a sad look passing across her face as her mind wandered back in time.

As I passed by the fruit an older gentleman was seemingly on a quest to find the perfect avocado as he stood impatiently and pressed each one muttering under his breath in frustration or possibly at the fruit itself. As I reached over to make my own quick pick I gave him a smile and he nodded and said with a wink “I need a pint after this.”

A mother standing beside the deep-freezers was giving out to her son in a language I did not understand but even to me it was clear that there would be no profiteroles for dessert that night, even if he had opened the box and bitten into one. The way she glared at her son and glanced around the store it was obvious she wanted to be anywhere but where she was.

At the yogurt section a little girl was counting the tubs and gave me the evil eye as I dared to add a few to my own shopping, I think I messed up her inventory and before I got yelled at I moved on to the cleaning products. But I couldn’t help but hear her whine “Mum can we go home?” as I turned my back. While dropping some washing-up liquid in with the rest of my goods I heard two girls debating about where they were going to go that night and as I turned around I saw that they were already all dolled up and ready to party, oddly out of place in the store but with potatoes, milk and bread in their arms.

On the way to the till I picked up some peach coloured roses, a small gift to myself to brighten up my day. While I paid a longing thought of a hot cup of tea and a piece of buttery toast popped into my head and I smiled at the cashier thinking sometimes there really is no place like home.