Autumn colours

Like all seasons, autumn too comes with its various weather conditions. Autumn is partly known for its rains and winds, for its cloudy and somber skies and for leaves falling to the ground leaving the trees bare and colourless.

However, autumn is also known for its magnificent colours, spreading like flames from tree to tree, bringing a sense of awe and a feeling of joy to anyone who takes the time to stop for a moment, notice, and take it in.

To brighten up any "grey" autumn days (like the day we had today), here are some pictures my husband and I took a few weeks back. It was the most perfect weather for a nice Sunday walk in October - crisp, almost cold, yet, with the sun beaming down from a bright blue sky and adding to the magnificence of the colours "flaming up" from the trees, it couldn't have been better.

Wishing everyone a sunny and colourful continuation of the fall! Tomorrow we're off on an extended weekend trip to 'Firenze' in Italy. Can't wait!

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Take care,

EMBRACING CHANGE

Yes, believe it or not, I’m back :D

I want to start off by apologizing for not having given any signs of life for quite some time!

Long story (kind of) short, the reason why I haven’t been active with blogging or why I haven’t replied back to the wonderful and encouraging emails and comments I’ve received is mainly because there’s been quite some turmoil going on in my life, privately that is, turmoil that has taken up all of my energy. The past couple of months have been very intense and emotionally draining, as well as an eye-opener on many levels … Yet at the same time I do believe that everything happens for a reason, that change is good and that we can grow and learn from challenging experiences.

The latest “developments” triggered an urge in me to find back my “authentic self”…. as I seem to have lost part of “me” somewhere along the way.... and this quest for inner harmony has been everything from confronting to liberating at the same time. As of now, my focus is on keeping a positive mind-set, because I really believe that our thoughts pretty much create our experiences, as well as holding a clear vision of my desires, dreams and intentions. And in order to make that happen, I now realize that I need to embrace the changes I’m going through and stay true to myself.

These pictures I took in July during my summer vacation in Finland, in the Sipoo Archipelago where our summer cottage is located as well as in the Helsinki Archipelago (in Lauttasaari), of which both are on the Southern coast of Finland. The absolute highlight of my vacation was the last week that my daughter and I spent at the summer cottage in the great company of my sister, brother, aunts, cousins etc. We had great weather, BBQs, midnight sauna’s, but best of all, amazing conversations with LIFE as the main topic.

My inspiration for taking pictures with glimmering water came from quite a mind-blowing experience. I was namely contacted by first Nancy, the wife of my favourite landscape artist, Daniel Pollera, and later “the man” himself :D. I made a posting of my favourite painting of his – ‘Serenity’ sometime last Spring, and also have some of his other work on my blog to help create the right feel to it. They had come across my blog while doing artist research on his work. It seems that he loves glimmering water, as do I, AND that he loves one of my pictures I had in my summer cottage posting (the one where the storm is approaching) and that they had put it as their background page…. That to me is amazing and something very special!! And guess which picture I’ve had as my background page on my home computer for months now, serving as a source of inspiration to me?!? Correct - ‘Serenity’ by Daniel Pollera. Talk about a coincidence! Although, I must admit, I personally don’t believe in coincidences :D.

Have a great day!!

~F~I~N~A~L~L~Y~

....the time has arrived for us to head to the airport - destination Finland and the Helsinki Archipelago..... Can't even begin to tell you how much I've been looking forward to this and how badly I need it.

The coming 3 weeks will be all about relaxation ..... family ..... nature ..... memories ..... re-charging of batteries ..... soul seaching ..... enjoying the simple things in life ......

For those of you who missed my posting about my summer cottage, THIS is where we are headed :).

Wishing each and everyone a great, sunny, warm and happy summertime!!

Take care,

New treasures... and... pretty pink peonies

I've found some new 'Nona-treasures' again, which I'm very happy about :)!...

On Saturday, after having relaxed in the sun for several hours, "lazying" in the sun chair, reading a book, listening to my daughter and her friends having fun in the playground next-door and simply enjoying the warm and sunny weather, I made a last minute decision to go shopping in the afternoon when the clouds decided to take over the sky.

I didn't mean to go to any interior shops.... but surprise surprise, where do you think I in the end found myself? Correct, in an interior decoration shop :). I suppose it just 'pulled me' to it. It was the first shop I went to - 't Haagje in Huizen.

Even though they have lots of nice things, and also quite a big assortment from the Riviera Maison collection, I usually go there for inspiration, not really so much with the intent to buy anything as most items I like are quite pricey.... but sometimes I'm very lucky.... like I was this time around!

I've been on a look-out for similar iron thread baskets for a while.... not really being in any hurry to buy one and also not yet having found "the" one... that is, until now. Yeeeeees, I know, the heart shape totally sold it to me, as did the price: 5,95 euros for the small one, 6,95 for the medium size and 7,95 for the largest one! That to me is a bargain!!

As I couldn't decide which one to take and as the price was so low, I ended up buying one of each size, plus an additional one of the smallest size... just incase I need to have a nice gift for someone. One of them will for sure go to my sister though :)!

The stone heart is also from the same shop, and the cast iron key is from Xenos for only 2,50.

I don't even know yet what I will do with these baskets... or what I want to store in them..... or where I should place them.... but I am happy I have them, and until I figure out their future use and purpose, they get to stay like this on one of the side tables.

Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y

Here are also a few pictured of my pretty pink peonies that I got from my mother-in-law as a belated birthday gift.

I had forgotten how much I love peonies! They have a similar kind of magic and beauty as Hortensias do when the flower is at its most magnificent... rich and luscious!

Take care,

Lifted spirits

It has been a while, or ages as it seems to me both regarding new postings on my blog, but even more so in regards to me visiting and actively commenting on the inspiring blogs I visit.

I intend to change that now and do my best to go back to the 'old' Nona - the Nona who despite of the turmoil in her life still very recently managed to draw her energy and positivity from her passion for creativity (blogging and new blogging acquaintances included).

Without mentioning any names, I'm very grateful to all of you who helped cheer me up these last couple of weeks, because it was in the end your support and your sweet words that truly helped lift my spirits and get me back on track again. So thank you Y!

As I already mentioned in my previous posting, my brother Ene with his fiancé and a bunch of their friends came to visit. Ene was very sweet and ordered me this pretty zinc house lantern from the LOVELY Finnish webshop HomeAtHome for only 19,50. I haven't found these in Holland yet, but have seen a few in Finnish and Swedish webshops. The only obstacle for me has been the price as I quickly noticed that they can easily cost way above 50 euros.



In addition to the price difference, the only other difference I could notice is that this one has a more shiny finish to it, while the more expensive ones have a matt zinc finish to them. At some point I intend to have one of those as well and then in an even bigger size, but for now, I'm very happy with this new zinc lantern of mine!

Especially for the ones living in Finland, if you don't already know this webshop, I suggest you check it out 'cause they have some really wonderful things there :).

And here you have it in candle light. I just love how the light from the candle spreads like sun beams around the little house and lights up all the windows.

This could of course be expected: a close-up of the heart - So 'Nona' :)!





Remember I also mentioned that I had wished for a proper sewing machine for my birthday. Well, I finally have it :)! Haven't even tried it out yet, but I'm very happy with it and can't wait to start experimenting.

There are so many different kinds of sewing machines ranging from everywhere under a 100 euros to several thousands. What I wanted was a sewing machine, that allows me to do all the 'basic' things you want to be able to do when sewing, so no special features of gimmicks necessary. It also felt important to me to have a reliable brand with a good guarantee rather than the opposite of that but then with some more features and possibly cheaper in price.

I grew up with Singer and Husqvarna being "the sewing machine brands", and immediately took a liking to this Singer 2818. This is exactly how I remember the sewing machines back in high-school as well as my mother's machine, and I prefer the old-fashioned look to a modern more complicated one. It's not like I'm a wizzard with the sewing machine (at least not yet). For that you'd have to go to my sister Ava Y :).

Last but not least, here are still a few pictures I took when I again noticed this interesting reflection on the wall above our livingroom couch. It came about from the afternoon sun shining on the front garden plants as well as the window sill decorations.

Wishing everyone a great end of the week with hopefully lots of sunshine Y!

Empty

I’ve meant to do a new posting for more or less a week now, but it just hasn’t come about… I feel overwhelmingly drained of energy, totally empty and don’t seem to be able to even add comments to other blogs I’ve checked out. Not that I don’t want to, but instead of just adding a simple comment, I’ve found myself sitting there staring at the screen and thinking to myself “isn’t this nice” or “what lovely pictures” or “I so want to write something”…But NOTHING…!



A few days ago I snapped out of it for a while and even wrote a comment on Gea’s blog (G-style) about her pretty daughters, and when I wanted to post it, the computer failed on me and everything just disappeared… Restarted the computer, tried again and the same thing happened…. That’s when I realized it was time to give up and go to bed…

Yesterday I then finally planned to do something about my next posting, I mean, I do have stuff I want to share, have lots of new pictures as well, but when I tried to download them to the computer, something that has never happened to me before did. I got this whatever weird error message saying that the pictures couldn’t be downloaded… tried several times, but time and time again I got the same pop-up… and the same continued today… So you see, I don’t know what’s going on, but I guess my next “real” posting will just have to wait a little.

Lately, especially in the evenings when I finally would have time to do some blogging I feel as empty as this wooden basket… I’m ok during the day when I’m at work and don’t have much time to think about things. There I actually feel quite alive. But in the evenings… it seems to be a different story alltogether.

There are lots of things going on in my little world at the moment which most likely are contributing to this lack of energy (mainly creativity-wise) and state of confusion, but I hope this will change soon! And I’m pretty confident it will! See, that was the optimist in me shouting out again :).

The only picture I managed to get downloaded onto the computer yesterday is this wicker heart reflection created by the setting sun. Did a posting about that a little while back, but when I noticed the reflection on the wall again, this time a few meters further away than the first time, I had to grab the camera.

It does look quite magical though, doesn’t it… It’s as if the picture is trying to tell me that all will be well and that this is just a passing thing… Which I do believe it is :)! Referring to my previous posting - “Believe in your dreams”- that is exactly what I am putting my focus on right now…!

On a more positive note, I had visitors from Finland this past week :). My brother with his fiancé and a bunch of their wonderful friends. I didn’t see them all that much as I wasn’t able to take off from work, however, we did have some great and very late night/early morning Finnish style partying at our place in the weekend with lots of laughs, drinks and BBQing. It was really great and I so needed it too!

Another thing that for sure has made me very happy and also surprised me quite a lot is the constantly increasing number of visitors to my blog from all over the world. I promise to have something decent for you soon as well as to make myself heard on all the inspiring blogs I visit :).

Take care,

Believe in your dreams

I'd like to

for all your sweet birthday wishes, as well as for all the inspiring, uplifting and wonderful comments and feedback I've received since I started with my blog!!

They all put a BIG smile on my face :))!

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With this posting, I'd also like to remind each and everyone of you to ALWAYS

...regardless of what life might have in store for you at times...



...I know I do...

Y Y Y

MY BIRTHDAY

Even though today is almost over, it is indeed my birthday, however, in my mind, I never celebrate alone as today was of course also my Ydear twin sister Ava's birthdayY. Ava lives in Sweden with her family and even though we're miles apart, in our thoughts we're "partying" together, right sis :)!?!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY sis - GRATTIS - PALJON ONNEA!!

... we always had a tendency to mix up the languages anyway :).

I got some very nice presents today! To start off with, my husband took Noa to her morning swimming lesson (at 8 a.m.) so that I could sleep a bit longer which was most definitely needed after the drinks the night before :). Then I was woken up by some singing, strawberry cake, coffee and some presents in bed. Noa had made a BEAUTIFUL drawing with an ocean/mountain landscape, and as an extra I got these two pretty lanterns.

My big wish was to get a sewing machine, as I'd love to get creative and experimental with it and I also think it's something every woman should have in the house whether you're into sewing or not (like I for sure wasn't still a year or two ago. Amazing how your interests can change along the way.. :)....).

Anyways, that one I was going to get today and we were even on our way to Deventer to the shop when we realized that it would take all afternoon to go there and back. Therefore I made the decisions to do it later on (we can also order it online), as I do believe it's worth waiting for something good (now if for any chance any guys would be reading this they'd for sure announce me mad for actually looking forward to having a sewing machine, hahhaha. Well, eat your heart out- cause I do, but then again, I'm not your averadge girl either :)!!).

As a very nice surprise gift I received this pretty zinc heart from Nathalie, a friend and also the mother of one of Noa´s school friends. The girls attend the same swimming lesson and I got it straight after the swimming lesson. It´s so `Nona´! Nogmaals bedankt Nathalie :)!



A parcel arrived from Sweden yesterday and as soon as I saw the hand-writing I knew it was from Ava. I must admit I had difficulties holding myself but did manage to only open it today. The thing is, as I knew I wanted to do a birthday posting today, I restrained myself from opening it until later in the afternoon when I had the time to fully enjoy it and also to take pictures.

We totally share the same taste in interior related things, which is why I was very excited to find out what was hidden inside the parcel. Here's what I got from her.

Ava always does a beautiful job with wrapping her gifts!

Translation:`Simplify your life - have time to live´. Couldn´t agree more!!

So pretty!!

So as you can see, I was totally spoiled :)!! My gift is still on it´s way to Sweden, but I can´t wait for Ava to finally get to open it ;)!

Last but not least, my sweet neighbour Jolanda surprised me with this lovely flower basket, which is so `me´! Dank je wel Jolanda :)!




Tomorrow my sweet little nephew YColinY - Ava´s little son - turns 2! Well, his gift is also on it´s way to Sweden along with his mother´s. Tomorrow Noa and I will call him and sing to him just like he sang to me today ;).

PALJON ONNEA YCOLIN-KULTAY!!

(Ypusuhali ja halipusuY)

BLESSED with yet another Award

Just over a week ago, I received my 2nd blog Award, the "One Lovely Blog Award" from Mea from Mayflower. Now as if that wasn't the biggest and nicest surprise, I then today I had the great pleasure of receiving yet another Award, the "Love Your Blog Award" from TeeKoo from Vihreän talon väki. Well I can tell you that I for sure wasn't expecting that :).

Thank you ladies!! You really are very sweet and I am so grateful for your lovely gesture!!

Now, as to passing them on to special someone's. I've thought about this for quite a while, and realized that yes, there are soooo many blogs that I love visiting, for many different reasons, but I do have to make a choice, and I've actually had a handfull picked out for quite a while already that I'd like to hand an award to, naturally because I love the blogs, the pictures and the stories that are told, but in particular because I've so enjoyed the "communication" and support I've received from these special ladies. The reason why I've hesitated with handing out the award is because it seems that I'm not the only one thinking of them in this manner as they've been showered with many awards already.

None the less, you all very much deserve your awards and I'm happy to contribute to that now. I would like to pass the "Love Your Blog Award" over to:

Gea from G-style

Mea from Mayflower

Raquel from Olliebollies

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Now to the second Award I want to pass on - the "One Lovely Blog Award". This I want to give to two ladies, one in Finland and one in Sweden (a Dutch lady living in Sweden with her family) who's blogs I love following, not just because of the pictures which are lovely, but also because of what they write. I've also enjoyed the comments going back and forth :).

They both tell about their lives, families and interest in a very relaxed and down-to-earth way. This Award goes to:

Anu from ONNELA

Bellavien

(must admit that I don't know your name :)...)

Gea, Mea, Raquel, Anu and Bellavien; This is to all you wonderful ladies who know how to brighten up my day through your positivity, your lovely and inspiring blogs and your encouraging feedback :)!

Enjoy!!

Butter box in zinc

For quite some time now I've been on a look-out for a nice looking but also practical box to store butter in, and not just any butter, but delicious Finnish salted butter (= ihan perusvoita tai Oivariinia) which is a must in our house just like Finnish rye bread (= ruisleipää) is. As my husband travels to Finland businesswise frequently we are able to have these in the house more or less on a constant basis.

I don't eat a lot of butter myself, however, if I want to have a nice sandwich, I certainly want to smear Finnish butter on it and now I've made my daughter addicted as well. We usually talk about "Finland-butter" (= Suomi-voita) and "papa-butter", which can be any of these very low fat containing margarine-types like Becel, Blue Band etc. which my husbands tends to use. We've learnt not to smear any papa-butter on Noa's sandwiches as they will be left uneaten :).
Same with the rye bread, luckily Noa loves it and most days I prepare a rye bread sandwich for her to take to school, and our freezer is full of it. It's very filling, healthy and delicious!

I've been checking numerous places, mainly webshops though and last week I finally stumbled across the perfect container in the wonderful Dutch webshop Kind van Holland. Ordered two straight away - and my zinc theme continues :).



The service was extremely quick, and the the two zinc boxes so beautifully wrapped!

I'm really one to utterly enjoy and appreciate it when someone has put in the time and effort in creating something beautiful. So thank you Ilona :)!!

This is something I got tought by my mother - to carefully open presents and to appreciate the effort and thought that went into it. Wanting to create something beautiful for the receiver when wrapping gifts myself, I can certainly relate to the other person as well.

Now it's my turn to teach it to my own daughter and it's cute to see her carefully open presents and not just tearing them open without a second thought, regardless of her young age.

Some nice extra's had also been added to my parcel. I felt like a kid at Christmas when opening the package.

I just love the pretty and nostalgic wrapping!

I've of course saved everything from the wrapping paper to the string and the picture :)

My pretty zinc butter-box revealed! The lid with the old postcard look is quite something, isn't it!?! That totally sold it to me, and for only €9.80 per piece.

As a matter of fact, the next butter and rye bread load is on it's way from Finland as my husband is returning from a business trip tonight. Finally the butter has a proper "home".

This is how the butter package looks like. As it comes in various sizes I need to have a storage box that is big enough.

I just realized, that you might be wondering why on earth I need a nice looking butter-box as the butter is hidden away in the fridge anyway. Well, normally yes, but aleady a while back I got so frustrated every morning I had to prepare my daughter's sandwich for school trying to smear rock-hard butter on bread, resulting in the bread breaking into pieces - that I decided to leave the butter on the kitchen sink in room temperature instead.

Real butter doesn't need to be cooled down anyway, and no matter how nice the taste, the package isn't too pretty to the eye. But now that issue is solved and I'm looking forward to putting the butter into it's new hideaway :).

Zinc hearts

I've been at it again - finding lovely heart decorations - and this time all in ZINC - which seems to be my latest obsession.

I instantly fell for this card holder, which I found at the At Home shop this afternoon where I went for some inspiration, like I always do when I go there, as the atmosphere is very nice there.

This cute heart with the pretty gingham ribbon and surrounded by pearls is from 't Haagje, but I also stumbled across it at At Home.

When I was there, I was also on a special mission, as I was hoping to find a certain heart decoration for a special blogger friend - a decoration I had previously bought for myself. Unfortunately I didn't get lucky with that, but did find some other nice things instead.

Last week, I finally received my order I had been waiting for from Deens. A couple of these zinc heart boxes, as well as a Scandinavian-style candle holder, also heart shaped and also from zinc.

.... sometimes I wonder what it is exactly about hearts that intrigues me so much... and two words spring to mind;

... cute ... & ... romantic ...

Mother's day gift and May blossom

Weird how time just flies by, isn't it. You mean to do so many things, you even think you do, and still so much is left undone... I've meant to add a new posting for days and yet, even though I'm busy with blog related things like taking pictures, editing the layout, visiting other blogs for inspiration, even visiting some interior shops etc, the actual new posting seems to take time. But, here I go again :).

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I had a very nice and relaxed Mother's day (haven't felt that relaxed in weeks) and was wonderfully spoiled by my daughter, everything from first getting to sleep until 10 that morning, to being served coffee in bed - coffee made by Noa herself, to her simply being her adorable little self.

My favourite gift always is the self-made stuff, and yes, this time I also got some very nice drawings and paintings that she had been busy with both at the after-school club as well as at home.

As an addition, I also got a "blog-related" gift as it was called, these three oil bottles in the white wooden basket, which are perfect for in the garden. This was a very nice surprise as I was only expecting and hoping for the "art-work". I might even experiment with adding a text to the wooden basket at some point...

Thanks to the warm temperatures we've been having, nature is really flourishing here in Holland. Lushious greens, beautiful and colourful flowers and blossoms and a real summer feel is what you get when you take a moment to look around you.

Here are some of the latest developments in our garden.

I hope the rest of May will turn out like it usually does - even warmer, sunnier and very summery!

Last but not least, I want to THANK my dear readers for all the wonderful feedback I've received and for the lovely comments you've left for me! It's truly inspirational and gives me such a positive boost each time!

So - THANK YOU !!

Happy Mother's Day

- to all the mothers - kaikille äideille -

- till alla mammor - voor alle moeders -

Happy Mother's Day

Y

Hyvää Äitienpäivää

Y

Trevlig Morsdag

Y

Fijne Moederdag

One Lovely Blog AWARD

Yaaaaaayyyy!!! I got an award, a very sweet one called "One Lovely Blog Award" from Mea - the lady behind the wonderful blog Mayflower. I am so happily surprised and honoured and can't stop smiling about it :))!! This was totally unexpected. What a lovely gesture!

THANK YOU - BEDANKT Mea :)!!

I will pass it on, but will do so later on because I need to have a good thought as to which 4 to pass it on to.

Wishing everyone a sunny day!

Summer cottage

With the summer rapidly approaching and vacation plans having to be made, my thoughts seem to be wondering more and more to our summer cottage in Finland. For me there is no other location that I would trade my summer vacation for, than Granö (Swedish for Spruce island) - an island in the Sipoo Archipelago slightly east of Helsinki where my family's summer cottage is located.

In Finland the summer vacations for kids are heavenly long - 2 and half months, stretching from June to August. Since I was born and before I started school at the age of 7 I spent approximately 4 months, and after that a minimum of 2 months each summer out on Granö more or less until I was 17. So you can imagine that my urge to be there each year and to make it an important part of my daughter's life as well, is very strong!

We are very lucky to have this place! It has been in my family from my father's side since the early 1940's and everything there with the exception of the current sauna building, was designed by my grand-father who was an architect. The old sauna building was hit by lightning one fall about 20 years ago, and a new one with a huge sun deck was built in its place.

Another nice thing is that I most summers get to hook up with the family, so my sister and brother with their families, my aunts, my cousins and now also their kids. Believe me when I say that when we're all out there at once, it's PARTY-time :)). This of course includes many nice BBQs and many late night sauna's :)!

The upper house with two additional rooms, and our fresh water well.

Here we have the main house, picture taken from the opposite angle. This lawn is perfect for playing football, croquet, or doing gymnastics - yes, one of those crazy families :)

This picture I took from this huge pine which is located next to the sauna building. This tree used to be one of our favourite climbing trees when we were kids... and a little bit older too :). The beach is so much fun for especially the kids. Many nice sand castles, villages and sand cars have been built on this beach. It's also great for a game of "Jeux de Boule".



Here's the tree, and this is how I got up there this time around.

Here you see a corner of the sauna building and a tiny piece of the sun deck.

View of the opposite island - Mölandet

A storm is approaching

My little blueberry picker

Close-up of the sun deck

Reflections in the water

Our outdoor toilet with a great all natural air-co :)

Little harmless lizzard. Sometimes they come and warm themselves in the warmth upon the sun deck.

This picture was taken during one of our notorius midnight sauna sessions. If I remember correctly I took this one just after having had a refreshing dip in the sea.

These two last pictures were taken at dawn,when the sun just started rising. I believe the only ones who were up were me and a couple of birds that were getting ready for their early morning symphony. The calmness of it all was quite magnificent!

This year just as last summer too, will feel different being at our summer cottage, since my YfatherY who was a BIG part of the island - and always will be - passed away end of last summer...

I'm so looking forward to July and the time I'll get to spend there, enjoying the simplicity, the peace & quiet, the nature, my family, the saunas, the boat trips, the BBQs, the long and late talks with my cousins and aunts accompanied by delicious wine, seeing my daughter enjoying herself,

- in short - RECHARGING my batteries with Finland-energy :).

New and some less new decorations

Since the tragic happenings here in Holland on Queen's Day, combined with some personal stuff, my inpiration mode has been quite low lately... In an effort to pull myself out of that "place" I decided to channel some positive energy into blogging :).

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I love going to nice interior shops, usually not even with the intention to buy anything, but simply to get inspired and also to get new ideas. Most of the time though I can't help myself and end up buying one or two small decoration items.

Here are some of those decorations of which some are bought recently and others already a while back.

This pretty heart I found at the wonderful At Home shop in Eemnes. Every time I go there I seem to end up with AT LEAST one heart decoration of some sort.

This keys-hanger I was happy to find at Xenos of all places (in Finland I would say, Xenos comes closest to a crossing between Tiimari and Etola).

This wonderful basket I found at the Theetuin in Eemnes in their gift/souvenir shop.

I instantly fell in love with this picket-fence look. Still not sure whether or not I should paint it white - with a worn look of course - or leave it as it is.

The idea is most probably that you should plant some flowers in it and place it in the garden, however, I'm reluctant to do so as I don't want to ruin the wood... I think I'll just keep it safe indoors for now.

Some decorative trays I've found at a garden center.

These hearts are also from the At Home shop. They used to be dark brown though, and still are, but only on the back side...



Found this cute heart in 't Haagje in Huizen for really a bargain. They had it in three sizes. I ended up with one big one and one medium sized one. The big one cost just under 5 euros and the medium sized one just under 4.

At home I then added the pink-white gingham ribbon and the metallic thread to give it the look I was after.

I love the white wooden tray with its French text, however, every time I look at it more closely I can't help myself but wonder if the writing was misspelled on purpous or by mistake. As an old student of French, I almost didn't buy it as the misspelling bothered me. Now I try not to look at it too closely, but instead admire it more "from a distance".

The heart shaped wind chimes are from a souvenir shop in ski-resort Levi in Finnish Lapland. I got them in March when we went skiing there for a few days.

No doubt they should be hanging outdoors in a windy place, and possibly will be one day, but for now their purpose is to just be decorative.

The fabric star is from 't Haagje and the little tin house from the wonderful Finnish webshop Augustin Huvila.

This nice candlestick holder was a "Secret Santa" gift from one of my colleagues who was randomly picked to give me a Christmas present. Luckily we got to give hints as to what kind of stuff we like.

I love this picture frame! Still need to find a nice place for it on the wall though...

This one is hanging above our little bar table in the kitchen.

Did I ever mention that I have a thing for hearts :))?!

MAGICAL sunset reflection

We have this wicker heart hanging above our livingroom window facing out to the street. It is to this side that the sun sets.

A few evenings ago I all of a sudden noticed this reflection of the wicker heart creating a magical looking shadow on the opposite wall. Too bad I couldn't catch the movement of the light on the picture, but it was quite amazing!

It's as if the heart is emerging from a golden light which is shielded by a thin layer of constantly moving fog...




It was more or less at this stage that I noticed the reflection of the heart on the wall, and quick as lightning (well, as quickly as I could) I grabbed the camera.




Very soon the rays of the setting sun were already turning golden and getting a stronger orange tint by the second. Quite amazing how fast it actually changes and how quickly the sun sets.

The sun hasn't quite been our friend today. I suppose it had business elsewhere. But as soon as it comes out of its hiding again - and I do hope that will be soon - I will make sure to pay attention to the beautiful reflection on the wall again.

WHITE metamorphosis

The past couple of weeks I've kept myself busy with turning various items white around the house. Now, I'm not talking about good sized furniture, but smaller items that I felt were easy to tackle. For actual furniture such as tables and cabinets, I'm afraid I need to do some serious convincing when it comes to the hubby.

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Starting off with the doll bed and two miniature rocking chairs I recently bought for my daughter at a flea market.

BEFORE

getting there...

For the rocking chairs I tested out white chalk board spraypaint (Schoolbord verf) which worked out very nicely and gave an extremely matt finish...

... and the bed was painted with soft white chalk paint.

My daughter actually wanted to help out with painting the bed, but as it was messy enough with me doing it by myself, I came up with another task for her, namely sandpapering - to give an old and shabby look - which she loved doing.

I think I might just have a little future helper in Noa :)).

AFTER

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This tiny little storage cabinet I found in Finland, at Tiimari. The grayish tint actually isn't bad at all, however, I still felt like turning it shabby white.

BEFORE

AFTER

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While I was at it, I also brightened up our penholder that I've bought at IKEA at some point.

BEFORE

AFTER

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This bread storage "box" is also from IKEA and was painted white already quite some time ago.

BEFORE

AFTER

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We've got two of these lamps standing on our living room window sill, and even though I did like them years ago, lately, each time my eyes caught a glimpse of them - I couldn't stand them and knew I had to do something about their appearance.

BEFORE

I first re-decorated the lamp shade and was quite happy with the result, yet the foot still kept bothering me...

... so, what did I do?! Yep, I painted it white :)

AFTER

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Last but not least, I've got four of these wicker or rattan type baskets with a glass pot inside which can be used to have flowers in or a candle. Nothing really wrong with them and yet, I find the colour of the wicker slightly wrong. It would be nicer if it was a tint grayer, or a tint whiter.

BEFORE

AFTER

Two of them are standing on the living room window sill along with the lamps I re-decorated, and got a white metamorphosis as well.

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I got my 1st AWARD :)))!!!!!

It has finally happened. I received my first award for my blog - from Raquel from Olliebollies - and what an award it is!! WOW! Nogmaals Van Harte Bedankt Raquel :)))!!!

I've been waiting since this morning to have the possibility to add this new posting, and FINALLY that time has arrived that I can peacefully sit down behind the computer and do my thing!

This award giving and receiving is something that I've been admiring with mixed emotions of teeny tiny envy (I must admit) as well as great awe on so many blogs, wondering and thinking - would I ever receive one as well, and if so, what would it take for me to get there? Never ever did I dare to imagine that I would get such a great honour so early on in my history as a blogger.

And the timing of it - simply couldn't have been better! This totally hit the right spot and so boosted my - well, my whole being! On a personal level I am going through some pretty testing times and am drawing positive energy out of blogging and all the wonderful feedback that I've received.

This is the story behind this award: "This Renee award was created by Bella and Ces in honour of their friend Renee. In Bella's own words "this is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds it's way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns..."Now to pass it along........ I am going to nominate 8 women who I love so much, and thank every time they take some of their time to visit and comment on my blog and everyone else's art. Please check out their work they have so much talent and amazing creativity!!!

Raquel, as I wrote to you as well, I really can't thank you enough! You truly made my week and I am very grateful for your sweet gesture!!

Now, the meaning of this award is to pass it on to 8 wonderful bloggers. I do agree with Raquel though, that receiving an award should remain very special and that spreading too much of the good sometimes lessens the positive effect, at least in this case. Therefore, I've decided to follow her lead and pass it on to one person only. If Raquel wouldn't already very recently have received this award, then mine would have gone to her, not only for her inspiring blog, but also thanks to all the wonderful feedback she has given me :).

Instead, I am giving the award to another very worthy and wonderful blogger - Sarppa from ..LEINOLA... I LOVE her blog and her style, she has beautiful pictures and I've also enjoyed all the nice comments going back and forth :))! She writes in a very laid back and easy going manner about everyday life, which makes very nice reading. So, in other words - CONGRATULATIONS SARPPA!!

Sarppa - Sain ensimmäisen tunnustukseni, ja olen vieläkin ihan ällikällä lyöty ja pää edelleenkin leijuilee pilvissä :). Tämä tunnustus tulikin mulle kuin salama kirkkaalta taivaalta, ja vaikka tarkoitus onkin jakaa se 8 ihanalle bloggaajalle, olen päättänyt antaa sen vain yhdelle sen ansainneelle, sillä samoin kuten Raquel joka sen mulle antoi, olen sitä mieltä että tunnustuksen saaminen pitää pysyä erikoisena ja ainutlaatuisena kokemuksena. Ja yes, täältä se nyt sitten tulee sinne sulle :)).

Mielestäni sulla on ihana blogi ja ihana tyyli, sulla on todella kauniita kuvia ja kirjoitat mukavan leppoisasti tavallisesta elämästä. Kivat ovat myös olleet meidän edestakaiset kommentit :). Joten - ONNEKSI OLKOON SARPPA!!

And that covered it in Finnish (to anybody who might have wondered what that was all about, hihii).

A still smiling Nona has finally come to the end of this posting :).

Take care,

Coffee moment

On Sunday, I enjoyed a calm and very relaxing coffee moment in the sun in the company of me, myself and I. I could hear the children happily playing in the playground closeby. That is where my daughter was as well. But in addition to that, the only thing I could hear, or cared to hear was the lovely bird song, and my own thoughts...

I leaned back on the garden bench, loving the warm sun beams on my face and enjoying a nice cup of coffee from my favorite coffee mug bought at Riviera Maison.

I like the Riviera Maison logo with the little house. And this one even happens to be dishwasher safe :)

I also took a moment to scribble a few lines in my "Livre d'Histoires" - a sort of notebook I'm writing for my daughter - in Finnish - which is our language. It consists of various short stories all related to her, mainly memorable, funny and cute things about her for later enjoyment.

Now, having touched the Riviera Maison topic, here are a couple of pictures of my Riviera Maison Amuse-spoons. I hardly ever get to use them, and even when I could I simply forget to, but I love them none the less, even just as decorations.

I'm almost done with the white metamorphosis of the purchases I made this past weekend. Well, the little rocking chairs are done but the doll bed still needs some finishing touches. However, with being in the office all day and having enough to do in the evenings after work 'til I get my daughter to bed, I just haven't had time to quite finish.

I hope to be able to do so latest on Wednesday when I only work half a day :)

GREAT BARGAINS

Finally I did what I had meant to do so many times. I dropped in at our local Kringloopcentrum (recycle centre). I drive past it daily but just haven't managed to get myself to go. Now then after having read several postings from my fellow bloggers about them visiting recycle centers and flea markets, I just had to give it a go.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the price tag of only 4.90,- for this decorative old flatiron. What a bargain!

I'm still contemplating spray painting it white though.... or do you think I should leave it as it is?

This 30 cm high zink vase only cost 90 euro cents. I mean, that's like giving it to me for free!

Last but not least, I stumbled across this IKEA night side table from the Hemnes series and got it for a mere 10.50,-. It fits perfectly in my daughters room.

In addition to these bargains I also saw some nice pieces of wooden cabinets that I'd like to give new life to with some white paint. Some weeks back I wouldn't even have noticed them, and now all of a sudden I have it in my head that white paint simply is the solution.

It's as if I'm in a place in my life where I need to bring new joy, energy, freshness and life into my own little life, and that WHITE and this whole new obsession with blogging somehow are greatly part of that process.

I've been busy most part of the weekend with turning several items white. I also visited a flea market for the first time here in Holland (in Huizen) where I found two cute and tiny wooden rocking chairs for dolls and a good size wooden doll bed, all for a very good price. They've all undergone a metamorphosis, of which I hope to have a new posting for you very soon. I always enjoy seeing the before and after pictures :).

SUN, SPRING GREENS & BLOSSOM

Here are some wonderfully sunny pictures I took on Saturday. Most of them are from our back garden.

The Hortencia's are coming along nicely. Below you see the pretty purple beauty they will give in June-July, going on for several months. As you can see we still haven't come around to clean the fence after the winter.

My basil got to bathe in the sun for a while. I thought it was so lushious and pretty that I just had to take a picture.

Here's an odd one out, but still in the theme of spring green. This one's from our bedroom window facing to the opposite side of the garden.

Wishing all of you a GREAT and hopefully SUNNY and WARM start of the week!!

CLOSE TO MY HEART

Who would have guessed, that little me would go so nuts about this whole blogging thing, that it honestly pre-occupies my mind 24/7. Even at work I notice that I'm constantly thinking of what I could do next, what I might change, what I'd like to add and wanting to check out updates to blogs I follow etc.

The only reasoning I have is that this really hit the spot and that it is something very close to my heart, something I'm passionate about. And the feeling just keeps on growing :).

It's not like I've been putting out a lot of new postings, no - but somehow there seems to be a trillion things I can and want to do that by the time I get to do it I've probably already forgotten half. Then, brilliantly enough (as if!), I somehow remember stuff late at night when I should go to bed, and then I sit here still at one a.m. thinking that what ever I'm doing will be the last thing for today.... or maybe one more quick thing.... and this won't take long... and it goes on and on until it's veeery late.

I wonder if I'm the only one obsessed by this, or if I have partners in crime out there :)??!

Wishing all my readers a wonderful Friday and a SUNNY weekend!!

Rustic Rattan Candle Holder

This Rustic Rattan candle holder is my most recent purchase. I have a few in this size and also two in a smaller size. I found them in a very affordable shop, namely at Xenos. Sometimes they even have some really nice things there, and for a real bargain. This one actually had a greyish Rattan finish, which in itself already was very nice looking.

But, I'm really in a mode now to turn our interior into a whiter one, and found myself holding a can of white spray paint in my hand which I happened to find in our garden shed.

And here it is in candle light.

SERENITY

I want to share this picture with you as I don´t think it can get much dreamier than this. This is an art print by Daniel Pollera called `Serenity´, and that it is indeed.

When looking at the picture, I automatically sigh each time. I could just escape into it, and stay there. I certainly wouldn´t mind having a house like this one day, along with the porch and the view.

I find the calmness, the simple beauty and the serenity of it overwhelming.

How did I have my egg today?

Raquel from Olliebollies asked her readers how they had their egg today. Well, this is how I had mine.

More Easter decorations

Here's finally proof of the Finnish Easter grass I planted together with my daughter, with some eggs I painted.

This is also a result of our combined efforts. It still looks a bit bare, but these were the last "pajunkissa"- branches I could find at the local garden center and didn't have the strength to look further.

The colourful silk paper flowers Noa made at the after-school club as a surprise for me. And the feathers - well, these where the only good size feathers I could find - so, COLOURFUL it is ;).

A sunny hello

The weather has been wonderful again, really warm and quite sunny. Actually warm to the extent that you can feel the pressure of the thunder lurking around the corner. This is typical for Holland, also in the summer time when it's very hot. It usually ends with a short spell of thunder and rain.

We were going to BBQ tonight again like we did last night, but came to the conclusion that it's safer to prepare the dinner indoors.

These pictures don't have any relation to what I just wrote, it's just that I'm still waiting to download the new pictures I took during the past couple of days, of our Easter grass among other things, and these will have to do in the meantime.

These two cute little bags I got from my sister who bought them in Sweden. They're perfect for hair strings, hair clips etc. and they're pretty to look at too ;)

I hope I get the chance to download the other pictures soon!

My new sewing kit

For a long time now I've planned to buy a good and handy kit for my sewing things, because I go nuts every time I need to sew a button etc. and turn to my Lidl bought sewing kit. Otherwise it's brilliant and contains a great array of the basic sewing accessories, however, it is a three layer plastic thingy which never closed again properly after I had opened it the first time around.

Guess how much I've enjoyed picking up all the threads, needles and what not and putting them back into place after I've by mistake made it drop to the floor?! Right, not very much no...

This past weekend I went shopping and as a miracle and totally without looking found the most beautiful little sewing kit! Size wise it's not very big, but I really don't care. I would even be happy just having it as a decoration with nothing inside.

This is what it looks like when you take a peek inside:

Due to the size I couldn't fit every little thing into it, but the stuff that I use most frequently did find a new home in my pretty little kit :).

Easter decorations

This year, to my own surprise, I managed to come through with some Easter decoration preparations well before Easter. These three pictures are however the only ones I've taken of any of them so far, and even these I took more for fun. The little eggs I bought in Finland from Tiimari, the bunny is actually an egg warmer and the pastel coloured little chicks my daughter picked out cause she thought they were so cute.

Last time I was in Finland I bought seeds to plant my own traditional Easter grass. As I was too lazy to check if we had any soil in the garden shed, I chose to plant the seeds on household paper. This usually works too, however, not as good as if planted in real soil. The grass didn't turn out perfect, but good enough. The main thing is that it's growing (now 6-7 cm high) and Noa is excited because I've let it grow in her room and she gets to help with watering it. Will take some picture of it still.

We've also been busy with painting eggs. Here it's custom that if real eggs are used, you let kids paint and decorate hardboiled ones, as the risk is then smaller of them breaking. I did that last year when Noa was still 4, but this year I decided to do it the way I remember my mother and grandmother did it, e.g by making teeny tiny holes at the ends and then blowing out the raw insides.

Noa, who now is 5, and thinks that she's a really big girl and can do AAANYTHING thought it was quite cool that I trusted her with the delicate eggs. And yep, she maneuvered them like an old pro ;)! To anything I was doing with my eggs she shouted out: "ooooooh, HIENO äiti!!" (hieno meaning how nice/pretty - vad fint - wat mooi). Well, I of course returned the compliment which resulted in two very happy egg painters :).

I will post some more pictures of our Easter decorations once I've managed to take pictures of them.

But for now, enjoy the week and take care!

The Fairy Nest

This is my little daughter's "fairy nest" or "keijunpesä" as I call it.

As you can see, her room is a haven of polka dot-, gingham-, stripe- and flower patterns along with heart and star shapes.... among other things :)

If you look really closely you can make out the little red-haired fairy girl sitting on the shelf. She was a present from my mother - a fairy girl to a fairy girl :)

Door-board I made for Noa. The "My room" heart frame is from Riviera Maison and the crown hooks are a gift from my sister. The two little hanging girl figures Noa and I chose together :)

This I made too. Could have bought a simpler version ready-made, but wanted to try it out myself first

This banner was a birthday gift from our neighbour lady who also likes being creative

Found this star in the wonderful "At Home"- shop located in our village

The heart pillow cover I bought once in Malmö when visiting my sister. The two adorable bunny girls are from the wonderful webshop "Talo Maalla"

I put Noa's old baby dress to good use when turning it into a lamp shade

These pretty angel wings were a gift to Noa from my sister who's also Noa's god-mother. I got to open the present on Christmas Eve in 2003 when the little one was still inhabiting my belly, approximately one week before she was born (on January 2nd)

These cute and decorative cones are from GreenGate. Some I've bought in the "At Home"- shop nearby us and a few I've ordered from the Finnish webshop "Talo Maalla"

I know you can easily buy these notice boards, but as I'm into making stuff myself I decided to give it a go. I think it turned out pretty good even if I say so myself :)

The frame is also bought on one of my trips to Malmö, and the heart is actually a simple paper napkin which I thought was so pretty I just had to frame it

The cute teddy bear is one of the many gifs from my sister. I love the text in the heart: "Horizon of Hope 2004", especially as that is the year in which my daughter was born :).

The cover sheet I made myself. Also my first attempt at sewing something like this. I still remember; I was busy with it for two long evenings, of which the latter one turned into night. With the help of loud music (Tiësto to be exact) and good red wine I turned out surprising myself :).
I love GreenGate products. The crown is yet another nice gift from my sister :)

THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS! I so agree!!

Angels are welcome here door-hanger. Also a gift from my sister

Thought this text was quite appropriate as she indeed is a little sleeping beauty when she's off to dreamland :)

I love this heart frame. Also a purchase from the "At Home" store

This Holly Hobby painting I already had hanging in my own room when I was a little girl. I was so happy to find it stored and still in excellent condition on the attic of our summer cottage last summer. The old frame was really ugly though, so I put a new frame and added some Nona-touches in the area between the frame and the picture. Now it's as good as new!

Well, I must admit that my first introduction to Noa's room became "slightly" more elaborate than I first had planned. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy it :)!

SUNNY DAY

Today I was lucky to only work until twelvish, and was able to pick my daughter up from school at 12:30. Usually she would go to this after-school club, and even though she likes it there, I do know that given the opportunity, she loves leaving early and simply stay at home.

The weather was absolutely wonderful today! Total spring! Blue sky, sunshine, relatively warm, birds singing, people seemingly happy and in a spring mood and children playing out in the playground. Noa played outside for hours with her best friend and several other neighborhood kids and had a blast. Slowly but surely you could see the coats changing into body warmers, fleece jackets etc, and in the end the kids were just running around in their regular clothes with the jackets and such laying on benches or tied around their little waists ;).

I do hope that this weather which seems to be making everyone and everything come alive again and lift up the spirits all around will continue and only get better!

These two pictures above I took in the late afternoon when the sun was already setting.

VINTAGE POSTERS

Quite some time back I got hooked on searching for vintage posters on the web. I haven't done it in a while now, but thought I'd share the result of the poster hunt with you.

What I did was to combine four individual pictures into one painting of 40 by 40 cm and ended up with all in all four paintings with the vintage fruit & vedgie look. I've framed the four of them in white wooden frames. Here is the still frameless end result.



These first two I hung in the kitchen above the bar table.





And the two latter ones are actually brightening up the tiny little toilet we have on the ground floor.



At some point I promise you'll get to see the pictures of how and where they hang.

KORVAPUUSTEJA ~ CINNAMON ROLLS

Meillä oli tänään äiti ~ tytär päivä ja leivoimme yhdessä muun muassa korvapuusteja ;)!

Noa on Suomen vierailuillamme ihastunut korvapuusteihin, eikä niitä täältä Hollannista saa paitsi jos Ikeasta käy ostamassa Pågenin pikku valmiskorvapuusteja. Kyllähän niitä paremman puutteessa syö muttei ne vedä vertoja aidolle "tavaralle". Olin jo jonkin aikaa luvannut opettaa hänelle että miten niitä valmistetaan, ja tänään se päivä vihdoinkin koitti.

Hauskaa oli ja aherruksen päätteksi meidät palkittiin taivaallisella vastaleivotun pullan tuoksulla ja herkullisilla korvapuusteilla. Niitä tulikin tehtyä sen verran paljon että taidanpa viedä niitä myös kolleegoilleni maistijaisiksi.

Ja tässä lopputulos.

We had a mother ~ daughter day today and one of the fun things we did together was to bake Finnish cinnamon rolls ;)!

Noa has fallen for the cinnamon rolls on our visits to Finland, and you can't really buy them here in Holland unless you drive over to Ikea and buy a bag of ready made ones from Pågen. They're okay but nothing compared to the real thing. For a while now I'd promised to show her how to make them, and today that day finally arrived.

We had lots of fun and after all the hard work we were rewarded with the heavenly smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. And they were delicious! We baked so many that I think I will take some for my colleagues to taste as well.

And here's the result.

~ Hyvää alkavaa viikkoa kaikille! ~

~ Wishing all of you a great start of the week! ~

HEARTS

Oh yes, this could be expected: My heart display ;)

Here are only some of all the hearts and heart shapes that have found their way to our home, starting from hearts around the house to hearts in my daughter's room

RIVIERA MAISON

Just like Sarppa (from the wonderful blog LEINOLA at http://leinot.blogspot.com/), I also have a thing for Riviera Maison. I don't have any big furniture of theirs (YET!) even though I love the look, but I do have a bunch of decorations and kitchen accessories from RM. I for instance just love drinking my coffee or tea from my big Côte Est mugs!

Here are just a few of the decorations that I happen to have pictures of:

I haven't used this bag as I think it's just so pretty and romantic to look at

These placemats are in daily use

A nice little star shaped wooden tray ideal for candles or any other decoration you might think of

I love the criss-cross motief and the grayish Rustic Rattan

These two last ones are not from Riviera Maison, but thanks to the Rattan-look they do have the same feel to them

MORE DECORATIONS

Hi there! It's been way too long since my last posting! Today I finally had time to take some more random pictures around the house. Most of them at this point are from various decorations, as they were an easy and nice target when practicing with the new camera we have.

I had planned a mother-daughter day with my daughter Noa for today. We went shopping for some nice spring clothes for her. After that we were going to bake Finnish cinnamon rolls (Korvapuusteja) as she's nuts about them, and then we had planned to paint and decorate some Easter eggs. This however was postponed until tomorrow, as Noa chose to play with her "boyfriend" (also 5 years old) instead.

I didn't mind this at all! She was having a good time all afternoon, and so was I, taking all the pictures, visiting many wonderful blogs, and frankly, simply enjoying the silence in the house!

I'm really looking forward to baking with her tomorrow though. I've told her that I used to bake ALL the time when I was a kid, and that making the cinnamon rolls was always lots of fun. She actually asked me to teach her how to do it too ;).

This was Noa's first real shoe in which she took her first little steps. We had it bronzed and I'm quite happy with the result

This sign I got from my dear sister

This porcelain angel is exceptionally beautiful in candle light, especially when the candle is burning "at her feet"

The "cone" is also a present from my sister, and the Lily of the valley flowers (although not real) the national flower of Finland

Here I go with the lavender again ;)

MY HOME

I felt like putting together a couple of collages with snippets of my home. I liked doing it so much that I'm sure I'll be practicing my collage-making skills some more in the nearby future.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Finland. My daughter will be staying with my mother in Southern Finland while my husband and I get to enjoy an intense 3 days of skiing, delicious food, good wines, sauna's and relaxation at ski resort Levi in Lapland. I'm really looking forward to it!

I must switch off now and get some rest. Wouldn't want to start the trip completely exhausted. Knowing myself, I could easily still sit here for a couple of hours... Next time I log in will most probably be from Levi :).

Dear reader

Being new to the blogging community I'm overwhelmed by all the things I can do and try out. I don't quite know where to begin. I've played around a bit with my blog and you could say that it is becoming somewhat of an obsession to me. Finally I have a way of outing my thoughts and ideas to others than just my dear sister who also shares the same interest when it comes to interior design and handycrafts.

I suppose the next step for me would be to actually let myself known to the rest of all you wonderful bloggers who's sites I've visited for inspiration, beautiful pictures and nice reading. So far I've only commented anonymously, but I believe the time is ripe for me to "come out of the shadows" and to be bold, to be me!

Yours truly,

RANDOM DECORATIONS

I LOVE dried lavender! Both the look and smell of it is fantastic!

French soap

I have a thing for heart shapes. Heart decorations can be found throughout the house

More hearts. These are attached to our otherwise dull looking bedroom door

DREAM HOUSE

This is one of my dream cottages... or at least getting close to

The Dream.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR!

I can feel it - SPRING IS HERE!

I still have one nice trip scheduled taking me back to real winter, a short but oh so nice skiing trip to Levi in Finnish Lapland next week. And after that, I'm so ready to welcome SPRING!
Spring-time has always been one of my favourite if not THE favourite season here in Holland. It already starts in March, and in addition to the days being longer and lighter and the weather getting considerably warmer, the little birds are starting to happily sing again and spring flowers are blossoming all over the place.
Since the winters aren't really that cold, the grass is already green, and very soon leaf trees and bushes start getting little green shoots. Everybody is in a spring mood, and especially over here people really take good care of their gardens and make sure that everything is spring-ready and nice looking. The garden centers fill with eager "gardeners" and people wanting to brighten up their homes and leave behind the somewhat somber wintertime. In my opinion, it's the lack of snow that makes it so somber.

These pretty blue flowers my daughter Noa and I planted last spring for my father as get well flowers. Unfortunately the power of the flowers wasn't strong enough to cure him, and he passed away in August... But I feel like I have a part of him "rooted" into our front garden... :)

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

I actually baked this gingerbread cookie heart for the Christmas holidays, however, since I think it's timeless and I really do like it - I've decided that it gets to stay.

DEAR SIS

I am sooooooo happy to finally have my first follower, namely, my dear twin sister Ava who I only moments ago told about my blog.
Since I created it and posted my first message sometime in December, it kind of went into the back of my mind for - well - months.... that is, until now. Having talked to her on the phone (she by the way lives in Sweden) gave me re-newed inspiration to "activate myself".

So THANX sis ;)!!

Y Y Y YY

WINTER

Living in the Netherlands, I must admit that there is one thing that I REALLY miss about not living in Finland or having lived there for a long time, and that is having REAL winters, with snow, beautiful winter scenery, and proper winter activities such as skiing, ice-skating, sled riding etc.

I've now lived here for 8 years, however, the feeling has never been as strong as it is this year... the physical longing for WINTER.

Therefore, I've decided to make a "snow vacation" trip to Finland in February, together with my daughter Y. I want her to FEEL the winter too and get to LOVE snow as much as I always did. Well, she actually already does love snow. She just needs to get the opportunity to fully experience and enjoy it Y