wishes for a kind and joyous 2013 ~

To all sentient beings, oh how I wish for a compassionate and loving new 2013,
in which mankind refute its violent, destroying nature.
Love, hugs, colours and lots of veggies to all!

2012 in 12 pictures

I don't feel witty as in 2010, or full of excitement and thoughts as in 2011. But still, a recap of the year that went, with a photo per month is always a sweet thing. Some months, weeks, days better than others, here we go. (And as usual, über-tricky to chose just ONE picture per month...)

January

The month was busy, full of hope and dreams about new beginnings, for Prosit, for me. Pink office pretty much finished and decorated (even if there's always room for improvement). Celebrated all this with a luxurious afternoon tea with a friend (planned for many years but not realised until now. Have yet to be blogged about...).

Blue boots arrived, courtesy of Christmas money, and they were dreamy. If there can be happiness in shoes, surely this is a pair is the perfect example of that. Through ups and downs over 2012 they have always brought a smile to my face with a look at or walk in. Some colours, some hues are pretty special.

I knitted and crocheted a lot, both begun and finished quite a few yarny projects, such as colourful beanies and strawberries. Did a lot of networking, got the first proper Prosit assignment and it was a lovely one, ate good food and loved spending time with Ztina and Zigne, who turned six weeks old by the end of the month.



February

Continued to be productive and enjoyed tulips. Discovered Walk & Talk, got a pink loudspeaker for pink office, but mostly it was a very red month (like in boots, bird feeder, tea, Lovikka mittens, kittens, hearty baking and small neat things). Walked a lot, worked a lot. It was an overall grand month.



March

When winter begun to turn spring the lovely assignment came to an end, Yelp was launched in Stockholm. As an end of project-treat I got myself another pair of red boots (surprise). I knitted some more, like cowls and perky yellow mittens.

I began to feel really very tired and far from my usual self (ack, this is when the bad, still unresolved stuff begun), a tooth filling broke and to round off the month little loaf got ill.



April

Healthwise is was a bad bad month, for me, for M, for little loaf. But the adorable blue kittens were born and mum and I had a pre-booked trip to Helsinki, which turned out to be awesome, despite me being far from well. I stopped using dairy in my tea and in most food (one of my best decisions in 2012!). iPhone was upgraded and oh what a difference that made for photos! It was a strange strange month of both incredible lows and wonderful highs.



May

From May and onwards my 2012 has been a lot about doctor appointments, blood samples, tests, examinations and medicines. (Writing this in the last shivering days of December with no answers in sight. Sigh.)

There were also cherry blossoms and thoughts on shoe lust. Poor little loaf was neutered due to testicle tumour, after the stitches were removed he was treated to a dog cafe visit. May 15 was also the Aday- day. I learnt the two halfs of an avocado-lesson and spent a weekend at a Geek Girl Meetup.

I bought a mock orange for garden and the blue kittens turned eight weeks old and continued to be a pure joy to both eye and soul.



June

It was a rainy and unusually cold month. I continued to feel crappy and looked like a tired, not so little troll and hair was a mess. More tests, more doctor visits. A hellish new passport experience.

But there was also hedgehog 2012, purple peep-toes (that granted sadly broke after a month...), we also managed to get out for a few cab-outings, went to sweet Åland and the fabulousness of Finnish rye bread.

Kitten delight.



July

Still rather chilly, but many wonderful days where had. Circus nails. Frolicking. Frog. Bobbalooing. A fab Yelp party. Summer visit to Gdansk. Blue boys moving to forever homes. Had many many good lunches, dinners, fikas. Found the perfect soy latte, bliss.

Discovered a new lovely cafe (one day, a post of its own...). Had a class in concreting for home and garden, it was such a nice and inspirational experience (one day too, a post of its own...). And another  day trip to Åland.

All and all, definitely one of the best months of 2012.



August

Gardens, gardens, gardens (one day, two day, three day, posts of their own...). Castles. Doctors. Pills. Little loaf turns nine. Museums, art, ice cream testing, goodbye shoes, hallo shoes.

And sorrow as we have to say farewell to Agnes.

Wistful August. Joy and sorrow entwined.



September

Needles. Rushed to the hospital. More needles. Writer's talk (you know, that really deserves a post of its own...). Flower picking. The discovery of days in frames. Blogoversary number seven. First woolly autumn project. Museums, a backpack and sweethearts.

A very strange month. Another one.



October

Many fabulous vegetarian meals, fikas, breakfast, lunches, dinners and one special luxurious afternoon tea. Happy birthday to me. Knitting, crocheting, knitting. Instawalk. A Day in the World the book. A yellow sofa. A very orange month. And doctors.



November

Skyfall. Magical wristwarmers. A lovely facial. Good fikas and afternoon tea. Floating. Walk & talk. Doing the Malte walk. Christmas fairs. Lumberjack cap. Doctors. Add a cold. Birthday boots arrival, the tale of five shoes. Nelly and Carrotboy.



December

Budapest. Loveliness in so many ways. Christmas fair, vegetarian delights, pastries and too many statues. Yes yes, more of later. Snowstorm. Carmina Burana. A Day in the World exhibition. Drac-Ulla. Yarn, yarn, yarn. Doctor. Pills. Floating. Birthday girls. Christmas cards. Icy streets. A touch of sales. Angels' share. Cheers.

~ ~ ~

If the year hadn't held a seven month period of constant health conundrums it might have been that fabulastic year I had every intention for it to be. 
Bye 2012, I have to say I am so glad to see you go. 
2013, be good, pretty pretty pretty please.

the angels' share

a moving, funny, endearing, engaging and hopeful little piece with great performances - go see 'the angels' share' by ken loach.

you don't have to love scotland or whisky to be utterly charmed and moved by it.

many bobbaloo thumbs and antennas up.

last friday 2012

without going into details, the last friday of 2012 was a rather bad one, much like the year as a whole. with a couple of highlights, like the year itself. in other words, today was a miniature version of this past year. high hopes and grand plans put to shame.

one good thing with the day was a decent fika with a good friend i see far too seldom. nice to catch up a bit, but it also left me wistful, wanting more times like that. just like 2012 has left me wanting more good days, grateful for less of the bad ones.

and the clock keeps ticking.

drowning in images

The image of me right now; desperately trying to edit photos, download, save, extra save, upload, save, decide if they're a keeper worth sharing or not, delete duplicates (since I'm a scatterbrain who still insists I will remember which photos I've already edited, downloaded, saved, uploaded, shared or not etc etc).

Ever since I joined Flickr almost six years ago now I've thought it's been a brilliant way to have an extra extra online back-up of the best photos, the best way to blog photos, I've enjoyed some groups and been endlessly inspired by the photo community. Since then I've been good at uploading within a week of photos being taken, it has never been a burden keeping up with it, always a joy.

Until I began slacking last October, over a year ago now. Obviously my priorities have changed. With the photo possibilities and editing apps that come with the iPhone - enter May 2010 -, the once beloved SLR-camera really not functioning as it used to (hundreds of thousands of photos can do that even with the best of bunch), my photo routines as well as my life have changed.

I will never stop loving the magic one can capture with a camera, but I have to admit the more administrative stuff that comes with it (and granted some of it is solely my own 'invention') have become rather a burden and nuisance. Yes, I still want to edit the best photos, I still want to enjoy it, download, upload, do what I've been doing for these past six years, but neither brain, heart, time nor energy is in it. Still slacking.

Sometimes I just think that my personality of an jane-of-all-trades, me bursting with creative wanting to do this that, that and this, and then some leaves little room for prudently focusing on one project/duty at a time. I want to do everything and I want to do it NOW!

Let me just say "the tulip sweater" and that sums it up well. I have no problems in finishing projects and stuff for others, but things I do for myself, well that's another story. For every project I start AND finish for myself, there are at least five unfinished. It's a conundrum.

Two years ago I had grand plans of finishing at least one creative project a week. Sadly that has not been the case. Life can do that with plans.

Back to the photos, the drowning in images that needs a bit of work. The iPhone desperately seeking relief from being storage of far too many photos. It would be such a nice nice thing to start a new year with only a couple of hundreds of photos in phone and not several thousands. Alas I don't see that happening. Especially not with a crappy Internet connection as well as the new Flickr app being lousy when it comes to uploading.

It may be a luxuary problem, but nevertheless an issue I find terribly annoying and without any other solution than keep editing, saving, downloading, uploading, tagging, one picture at a time. Barely keeping my head above image water. And no, to stop taking so many pictures and editing, which I love, is not the answer.

(Despite the fact that M has been complaining for years now that walking with me is even worse than walking the loaf dog, who wants to sniff, read and pee every third minute. I want to stop, look, take photos, set the camera, change angle, light, every second minute. On extra troublesome walks, from M's point of view, I have both the SLR and the iPhone, both need to be used. Obviously.)

Do you ever find you're drowning in your own photos?
What do you do about it?



PS Even if a cat is the answer to so many questions in this world, I somehow don't think one getting close and personal with the camera is the answer to this particular question DS

red christmas glimpses

possibly the happiest cat in the whole wide world hopes that you've had a lovely three days.



a bowl of ris á la malta (creamy rice, classic swedish dessert served at christmas. my only xmas must-food alongside, but not served together obviously, beetroot salad) with a dollop of raspberry jam.



glittery red/navy nails (essie midnight cami + opi gettin' miss piggy with it).



formerly known as possibly the happiest cat in the whole wide world now little miss nosy redhead sniffing out candy.

red pig bowl is of course the only pig happy to be on christmas table.

colours in winter

a box of exciting bobbaloos.
this is how they travel to get to a perky christmas tree.
glimpses of red boots per diem.



three nailpolish (special price, who knows how long that offer will last) presented by pip, one tiny bob - essie a splash of grenadine, big spender, se-y divide.



skeins of fabulous lovikka yarn, enough for three lovikka mittens.
for me and someone else. more mittens. one can never have too many mittens.

so, what are your colours in winter?

happy christmas 2012 ~

from all of bobbaloo us
to all of you ~
have a very merry christmas

fourth advent sunday

i alsi want a supersized log candlestick.
bobbaloos concur.

and a gargantua lantern would be awfully nice too. perfect to light up the winter darkness.

happy sunday ~

snowy saturday

blue cap. red boots. a lovely little outing including a fine kind of breakfast. the snowiness made it extra special. it's good for getting your mind off bad things (like yesterday). the effort to mind your step, navigate in deep snow, and the picture postcardness is everywhere.

grumpy friday

despite the fact that i inaugurated a couple of 'make today awesome' earrings today (more about them later) it was a truly crappy day. and none of it my doing.

~ despite being in very good time at the bus stop, apparently the bus was so late i missed the train. that rarely happens. the trains are late often, the buses hardly ever.

~ not terribly late to the doctor, but still annoying i was late at all. no abnormalities in test results, more tests in january, i got the distinct impression she kind of feels i'm sort of a hypocondriac. which of course makes me both angry and sad, apart from this year i may visit a doctor possibly once a year, for a terrible flu, no more. i don't like doctors, i stay away and i'm not a fan of talking about aches, pains and symtoms. well, i rarely have any, until this year, and for that i'm truly grateful. until this year.

more medicine, go have some tests, call me after the holidays.

~ a much awaited sprucing of hair appointment was cancelled upon my arrival at the salon, since hairdresser, poor thing and it wasn't her fault at all of course, got sick.

i on the other hand was so sick on my long bangs, that i took a scissors and cut it off by some 7 cm when i got home. i look like five year old me. wish i was as carefree happy as i was then too.

~ the simple errands i was to run basically all went wrong, a gazillion stressed people on trains, buses and in shops. consumerism flourish.

~ not even having a pastry helped really, to make up for an otherwise crappilicious day.

tomorrow is another day - as today wasn't the end of the world. though i wouldn't have minded that, honestly, this abused planet deserves a new start - i hope it'll be a better one. a good one. why not a really awesome one.

floating

having had a very simple day. relaxing, calm, undemanding. a good day to have now and then.

floating. changing nailpolish - a pity the dotting tool wasn't easy peasy to use, i need to practise - drinking loads of tea. eating lussekatt and ginger snaps. watching 'love actually' for the umpteenth time. laughing, crying, engaging. good for the soul.

floating. sleeping. thursday.

short people in red coats

Ever since I saw the - pretty good - movie "Don't look now" years ago I can't help but thinking about kill-crazy dwarfs whenever I see short people in red Little Red Riding Hood coats.

When we stepped out from a cafe in Budapest, nearby the Christmas fair market square, this little woman in a red coat was the first I saw. Obviously I had to post the snap on Facebook, with a warning about the murderous dwarf from 'Don't look now' roaming the fair. A movie buff friend was a bit impressed with my sighting and I said "Well you can imagine my excitement when I spotted her lurking there...!" 

- his follow up comment to that was "As I recall Donald Sutherland was excited to spot her lurking too, and it didn't turn out very well for him!". Luckily I did survive (touch wood) to tell.

Another movie I quite enjoyed with reference to 'Don't look now' is "Unconditional love", a well-played, musing little piece.

Do you have any movie characters that spring to mind whenever you spot a certain type of person, dressed in a certain way?

mad about the sofa

partly annoying (since i'm never complete mistress of my own sofa), partly endearing and heartmelt inducing (awwness galore), the cat and dog obsessiveness about sofa continues.

feast your eyes on these recent, heartwarming snaps, blogosphere.

the writing of christmas cards

Writing, a bit late as usual, this year's Christmas cards.
Something I will spend some hours still doing.
My only Christmas must really.
Give me a holler if you want one!
Or even better, if you want to swap Christmas cards, that would be delightful.

It will be a quiet week for me, writing, crocheting, knitting, baking.
A floating session scheduled.
A doctor's appointment - please keep fingers crossed for Answers.
(It would be such a relief to finally get that before the end of the year...)
A hairdresser appointment.
Then I'm ready for the weekend, the long weekend.

So, what are your plans for the week?

on the third advent sunday

we had a bit of a belated birthday do, for m (april), for malte (august), for me (october), afternoon tea ~ cream tea or since it was advent sunday, 'adventsfika'. any excuse to have a splendid fika is a good excuse.



i made two types of scones, savoury and the cream tea kind. i usually like the latter best, but sadly they didn't turn out well at all today. dry and dull. i changed the sourmilk (filmjölk) to soygurt and the consistency of dough was as it usually is, end result far from. will make another batch soon and hopefully it'll turn out better.

the savoury scones on the other hand turned out better than ever, light, fluffy, moist and perfect. i swapped the dairy for almond milk and accidently used twice as much butter/oil than recipe said. oops. from now on that will certainly be the way i make my savoury scones.



also made those fab polka cookies from last year. most if them is in the freezer, but we had a few of them at the do too. truly yummy cookies. do try them out.

it was a cosy and tasty sunday afternoon.
how did you spend yours?

when bobbaloos go shopping

One of many appealing traits in bobbaloos, I've found, is that when they go shopping and pick up stuff when I turn my back, or have an opportunity to chose something they like, they most always chose things I like. Necessities or irresistably cute stuff. In other words, things a bit like themselves.

A pity they don't pay for the stuff themselves too.

The other day they thought it was an excellent idea to go looking for that saffron tea someone had raved about on Instagram. And at the same time spice things up in the dog poo department - the idea of turquoise and pink dog poo bags sounded fab! One of each of course, gender-related colours are just the silliest of notions.

The bright coloured dog poo bags haven't been inaugurated yet, but the colours are indeed great. Picking up loaf dog poo is suddenly so much more fun!

The saffron tea was a disappointment, smells lovely but tastes very little. Rather expensive too, so won't buy that again. You really have to pick better tea next time, bobbaloos.

You who have the great fortune to share your life with bobbaloos,
what do you think about their shopping skills?