Nice for the Nice

When you are reading this, I should be enjoying a chilled drink such as the one above in charming company in Nice, France. I'll be back in Vienna on Thursday night and here soon thereafter. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. [Irony!]

Demonisation

In my last post, I confessed to currently going through second puberty, so to speak. With that come occasional frequent emotional casualties (I never learn and by now we know that yours truly is of the Drama Queen disposition). I've also told you that I make all my stupid decisions completely sober, which is, arguably, a little sad. Whatever.

In addition to being a Drama Queen, I am also notoriously direct, unstrategic and have swallowed truth pills (metaphorically speaking). Games, I do NOT play, even if everyone keeps telling me I bloody well should and it of course ends with me being played with and not exactly making a dignified exit when I should. In a nutshell, I am the perfect game for hunters, but the worst huntress ever. I recently remembered a T-Shirt FCN gave me back in the days that had a deer and the following motto printed on it "Only hunt what you can catch." Back then I found it very patronising even if she had a good reason as I was of course pursuing someone unattainable who ended up hurting me a lot. Now I should probably tattoo this sentence somewhere where I can see it every day. The inside of my wrist perhaps? In blood red?

In an attempt to curb my obsession and sadness (about my own stupidity, mostly, since it does take two as we know) a bit, I tend to "demonise" the unattainable prey and give them apt names. Most recent case in point who pulled some stunts that left not only me, but also my friends speechless, was really deserving of the nickname "Psycho" and has been renamed accordingly. And yes, I have deleted all messages.

Am I the only one who does that or do you also have some interesting "animals" in your contacts list?

42 is the new 22

If you have been paying attention to my outfit photos in the Instagram widget in the sidebar, you might have realised that I've been going out quite a bit lately. In fact, I don't remember going OUT out (as opposed to just meeting friends for a film or dinner) so often since my student days. I've joked with Chiquita, whom I often enlist to accompany me that, apparently, 42 is the new 22. I won't deny that I don't have any wild stories to tell of my twens or thirties even, so it seems I am trying to make up for it now...occasional juvenile behaviour (or let's call it errors of judgment, rather) and all. What's worse is that I don't even have the popular excuse of alcohol to blame as I never get drunk and should in theory be able to make sound decisions. In any case, I'm quite enjoying the fact that I get to give my nice party-gear a bit of airtime and also the reassurance that not EVERYone in this town my age is married with kids and leads a life that feels at times diametrically opposed to mine. Mind you, some of the single men out and about make you think there is a good reason why they are not in the "married-with-kids" camp, but they are probably thinking the same about me, fair enough.

And the winner (of the 500 IG followers giveaway) is...

pet_bridge

Please send your contact details to herself@onemorehandbag.com and I will post the bracelet to you.

Congratulations!

Two More Handbags

So. Sale. Last Thursday I took the afternoon off to go shopping with B1, who especially requested (retail therapy) quality time with yours truly. I was flattered and easily convinced. Before I even met her, I popped into Steffl...and walked out with:

...yet another Longchamp Le Pliage bag. Yes. Ooops. It was 50% off and approx. EUR 70 which is very decent for a limited edition, i.e. not monochrome bag. It's the practical midsize that I love for business trips. Yes, fooling myself once more that I *need* this for business purposes. M-hm.
On Saturday, I accompanied Chiquita to the Parndorf outlet. She had to coerce me, obviously. There, I picked up a "going-out-bag" (very practical for dancing, I reasoned with myself, not that all too much reasoning was required...) in a very bright green for a mere EUR 79. In general, I am not the biggest fan of Michael Kors as a brand for bags, but I like this one:

Close up of the "frog bag":

I might take it on its maiden cruise this Saturday...

500 Instagram Followers Giveaway

To celebrate 500 followers on Instagram (@wastingmytalent) I am giving away one handmade bracelet (braided wax-coated cotton, metal beads, approx. 18 cm in length). Criteria for entry are as follows:

1.) Must be a subscriber on Instagram

2.) Must leave a comment on this blogpost telling me what your favourite # (hashtag) is
3.) Open to followers worldwide

Open until July 19. The winner will be announced on July 20. All entries will be entered into a list randomiser.

Crack

I was in Sofia earlier this week and my first errand was to BILLA, the supermarket to stock up on tomatoes and feta cheese. Oh, yay! I've introduced several people to the pleasures of BG tomatoes now and they have all shared my enthusiasm. If you ever visit Bulgaria (especially when tomatoes are in season) make sure to order a big fat shopska salad and be prepared to experience a true #foodgasm!

Hot Bunnies

So I mentioned in my last post that I was in Leverkusen last week. I stayed in the stately Kasino Hotel, together with 2 German colleagues. I bumped into one of them when I checked in on Thursday night and when I told him that I wanted to go for a little walk as it was still light outside, he said the park surrounding the hotel was really beautiful "and there are rabbits". I expected there to be a little petting zoo or cage with a couple of rabbits, but could not have been more wrong. There were rabbits EVERYwhere, dotting the grass like raisins in a matcha cake:

Being wild, they were shy and you can believe me that about 2 thirds had hopped away before I could take the picture above. I went for another walk on Friday morning to be able to take better pictures with my camera's zoom: 

 I a way, it reminded me of the famous wild deer in Nara, Japan:

There was a Japanese Garden and plenty of squirrels too. If you are ever in Leverkusen (not that likely, I suppose), make sure you go to the "bunny park".

Speaking of bunnies - the term holds the same ambiguity in German as it does in English and when the colleague who had told me about them informed the other German colleague that he had seen many bunnies on his walk after dinner, he was thinking of the 2-legged-ones until I also mentioned them over breakfast...

Kö

On Friday, I had a workshop in Leverkusen, which is a short (less than 30 mins) S-Bahn ride from Düsseldorf. As I had plentl of time to kill until my return flight from DUS at 20:00, I decided to get off at the main train station, park my little suitcase in a locker, and head to Königsallee a.k.a. "Kö", where the shops are. I have been to Düsseldorf twice on day-trips and remembered it being quite a nice city with good shoportunities, too. With its past as Germany's fashion capital it offers a good mix of high-street and high-end brands. I didn't go too crazy at all, picking up 2 little things from Muji, which we still don't have in Austria, as well as what you see in the picture above. The striped vest (€11 on sale) is also from Muji and the green linen cardigan (a more vibrant green in real life) is from Massimo Dutti (coming to Vienna soon!) and was €19.95. I actually like the combination of the two and already gave it a test-drive on the weekend.

Happy News

Maybe reading a newspaper regularly would have helped, but in my case, I am happy about finding out in my Instagram stream that my favourite indoor swimming pool, Stadthallenbad, is open again after years of renovation including scandals like a leaking main pool! Yesss! This really makes me happy and I might even go for a swim tonight.