A wedding... The planning is half the fun!

While I've been bedridden with this cold I've made good use of my imagination! A friend of mine got engaged this past Christmas and is planning to tie the knot this summer! It's been so long since I've been to a wedding and this has just reminded me of how much I love weddings! They really are great! I think the reason I enjoyed photographing them so much is because of the atmosphere. Everyone is dressed up and excited, love is in the air and all the smiling is contagious! Everyone is all teeth!
Wouldn't it be fun to be a wedding consultant! Sure I suppose there are bridezillas out there but mostly how could you not get swept up in all the wonderful things that go along with such an event!
I think of the 30 some weddings I've been to each one of them had something special that I took with me to savor in my thoughts later. As a amateur photographer I've been able to capture some of these on film and my top three are:
1. The moment everyone sees the bride for the first time
2. When they are exchanging their vows and looking into each others eyes, it's here there are so many emotions coming out in different ways, some cry, some laugh and some even blush, it always gets me to see the groom tearing up!
3. After they marry how everyone can't take their eyes off the couple and at first they are even pensive to approach them... The first brave guest usually tip toes over as if the couple is made of delicate china... Then after that there are hugs all around!

Oh how I love weddings but I love remembering the ones I have been to just as much! Thank you miss S for taking me down memory lane!

The Wall is down

There has been a slight debate in the family on wether or not we should keep a wall up in the Living-room. I envisioned the hallway space as a cosy little library with my eccentric flea market finds along the shelves. Henke on the other hand wanted to expand the room with another 4 feet. So the debate started back and fourth and as I wrote earlier I have been bedridden with a headcold hopped up on nightquil and other American drugs. During this time Henke made the decision to tear it down! So this morning in my robe and slippers I snuck down the stairs to the flat below which will be our new home in 2 months time, and low and behold the wall was down. I have to be honest my husband was right those 4 extra feet really make a difference! Now I just need a colour scheme for the walls, suggestions? Yes please!

The head cold

Day two of the head cold of the century, I have the best husband who came home from work to watch the kids! So although I've been in a head cold haze I've tried to keep my spirits up. Spring is around the corner, the twins are speaking more and becoming more independent and little Kalle is finally here after months of anticipation!

Girls night

Last night some of the girls and I, Anna C, Azade, Asa j, Lydia, Sara and Sylwia got together for a movie night , and Of course the coffee table was full of snacks containing enough calories to fuel an expedition to the ends of the earth. As they arrived I busied myself in the kitchen as usual and reached for the everyday dessert plates and stopped suddenly remembering the hand-painted china we had inherited from mor mor Hulda. I quickly went to our china cupboard and counted out seven white plates with Hulda's motives decorated on them, and I found myself lost in a warm and fuzzy moment. I envisioned Hulda carrying the plates as I was, into her sitting room where a group of her friends sat at one of their regular quilting bees. I realized that these plates have now joined their next circle of friends. And then I thought Hulda is looking down with the biggest and proudest smile right now

Support school

This week I've been working as a homework helper at support school for those students in jr. High that have fallen behind for different reasons. This is the 10th year I've been involved with the project that was headed up by my former headmaster Anders. Anders is retiring next month so now support school has been transplanted to another school.
I'm sad to think about not working with Anders. It was thanks to him that I was able to go back to school while still working and finish my thesis in didactics.
When I teach psychology A at high school, one of the terms we cover is our "spegaljag" in English our self-image and how we form it by how we perceive: how others see us. In short if we think others look up to us we have a higher opinion of our capabilities than if we perceive that others see us negatively. I have to say that Anders always gave me the feeling that I was capable and that I was worthy. I wish we all had people around us that gave us this impression. It makes me realize that this is how I want to make the people around me feel, I want them to see themselves in my eyes as the best versions of themselves. Just think if I could do that with my students, if they could see themselves as smart and talented and confident just because they believe that is what I think they are...
I feel as if I've had a break through moment in my teaching career right now at this very second as I sit here and write this. And the least I can say is thank you Anders.

Easy like Sunday morning

I'm nearly done " The Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society" and I'm living it in my head! I'm putting the dishes in the dishwasher and I am picturing the island and the lovely cottage that Elisabeth lived in. The beauty of the novel is it's format. The entire story is told through letters written back and forth between the authoress Juliet, her friends, and the islanders just after ww2.

The letters are like liquid poetry, they conjure up such vivid images that you almost convince yourself you've been to the places they are describing. Which made me think about my iPhone with it's fb app, what's up app, twitter, and SMS. All of which pale in comparison to the eloquent composition between the characters in this book.

Years ago Annelie surprised me with an old fashion typewriter that they found in a flea market in soleftea, and for months after that I used it to type up letters and notes to friends and family. At first the unmistakeable sound of a key striking the paper was sporadic to begin with, but I dare say as with most things, the more I pressed on the more fluid and often the sessions became. That summer I ran into my neighbor in our common courtyard and it was there I was asked the question... "are you working on a novel" ? The rest of the day I found myself walking a little taller. Just the idea of taking on such a feat was enough for me and (still is today), however I miss my little typewriter! It ran out of ribbon and I put it away on the shelf until I could order some more. I'm afraid it hasn't made it out of the box since then. But hopefully , that will all change, and it will once again be perched on my desk near the window in my new office.

Henke came home with small black box the other day, it was screaming for some creative decoupage attention, and now I know what it will house: my stationery for all those notes that hopefully will be banged out on my vintage typewriter!

I'm excited just thinking about that lovely strike sound again! Not to mention the delightful ding at the end of each sentence, as if it were a positive reinforcement to keep on going;)

Inspiration

The fact that we are moving has started to sink in.... Lately, I've been dragging my feet about it, piling up the lists of "to do lists"in my head. But after a short fika with the wonderful Anna this past Thursday I've readjusted my faulty perspective and have begun to see all of the exciting adventures and moments ahead that accompany the task of setting up a home. I've decided that this time round, our home is going to tell our story, who we are and how we live. The things that evoke memories of dear ones and fond moments will receive a place of honor in our new home. It was because of Anna, and the tour I was giving her of the apartment that I realized ... Our home can tell our story and I found myself smiling both on the inside and the outside remembering things that these objects triggered and, that my friends, is what I want to take with us in the new flat. The curio cabinet that Annelie, Maria and I found at the gnistan loppis, how Annelie found a great 1930's sideboard for her sweaters and how poor Oscar had to cut a hole in the wall going up the stairs in order to move it. ( thank goodness they were in the middle of renovating and the stairs were on the list;) The handcrafted chair that we inherited from morfar Behard a testament of his kindness to whom my twin boys share their middle name after. The glasses hauled all the way from Canada in my mother suitcases, the sewing cart in teak that my mother organized for me and fixed the tough drawer by rubbing a bar of soap on the edges of the side pieces. A trick taught to her by my paternal grandfather: Joseph a carpenter and truly the most resourceful and inventive thinker I have ever met in my life. The red glass strawberries bought at the loppis with my girls, remembering the coffee and muffins shared under the shade of a large tree at the loppis in ronneby brunn as we talked about our week, planned for the next, showed each other our finds and anticipated the next trip around the tables. I come to think of the Danish melamine camping set in cream orange and brown that I found for Zoe. And how months later I was overjoyed to hear that her and her family used them everyday of their camping trip. Knowing that when she uses these plates she might also recall the shade of that giant oak gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling.

Last week I created one of these memories with Asa J, Sylvia, Zoe and myself while we set up the wallpaper in my soon to be office. We had the music on and as always when the women in my life get together we laugh and drink of each others positive energy!! I'm secretly hoping that some of it fastened itself in the wallpaper glue and will taint the atmosphere so that every thing I write in that room will be laced with that priceless glow of all those evenings spent with the amazing friends in my life.
The adventure has begun and I'm ready for it!