Sensory overload

This is the one week of the year my fence looks beautiful.
People walking by stop.
Just the scent is enough to stop you.
This is the country cousin of jasmine, the one that survives our winter.
But the scent is pure jasmine.

I never tire of it.

Now meet the undeniable queen of my garden:

The pink peony.
She rules alright.
I never have the heart to cut any to put in a vase.

I think I need to buy a couple more and then I'll be able to enjoy them indoors as well.
I did buy some new perennials yesterday, so a-planting-I-will-go very soon.

When inspiration hits...

...strange things can happen.

First, your floor can turn into a huge mess:
(please ignore the uglier than ugly rug)

Why?
Because four years after I took my wedding pics out of the crappy original slap-them-on-here-and-be-done-with-it-album, I actually did something with them.
[gasp]
I'm making a 8x8 album from all the snapshots and later on a separate portfolio for the professional shots.
Here's the intro page:

The album will be kraft cardstock, assorted papers in tans, blacks and reds, hand-cut inked hearts, 7 Gypsies stickers and all the rest of my Basic Grey rub ons.
Yes all of them.
They better be coming out with new cool ones at CHA summer is all I'm saying...

I can't believe I wore that poofy dress...so very early 90's.
I mean I had a huge bow on my butt...
Beautiful though, my sister's dress.
Handmade.
Stunning.
Tawny, you have it packed up right?
I wonder if we can make any of our girls actually wear it...heheheee....

A tidbit of info on my wedding...
You have no idea how hard it was to find pink sweet peas for my bouquet the first week of August.
I had to order some and hope they got them.
Not quite the flower in season....

I also did something else yesterday.
I picked up my oil paints.
Well, new ones really since I haven't painted in ..what...18 years? 19?

First installment:

There will be a second one to go next to it.
Painted using a spatula (I think that's what it's called), so there's cool texture. That doesn't quite show in the photo.

I'd forgotten about the paint and turpentine fumes though.
A natural high.
heeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Rain, jewelry, a chair and magazines

Long post.
You've been warned.

We did head out downtown yesterday. Carrying our umbrellas that turned out to be dead weight as it never did rain again.

Browsed the sales. The girls got pants, undies and socks. It might sound boring but they were taking their time choosing the undies...lol..
I'll wait until the girls are at my in-laws next week to go look for something for myself. I have no patience for two girls whining while I'm trying clothes on.
Saara and Niina got to choose two, yes I was feeling generous, new Schleich animals (see a couple posts down) each. Niina got a mama panda bear and a mama brown bear. Saara got a elephant mama and baby.

McDonalds for lunch. That was a treat. We go maybe once a month.

We stopped in at a jewelry store I've been meaning to go check out. Designs by Efva Attling.
I'll sidestep here a bit if I may (it's my blog so you can't really stop me...heeee).
This is my wedding ring:

By Kalevala Koru.
My favorite kind of jewelry.
Silver. Always silver for me. But my stone is clear, a rock crystal.
During the last almost 13 years the stone has suffered, it needs to be polished or replaced.
As I mentioned this to Mika, he asked if I'd like a competely new ring.

Now there's a thought.
I don't go for gold or diamonds.
Very low maintenance.
Really, you should see me right now.
Glad you can't.
That ring cost him maybe $60 way back when.
Yes, he got off cheap.
For me being married isn't about the ring. The thought of having a another one does not sound weird to me at all.
Hence the visit to this store.
I love the silver rings with text.

Carpe diem.
Seize the day.

or

Amor vincit omnia.
Love conquers all.

Our wedding anniversary is August 7th.
I have a plan to take him shopping.
Hey, it was his idea to start with...

So, just pants, socks, undies and toy animals?
Oh no.
Niina got cute slippers from Accessorize for school.

And then there's this chair...

The Corona.

Cool, huh?
We have been trying to decide on a new chair for the livingroom for..oh..three years now.

The scene usually goes like this:
Mika leafs through design magazines.
Shows me a picture.

"How about this one?"
"ugh"
"Or this?"
"You're kidding me right?"
"OK, this one?"
"Hell no!"
"You have to like this one?"
"Yeah, that is cool!"
"Shit... 3500 euros"
"Wasn't so nice anyway"

So the other night while leafing through a Danish design magazine called Bo Bedre (live better) he saw the Corona chair. Designed in the 60's. It was chosen to Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey 2001 movie because it looked so futuristic. It hasn't been manufactured since 1992 though. Except for chinese copies (and we know how well those last...).
Mika found three for sale at a place called Tomorrow's Antiques.
I promised to stop by.
Test sit if you wish.

Man is it comfy.
Love at first sight.
Got the price down by 300 euros.
Still pricy.
But it's a classic.
And we love it.
The girls totally dig it.

Needs to be re-upholstered.
That blue clashes a bit... a lot actually.
I'm thinking something to match the couch.
I'll be hunting for fabric next week.

Danielle asked about he magazines on my banner. See that pile on the table in the above photo?

This pile:

Mostly interior design mags.
The ones on my banner are the the finnish Avotakka and the swedish Skona Hem. (The o should be an umlaut, but blogger doesn't like my fancy letters...hmmpphh...)
There's a big variety there.
US mags, UK mags, german mags, scandinavian mags, finnish mags.
What can I say, we like magazines.
It's an addiction.
And yes, my hubby likes interior design.
He can name you the designer of any classic piece of furniture.
But he can't remember where he put the shovel.
(yes, still missing the good shovel...)

And I like Susie's idea of a 10 000 party hat!
Maybe a challenge with a prize too....
Putting on my thinking cap.

Online source for the Haba wooden food in the US: Oompa Toys.
Tell me what you get Tawny.
We can spoil Nolan more :o)

oh crap

You know what bites?
The fact that I missed the weather forecast last night.
And woke up to the sound of pounding rain at 3am.

Falling back to sleep.

Waking up in the morning and realizing I had three loads of dry laundry on the line that I forgot to get before I went to bed.
Operative word being had.

I now have three loads of wet drippy laundry drying in my basement.
sigh.

I was planning to go downtown today with the girls.
We might just grab our umbrellas and head out anyway.
What else is there to do on a rainy day?
Shopping the sales sounds good to me.

Ooops...

How did I forget to change a new banner for June???
DUH.

I present you with the July banner a bit early in compensation...

And just so you all know...
I'm keeping my eye on that counter in the sidebar.
8221 right now.

I might have to throw a party when it reaches 10 000.

I also like hearing from you.
No need to comment every post, just every now and then.
See you around!

To infinity and beyond!

I'm a big Toy Story fan.
*grin*

I thought we'd talk toys today.
How about it?

What is "in" at your house?

The girls have their regular favorites, the Barbies, Bratz, legos and the American Girl dolls.
That is a given list with girls in the house.

Then there are a few special favorites.

Like the Schleich animals. They started collecting them last year.

I love the fact that they are so detailed and well made. Sturdy to play with.
I might just treat them to a trip to the store tomorrow...
Don't tell them.

Playmobil toys have been big here since Saara turned 3.
We have quite a collection.
Starting with the remote control train set...
Huge thing. We'll never get rid of it though.


The girls will set up the trains tracks, cars, gas station etc.
And the piece de resistance:

the supermarket.
It is so cool. I found some discontinued playmobils a couple years ago and now we have a market style fish monger and flower seller to go with it.
And naturally they want more...
They have their eyes on this bakery.

If only we had room for more...
Might have to talk with Santa about this...

By far one of the absolute favorites is the wooden food we brought back from Germany some years back. Can't find any locally.
None.
So when Saara goes to Germany in August, she will have a shopping list.
These are made by Haba and Erzi.


Aren't these great?
Yes, pasta.
And fish sticks in a tin.

On our shopping list so far:




Would you like fries with that?

Our list gets longer every day.
I love the fact that not everything is made of plastic.
And I'm ready to pay just a bit more for that.

What are you willing to spend a bit more on?

Taste of summer

In my book it tastes just like this... blueberries, raspberries and black currants.

Happy Midsummer everyone!

Blooming

These are two of my rhododendrons right now.
I've never seen the lilac one so filled with blooms.
Ever.
And it's nearly as old as I am.
I have a thing for these blooming bushes.
I love the fact that they are evergreen, give a little to the garden even when it is covered in snow.
I have four of them now.
Planning on a few more....


I know the pink ones look alike but in fact they are a bit different.
Love them all.
Equally.
Need more.

We have this cool place in town, very close to us.
And this is the time to visit it.
It's quite unique I hear, as it is a public park.

Click on the photo to see an almost 360 degrees of it.
Yes those are all rhododendrons.
And they might look small to you, but I was standing on a platform 2 meters off the ground...

In the 70's the Helsinki University started planting rhododendrons in this pine woods. They had come up with new varieties of the bloom and wanted to test how well they would do in our northern climate.

Pretty well I'd say...

Wish my bushes were this tall!

It's such a beautiful place to spend an hour at.
And it gave blessed shade and relief from the heat.


Azaleas anyone?

Rhododendrons on one side and azaleas on the other.
Talk about sensory overload.
The kind of excess I like.

Kids, peacocks and bears...oh my!

Nothing like a hot day on a cruise ship to bring out the inner model :o)
Strike a pose...vogue...
Boy are we going to be in trouble a few years up the road!

We had a lovely day In Stockholm. It was hot, about 27C/80F. And yes, that is sweltering for us northern folks. It's the waterbottlegluedtoyourhand kinda weather. The don'tmakemewalkinthesunIpreferthislovelyshadyspothere weather.

I mean c'mon... even the poor bear dude looked like he was ready to shave off that fur...
Can you possibly look more pathetically hot?

The kiddos loved the zoo. That's (back to front) Saara, Elina, Niina, Sara and Gustav who looks like all these girls are getting to him, LOL.

The place was swarming with tame peacocks. Breath taking creatures. Especially when they are up a tree and shriek out just when you are passing underneath... geeezzzz... I think I jumped a good half a meter up. Nearly peed my pants too as I was heading for the bathroom... how come a bird this beautiful has the most horrid sound ever?

This one thought Monica might not want to eat all of her ice cream. He had to leave disappointed as there was no chance of that. It was hot, we needed all our icecream for ourselves, thank you very much.

All in all a fab day out with the girls and good friends.
Although, and this is just between you and me... two nights in a small cabin with my mom and the girls is enough to make me crave a vacation alone. Preferably someplace sound proof...
Oy!