04 March: Bedside table

Not my own, but the one I woke up next to on Sunday morning... :)

Bedside Table

03 March: Your Neighborhood

Well, I am not at home, but the neighborhood I am in is awesome... :)

Your neighborhood

02 March: FRUIT

The idea was to do something creative and take a picture of a smoothie. But at the airport this is all I could find...

Fruit

Photo a day challenge

I am following two amazing blogs and both those gals are taking part in another blogger's photo challenge where they take one picture a day according to the challenge given.
So this month I decided to join and so I will be posting 1 picture each day all month.

Let the challenge begin with the first picture...

UP

Yes, we got snow and it is coming from UP above

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day in Europe is solely about love and not so much about
friendshipas in the US... Unfortunately.
Although in general I think there should not need to be a dedicated day to
celebrate friendship/ love. It should happen naturally and individually.
Here in Europe many people think this day has been invented by the flower/
chocolate industry and not many know about the true background. I have to
admit I only know that there is a real story behind it from watching Gilmore Girls where this topic comes up as
well.

So here is to love and friendship!

THE HISTORY OF ST. VALENTINE
Saint Valentine's Day, often simply Valentine's Day, is observed on February 14 each year. Today Valentine's Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, mostly in the West, although it remains a working day in all of them.

The original "St. Valentine" was just a lithurgical celebration of one or more early Christian saint named Valentinus. All the modern romantic connotations were added several centuries later by poets. Several martyrdom stories were invented for the various Valentines that belonged to 14th February, and added to later martyrologies. This celebration was deleted from the General Roman Calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.

The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").

Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards

Sunday night and the end of the lazy time

It is Sunday night, the Sunday that ends the lazy and independent time I had for 2 weeks now since Christmas. Starting from tomorrow the time for endless talks with friends, the late morning coffee with the paper or one of the countless unread magazines in my apartment, the independent working hours and the impromptu "Let's go for night skiing" or "Do you feel like watching a movie on your couch" calls from my little brother is over and it is back to regular working days, the alarm clock to wake me in the morning and the 12pm lunch call from my colleagues.
Both has their own charme, both is missed if not done in a while. But I could do a little longer without the alarm clock...

So long vacation time, I hope to get some more soon...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving. I am going to steal my friend's idea and celebrate good things of today and the whole month.

Celebrating today:
- a lighted christmas tree in the entrance of the office building.
- the sun first breaking through the cold and then giving us a beautiful sunset.
- a fun office colleague who makes me laugh even in times like these.
- a seat on the tram
- nice emails from American friends who are thinking of me today
- a phone call from a friend in Eichstaett
- a song played specially for me
- good music on my iPod
- the sudden appearance of christmas lights and trees all over Basel
- that my room neighbor finally managed to turn off his alarm clock who kept nonstop for 2 nights now.
- Getting a lot of work done
- watching a fun show online

Celebrating this month:
- the start of the skiing season
- my sister's birthday with a surprise b'day party and her happy face
- seeing my family
- making my Dad happy by taking him skiing
- meeting some nice old colleagues while helping out in my old project
- sun almost every day
- and many more things...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!