Today I will take you to Kurdistan...
...Kurdistan in Iran is an area in the West of Iran, close to the border to Turkey and Iraq. We did not go as far up as Turkey but rather stayed close to the border of Iraq. Kurdistan is absolutely overwhelmingly beautiful! Since I took so many pictures, and since I find them all very beautiful, I could not stop myself from putting a loooot of pictures here :)
The first few pictures are from Lake Zarivar in Marivan - we went there for sunset and had this most delicious fig juice (basically just figs left in water over night - I tried it at home too and its sooooo good (when you have good figs as the ones from Iran ;))!) while walking on the promenade. This was the first place we saw when we arrived in Kurdistan and of course we immediatly fel in love with this area.
The next day we took the car through the mountains... the landscape is just breathtaking (especially for someone who is living far away from any mountains and is not used to this sight). We were very close to the border to Iraq the whole time but we felt very safe. Even when we were that close that we could see some Iraquian villges we felt safe. Kurdistan is also different from the southern part of Iraq and its not too dangerous around there at the moment.
We also went to visit the Howraman villages. The villages are build in the mountains and the houses are made from the stones of the mountains. The streets in the villages are basically the rooftops of the houses underneath. These villages were the most peaceful places I ever went to. It seems like the march of time stopped there. People were wearing traditional clothes, they made everything in handwork, there was no cellphone connection. It was magical and really really beautiful!
The entire roadtrip through Kurdistan was definetly a highlight of our vacation (which was a highlight on its one already) and we are so very grateful that we got the chance to visit this impressive, intersting and beautiful part of the world. We never, anywhere, met as friendly people as we did on this trip! I travelled a lot (Africa, America, Asia, Europe...) but I promise I never ever met as friendly and hospitable people as I did in Iran and from the people I met in Iran the once I met on our trip through Kurdistan were the most hospitable. Just to make you understand what I mean; I did not spend a single dollar on our trip! I simply was not allowed to! This is a kind of hospitality I really did not know before.
By the way, on these last two pictures we are looking into Iraq so the villages that you can see on the last picture are actually not in Iran anymore.
How did you like these pictures and stories? I have to say that I was surprised and very happy when I read several comments from friends and followers who also want to visit Iran and who find Iran as interesting as I do. I can really recommend anyone to visit this wonderful country. You wont regret! And feel free to ask me any questions in case you are planning to go there and need any advice about general behaviour, clothing, visa etc.
Have a most wonderful weekend everyone! Enjoy it to the fullest :)
Sending much love!
Today I was wearing my lilac sweater...
... I got it two years ago for my birthday and its from Hess Natur. I wore it on the blog as a dress back here. I am also wearing my poncho from Hess Natur, some second hand skinny jeans and a handmade scarf that I got for my birthday last year (such a nice gift!!!). I am wearing a floral blouse underneath the sweater to get some fun into this look :)
How do you like it?
How is your week going so far? Those of you living in countries where its getting darker and colder by now - is it not so weird that the sun sets at like 4pm? I somehow cannot yet adjust to that. I also have a hard time believing that its Christmas in just a little more than a month. Since we are in the middle of moving, I do not really have energy for anything Christmas related yet. But I am sure that as soon as everything is set in the new apartment, I will start decorating and planning our first Christmas as a family :)
Are you getting ready for Christmas yet? Or is also still very far away from you?
Are you in the middle of a change in your life right now? I totally am and there are so many great projects coming up in the next few months and there are so many things in my life that are going to change. As every time of change and its somehow very exciting and wonderful - but its also sad because when things are changing it means also that somehting will be left behind. Its okay like that because new wonderful things will come. But its still somehow also sad. So I am totally in between these feelings right now :) Can anyone relate?
Sending you all much love!
Today I want to share my body and face care routine with you...
... I never did a "my whatever routine" post before and some of you asked me to do so when I commented on their routine. So here we go :)
I am a simple girl, using simple products (always natural and organic) and not too much of everything. So when it comes to my body I use a shower gel (currently I am in love with the shower gels from benecos - I love their smell!) and a body lotion afterwards (currently my favorite one from Weleda...). Around once a month I use a body scrub which i make from grinded avocado kernel (I just put a avocado kernel in my high speed blender, turn it on, until I have a kind of powder and thats it). Thats it about my body care routine :)
Currently I really love these shower gels from benecos so they are an everyday part of my morning routine.
I change my body lotions quite regularly since I cannot decide on an all-time favorite. I showed you a few of my favorites here. This one from Weleda did actually not make it to the list that time even though it definetly belongs to my favorites!
The last part of my daily body routine is of course my deodorant. Those of you who, like me, only use organic cosmetics, know that its a little bit of a thing to find a good organic deodorant. I have been trying quite a few in the past few years and I was never 100% satisfied. Often they smell too strong of essential oils, they do not really protect you, they do not last long etc. etc. For a few weeks now I try this deodorant from benecos and I have to say that so far I really like it. The smell is decent and fresh, it protects me well and I feel clean and fresh with it, even when I go running or do other sports (or when I am moving boxes from the old apartment to the new one ;)). But I have to try it further in Summer when I am hot for several hours, to say if it really is as good as I think right now ;)
But now to my face care routine. I do not use any make up remover but instead I remove my make up with coconut oil - its cheaper, better for my skin and 100% natural and organic :)
Have you tried this? I can really recommend doing this - it also works perfectly fine for waterproof eye make up and I am sure its so much healthier for your skin than whatever make up remover you can find.
And here a few other products I use for my face: A toner from Burts Bees that I use every morning, organic almond oil which I use instead of a night cream (in Summer I do not put anything on my face at night, but in Fall and Winter my skin is more dry so I put a little bit of almond oil), and two day creams. Depending on my mood I either use a Beauty Balm from Lavera or the Regenerating Day Cream from Love me Green that I showed you already here :)
Well, and thats it. As I said, I am a simple girl. Do you use a lot more products in your body and face care routine or maybe even less than I do? I would love to know :)
Sending much love and wishing you all a great week ahead!
Its Friday, its time to go back to Iran!
This Friday, next Friday and then again for one more week, I will take you back to Iran where I spent the most wonderful vacation ever back in October this year. Todays post is all about fooooood :)
The first thing you notice when you go to Iran is that you will not find any tables anywhere. There are carpets all over the houses, but not tables. I loved that! When its time to eat people just take a tablecloth (stupid to call it tablecloth in this context), put it on the carpet and sit down all around the tablecloth.
We had the most amazing food in Iran! Already prior to our arrival our friend told everyone that we are vegan (everyone means everyone who invited us to dinner - we had dinner in a different house almost every night) so whereever we went, we got delicious vegan food. For every meal people eat a very thin kind of bread. When its good, its very soft and delicous, when its a little old, its completly dry and hard and not that good ;)
We also had salad for every meal. Mostly just made with cucumber and tomatoe but sometimes also with onion, cabbage, carrots and lettuce. For most meals we also had olives in all different varities and figs (soooo good! We brought a whole lot home with us). A meal is usually taking quite some time and its very nice just to sit and snack on bread, salad, olives and figs :)
We also had rice basically every day. There is this thing with rice in Iran - when cooking it, they put some potatoe slices on the bottom of the pot and leave them there, while the rice is cooking so that they get somehow burned and very crunchy. When eating, everyone is fighting about this crust since its perceived as the most delicious part of the meal :)
Another thing I found very intersting was that the herbs (thyme, rosmary, basil, etc.) where not used for cooking and they were not part of the salad but they were just put on a plate and eaten in between two bites. Like a whole stem of thyme or rosmary! It was somehow strange to me but also very good! And so healthy!
Concerning the dishes we had, we had loads of eggplant and zuccini, mushrooms in all varieties, beans and lentils, okra, some greens I didnt know (and I dont think you can find them in Germany) and most of this in a kind of tomatoe-curry sauce. We had rice with safron, fried raisins, bread filled with mashed potatoes, small spicy bell peppers, falafel etc. etc. etc. seriously it was gerat! In Germany when someone invites you for dinner and you say that you are vegan, many people will find it very difficult to cook something for you and they will maybe complain that you are a complicated guest. In Iran it was not at all like this! Everyone was happy to cook something vegan for us and they also found it easy to cook (they mainly made dishes that are usually eaten with meat but they left out the meat - easy :)), sometimes they were surprised how good a dish tasted when using e.g. mushrooms instead of meat and two of our friends actually are vegetarians now! They felt so good after two weeks of eating vegan only with us that they decided to stop eating meat!
Next to all the great food we had for lunch and dinner, we also had endless tea breaks. Whereever we went, we haf some tea and some dates or figs. I loved those small breaks, where we just sat down on a carpet, the little one just next to us (she loved that we were always sitting on the floor!) and relaxed for a few moments, drank tea and talked about this and that. When we went somewhere by car and there was a place with a beautiful view, we stopped, got the carpet from the trunk, sat down and had a glass of tea while enjoying the view. It was just wonderful!
We also had loads of fruits. Since we travelled in Kurdistan it was easy and cheap to get fruit everywhere. Kurdistan is the region of Iran where all the veggies and fruits for the entire country are grown - like the apples, I worte about in my last post about Iran.
I hope you all had a wonderful week so far and I wish you a most amazing weekend!
Sending much love!
Most of you know already about my love for pencil skirts...
... so here is another look with my grey pencil skirt that I showed you already back here. Since Fall is rather warm so far, I decided to wear the pencil skirt with black tights and an oversized denim shirt, plus my all time favorite jacket that I wore soooooo many times on the blog ;)
How do you like this look?
By the way, about the location - its near my new place. We are moving these days. We are moving step by step so part of our living room is already in the new apartment and part is still here. The new apartment is in a neighboorhood that is much more quite and therefore somehow better for families and we went around to explore the area last Sunday. There are loads of places where I want to take pictures for the blog and I am happy and excited for this! I always like to take the pictures for the blog in different places every time, but after a few years of blogging and living in the same place, its somehow difficult to find new places - now that we are moving it will be easy :)
I am little tired these days from painting the flat, cleaning it, moving things there every day, walking there and back again, etc. etc. but I am also very happy about all of this!
How is your week going so far? I hope you are doing good :)!
Sending lots of love!
Its time for my September and October Purchases...
... from September on I took the decision to change my behaviour as a consumer and to buy sustainable only - this means either sustainable organic brands or second hand. So today I will tell you a little bit about how things went so far. First of all, I want to say that I am very happy that I took this decision and I feel a lot better and a lot more in coherence with myself since!
So how did it go? All in all I am doing pretty good - I bought one skirt from Hess Natur (see below) and a few second hand clothes. However, I also bought one shirt dress from H&M and I bought some sports wear from a normal sports wear brand. I have somehow an excuse for both: I was looking for a shirt dress to wear in Iran (where I am not allowed to wear my usual clothes) and I was not able to find one so a week before we left to Iran, I just ordered one from H&M because I really needed something to wear on arrival (while I was in Iran I was wearing my friends clothes - have you seen my Iran Outfit?). I feel bad about having ordered that dress but I really did not know what else to do. About the sports wear - I really needed some rubber boots and I found these really cute ones and since I ordered them from a sportswear shop, I looked through the sales and could not resist buying a top and some socks. So these are my fails! Totally admit! I will be better in the next two months, I am sure. And I will become better and better with every month and in one year it will be the most normal thing ever to buy organic or fair trade only (hopefully) :)
Two jeans, second hand. They are H&M Boyfriend jeans. I paid 10 Euro for each of them and I wear them a lot. I wore the black one on the blog here and the blue one not yet on the blog, but I am having an outfit ready that I was wearing twice in the last two weeks and I want to put it on the blog soon :)
(here I am cheating a little because with the two jeans I also bought a second hand blazer and a second hand sweater but I sold both of them again alread since I didnt like them anyway)
My much loved pencil skirt from Hess Natur, 100% wool, 100% perfect, I love it and wear it a lot! I wore it on the blog here and I am sure it will make it on the blog again several times this Winter, next Winter and even the Winter after next Winter ;)
I paid 70 Euro (on sale!)
A running shirt and running socks. Not much to say about it, except that they are not second hand and not organic and not fair and I should not have bought them. They were on sale, I thought I need them and I paid 5 Euro for all of it.
Rubber boots! I was looking for rubber boots in years, but either I found them ugly or they were too expensive. These ones were 13 Euro, they are actually riding equipment (I bought them from a sports shop in the horseback riding section) and a friend of mine has the same and she says that they are the best rubber boots she ever owned. I just got them a few days back and since we have super duper sunshine weather, I did not get to wear them yet.
A handbag, second hand, originally from MANGO. I paid 20 euro and I use it a lot. Its really big and perfect for my own things plus the babys toys, diapers etc. ;)
The H&M shirt dress I wrote about above. Not organic, not sustainable, not fair, nothing. But I really needed it for Iran! I wore it in Iran and I am sure I will get to wear it a lot back here in Germany too. Still, I feel bad about having bought it. I paid 20 euro.
So these are my purchases. I did not do super bad nor super good. But I am okay with these two months, because I did better than ever before and thats already something! Its difficult to change habits from one day to the other and I am patient with myself - please be so too :)
I spent a total of 148 euro
(the items I bought and sold again are not included in here)
All in all I actually find it easier than I thought to consume this way! I am thinking more about what I really need and I am searching for more specific things instead of just scrolling through the H&M sales.
I installed an app for second hand sales on my phone and when I feel like scrolling through clothes, I am looking through the second hand clothes on the app and it has the same relaxing effect on me as did the H&M sales site. However, from the second hand things I bought, I sold two (out of five) pieces again because I did not like them anyway, thats a bad rate, I think. I need to get better in this second hand shopping and I will :)!
So, these were my purchases from September and October and from my first two months as a conscious consumer. What do you think about them?
Sending much love and wishing you a great start in the new week!
Today I will take you back to Iran again...
... one sunny day of our stay in Kermanshah, we went out of town to visit a village in the mountains, around 1 1/2 hours north of Kermanshah. We spent the day on an apple farm, picking apples from the trees, eating apples and, mainly, enjoying the view :)
We had tea and a delicous lunch with salad, falafel and bread (oh my, I had the best falafel ever in Iran!) and we had potatoes that we put in the fire for some 30 minutes, until they were completly black. We just removed the burned skin and the inside was so super yummy!
I was feeding the little one underneath a walnut tree and we both slept there for a little bit, while the others were picking apples to take home with us - we took three boxes of apples with us and ate at least four of them every day of our stay. Their were the sweetest, most delicous apples I have ever tasted and eating them reminded me every day of this beautiful day. It seriously was such a perfect day and it felt so good to stay on this quite mountain for a few hours, enjoying the silence, the fresh air, the view and the company of good friends. After having spend a few days in the city of Kermanshah this day really was like a small vacation in our vacation :)
I am back in Germany since more than a week now but I actually miss Iran! I really hope that I will be able to go back there soon! Until then, I will share a few more posts from Iran in the coming weeks :)
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Sending much love!
