I'm back with pictures from London & Canada. (i.e. there's no polish here

Hello lovelies!

I came back from my vacation a week ago, but you all know by now that my sleeping schedule is completely jacked and I just needed some time to recover from over two weeks of insanity. I had an absolutely amazing time in London and Canada. I don't even know where to start so I'll just spam you with some pics. :)

(There won't be any polish in this post, but regular posting will commence tomorrow so feel free to skip this one.)

view from the hotel room in London

yours truly in the Hard Rock Cafe, distracted by the TV screen and all the shiny memorabilia

I should probably mention that most of these pics were taken by Christina. I hate taking pics :P

Guinness is awesome. The end.

how many of you have necklaces that are also bottle openers?! :D

Hyde Park <3

did I mention that Guinness is awesome?

our very first view of The Claw (aka U2's stage) the night we arrived in Montreal 

this little guy was just sitting there right next to the stadium :O

Lady Claw in all her glory (yes, I'm one of those fans :P)

my awesome mum and I sitting in the dirt about five hours before they let us into the stadium for the first show (note: we'd been there since 7:30am)

AWESOME people we met :)

first show. I cried. A lot.

That man right there? Stood like two feet from me, saw my Free Hugs sign, looked into my face and grinned. When I turned to my mum my face hurt from smiling back so broadly. :D

because spending one entire day in the glaring sun clearly wasn't enough. (also, let's skip the part where our tickets were invalid and jump to where the miracles started happening, kay?)

the questionable headgear? Saved my scalp from getting even more burned.

second night, second row. AMAZING.

that was my ninth U2 show and the laser jacket, the steering wheel mic, the swinging on the mic? never gets old.

see that guy? he grinned and pointed at me and everyone around me started cheering and clapping me on the back. SUCH a beautiful crowd. <3

you didn't get a hug from me, you weren't at the show. simple as that. :P

I adore Montreal.

HELLO, TORONTO.

view from hotel room.

in front of the cinema where I saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter. I CRIED LIKE A BABY. D:

my reaction? "I'm so not going up there."

Most. Awesome. Ice Cream. Ever.

Lake Ontario, I already miss you.

that's the closest I'll ever get to going to the beach.

it was so freaking hot at the Niagara Falls.

I fail at holding still for pictures, don't I?

so stunning!

because seeing a Bowie guitar up close is always exciting.

just a few hours before we left Canada. It was rather epic. :D

I don't really want to bore you guys with all my excited babbling, but I hope you enjoyed the pictures. :)

See y'all tomorrow! I'll be showing you one of the many pretties I bought. I got to visit the lovely Adina from A England, so I'll soon be showing her some of her beautiful polishes too! :)

ABC of Cosmetic Fix

Hello lovelies!

I don't think I'm going to manage to have a polish-related post up today, because a) I don't think I'll have time to paint my nails until tonight. b) I still need to type up scheduled posts for next week when I won't be able to blog. c) I am super cranky, haha.

Anyway, I saw this tag floating around and figured I'd give it a shot.

A. Age:
Is something that is given way too much weight, I think. I grew up always being the youngest in my peer group and I was constantly made fun of because of it. By now I take a twisted sort of pride in being younger, but I don't feel it. There are moments when I'm around my friends (who are older than me) and I will just sit there and feel so, so old when they talk about things I cannot even begin to fathom or that feel so insignificant to me. I can't remember a single time when I felt my age and I genuinely believe that you're only as old as you feel. (After that mini rant, for reference, I'll have you know I'm 17.)

B. Bed size:
Still the same bed I got when I was 10-ish. I hate it with a passion and so does my back.

C. Chore you hate:
Um, is "everything" a valid answer?

D. Day:
I prefer night.

E. Essential start to your day:
Coffee. Wait! Scratch that. Fluids. Any kind. Just not water. Honestly, I may need coffee to get through the day, but if I don't get a sufficient amount of tasty juice (not orange, though) in the morning, I am going to go ballistic within the hour.

F. Favorite color:
Currently? Mint green. Or maybe beige. Or nude. Or green. Or... you know, I always hated that question as a kid. Why on earth do I need a favourite colour?! And no, we can't be BFFs just because we like the same freaking colour. -__-

G. Gold or Silver:
Silver, hands down. I only really like gold when it's sort of dirty and antique looking.

H. Height:
5,5"

I. Instruments:
You know at a concert, that person that manages to clap just beside the beat? That's me.

J. Job title:
Aspiring disturber of the universe?

K. Kids:
I never liked kids. Even when I was a kid. Paradoxically, they adore me.

L. Live:
In a small, industrial town in Austria. If you're ever in Linz, pop in, but don't ask me for directions - the only city I don't constantly get lost is London (and maybe Dublin if I try my best)! :D

M. Mom’s name:
I'm not sure what my mom's name has to do with my blog. O_o

N. Nicknames:
Most of my English speaking friends have taken to calling me Maddie. But Madita doesn't really make for a name that makes it easy to come up with nicknames.

O. Overnight hospital stays:
Sore topic, dude. Sore topic.

P. Pet peeve:
Chewing with mouth open, talking with mouth full, constantly apologizing for the sake of not fighting, random strangers who cannot keep their freaking distance. Seriously, I am super touchy-feely with my friends and family, but if strangers touch me I freaking lose my shit.

Q. Quote from a movie:
You know, I've always liked that word... gargantuan. So rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence.

R. Right or left handed:
Right. Though I'm such a spazz I might as well start using my left. I don't think people would notice.

S. Siblings:
Nope.

T. Time you wake up:
If you do not wake me up, I will keep on sleeping. That is, when I do sleep. Otherwise I'll just keep chugging coffee and start having epiphanies at 7 in the morning.

U. Underwear:
Excuse me?

V. Vegetables you dislike:
I love love love vegetables. There's not many I dislike. Not a fan of Brussels sprouts, but then, who is?

W. What makes you run late:
Everything. Seriously, everything. I just cannot keep track of time. If nobody tells me it's time to leave, I won't.

X. X-Rays you’ve had:
Oh, my. A lot. Just had my shoulder and upper vertebrae done this past Saturday and I really wish I could say that was my first x-ray in ages.

Y. Yummy food you make:
I can bake. And boil water (sometimes) and operate a microwave (sort of). Does that count?

Z. Zoo:
Station? TV? -ropa? I'm not sure I understand the question. All I'm hearing is putting Achtung Baby in and thinking WHOA.

So, you're supposed to tag three bloggers to do this but I'm lazy so I'm tagging all of you that want to do it! Always love hearing about the people behind the blogs. <3

Hope you enjoyed hearing a bit about me and have a lovely Friday!

MNOTD: China Glaze Fairy Dust over p2 Jetset

Happy Mother's Day, lovelies!

Today's post is, again, going to be something slightly different. It will still be about polish, but I won't be the one wearing it. As the title suggests, it's going to be my mom's nail of the day (lame, I know, I know).

This is one coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust over three coats p2 jetset and a coat of Seche to make it smooth. Not much to say about this; jetset is a milky, medium jade creme with a finish that is reminiscent of the Essie one I love so much. Fairy Dust is a pretty, super tiny holo glitter. I love the combo and so does my mom!

Just to give you a fair warning, this is basically where the polish talk ends. The rest of this post is going to be me rambling about how much I love my mommy. Do feel free to skip.

You know, we don't really do anything for Mother's Day. None of us are big fans of the whole thing. But I do love my mom very much and I feel like I should dedicate a little something to her. Firstly, I want to thank her for letting me paint her nails with all sorts of crazy stuff and getting excited every single time nail mail arrives. And obviously for allowing me to put her nails on the blog and actually being awesome enough to take the pics herself when there was sunlight and I was sleeping. We've never really had a mother/daughter sort of relationship, not really anyway. She's my best friend and I don't know where I'd be without her. In a way, we're the opposites of each other. In another way, we're eerily alike. We're crazy and she wears my shoes more often than I wear hers and she's just the sweetest person ever. I love you, mom. <3

A happy Mother's Day to all the lacquered mommies out there and a lovely Sunday to everybody else!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Hello lovelies!

This post is a little different, but the lovely Kirsten from Glitta Gloves tagged me for the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thank you so much, darling! <3

Now for the ten facts about myself...

1. I am obsessive. As in, bordering-on-obsessive-compulsive obsessive. This manifests itself in a number of ways, from my passionate raving about a single line in a book to my need to buy everything that has the word "grace" or "sea" in its name. (I sometimes manage to refrain when it includes the word "hope", but not very often.)

2. "I am an optimist, unrepentant and militant. After all, in order not to be a fool an optimist must know how sad a place the world can be. It is only the pessimist how finds this out anew every day." - Peter Ustinov

3. I quote random shit as if my life depended on it.

4. I love a lot of things. Literature, Tarantino movies, vinyl, owls, coffee, Tolkien, mint green, cowboy boots, red lipstick, U2, men's shirts, chocolate, mint chocolate chip ice cream, London, live music, the sea, rain, lyrics, writing, English, possums, Crunchie, beer, Ireland, dark smoky pubs, acting, Rammstein, Goethe, Bukowski, movies, the opera, Irish whiskey, my MacBook, Sherlock Holmes, nail polish (obvs), turtles, high heels, the smell of cold night air, fireworks, lace, mythology, glitter.....

5. The last five books I read were A Single Man, Killing Bono, American Gods, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes and Vellum. Not in that order.

6. I was five years old when I went to England for the first time. I've been going to London/the UK at least once a year ever since. 

7. Christina is... She's the Edge to my Bono, really. (And I hope she knows what this means, coming from me. <3)

 Also, we need to take more pictures together. This one is from, like, two years ago? Yeah, definitely need more pictures.

8. This sign has made for some interesting experiences and, since last summer, I've been carrying one to every concert I've been to.

 This particular one was signed by One Republic singer Ryan. :D (Man, I look grumpy in that picture. I think I was just super tired and cold at that point. Note to self: try and look even remotely happy in pics.)

9. I'm chaotic. My mind is all over the damn place, as are my possessions, and as soon as there's some sort of order I'm completely screwed. Order and I? Yeah, so not working. Chaos is my friend.

10. I believe two of the greatest, and most underappreciated, books ever written are The Old Man And Mr. Smith by Peter Ustinov and A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood.

Now, for the ten people I'm going to tag, I'll try and only tag ones I haven't seen do this yet. Obviously, everybody else is also very welcome to do this. <3

1. AmyGrace from The Polished Perfectionist
2. Rory from Varnish Vixen
3. Kim from Dottie K
4. Deez Nailz
5. ritterbraten from Das Experiment
6. Christina from Of Leopards And Camels
7. Kellie from Also Known As...
8. Jen from The Polishaholic
9. Carolina from Colores De Carol
10. The Manicured Monkey

Okay, so that's it for the Kreativ Blogger Award! I hope you guys have enjoyed hearing a bit more about me and that I haven't scared anyone off! ;D