One of these days

Some days have to be free from taking pictures and this was one of them. Can you imagine, a day can contain many beautiful moments even without pictures.

A short rendezvous with Vittsjö

Vittsjö: hidden among the trees, with a beautiful lake, lots of candles, and a crazy and very sweet tiger.

January

How to enjoy the dark

Yes, south of Sweden may be dark and grey during winter, but all the lights in peoples´ homes definitely compensate for this. There are lamps everywhere and the windows are not covered by any curtains or shutter. Usually, there are at least four our five lamps in every room and you put lamps in most windows. You do not only decorate for yourself, but also for the neighbours or the rabbits and the foxes who may pass by in the garden. All these lights make me enjoy night walks even more and you don´t need to buy home furnishing magazines anymore. Simply go for walks and get inspired! 

Combining creativity and therapy

It usually doesn´t take too long when people get to know me until they find out that the relationship between me and snakes is not very good... This creative week, I paint a snake in rainbow colours. We make peace, me and the snake. A perfect combination of creativity and therapy, isn´t is?

All these walks

I usually don´t like going for walks. Maybe because the speed is something in-between what I prefer. I rather choose either slow yoga speed, or fast running- or bike speed. But if there is a white fluffy dog joining you, it is difficult to be bored by walks. We have soon seen all of Malmö, the two of us, with the beach as a clear favourite, followed by Pildammsparken. Today we advanced to a walk in Trelleborg. To be honest, this place is not the most exciting on earth, but Ashi seemed to enjoy the sand on the beach… 

Sheep escaped Gotland

We are back home after some crazy days on the island. It was good having a date with the sun above the clouds on the flight back home. Some of the sheep from Gotland wanted to stay with us and they seem to enjoy life in Malmö. 

That special thing with lazy Sundays

I don´t notice any big difference between weekdays and weekend anymore. Maybe since I live with Anna who is also more or less off work now in January. And even when she´s working, her rhythm is quite upside-down compared to how most people live. But today, I had that special feeling of a lazy Sunday which I really enjoyed. 

9.00 After six hours of sleep, we started the day with the Statoil experience. This means that we had to fuel up the rental car before we brought it back to the harbour of Visby, put the key under the carpet and left the car unlocked. The Gotland-way of dealing with rental cars. The Statoil experience was followed by the Ica-experience, where we got some food for breakfast.

10.00 We are hanging around, having some breakfast, taking a shower, going back to bed, connecting with people on Whatsapp and Viber, looking at pictures from Fårö...

13.00 Eliza takes us on a walk. Amazed by the city wall surrounding the town of Visby we end up in a café for a fika. Everything in snail speed. 

16.00 We get back home. Home sweet home. 

18.00 Anna and Michalis go to practice some tango. I start baking “semlor”. I go back to bed for a nap. Some more time on Viber. Some more pictures. Some svtplay. 

21.00 I go for a short walk, waiting for Anna and Michalis to come back home. I whip some cream and prepare the semlas. 

22.00 The sweeties get back home. I order train tickets for a trip to Kiruna in February. Vorfreude. We eat semlas. 

24.00 Michalis gives me a luxury massage. He is paying off the many pictures of Anna which I use to send him.

02.30 Anna comes up with the great idea of releasing a paper lantern into the night sky. We make our wishes and send the lantern to the moon and the stars.

03.00 I am back in bed. Not yet tired, but relaxed and happy, knowing that I won´t get enough sleep this night, but also knowing that it does not matter, since I can do whatever I want the next day.

Vacation in the vacation

I really enjoy life on Gotland! I immediately felt at home in this small apartment, shared by Michalis and Elisa, and it feels like I lived my previous life in the narrow streets of Visby. We don´t sleep a lot, but our days are extremely relaxed. Well, except for the fights with Michalis, but since I win the battles, it still feels OK. ;)

This excellent rental car took us to Fårö, a small island just north of Gotland.

This landscape...

The simple houses, some of them abandoned and not taken care of, but still they have some of their beauty left.

The dog!

I think pines are my favourite trees. The smell of the needles on warm summer days, and the beautiful always different shapes of the trees. 

My great company: Michalis, Anna and Elisa.

Before I left Switzerland, I asked "my" aupair-girls what I should do while being back in Sweden. "You should have kebab-pizza" was one of the answers. Well, here we go!

Visby

This must be the most beautiful city in Sweden.


Thanks Michalis for making sure we don't get lost.

A café with our favourite cups.

Sheep all over that you can cuddle up with. 

In love with the small narrow streets.  

Dear laughing friends.

Ending the day with a colourful adventure.

Gotland here we come

Finally. We are back, about fifteen years after our visits to the medieval week on Gotland. This time we left the medieval dresses at home, which is a bit sad. Less sad is that we didn´t bring our tent, but we stay in a warm and cosy house. This flight felt a bit like a domestic flight we had in Bangladesh... So if you would like a flashback, dear Sabine and Chanti, then go to Gotland. ;)    

Dinner at the crêperie in Visby.   

T as in time and tattoo

I guess it sounds weird that you don´t have time for doing certain things when you are off work and have a whole day at your disposal. Well, I can tell you this is possible. My Wednesday started with jumping out in the white winter wonderland taking some snowy pictures followed by a trip to my dear grandparents. From their place, me and Ashi caught a slow train back to Malmö. I then took Anna´s car for a trip to IKEA, planning to get some props for my creative project of the day. But can you imagine: I was not able to find my way to IKEA Malmö by car. Maybe it was my subconscious telling me I should not go there. So my creative idea of decorating the neighbourhood with flower stickers died and there was no time left for any other big creative projects. But at least I decorated my body, instead of the streets, with a tattoo. Thank you Nina for this sweet little gift! 

Today

It has been more snowflakes than creativity in my life today, but at least the snow inspired me to take many walks with Ashi and the pictures below.

Creativity boost

After a week of stretching my body and focusing my mind, I dedided to exercise my creativity muscle. Creativity is what I would like to dedicate myself to during this week. Colour, pictures, sewing...Usually, I get tons of inspiration every day - from people around me, Instagram, blogs... - but now it is time to be more creative myself.

Today I did a visual diary, inspired by a book full of creative exercises that I got as a gift from my dear friend Nina.

There is so much we can learn from our pets

Who knew the kitchen floor can be such a cosy place. I agree with Ashi and think we should spend more time there.

From my altar

Annemarie, you are not only a shining star, your also saved our evening with the chocolate I got from you for Christmas and brought with me to Sweden. We had a Saint-Bernard and Geneva tonight and will save Lucerne and the other cities for future cravings for Swiss chocolate.

Lund sweet Lund

Lund, the small town with the big cathedral, with the many students and bicycles. Lund is also the city where I used to live as a student and it´s always a pleasure to have a reunion with this place. 

      

When it´s hard to find the magic

My love story with the wind has come to an end. The wind had an affair with the rain today, which I definitely didn´t like. It has been a grey day in Malmö today and my outfit did not put so much colour into this day either.

What to do with a day like this, when it´s hard to find the magic? Just the fact that I can sleep as long as I want in the morning, is magic to me. A white fluffy dog who is laying next to your mattress when you wake up is quite magic too and that you can have breakfast with the world´s best Anna as well. Me and this world´s best Anna then went to Yoga Shala for a class during lunch time. If Yoga Kendra is more about candles and atmosphere, then Yoga Shala offers iyengar yoga which is more about perfection and strength. Another good way to find more magic during a rainy day is to give yourself a treat. So me and my birds nest hair style went to the hairdresser and cleared it all out. The last magic for today was found in a chocolate cake at an Italian restaurant where we had dinner tonight. So in the end, magic seams to hide out there, even at the greyest of days.