Grow Your Blog

Welcome to my blog and welcome to Vicki's Grow Your Blog party!

My name is Birgit and I live in Munich, Germany. Here's a photo of me wearing my new Halloween hair circlet. (Jeni, this photo is especially for you since you wanted to see it after I featured Rapunzel and Lara wearing the hair circlet.)

Since it's a party, you definitely deserve a treat first. How about a piece of marble cake?

Do do you rather have French fries?

What about a healthy meal -- Thai curry with Basmati rice, chicken and vegetables?

Anyway, it's time to get close up and personal! What can you expect when you decide to visit my blog regularly? Cat photos -- in fact, photos of all kinds of animals. By the way, that's Joschi, our neighbors' cat who frequently comes over for cuddles and treats. He also loves to jump up to meet my hand -- which can be seen here.

Flower photos -- I love flowers.

Sunsets or sunrises -- I love to take photos of the sky moods.

Two of the words on the sidebar of my blog are Sharing and Teaching. Thus I often share photos of German traditions and customs as such Bleigießen (pouring lead), a German New Year's custom. Here's one of my lead pieces -- I see an iguana. Can you see it, too?

I also share photos of my hometown Munich. Here's one from December showing the Karlstor (Charles' Gate).

You will see photos of the stuff I cook and bake. Here is a January treat --  delicious cinnamon rolls.

I will talk about my love of Disney. Frozen is my new love -- here's Elsa.

My Glen Keane girls -- Rapunzel, Pocahontas and Arielle.

You will hear about the fun products I occasionally discover -- like this Märchen Joghurt (fairy-tale yoghurt).

What else will you read about? Books I love -- here's the German version of Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase (a five-star rating from me).

Movies I watch.

Music I listen to.

Video games I play -- here you can see Lara Croft from Tomb Raider.

I will show you parts of my hometown which you can't find in the average travel guide. Here are shelves with the purple Milka cow at Milka Welt (Milka World) in Munich. Just in case you haven't heard it before -- Milka is one of the best known chocolate brands in Germany.

As I take my camera with me all the time, I often take photos of everything which strikes my fancy. Here's the ceiling of the underground passage at Karlsplatz (Charles' Square).

Since Inspiring is another word to describe my blog's purpose, I hope I can inspire to take your camera with you often, too. You might find beauty where you least expect it -- here's a shot of a staircase in Munich's city center.

Connecting is another big goal -- I really enjoy Swapping Howdies with you. Hence the name of my blog -- just in case you wondered. You are also welcome to write an email. My email address is 

swappinghowdies@yahoo.de

Creating is dear to my heart. I love to create with my hands -- for example cards, pendants or this FIMO (modeling clay) pendant showing Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University. I also love to create digitally. You can see some of my stuff here and here. If you want to join a nice community of people who love digital art, be sure to check out We Love Digital Art. Of course, you can also see my new digital creations on this blog.

Talking of monsters reminds me that I love Halloween. I was delighted to find a couple of Halloween products in stores last year.

Talking of Halloween reminds me that I like owls -- and nice notebooks.

You will often see photos taken in the garden -- here's one of the glorious fall photos.

I really like this winter cherry -- so delicate! 

You will hear about my favorite things -- like the Summer Scoop candle of Yankee Candle which was a birthday treat last summer. Since it's pink, I want to link it to Beverly's Pink Saturday.

I hope I have electrified you -- it would be lovely to welcome you back and swap howdies with you. I certainly appreciate if you chose to follow my blog.

Hey, what about a door prize?

Joschi is right -- I definitely want to offer a door prize! You could win the pattern to make a seated angel.

• Please leave a comment below and let me know that you are interested in winning the pattern -- I am looking forward to hearing from you and will try to answer all comments either by email or by commenting on your blog. One entry per person even if you have more than one blog. Please make sure that I can contact you either by email or by accessing your blog.

• The final day for leaving a comment is February 14th -- the winner (to be found with the help of a random number generator) will be announced and informed on February 15th.

Maybe you can soon put together this beautiful angel with the help of detailled instructions.

I haven't gotten around to make the angel and rather pass on the instructions so that it will be created and bring joy to someone!

Good luck and please come back to swap howdies!

I is for Ice

Well, it's not really ice -- it's white frost. Since Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday requires an "i" though, I decide to call it ice.

In Germany, we haven't had much snow in December, but a few cold mornings.

The berries in the garden look even better with a touch of white frost.

Nature -- the true artist!

Since these berries are very pink, I definitely have to link this to Beverly's Pink Saturday.

Shining Christmas Market

I miss the lights of Christmas. With no snow, January seems a bit dark.

Shortly before Christmas, I visited Munich's Marienplatz (Mary's Square) in the evening.

Everything looked so festive -- shining and bright.

The Christmas tree in front of the new townhall looked gorgeous -- so many lights.

Here's to light in January, too!

H is for Header

For Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday I give you a recap of my headers of 2013. I started out with fireworks.

Then I came up with a design for St. Patrick's Day.

Here's a sweet picture of our neighbors' cat Joschi. I kept that header for a long time because I really love it.

For Halloween, I presented you this wizard owl.

Finally, I ended the year with a photo of one of the last Da Vinci roses in the garden sprinkled with the first snow.

I enjoy creating my own headers and changing them along with seasons and holidays.

Flying Into 2014

For me 2014 feels still brand-new -- full of great opportunities. I hope it's the same for you!

Advent & Christmas Time

Shortly before Christmas, we had a marvelous sunset. It was so pink, I just have to share it with Beverly's Pink Saturday crowd.

 

This is Joschi, our part-time cat. He lives in the neighborhood and loves to come over for cuddles and treats. That day he "helped" with cleaning the house for Christmas.

Four candles are burning brightly on the Advent wreath -- it's nearly Christmas time.

December 24 was a sunny, mild day which made the decoration glitter and shine.

Finally, the Christmas tree was lit up on the Holy Evening.

A sweet angel.

A crowned bird -- one of many birds on the tree.

A poinsettia in red with sprinkles of white.

I hope your Christmas was as festive as mine was -- may the Christmas spirit live on long into 2014!