... and Japan

Crazy, modern, traditional, colourful, paradoxical, harmonious Japan. My most vivid memory of Easter sunday 2012 is being stuck in Hiroshima without any money and none of my 3 cash cards working - I have to admit there was a slight moment of panic. But in the end, my dad wired me some money to Osaka and I spent the rest of the day on lovely Miya-Jima island, hiking up Mt. Misen and enjoying the cherry blossoms. And then there was the daytrip to Kamakura with a traditional Onsen-session, the view from the 52nd floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, Shibuya crossing, the Kumano Kodo hiking trail, the funny school uniforms, green tea and azuki bean flavoured ice cream, and much much more. Go to Japan, it's amazing!

Last year in Korea ....

Time flies, hard to believe it has been exactly one year since I went to Korea and Japan. I will definitely go back some day, there are still soooo many places I haven't seen. Especially Hokkaido in Japan and the national parks in Korea are on  my list: you would be surprised what a beautiful nature those countries have to offer. But of course, Shibuya crossing in Tokyo and Namdaemun market in Seoul also have their urban, over-crowded and buzzing charm. Here are some of my favourite pictures from my 3-week trip in spring 2013:

Dublin

A weekend celebrating the 30th birthday of one of my oldest friends from uni, marking over 8 years of friendship. I'm glad to have such good friends even though many of them live far away but we manage to keep in touch nevertheless. And now and then we meet up, have a ball and revel about "the good old days"... and the good times to come!

(Gluten-free) birthday cake at "Queen of Tarts". Delicious!

Glasnevin cemetary

Detail of a gravestone

The back of Dublin Castle

IMMA, Irish Museum of Modern Art

Maxing out the clichés: pub session & Guiness

And that's after the Guiness

Trinity College

"Long Room" of the College library

Zeeland

 A wonderful, windy weekend in Zeeland (Netherlands).

Late summer thrifts

It's been a while but in the past couple of weeks I've been hitting my ultimate flea-market hattrick: 3 different markets on 3 weekends and some very succesful thrifting! Here are some of my finds:

 A cute egg-cup and a Russian shawl for only 1 €! So happy I found the shawl, I had been looking for one for ages.

Beautiful plates, a little tattered already but perfectly fine to use for my purposes.

  

Found both the bowl and the fabric on the fleamarket and they go so well together. Might make a tablecloth from the fabric. 

 And these, of course, I didn't buy on the market but at the Marimekko outlet store in Helsinki but they are so precious I had to include them here. I haven't really decided what to make from them but probably a more formal dress with the one on top and a casual shirt with the one at the bottom.

Marimekko

Marimekko ist probably my all-time favourite brand (although I generally don't care much about brand names) but their design is very unique and timeless. In Finland it's an institution and items are handed down from one generation to another, I suppose it's also a question of national pride in way. I especially like the organic inspired patterns but there are many other beautiful ones. Here a few examples: 

And here are some more abstract patterns I like:

These ones use images, too [and I'm trying to think what word represents the opposite of "abstract"]:

And this is probably the most famous pattern, "Unikko". I don't like it very much but it has become almost synonyme for the Marimekko-brand.

You can find more information on the official Marimekko website.