Singing baker and her tiny little groupies

I'm so happy my bun business is still blooming, and didn't end when the summer did. The park is totally full of jolly people, because the weather is really warm for November (I guess I have to admit global warming has given me one direct benefit there) and they like to come sing and listen to Joe's karaoke*.

It's funny that my project started in May with a careful attempt of making like 20 buns and 15 pasties to a carneval in Kreuzberg, and now people are checking that I'll be back next Sunday in my usual place. I know most of my business ideas haven't been very succesful, but this really feels nice. People will always want food and warmth. And I'll always wanna give it to them. :)

These tiny frequent customers came for one at first, split it between each other (!), and then came back for a whole round of buns! HEART!!!

Olivia (my niece in the orange coat) was keeping an eye on the products for me. Anton helped me serve them, and eat them. :)

This time I went to sing an old favorite, Enter Sandman. Joe was coaching me on the way like: "Open your hair! Play the guitar!" And I did, of course. It was a big mess.



Aaaaw, I love those smiley faces in the audience! Especially a certain Mexican...



I had the best support from Anton and Olivia:

Laundry:
coat -
jeans - H&M
shirt - Motivi
boots - vintage from Mauerpark
scarf - I really don't own enough scarves (only like 20, but I just always wear this one). Fabric from Mauerpark (I seem to live there, work there, & shop there)

And here's the tasteful video of me and Joe making a manly duet. Sounds pretty grim, I'm surprised I didn't freak out my little listeners. Anton just came to tell me: "You sounded funny." :)



Absolutely loved that day!

*) Joe's youtube site for the Bearpit Karaoke is here.

Meet my new lifelong friend

I finally got the tattoo I've been craving for almost 3 years now. I drew the design myself and had it made by Aaron in Old School Tattoo, on Pettenkoferstrasse. I'd heard he was good, but he was way better. Steady handed guy, really nice fella, did the job in less than an hour and it looks just like I wanted it to. It didn't even hurt like at all! I want another one!!

There's a better pic coming up, hold your horses, keep reading nicely, and you shall be rewarded.

The weekend we spent pretty much partying. Friday night was the 1st birthday of Kippis, the Finnish interior design-shop on Torstrasse. Mimosa, a performance artist, was serving Finlandia vodka from a Finnish glass bowl taped on top of her head. Here you go, shit loads of heavily coloured partypics with a high saturation and contrast factor:

Then we went to Ruz on Auguststrasse, for tapas and wine with my sis and her friends.



We were all giggles!



Then across the street to Clärchens Ballhaus, the good old (100 years) balldancing joint...

Laundry on Friday:
dress - Motivi
leggins - Ginatricot
earrings - H&M
necklaces - Six & H&M
ring - vintage from Mex

I can even tell you what Jenna was wearing, cos it was partly from me!:
dress - H&M (she bought it from me, 'cos it was just perfect on her!)
purse - a gift from me from one of the second hand shops on Oderbergerstrasse, makes me happy that she loves it!

Oh boy, did we have fun!

Saturday was 'dress to kill'-night at our house. We went to Dice, a club close to our house, where they play good music but no-one goes there. We were totally overdressed, plus almost the only ones there. That didn't keep us from staying 'til 7 am.

Saturday Night Laundry:
Fur coat - vintage from Colours on Bergmannstrasse
Tunique - H&M (I haven't been affording anything else lately...)
leggins - Ginatricot
gloves - Mango
Head piece - borrowed from Jenna, from Dom

Jen got the adorable tiny hat from H&M.

That's my new buddy! Since you may ask, it represents 3 basic things. It reminds me to eat (peas in a fork), sleep (zZzz) and play (eagerly jumping toy cat). Relevant stuff that I should do more in life. I wanted to make it cartoon-like and scketchy but with some traditional tattoo elements (eg. the composition and the banner). (Also it kinda looks like the toy cat gets shocked by a lightning and stabbed by a fork, which makes me giggle.) So what should I get next? :)

Blinky Christmas

So sorry for staying radio silent for some time! My dearest Jenna is here right now and I'm too overwhelmed in eating all these goodies she brought from Finland, and playing tourist. :) It's a treat, but I tell you, it's hard work too! We've been out and about, shopping, seeing sights, christmas markets, clubbing, tapas, you name it.

Here's a short post about the christmas fair next to Alexa, that looks more like Mexican or American in style to me with its massive lights, huge gadgets and pink fluffy toy animals to win from games.

I never expected to see anything this grande in Berlin. It's like a whimsy mess of blinking and multicouloured tourism out there! It's like Crusty the clown barfed on Alexanderplatz. Go check it out for yourselves, if you get the chance.

P.S. We also spotted our future kid in a shop window:

Potsdam Part 2: the pretty side

In the previous post, I wanted to find the ugly side of Potsdam. Well, I couldn't avoid photographing the cute one either, since there so many are tiny pastel coloured houses next to each other, little old ladies selling arts and crafts, and before christmas the whole town looked like a big ginger bread-village. It's like Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls.

We defied the tourist office's advice of going to the local American coffee chain, and found this cutie instead. Café Rothenburg, (on Gutenbergstrasse i think). The Bauernfrühstück (Farmer's breakfast) was divine!



There are really not that many options to shop. We went to H&M for a good old movie-style fitting room montage. Rene finally got his red pants he's been craving.

We found the best Italian restaurant ever, called Pfeffer & Salz! It is so authentic, simple and the food is just to die for. I had a steak that friggin melted on my tongue. We're thinking of making small trips to Potsdam again just for this:



The christmas window of another granny-shop:



Castles and parks everywhere...

Rene spotted a funny shaped thing on the ground.

A chinese pot with a tilted swastika... hmmm.

Ladybug!

It's gonna look even so much better in the summer, I think... now all the statues were covered.

Potsdam is totally worth a short visit, pretending to be fairytale characters sipping coffee from small cups and living in a post card. But I'd probably lose my mind if I had to live there. I prefer the randomness of Berlin, where some areas are just plain ugly, and you can't do anything about it.

Potsdam Part 1: Ugly is pretty to me

We went to Potsdam with the mister, on a little mini-trip over one night, 'cos we wanted to pretend we were abroad and the train ticket only cost 2,80. Potsdam is a little city next to Berlin that's known for its fairytale-like castles and picturesque scenery. Well, there were so many castles and statues, that they literally didn't fit the map, and every time we thought we'd seen them all, another one popped into sight.

More of these coming up in the next post:



Potsdam is a bit too cute for me, I have to say. Everything's really well kept and renovated, so it almost looks like it wasn't old at all. It's like Disney World with castles made of plastic. I prefer old stuff that looks old, like its falling apart. That's why I chose to start by showing you my pictures of the other side of Potsdam:

In Potsdam you can find surprising stuff. This shop offers you ways to stash your coke and pot: into a rock, a beer or can of peas.



At least one of the houses of the famous Dutch block (Holländisches Viertel) was still the way it used to be. I bet by next summer this one'll look as good as new.



Our hotel: The tourist information office recommended us Art'otel, which was by far the most unromantic, ugliest hotel in the universe. I can only imagine a businessman or a blind person would think it looks nice. Our room was like a classroom from a United Colors of Benetton ad in the 90's, the carpet was red, green and bright blue, and everything was totally square. But The location, price and bathroom were awesome. They had the newest cleanest tub I'd ever seen. So even this time, I'd have to say ugly was a good choice!

I always love the minibar, although I never buy anything from there. No way. I just go stack up from the nearest Lidl, with stuff way better than they have, and pay like 8 euros for the whole bunch. Being cheap makes happy!

Our view was not too shabby!

We took a walk in the windy harbour.

It didn't rain but my rubber boots were still the best shoes for the place. I could run through puddles!



I can imagine Potsdam's gonna be so cool in the summer. Check out this beach bar!:



(In case you're wondering: yes, the pictures are especially grey. I took off some saturation to add the gloomy effect, 'cos I'm a sneaky bastard! :) I usually love to add intensity to the colours and now I'm a bit confused of which actually looks cooler. What's your opinion?)

Stay tuned for the prettier pictures of the more touristy side of Potsdam.

Jolly good day for my portable café

Last two weeks I haven't had my bunshop. Well, actually 2 weeks ago I did, but it was too late and got dark so fast, that no one could see it. Last week I was flying from Finland on Sunday, so that was no good either. Now I was prepared, I went there early and I brought candles in case it would get dark again. I sold out before it did, though! :)

Mauerpark was in its colourful fall-outfit and full of happy people.



Kite and boy were stuck in a tree:



As the park got more crowded I started getting neighbors selling beer, Glühwein, corn etc.



Only a few buns made it to display, the rest are keeping warm in the thermos-bag. :)



Guess who finally got the courage to go sing? (Camouflaged pretty well in the pic)


Photo by Josefin.

And by 16 o'clock the park was full, and buns sold out. YIPPEE!



So next week, I'll try to be there before 14, (if it doesn't rain) and I'll bring even more buns and pasties, so you're not left licking your fingers (a Finnish saying). You can always email me to check on the latest agenda. Kiss!

Here's a little surprise to all you who missed this beautiful moment... LOL, I made my debut in Youtube! Oh dear god. I love it that Joe's backing me up and suddenly you hear a male voice going like "Yeeeah." I'm so confused about seeing myself like this right now, dunno weather I should laugh or puke. :)





Oh god, I just noticed how much people there were. I must've been in denial all the time (or just not seeing the crowd from under my cap), otherwise I would've thrown up and ran for my life. And hey, can someone tell me, do I always dance like Chandler Bing?

why not join in the car crash set and wipe away the tears

Thursday night was Broken Hearts Club in Ballhaus Berlin again. It was a chaotic mix of all musics you'd normally never mix, and I loved it. On their website they define it as "a raucous fairytale mix of rock, sleazy disco, post punk, burlesque, whorehouse, torch songs, neo-wave, raging house and 80s pop"! Enough said, I'm there.

The dress code was black & metal this time. The people were gorgeous as always. Where do they find this many people with heart shaped cleavages and dresses like Melanie Griffith in Working Girl, and especially guys with an awesome "trashion sense".

My black & metal laundry:
top - Motivi
cardie - H&M
skirt - vintage from Kreuzberg
leggins - Ginatricot
shoes - Cheapo
chain - Motivi
rings - Bijou Brigitte
bracelets - Motivi, Boxhagener platz, my sister

The ever so stylish Berlin guru, Lise was there too, with a stunning pair of leather pants!

Oh boy.