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My Week in Pictures – CW12/2017

March 27, 2017 samstarbucks 2 Comments

Saturday, March 19th, 2017 – Ever since I moved into my apartment there’s been one thing that’s been bothering me: The incredibly low pressure at which the water trickled out the kitchen faucet. So a couple of weekends back I decided to fix it: So I descaled the faucet, took it apart and built it together again the way it was supposed to fit together and – voilà: Ever since it’s been working like a charm. And to this day that makes me very happy. Small pleasures sweeten my life 🙂

Sunday, March 20th, 2017 – The week before last I fell sick. I’d caught the crud. My throat felt thick with a cold and over the weekend I got a very sore throat. It later turned into a bad cold with fever, coughing and sneezing galore.
So I put on my beanie and surrounded myself with my favorite stuffed animals… okay, my one favorite stuffed animal: Hedwig, the snow owl.

Monday, March 21st, 2017 – Later in the week I started to feel way worse and when the voice at the end of a 10 min. meditation session I tried to follow asked me how I was feeling now the first answer that shot through my head was “Like someone had stuffed my lungs through a meat grinder!”

Wednesday, March 22nd, 2017 – It has become customary for me to celebrate my second Birthday on March 22nd every year. It was that day in 1994 when I was rushed to the hospital with a thunderous headache (seriously, it felt as if that monster from the “Alien” movie tried to escape from my skull instead of my gut :-p) and a boiling fever, a stiff neck and arched spine. Turned out I had a bacterial meningitis and after a spinal punctuation to confirm the bacterial part they flushed me with antibiotics immediately. I was lucky the first antibiotics the pumped into my system worked and thus I am who I am today: A lucky one who has gotten through some rough patches.

Thursday, March 23rd, 2017 – That’s the face you make when your doc tells you that you’re not suffering from the flu but “just from a common cold”. The addition that it was a severe cold and undoubtedly serious doesn’t really help to pick up your ego after such a blow.

Friday, March 24th, 2017 – I dared to go for a walk as the weather forecast promised a lot of sun, thanks to the southern wind coming over the alps and usually bringing splendid weather with it. Unfortunately, the “Föhn” – or “chinook wind” as it is sometimes called by English speakers – was quite frosty and fierce this time and almost blew my hair off my head… as you notice my beanie’s already gone. Luckily, I took it off myself. And just in time – a ferocious gust of wind managed to blow a fellow walker’s cap off so he had to chase after it – and in my imagination he’s running after it to this very day.

Saturday, March 25th, 2017 – I have to admit: I’ve never been the biggest fan of curtains. Mostly because however thing they are they steal my daylight. So I try to avoid them wherever I can. Since I do have a pair of windows that is facing directly my neighbors windows/balcony door I decided I needed a little privacy, so I designed my own visual cover. I am pretty pleased with the result. And I dare say my neighbor doesn’t have much to complain about either.

What did you do last week? Did you manage to get healthy through this winter?

Sources & Resources

All pictures/drawings by evozeta

The Zen-spiration

March 20, 2017 samstarbucks Leave a comment

Saturday I attended a Zentangle© Basics Course in Zurich with the first ever Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) in Switzerland, Hanny Waldburger. Even though I didn’t feel my best I decided to attend. My state was clearly past incubation so I wasn’t in danger of infecting anyone. And I thought a couple of hours of creative time might be the best cure anyways.

It’s not like I didn’t know anything about zentangling, meaning I could have attended the advanced course but I was interested to learn the basics, the phylosophy behind the whole zentangle movement. And it is fascinating, I’m telling you.

The three hours were well spent, even if it meant that I sounded like a failing steam-engine Sunday morning. That would most certainly have happened anyway. At least now I know that I had three memorable hours with a bunch of creative ladies who to begin with thought they were utterly talentless but as it turned out they were all amazing artists. That’s the beauty of zentangling: It takes out the stress of competing with either your own expecations or others work – each and every piece is unique and beautiful in it’s own way. See for yourselves:

I hope you all had an inspiring weekend with at least one activity that took you to that place of calm contentment that one only finds when being in the here and now, finding the flow.
What’s your go to activity to find that state?

Photo credit: All photo’s by evozeta

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Another Weekly Blur

February 7, 2016 samstarbucks 3 Comments

Remember that conference I mentioned in my last blog post? (Für Deutsch hier klicken) Well, it turned into one of the most splendid conferences I’ve ever attended. We were busy but also had lots of fun. And here’s proof that my urge to doodle doesn’t leave me outside conference doors – in my mind my manager’s diagram strongly resembled a couple of minions; and that’s what I turned it into:

I love creative business meetings!

My personal highlight of the conference – a motivational speak by the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team Coach Jill Ellis – was contrasted by the only downside of the conference: The never changing effect that air-conditioning has on me; Friday morning had me wake up to a massive throat ache. Thus I left the conference a tad early (skipping the gala diner…) to go into hibernation. This way I slept right through half of the most gorgeous weekends this land has ever seen – this year 🙂 But dreaming about it was almost as good as actually enjoying it on Sunday:

The weekend before the conference my friend sent me picture from Port Stephens, Australia, where she attended a Cirque du Soleil show called – wait for it – Luzia:

20160208 Luzia — My very own personal show – I like!!

Now last week, still coughing my way out of the cold-zone, I was presented with an incident that at first enraged, but then quite amazed me. The week before, in a timely manner, I mailed the documents the U.S. government requires in order to – hopefully – remove the conditions on my U.S. resident permit (for all of you curious enough: it’s got to do with the fact that I obtained my green card based on marriage… now of course the government wants to make sure this is not a fake marriage, totally understand). As mentioned, I submitted the whole stack of paper in time, even considering the sometimes questionable efficiency of postal services. But I was taught better: The mail arrived in such a timely manner that homeland security actually received everything one day too early. One day.And thus last Monday I found the package back in my mailbox which taught me a thing or three: The postal services work more efficiently than we may give them credit for. And the government has rules that are being followed to the letter. Even if it means filling in a pre-printed form and costs $10 in stamps. Note: Even here rules are not mere guidelines… seriously, I as a Swiss should have known better…

20160208 angred the beast — Someone angered the beast there for a moment…

Have a wonderful week everyone and remember – don’t lose your nerves over things that aren’t worth it!

Best, L.

PS: I came across this blog post and still wonder – how come the exact hairdo looks so much cuter on the little girl than me??!?

Resources & Sources

All photos and drawings by evozeta and friends

UND WIEDER EIN WOCHENBLITZ

Erinnert ihr euch noch an die Konferenz, die ich in meinem letzten Blogbeitrag erwähnt hatte? Nun, sie entpuppte sich als eine der feinsten Konferenzen, die ich je besucht habe. Wir wären geschäftig, hatten aber auch viel Spass. Und hier ist der Beweis, dass mein Drang zu Kritzeln auch vor Konferenztüren nicht halt macht – in meiner Vorstellung hatte das Diagramm meines Bosses doch eine verblüffende Ähnlichkeit mit zwei Minions; und so habe ich es entsprechend ausgestaltet:

20160208 conference art — I love creative business meetings!

Mein persönlicher Höhepunkt der Konferenz – eine Motivationsrede der Teamchefin des amerikanischen Frauen-Fussball-Nationalteams, Jill Ellis – stand in Kontrast zur einzigen Schattenseite der Konferenz: Der unveränderte Einfluss, der klimatisierte Luft auf meine Gesundheit hat; der Freitagmorgen erwartete mich mit bösen Halsschmerzen. Entsprechend verdrückte ich mich etwas früher (indem ich das Gala Diner ausliess), um in Winterschlaf zu versinken. So schlief ich doch geradewegs durch die Hälfte des prachtvollsten Wochenendes, das dieses Land je gesehen hat – dieses Jahr J Doch davon zu träumen was fast so gut wie es am Sonntag tatsächlich zu geniessen:

Am Wochenende vor der Konferenz sandte mir meine Freundin ein Foto aus Port Stephens, Australien, wo sie einer Cirque du Soleil Vorstellung beiwohnte, betitelt als– warte einen Moment – Luzia:

Letzte Woche, leider noch immer meinen Weg aus der Erkältungszone hustend, wurde ich mit einem Vorfall konfrontiert, der mich erst… nun sagen wir mal leicht aufgebracht, später aber doch eher positiv erstaunt hat. In der Woche davor, rechtzeitig wie sich das gehört, habe ich die notwendigen Unterlagen an die U.S. Behörden geschickt, welche benötigt werden, um – hoffentlich – die Kondition im Zusammenhang mit meiner Aufenthaltsbewilligung aufzuheben (für alle, die jetzt neugierig genug sind: es hat mit der Tatsache zu tun, dass ich meine Aufenthaltsbewilligung basierend auf der Ehe mit einem Amerikaner beantragt habe… nun muss natürlich der Staat überprüfen, dass es sich hier nicht um eine Scheinehe handelt, was ich absolut verstehe). Wie erwähnt habe ich als den ganzen Stapel Papier zeitnah zur Post gebracht und dabei sogar die manchmal etwas fragwürdige Effizienz von Briefbeförderungsdiensten in meine Überlegungen mit einbezogen. Doch ich wurde eines Besseren belehrt: Meine Post wurde dermassen zügig befördert, dass sie noch einen Tag vor dem Stichtag eintraf. Einen Tag. Und so fand ich denn am letzten Montag mein Paket in meinem Briefkasten wieder, womit mir zweierlei klar wurde: Die Post arbeitet manchmal doch zügiger als angenommen. Und die Behörden haben Regeln, die auf den Buchstaben verfolgt werden. Selbst wenn es das Ausfüllen eines vorgedruckten Formulars und $10 am Marken kostet. Merke: Regeln sind auch hier nicht blosse Richtwerte… also echt, ich als Schweizerin hätte das wirklich besser wissen müssen…

Ich wünsche euch eine wundervolle Woche und denkt daran – verliert nicht eure Nerven über Dinge, die es nicht wert sind!

Gruss, L.

P.S.: Seit ich auf diesen Blogbeitrag gestossen bin wundere ich mich – wie kommt es, dass genau der gleiche Haarschnitt an diesem kleinen Mädchen so viel süsser aussieht als an mir??!?

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Alle Fotos und Zeichnungen von evozeta und Freunden

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Christmas decoration: Office

November 30, 2015 samstarbucks 3 Comments

Was marveling at the Christmas decoration in our offices last Wednesday – nicely diversified! I like!

Resources & Sources

Drawing by evozeta

WEIHNACHTSDEKO: BÜRO

Habe letzten Mittwoch unsere Büro-Weihnachtsdeko bestaunt; so schön diversifiziert – mag ich!

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Zeichnung von evozeta

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Halloween and other scary things

November 2, 2015 samstarbucks 6 Comments

At the beginning of last week I wouldn’t have thought it possible that the week would end with so much commotion. While I pursued my usual activities – raising to a challenge (28 day plank challenge) and preparing for such (half-marathon in Austin in February 2016) – Friday was not only characterized by our office Halloween, but mostly by massive flooding and seven (as far as I’m informed) tornadoes that left a swath of destruction in and around Austin. The flood claimed at least 6 lives while the tornadoes left the usual scene of destruction (photos at the end of the report).

Fortunately, October closed on Saturday on a friendlier notion with dry and occasionally even sunny weather and a cozy evening with watching movies and carving and coloring pumpkins.

How did you celebrate Halloween?

Resources & Sources

All photos and drawings by evozeta

HALLOWEEN UND ANDERE BEÄNGSTIGENDE DINGE

Zu Beginn der letzten Woche hätte ich nicht gedacht, dass das Ende so voll von Aufregungen sein würde. Während ich Anfang der Woche noch meinen üblichen Tätigkeiten nachging – mich Herausforderungen zu stellen (28 Tage Plank Challenge) und auf solche vorzubereiten (Halbmarathon in Austin in Februar 2016) – stand der Freitag nicht nur im Zeichen von Büro-Halloween, sondern auch von massiven Überflutungen und sieben (soweit ich weiss) Tornados die sich durch die Umgebung von Austin gefressen haben. Durch die Fluten sind mindestens sechs Menschen umgekommen, die Tornados haben das übliche Bild der Verwüstung hinterlassen (Fotos ganz am Ende des Berichtes).

Erfreulicher schloss der Oktober dann am Samstag ab mit wieder trockenem und zeitweilig gar sonnigem Wetter und einem gemütlichen Abend beim Filme gucken und Kürbis schnitzen, resp. bemalen.

Wie habt ihr Halloween verbracht?

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Alle Fotos und Zeichnungen von evozeta

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New Pens

October 21, 2015 samstarbucks Leave a comment

Note the re-introduced socks... / Man bemerke die wiedereingeführten Socken... — Note the re-introduced socks… / Man bemerke die wiedereingeführten Socken…

After cursing my $1 kids felt tip pens for the hundredth time because the simply don’t draw the color that’s displayed on their caps I finally decided to get myself some (hopefully) decent markers. They’re not quite Copic markers but at least look a little like them and at first use I’m quite inclined to make them my new favorite toys. Of course, I will need quite some practice to get decently artistic with them but hey – that’s the fun of it, isn’t it?

NEUE STIFTE

Nachdem ich meine $1 Kinderfilzstifte zum hundertsten Mal verflucht habe weil sie einfach nie die Farbe widergeben, die sie auf der Kappe anzeigen, konnte ich mich doch endlich dazu überwinden, mir einige (hoffentlich) anständige Filzer zuzulegen. Es sind zwar nicht gerade Copic Marker, aber zumindest sehen sie in etwa so aus und nach einem ersten Test neige ich doch dazu, sie zu meinen neuen Lieblingsspielzeugen zu erklären. Natürlich werde ich noch viel üben müssen, um damit nur einigermassen artistische Resultate zu erzielen, aber hey – genau das ist doch der Spass dabei, nicht?

Everyday life of a Swiss… no longer in Texas.