My new leopard-style bag and white shoes

I thought I'd treat myself with something for surviving my first few weeks of London working life... I love leopard-style stuff (not only since that became fashionable this season!), so I went all crazy when I saw this bag at River Island.
And when I thought it can't get any better, I spotted these white, black-dotted shoes! Hurray...

Oh, please excuse the background... That would be my humble attempts to create some stylish pictures...

My brother's post - Christmas Dinner / Lunch

Today I had a proud sister moment... My brother is only 22 and already a considerably gifted chef well versed in all kinds of cuisines. He recently moved in with his girlfriend and invited the entire family for some post-Christmas lunch / dinner thingy... Delicious food - and an incredibly nicely decorated table:

Considering they just moved in and half of their stuff is still tucked away in boxes, that table is indeed sensational...

Yummy! He served some Asian-style chicken & soja dish with lots of veggies and rice (don't ask me any details of the veggies on that plate - there was all sorts of stuff). Delicious :-)

My father had a moment and sponsored some expensive champagne... To celebrate in style :-)

My Morocco Trip to some Guru to help me find a boyfriend

I'm done with match.com, single-parties and friends-introducing-someone-thingy, so I decided to turn to the occult and went to Morocco to visit a Guru... What I got? Two bottles of allegedly enchanted water, lots of herbs and a special ring to wear... I'll let you know if my romantic encounters suddenly accelerate..
Read about my journey to Morocco and my visit to that Guru here.

Here are some pictures I took - Morocco really IS beautiful:

                                         
                                                 Fancy a smoke? Moroccan - style Shisha

                                                            Camels all over the place...

                                                                 
                                                                       Beach in Agadir

                                       Moroccan Architecture - here a building in Marrakech

                  Moroccan people love spices and herbs... in supermarkets you get them in bulks...

                                         View of Agadir - typical Moroccan.-style houses...

                         The ordinary living room in Morocco - a hint of Arabian style. I love it!

Christmas for the cats... Miaow...!

My mother is a cat-maniac and completely and absolutely all over her three little cats... As this would be their very Christmas, I brought for her these 3 cute stockings from Harrods. I'm not sure if they were 'good cats' though. In any case, my mother was a super-happy bunny and immediately created a Christmas - wall dedicated to her 3 little babies:

Christmas has just begun... My favourite Christmas Decorations...

I loooove Christmas. Every year I can't wait for december to arrive... That christmas frenzy combined with my obsession with cheesy, trashy decoration-thingy can only result in the ultimate bling bling x-mas bonanza.

This year, however, I tried to get a grip on myself and decided to go for more grown-up, but no lesser cute stuff... What do you think?

Trashy? Naaaah, I just think it's cute... In that little bowl on top of the gingerbread-men one of them little flat candles can be put...

That christmassy item can be found in my parent's flat. My mother shares my devotion to anything trashy, glossy and shiny. This year she saw this Santa with sleigh and reindeers in some shop and just couldn't hold herself...

Candles are one of my many addictions... I'm a big fan of 'Yankee Candles'. This december, I invested and got 2 of these gigantic Christmas edition ones... The green one would be some a balsam and cedar scent (whatever that combination's supposed to be...) and the red one would be 'red apple wreath'. I adore both scents, but my favourite would be that tiny white one: 'Christmas Cupcake'!!

Christmas cookie boxes and a matching decoration plate... Including the obligatory reindeer and Santa Claus drawings...

That one's supposed to be a picture frame, but I think that jolly Santa with his list is pictoresque enough...

Hyde Park Winterwonderland - Christmas has begun!

Since I moved to London, the opening of the Winterwonderland in Hyde Park marks the beginning of Christmas - at least for me :-) Mulled wine, a Santa Claus grotto, gingerbread and mince pies... Yes please... But beware: I recommend to save up a considerable amount of money before you decide to go there, things (mulled wine!!) are quite expensive there...

Coming en route from Oxford Street and Marble Arch, that's the first thing you get to see...

Not only for children: Santaland... I love it. Although most of the rides are too small to fit in half my butt, I like walking throught that part of Winterwonderland...

Yes please! I love mulled wine... But coming from Austria, I know that mulled wine is quite different in Britain than anywhere else.. It's basically what is says it is: hot wine... No extra spices, no additional flavours, no fruits inside... So for 4 pounds (!!) you get a tiny plastic cup with a bit boiled red wine... Anyways, have one and decide for yourself :-)

If you don't go for mulled wine, you might want to try one of these: lots of christmassy sweets and old-style gingerbread hearts...

In the middle of the whole Winterwonderland would be an ice skating rank. But most of the time it's really busy there and you need to book in advance to get to skate a bit.

Santa's Pub.. Jolly good, book me in!

The Winterwonderland in Hyde Park usually opens in late November and closes somewhen around the first week of January.

1st of december... Christmas begins!!!

Hurray - 1st of december!! I know in the UK 'advent' and the old custom of having some advent wreath to light the candles on all 4 sundays leading up to Christmas Eve doesn't seem to be popular... I hardly saw any advent wreaths in London... Luckily my mother got one :-) The traditional custom goes like this: on the first Sunday 4 weeks before Christmas Eve you light the first candle, on the next sunday you light 2 candles, the 3rd sunday before Christmas 3 candles... You get the idea... So on the 4th Sunday and Christmas Eve, all 4 candles should be lighted :-)