Category Archives: Photos

Continuing to be productive

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I finally set up some goals on 43things – you can see the list in the sidebar here. A couple I had already started on, but it’s good to formalize things, making it hopefully easier to keep at it.

Today I started a couple projects to improve my fitness levels – with tai chi sadly on hold (not enough students in our class), I have only my walk to work and burlesque once a week. Specifically I decided to give Two Hundred Sit-Ups, a 6 week program that seems doable, even in my cramped flat, a try. Also, The Couch-to-5k Running Plan, although I’m not sure if my knees will take it. But I already bought the GetRunning iPhone app and did the first session, walking and running along the river Sihl, turning a very unattractive shade of lobster red. 🙂

Another moment where I eschewed fashion was last Sunday during my baptism, which you can see for yourself in this album on Flickr.

Baptism service Baptism service Baptism service Baptism service
The last picture was taken after we had dried up and changed – our baptism companions (mine is Eli, a very friendly and lovely lady) prayed for us.

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Random poetry moment

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Found an excerpt in a blog post on Soujourners, really like it – it’s the emphasized bit.

Mending Wall – Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!’
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors’.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
‘Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.’ I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Happy weekend, everyone!

Baptism card
The card with my baptism verse (1 Peter 5,10) – they had my birthday wrong, so I only got it today.

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Beautiful memories

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The long Easter weekend the whole family spent in Schwangau, at the foot of the famous fairy tale castle Neuschwanstein, celebrating my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary. The five of us really enjoyed spending some quality time together – and the fact that the Bavarian landscape was gorgeous, the castle touristy but stunning, the food plentiful and great and we got to spa to our hearts’ content didn’t hurt either… 🙂

Castle Neuschwanstein, Schwangau Castle Neuschwanstein, Schwangau Castle Neuschwanstein, Schwangau Castle Neuschwanstein, Schwangau

See all 67 photos in my Flickr album. I also uploaded photos from last week’s Mika concert in Basel:

Mika @ Basel Mika @ Basel Mika @ Basel Mika @ Basel

Incidentally, I moved Flickr accounts and let my old Pro account expire. If this breaks any links I do apologize – it was a result of Flickr refusing to let you change your name in the web address.

New tattoo

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New tattoo

Originally uploaded by Evamaria N


Spent the afternoon getting my tribal extended into what I call a ‘life tree’ by a Hungarian tattoo artist named Erne at Giahi here in Zurich. I don’t think I’ve EVER been in so much pain before, except possibly when I had my bike accident and a concussion…

There’s about an hour’s worth of work left (some colored leaves to make it more alive), but I simply couldn’t anymore, so we’ll do that in May (so I can go to the spa on the family trip to Castle Neuschwanstein over the Easter weekend in April).

My latest weakness

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After discovering Sockdreams last year, this past few weeks I’ve fallen prey to the temptations of Etsy – turns out, there’s heaps of beautiful jewellery at great prices, and not too much shipping. This pretty jade rose ring is my latest purchase:

New ring!

And yes, I will have to stop shopping so much soon, especially because I’m in the process of reducing my work hours. But I can’t help it, it’s therapeutic! 🙂

Girlyness

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So I’ve developped an obsession with pretty socks and tights. Well, I’ve had that for years – one of my fondest clothing-related memories involves a pair of grey tights with a braided pattern – but only recently have I become comfortable with drawing attention to myself by dressing exactly how I want to (possibly a reaction to both a growing self-esteem and the boring office clothes I have to wear at work). And now I have fully embraced the fact that feeling good in my clothes also helps me to feel good in my skin, in myself.

A photo of at a tram stop in Zurich, holding a Starbucks cup and grinning like a loon. I'm wearing a black petticoat and a t-shirt that says 'party like a popsong from the 80s'.

I don’t know how universal this is among women (I am reasonably sure that most men don’t “get” it), but I love the fact that something as simple as putting on a skirt and a cute pair of socks will make me feel good all day long as I look down at myself or see my reflection in a window somewhere – or in people’s smiling faces.

Edit: And because I was talking socks and actually wearing leggings in the photo – here’s today’s “happy outfit”:
Mauve over-knee socks with black stripes, held up by sock garters with big black buttons. Also visible are grey tights and the edge of a black skirt.

🙂

The long weekend’s almost over

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I’ve been resting all day (it’s a public holiday here in Switzerland), something I seriously needed, but I’m still not very keen on going back to work tomorrow. Ah well, I’ll survive – and on Wednesday I have the Rejects show to look forward to, so that’s awesome!

Anyways, I finally uploaded last week’s photos. After a horriblehorriblenogood day on Wednesday (including severe anxiety and crying in the bathroom at work), on Thursday my American friend Milo and I went to see Snow Patrol in Winterthur. I’ve been wanting to see them for years – I love their music so much, although in a completely non-fangirlish fashion. In any case, the show was AMAZING – the ice stadium it was in was half-empty until the second opener, so we were in second row, next to a couple of nice girls that we got chatting to. I might go see Jamie Cullum with one of them in July, although his show is seriously expensive.

So here are the pics I took on Flickr. Gary Lightbody makes a great frontman, seriously, and I got a bit of a thrill when he told us that Richard Colburn of Belle & Sebastian was on percussion… 🙂

Snow Patrol @ Eishalle Winterthur . Snow Patrol @ Eishalle Winterthur . Snow Patrol @ Eishalle Winterthur

And then, after the only week in May that I worked 5 days and a second acupuncture session (which again instantly made me feel better, but the holistic doctor also told me that I had acidosis, i.e. the pH factor of my blood is too low and my red blood cells stick together) Milo and I took a daytrip to Lugano in the beautiful Italian-speaking southern part of Switzerland. I’d only changed trains there a couple of times, but the town was just as pretty as I’d expected, with a distinct Italian feel despite the chilly wind, including yummy food and gelati. My photos of that day start here.

Lugano . Daytrip to Lugano . Daytrip to Lugano

Last but not least I spent yesterday afternoon catching up with my parents. They’d been in Hamburg for a conference and to meet some old friends (we lived in the area from when I was 1 1/2 until I was 7, and my dad went to seminary there), so that was good. Also, everything around their house out in the country is in full bloom now – it’s been lovely seeing it change with the seasons ever since I came back to Switzerland. So because I’d taken my camera to show them the pictures from Lugano I managed a few rather pretty shots, starting here.

Summer flowers . Summer flowers . Summer flowers