Week 30

Hi there Shanon!
How are things with you? I'm hoping you're having a great summer. Here in Sweden we've had really amazing weather so far. It's just this past week where the skies have been increasingly cloudy and yesterday we had lots and lots of rain. However it's supposed to get better in just a day or two so I'm not too concerned about that :)
This was one of those weeks where I had to really concentrate to remember what we've been doing, the days have gotten so blurred together :) It's been a really nice week though, no hanging out at the beach (unfortunately) but we've seen lots of friends and that's great too. On Tuesday evening I had a very good friend over for a visit, which was so much fun. We drank tea and watched The Midsomer Murders, I don't know if it's airing in the US but it's a British series of crime movies that airs every summer in Sweden and it's very popular. The last couple of weeks I've watched that show on Tuesday evenings and then Miss Marple has aired on Wednesdays, so it's been a good summer for those of us who love cozy detective stories :)
Another thing that we've been doing this week is making lattes at home. We usually drink coffee after lunch, made with newly ground beans, but now Martin had bought some espresso beans so we tried them as well. It's so delicious, especially accompanied by dark chocolate... Yum! I'm making myself long for a latte just by writing about it, haha :)
I hope you have a great week!
xoxo
Moa

Hello Dear Moa!
I hope you had a splendid week. =)
I did something a little abnormal, but totally necessary. I took off work to drive out of the cities to see my grandma and her sisters. We had a picnic at the lake where my grandma has a huge camper. I don't know if they are popular in Sweden, but campsites in Minnesota are filled with "5th wheel" campers that are like mobile homes! My brother and his wife, my mom and dad, two of my aunts, and some cousins were also there. But the guests of honor were my two great aunts, Rosie and Mary. Rosie lives with my great uncle in California and we spent many times with them when we lived in Monterey. I learned to use chopsticks with her family one night. When I think of Mary, I think the house she and her husband lived in when I was young. It was the fanciest house I had ever seen, with a path leading down to a pool that was inside a structure that seemed like a greenhouse.
While I was home my grandma had me pick out a silver and turquoise bracelet she had made. Her inspiration was Arizona, where she lives with my grandpa during the winter. She's always making something. I think I get that from her!
We ate lots of food, drank some wine, and just generally loved each other up! =) I turned out to be the last one to leave because I just wanted to soak up as much of them as I could. It was splendid. And before the sun set, I trekked to the entry of the campground to get this shot for you. A canoe full of flowers? But of course! =) Looking forward to your postcard and hope your summer is going swell.
xoxo,
Shanon

Week 29

Hello Shanon!
I hope you've had a good week! We went home from my dad's on Monday and on Tuesday it was time to celebrate my father-in-law's 60th birthday. All the family on Martin's side were there and he'd decided that he wanted to celebrate it at a place called Älgens hus, which means The moose's house. As you can understand it was all about mooses, we even got to pet baby mooses :) It was so funny, because there were some Americans there too, and that made me think of you :) It was an older couple and to me it was so funny to hear their heavy American accents in the middle of the woods in the Swedish countryside :)
My postcard this week is from a lovely mansion that we visited yesterday. I got very bored yesterday afternoon (something that almost never happens to me, after all there are so many fun things to do :)) and went into the bedroom where Martin was playing Nintendo Wii. I lightly smacked him on his foot (it wasn't hard, I promise :)) with a magazine to get his attention and said that I wanted to do something or go somewhere. After a while he came around from his Wii-world and suggested that we go to this place. It's a very pretty mansion where they serve food and baked goods and it's right by the sea. We walked around there for a while and I took some shots but we didn't stay since none of us were hungry. I was also feeling a bit under-dressed. Not that there was a dress code there, but I just had on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt which isn't how I like to dress when I go to a mansion :) Martin thought I was silly, he said that there were other people there that were more under-dressed than me but you know how it is - if it doesn't feel right you're just not comfortable. But we'll go back there soon, and then I'll be more fancy :)
Have a great week!
xoxo
Moa
Hiya Moa!
I hope you had a pleasant week!
This week I walked to the post office under fear of rain, so I thought I'd shoot my umbrella for you. We had really bad weather throughout the state on Saturday night too, so it really does sum up the week.
Other than that, I spent the week preparing for an art fair that I have coming up. I'm nervous because I've not done and outdoor show before-- I'm worried about bad weather! I suppose the worst thing would be that all my prints would blow away in the wind or be rained on. Neither would end in death, so I should just not stress it...
In other news, I had a particularly nice Thursday. I drove a bunch of pieces out to a shop, someplace I'd never been, and it wound up taking me an hour to get there. That doesn't really sound nice, but on my way home, since I was dressed up (dressed up more than normal anyhow!) I decided to reward myself by stopping off at Anthropologie to pick up some sample knobs for the kitchen and while I was in that neighborhood I stopped at a restaurant for a quick bite as well. Eating my sushi out on their sidewalk tables, on a gorgeous evening all by my self, was heavenly. I was lost in thought until a lady with a labradoodle walked by. I'm not a big dog person myself, but those guys really pull at me. I think they are too sweet to be true! Argh, so cute! =)
So that was my week. I'm looking forward to your postcard dear!
xoxo,
Shanon

Week 28

Hi Shanon!
Happy week 28! I hope you're having a lovely summer so far. We left my mother's place on Tuesday, spent Wednesday and Thursday doing laundry plus organizing stuff in our apartment. On the way home from mom we stopped at IKEA and bought a whole lot of things. Martin said before that his goal was that we would be out of there within an hour and that we should spend less than a thousand Swedish crowns, which is about $130. None of that happened, we spent more than two hours there and bought a lot more stuff than we had planned. But all of it were good and needed things, that's the story I'm sticking to :) Among other things we bought a long pile rug, which is really cozy and I love burrowing my toes in it :)
On Friday we went to my dad's place. Since we got here we've had really lovely summer weather. Today we visited a fort in a neighbour town, which was very interesting. Afterwards we went to a super cozy coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. It was such a lovely place, like a big garden with a blossoming meadow right by. My postcard for this week shows a dessert we ate earlier this evening, it's a raspberry fromage cake that was super yummy. I love how deliciously pink it is too :) Tomorrow I'm looking forward to a picnic by the sea, if the weather allows it - I'm keeping my fingers crossed! :)
Hope you'll have a lovely week!
xoxo
Moa

Hi there Moa!
I hope you had a pleasant summer week in Sweden. We've been having rain, followed by sun, followed by rain, followed by sun. The result is that my flowerbeds are bursting. I thought I'd better finally share a shot of them for my postcard. Well, that and I worked a lot during the week, so I don't have much else exciting to share. ; )
I've been really happy that my red echinacea and white phlox are blooming. The red echinacea is named Tomato Soup, which makes me laugh. I planted it last fall, so it's the first time I've gotten to see it in full bloom. It's a really deep bright red, completely unlike the pink echinacea that is so common.
I'm especially excited about the phlox because it is very fragrant, and I love the scent. You can smell it from around the corner! I'm also happy because last year I planted some zinnia seeds near it, which grew taller than I though, and crowded out the plant, so I didn't get to enjoy as much. It was hard to find it in there!
We sat in the backyard this week and planned where to put in another flowerbed this fall, as well as which plants will need dividing. It's hard to imagine that when we moved in there were zero flowerbeds here. I wish I could invite you over for lazy afternoon of chatting and shooting flowers! =)
Wishing you another great week!
Xoxo,
Shanon

Week 27

Hello Shanon!
I hope you are well and that you've had a lovely 4th of July weekend! I travelled to my mom on Monday and I've had a lovely time here all week. The weather has been so warm and sunny that I had to go sit in the basement once to get a bit cooler :) We've done lots of fun things here, like going out for coffee, shopping in interior decorating stores and shopping flowers for my mom's garden. They're re-doing their entire yard and they've put up a conservatory with some patio furniture where we've eaten breakfast many mornings. When I sit out there, sipping coffee, I really feel that that's life :)
Yesterday Martin and I went to an old manor house with a baroque garden with fruit trees. They have a really nice coffee shop there, but it was so incredibly hot (+30 C) that we left as soon as I'd shot some photos :) I thought of you when I was there, I think you would really like it! My postcard shows part of the orchard and one of the old houses on the premises. To me this is about as idyllic as it gets :)
Now I'm off to look at a movie with my family! :)
Have a lovely week, my friend!
xoxo
Moa

Hiya Moa!
I hope you had a wonderful week!
This week we were suppose to go to the U2 concert here in the new football stadium (the Gophers' stadium) but a month or so ago Bono had a surgery, and the concert has been postponed. So no postcard pic of that! =)
(Now that I think about it, that concert was scheduled for a Sunday, so it would have been last week's postcard. That's the thing about summer, the weeks run together!)
On to this week then...
After 2 weeks of side pains (I can't believe it's been a year since that surgery! And a whole year since your lovely get well package! ) I was back to running again. I need some new running shoes, mine are worn down so far it's probably a hazard. Haha I so love going to the lake to run. That's the thing about Minnesota, there are lakes everywhere. Is Sweden like that?
I see everyone else wearing ipods while they walk or run around the lake, but I love hearing the birds, the waves, and the wind through the trees. I even enjoy catching pieces of conversation from other people. (I don't enjoy the people who walk and talk on the cell phones. That is unbelievable weird and annoying! But I digress.) Then we headed out of town for 5 days. It was the 4th of July weekend here, plus our anniversary also falls on the 4th, (Long story why! It's kind of a pain that it's the same day. I wouldn't recommend it.) so we spent the weekend in the country. I think laying on the dock with the waves splashing around us was the main activity on our anniversary. It was incredibly windy all weekend, but nice just the same at the lake. Watching the sunset, and the fireworks start up all along the shore was wonderful. (Except when we were driven inside by mosquitoes! It was a major attack! Hahaha)
It was all just really nice. What summer should be.
My postcard this week is of the sun streaming in at the cabin on Friday. I was making a sweet potato salad and had to grab the camera quick when the light starting dancing on the walls and floor. I thought you might like it. =)
Here's to another wonderful summer week ahead my friend!
xoxo,
Shanon
p.s. I apologize for my bad writing style. I put so much in parentheses because I think too fast while I write. And I just write quite poorly in general. It probably does your head in to translate/understand me, especially on days like today! Sorry!