My lil´Christmas Joy - DIY alla Rici

I hope you don´t mind, but this week it will get very christmasy on the Blog.

Jan and his family are already of to visit their family. I have the studio all to myself. I get to do some slow walking, loud singing and sharing a bit of my behind the scenes from my snug apartment.

I don´t quite know why but this winter season is about the quietest I have ever had in the longest while. It could be that I did not yet arrive here and do not have multiple circle of friends to meet and checklists to fill. Or it is the fact that this year we decided to do just one gift for each one of our cozy circle. Each one will get one secret santa present. And then we will simply delight in the company of each other and more importantly in His presence. I am very much looking forward to a small circle of family & friends. A tradition I totally and completely adore about my family is the fact that it is never (ever) to crowded in our home to welcome a guest. This year we will have an exchange student from a small island with us. And ya´ll know how much I love international students. Hihi.

DIY calendar ~ fun organizing tool

New year, fresh start... but uhm! How do I get all these wonderful new adventures organized? That is what I was wondering last year a couple of times. Because, lets face it... I´m messy. Yeah, not cute messy, but ugly messy... I loose overview, get panic attacks to the point I wanna pull the cushion over my head and not move anymore, I might cry and call my Mamma... it ain´t pretty. So I came up with a new idea. In order to keep my tasks in check and to keep the overview, I actually need to see my appointments. I mean I have a planner, I have a google calendar, I have infinite number of post-its... but all it was no good. TILL I came across this WONDERFUL DIY calendar.

 ~ It´s not only good looking (yeah I am such an artsy) but helpful.
~ It can be adjusted to every month, week. Scribbled on.
~ It has a color palette.
~ AND a cute frame.

Short: it is perfect.

Who said cheese cakes have to be sweet? ~ For those who plan

Get inspired ~ 

We sat on the white floor, I had a couple of magazines in my hand. I was visiting and together we browsed ideas. She had gotten engaged just recently and from the tingling, new excitement we were trying to narrow down some ideas. In the process the turned to me and asked, where do you even begin? Where do you look when you want to do things different? Maybe you, dear reader, don´t necessarily need different but simply personal. Something that reflects you and your loved one.
So here are some ideas I came up with.
ENjoy!

Where to begin ~ 
One of the things I always ask couples to prepare for an engagement session is: What are things you like to do together? Think about activities which you like to do with your spouse, passions and hobbies you share. Maybe there is a sport you share, a country you both love.
This is usually a great starting point to collect some creativeness around. :)

The search ~
Once you have found a starting point or a theme, a color, a hobby it is really great to dive into online searching. There are literally tons of wedding Blogs out there! So here I will draw on a very limited selection of Blogs I read regularly... if you would like more on the topic, let me know and I can fill a different post with this :)
The first Blog I kindA fell in love with was Green Wedding Shoes. It is full of outfdoorsy love affairs and filled to the brim with DoItYouslef ideas. Another incredibly good source of inspiration is Grey Likes Weddings. It has weddings categorized by colors and themes, do I need to say more? And to round of my almost weekly check list there would be Style me Pretty, a must for chick and stylish ideas all around the biggest day EVER.

An apartment in Roma

It was this one week in February. One day I had called my Mom and told her that by the same time tomorrow I would be in town. I took a train, from Siena/ Tuscany to the middle of Germany, sat still for seventeen hours and as my Dad picked me up from the train station I was more than ready to go home. I had not been home for quite a while since last Christmas was my first one overseas.

It was due. I needed home. This was the same week her first mail arrived. She asked me if I were in Siena at the end of the week. She wanted to meet me and have a café. She sounded friendly. Sweet. But you have to know I never met Amy before. She had read a comment I had made on her wedding, which was photographed by Sarah (Ampersand Photography) and was curious. She found my Blog, liked it and decided to ask for a meeting. I was overjoyed! And in the wrong place.