Quote #3

"Never abandon your hobbies, for you can never know when one of your hobbies will turn into your job."

Source

Is your hobby your job? Which of your hobbies would you rather it was your job? What is your latest hobby? Let me know in the Comments below. (Mind you, I set all comments to moderate, so it may take a while to appear.)

Quote #2

"You only understand the importance of education, when you meet ignorance."

Source

This came to me when reading an article about Olga Sviblova in Côté Est, this morning. She told about valuable photographs left to rot and disintegrate. Ignorance is one of those things that make me furious. And I mean furious, enraged, mad. Ignorance can cause so much pain!

What kind of behaviour or characteristics make you furious? Do you fight against ignorance? What was the last thing that inspired you? Let me know in the Comments below. (Mind you, I set all comments to moderate, so it may take a while to appear.)

Warm Bodies - the movie

According to my friend, it was about a year ago that I discovered Isaac Marion's Warm Bodies on Goodreads. The jacket copy sounded hilarious and absurd, but back then I did no zombies. (This year I'm actually doing a lot of stuff I wouldn't for the life of me before. Like reading Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan (I do no books that feature a Hungarian character but are not written by a Hungarian author. We are always mixed up with Russian people and I hate that.) or Marissa Meyer's Cinder, whose cover instantly captivated me, but I do no non-human characters, either.)

So I had no choice, but to recommend the book to my friend, who has nothing against zombies. Then I learnt that there would be a movie and after watching the trailer I didn't care about the gory bits, I knew I must see the film. It was a scream.

And the movie itself was a scream! The experience was the same as watching The Hunger Games. There, everyone hated Jennifer Lawrence and no one could imagine why she was picked for the role. Here, you heard disappointed reviews, but actually, it was way better than what you'd expected.

As for Nicholas Hoult, I was looking forward to watching him. I saw About a boy, of course, but I haven't seen Skins. And just like with Jennifer Lawrence I haven't expected him to be this great.

As for Theresa Palmer, no one mentioned before, but I think she was deliberately styled and photographed to resemble Kristen Stewart in her role of Bella Swan. It's funny, I haven't heard anyone comment on this so far, but I'm sure it's not only me.

And the scripts! It was amazing, the way words were picked so that the zombie actors could utter them practically without moving their lips.

And at last, but not at least I loved the promotional campaign. Here's the official Facebook page. I especially enjoyed the zombie pick-up lines set, but who didn't, right?

To sum it up: it was a warm, lively, funny movie everyone should watch.

Have you seen Warm Bodies? Warm Bodies or Twilight Saga? Do you watch movies that you'd never read in book format? Let me know in the Comments below. (Mind you, I set all comments to moderate, so it may take a while to appear.)

Perfect Morning - Pinterest, Güd

I still have yet to come up with my perfect morning routine, but now, I sure won't have a problem with finding inspiration for it! Have you seen this video?

The cosmetics brand, Güd decided to promote their latest product Red Ruby Groovy shampoo by realizing your perfect morning (as long as you are in the US, unfortunately) based on your Perfect Morning Pinterest board.

I instantly got hooked, even though I'm definitely not in the US. I spend quite a lot of time on Pinterest, but so far I haven't seen any perfect morning related boards. How is that possible?! (The article I read claims that ad people saw the morning boards and that's how they came up with the idea for the promotions campaign.) Anyway, I decided to check some out as I think, they're much more intriguing than wedding boards.

Here are some random favourites:

Jan Henry must LOVE blueberries as there are lots of pins of them on her Morning board.

Fashion and Movies urges you to start your day like a Hollywood star. That's what I call a five-star morning!

Ellen Amarnek's Morning looks yummy.

And on that note, here's a list of the best breakfasts in the world. Have you tried any besides your own?

Do you have a morning board on Pinterest? What's the best part of your morning routine? Where would you like to wake up tomorrow? Let me know in the Comments below. (Mind you, I set all comments to moderate, so it may take a while to appear.)

Budapest 100 2013 - Photographing old buildings Part One

This weekend, I'd been traipsing around the city photographing old buildings. This was the third occasion that the 100 year-old buildings of Budapest (houses and institutions alike) had opened their gates to the grande public.

I'd spent a lot of time poring over the various programmes at the Budapest100 website before I was able to settle for the perfect ones for me.

The first building I visited was Belgrád rakpart (quay or docks) at the (Pest) foot of Liberty Bridge. (If you ask any residents they'll most likely claim that it is their favourite bridge. No wonder, as it offers the most beautiful view on the Danube.)

Here, in the 100 year-old house on Belgrád rakpart visitors were first taken up to the attic.

After the attic tour, I attended a special history 'class' in one of the flats and learnt many interesting things about the area and the house. Which means, I'll later look up more info on it.

Next, I went to the 'residence' of a very famous Hungarian actress, Katalin Karády. Even you might have heard her name, as she fled to the US and died there. She was also famous for hiding Jewish people during WWII. Here, visitors could take a tour of the cellars where she hid children. It was a very special experience.

Before the next programme, I had a few idle hours, so I photographed a few beautiful, old buildings.

Then, I went to a renowned hotel where visitors were taught to dance the Charleston. Unfortunately, I have no photo of that, but I had a great time.

Before returning home, I took a photo of my favourite bridge, Margaret Bridge. The flags are promoting the Budapest Spring Festival or BTF.

To be continued...

Hairdo Inspiration from Knitting and Crocheting

I can hear you say: Wow! This girl certainly knows how to pick unusual sources for inspiration! Before you think I'm even more special than I actually am, I'd like to point out that I do not knit or crochet. Yet! Anyway, because my friend is pretty intent on charming me into both.

Today, I accompanied said friend to a yarn shop where I was more interested in the various knitting and crocheting books and mags than in the yarns themselves. That's how I discovered one on crochet headwear whose title of course I forgot and haven't managed to find since on the Internet by simply browsing. But it featured a model with a very chic and boho short hairdo that could be styled in a million different ways. And there was another book (title fallen into oblivion, too) that featured three models with very sexy long hairdos.

You see, my problem is: I'd love to go short, but at the moment my hair is so long, that I'm sure I'd regret the moment I got it cut short. The solution: find a great layered hairdo for long hair. After failing miserably browsing hairdo sites and Pinterest, I decided to change my tactics. I went for pins featuring knitwear and crochetwear.

That's how I stumbled upon Rowan Yarns.

Inspiration for long layered hairdo

And if you're yarning (sic!) for more Rowan models, here's a collection. Here you'll find every single pin that has ever been pinned from the site www.knitrowan.com.

Do you knit or crochet or both? Where did you find inspiration for your latest hairdo? Do you prefer vintage or modern hairdos? Let me know in the Comments below. (Mind you, I set all comments to moderate, so it may take a while to appear.)

Inspiration for Banners

I'm working as a marketing assistant and now that Easter is over, it's time to come up with some new banners for the webshop. I don't know about you, but in my humble experience you often find inspiration for banners in a different field of interest. Maybe the only exception is gastronomy.

This time, I was looking for inspiration for some gardening themed banners. And here are some (and also some sites) that I discovered on the way.

I really loved the idea behind this one.

I discovered http://meetyourneighbours.net via one of their amazing banners that I didn't bookmark (big mistake!) nor could I find again. So here's a picture from their site to illustrate.

How charming! from Royal Apothic

I must read this blog thoroughly sometime soon!

In the end, I came up with a totally different design.

What are your favourite banner designs? Where do you look for inspiration? Have you ever discovered an interesting site or blog through browsing banner images? Let me know in the Comments below. (Mind you, I set all comments to moderate, so it may take a while to appear.)

Food and Drink - Places to Explore

On Friday, I'm meeting friends and as usual we tried to decide where to go. We are all eager to explore new places, somewhat less eager to travel far after a long day at work and most often we just end up at a favourite spot we've already grown fond of. Not this time, though!

This time, we'll try Púder in Budapest's famous 'Restaurant Street', that is Ráday u. Have you ever heard of Ráday utca? I understand your scepticism. Yes, it's full of tourists, but it holds such an abundance of unique places that you simply must forget about your prejudices and just try one of them. Believe me, you'll return to try the rest, too!

Source

 After settling on Púder, I kept exploring the We Love Budapest site that should be your primary source if you are planning a visit to Budapest or just looking for places to go. Here's a list of articles I checked out.

The best ruin pubs. I've never been to any, but I'm really curious.

The best soup places. Another thing I've never tried, but I'm very eager. Soon. 

Breakfast all day. As I'm still dreaming of having my breakfast in a café. But so far I've been too lazy to go.

The best burger places. Because sometimes that's all you want.

Where to find love. Because you just never know. 

After a while I also opened my Foursquare account and started to save places to explore. I love Foursquare and I love Lists and I especially love collecting Badges!

Where do you like meeting friends? What are your favourite places in your town? Have you ever been to Budapest? Let me know in the Comments below. (Mind you, I set all comments to moderate, so it may take a while to appear.)