Wintery, owly love in my apartment!

In an effort to combat the winter blues around here, I've decorated my apartment for the months of January and February to give myself something to look forward to when I'm home.

My kitchen area

During my first week back in Austria, I would come home and make these light blue snowflakes for hours until it was safe for me to go to bed.  It was very relaxing in every way!

I got the owl image from Pinterest and the snowflakes from school, which had been made by students in the art classes and used as Christmas decorations.

Penguin image, courtesy of Pinterest, too

My living room area

Love owls  :)

My ghetto snowman!  I love this thing!  :-D

This is my owl puppet named Phoebe that I'd bought at IKEA with other teachers.  She hangs out in my living room and watches over the little owls.

My coffee table

German for "Coffee for us"

See?  I'm practicing!

This sugar bowl is a piece of Polish pottery, which is something I'd never heard of til I arrived here.  All pieces are made in Poland and are hand-painted.

I bought this at a Christmas market last month.

This is my bedless bedroom.  It's mostly a storage area.  (I sleep on my amazing couch in my living room!)

So much snow on my bedroom windows!

Last night, I had some girlfriends over for dinner and games.

Here I am with Tracy...

...and here she is with Lou.  They're both elementary teachers and are super sweet!

Bedtime now.  I'll post again soon.

My first Epiphany

Happy New Year 2013!  :)

(I can't believe it's been a month-and-a-half since I've blogged on here.  Sorry!)

I had a very short but fun Christmas break at home in Indiana.  My flights were on time, and I had no problem with returning to my apartment here in Vienna on a Friday night.  

During the next afternoon, when I was still asleep (jet lag), I had a knock on my door.  I NEVER open the door if I can see through my peephole that it's a man, but it was these cuties!

Aren't they precious??!?

The boy spoke English and told me which church they were affiliated with in their door-to-door work.  The little girls were dressed as the three kings for Three Kings' Day/Epiphany and were collecting money to give to a charity.

 After I gave them some money, they wrote some Latin abbreviation above my door frame.  
(I've since wiped it off.)

Brochure they gave me

It was a sweet introduction back to Vienna!