• Eating Nogger ice-cream in the car. With a clear view of the mountains in the sunshine after a cold and rainy day.
• Having the apartment to myself for the weekend. Playing Sims and Tetris for the first time in ages. Sweet nostalgia. Extreme dissociation. But I mostly deep-cleaned, organised, finished a few DIY projects, baked an apple cake. And I loved when C. and Tobi called me from Ferdi's place. Tobi told me about the 16 guinea pig babies and that he'd love to have me there for board game night. C. also sent me a message in bold letters: "Schöne Gedanken über dich heute!"
• How happy L. was to see me after a weekend away.
• Baking a very successful apple cake. Bringing it to a casual meeting with my new neighbours.
• Buying a huge pot of basil. Happy thoughts every time I smell it.
• Grouting my new wooden shelves in the bathroom. With my kitched piping bag! Very satisfying.
• Meeting Becky. A celebration as always. But then we stumbled upon Manu and the three of us had even more fun! My social batteries got charged.
• Little kitten hairclips. An eyeshadow palette I don't need. Glasses with yellow lenses. Dopamine buys.
• Planting lots of little flower bushes in the garden. Feeling accomplished.
• Finding a postcard from C. in the mail. He wanted to be the first one to send something to my new address!
• Listening to vinyl for the first time in ages.

SCHÖNBURN

• Yod and me got matching burner cups: disco balls with pink cowboy hats. We call them the Dolly Partons.
• Connecting with Susi, Sophie and Vanessa at the first Decom. Vanessa told me a lot about her experiments and her huge special interest library and even gifted me a spiky fidget toy and a DIY Terence McKenna card.
• I love that the waiters always bring you a free bottle of still water in Vienna. And the little anomalies in the Austrian language which gives them such a dated touch.
• Presents for myself. Shopping at the art supply store, treating myself to some &otherstories jewellery and home accessories. Cherry earrings and cowboy patches for my fanny pack.
• Falling in love with Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I love his manifesto and his art style. How you see almost every brush stroke. The bright colours and ornamental shapes. The organic architecture. He even created his own font. And he's was particular with books as me. And lived on his boat for years.
• The incredible food at Mochi restaurants. We met at the izakaya and ordered pretty much everything. And everything was absolutely delicious. I got calpico, a grilled mushroom sushi roll, miso soup and eggplant, and tried all the other tapas as well. The next day I went to their ramen kitchen and had creamy mushroom miso ramen. I also had vegetable somen, homemade onigiri and matcha latte more than once.
• We went to quite a few cocktail bars this week and I was amazed by all the interesting flavours. But I'm afraid I'm a little unoriginal: a White Russian might be my signature drink by now.
• Vienna's Badeschiff on the Donaukanal. Icy water and chill vibes.
• Giving myself a beautiful eye makeup with a new warm-coloured eyeshadow palette. Checking my reflection in every second shop window I passed. Liking what I see.
• Attending Susi's Decom party. Climbing up the roof with Yod, taking selfies together. Talking to Tamara, Klaus, Ingo, Vanessa and Joy. Taking an Uber home.
• The camping meet-up with C.'s gang and most of their kids. I loved the late-night campfire rounds, adults only. Observing the Milky Way, hoping for shooting stars. Joking around with the kids. Cuddling, playing, handing out glitter band-aids. Commuting back and forth with my e-bike so I could sleep in my proper bed and take a shower.
• I made Zwetschgenknödel with buttered breadcrumbs. Another one of my nostalgia recipes. I used to help my grandma make them and was usually responsible for cleaning the fruit and exchanging the pits for sugar cubes.