36: collector's value

In an ideal world, I would have liked to be kissed awake by the Boyfriend with a capital B on my birthday, but as this position is still vacant, I have to count myself lucky that I have wonderful friends and colleagues to do the pampering. Such as Cleo, for example, who sent me a parcel with these contents:

The bottle promises to deliver Peace of Mind, which I suppose can never go amiss. I've tried it already and found it refreshing rather than peace-inducing, but it certainly was a pleasant sensation.

When I came to the office this morning, my desk was decorated with paper garlands and streamers and a huge bouquet of flowers. One colleague who's on vacation this week came in with a bunch of flowers as well. I was touched. What's more, one colleague whose wife is a collector and expert of antique beads gave me a selection of beautiful Bohemian glass beads that deserve a post of their own.

working on it

As several people have asked me where I got my "the internet is overrated" shirt from, I thought I might create a little shop of sorts (see discreet little button in the sidebar or just click here). I fully intend to upload designs and photos in addition to text *when I have the time* so stay tuned. That's not a photo of me in the sidebar, in case you were wondering.

Christmas in January

Earlier this week, I visited the Tyrolean whom I still owed a Christmas present. In return, I bagged an early birthday present (the cult book 1000 Places to See Before You Die, the German version of which I actually gave to my Mum last Christmas).

This morning, I was invited for breakfast at Snow White's and in addition to yet another early birthday present - unlike Germans apparently, I have no reservations against stretching my birthday out over weeks and receiving congratulations in advance - a beautiful super-light cashmere (!) jumper I got my Christmas present, this gorgeous make-up bag in one of my favourite colours (you should see my living-room...), orange:

compulsive

Whenever I discover a new author, I order all their books online as soon as I've finished the first novel that got me hooked. My most recent discovery is Miriam Toews whose A Complicated Kindness was my starter drug. I've since read her Boy of Good Breeding and am now halfway through Summer of My Amazing Luck, all three being highly recommendable.

Fab Bag

Last night I met the fabulous Prefab Babe who surprised me with a handmade early birthday present. Yeah! It's a cool knitted bag (it's small, or should I say petite, but is surprisingly stretchy) the pattern for which she found here. Cool, eh? What's more, she chose the colours to match my down coat. The ultimate personalised gift:

Plug and Play

I'd ordered the enticingly named Kombipaket, Telekom Austria's attractive internet offer for the dying breed of landline subscribers (i.e. a deal to make them remain exactly that) back in November and today, ta-dah!, one of their cable guys physically appeared at my place to conjure up my new LAN connection and, what's more, digital TV solution. Due to the fact that my telekom socket is at the exact opposite end of my flat to my tv(s) and desk, he had to lay what seemed kilometres of 2 types of - mercifully white - cables snug around my doorframes and behind my shelves. It took him more than 2 hours and I was itching to get to the office before dusk and to escape his evil body odour and halitosis while he was explaining all the functions and features of my new customised AON tv remote control. "What about the internet?", I wanted to know. "Don't worry, you just plug in the network cable", he said. After months of humouring the moods of my temperamental UPC Telekabel modem, which ultimately culminated in the purchase of a mobile broadband gadget, the old cynic in me didn't quite believe him.

I don't want to jinx it, but he was right. And it's pretty fast too!

When I said "Decluttering" would be my motto for 2008 I never said I'd start in January...

Never judge a book by its..erm...title

I had this book in my Amazon shopping cart for months after a friend had recommended it to me, but only ordered it when I ran out of books halfway through the Christmas holidays. You see, I'm a bit of a literary snob and only in moments of severe emotional crisis (o.k., bad example as that's more or less my permanent state) do I stoop so low as to read chick-lit. Despite its title Sophie's Bakery for the Broken-Hearted, however, turned out to be a surprisingly well-written and - excuse this clichéd adjective - inspiring novel about loss, confusion and getting one's act together. Recommendable!

details

Mrs. P., chief gossip-monger of my house, stopped me on my way out this morning. I hadn't seen her for months. She extended her hand, smiling at me. "A happy New Year to you." Me: "Same to you, Mrs. P. How are you?" Mrs. P.: "Don't you want to get married?" Me: "Erm". Mrs.P: "Don't you want to get married?" Remembering that she was on rather friendly terms with TD as well, I reminded her "We're not together any more." "I know, I know, he moved out last year" she interrupted me impatiently, "but don't you want to get married?" Me: "Well, I'm sort of lacking a candidate, you see." Visibly not convinced she said "I was just wondering" and said her goodbyes.
People!

ashamed

I've often made mildly disparaging remarks about the Pampered Princess's attitudes and apparently glossy-magazine-perfect-life. She may have driven me close to despair with some remarks of the more vacuous kind, but she has once more proved that she is a friend you can count on. I spare you the details, but suffice it to say that my 2008 got off to a not so great start. When the PP called me on Saturday, just as I was wallowing in an it's-not-worth-getting-out-of-bed-moods, it was lovely and comforting to hear her - not vacuous at all- advice and be ordered to lunch at her place on Sunday. Not only the good food she served, but her warm hug and kind words filled me with a hot-chocolate-kind-of-warmth and made me feel ashamed that I am sometimes often so bitchy and judgmental.

See what I mean?

Remember the flag comparison? Well, if Vienna doesn't take action soon, it will look as if the whole inner city was in mourning:

Here we go again...

What do I do when I'm not exactly inundated with work at the office? Yep, prawl the Net, looking for ways to fritter away my hard-earned money. I haven't actually visited eBay much since my Coma HQ days except to order disposable contact lenses which is hardly an indulgence. Well, on Friday I decided to bid for the one item on my Christmas wish list that didn't materialise under the tree: the design-award-winning WMF1 espresso maker:

Mine!

Not a Myth

Wow. I'll never again say that customer service is a thing unheard of in this country. Expecting to be laughed at, I rang Sports Experts this morning to ask if I could exchange my (already used) skis for a longer pair. "Sure", was the answer, "Come right away and pick another one." I was impressed.

What's in a Number?

Oops, is that the time year already? 10 days of sofa-surfing and binge-eating have passed in a flash and tomorrow I'm heading back to VIE. I tried out my new skis (on artificial snow, alas) yesterday but am not all that happy with them as they are a bit too short for my liking. I've already checked the shop's exchange policy but found nothing on their website. Hmmm. Serves me right for my rash decisions. Hey, that might be a new year's resolution actually- be less impatient and occasionally throw a bit of thinking in. We'll see. Another imperative for 2008 will definitely be: Declutter!

Although it's always nice to be back home, the older I get and the longer I live on my own (as in physically away from my family) I realise that Vienna is now home, really, and there is a reason children usually move out at some stage.

Tomorrow I'll pack all my new acquisitions and Christmas presents into my car, realising once more that nothing short of a station wagon will ever be spacious enough for my baggage, worthy of a Hollywood A-lister in number and proportion. Speaking of presents, here are two of this year's booty:

A really pretty SWATCH necklace in its original packaging and a cute luggage tag and passport cover, the latter a gift from Chiquita.