Friday, March 9, 2012

Cosmetic haul... ^^


Last Friday I took myself a few hours off after work and decided to check out the new Lush store in Hanover. The first time I purchased something at Lush was in Ireland, a few days before our wedding ceremony. Since then I'm kind of addicted to their products. Since last week it's no longer the small things like the two lip tints I mentioned in my last post, but also the other stuff. 


It is not only the products I kind of admire, but the way Lush is producing their cosmetics. A lot of their products are vegan, but at least vegetarian. Additionally they do not use paraffines and they do not even consider animal testing.


This is bath bomb is just awesome :) The Immaculate Eggception Yellow smells unbelievable. I already used one half for a bath and since then the other half and the little bunny inside are inside of a yellow lush bag on our kitchen table. The whole kitchen smells like vanilla, grapefruit, lemon, chocolate and ylang-ylang. I am really looking forward to the second bath I'm using it. :) but I am going to use both left parts of it. I kind of like to combination of those different smells.


This is a shampoo bar called Ultimate Shine and for some reasons a lot of people really like the way this shampoo leaves their hair. One of my managers is using it as little shine finishing after washing her hair. I wont use it no more, because even using it as finishing does not work with my hair. It just leaves it dry and rough and it starts to be kind of srubby. I really don't like it, unless the smell is great. Just a smell of violet and ylang-ylang.


The last product I have purchased is American Cream a strawberry - vanilla conditioner that is really working great for me. Actually it is not all vegan because honey water is used to make this. However it leaves my hair shiny, smooth but not weighted too much. 


Normally, when you're making a purchase at Lush you get a free sample. As I asked for a vegan sample and was pretty interested in their shampoo bars I got a part of Godiva. This is not only a shampoo bar, conditioner is also included. I like Godiva's smell and the way it leaves my hair, but need to add a conditioner. I'm using it for a week now (yes every day, yes I know this is not the best way to treat my hair.. ;) ) and the part of it is almost the same size as it used to be. I think I am going to purchase it, when it's used up.

Hope to see u guys soon :)
xoxo

Sunday, March 4, 2012

February vacation :)

After 4 months we finally had 2 weeks off again. :)

This time we decided not to travel this "far" like in october, but to travel a bit.

As we had tickets for a show of the full of hate tour (09.02.2012 @Hamburg), we did actually nothing the first few days. The day before we left for Hamburg, we had to take Lucie to her aunt, which is one of my best friends. She was so nervous, it was hard to calm her down. But luckily we had a lot of treats to detract her from this stressful situation.

You may have seen my little review for the show on Facebook and I have to disappoint you, because I did not take pictures this time. I was just stunned by the show and actually unable to move for couple of times. I hope you will be able to catch Behemoth during the US tour this year, Angela.. You REALLY are going to enjoy this.

This link will forward you to some pictures taken in Hamburg.

This link will forward you to a review of the magazine Metal Hammer, including 120 pictures. Actually the photographer looked pretty annoyed the whole show and I was wondering what his problem was.. However the pictures are okay.

Nevertheless, the best pictures have been taken by this guy at the show Praha, but I guess you have already seen those pictures, love. ;)

Too keep up with my main theme, lets get back to food again.

Breakfast in Hamburg is amazing. You simply need to get into a bakery and will find the most amazing pastry in this world. Actually "Franzbrötchen" are a speciality which has been available in Hamburg only first, but according to Wikipedia, you can get those in Hanover, too. Holy crap. I need to check this asap. I mean.. We are talking about dough, filled with sugar and cinnamon, which turns to toffee during baking. It is pretty simple, yes, but I can not imagine of anything comparable.

After heaving breakfast at Hamburg main station, we had a couple of hours until our hostel room was ready, therefore Mike and I decided to went shopping and "surprisingly" found my favourite stores to spend some money at.


I'm simply in love with the products Lush is selling.. You may have a look at their online shop . Actually you have to be proud of my self-control because all I have purchased is a lip scrup and a lip tint . For some reason the colour of the lip tint is different in the US, because the one I own has a milky coffee tint.
In case that you do not know accessorize, have a look here . I have purchased a pair of "slippers" which actually are similar to ugg boots. I don't like those usually, but who cares what kind of shoes I am wearing at home.. and it has been pretty cold within the last weeks. ;)

As everyone is getting hungry after walking around and shopping we decided to have lunch at a sushi bar (back at Hamburg main station actually). It was awesome. I really love it. Is there any place in this world you get paid for eating sushi? No? Of course not.. if so, meeting me and they'd be bankrupt in zero time.



Finally at about 3:00 pm we had been able to get our stuff and our asses into our hostel room and therefore into our beds. As you can imagine, I was not been able to catch that much sleep, but could rest a bit. To prevent any issues like dehydrogenation we were looking for dinner after getting ready for the evening.

Applepie and double chocolate toffee brownie - pure fucking metal xD


white coffee with cranberry syrup.. nomnom

The location of our hostel was just perfect, because we had to walk only a few minutes to get to the concert hall. As I already mentioned, the show was awesome. And of course we had to catch some merchandise after the show. You may have a look here for the shirt I got. Unfortunately, the shirt Mike purchased is no longer available at the webshop and I can't take a picture for you now. However, it is one of the "Abyssus Abyssum Invocat" shirts.

Of course we had to have breakfast the next morning as well. ;) After a show like this you need to have a pretty good breakfast and as we booked our hostel room without breakfast service, we had to find ourselfs a cafe.

 

This day, we left Hamburg to travel to my sister and brother in law in Mönchengladbach to spend the weekend there. Those have been awesome days, because we never met before, only talked on the phone. After the weekend we took the train to Cologne to do a bit more shopping and left for Hanover the same day.

It has been a great trip and we have been able to relax and catch some energy for the next 4 months. Already looking forward to the next vacation. xD

Hope you're having a good week. :)

xoxo

Friday, March 2, 2012

Yule part 2

... I hope it is not too late for this but:

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

I have been pretty busy, busy, busy, busy... and had to manage a lot of stuff in my head, but finally... here we go again :)

Last year I have promissed you to tell you how we celebrate Yule.

Please note, this is not a direction how to celebrate it, just the way we, my hubby and I, do.

Of course at first you need a Yule tree. I am using a fake one for years now, because I'm just too lazy to get rid of the needling...

This is how our tree looked like last year (Yule 2011)
From this view you really can see that it is a fake tree, but believe me or not. You wont recognize this, sitting next to it or simply watching the lights.



My Irminsul balls, to decorate the tree with.
As Yule is not just a holiday to meet your loved ones, but to celebrate the re-rising sun, what we do to be thankfull for the light and the fact of being together is simply reading a story out of the Edda - in the candlelight. I can not explane why, but it really is a strong, good fealing to do this.

This is how our copy of the Edda looks like. Pretty awesome, huh?
And of course... Yule is a holiday for the whole family.. As we are both grownups it should not be that kind of an event but unpacking Yuleclub is just awesome. Why? Well.. our family members are Mike, Lucie and me. Therefore, every parcel needs to be wrapped 2 times. (of course it is more fun, the more family members there are. Add one layer of wrapping for every additional family member.) But it is not to make your presents look bigger. To do this makes it possible to write something on every layer. Let me explain it using an example.

This Yuleclub is for Mike. I'm wrapping it once, writing his name on it and something special like an event we have shared in the past year or what I feel for him. Then I gonna wrap it again, going to write Lucies name on it and something special for her.. and so on. Unwrapping gives you a smile, weather the present is yours our not.

Small family, but pretty awesome gifts. :)
I have just talked about candle light, right? But we're not talking about candle light in general. We are talking about the special candle we lit.


This candle was lit by Mike and me to honour what Odin did to become as wise as he is. Google it, if you dont know it.. I am a bit too lazy to explain right now. :D

 
This little altar is right here at our living room the whole year. Just the wreath is added for Yule. Actually, I am sitting face to face to it right now and everytime, I am looking for the right words I am glancing at Freyja. This may sound a bit strange to those guys knowing me since I was a kid, but my faith is really helping me with everything I do. Every single day.

Anyway.. I almost forgot the one and only topic of this blog (.. so it seems.. ;) ). Yeah, you name it. Food. ;)
What I need to do at this time of year, because otherwise I wont be complete, is spending a lot of time at my kitchen. Exactly. Baking cookies. A lot of cookies. And different kinds of. Strullerhasi proudly presents... last years favourites:


vanillekipferl <3


cinnamon star cookies


multicoloured shortcrust Hagal cookies


shortcrust reindeer cookies


chocolate and hazelnut cookies


"the making of gingerbread reindeers"


finished gingerbread reindeer


collected works
- actually I recognize lemon-orange shortcrust Hagal cookies -

And finally.. in case that you are wondering what we had for dinner that night.. there you go:

soy fricassee and rice :)

I hope you kind of enjoyed this and.. well.. don't mind the mass of pictures.. ;)

Oh. By the way. I hope you're reading it... I miss you Angela. <3

xoxo Strullerhasi