Week 26

Hello Shanon!
Happy week 26! Can you believe we're already halfway through this year?! I know I can't :)
On Friday we celebrated Midsummer's Eve here in Sweden. There are many traditions associated with this holiday, like dancing around a leaf-clad pole while singing songs about little frogs. You can also pick seven kinds of flowers and put them under your pillow - this is supposed to make you dream about your future love. I think I only did that once when I was a kid, but my mom made me put the flowers in a plastic bag so they wouldn't smudge the sheets. That must be why I didn't dream about anyone :) I haven't actually danced around the midsummer's pole for years, usually we just celebrate by meeting up with friends and having a good dinner. This holiday is actually very much about everything that is quintessentially Swedish, like flower wreaths in the hair and red cottages with white trims. The cottages should ideally be located either on the countryside with meadows nearby or in the archipelago near the water. A Swedish beer brand made a tv-commercial many years ago that really sums it all up (except that it's very beer oriented of course), if you search for "Reklamfilm Pripps blå #3" on youtube you will see what I mean :)
This year we spent the holiday with a dear friend of mine and her baby (her husband unfortunately had to work all night so he couldn't be with us). We had a lovely dinner and played lots with her cute baby and I was so proud when I managed to put him to sleep all by myself. I took some shots of the lovely food and dessert that we ate, but none were any good, so I decided to share this one instead. We brought her some mums and these were the "baby mums" that originally grew on the stems, we cut them off and put them in a little vase of their own. It's a lucky thing that my friend and I have already found our dream husbands, seeing as we only managed to scrape together one kind of flower :)
Have a great week my friend!
xoxo
Moa

Hiya Moa!
Happy week 26!
This was an unusually busy week for me. So often I spend the week working on photography and then on household things like painting the kitchen or gardening (as well as working my retail job of course!) that I usually don't find much time to see friends. This week was packed with people however. So much so, that one day I was called into work unexpectedly, and by the time I got home I was so tired I had to cancel on one lovely friend. Luckily, she and I will get together soon to make up for it.
I spent time with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, who came to town and asked me to come along for some shopping. (I'll walk around Ikea anytime!) Next my husband and I got together with a long-lost high school classmate of his, whose wife actually contacted me on Etsy, not knowing that our husbands grew up together. (Small world!) And then I spent one morning with some girl friends and their kids at a playground. Even though I'm the kidless one there, it's really nice to just have the time to chat without it being a big "to-do." And their kids are so funny! (I laugh at things I probably shouldn't, but I can't help it!)
So, on to the postcard. I wanted to either shoot the daisies that are beginning to bloom, or the multitude of snapdragons that I planted over the weekend. But it rained so hard that the thought of the garden put me in a bad mood. Everything is weather beaten and worn. So I thought some of the treats we picked up at the farmers' market would make a great postcard. All the red makes me happy, and they are some of my favorites. Now that I think about it, I could have included some raspberries as well, but they don't last long in this house. We ate them too fast!
Happy halfway through, Moa! It's been a blast, I can't believe we are heading into the 2nd half. So crazy!
Xoxo,
Shanon

Week 25

Hello Shanon!
I hope your week has been good! I finally got my summer vacation this Thursday when I had completed the workday, and it feels very nice. It's actually a bit difficult to fully grasp, since we worked so hard on our last week of work. I haven't got that real summer holiday feeling yet, but it'll come once I've been home for a little while. What would also help is if the sun would show itself instead of hide behind dark clouds! :) The last couple of days it's mostly been raining like crazy...
On Friday we were going to some dear friends for dinner and on the way there we stopped at a garden centre to get some flowers for them. As I can rarely just buy what I'm supposed to and then get out of the store, I decided to buy this lovely flower for ourselves. It's a type of lavender that's called butterfly lavender in Swedish, but I couldn't find an exact translation in English. I think it does look kind of like a butterfly too, the petals on top look a bit like wings to me :) I'm just saying this because a lot of the time I can't really find connections between names and what flowers or other things look like :) Anyway, back to the garden centre! When we got to the store it was raining so much that I made Martin drive to the entrance so I could run inside with the speed of the wind. While I was inside I happened to run into a very dear friend who was also there shopping and she'd actually bought the exact same flower that I had found, just a little bonus information :) Together we rushed out to our separate cars, but I felt sorry for her because she had bought more flowers plus some bags of soil too so she couldn't just fling herself into the dry comfort of her car :) I have to clarify that I actually volunteered to help her, but she said she could make it on her own :)
Here's to a new week of sunshine and warmth!
xoxo
Moa

Hiya Dear Moa!
I hope you had a lovely week.
This week I met a new friend and we took a walk around the lake near my house. Walking around the lake discussing design, travel, life, and art. I felt like I exercised my brain as well as my legs. It was outstanding!
Then for the weekend we left the city to go out to my parents' cabin for Father's Day. There is not much that is more relaxing than listening to the waves and the birds, sitting around in lawn chairs, soaking up the sun. This postcard is the view I enjoyed there, while reading a marvelous book. I don't know why I hadn't read it before, but I can now say that East of Eden is my favorite book ever. It's such a sweeping story of family, of the desire to be loved, and of the struggle to make peace with our faults and failures. I know you really enjoy the romance of the Brontes, but if you'd like to read some Steinbeck, I would recommend it. (Also, it's lots less depressing then some of his other works i.e. The Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men! Haha) To be honest, I sobbed at the end. =)
Wishing you a wonderful week. And here's to lakes and literature!
=)
Xoxo,
Shanon

Week 24

Hi Shanon!
How has your week been? I've had a very intense week to say the least, but it's been a good one all the same. All the pupils came back from their trip to Europe and were back at school on Tuesday, so then things were back to normal - meaning lots of hustle and bustle going on :) But it was very fun to see everyone again, even though I really enjoyed only having one pupil :) On Wednesday we had a sports day where all the kids in the school (aged 6-16) played a sport that is similar to baseball, but the rules are much simpler. We had lots of fun, even though it rained after lunch when the winning team met the teachers. We won by the way, which made lots of the kids kind of grumpy :) On Thursday evening it was time for the end of term celebration and it was very emotional to say goodbye to the ones that will move on to high school. One of the girls held a speach and she started crying a bit - I'm not ashamed to say that I teared up too... But hopefully they'll come back to visit some time. Since we're such a small school (only about 40 pupils) we're like a big family in many ways... Now I'm just longing for my own summer holiday, which starts on Friday. It's going to be SO nice to have some time off when I can just relax, work a bit with some projects for our home and just have fun.
Speaking of fun: we had my sister and her husband over for dinner on Friday. We ate delicious food and played Mah-jong until late in the evening. She also brought some knitting needles that she didn't need. One of them was a circular knitting needle, that she'd tied together with a rubber band so that it looked like a heart. I couldn't help taking a shot of this and I liked how it turned out. I dedicate this shot to my knitting crazy sister :)
All the best to you and I hope that week 24 will bring many pleasant things! :)
xoxo
Moa

Hiya Moa!
I hope you had a great week!
My delphinium was in full bloom this week, but unfortunately it's been rainy. They are tall and delicate, so they don't hold up well to storms. This just means that I've been enjoying the stems inside this year. I have to pull of many petals to actually get the stem into a vase, but I can't throw them away, so there are bowls of them around the house as well. Since taking this picture in fact, there are even more!
I also spent a rainy Saturday going to a cousin's graduation. My parents stopped to pick me up on their way, so that was interesting riding in the back seat like a kid. Only I think I was MUCH better company now than when I was younger! =) Ben stayed home to watch the US play in the World Cup, but once we returned we all went out for Mexican food at the little place in our neighborhood. While we were there I was explaining to my parents why I like drinking the Mexican beer, Pacifico, with Mexican food. My mom out of the blue said "Mexican beer would NOT go well with Swedish meatballs!" I think I about died laughing at that. It's probably a true statement, but I was not expecting to hear it! Hahaha
I spent another rainy day on Sunday, in bed, with books and magazines and movies. I also spent it napping and eating cherries and walnuts. Things that all seemed strangely decadent, but it's hard to be motivated after so many days of rain. I know I'm lucky to enjoy such a lazy day.
Here's wishing us both sunshine!
xoxo,
Shanon

Week 23

Hello Shanon!
I hope all is well with you! I've had a busy week with lots of things happening. One day after work I went to a garden center and bought some plants for our balcony. I even bought three tiny strawberry plants that I'm hoping will give some berries, although I have a feeling we'll just have to buy strawberries if we want more than one every now and then :) The most fun thing, however, was my sister's graduation from med-school that took place on Saturday. We actually celebrated her all weekend long and it was very nice. I'm so proud of what she's accomplished! :)
From one thing to another. I had thought about yet another flower shot for this weeks postcard, but then I thought that it might be fun to mix things up a bit. Instead of some pretty lilacs, I shot my new blusher :) I have a favourite brand called Make up Store, a Swedish brand that has stores all over the world (at least I think so). They're a bit pricier than the usual brands like Maybelline and L'Oreal but the quality is often much better too. I used to have a good blusher from Maybelline, but they cancelled my colour so I had to try another one. The colour that I got looked good in the box, but it was hardly visible on the cheek so I had to use lots of it for any effect at all. Last week I got tired of that and walked into a Make up Store to see if they had anything good to offer. The saleswoman helped me find a pretty colour (that was actually very similar to the other one) and the difference was enormous. With this blusher I only have to dab the brush into the blusher and then I get a perfect blush on the cheeks. And since I'm so in love with it I decided to share my discovery :) Also, the colour is called Sugar spice which I think sounds very pretty :)
That's all from me. Hope you have a happy week 23!
xoxo
Moa

Hi Moa!
Happy week 23!
This week I made some cookies that I meant to make over Memorial Weekend, but never found the time to get one of the ingredients. (This always seems to happen to me when I try to make something when we are out of town. I need my own kitchen, I guess!) They are rosemary shortbread cookies. I used rosemary from my own garden, which smells incredible. It's unexpected and makes for a savory cookie, not quite sweet but really good.
The light was interesting when I shot this postcard for you. We had just returned from visiting our friends and their new baby Stella, and I knew I had to get this shot done before I had to run in to work for a few hours. It was a strange and stormy day. The light in this reminds of the big mountainous clouds.
Oh! Not really on the same topic as cookies or clouds, but I have to share this... the little baby was fussy and crying as soon as I started holding her, but after rocking her a short time, she soon fell asleep and even though she was really tiny, I swear I could feel her breathing change into that deep restful in and out. I was so proud of myself! =) It cracks me up that I find this important enough to share in my postcard to you. But doesn't it feel like an accomplishment when something like that happens?
And while I'm being completely random... on Saturday night I walked my first red carpet. LoL I went with my friend to a bash at the hair salon she goes to, and they actually had a red carpet with a photographer. I didn't know that we'd be going to it, so I was so under-dressed. I think I could even hear the photographer delete the photo after she took it! How funny!!! =)
Wishing you a great week with lots of fun random surprises!
xoxo,
Shanon

Week 22

Hi Shanon!
Happy week 22! :)
This week's postcard is something as unusual as a sporty postcard, as I took a shot of my brand new sneakers, that I bought yesterday :) They were kind of a surprise buy, since I had a cute pair of Nike sneakers from last year that were white with a pink swoosh. The thing was that I had started to feel a wet sensation when it rained, but I shrugged it off as being imagination. Last week, however, I really felt that one of my feet was wet and as I looked closer I noticed that there was a split in one sole. I was really disappointed since I felt that they were really "me". I'm not much for sporty outfits and those sneakers were perfect since they went well with my work outfits. My husband returned them to the store and got all the money back (he had an errand there anyway, but I was secretly happy that I didn't have to do it as I'm kind of bad at complaining about these types of things - especially when it's been a year), so I could buy a new pair. After experiencing the exact same thing this year - that almost all sneakers are too sporty-looking for me - I found these that were great.
As you can tell not much has been going on this week, since the most interesting thing I have to tell is that I bought a pair of sneakers :) My work has been really relaxed since all the kids but one in the junior high class that I teach are away on a two week long bus trip through Europe. I had the chance to go with them, but since I value comfort and calm I don't think it's something that would work very well for me. These trips tend to be very hectic, intense and sleep-deprived :) Talking about it with Martin has however made us dream about going on a trip of our own, but we'll see when that might be :)
I hope you will have a sunny week!
xoxo
Moa

Hiya Moa!
I hope you had a great week and weekend!
I'd tell you about the week, but I can't quite remember it now. The weekend was too full! We went out of town for the long holiday weekend here. It was Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day is a day to remember fallen soldiers and it is celebrated on a Monday, making it a three day weekend for most people. We left the city on Friday afternoon and since we are from about the same area, we can see all our relatives in one visit. There was lots of golfing and swimming in the pool at Ben's parents house. (Sitting near it for me. I hate swimsuits, yikes!) And we also spent a long day at my parents' cabin, playing yard games, eating, and cooling off in the lake. We also played a few card games. Awwwh, card games on a picnic table. That's so summer at the lake to me. =) We got in a nice evening with my good friend at her parents' house (it's all about "the parents' house" when you go visit back home, since none of us live there anymore! haha) and we also visited my grandparents and saw some of my aunts and uncles. It was a FULL weekend!
I remember several summers when I did all this, hanging out with both of our families, by myself because Ben was deployed. I'm so lucky that his time in the service was a safe one and he finished it up and now gets to spend these holidays with us. I wish that for everyone serving right now. That one day they can come home and have their deployment a distant memory and just play card games on a lake on a warm holiday weekend in May.
See you in week 23!
=)
xoxo,
Shanon