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 you can see my sweet cat Flecki and me.

Please come in and have a look around.

Just remember -- keep calm because I am specialest special.

Let's take a stroll around my blog and my world.

Visiting my blog, you will see some photos of my hometown Munich. Here's the fountain at Karlsplatz (Charles' Square).

I will also take you to unexpected places like this ladies room at a local garden center.

I love surprises like this one -- last year, I discovered these monster trucks on the parking place of a local supermarket.

Always expect everything -- I might reveal the skeletons hanging in the closet.

Now it's time for a little snack -- what about grapes?

Or do you rather have a melon smoothie?

What about ice-cream and fruit? That's something I can always eat.

Feeling energized again? Perfect!

So we can get crafty now -- take an old jam plastic container.

Some more recycling -- punching snowflakes from a silver cardboard from a box originally containing chocolate covered marshmallows.

Glue the snowflakes along the rim of the plastic container.

For some extra sparkle, put glitter dots on the snowflakes.

 

The snowball candy looked great in that bowl.

 

Aside for traditional crafts, I love to create digital images. I recently took a couple of photos of a stripped billboard -- such an interesting texture as well as different colors.

I used one of the photos of this billboard series as background for my heart of postcards.

I share photos of things which catch my eye. I love this cute group of cats which I saw in an Asian restaurant.

My favorite cat is Flecki though. You will see photos of him being awake...

... and asleep.

I enjoy taking a close look at things -- like this beautiful flower.

 

This grasshopper was a welcome guest in the garden last summer.

You might hear about Halloween, too.

You will be the first ones who hear about encounters with magical creatures in my neighborhood -- like this gnome living in a tree.

Earlier this week, I saw these owls in the window of a flower shop. The owl on the very right will stand on the birthday table of my mother.

I love to take photos of flowers and plants -- Rapunzel is great at posing with them.

Isn't the fabric of her skirt just wonderful?

If you stick around here, you might see Herbie again.

You will hear about favorite movies like Penguins of Madagascar ...

... and favorite books like the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley.

I keep looking for interesting products like this "Frozen yoghurt" ...

... or this "creamy ice" candy.

It's a new Haribo product.

Flecki wonders if you can expect a door prize. Sure thing!

You can win a note pad with 40 sheets in the design of the 50 Euro bill.

Please leave a comment below -- 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.

I hope I can soon welcome you back to my blog -- heartfelt greetings! 

B is for Books

What better B to choose than books for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday? I couldn't imagine a life without books for sure. In April, I was excited about the German blogging event Blogger schenken Lesefreude (bloggers give reading joy). One of the ladies who started this event is Christina from Pudelmützes Bücherwelten (Bobble Hat's Book Worlds). One of her prizes was the book Buchland (Book Land) by Markus Walther. 

 

Christina asked how her readers which room should exist in their personal book land. I really loved this creative question, so it was easy to come up with the description of the secret room in my book land:

"Der Eingang zu diesem Raum befindet sich im Stamm einer alten Eiche. Erst wenn man unmittelbar davor steht, wird die mit über und über Schnitzereien geschmückte Tür sichtbar. Einen Türgriff gibt es jedoch nicht — die Tür öffnet sich nur für die Menschen, die Bücher aus tiefsten Herzen lieben. Hat man Glück und die Tür öffnet sich, findet man sich an der Schwelle zu einem riesigen Raum, der voller Nischen und Ecken ist. Bücherregale säumen die Wände, locken den Leser in den Raum hinein. Ein Duft von Leder, Zimt und Vanille liegt in der Luft, ein Hauch von Lavendel weht heran. Man spürt die vielen Buchstaben ringsum, die mit ihrer Magie Universen erschaffen. Für jeden Menschen hält der Raum etwas bereit — Bücher aus der Kindheit, die liebevolle Erinnerungen hervorrufen, Abenteuergeschichten, die den Leser in fremde Welten bringen, magische Geschichten, die den Glauben an die Magie, der längst verloren schien, wieder aufleben lassen. Der Leser hat die Qual der Wahl — erst ein Buch, dann ein Leseplatz. Soll es die Hängematte sein oder doch das Himmelbett, das einer Prinzessin auf der Erbse würdig wäre? In meinem geheimen Raum findet sich auf jeden Fall ein Exemplar von “Mein zauberhafter Garten” von Sarah Addison Allen, der Königin des magischen Realismus. Wo sonst sollte so ein Buch auch stehen?!"

The entrance to this room is in the trunk of an old oak. You first see the beautifully carved door when you are standing right in front of it. However, a door knob is missing -- the door only opens for people who love books from the bottom of their hearts. If you are lucky and the door swings open, you stand on the threshold to a vast room full of nooks and corners. Book shelves line the walls, luring the reader into the room. A fragrance of leather, cinnamon and vanilla is in the air, a whiff of lavender drifts near. You feel the many letters around which create universes with their magic. The room has something for every person -- books from the childhood bringing back loving memories, adventure stories transporting the reader into foreign worlds, magical stories rekindling the faith into magic which seemed already lost. The reader had the agony of choice -- first the book, then the reading place. Should it be the hammock or rather the four-poster bed which would be worthy of a princess sleeping on a pea? In my secret room there surely is a copy of Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, the queen of magical realism. Where else should a book like that be?!

As there were many wonderful stories about everyone's reading room, I was truly honored that Christina liked my description so much that she sent the book my way. Thanks Christina -- I so appreciate that and look forward to reading Buchland.

While I didn't get around to visit all participating blogs, as I tended to look around, spending quite some time at each site, I was still lucky to win some more books. Julia and Stephanie from Julias Lesewelt (Julia's Reading World) had a mystery giveaway. As I love surprises, I just had to take part in it. I happened to win book # 4 which was wrapped in a newspaper to keep the suspense. Julia has one of the most lovely cards to advertise her blog, quoting Helen Hayes:

“From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.”

Hilfe, mein Kaktus hat Herpes! Die beklopptesten Fragen und Antworten aus dem Internet (Help, My Cactus Has Herpes! The Wackiest Questions and Replies From the Internet) by Jan Anderson is such a hilarious read. Thanks Julia and Stephanie -- you really made me chuckle.

 

Have you already watched Divergent? I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am really thrilled that I can now reread the book Die Bestimmung (Divergent) by Veronica Roth thanks to Katja from MissRose's Bücherwelt (MissRose's Book World). I was lucky to win the book. Thanks so much Katja!

Jenny from Book Dreams gave away a copy of Indigo - Das Erwachen (Indigo Awakening [The Hunted]) by Jordan Dane. I was thrilled to see my name among her winners. Thanks heaps Jenny!

Last but not least I got a 16-page-brochure from Steffen from Gachmurets Notizblog (Gachmuret's Note Blog). The short story Der Unerträgliche - Brief an einen todgeweihten Mitreisenden (The Unbearable - Letter to a Doomed Fellow Traveler) by Jan-Uwe Fitz is a fine example of black humor. Thanks Steffen!

Bloggers Give Reading Joy & Our World Our Art

This year the German blogging event Blogger schenken Lesefreude (bloggers give reading joy) took place again at the end of April.

 

I was lucky to win the novel Bruderliebe (Brotherly Love) by Stefanie Heindorf and Karthrin Lange which Melanie from Taya's Crazy World had chosen to give away as prize. She sent along a great postcard showing the Philae Temple of Isis on Agilkia Island in Egypt.

The book is a fresh take on the Rapunzel fairy-tale, taking place in Germany in the beginning of the 19th century. Since I am a fan of Disney's Tangled, it will be just great to read this approach of the well-known story. Melanie, a big thanks for making this possible!

Moreover, I had waited such a long time for the blogging event Our World Our Art, yet then I actually missed its starting date in the beginning of April. Since only 13 bloggers participated, I was was obviously not the only one, as the previous event One World One Heart had drawn in hundreds of bloggers. Anyway, Marion from Bockel24 was one of the talented artists who took part in the event, presenting her amazing mixed media art. I was delighted to be one of the lucky winners, getting this beautiful postcard which is now displayed in my study:

 

A smile on the face is a sign that the heart is at home.

Thanks so much, Marion! Your postcard makes me smile every time I see it.