Happy Valentine's Day - or not

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day in Denmark, and I will not introduce it either. I love Halloween, but I think V-day is just a thing the shops have invented to earn lots of money. I like to tell and show those I love that I do it any other days a year than that special day. I think that card-flower-and-chocolate-race is silly. But that doesn't stop me from investing in a vintage love-themed bracelet:

Winter Jewellery

If I have Winter jewellery?
Well, of course, I have jewellery for every occasion.

This is what I packed for our holiday in Austria:

The perfect bracelet for a skiing holiday.

Snowflake bracelet.

My "hot cocoa bracelet" from Juicy Couture.

Snowman earclips.

Vintage rhinestone pins from the fifties.

A new snowflake pin.

Have a lovely weekend everybody.

I'm going to move old great-granny to her new apartment tomorrow and clean all day, Sunday, deep sigh. I hope you all have something much more funny to do this weekend.

I Love Austria

I have just come home from a lovely holiday in Austria. We visited Lofer, a small and cosy town with only a few shops and a small skiing area. We had agreed on not going on skiing holiday this year and save the money. DH has pain in his back and all over his old body, old sportsman. But I know him, right after New Years Eve he started surfing the internet and found a lovely luxurious hotel in Lofer at a very fair price. The hotel is right beside a small river, so when I opened the window I could hear it stream, very lovely.

The view from our room

We ate way too much food, the Austrians are so good at cooking and they are experts in cakes. I have never seen so many fabulous cakes in my life before. The diet was put on stand-by.

Apfelstrudel, my favourite cake.

I don’t ski, so I enjoyed the silence at our room, I read and wrote, and met the boys for lunch in the mountains.

I got the first lift card in my life, so I could ride with the gondola lift every day.Austria is so beautiful and cosy. Beforehand, Italy was my favourite country, but after having been disappointed several times, Austria is my absolute favourite. The inhabitants are so kind and service minded, the scenery is gorgeous – both Summer and Winter – and here is so quiet and cosy in an old-fashioned way.I have a feeling that time has been standing still for about 40-50 years, because people live a much less stressed life. “Mutti” (Austrian for mother) is a homemaker, she rents rooms or even apartments to ski-loving tourists. The houses in Austria are quite big. She serves breakfast and cleans, and sometimes she also serves dinner. The tourists are out skiing all day, and then mutti can do what she wants to.There are only a few shops in the cities, in Lofer there were only two fashion shops and it is mostly traditional Austrian clothes, that is full circle skirts with aprons over and lederhosen (short leather pants for men). But there was a shop with so many different kinds of fabric rolls and sewing accessories you can only dream of. I think they sew a lot here, like they did earlier. I found a shop with new and used electrical appliances and he had a lot of music tapes. Do you know anybody using music tapes today? No, I think not. I have a tape recorder and three Christmas music tapes I love, but I am a bit peculiar, you know. I cannot remember when I saw music tapes the last time in Denmark. And the shops close for lunch from 12 to almost 3 p.m. every day, their work day should be feasible. Everybody seems so happy and unstressed – if it wasn’t for the ugly language I would move to Austria immediately.

Shaped Discs

Our 2010 challenge does not go very well, but my collection of special vinyl records grows. Just look what I've found on eBay:

Prince's Purple Rain, purple vinyl, so fabulous. I look forward to placing it on my record player.
Tina Turner in harnish - great song, great disc.
Super decorative and a real bargain.
Heartshaped The Bangles.
Son and DH likes her.
This is also in my book about special discs.
A nice little toddler, I'm not sure of the artist.
A more psykodelic disc.
I'm not sure of who he is, but the disc is nice, and it was in one of the two lots I won at eBay.
An american football.
A red heart with movie music.
The last one in the collection, clear with a photo in the middle.

I won two lots on eBay, one with five discs in and one with six discs in, bot at 25 dollars each lot, and they are truly worth it. If they are so scratched they cannot play, I'll just use them for decoration on my record player.

And I've also bought a book, a discounted trilogy for what equals to 20 dollars:
Not that I needed more books, but because I'M GOING ON HOLIDAY!!! :)

DH had decided that we were not going on skiing holiday this year, but some weeks ago he started surfing the internet for bargains and found a lovely hotel in the City of Lofer, Austria. I just LOVE Austria. There is so beautiful and cosy and people are so friendly. And ask me if I need a holiday.

Lost in a Book

I am completely lost in a book! I gave myself "Extraordinary Records" as a birthday present, but received it some days ago due to some problems. I found it at Amazon, of course

I have to admit that I'm a vinyl freak, I just LOVE old LP's, EP's and singles, so this book is truly candy for me. It is about special vinyl, it might be coloured (opaque, semi-transparent or crystal, it might be picture discs or it might be shaped discs. I have a feeling that this book is going to ruin my 2010 Challenge.

I alreday own some of the vinyl mentioned in the book, let me start with my favourite: A crystal clear blue edition of Elvis Presley's "Moody Blue" LP, the last one he made:

I also have the white edition of Madonna's "Like a Virgin":

I have a pink double LP with bombshells from the fifties:

Lovely colour on the record player:

I have several picture discs with both Elvis, Twisted Sisters and this great old Christmas LP with Bing Crosby:

I only have one, so far, shaped disc - a green punkrock Christmas EP - you simply cannot live without it:

New Year Resolutions for 2010

My resolutions for this year - except from exercising more and loosing at least 10 pounds, DH and I have decided that 2010 should be a "buy nothing year". I know this is not very realistic, but the plan is that we should buy as little as possible and always ask ourselves if we really NEED the thing in question. Our main problem is that none of us can resist a great bargain - although we don't need it. We want to get rid of this habit during 2010.

I added that I thought clearing out some of our things would be great. I'm good at clearing out and tidying up, but DH is not quite as good at getting rid of unused things as I am, so he agreed. Everyting not used within the last ten years has to go. If it is good we sell it on the internet, if not that great, but still good, we give it to charity and a few old and worn things might go to the dumpsite. Or else we might end up drowning in all our collections of things.

I've been following Donna's year in 1955 and am very inspired by her. She has enjoyed her year in 1955 so much and have changed a lot during her year. In her own words she has grown up. Now she has started a fabulous website: The Apron Revolution. Her next goal is to change the world, and I say, why not!? I'm very inspired by her frugal and very rational way of living, so DH's suggestion just hit the spot.

I will write my "oops" here on the blog, for you to enjoy and shake year head with an indulgent smile. I might admit that only a few days after our holy promise I bougth two bottles of nail polish. One them is the same colour as my vintage car, and I've been looking for it for long. The other was a pale colour for French manicure and I needed it. So does any of these count? No, I don't think so. ;)

Follow the progression of our challenge here on the blog.
And please share your challenges.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow ...

I love snow! :)

I just had to laugh at the News on TV tonight here in Denmark, DH watches the News almost every night. I sat in the sofa reading with one eye and peeped the News with the other eye. I know - not a good idea. We have got a little load of snow, and now we have established "snow emergency preparedness" and they had even established a Skype connection to a mother and a child who had been inside due to snow a WHOLE day. OMG, what drama!

Almost a year ago I scanned some of dad's old slides, here you see snow in Denmark. I am quite sure it was in 1977. I lived on a small island called Moen, very rural. In one of the small cities a snow drift of SEVEN metres piled up. I remember tanks driving food to the elderly and even a helicopter with doctors. And best of all - we didn't have to go to school. :)

My parents' house seen from the street:

The seven metres high snow drift:

Another high snow drift:

But there has always been more snow when we were kids, right?