Happy New Year!

So sorry for being a bit absent, I´ve been quite busy these last days.

Today´s New Year´s Eve - we´ll soon enter 2012! I love new beginnings, everything feels so promising in the beginning of a new year.

(pic borrowed from Weheartit)

I never make New Year´s resolutions about not doing things, like "I will not eat candy" - I make promises about what I´ll try to do instead. Fun things that makes me feel excited about the year to come.

During 2012 I´m aiming for this:

* Saving money for an eventual house. Saving may not seem fun, but if it ends up in a house it will be a great reward (even though I have to wait several years for that).

* Going to Italy. Needs no further explanation, right?

* Finding some jewellery that I´ll love, I´ve been feeling a little short in that area lately.

* Doing something spontaneously; like weekend trips with the family.

* Get going with my running again, as soon as it gets a little bit warmer in the air.

* Get better at photography - my always present goal.

* Enjoying life, as I always try to do.

Do you make any kind of promises to yourself? Share if you want to!

I wish you all a great New Year´s Eve and hope that you feel the endless possibilities that lies ahead of you!

Serious sausage savoury

Right now, I have a sausage addiction. It feels like I should call someone, but since they probably will try and talk me out of it I won´t.

This sausage is called Prince sausage, (directly translated):

When my rascals were younger, they used to ask where the sausage made of princesses was.

Heh.

We´re just a normal family of Swedish cannibals. Now excuse me, I have some Princes to eat.

Home alone

Our relatives left this morning so now we´re home alone again. My youngest doesn´t like good bye´s so he was a little bit sad, but I told him that he´ll see his cousins again before he know it.

They are a good team, these four boys:

So today I´ll just wash a little, drink a lot of coffee and maybe exercise for a while, it sure feels like I need it after Christmas. I suspect I´ll stuff myself pretty good during New Year´s too so it wouldn´t hurt to be a little ahead for once..!

Have a great day sweeties!

It´s a dog´s life

Poor Elsa is exhausted. Usually, she only have four humans and one disobedient cat to keep track of - now there´s 8 people of various sizes running around here and there. Plus the disobedient cat.

No wonder she has to rest in between all of the hard work.

On the positive side is that the toddler who´s visiting is dropping things on the floor that she can gobble down all through the day. She´ll be so disappointed when things go back to normal tomorrow - maybe I´ll drop a couple of crumbs just to make her happy.

Could happen. If she´s nice.

So have things gone back to normal for you yet - anyone started working? I have four days until my work begins again, and trust me - I´ll enjoy them.

Take care!

Let´s have some fruit, shall we..?

See that pretty fruit in the front? It´s called Dragon fruit and I hereby declare it the most beautiful and photogenic fruit I know.

I´ve never bought it before, but it had a really nice taste besides being beautiful. If you add the fact that it inspired me to wanna play with textures, it was really a win-win purchase.

Everything that sparks the creativity is a little bit of goodness is my world.

So what´s up today? I´m going to vaccuum for a while now, my brother in law is allergic to animals...

We have animals. We have fur where there should be none. I don´t want to kill my brother in law, so I´ll better get started..!

Take care sweeties!

This is good stuff..!

I know many of you celebrate Christmas - with gifts opening and all - today, but in Sweden we do it the 24:th of December which means that part is over and done with.

My youngest was so excited the night before Christmas that he woke up at 1 AM totally dizzy and upset, thinking that Santa had forgot about him. Luckily we got him to fall asleep again and when he woke up the next time he found lots of proof that he surely wasn´t forgotten.

Both rascals had a thrill the whole day with their new gifts and me and hubby did what we do best - we ate. So many yummy things on the Christmas table.

Such a great day - I love Christmas!

Today has been lazy; we went swimming for a couple of hours but after that I took a nap that was a bit too long... But who cares - it´s Christmas!

Tomorrow my brother in law and his family will arrive for a couple of days, will be fun! I hope you´re having the best of times too!

Take care!

Merry Christmas!

So.

The gifts are wrapped, my rascals just finished their last day in school, the tree is decorated, the home is clean, the food is planned, Elsa is done pouting.

I´m ready to celebrate Christmas.

I wish you all the very best Christmas with your loved ones - enjoy every minute and don´t stress.

Love,

Tina

Pouting Miss Moustache

Miss Moustache - also known as Elsa - is highly offended and is currently pouting on her bed.

You see; I kind of felt that she was smelling a little bit too much... dog. She sleeps in my bed, I don´t think it´s too much to ask that I shouldn´t have to hold my breath all through the night.

I figure that wouldn´t be too healthy. Right?

So all I wanted was that she´d take a little shower - I even kept her company and pampered her with lovely shampoo and checked the temperature every other minute. I gave her a pink towel and carefully wiped her ears and didn´t pull her tail once.

And I just laughed out loud a couple of minutes when her fur turned super fluffy and made her look like a stuffed animal.

Yet she´s pouting and gives me evil glares.

Some are just impossible to please.

Turtle in da house!

Oh, let me tell you that it was a proud big rascal coming home today! He´s told me earlier that he was making something in school, but he wanted it to be a surprise so he never told me what it was.

Well - tadaa - meet Mr Turtle:

This is what my boy has been struggling with, including hand sewing some parts and everything:

And he was more than satisfied with the flames on the turtles back. If you´re cool and a turtle, you´ve gotta have flames:

There´s even little footballs on the body. A masterpiece indeed!

Totally made me smile, so fun!

This song however, makes me sob a little. Yeah, what can I say - I´m a wuss and even more so in Christmas time:


Enjoy the rest of this day friends - Christmas is getting closer!

Things made by me during 2011

I love looking back, because in the moment it feels like I get nothing done but in retrospect 2011 wasn´t that bad.

I made a felt star that turned out OK (could have been better)...

... and a pillow to our bedroom that pleased both hubby and me...

... and a headboard that I really liked...

... and painted a dresser apple green which made me happy...

... and changed the look of a candlestick with washi tape...

... and chrocheted a blue blanket that now lives in America...

... and had fun with friendship bracelets...

... and all of a sudden decided to sew not only one but...

... two skirts which was fun...

... but not as fun as chrocheting a shawl I gave away in a Giveaway...

... and one that I kept for myself (such soft yarn)...

... and I altered a little box that I keep in our bedroom....

... and chrocheted a blanket for a sweet baby...

... and made pillows for our livingroom with fabric I really liked...

So all together; 2011 was a rewarding year - what may 2012 bring?

Decisions, decisions..!

I thought the decision about a hair cut or not would be easier with my post yesterday - but nope!

You all had so great opinions, but what really mixed it all up was when I said to my hubby "I think I´ll just cut it, it will grow back out" and oldest rascal storms out from his room and hollered "Nooooo, I like it the way it is"!

I was way surprised - he never had any opinions about his old mama´s hair before, but now he eyeballed me with the intensity of an hypnotist in distress.

I´ll ponder about it for a while longer in other words - but I really appreciate your inputs. You´re truly the best and as soon as I do something to the hair you´ll be the first to know!

Tuesdays around the world will take a little Christmas break and will return in January, but I´m not leaving you without a pic today:

My husband is an hydro power engineer, so I got to join him to this old hydro power station. It´s built in 1890 - can you imagine?!

Enjoy this day sweeties!

Should it stay or should it go?

I often put my hair in a pony tail or in an updo so I haven´t really thought about how long it is - but hey, it´s long!

My hairdresser says my hair grows like weed (sounds flattering, huh?), this is me in June and I did take off a little in between:

Now; it would actually be nice to have it long - I nourish an idea of learning how to do fun updo´s in the future. I´m not sure I can pull it off though since I have a very thin face.

So I´m asking since I trust your judgement as the smartest blog readers ever - should it stay or should it go?

Easy peasy Christmas candy

In Sweden we often make a candy called Knäck around Christmas time - it´s a really chewy and sticky toffee that I always eat too many of. It´s very easy to make, especially if you use your microwave:

Chop up about 25 sweet almonds and put aside:

Pour 1 dl sugar in a bowl that can take some serious heat ( 1 dl equals about 0.42 cups):

Add 1 dl golden syrup...

... and 1 dl cream:

Stir and place in microwave - no lid - and let boil for about 8 minutes. This can differ a bit since all microwaves are a bit different, you have to see what works for you.

Take it out without burning yourself (it gets crazy hot!) and add the chopped almonds to the mixture. Pour in tiny wrappers - I recommend "metallic paper ones" (what are they called?) since it can be hard to get the paper ones off. I didn´t joke about the sticky part..!

Let them cool off and enjoy - these are really yummy:

And since they are made within just 10 minutes, there´s always time to make more - because these disappear faster than you can say Jinglebells.

Almost.

Brick beauty

Seriously; my body tingles when I see Brick Beauty like this:

Several hundred old building, abandoned since many years - yet still proud and beautiful in all it´s loneliness. The shabbiness and cracks just makes it even more perfect.

Loved this. Is it possible to adopt a building that noone else seem to want?

All of a sudden it happened...

... we got ourselves a little bit of snow today:

I´m not sure that we´ll get to keep it for long, but how nice to see the boys so eager to get out and play!

I hope to get my oldest on a snowy photo too, he´s definately more diffucult to catch than my youngest one. I may have to ambush him a little... When he least expects it, I´ll be there with my camera - hah!

I hope you´ve had a nice weekend - I´m going to spend the evening reading and relaxing! What are you up to?

Freezing but happy!

I had really looked forward to get out and try my tripod today - and woke up to rain again.

Darn it.

So I asked a friend if the rascals could stay with her and her kids for an hour and then I asked hubby to help me out and hold the umbrella while I played Mrs Tough Photographer who fears no bad weather. As the good sport (and nature freak) he is, he agreed to do so - and it was truly fun!

I still prefer good weather since one gets in a hurry when the rain is pouring down, which makes experimenting with settings and so on a bit hard, but it felt super nice to be able to use the camera more limitless.

So many options friends - and I liked this shot!

Have a great weekend!

Tripod in the house and Mail time!

I´m surprised in the best of ways - even though the note from the Post office said my tripod was arriving tomorrow, it actually came today.

I´ve just told my rascals that we have a new family member and that they can call him Burt. That felt right somehow.

Yes, I have issues.

Anyhoo; that means I want to get to know my new partner in crime so I´ll take a couple of days of blogging - but not until I´ve showed you what I got from Koralee today:

We decided to exchange tea a while ago and I can tell you that this fancy tea smells divine! The tin is also so pretty and I loved the lovely cupcake wrappers and everything else! Thank you Koralee!

I´ve got a tripod named Burt.

I´ve got new tea to taste.

I´ve got one more day to work before 16 days of vacation.

Sweeties - there´s nothing about this day that could be the slightest wrong and I hope you feel the same.

Take care!

Winter of weirdness

This is truly the winter of weirdness.

It´s December 15th, I live in Sweden - a country where one doesn´t need hula hula skirts that often - and yet I´m greeted with pouring rain when I go to work.

It seems like I have to look at pics from one year ago to get in the true December mood:

On a good note; just two more days until my Christmas holiday and I got a note from the Post office that says I can pick my tripod up tomorrow afternoon.

Are you done with your Christmas shopping by the way?

I received the Christmas gifts I ordered from the States the other day (so relieved that they arrived that fast - thanks again Mon), but I still have a couple of things to pick up.

Any gift you´re extra happy you´ve found? Do tell!

Have a great day!

Wohoo!

I´m really giddy now - yesterday I ordered a tripod:

(pics borrowed from Cyberphoto)

It wasn´t that expensive but had gotten good reviews so it shouldn´t be crap - I didn´t find anything negative about it when I googled it.

Do you know what this means? A thousand of new options and ways to make photography (and this blog) more fun!

I´m feeling very impatient now so I hope it will arrive in time for the weekend, cross your fingers please!

Have a great Wednesday!

Celebrating Lucia today!

It´s time for Tuesdays around the world - and today we´re celebrating Lucia here in Sweden!

It´s my favourite tradition during Christmas, I always just love seeing all the little Lucias, Star boys, Santas and handmaidens. If you want, you can read a little more about this tradition here: St Lucia Day

They are all cuter than cute - my youngest really enjoyed it. My oldest and his class will watch the older childrens performance during this day instead since there´s so many kids at school and everybody can´t perform at the same time. And if that´s not enough, we can see the national Lucia performance on TV - always beautiful!

Have a great day and link up if you want!

White flowers

Do you have a favourite color when it comes to flowers?

I´m always drawn to the white ones. I don´t know why that is since there´s so many beautiful colors, but the combination between white and green feels so crisp and fresh:

In the spring, white tulips makes me happy as a child - but right now, I´m just enjoying the fact that I have blooming flowers at all. Makes such a difference when the garden is resting.

This will be my last week of work until my Christmas holidays - I´ll be off work between December 17th and January 2nd. I really need that since I feel quite exhausted at the moment, so I´ll be counting the days!

Have a great beginning of the week!

No need to feel lonely in this house...

... because if you need someone to cuddle with, there´s always a couple of volunteers.

They are cute on their own, but together they kind of knock me off my feet.

Sweet sweetness of mine.

One star done

You know the Peppermint candy stars I mentioned a couple of days back? Well, I made one today:

It´s so dark most of the days now so I just took a pic with my iPhone - which makes it a bit difficult to see that I´ve placed a white fabric button in the middle. So I´m telling you instead: I´ve placed a white fabric button in the middle.

In case that´s difficult to see.

Hehe.

It was easy enough to make - my only trouble was that I didn´t have any good stuffing material at home so I used cotton. I don´t like that too much, it gets lumpy and irritating. But it´s done and pretty cute even though I always hand sew uneven.

I´m having a great and relaxed Saturday, I hope you do too!

Efva Attling

Efva Attling is a former swedish model who turned popstar for a moment, then married a swedish popstar and had some kids, then divorced him and fell in love with a female popstar and then married her and turned into a jewellery designer.

Wow - didn´t that become a fantastic sentence?! No need for a PR machine with a life like that!

Anyway; through it all she has been a very fabulous and stylish woman and she rocks at jewellery design!

Here I´m just showing you a couple of her silver necklaces, but I seriously recommend that you take a look at her website: Efva Attling - Beauty with a thought.
I could easily close my eyes and pick any of her necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets and watches and be a happy camper no matter what I got.

She´s that good.
Her jewellry is carried by so many stars so you´d know you´d be in good company... If that matters.
I think 2012 must be the year I get myself something by her. It´s certainly good to think ahead because some of it is quite expensive. Worth every penny though.

Check her out and tell me what you think! Maybe something to wish for this Christmas (she has stores all over the world you know)?

Bathrobe of shame

I´m funny sometimes. Unintentionally I mean.

I´m a neat person - my clothes are always in good shape and I don´t want my sons to wear a sweater to school if there´s the slightest spot on it. So far so good - but by some mysterious reason, my bathrobe has been the exception for years.

Let me tell you the story about this bathrobe:
I got it when my youngest rascal was just a baby. It was used around the clock when I had to nurse him in the beginning, then it has followed me along the way for the last 6 years.

I´ve used it when I´ve applied self tanners which have left ugly stains that never disappeared no matter how I washed it. I´ve used it when Elsa was a puppy and used to chew on it wherever she could. I´ve used it when I´ve painted indoors just beacuse I didn´t want to waste my neat clothes, and so on and so on.

And - here comes the funny part - never did I during these 6 years stop to think about how ugly it had become. Well, maybe it crossed my mind once or twice but not enough to actually do something about it. It was comfy after all.

Comfy is a good thing.

And then, a neighbour knocked on the door and one second before I opened the door - in my bathrobe - it hit me how it looked.

And darn it, that was embarrassing. Oh my. Just try having a relaxed conversation while threads are blowing in the draft around you.
It opened my eyes you could say - so now I have this:
No stains, no lose threads, just dotty and happy.

And the bathrobe of shame is no more - may it rest in peace.

So tell me; do you have any clothes of shame hanging around? Confessions please!