LAKE SUMMERS

Did you ever love anything so much you could just run in circles and scream out of happiness? I hope so for you! Right now I could be doing the 'hands over my head' and yelling 'I LOVE THIS' all the time! Summer is so great! Today I had the chance to hang out at a lake / canyon close by with some pretty sweet people. Isn't this what we're waiting for since like january? 

Lying on my back with the sun on my belly I thought about summers that have been gone by over the years. My favorite summer memories were all made around lakes. Last year I spent this amazing day down in Canal Park, Duluth MN with one of my friends. We had Caribou's Coffee, walked along the beach and sat on rocks for hours to talk. Go visit if you ever get the chance - and I'm not just saying this 'cause Duluth is my second home, it's just so fun there!

Also I remember the many days I spent paddling around the water close to the beaches of different lakes around my region - I couldn't swim until  I was about eight, so ya.. I was easy to watch as a kid I guess. Always tried to stay out of trouble and life threatening situations hehe! Living on the edge was never my thing .. except living on the edge of the water. Ha. Ha. Sorry...

Oh and one of my very, very favorite memories from about three years ago (say whaaat?!): My parents and I spent a week in southern France at a lake called 'St. de la Croix' I think. Sooo Saint of the cross? Mhhh.. anyway it was pure magic down there. I have never seen water so turqouise! Beau-ti-ful! Take a trip to France at least once in your life - it's truly a blessed spot of land.

Well this was my post for today. I'm sorry but the thouht of eating watermelon and getting tan while reading a good book out in the sun is just really promising right now. Just to keep you updated, I have been crafting over the last days so there are more fun posts coming your way! Stay tuned friends!

Does anyone else have favorite summer or lake memories? I'd love to hear!

Lots of Love, Tabea ♥

POETRY JOURNAL + ANTHOLOGY

Did you know you cannot mix the colors hot pink and magenta? With some thinking I probably would have remembered the latter one. But I wasn't aware of the fact that it's impossible to whip up a nice hot pink by yourself. You need pigments for that and blaaah... - I'm guessing the people at Menard's can tell you all about that. I was kinda bummed though. So bummed that I had to run outside and cry over my mom's peonies... Not really. But I did ran outside 'cause I saw how pretty they are blooming right now.

So let's get to the point here. I went to fight round number two with this littler bugger of a journal... It gave its everything - I had to work with a KNIFE to get the sand/glitter mixture and paint off again.. Second kind of glue on my black list - wood glue. Don't even ask why I used that stuff...

While murdering this poor little thing, I mused about what to do with it after I would have revived it. Mmh .. looking around .. uuh what is that over there on the shelf? Ahhh! My poetry anthology from last year! 

I always loved poetry in this weird way. I'm the most impatient person, but when I really take the time to read a poem it's so deep somehow. For me poetry is the most elegant writing style of them all - I have a passion for word groups and short sentences. A sentence like 'And then the rain started pouring' just gets my imagination. Weird example, kinda depressing - sorry, I'm a happy person, believe me!

I used to write poetry myself when I was about 14 or so. Then last year we actually got this anthology as an assignment. We had to write and collect poetry and present it in a way that would represent our feelings towards poetry. Love this assignment! I actually took it to Chicago with me, when we went there shortly before this was due to be handed in. Somehow special to work on a small piece of art that is so close to
your heart in such a huge city.

Well I love to share my beloved things with you, so here without further ado - my poetry anthology of 2012.

Don't you love the Cat Stevens Poem, too? I learned so much during those weeks of working on this. Poetry can have so many forms. There are literally no limits! Poetry can be anything from random funny words to deep thoughts put into just the right words. The most beuatiful thing about it is that everyone can do it. Talent or not - everyone owns paper, a pencil and a head. 

You might have already seen my Summer-List, so you know that I'm hoping to write some poetry again this year. Just for me. To have a nice place to put it, I created the journal I was talking in the beginning of this post.

It's not quite this bright pink in reality (hehe Photoshop .. my partner in crime..) but still a very lovely shade of pink. It's got bumps from the cutting and I wasn't very careful with the paint. My bad. I just got too excited about the glitter, I guess. Hot pink glitter - I almost fell over when I came across it. 

If anyone wonders how I did it. Basically 4 easy steps: Paint the journal - Drizzle the glitter over the wet paint - Let dry and seal with ModPodge (or something similar) - Stick the (fake) polaroid on it. Now you're a boss at journal-making! 

Okay one more message - in case I didn't mention it earlier on.

Be cool and try your hands on writing poetry - you'll be surprised by the results!

Lots of Love, Tabea ♥

HOORAY! SUMMER TO-DO LIST

He's heeeeere! Summertime, Summertime, Summertime! Who's excited? I'm excited! Wohoo. First of July is sort a magic date for me. In terms of seasons I think in a very strict 3-month-equal-one-season rhythm. Remember the posters in elementary school, theachers used to teach you about the four seasons? With dandelions for March, April and May. And green trees for June, July and August and so on? I guess that stuck with me. 

Summer is my favorite season. Vacation, my birthday in August and lots of good food (talk BBQs, fresh fruit, ice-cream ...). I'm a list-type of person. So here's my list for this summer - version number one. I got a about two hundred more things to do and try over the next weeks. High times!

Now I want an award for this pepp-talk - who can stay this positive when June 1st looked like this all the way? ...

Nooops, let's just stay positive and a little tiny bit ironic. We'll find a way out of this grayness. Even if that means shamelessly editing photos, pushing the saturation to its limits!

I honestly don't know why this is, but I literally start every spring/fall/summer list off with GO CAMPING! Somehow I always miss every opportunity to do it though. Well, I'm still positive there will be a night in a tent coming up this time! Because warm summer-nights are perfect for that! 

I really want to start a summer journal to collect all the little bits and bobs, I find along the way. Flyers, letters, photos, maybe some dried flowers. Summer is great to make memories. Swimming and bikinis - no brainer, no? I already talked about the deliciouness that awaits all of us soon. I'm over the moon for homemade Ice-cream!

I'll share about the poetry-one soon - stay tuned for that! As a former exchange students I'm infected with the travel-virus. So roadtrips with flea-markets and festivals as my destination get me all excited! 

Okay the photo above might have been a bit of an exagguration - it didn't rain all day in Berlin. I mean there was a lack of sun - but people were still spreading the vibes of a new, colorful season. Pink chairs are almost as good as ice-cream! Love!

Have a great summer everyone!

Lots of Love, Tabea ♥

P.S. No, neither did I move to Berlin spontaneously, nor did I ran along a window-front to take the rainy picture. I visited our capitol city with one my best friends yesterday and snapped that pink chair picture nearby a substay station in Steglitz. The other picture was taken while we were on the train back home, looking out of the window. Just to clarify things, hehe!