farewell april

For me April has been an overall good month, a surprising and hard working one, with, I'm grateful to say, more ups than downs. In parts a rather curious month with sprinkles of frustration and I'm still clueless about certain people's behaviour. Or rather a specific someone. Confusing and mixed messages seem to be the signature of some. When clearness has its obvious merits. I wish I was a mind-reader.

But, overall, April has been much enjoyed. Now I'm very much looking forward to May and all the excitement one of the prettiest months of the Scandinavian year will bring. Because I'm sure it will.



Today my always-picking-flowers-mum brought be a tiny bouquet of freshly picked cowslips. I couldn't find a perfect wee bottle or vase for it so I ended up using an empty Innocent smoothie bottle. It looks like it has an unruly hair of cowslips. Yellow in yellow. With yellow bobbaloo. And dandelions. All is yellow. Inspected by little miss redhead. And sister white.



Farewell fine April,
Happy Walpurgis,
Hallo sweet May ~

from carrot to juice

it seems like there are a crazy amount of supersized carrots out there these days.

quite a few end their days in my juicer. and get thoroughly enjoyed by yours truly.

and always snoopervised by cats.

the such financial very buy campaign

Remember the informative and fun stickers campaign on the Stockholm commuter trains? Of course the highs and lows of commuting continues, but one thing that has definitely gotten better is the information you get in their campaigns.

Like this current and quite awesome one for the summer season ticket (you get four months May - August but only pay for three months), which apparently is Such financial Very buy Many summer So travel Wow Much cheap and enjoyed by dogs. Hilarious and smile/giggle inducing. I wish more campaigns in general could be like this, informative, fun, clever, simple and unpretentious. What a wonderful world it would be...

sunday selfie and yellow blouse

The new thing I like to do, with a feng-shuied bedroom of sorts, is to hang out a sweet blouse/shirt and a skirt on the wardrobe. So no matter what, the first thing I see in the morning is a pretty sight. It may not be the thing I wear that day, but it's a great way to start a brand new day, a bit of eye candy.

Today it was the yellow blouse I got yesterday - have been oogling it for months, gorgeous colour, model and fabric (very heavy viscose), happy blouse! - and an ancient skirt. (Which alas doesn't fit anylonger but I adore the model and fabric so I've kept it for sentimental reasons. I'm also thinking it's a doable job to have it altered to fit again or at least have it as a pattern for making a new skirt, as the model is fab.) A spring outfit installation. It was the perfect sweet thing to wake up to.



Not a great fan of the concept of selfies, for all sorts of reasons. But now and then the end result is pretty fun. Especially, or most always, there's a cat involved. After a rather exhausting week, for all sorts of reasons, it was a tired and slow day for me today. But never mind me in the selfie-portrait, it's the perfect impression of beauty you should be looking at. Namely Ztina. She looks surreal, but I assure you, she is quite real. Also known as the upside down cat.

It's not only a sunday of selfies and blouses, but also, believe it or not, the very last Sunday of April. It's been a month that just swooshed by, so much has happened. If I'd do a summation I'd say it's been an overall very good month of unexpected things, work and lots of sunshine. Cherry blossom trees, Easter, spectacular nailpolish, cake failure and cake success hand in hand, cat photo bombing, a new Hoptimist in da house and the reflection over something significant that happened ten months ago.

I'm looking forward to May. And I'm more than ready for new beginnings and the embracing of goodness. Bring it on!

a delightful way to spend a saturday

sunshine galore. good friend. good food. pretty flowers. a yellow blouse. good fika. a long long walk. pretty city. great conversation. good laughs. about life, love and everything in between. a saturday well spent. heart.

upside down cat

To have cats in your life is a delightful blend of inspiration, calming, perspective giving and happiness instigating. Litter boxes and cat hair are the non delightful ingredients of a life with cats, but somehow that most always seem like a wee price in comparison with all the fabulousness one gets.

Let's talk about the inspiration part, because inspirations is always good for you. In order to become a better version of you I think it's essential to surround yourself with animals other than the human animal. All their quirks and whims make you see yourself and your own behaviour in new lights. Far from always in a flattering way.

I think most of us is pretty occupied with showing a facade of calm and collected in most situations, to be in control even if our emotions are in turmoil. We play games on different levels. We're not very good at showing our true emotions of what we want and don't want. We should be better at saying "no" but also at saying "yes, yes, yes!". In work, friendship and love. I think non human animals are really good at that. I think we should all be inspired.

So if I was a braver, truer person I would do like Ztina, I'd go "hey you, I seriously dig your vibes wanna hang out?". Well perhaps not exactly throw myself belly up in front of that person demanding belly rubbing and an instant cuddle, but you get the point. Fabulous furries don't play games, people do. Showing feelings and affection should never be wrong. What the world needs more of is love, more true emotions (and some belly rubbing).

Lessons my cats taught me -
I want to be a truer me, how about you?

when magic happens in the garden

Sometimes magic really happens in this garden of mine. I love how this photo is so similar to the follow the hedgehog one from last summer (sans hedgehog and cats enter hoptimists and fresh juice).

It might have been the juice, it might have been the carrots, it might have been the three hoptimists (as three is a magic number), it might have been the light or the place. Or everything.Who knows. Maybe that's just how magic works, in mysterious ways.

May your day be magic.

Greetings Easter, Raindeer and Little Lime ~

green alpaca lace shawl

Behold the finished result of the eternity shawl! Or scarf. The thing that annoys me - no matter how pleased I am about the end result - is that it was supposed to be a triangular shawl, a supersized one. In order to get that I measured and counted, measured and counted and then some, I thought it would take 9 hanks to get there.



After 3-4 hanks I realised something was wrong and yes I had completely miscalculated both the size and amount of yarn to get there... And as it was getting heavier and heavier by each row crocheted I also realised it would be impossible to get it finished as a triangular shawl if I ever wanted to be able to actually wear it.



Conclusion; it is a lovely piece, which took quite a lot of time to finish. It's not exactly what I aimed at, but good in its own way. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be a forever project but finished in a reasonable amount of time. You can follow its progress in these posts - January 12, January 17 and March 23.

16 hanks in three different pastel green hues to get there (not the calculated 9...) and I decided it was a finished shawl/scarf. To be inaugurated next winter. But before it was sent to summer hibernation it got its few minutes of fame udner the magic pink light of the cherry blossom trees 2014. They went really well together, wouldn't you agree?

three sweet things

Today I thought I'd just share three fine kind of things ~

:: A while ago I learnt about the awesomeness that is El Naturalista's new vegan shoe line - many lovely models and colours there. I do believe the Sila summer sandals are screaming my name, they remind me so much of those lovely purple cork oak sandals that broke some years ago. And I have been looking for another pair of peep toe sandals ever since. Colour combo unknown. The red with black sole is nice, but so is the black with pink sole. And the pink with white sole. And the green with black sole.



:: Did you know that the gorgeous Marimekko Unikko (poppy) pattern celebrates its 50th anniversary this year? Unfortunately the link to the story and celebrations doesn't seem to work but you can always pop over to the website and check out the Unikko line. I think it is very much still going strong, such a timeless and happy-instigating design. One of my most treasured Unikko pieces is my umbrella. Glum rainy days get a sprinkle of magic in the company of it.



:: And finally, a precious story about a cat adopting motherless ducklings. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the long version of the clip someone posted on Facebook, but this wee clip is pretty grand too. There's always room for a bit of awww any day, wouldn't you say?

in the company of suncats

under the sunbed was a ztina

On the last day of Easter - the weekend flew by in no time! - I spent a couple of glorious hours in the sun (+20C today, folks, believe it or not!) in the company of sunscreen, suncats and music. Feeling blessed with the company and the generous amount of the natural, fantastic source of vitamin D.





And then I worked, just as was planned, so the Prosit sisters were with me all day one might say, outdoors as well as indoors. As was the garden feeling, since that's what my current work project is about. Loveliness on many levels.



Having lots of grateful feelings for good things in my life right now. As well as for all the things I'm looking forward too. All and all a grand, unpretentious round off to the Easter-weekend of 2014. Thank you kindly for that, Universe.

cherry blossom stockholm 2014

It's that ol' pink magic time of the year again. Almost a month earlier than last year due to this unusually mild winter we've had. I don't think I have anything to add to the gorgeousness that is cherry blossom trees in bloom, so let's the photos do the talking. I took DSLR photos too, but haven't downloaded them yet, so the iPhone snaps will suffice.



As everything is connected I just learnt via my current work project that in Japan the brief weeks when the magic cherry trees are in bloom reminiscence of the short but wonderful (?) life of the samurai.

Me, I fail to see the connection between the beauty of short-lived peaceful flowers and the violent lifes of certain humans. But I can see the brief blossom as a reminder that life is shorter than most of us realise and that we should make the most of it, more of it, as often as possible, live life to the fullest.

That is for me the magic of pink during a few weeks of cherry blossoms in bloom. Make good use of your life.



The littlest cherry blossom photographer

Chubs in a tree - or a rare case of prunus serrulata bobbalooensis

easter yellow

a very yellow easter eve has contained fabulous yarn - a yarn store is truly like a mesmerizing candy store, better for your health if not for the wallet... i didn't get any of this particular yarn, but i did get some other for a particular project i've decided to begin when i've finished (sigh) the tulip sweater.

a special breakfast at a special place held a delightful peach pie,

blue and yellow, granny square boots and yellow handbag is back in use! such things that makes it easier to cope with hibernation for the fabulous happy coat...

foxy fox cushions,

an easter bunny in a window and

a little bowl of easter candy for two.

hope your easter eve has been a sweet one!

the guardians of the ufo pizza boxes

eating pizza is a very rare thing for me. neither body nor mind appreciate the kind of greasiness and lack of long-lasting satisfaction a pizza in general brings.

but today the body felt like trying a new place. and pizza. turned out to be the largest pizza i've ever seen. a pizza ufo.

alas it wasn't very good. thin crust but too greasy, too much cheese and the vegetables from a jar. it did its best to keep me from having a pizza again in a long long long time.

best thing about the ufo pizza was that the boxes were immediately claimed by self-appointed guardians. go guardians.