This month it’s all about keeping the balance for me.
The weather is holding up strong over here, we are having still summer temperatures,
while I have been super busy buzzing around. Having early starts and late nights.
So what keeps me sane and strong for all the work?

Here are my essentials for balance this month:
Green Smoothies: Healthy fresh food makes all the difference, and although I don’t have the time to prepare complicated meals right now,
chucking some fruit and veggies into a blender and pressing a button can be done in 5min. I make a different one every day.
My Favourite right now: 1 banana, 1 pear, 1 apple, 1 handful of baby spinach, 1/2 cup of soya or almond milk, 1 tsp. chia seeds, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp Supergreens Powder. This recipe makes about 3 sundae glasses of smoothie! Enjoy.
Comfy shoes: I do like to look somewhat professional at work and won’t rock up to a shoot or wedding in flip flops (although I sometimes have to bring them along when shooting on the beach!) So: Comfortable chic shoes, that look like I am happy to work in them all day, but still somewhat stylish.
The ones above are from Geox. There is nothing worse then painful feet, on a long day of work, it’s so distracting, flat shoes are the way to go!
Little Lunch Break Swims: Whenever I can I sneak out for a quick swim in my lunch break, not just a little exercise and movement, but also great relaxation for sore muscles. I also get the best ideas why swimming and find it clears my head.
Love Balm: So small, it fits in every pocket, it keeps my lips nicely moisturized, soothes any dehydrated areas or dry patches and makes a great cuticle balm too. It smells divine of natural rose oil too, the smell that opens the heart chakra. Jurlique Love Balm in Rose, sooo goood!
What keeps you balanced when you are super busy?

Yes! I am doing the BIG move right now.
All the way to the other side of the world.
While I am buzzing around through my countless boxes and trying to get everything done before leaving London,
I though I would share some experience and insights from another blogger that moved to Sydney some years ago.
Trishie from Under Lock and Key blog

Hi, I’m Trishie from Under Lock and Key blog. Very pleased to be guest blogging here today as Liv and Dave are busy with their big move to Sydney. I myself moved to Sydney from Singapore some 12 years ago, so I thought I’d share some of the things I love most about this beautiful city and country I now call home.

Well, in Sydney, the sky is a bright bright blue and the grass a

gorgeous lush green. Yes, I find colours to be extra vivid in Australia.

Maybe it’s because we get so many lovely clear days that allows the

sun’s rays to shine through. True story – I’ve never seen

colours as vivid anywhere else.

Yes the rumours are true – Australians really do have kangaroos living in our backyard! But that’s only for people who live near the bush out of the metropolitan areas. Which means the majority of us don’t. Sorry to disappoint.

Our beaches are world class. Australians don’t just have some of the best beaches in the world, they also have the loveliest weather to enjoy these best beaches in the world. Most parts of the year is warm enough for a dip in the sea. Winter here is so mild it’s probably warmer than summer in other parts of the world.

You may not know this, but Australia is a bit of a wine country and producer of some really yummy wines (Shiraz is my favourite). Hunter Valley for one is just 3 hours drive from Sydney and a picturesque area made for wine tasting, good food and weekends away. I might be a bit biased though, as I got married there just last year! But Liv, please promise me you’ll crack open a beautiful bottle of Australian red or white once you’ve settled in.

Of course there is much more to Australia than wine and kangaroos and beaches but I will leave it to Liv to discover for herself during her time here.

Liv, I wish you all the best in Sydney! Have a wonderful time, I hope you fall in love with this city just as I did 12 years ago. x Trishie

Shoes Surf Magic by Clarks found here

As some of you might now, I am shortly moving to Sydney and that means
after this few weeks of London Autumn, I will skip Winter and will be jumping right into Summer.
For the special occasion I treated myself to a new pair of daily sandals.
I was looking for a pair of the perfect summer shoes for a while now.

New shoes to celebrate the new life.
They are called “Surf Magic”, so suitable! I can’t wait to wear them out.
They are so comfortable, like most Clarks shoes.
I am tempted to get another pair. One that’s just as comfortable but a little less casual.

I am so excited and am hoping for many new great opportunities.
And am looking forward to working with many beautiful brides in Australia.
There are already some exciting news for me, which I will share with you here shortly.
It seems like there are wonderful creative people down there, offering the most unique wedding services.
Such a pleasure to network with some of them online, and amazing to able to meet them in person very soon.

It feels to good to de-clutter, giving things to charity as well as replacing things, preparing myself for the lifestyle change.
Summer and Surf, here I come! Here is to a great start.

The seasons are in the process of change. I am hoping for a beautiful sunny fall, one with mild weather.
I am excited to update my wardrobe for the next season. I have already started.
My favorite work outfit right now is my vintage jumpsuit with these gorgeous women’s chelsea boots.
They are super comfortable and go with about anything.
As make up artist, I am on my feet most of the time and I can wear them all day on photo-shoots. I love the colour and the ultra soft leather. They have a cute name too: Clarks Kemble Biscuit. My favorite shoe for this season. And good start for my Autumn shopping. Happy Fall, everyone!

Auf deutsch: Jahreszeitenwechsel! Ich hoffe auf einen richtig schoenen sonnigen Herbst.
Ich freue mich schon darauf meine Gaderobe aufzumoebeln und hab schon mal einen kleinen Anfang gemacht.
Mein allerliebstes Lieblingsoutfit zum arbeiten ist gerade mein second hand Jeans-Blaumann mit den coolen Damen Stiefeletten : Clarks Kemble Biscuit.
Huebscher Name! Ich habe mich gleich in die Farbe und das weiche Leder verliebt. Ich wuensche Euch allen einen schoenen Herbst.

It’s time to honor London a post about everything I love in this city.
It’s been so good to us and I will make the most out of the remaining few months.
Many of you have gotten in touch asking for advice what to do, when visiting London,
so here it comes my little tour guide, which has been a guest post for the lovely blog Simply Us.

Where do you live?
I am living in Dalston, East London a very vibrant and multi cultural neighborhood. One that Italian Vogue and The Guardian named the coolest place in Britain. ; We love it here.

How long have you lived in Dalston?
I have lived in London for 3 years, after spending a year in NYC and 8 years in Berlin Germany, my home country. I constantly keep discovering this city myself.

Can you give us a little history behind London?
London is the capital of the United Kingdom and has been around for over 2000 years. It has experienced all kinds of drama including the plague, devastating fire, civil war, aerial bombardement, and terrorist attacks. It’s a lovely place ; )

What is something you find unique to London?
The great bus network, the Queen and how London somehow manages the split between a very big cosmopolitan city and very charming traditional British place. The look of the cabs and phone booths.

If you were planning a weekend around your town, what would the agenda look like?
A weekend is way to short! Try and stay a little longer.
Maybe have a browse though our adventures on our blog at follow some of the recommendations that look exciting to you.

London is a big city and there is so much to do and see. Here is a little pick of things that we love doing:
Start the Saturday with a good Breakfast at Caravan or Railroad Cafe taking a bus into central London and pick one of the many great Museums to visit. I love the Tate Modern, The British Mueseum, National History Museum. If you are into Fashion go to the V&A, it’s amazing. You can take a walk along the river Thames, where you can see most of the famous sightseeing spots.
Borough Market is not far and a great food market to grab yourself some lunch.
On Saturday night try seeing a gig or even in the Roundhouse in Camden, its a great venue.

On Sunday explore East London with a Breakfast at the Happy Kitchen . After that you can walk around Broadway Market, people watching and exploring little shops, get a few snacks from the food stands and sit down in London Fields park. Take a walk down the canal towards Shoreditch and visit another great market and vintage shopping Mecca : Brick Lane. Now you are very close to Columbia Road flower market which is open every Sunday, grab yourself a bunch of beautiful flowers. After you prob spent a great deal on shopping , coffees and cakes you can visit the very budget friendly delicious Stingray Globe Cafe and order a one of their great pizzas.
If you are up for more, or you visit in the cold season, spend the Sunday afternoon in a pub that offers traditional (or vegetarian!) Sunday roast like the Talbot.
If you are up for a very unique dining experience and money is no issue try the raw food restaurant Saf and you will eat what you have never tried before.

Best place to go shopping?
For vintage explore the area around Brick Lane, a visit in the Topshop flagship store on Oxford street is a must, if trendy boutiques are your thing try Shoreditch and Stoke Newington if you have more time is worth checking out as well.

What is the best coffee or tea house?
Despite a million coffee shops and cafes in London, it isn’t easy to find one that makes real good coffee.
The British love their tea, but I have always been a coffee girl.
The best ones you get at Allpress and Caravan. The coziest at The Railroad cafe and the friendliest at The Happy Kitchen.

When is the best month or season to visit?
London has a mild climate so it’s worth visiting anytime of the year. I prefer spring time, around May.

For a full post and additional pictures please see here.
Or follow our life & style blog here.
Feel free to comment with additional suggestions.

Today I am featured at the wonderful fashion blog over at Misslkey.
Go check it out here.
Currently we are busy preparing for our big move.
I am so excited to be a Sydney based make up artist very soon.
I will mainly work freelance and hopefully plenty of gorgeous bridal makeup.
We got our tickets and I got butterflies in my belly.
Have you ever moved across the world?

I just came back from a wonderful week in Croatia.
If you want to follow up on our trip check out our personal blog: Liv+Dave=
Many of you were asking me after tweeting and posting the photo above, where I got the gorgeous swimsuit and cute clogs from.
So I decided to share it here with you as well.
The fabulous swimsuit is from our new sponsor For Luna, a fantastic online boutique for retro-swimwear.
The super comfy and cute clogs are from the best online store for clogs, our new Sponsor Lotta from Stockholm, nice people that sell extra nice clogs.
I think I got travel fever! I am homesick backwards. Can you feel it too?

image via complexgeometries

Happy New Year!
2012 is going to be a great one.
Some major changes are lying ahead of me:
We are planning to move to Sydney, Australia by the end of the year.

My little new year resolutions include being colorful.
In general I am trying to be more graceful and grateful.
I will do my best to inspire and support my friends and family.
I hope to make people laugh even more than the year before.
Also I won’t be too hard on myself anymore and accept that my best will always be enough.

And we will no longer throw clothes around in our room, which was David’s brilliant idea.

What are you up to this year?

The happy-list game is no new one in the blog-sphere, but it is so much fun.
Writing lists is satisfying somehow, don’t you think?
Especially when it’s listing all good things in life, the ones you are grateful for or just the ones that are making you happy right now. So I followed the invitation of blogging beauty TJ of Mr.Taylor and his Lady to write a happy-list.
It was great to play!
See what makes me terribly happy here:

1. dancing a silly dance in pajamas to Dave‘s beat-boxing in the morning
2. being a woman
3. having breakfast in bed (on a day off, so cozy)
4. doing yoga
5. little packages from my mum in Germany with homemade jam and sweet letters
6. the smell of fresh roasted coffee
7. being a make-up artist, playing with colors is my job!
8. fresh ripe mangoes from the market
9. getting the giggles together with my man out of the blue and not being able to stop laughing
10. knowing that happiness is a decision that I make every day

image via a practical wedding

As a woman I have no country.
As a woman I want no country.
As a woman, my country is the whole world.

Virginia Woolf

(We are going to stay in London for one more year.And then we’ll be off to Sydney!)