...perfection

-Dec 8th-

I'm knitting a lovely pair of green socks for me.
A pair I'll reserve for visiting.. so when I take off my shoes, I can wear something pretty to keep my toes warm :)


And here's what my Sky Shawl looks like after two months:


Hopefully I'll get some pure white snow days in there soonish...

So how about if it's dark and wet?

..I posted about embracing the darkness and taking photos anyway :)

So what if it's also raining?
Or that what is coming down is more like sleet..?
But there is still so much prettiness on your way home.

I say go for it.
I stood under some nice trees at first, but had to open the umbrella at some point. And what do you know, you can still take some nice pics!
I didn't have a tripod on me, but I did balance the camera by leaning on trees and the bus stop ;)

What I like about the darkness is that people have lights on from 3pm onwards.
And you can spy...
What color curtains.. do they have nice Christmas lights..

And the wetness?
Gives out fab reflections!



We did end with a dusting of first snow.

That is long gone already...

'Tis the season...

-Dec 7th-


..to check the mailbox eagerly!

I smell gingerbread!

-Dec 6th-



The girls baked a batch of gingerbread cookies.
I happened to spy a packet of frozen dough in my freezer the previous evening..
Sometimes a little short cut can be wonderful.

We also managed to eat quite a bit of the dough....
It is by far the best dough in the world :D

Bouquet

-Dec 5th-

I will be dragging a day behind on giving you my December Daily photos here.
As for the actual pages.. as it is a day off, I'm able to take some photos in the daylight, so you could see something as soon as.. tomorrow ..heh..

Today, that is the 6th ( I know, confusing this day late bit) is our Independence day, Finland's 94th birthday.

Yesterday we had celebrations at the school as well as new high school graduates. For that party I made a bouquet centerpiece.

White tulips and roses, with birch branches and some evergreens.
Along with ribbon in our national colors.
Both Finnish looking as well as a hint of winter.





This morning brought a fun surprise, the Google header was celebrating Finland :)

How cool is that?

Reflection of the reflection..

-Dec 4th-

Lights reflected in the window, the tabletop...


..happy sigh...

Tallinn in the dark...

At Saturday's crop there was talk about the difficulty of taking photos this time of year as it is dark.
And I mean dark.
Six hours of daylight, and even that is mostly grey.

I guess the trick is to embrace the darkness.
Show it off.
Make it work, as Tim Gunn would say ;)

I took some photos last week in the lovely Tallinn darkness.
I don't think you can take bad photos in Tallinn, as the city is so incredibly beautiful.
You can't find a bad angle in the old town even if you try.





Sometimes it's worth it to blur a photo... intentionally.




Once we entered a lovely café lit only with candles my lens fogged up, but I snapped a photo anyway.




I love how the old town gate tower roofs were covered in red lights.

Cheap therapy

-Dec 3rd-


Yesterday was this year's last crop.
I've been organizing scrapbooking crops semi-regularly, as I get to use the school premises :)
It's always great fun; fun people, inspiration and chatting.

Well, less of the latter for me, as I had no voice.
None, zip, zilch.
Made for good jokes.
Atleast we had chocolate... :D ^^

But I did get the base for my December Daily album done.
Today I only need to drill two holes and attach the pages.
I'll show you tomorrow.
Mine is very much inspired by this one.

Nononononononooooo....

-Dec 2nd-

We so didn't need this right now.
We are just about ready with the renovation with the other house that has taken us 16 months (that's a whole other set of posts coming in the new year).

We noticed water coming into Saara's room...
And had to look into it.


Sadly this is what we found...


I really feel like just crawling under covers...
It is so unfair.
But you gotta do what you gotta do, right?
Even if it's December.
[insert expletive of your choice]

Hence my bedroom looks like this:


And our upstairs foyer like this:


I've given up the thought of hanging Christmas lights upstairs..
The girls are presently sharing a room.. we'll see how well that goes down.
Not.
I think this December I'll be needing truckloads of patience.

The guys are going up on the roof early Saturday to remove tiles to see if they can locate the origin.
And there's a storm due that night..
When it rains, it pours.. no wait.. I need a saying without water.. :/

Here we go again... December Daily the 2011 edition

My edition will be more everyday life in December, rather than getting ready for Christmas.. Life happens.
Daily.
I've noticed.
*grin*

-Dec 1st-

THE day the 4th graders had been waiting for ever since they started dance rehearsals five weeks ago. The mayor's Independence Day ball for all the city's 4th graders.
But before they headed to Finlandia Hall, they danced for the parents and the elementary school.
They all did so well.

Here's Niina with Roberto.

What is she looking at?
Just ask who :)

Little Miss Julia was sitting next to me in the front row all antsy and excited to see Niina dance.

Personally she had me in giggles with her running commentary.
"Where is Niina?"
"When is Niina coming?"
"There Niina is!!!"
"They are going round and round and round..."
"They are jumping!"
"Niina's dancing"

That she was.
And having fun too.


The last dance was the Chicken dance (tiputanssi).


My companion was quite into that, dancing herself.


Seriously.. so cute.


Afterwards Julia let loose in the school gym.



She was just a happy blur...

Oh did you notice what she's wearing?
The butterfly dress.
She even chose it herself :)

I had drugged myself to get to school that am, just for the dance mind you, I have a horrid cold.
My biggest effort on Thursday was to get Niina's hair braided and in a pretty bun.

Not too shabby, if I say so myself.

Now you need to brace yourselves.. the dec 2nd post will not be pretty.. sigh..

PS. I've resolved my Blogger issues.. all blame on Internet Explorer.. I'm now using Mozilla Firefox for blogger and it works like a dream.. this as a helpful hint if you are having problems..

Pass it forward handmade- part 2

This time I was on the receiving end, so exciting..
I had admired this on Lisa's blog and she made me one!


Stars...
..happy sigh..

Thanks Lisa!