On being goth

During the last weeks I have stumbled across some interesting posts about being goth so I thought why not give it a go for yourself? First of all: Stereotypes. There are various clichés and stereotypes that are shown on television and that are stuck in peoples minds and most of them a rubbish BUT: Some of them are true. They are what I call my guilty pleasures.

- I only wear black. Even if I see a clothing item that i like I won't buy it if it isn't black. It's my colour and I will stick to it, full stop. I do wear coloured tights occasionally or some coloured accessoires but that's it basically. My standard question in shops is and will always be: 'It's nice, do you have it in black?'

- I love, love, love platform shoes. I have tiny feet and huge platforms make them look weird and unproportional, I like it.

- My style rolemodels are Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family and Abby Sciuto from Navi CIS.

- I think bats are cute. I don't really wear bats as accessoires but the real life ones are simply adorable.

- I'm pretty crafty, I make my own jewelry etc...

- I am constantly overdressed and I don't give a damn. My clothes are not practical ore useful, they simply look good.

- I enjoy old literature such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Oscar Wilde, Sherlock Holmes or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I even took a class called 'Gothic Fiction', it was amazing because we got to discuss popular gothic motifs, psychology (e.g. why Freud sucks), the modern vampire and why Twilight is neither spooky nor gothic.

-I like graveyards, I think they're pretty.

-I also like old churches and chapels, my favourite being the Cologne cathedral and despite the fact that the Count says otherwise, I CAN enter churches, thank you very much.

- I love the victorian era. As a feminist I, of course, would never want to actually live in that time but it still fascinates me.

- The goths shown in mainstream television are often nerds that would rather spend the night reading a book and drinking tea instead of going to a club. I myself have never been to a club, I have occasionally visited cocktail bars with friends but that's it. I'm pretty indoorsy.

Ok, so much about stereotypes but there are also many, many ungothy things about me:

- I don't like gothic music. So, 'why are you a goth then' you might ask. To me being gothic is a lifestyle and a lifestyle needs more than just music. Even though there are very popular gothic festivals here in Germany such as the Amphi or the WGT I don't really have the wish to go to any of these.

- I don't like skull motives, I don't find them appealing at all.

- I like pink. Yes, seriously.

- None of my friends are goth. They're all kind of alternative but not in a bat-loving, black, spooky way.

- I tan extremely fast and therefor I have given up trying to stay pale.

- I own about 70 different nail polishes and even though 11 of them are various colours of red most of them have very non-gothy colours.

- As the Count says: I'm not a night-person. Neither am I a day person. He says I'm asleep constantly.

- I have a spider phobia and I don't really like cats. They're kind of cool but scary...

- I'm also afraid of the dark.

You can probably see now why I don't only classify myself as goth but rather as a Quaintrelle. Who cares about labels, anyway?

I say love it is a flower

Spring is finally here, it's getting warmer, there are birds everywhere and one can spot the first flowers. Today, I went into our garden to cut a few flowers for my first attempt on pressing flowers. I thought I could share some photos I took yesterday to show you the beauty that is nature.

Here we go:

Have a great day,

The Countess

Literature

As some of you might already know I study English and history at the university of Cologne. During the last semester I had various courses on English literature and I don't think I have ever enjoyed studying more! Reading novels and plays that are regarded as part of 'the canon' most of the time means basically one thing: They're pretty old. Old means history which is my second major subject so reading those works of literature was like heaven to me. 

I had courses such as 'Gothic Fiction' where I read Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or 'Oscar Wilde and the Problem of Representation' where we discussed The Happy Prince, An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest and (of course) Dorian Gray. For an other class I read The Great Gatsby and Twelfth Night. I loved every minute of these courses, they were interesting and inspiring and they gave me the opportunity to read books that I normally wouldn't have read. 

I already knew Dracula, Dorian Gray and The Happy Prince but it was nice to have a look at them again and to hear other people's interpretations of some of the images and rhetorical methods.

I bought all of the books in the 'Pnguin Popular Classics' edition not only because they are cheap (2,80€ each) but also because they have some wonderful extracts of art on their covers. I seriously fell in love with the look of these books. Now, whenever I get a new book that is a classic (such as Sherlock Holmes) I try to get the Penguin version. Maybe in a few years I will have a nice collection of beautiful affordable books.

Do you like the so called 'classics' of English literature? I myself am a big fan of Oscar Wilde.

Have a great evening,

The Countess

Playing snow white...

Last year when I went to Berlin during the holidays the Count and I made some new friends:

Aren't they adorable?

taking a bath

When was the last time you did something for yourself? 

We go to university or school, work, study, see friends, do our hobbies and go on dates. That is all nice and good BUT: Where in this tight schedules is the time that is reserved for us and only for us? When are we are not surrounded by other people, have our mobile phone right next to us or are logged into Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr?  

To me it is very important to take some time every single day and do something for myself. Most of the time that means taking a bath. I put some nice scented bath stuff in the tub, take a book that has absolutely nothing to do with the things I work on for university, put my PJs on the heater and lock the door. I don't even have to stay in the tub for a long time, the only matter of importance is that I do not have a limit, a point where I HAVE to get out. 

Source

I'm doing an internship at a library right now and even though it is the exact opposite of hard work, I had the strong need for some time for myself when I got home this evening. So I put my hair into a bun, took a nice bath, read Sherlock Holmes, shaved and put my wonderfully warm PJs on. It was like heaven. The PJs on the heater seriously make all the difference, fresh warm clothes are the best thing in the world after a bath. This is pure luxury to me.

Now I can finish the day with the second Sex and the City movie and a nice cup of Earl Grey tea.

What do you do when you want to have some quality time for yourself?

Have a wonderful evening,

The Countess

Sneak a peek

What is that going to be? Anyone have a guess? 

To quote my sister: "You know it's white, right?"

Have a lovely day, everyone!

I'm a nerd

...and proud! Nerd, geek, call me however you want. I don't take it as an insult and neither so my friends. Sometimes I forget how nerdy I am because my friends are all into physics, maths and computers and I am...not. Not at all. Still, I'm a pretty nerdy person.

One of my favourite youtube persons, Charlie McDonnell aka charlieissocoollike once made a video about things that make him a nerd. If you want to check it out, here it is: 

I thought I could also make a list of things that make me a nerd:

1: I am completely obsessed with Harry Potter. I have read every book at least ten (10!!) times, I own all of them plus the extra books in German and English. I was one of the lucky ones to get into Pottermore early (on the first day in fact) and even though I always wanted to be a Slytherin, I became a Ravenclaw. Honestly, it wasn't a real surprise. I listen to wizard rock (yes, that is a real thing, check it out on youtube!) and when I people call me Hermoine I take it as a compliment.

2:  I collect semi-precious stones. I love them. I once started to talk to a person at a party who was wearing one around his neck about stones. He turned and  went away. later, I was informed that stones are not an interesting topic to meet new people. Screw people.

3: I study history and I could talk about it the whole time. My favourite periode is the victorian era, my favourite historical person is Elizabeth I. and my favourite topics are women's rights, torture and human rights. 

4: I know how to juggle. I took a class at university last summer.

5: I also know how to ride a unicycle.

6: I embroider in my free time. I love to hand embroider on handkerchiefs.

7: I actually use handkerchiefs. I make them myself because the tissure ones are terrible for the environment.

8: I'm an active member of the Green Youth. I even hold an office in my local group. On the other hand, everyone there does.

9: I love TV series. My favourites are The Big Bang Theory, Dr. Who, BBC Sherlock, House MD, Bones, The Tudors, Six Feet Under and many more.

10: People compare me to Sheldon from the Big Bang theory and I don't really take it as an insult. I even got a t-Shirt for my birthday that says "I'm not insane, my mother had me tested!".

11: I don't think that intelligent people are supposed to be sporty. I also catch myself using "I don't need to be funny/sporty/polite/pretty, I am intelligent!"

12: I don't care if you have a masters degree in German or English, I WILL correct your grammar if you make a mistake.

13: I speak 6 languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Latin and Japanese. German is my native language, people from England ask me from which part of the UK I am so I suppose my English is pretty good aswell, my French and Spanish knowledges are good enough to survive in France and Spain and to make sure I only order vegan food there but I make grammar mistakes. My latin is pretty good but I haven't used it in a while becuase I don't have any medieval history classes at the moment and my Japanese is VERY basic, I only took one class at university.

14:  I started to call myself the good fairy when I was about sixteen and I never stopped. I have this whole idea that the good fairy is supposed to take care of the world and that every problem should be resolved with fairy dust.

15: I'll start an internship at a library in two days, simply because I always wanted to work in one.

What about you? What makes you a nerd?

 Have a great day,

The Countess

It's a little late...

...but I wanted to share the costume I was wearing for a costume ball during the cologne carnival. I went as galaxy and I spent all the time I should have used for studying for my exams at university to make the costume. Especially the hat. Unfortunately, I do not have a nice picture of my whole costume but I think the face and the hat are the most interesting parts anyway.

The ball was pretty nice, I got lots of compliments on the costume and the makeup and in the end I won the second price for single costume. Unfortunately, the hat hurt my head...

Have a lovely day, everyone.
PS: Tomorrow is my birthday, yay!

Kony 2012

This time I am not going to write about clothes or nail polish. This time I'm blogging to raise awareness for the Kony 2012 campaign. It has the goal to make Joseph Kony, the leader of the "Lord's Resistance Army", famous to show the politicians of the world that we want him arrested. The LRA exsists since it was founded by Kony 1987 in Uganda. The members abduct children and force them to become child soldiers or sex slaves. They have maimed and tortured people and they are terrorizing civilians in Africa. Experts say that it is really difficult to understand the group's aims and goals, it seems that they mainly want to terrorize and scare innocent people.Since 1987 they have abducted more than 10000 children and often they have killed their families or forced the kids to kill them. This horror needs to be stopped, we have to stand up for what is right!The problem is that until now nobody really knows who Kony is and the goverments of most countries are unwilling to spend money and energy on chasing him. If we could tell the people about Kony and his crimes and demand that our goverments help Uganda to catch him and put him into prison they will have to listen.
We live in the world of the internet. It is really easy to inform many people within seconds. Please take your time to watch this video and maybe share it on Facebook, Twitter, your blog and everywhere else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

Perfume making

A few days ago a friend and I had our first attempt at making perfume. We bought some perfume oils and bottles online and just gave it a go. We got ten different 3ml samples aswell as 10ml rose oil and 30ml patchouli oil. The oils all smelt wonderful, my friend and I were especially fond of jasmine. Making perfume was alot of fun, it was great to experiment with the different combinations of smells and their intensity. Afterwards my friend's kitchen smelled...Let's say interesting. So did her kitchen table. But that's ok, it was worth it =D

As a carrier oil we used simple sun flower oil. Most of the time jojoba oil is used but I forgot to order it, so...

I bought the pipettes at the chemist, they were unbelievably cheap (10 cent each). I'm thinking of buying one or two made out of glass, those should be easier to clean.

We still have lots of perfume oils left but they won't go bad for quite a while and I already have a bunch of different ideas what to do with them: Bath salt, selfmade soap, solid perfume, lip balm, body and massage oil...

My friend took a picture of me, I kind of like it

How to save the world

We only have this earth. It is indespencible for all forms of life and maybe it is time that we start to treat it like that. Every single one of us can do his or her part to protect the earth from further damage. Maybe we won't see earth's death for ourself but it is still our responsibility to save it. at least we have to try. Everyone is important, if we all do our part we can change the world. Most of the time the little things make the difference and this is exactly where we have to start.

Things that I do:

- I'm a vegan. That is not only good for the lives of many animals but also for the environment.

- I don't drink water from bottles but from the tap. I have a few bottles that I use again and again in order to  use as little plastic as possible.

- I don't use paper napkins and tissues. I have sewn a few handkerchiefs and reusable napkins that can be washed with the regular laundry every day.

- I plug out every electronical tool that is not in use.

- I don't use plastic shopping bags and if they are given to me at shops I give them back. We have a few at home that we use regularly aswell as many made out of fabrik.

Things I should do:

- Turn off the light. I'm afraid of the dark and even need some sort of light when I sleep, otherwise I have trouble falling asleep and I get scared when i wake up in a dark room.

- Use the car less often. When it's rainy or windy or cold I use the car even though I could go by bike. Also I'm ill alot because I have asthma and therefor I am often bound to use the car.

what do you do to safe the environment? What do you think could you do better?

A tea recipe

I wanted to share a really simple tea recipe with you. I love the combination of ginger and lemon, especially in tea because of the lack of other components that distract the sense of taste from the the essential ginger taste. The lemon underlines that significant taste of ginger in a really nice way.

You will need:

- an about one finger thick piece of ginger

- the juice of half a lemon

- rock candy to your taste

- 2,5 litre of water

 Chop the ginger. The finer you chop it the more intense the ginger taste will be. I like to use a garlic press to crush the little ginger pieces again. 

Put the ginger in a big pot. 

Add the lemon juice and the water.

Bring everything to boil, then reduce the heat. The longer you heat the tea the more intense the result will be in the end. I like to heat it up everytime I want a new cup. 

Add as much rock candy as you like and enjoy!

Have a wonderful day!

Accessoires

I really wanted to wear my new bag as soon as possible so yesterday I checked my accessoires hoping to find some things that would go with the bag. I found some (fake!) pearls and a necklace. I think pearls look really good with vintage, they're kind of classy even when they're plastic. The necklace is my favourite, it's a small watch with a dragonfly on it, I absolutely adore it! Dragonflies are amazing, insects fascinate me alot. 

The rose and the nail polishes are new, I bought them on Wednesday after work. 

Pearls <3

nail art details