faces

I haven't been very nice to my camera lately...it has sadly been collecting a wee bit of dust.
It is sad, I know! Hopefully "it" won't be to harsh on me... :)

I got asked to help out with some christmas photos this weekend and it had me look back in my archives a bit and found some treasures.

Makes me really want to pick the camera up more. Yes...I have a thing for capturing faces and expressions. Capturing the soul itself. :)
These are just a few that has been taken this year, have so much more to go through. (Another thing I have been slacking in recently)

Onward and upward right?!? :)

A day at the playground

A few weeks ago, I had Little Miss Diva and Princess Goldilocks over for a slumberparty. A night full of fun :)

 

The next morning we all went to the playground to blow off som pentup energy. (oh not mine...theirs :) ) Their mom and Prince Charming came too.

 

We had a go at the swings, sandboxtoys, the ducks where a lot of fun aswell. :)

Love that expression from Prince Charming...that kid has the cutest facial expressions that I have seen.

After spending a few hours outside, where the sun didn't make an entrance, we went back home to enjoy som warm applepie!! YUM!!

It was the best applepie ever, unfortunately I never snapped a Picture of it to share with you. :(
But don't cry....I will most definitly bake it again. ;)

Stay tuned for this weeks recipe...coming tomorrow... :)

The best chocolate cookie face goes too....

 

....Prince Charming!!!!

 

 

Last week I got the pleasure of a visit from Prince Charming, his sisters (Little Miss Diva and Miss Goldilocks) and their mom for a afternoon "tea". We had fruitsallad and chocolate cookies....

 

Now how can you say no to that little face??!! :)

Spring = new shoes

Not sure about you, but over here Spring = New Shoes!! :)

Long gone are the heavy winter boots and come light, pretty shoes.
Last year I tossed out a few pairs that have had their share in mileage so to speak and last week I went looking for new ones.

First and foremost I needed a pair of everyday shoes with lots of comfort and here is what I found:

bought here

 

I did splurge a bit for these, but figure that it would be best in the long haul. See I need a bit of cushioning in the soles, I get blisters quite easily, and these were really comfortable. :)

The other pair I got were sandals...I pretty much tossed mine last fall when I put my summer shoes away.

bought here

Nice cushioning in these aswell and they are a good everyday sandal.

Now I just need to get my hands on a few more...for every other occasion.. ;)

What actually goes on inside someones head?!

have you ever wondered what is going on inside someones head when you take their photograph?!
 
I do...especially when I have a lot of series shots. Not that the little guy could tell me if I was right or wrong, but this is how I saw it from behind the camera:

Oh was I laughing hard when I opened these up after the party....:)

saving, hoarding....or collecting?

A frase we have is "a deer child has many names", well I guess you could say the same for someone who likes to hold on to things. I know a few in my life that are excellent in keeping things that just don't need to be kept.
For instance...this past spring I helped out this sweet young lady cleaning out her room. And to think of it, I do this almost everytime I go visit her....hmm....

Anywho, cleaning her room is a project. A endless one but fun. A lot of excuses are made, stern voices, laughter and exhuastion. We got through it...as we always do.
One of the things that made me keel over in laugh was this piece of paper found in a stack of many other papers.

Apparently she wrote it in class....

 

I got to hand it to her, she is creative!
Meg Honey....keeping a paper like the one above is on the verge of being a horder... just so you know :)

Everything went okay, she had a clean room and I turned back home.
Months went by and this summer I decided that I want my frames up on the walls and filled with photos and art. So I get started....realizing that I need to develop more photos to fill the frames. So I put that project on a hold and days turned into weeks and then months. So a few weeks ago I decided to tackle the project again...

I still didn't have photos for all the frames but went ahead on hanging them anyway.
One of the frames is a bit larger and I wanted something vintage in it. After a little thinking a lightbulb went on in my head and I remembered a little something I bought on one of my travels.

This is where I have to bite my words...

In 2002 I believe...I went to see The Monticello in Virginia, the home of Thomas Jefferson, and got a copy of the declaration of Independance. I had every intention back then to frame it, however not the intention to wait 10 years! :)

So Meg...I guess I am a bit of a hoarder too... ;)

I did frame it....now all I need to do is fill the other two frames with photos. :)


To a certain degree we are all hoarders/ collectors....guess we just need to know when it goes overboard.

 

christmas is almost here....

...i know...it is not even november and fall is not quiet over, but to keep ignoring it would be bad. Especially when the chill air is coming in.

And the fact that I broke out my winter coat this morning really puts it just around the corner. Brrr....

I love fall, and the one we have gotten this year is one by far the best in a long time. But when you know that Christmas is around the corner, you start planning for christmas gifts and start browsing around for what you would like. At least that is what I do. :)

So here are a few things I have found that I would like; and may not be a priority purchase by myself.

always wanted one but never gotten around to get one.
I keep saying that mixing the dough by hand is fine....:)

 

love this! Would really want one...soo cute!

 

not a big priority but would love it for my Kitchen Aid

 

a whoopie pie pan....mmm....see lots of baking ahead. :)

 

and this, a most likely splendid tool, but somehow I never get around to getting one.

 

want this headboard....probably will not get as a gift, but would lov it!

 

 

Oh soo cool...

wedding bliss

One of the major things that took me away from blogging this summer was the wedding between my brother and his darling wife. I helped them with the invitations, placecards/napkinholders, the booklet for every guest at the reception, the little cakeballs and a few other stuff. So you can imagine that my time was all about wedding for some time there. :)

 

It was fun, hectic in the end and time consuming, but fun! :)

 

One other thing I had on my checklist of things to do was Photography, they wanted someone to document their day and night and I was honored that they asked.

 

Here are a few selected ones I love:

 

 

brownie rolls

I found this recipe online almost a year ago, put a icon on my desktop to go back to it when I had the time. It sat there forever!!! Until this summer....;)
You know when I had all this "time" to kill and just be.....remember that...I hardly don't!

But this recipe is oh so divine, very rich so eating one or two will do it for you. And if you are anything like me then eating one or two will NOT be enough. (lol)

english version (click image to enlarge)

swedish version (click image to enlarge)

The filling you can change out to whatever you fancy. Marshmallow fluff...would be a good contender to this I believe! :)

Go and bake and enjoy!

More photos from August

One of the many things I did in august was spending time with my best friend and her family.
We visited Ikea once or twice ;), took her kids to the playground, the pool etc.

One of the good days of sun we had (there were just a few to remember), we took a stroll alongside the ocean. Late afternoon and it was just peaceful and quiet....if you could call it peaceful with kids in the picture...;)

We ended up at the mini marina and dipped our feet in the water.

One of many good days, and it was especially good since it was one of my last days before going back to work again.

With that I am offically caught up with july and august, now I have the rest of september and october photos to go through. I have about 150 photos from a previous wedding to sort and do a mild edit to.

Have a good week :)

July and August in Photos

So..not long ago I promised to put up photos of my summervacation. Well it took a bit longer than expected, but am getting there slowly. Been a hectic month from august to late september on both work front and home front. I will show you later on what has been going on on the homefront area.

 

My summer vacation was 3 weeks of full bliss, just took it day by day and relaxed. Spent time with family and friends and hung out with my nieces and nephiews a lot.

 

Collage above, we had a few good days so we took the time to go to the beach and had fun. Although the water was cold the first time around it turned out warmer later on. Explorations in the sand to find different seashells and what not amongst the seaweed.

We did find a ladybug aswell! Pretty cool, if you are a Fiveyear old that is. Now if you are two Five yearolds...well...the ladybug decided to fly away after the endless bickering of who got to hold it.
The standard lunch were pancackes or waffles :)

A trip down to a small petting zoo with a huge playground occupied one of those days and the little cookie, right photo above (aka Goldilocks) had her first sleepover this summer too. Oh was she proud or what the next morning ;).


Summer went by to fast but it was a well needed break from everything.

Stay tuned for more....;)

The trip part 3 - Gettysburg national cemetary

The last stop in our little getaway was the Gettysburg Battlefield. We didn't have enough time to tour the entire battlefield so we did the visitor center and the national cemetary. And for me it was just enough for that day. :)

In the visitor center we got to listen to the story of the whole battle in the cupola. Very touching and nice to get a glance on where it took place.

While we were waiting for our tourguide for the cemetary, I took some shots in the field around us.

The entrance and our group, our guide is the one infront in the green shirt. He was the best guide I have listened to, very precise and funny. :)

The podium were used for different speakers on memorials and such. Kind of misplaced but somehow fit. The fence were actually the same fence that went around the White House at the time of the Civil War. Although it didn't get to the Cemetary until the 1980's I think. But still a neat little story that makes it all come together.

Our guide told us that after the war they designed the Cemetary with the help of a landscaper. The dead bodies were placed by which state they belonged to and buried as such.

Photo above is the old visitor center, which became to small to occupy the visitors and that is when they started building the new one. I tell you, it looked like a red barn when we drove up! :) Probably 3 times bigger than the old one.

If you haven't gone I suggest you should, I will definetly go again and take in the whole park and its history.

The trip part 2- Antietam battlefield

I am a history buff true to heart. Just love it! I can spend days touring and getting into the vibe so to speak. And whenever I do get over to the States I at least incorporate some kind of history to it, since it is full of it.

This year Rene and I took a mini getaway to go to Gettysburg, and did a detour around Sharpsburg, Maryland. I had never heard of it before but am glad we went.

It was a selfguided tour by car and you had different landmarks where to stop. The map above gives you a idea of the tour.

First of was the visitors center (above) and a little guided tour inside and around the house. The view from there were spectacular.

We visited the house of Clara barton, who was the first president of the American Red Cross.
We took a little walk along the cornfield trail...which ended up taking us way back to the visitor center if we didn't take a shortcut....

...that shortcut cut right next to a big strong Bull, who didn't exactly give us the friendly eye!
His ladies however liked that we walked by, desperate for some attention :)
the picture above to the righ, is called the Bloody lane. Here about 5000 men were killed in just a few hours...hard to believe.

Now when we arrived to Antietam, we saw this field of sheep. My words:
"Oh look at the cute sheep"
A little later....we came across the sign above to the left. My words:
"Ugh...ohhh noooo, this will forever change my view of sheep!"
I think Rene laughed til she dropped...my poor image just went bloody...:(

Call me morbid or what, but I love cemetary's...not at night but during daylight. :)
This one was really pretty when the sun was setting. I feel them to be calm and sanctuary.

The view from the watchtower over parts of the cemetary.

Now we got some recommendations for dinner at the visitor center and figure we need to try it out.
So we set out to find this little café. We were in Sharpsburg, Maryland...Rene typed in the adress and off we went...and not finding the place. I think I drove every little street this town had for a good 30 minutes until I pulled over and looked at the address Rene had typed in.
Well the address were right, however it was supposed to be Shepardstown West Virginia not Sharpsburg in Maryland. So of we went...and I literally had a dejá vu! (a few years back after a wrong turn we went to Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia in a matter of 15 minutes! :))

Anywho, we got there and it was so cute. Loved the decor, a but quaint and rustic but very charming.
The waitress had us try a cucumber bruschetta....OH MY....soooo YUMMY! It was so good, my mouth was watering after that. We devoured the food soo fast that we didn't have time to take a picture of it. :) The dessert was good too, a lemon raspberry cheesecake! (starting to get hungry now)

After dinner it was back to the hotel and crash for the next adventure.....