Week 17

Hello Shanon!
I hope you've had a great week! I've had a good week, even though I've been really tired due to a bit of illness. The best part of it was on Saturday when we went to a flower market/exhibition that was held at a high school in the area. People sold plants, trees and even potatoes and there were also some gardening companies that wanted to promote their services. As we don't have a garden we couldn't buy any of the lovely rose plants and peony plants but I really enjoyed seeing them and dreaming about the day that we can buy them! We did buy two geraniums, 3 kilos of almond potatoes and a cute little frog decoration that you can stick into a flower pot.
When we were there I took lots of photos (of course!) so I had a bit of a hard time deciding which one I should send you. In the end I chose one of a flower that was in one of the greenhouses. I thought it was really pretty, even if I'm not usually much for orange-red tones (I'm more of a pink girl as you know). Sometimes it's good to try and step outside of your regular colours :)
This week we're getting up the chairs and the table for the balcony from the basement and I can't wait to sit out there when it's a bit warmer! :)
Hope you'll have a lovely week 17, Shanon!
xoxo
Moa

Hiya Moa!
This week I was thinking a lot about all the fun shops in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area that are run by small business owners. Flower shops, clothing shops, ice cream shops, and then I of course thought about bakeries! Macarons are one of those confections I've been seeing everywhere, but I've never tried. I remedied that on Wednesday by stopping at Sweets Bakeshop! Lemon Raspberry, Salted Caramel, and Banana-- oh my!
Truth be told, there is nothing in my little espresso mug in this shot, I ate them too fast to even make tea! In fact, I had to use lots of restraint to get home with them and not pull over on the river parkway and eat them among the budding trees and pretty water, but they made it back for the shot! =) If anything, this postcard project is teaching me discipline. lol
Mmmmmm... what yumminess can I shoot for next week? Well, I might learn discipline in certain respects, but if I go this route, I might also gain weight!
Lots of macaron love to you!
xoxo,
Shanon

Week 16

Hello Shanon!
I hope April is treating you well :) Here we've had what in Swedish is called "April weather", meaning crazy weather. We've had snow, hail, rain and stormy weather. When I looked out the window a minute ago it was raining a lot but now it stopped again... I love seeing the photos from your garden, it's such a nice substitute until we get some more flowers and grass over here :)
This week has been kind of hectic for me, with lots of things to do. We've finished the glass cabinet and actually bought a livingroom table that we're going to paint. My mom teased me the other day and said it was good that we'd gotten ourselves a car with a big luggage compartment, now that we've started a furniture business :) But we just think it's fun to find furniture that is well made and then fix them up and get pretty pieces for a fraction of the cost compared to buying them new. We also got some help from Martin's dad to put up a new cabinet and new lights in the bathroom, as a little mini-makeover. In all this I had a pretty bouquet that was forgotten on the table, even after it had wilted. But I think there is something so beautiful about wilting flowers so I shot them in the lovely sunlight as my postcard to you this week :)
Hope you'll have a great week!
xoxo
Moa

Hiya Moa!
I hope you had a splendid week! Mine was busy, but fun. On Thursday I went to an event that is held once a month, called W7 Collective, and I knew that it would be so fun to send you a postcard of the Nelle handbags that were there. Aren't they pretty all in a big swoop together? You wouldn't believe how soft the ribbon is on them. They are handmade and are incredibly yummy. I wish I had a reason to buy one, but these days my main concern is a bag I can fit my camera into, not to mention the fact that I never go anywhere fancy! Haha Sounds like date nights need to be reinstated around here! =)
It was actually Minnesota fashion week, so there were fashion shows all around the city. I didn't make it to any, but next year I will! I watch Project Runway, that counts as credentials, right?
I'm looking forward to your postcard! Have a great week ahead!
Your fashionista friend, lol.
xoxo,
Shanon

Week 15

Hello Shanon!
Happy week 15! Hope you've had a great week and that you've gotten lots of Easter candy :)
I've been on Easter holiday this week so I've enjoyed some free time. The weather has been pretty boring, mainly grey skies, so I haven't been out much. Today, on the other hand, the weather was sunny and lovely. Martin changed the tyres on the car while I painted parts of the glass cabinet and he just wore his t-shirt, it was so warm and springlike :) We've actually been painting the glass cabinet five out of seven days this week and now it's almost finished, I'm so excited about bringing it home and being able to arrange it!
We also decided to paint our smaller dalahorses white. They used to be wooden, but we thought they would look even prettier in white and that they would match the dresser better (the one we found at the recycling centre for free last fall and painted light grey). Do you see something familiar in the background? Yup, that's one of your pretty photos! :) I framed them both and placed them on the dresser in the hallway, and they look so good there :)
Take care and enjoy the flowers in your garden for me too :)
xoxo
Moa

Hello Moa!
Happy Spring to you!
So far not very many of my bulbs have bloomed, but it's definitely been warm and lovely here, so I'm not complaining! =) This is the lone Mount Hood daffodil I've gotten from the garden this spring. I think certain daffodils are not prone to repeat year after year, and Mount Hood must be of that variety. The green leaves all came up from last year, but only one flower has appeared so far. Usually I feel bad about cutting flowers and bringing them inside, but that lone flower looked pretty sad out there by itself and it's lasting quite a long time in a vase, so that's nice. =)
I was really sore this week from my surgery last summer. In two months it will have been a year, so it's crazy to me that I'm still recovering. But then again, it sure was nice to just sit in a lawn chair while Ben dug a new flowerbed yesterday! I did plant a couple containers that flank our front door, and I planted a few small shade plants under a tree, but I tried to go easy. Happily I feel pretty good right now, so it was worth it to be more careful with myself.
I hope you like the dice that are sitting on this dresser, with the daffodil. I think they are sort of pretty to have out. We play this dice game with our close friends, so it reminds me of them. But also, I think there is something hopeful about dice. The whole "roll the dice" saying... =)
Talk to you soon Moa! Have a lovely week!
xoxo,
Shanon

Week 14

Hello Shanon!
Can you believe it's already been 14 weeks? I'm kind of baffled when I think about it. Another thing I'm baffled about is the fact that it's snowing again. We've had some lovely days with lots of melting snow and now this. Not that it'll stay on the ground, since the temperature is still over zero degrees but still... Well, over to more pleasant things like Easter! I love Easter, because it's a lovely long weekend. I've had time to relax and do fun things that I normally don't have time to do.
For instance, I started working on our glass cabinet the other day, putting on spackle paste and sanding it down. Now it's time to start painting and that's the fun part. I'm kind of lazy and think that the groundwork is really boring, painting is fun though, because then you see the results right away :) I also baked some bread for the first time in months and it turned out really delicious. There's nothing more tasty than eating bread that's just out from the oven, yum! :)
Hope you'll have a lovely spring weekend!
xoxo
Moa

Happy Week 14 Moa and Happy Easter!
This week was exciting because we had our first blooms in the garden. Blue flowers really are my sentimental favorites, so it was especially nice. They are Siberian squill and they are pretty small but very joyous. =)
My older neighbor lady has a bunch of them poking through the rocks in the front of her house. We are always talking flowers when we see each other outside and one year, after commenting on how much I enjoyed them she surprised me buy digging up a bowl of them for me. I think lifelong gardeners have such giving hearts! Last fall I ordered a bag of them so that I could develop my own drifts of blue flowers in the spring just like hers. It's always exciting to see things come up and it's neat to spread them throughout the neighborhood.
So anyhow, I didn't get much candy for Easter, but I did get blue Siberia squill. Haha
I hope your week was full of nice surprises as well!
xoxo,
Shanon