Treating myself

I recently saw a pair of black boots with hearts on them on another blog – Lou’s Labyrinth to be precise – and being a sucker for hearts I decided to find out whether that brand (T.U.K) was available in Germany. I wasn’t planning on actually buying a pair – just looking. But when I discovered they were also available in red I was no longer able to resist – hearts and my favourite colour! It had to be done! Plus Amazon had them on sale for a mere 44 euros, rather than their usual 80-something. Obviously, it was destiny.

♥ ♥

I placed the order on 13 February, exactly 6 months before my 30th birthday, telling myself it was necessary retail therapy to get over the shock of the big day being so close. They were dispatched almost immediately and arrived the next day – Valentine’s Day! It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly if I’d planned it that way.

♥ ♥

The neighbour who’d taken the parcel for me wasn’t home when I got in from work, but as soon as she got back she brought it round to me. I could hardly wait to get into the box!

Even the shoe box had hearts on – a sure sign it was meant to be a Valentine’s gift to myself

I think I might actually keep the shoe box to store things in. It’s too pretty to throw away!
Taking off the lid, I got my first glance of the boots.

Oh my! Prettiness!
Out of the box, they looked even nicer:

Here, have a side view:

The next stage, of course, was to try them on. I’d never bought shoes from the Internet before and I was a bit worried about whether they would fit – quite often I’ll try something in “my” size on in a shop, only to find that in that particular style I’m actually a size bigger or smaller.

A perfect fit. Hooray! 50 euros well spent

♥ ♥

Buying things for the flat makes me happy

Close to Schwetzingen, there is a huge furniture store called Höffner. As we were leaving Schwetzingen on Saturday, Jan suggested for drop by there to see if we could find any of the bits we still need for the flat (I love that I have a boyfriend who’s not only willing to shop for furniture with me but actually suggests it himself!). When I agreed to stay I told him that I wanted to get back to sorting out the flat this year, and he obviously took it to heart.

Here’s what we got:

A cupboard to go under the bathroom sink. Jan had to saw its back legs off so it could go on the raised ledge thing that runs the length of the bathroom.

Bathroom cupboard

I love how neat the bathroom looks now that our toilertries are inside the cupboard and not lined up along the entire length of the ledge!

I wanted something to store wrapping paper in, so we ended up taking this:

Giant vase? Nah… gift wrap holder!

I saw a beautiful umbrella stand that would have worked just as well, but I refused to pay €75 for something I planned to store wrapping paper in. (I wouldn’t have paid that if I was going to use it for its intended purpose either!)

This basket now holds all my self-help books:

Basket for books

They were previously stacked up under the bedside table, partly because there’s no room left on the bookcase for them but also because I don’t think every visitor to our house needs to know I have those books. It was difficult to move the pile when I wanted to hoover… now I can just pull out the basket.

A gorgeous table runner, or more fuel for my obession with owls:

Owl table runner

They had bedding with the same owl on, but only in single bed size which is no goo to us.

Jan also got a frame for a poster of his that refused to stay up with simple blu-tack. It looks much nicer framed anyway!

Not a bad haul for a couple of hours shopping.

Primark comes to Karlsruhe

Primark opened in Karlsruhe on Thursday, and being basically an excitable teenager trapped in a 29-year-old body, I naturally went along on the very first day it was open. Being a weekday, I was obviously at work, but I had to go into town that evening anyway to pick up some bits for breakfast, so I decided to head to that end of Karlsruhe for a change. When I first got into Post Galerie, I actually ended up deciding to leave Primark for another day – people were queuing up just to get in the door! So I headed downstairs to Rossman instead and grabbed the bits I needed, then went to the Asian place next door and treated myself to a noodle box with mini spring rolls. Back upstairs, I saw that the queue had gone, so after standing myself in a corner by the lift to finish my tea, I headed inside Karlsruhe’s newest shop. It was very exciting, let me tell you! I wasn’t actually planning on buying anything, just looking around, but of course I gave in. I only purchased three items though. Here they are:

Primark purchases

A pair of tights, which cost me a grand total of €3. That’s THREE tiny little euros. The cheapest pair of winter tights I’ve seen in Karlsruhe ever!! I also got some fluffy foot attire, which Primark refers to as slipper socks although I would personally call them slippers, and finally, a scarf, which was the reason I gave in and decided to buy something after all, mainly because I was invited to a party the next evening and really wanted to own the scarf before then (the original plan was to makea note of what I liked and come back after payday). Here’s a close up of the pattern on the scarf. Sorry, the flash reflected back a bit, but the room was just too dark to do it without a flash.

It’s a scarf with foxes on! How on Earth could I possibly resist!

Actually, I thought I showed a great deal of willpower only buying those three things (and spending less than a tenner on those – something I never thought would be possible in Germany!). I have a whole list of things to go back for though, including another scarf – this time black with little white scotty dogs printerd on it, another pair of the slipper things in dark blue with stars on (they will match my dark blue starry pyjamas perfectly and only cost €1.50), possibly a black dress with tiny swans printed on it (I haven’t decided yet whether I like it), an owl teatowel that I spotted just dumped somwhere it wasn’t actually meant to be and also some Christmas wrapping paper. They had loads of gorgeous ones lined up by the counter and only €1.50 for a huge roll! And I didn’t even look in the homewear part (presumably where the owl was meant to live).

My feet all snuggly in their slippers

I felt right at home being in a Primark shop again, and I must have looked like a real wally wandering round with a grin on my face soaking up the atmosphere. I loved that the UK/IRL sizes were always listed first, and Primark must have flown in some experienced people for the opening because I heard several members of the security/shop-floor staff talking to each other in English, with Irish accents. Gotta love an Irish accent! Leaving the shop with my brown paper Primark bag, and seeing just how many other people were walking around town with them, I must admit I did feel like a bit of a sheep, but there are worse things than being a sheep (like not owning an amazing fox scarf )

Retail therapy

The sun came out today and melted most of the snow, so I decided to make the most of it and go shopping. I should have been finishing my progress report for uni and cleaning the flat, but shopping won. I don’t feel too guilty though – that stuff can wait til tomorrow and anyway, most of my purchases were for the flat. I bought:
◊ A tall glass jar for keeping spaghetti in
◊ 2 glass serving bowls for the bargainous price of €1.50 each
◊ A photo frame, which is now hanging on the wall with a photo of Jan and I at my Grandparent’s golden wedding anniversary in it
◊ A photo album… now the photos I took in Paris in April finally have a home!
◊ A cake tin
◊ New towels (2 hand towels, 2 bath towels)
◊ A plastic box with a lid to keep all my envelopes and writing paper and jiffy bags in.

Not very exciting, I know, but the perfect cure for a week like the one I’ve just had. And I don’t even have to feel guilty because I only purchased things I actually need (well, apart from the photo album and frame, but those were cheap enough not to count…)

I’m going to open a beer now and eat some crisps and dip.The only thing missing to make this evening perfect is Jan. Stupid work sending him to stupid Hamburg to sort out stupid software. You can’t have everything though, I suppose.

Apparantly it’s the end of the weekend…

I’m having a little trouble distinguishing between weekdays and weekends lately. When you’re home all day anyway the days tend to blend into each other, and when you have a boyfriend who goes into work on Saturdays anyway (although he did stay home for the holiday on Thursday) it gets really confusing. I knew today was Sunday though, because everything was closed.

So yesterday the boyfriend gave me 30 euros to buy a pair of shoes for Rome. I had to throw out my old flip-flops cos the straw bit at the bottom was coming unweaved and bits of it were stabbing the bottoms of my feet. Ouch! I also bought myself a new sun hat becuse I still had money left over and it was on sale for only €2.75. Bargain! Last night the two of us stayed at his place so we could stick some clothes in his washing machine this morning. Now everything I need for Rome is clean and by tomorrow it should be dry as well. Excellent.
On the way back to mine this evening we kept running into people from my ex student residence. First someone who used to live on 5th floor… he’s just started working and is now living close to where Jan lives. Next came a couple who used to live on my floor. They had their baby daughter with them. She’s almost seven months old now and getting so big… she’s even grown since I last saw her, in May. And she still has the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Then, while we were talking to those two, another girl from my floor came along. She’s still living in the residence and wanted to know if we would be at Parkplatzfest, the big outdoor residence party at the end of this month. We will be back from Rome by then so I told her we probably would. And apparantly before we ran into anyone Jan saw someone from 6th floor sitting outside a Cafe. All those student residence people in one little street. Clearly there are just too many of us!

So, that was my weekend. Tell me about yours

This week I have mostly been spending

I should really be trying to save as much of my wages as possible, so that one day I can afford to buy a washing machine (the hand wshing thing is starting to get really irritating now!) but me being me this is practically an impossibility. If I actually have money I feel compelled to spend it (you can’ take it with you, right)… and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing this week
Here’s what I’ve been purchasing:

- Photos. I found out that the website that I get my digital photos printed from has a special offer on where you can get 100 photos for just €8.99. Including delivery! Clearly this had to be taken advantage of. So I sent in most of my photos from Paris, a few from our New Year’s trip to Belgium plus some other randoms. They arrived today. Most exciting! Now I just need a new photo album to put them in…

- This set of plates etc.
They’re just so pretty. And at only 50 cents per item (or 95 for a cup and saucer set) resistance would have been plain  silly! Unfortunately – and unsurprisingly – everyone else thought the same, so I’ve now ended up with 4 large plates, 3 small ones, 4 “bowls” (really just slightly deeper plates) and 6 cups and saucers. Apparantly nobody wanted the cups and saucers! My guess is the plates were all bought by students who only drink beer anyway so didn’t need anything to drink hot things out of.

- A piece of art. Namely a picture by Rosina Wachtmeister. It’s called Red Cheek. You can see it here. Pretty, no? Hopefully I will actually get round to getting it framed one day. That and the other 2 pictures that I still have sitting around waiting for the day they can take their places on the wall. I know exactly where they’re going to live… I just need to get some frames around them first!

- Cinderella in Spanish from Amazon. I ordered it on Monday. It is not here yet. Hurry up Amazon seller person… I want my book!

I think that is everything (apart from the boring stuff like food and a mop).
Tell me about something you’ve purchased this week. I need to know I’m not the only one defiantly spending money in the face of the financial crisis…

Trolley watching

I always think what people put in their shopping trolleys (or baskets) can tell you quite a lot about them.

- The little old lady with a basket full of chocolate and fizzy pop probably has the grandkids coming to stay
- Young man with a trolley full of frozen pizzas, tins of soup and microwave meals. I bet he’s a student.
- See that woman pushing round a trolley that’s full to the brim – a whole crate of apples, three cartons of milk and the largest bag of potatoes available? She’s clearly got a big family at home waiting to be fed.

So what does my shopping trolley tell people about me?
Well, most days I look like the classic young, single girl on my road to being a career woman. There I am with my half loaf of bread (because I’ll never finish a normal sized one all by myself), three tomatoes, a couple of yoghurts  and the smallest packet of meat I can find – that’s right, the one that contains exactly two pork fillets which look totally lost on their huge polystyrene tray. Just about enough for a busy girl to feed herself on for a couple of days without it going mouldy while she’s occupied with something else.

Then there are the lonely and depressed days. Those are the ones where I’ve had a crappy day at work and can’t be bothered to do anything, so I fill my trolley with crisps and chocolate bars and a couple of those knorr mashed potato things that you just add water to. On days like this nobody glancing into my trolley would either think I’d just been dumped or was depressed about not being able to get a boyfriend. Why? Well we all know chocolate and crisps are the ultimate just been dumped comfort foods…

And finally, roughly once a week, my trolley reveals me as one half of a happy young couple. Those are the days that I know Jan is coming over, so I can actually buy enough food to feed two people without having to either leave half of it or stick it in a tupperware tub for the next day’s lunch. Those are the days that my trolley contains mince or salmon, or maybe even some crispy duck. Something nice that I know the boyfriend will enjoy. If I’m feeling really decadent I might even throw in a bottle of wine and some posh icecream.

So what does your shopping trolley say about you?

Take my advice…

If you ever decide you want to make Christmas dinner for 10 people make sure you a) can drive and b) have some suitable vehicle to do said driving in. Failing that find someone who does have a vehicle and is willing to ferry you and all the shopping home.

If you choose to ignore this advice remember that bags of potatoes are very heavy, as are bottles of wine.
You have been warned…

Meh

- I’m exhausted
- I have a headache…
- … and period pains
- There’s a huge spot on my chin
- I finished my book on the way to work this morning and had nothing to read on the tram home
- I’ve been home exactly 10 minutes and now I have to go out again to do the shopping
- I haven’t done this week’s reading for the Text Linguistics module
- There’s an exercise that we’re supposed to do after the reading. Funnily enough I haven’t done that either.
- I haven’t had a proper holiday since July 2007 (a weekend trip to the UK complete with 9 hours in Dublin    airport does not count as a holiday)

Thank God it’s Friday.
I think I need a drink….

All that, for me?

For the first time ever I arrived home today to find my mailbox full of stuff for me. Usually I only find things for the 4 people I share it with. It’s very exciting – almost like Christmas! There’s:

* a book I ordered from Amazon for myself,
* a book I ordered from Amazon for my friend’s baby son’s Christmas present,
* some photos that I finally got round to sending off for printing, and
* something (a present) for Jan and I from his sister (Thank youuuuu Frauke! I don’t know what it is yet, but thank you anyway).

Now I just need to work on a way to get a mailbox full of stuff without having to order most of it myself