My lovelies, it's Christmas Eve again and me and my family are off to our holiday getaway! I've had my massage (I always spend about half the time thinking that I should saviour how relaxed I am and then I realize I'm not focusing on the relaxation and then it all starts again but the other half of the time I'm truly relaxed and it's all wonderful). Also, I now smell like a human honeypot.

Well made tofu is so rare in this world!

There's soup in there, though you can't see it

I think I got steam on my lense by this point

My loveliest friend wrote me a beautiful letter today - we had been reminiscing about our teenage years (I know, seeing how I look like I'm twelve most of the time that doesn't seem so far away, but trust me, I'm old) recently and decided to write a little something about that to each other for Christmas. It's a bit like trying to catch a moment in a jar, so you can save it for later (who knows where I stole that expression?). I think that's one of the things I love most about the power of words, the ability to save and saviour and keep and create forevers.


Speaking of keeping, I brought my camera, as I've told you - I sincerely hope that I'm not messing up the film, because it really takes some time to get used to not being able to see your picture directly after taking it, so you can't really tell wether you're choosing good lighting and things. But I do love the fact that I'll be looking at Christmas photographs again in a few weeks time, once I get this baby developed!

Oh but back to the writing, I got a book called "The Best of Everything", and it sounds absolutely fabulous; it's from the 50's and its main characters are women working in publishing in New York City and the plot follows their personal and professional ups and downs and I've only read a few pages but I feel so spoken to already! Maybe it'll hold some sort of fateful revelations for me, who knows.

I hope you are having a sparkling time with your loved ones right now.

Love,

Rosy Smith

Aah, February. What are we gonna do with you. Let's find out, shall we?

This is not the greatest picture ever taken, but it's the only one I could crop myself out of. Not 'cause my friends aren't pretty, but 'cause I'm not sure if they'd wanna be on here

Yeah we went out to celebrate carnival. Interestingly, Hamburg is like, the one place in Germany where they don't actually do carnival, but we tracked down a party, threw together some costumes from scratch and merrily went off (after changing in the fancy foyer bathroom of our workplace, scaring the concierge in the process). When we made it to the location, there were literally fifteen people there, so we refused to waste our hard-earned money and sat down outside, counting the arriving guests. We made minus. Two guys left, but not without coming by and telling us how much that place blew and that we should come with them to another spot, so naturally, we took up their advice and ended up having a lovely night at a very authentic bash right underneath city hall. The lesson here, lovelies: Don't talk to strangers, unless they look like they know where it's going on.

Currently listening to: Cry Baby, by Melanie Martinez, as well as Cry Baby, by Demi Lovato. Different approaches, same belt-out potential. Love me a good "mascara all over my face" aesthetic. You must think I'm such fun at parties, right? But don't you worry, because

I'm all moved back into my parent's house, to finish up my last year at fashion school! I have to say, looking at the still-not-unpacked boxes around me (and the fact that all my clothes are holed up in my suitcase and I am too lazy to hang them up and therefore have nothing to wear at all), there is a certain nostalgia for my spacious, generally orderly apartment with the great shoe rack. However, home does have lots of perks to it, such as fully cooked food at reasonable hours of the day, cough medicine (I'm not an addict, I actually am sick. I think my ribs are broken, but I might have just pulled a muscle while coughing out my lungs. Again, glamorous party trick) and loved ones around.

For instance, I met up with my bestest friend already! She is currently seeing someone new (or rather, new in the sense of him being "seeing" material), and we were wondering: When is the right time to ask to see the other person's health record? Do you just casually whip out your own and say "oh, I just happened to pick this up, why don't you show me yours, too, sometime?" To be honest, I'd probably totally forget about that. Even though it is an important matter and there's no shame in checking your health and ladida, you know I get queasy talking about my UTIs, so how do you expect me to be cool about this? Also, it just seems so unromantic and un-fun and un-spontaneous. But maybe there is some kind of secret code to use? I am a big fan of using secret codes for uncomfortable conversations (remember Sunday?).

Someone who's in a wholly different sphere of being right now is my loveliest friend. She's currently studying in Milan, and if you haven't been hiding from humanity you'll know that Milan fashion week is going on right now - so it's Fendi for lunch and Prada at night for her. Everyone's there, Anna, the other Anna, Olivia, Gigi; notice how I'm already using their first names like I'm a close personal friend? And I'm not even there. Got the pictures to prove it, though. I'm flying out next weekend, which I'm already overly excited about, not 'cause of the fashion (well, a bit, too), but because we'll be finally reunited (my loveliest friend and I, if that wasn't quite clear. It's hard not to get caught up there).

Love,

Rosy Smith

 

So I'm back home after a few days of vacación on the island of Mallorca, Spain, full of the usual motivational spirit that always overcomes me when I'm away. It just seems so easy to make the ultimate plans to score an internship when you're dreamily staring into the sunset and your biggest problem is to take a picture of the single sailboat swimming there without getting it too bright, you know?

Also, one should ask beforehand if the shrimps you're ordering are prepared in any way. Because I didn't and I got them the way God made them, complete with legs and tentacles and whatnot. It was nasty to look at (yes I am one of those people who refuse to eat things when they look too alive) but there were about ten giant sea animals on my plate and I couldn't possibly leave them all uneaten, so I grabbed fork and knife and hoped I wouldn't slide off and send pieces of fish organs all over the place. I managed, but it took quite a while of concentrated surgeon work. The bread table looked like a cemetery afterwards. But the meat was good, if that's still of any interest!

Coast town streets are narrow as hell. I would have freaked out if I had to drive there, but my dad confidently steered us through what felt like every single population of the island. I really like the beige/reddish stones (I don't know the special term for that kind of stone but enlighten me if you can) most of these towns are made of; stone buildings are always so much prettier than steel, aren't they? Ever picture would look great here if it weren't for the lines and lines of parked cars practically everywhere. How anyone ever parks out without crashing at least two other cars is a complete mystery to me.

Palmtrees and a seaview don't automatically mean that it's nice and hot outside. If you, like me, refuse to bring your coats because you simply won't accept that you'd need coats in Spain, you might end up wearing three layers and looking like you gained twenty pounds all day. If you, moreover, don't figure out how to use the heating system in the hotel room, you might also wear a fleece jacket and use another one as a second blanket at night.

But that's okay, because at home, there will be snow, so clearly this is the better end of the straw.

On the bright side, I actually got plans for Valentine's Day that don't involve an Anti-Valentine's Day party - look at me evolving and trying new things. Oh, and I gifted my questionable silver box and got no complaints, so mission accomplished, I'd say.

Ready to do more of that.

Love,

Rosy Smith

I watched the Winter episode of the Gilmore Girls revival today.
Let me stress that I was watching in style, with pizza, soft drinks and cakepops.
It was bittersweet; I mean, seeing a brand new episode after thinking that it was over forever feels like coming home, but I'm sensing a not so flattering character development for poor Rory and that's tragic. I still love it. It's triggering my journalistic ambitions to see her talk about job interviews and writing a book and having things published in the New Yorker.

I'm also one step closer to having all of my Christmas presents ready! Only one to go. Sharp call, but I can do it. It will be some kind of voucher and I need to craft it or something, so that it seems a bit more personal. Like, use straw to build a model of the actual thing.

I wrote this gift-explaining letter yesterday and I'm getting second thoughts on how attractive it will make me sound (I tried really hard to be my usual self and not, under no circumstances, be corny, and I'm not sure if that turned out witty and sweet or just plain weird and distant). I already wrapped it up, though, so I couldn't do anything about it if I wanted to. Except write another letter explaining the explanation.

I guess you wouldn't need to think twice to come to the conclusion that that would be weird indeed.

Love,

Rosy Smith

Good very early morning lovelies, or whatever time it is where you're at. It's been my first day out of school but I've been trying to directly get into studying and that hasn't worked out all too well to begin with so I wasn't really feeling the holiday spirit. One of my bestest friends texted me, saying "I'd ask you to come over....you'd just have to drive....and I haven't tidied up....and it would be after eight....but, yeah" and I replied "Well my hair isn't washed....and it would be bad if my car froze....but it would be better than lounging in my room, staring at my unfinished work/my phone/YouTube all evening long, I guess". It was all very affectionate and moving. I put on a dress and a swipe of lipstick and drove over there, basically from memory, 'cause I didn't put the AC on and the windshield was totally steamed up, making it impossible for me to see anything further away than three feet. I don't even want to know how much I trundled from one side of the road to another. But as soon as I got there, it became a wonderful evening - Saturday nights can be fun even if you don't feel like going out at all. Just stay in with someone else.

Love,

Rosy Smith