Kat – KAT

February 4, 2019 — No Comments

Early Valentine’s Day with Hunkemöller

I recently had the opportunity to attend Hunkemöller's Valentine's Day themed event in Cologne celebrating the launch of their Valentine's Day lingerie collection. Actually I told you in my last blog post that something special in Cologne was coming up and I'm sure most of you saw my story that day and all the red and pink pictures that followed. This event was truly special to me and I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming when I got the invitation. I'm beyond grateful for being able to experience all of this. Thanks to the lovely ladies of the Hunkemöller team and the German, Austrian and Swiss ambassador girls for this amazing day.

The Austrian girls Jenny, Tammy and I arrived in Cologne around 9 am and we went for a little breakfast and coffee date before making our way to the Excelsior Hotel Ernst were the event was taking place. We met everyone else about an hour later and as soon as everyone arrived, we went shopping in the Hunkemöller store on Hohe Straße. The ladies in the store showed us around and we had the chance to choose our favourite pieces from the Valentine's Day collection to create a look which we shot later on. Only an hour and a half later we went back to the Hotel.

I have no words for the next part. Just see for yourselves! The Hunkemöller girls are world champions in throwing the most instagrammable high tea and brunch events. We entered the room one by one, filming everything of course and we couldn't believe our eyes. There were flowers everywhere and étagères with macarons, tiny cupcakes and sandwiches and this huge heart shaped cake topped with flowers and strawberries which had been dipped in white chocolate.

The waiter brought super delicious soup in a glass tube, smoked salmon with beet root and edible gold and even four different variations of sushi before he cut the cake. It took quite some time before we had some food because nobody wanted to touch the beautiful decorations. I also couldn't stop taking pictures and I felt like my phone couldn't even capture the moment properly.

After lunch we got our hair and makeup done, put on our lingerie look and took pictures in one of the suites that the Hotel provided us with. Every little corner was decorated with balloons, flowers and hearts. Instax supplied us with polaroid cameras which was so much fun. I had about 10000 new pictures on my phone that day and the choosing, editing and feed planning process turned into a nightmare (in a good way of course). Soon after our shoot we headed back to the airport with our pink and black Hunkemöller bags and too much content to handle.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again soon and I'm beyond excited for any opportunity that will come this year.

January 18, 2019 — No Comments

Winter intolerant

Hello Instagram friends who swiped up in my story. Well I assume that's why most of you are here. I wrote my last blog post back in November and it was about my LA trip which was in September. My last semester of uni kept me rather busy but honestly that's not my only reason for being absent. Let's just say the cold, gloomy weather didn't give me the inspiration and motivation I needed. I'm currently way too busy with my final (omg) semester of study which seems crazy and unreal. The next couple of month will bring big changes and as much as I'm excited, I'm admittedly kind of anxious as well. On the bright side, there is a very special event I will be attending in Cologne next week. I'm thrilled and will tell you more soon. And you will come along of course through insta stories. As for tonight, Netflix will be the only thing getting my attention. But I will be back next week with lots of pictures and experiences from Cologne.

November 16, 2018 — No Comments

Classic LA things & the truth about taking pictures

The last couple of weeks have been way too busy. My university courses are taking up too much time and effort which makes it hard for me to blog on a regular basis. But I will do my best, I promise. For now I just wanna get my LA posts done and share a couple more pictures with you including some pink pictures of classic LA things.

We took these photos in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Well most of them where actually taken on Melrose Avenue like the one of the neon lights of the Vivienne Westwood shop and the iconic Paul Smith wall. Speaking of the Paul Smith wall, taking pictures there was a very odd experience. First of all I imagined this place to be way bigger and I thought people were actually lining up to take pictures. Well there were some people but mostly tourists who snapped one picture and left. I think I literally had a thousand pink wall pictures on my phone. But you know I just wanted to get it right. You can't shoot in front of THE pink wall every day.

On this day we had breakfast at Café Gratitude in Beverly Hills and walked down Rodeo Drive. Beverly Hills is definitely one of the prettiest areas in LA but it's also as fancy as you would probably imagine. It reminded me a bit of the posh places you can find in Vienna and I'm not too fond of these places anymore. Later on we walked to Melrose Avenue. Those who know LA, will think we're crazy because the distances are ridiculous. But we actually walked a lot. It sometimes took as an hour or longer but we saw so much more of the city than we would have by car. After getting a huge lemonade at Lemonade we went shopping on Melrose. I bought a couple of pieces at Adidas Originals and Urban Outfitters including the black outfit I was wearing the next day in the pictures below.

I wasn't feeling too well that day so we slept in and went downtown later on. We went to The Grove, checked out the new iPhone, bought some AirPods and had some coffee. I wanted to get some pictures at the Urban Light so we walked there. (Don't worry this was just a 15 minute walk or so.) The Urban Light is actually such an amazing piece of art. And some people might even forget that it's not just a pretty photo spot. I saw people climbing on it and kids using it as a playground which is kind of disrespectful in my opinion. A piece of art is there to be observed and admired and in this case used as a beautiful background for photographers or tourists.

Generally I love taking pictures in LA. There won't be anyone judging you, giving you weird looks or saying something stupid. This is actually what happens to me on a daily basis in Austria. Most of the people's minds here just seems too small to understand that taking pictures might just be a job like theirs. In LA nobody cares. The least thing they will do is complement your outfit. I used to take this very personally because I might seem confident most of the time but there were some comments that hurt me in the past. When I came to LA I felt like I was in the right place, surrounded by the right people who have similar ideas, visions and attitudes as me. So maybe all I wanna say is that next time you see someone taking pictures on the street or doing anything that seems unusual to you, say something nice or say nothing at all. Oh and when you see me, just say hi.

There is one more thing I wanna get into since this is a real talk blog post now I guess. The Urban Light pictures turned out really nice and they are one of my favourite pictures we took in LA. But I felt so so shitty. The sun was way too hot for me and I was sick. There were tourists everywhere and we had to wait until we could get a good shot. Then even more people came, we had to wait again in the sun and this went on and on and on. So even though our feeds might look nice and happy and candid, there is so much more going on behind our screens.

October 26, 2018 — No Comments

DTLA

Downtown wasn't really my favourite place in LA so I want to dedicate this post to the Arts District (which is a part of Downtown LA). I still included a couple of pictures from the Financial District and Walt Disney Concert Hall because people always say that this is what you'll have to see in LA. I didn't really like it that much there, to be honest. But don't get me wrong, I think it's all really beautiful and there are quite a few impressive buildings but after all it's still the Financial District with skyscrapers, busy people and stuff.

We started our day at the Grand Central Market. We wanted to go there for lunch because about 10 different uber drivers suggested to go there. Unfortunately it was so crowded, there were no seats anywhere and it was kinda dirty too. I'm sure the food is nice, if you like fast-food and eating on the go but I really prefer sitting down and having a meal with someone where it's a bit more quiet and relaxing, you know what I mean?

Very hot and kinda hangry, we went up the stairs that you can see behind Tobi in the picture below. And all of a sudden the vibe of the city completely changed. It was a lot cleaner and prettier there and since we were still so hungry we got something at Starbucks because that's the first place we saw (and I'm really not fun when I'm hungry).

Walt Disney Concert Hall

OUE Skyspace

Sugarfish

After a stroll through the city we wanted to visit the OUE Skyspace. It has the best view over LA and even a pretty scary glass slide. Unfortunately it was really crowded and busy and so we decided to take a couple of pictures because the building was even really beautiful from downstairs. Later on we had lunch at sugarfish. Seriously, best sushi ever! You can order a menu and they will serve you a couple of fresh pieces of sushi. I'm getting really hungry writing this and seeing that picture above. It's pretty expensive but so worth it.

Arts District

In the afternoon we went to the Arts District. I think this might be one of my favourite places in LA. After Venice of course. Nothing beats the Venice vibe. But the Arts District has its own very special, chilled, artsy (obviously) and relaxed vibe. There are a lot of warehouses and industrial buildings which have been transformed into shops, cafés and offices. The street art is also amazing. I guess you could say it's the Shoreditch of LA. We visited a couple of little boutiques, design and art shops, had some random but great conversations with interesting strangers and had some pretty great coffee. But the best thing that happened to us was seeing a Shiba Inu meeting. There were about 10 puppies behind the truck in the last image. This literally made my day.

October 14, 2018 — No Comments

V E N I C E, baby

I have already been back for two weeks and my final uni year has also started. The annual autumn stress makes me want to think about our wonderful time in LA even more. Since I have about 10.000 pictures I thought I would only share some of the highlights with you, categorised in locations. So here it is, my first LA travel photo diary - or whatever you wanna call it. Let's start with my absolute favourite place, Venice.

We stayed in a Venice Beach house for the entire two weeks of our travel. In the morning we would get up and take the bikes to the beach and have breakfast there. Honestly, this is how I want to wake up everyday. The sun, the sea and the positive vibe of that place just calm me down and make me truly happy. Whenever we didn't get something at Erewhon (which rarely happened) we would go out for lunch or dinner. And here are a couple of my favourite Venice restaurants and cafés. In case you'll ever go there or just want to read about food.

The Butcher's Daughter

The Butcher's Daughter

Good vibes is the only term that sums up this place. Especially when you get there early in the morning because then it's not as busy. Definitely get the surfer's breakfast (burrito), the avocado toast or the açai bowl. Most of the dishes are vegan and some are vegetarian. You will also get a great view of Abbot Kinney Blvd and all the dogs walking by.

Café Gratitude

I love Gratitude. There is one in Venice, Beverly Hills, Hollywood and the Arts District. We went to all of them (except for the Arts District one - no idea why though). Venice is definitely my favourite one and the one in Beverly Hills is, well just kinda Beverly Hills you know. But they all have the same menu and I'm still craving the açai bowl aka vivid. The names of the dishes are adjectives and when you order, the waiter / the waitress would say "you are vivid". And there is also a question of the day which you can think about for yourself like "what inspires you". Oh and everything is plant-based there. I honestly love this place.

Gjelina

Kinda hyped but such a calm and beautiful place. Some of you might know this place as the restaurant from the Netflix show Flaked. I was fascinated by the wooden interior and also this place smells so good. Most of the people order a couple of dishes to share. This is great since everything on the menu sounds so delicious. We had the pizza and it's actually one of the best ones I had in LA.

Abbot's Pizza Company

Speaking of pizza, this place has a salad pizza that is actually topped with green salad and LOADS of avocado. It's so good. But the restaurant is more like a takeaway place. It has limited seating and is not so pretty inside but it's the pizza that counts, am I right?. We ordered a large one and watched AHS apocalypse at the apartment. Perfect night.

Gjelina

This now sounds like all we did was eat, which is not (entirely) true. I also enjoyed shopping on Abbot Kinney Blvd because there are a lot of great individual boutiques and local fashion and design shops. I have already shown you some of my Venice purchases on Instagram but you will definitely see more in the next couple of posts.

We spent most of the sunsets on the beach. In the evening we would go to the skatepark and just sit there, watch and really absorb the unique vibe. Then we would just sit on the beach with all the birds to experience the most beautiful sunsets we had ever seen. The sky above the ocean looks as if it was painted in every possible yellow and orange shade. Once you turn around and see the palm tress and the moon you will see pink, purple and blue colours. It's the most inspiring colour palette I've ever seen in real life.

The palm trees and the colours of the sky alone make me miss this place a lot. We both have fallen in love with Venice and it won't be long until we come back. And then I don't know if I'm coming back.

September 6, 2018 — No Comments

Polaroids from Italy

It's September already but for me the summer has just started. This might sound odd since I've already ordered autumn boots and jackets but last week's girls trip to Lignano was my first proper summer holiday of 2018. To be completely honest June, July and most of August felt a little bit like torture seeing all of you people travelling, exploring beaches and new places. I had major Fernweh issues so stepping into the sea for the first time felt like the biggest relief of all time.

But I really cannot complain! A huge trip is coming up in less than a week. There is still so much we need to plan and figure out but I seriously have never been so excited and nervous about a trip. Tobi and I have been dreaming about this destination for as long as we've known each other. Can you guess where we're going? I'm sure some of you know.

Until then, I have quite a lot of Italy picture to share with you - because you know when Ninie and I travel, we clear our phones and come back with about 60GB of photos and videos, each. And here are just a couple of my favourite analog looking digital photos in a polaroid mockup. I had no actual film left but you know I always need a little vintage vibe. Also, are you guys interested in a travel guide including tips and our favourite spots for my next Italy post or would you rather see a travel diary? Leave me a comment, I would love to hear your thoughts.

August 25, 2018 — No Comments

Oh hi, it’s been a while!

I don't even know how to begin this.

It has been over a year since I've written my last blog post. And that was still on the old website. As I am typing this, seeing the good old WordPress interface, I have to say it feels great to be back.

I know, Instagram is the shit and since it is my main platform of communication I will probably use this blog for mostly design related stuff like sharing my work, writing about other people's work, things that inspire me, photography and maybe also a little bit of travel related content but I'm still not entirely sure. I guess I will figure this out over the next couple of weeks together with you guys. For now, let's just say I'm glad it's there.

I've been working on this website for a long time now. I have been planning it for a year but started working on it last semester. (You can find more information on the design here.) In all fairness I had to, because I attended a portfolio class and was required to create an online portfolio. So I had to make a website anyway and I thought why not revive the little blogger inside of me as well.

All that's left for me to say now is that I'm extremely looking forward to creating and sharing it on here.
Until then, please enjoy these random (but pretty) pictures of my recent work session and taco break.

Oh and please, I would be so so happy about all kinds of feedback, comments, criticism, content ideas, pretty much anything. Leave a comment here or under my recent instagram post. I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Have a wonderful day.