After a short re-visit by winter during the Easter weekend, spring seems to be back with warmer temperatures and sunshine. This time of year is when I always long to update my accessories to match the weather after months of cold and dark weather. Here are a couple of things I found that I think are cute spring inspired accessories:
I wish you all a Happy Easter full of spring warmth and sunshine!
Image from www.marthastewart.com
A sure sign of spring is that every grocery store and flower shop are bursting with tulips of all colors. I really like tulips and a big reason for that I think is that it feels like bringing spring indoors. Here are some inspiring pics of tulips:
Image from www.tulpanenshus.se
Image from www.rappne.nu
Long time no write! It's been a while since my last post. To all of you who will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day (a big deal in more places than Ireland) on May 17th, here's some inspiration in the form of Martha Stewart style St. Patrick's Day baked goods. Here's where you can find the recipes.
St. Patrick's Day cupcakes
Clover Cookies
Images from www.marthastewart.com.
After a long pause from blogging I'm now making an attempt at posting again (hopefully more regularly than the past few months...). My last few posts were related to summertime but now I'm making a huge leap to December and the winter holidays.
This past week Sweden celebrated Lucia. It's a holiday dedicated to the Italian Saint Lucia. Legend has it that Saint Lucia of Syracuse, Sicily, tore out her eyes to give to a heathen besotted by her. The man became a Christian and God gave Lucia her sight back. She was burned at the stake for witchcraft in 304 AD.
All over Sweden, schools, workplaces, towns and homes celebrate Lucia day. Traditionally children of all ages dress in long white gowns. Girls are Lucia's maidens and wear glitter in their hair and around their waists while boys are "star boys" wearing a cone with stars on their heads and holding a wand-like stick with a star on the top. Sometimes there are also kids who dress like Santa's helpers in red and white costumes.
They sing traditional songs and gingerbread cookies and saffron buns called "Lucia cats" are eaten and washed down with Glögg (a hot and spicy wine based drink). Below is a picture of the Lucia cats and here you can find a recipe in English of how to make them:
Image from www.santamaria.se
Here's a lovely bouquet of flowers from Martha Stewart's website to all of you readers who have been writing sweet supportive comments on my blog! Thanks! I'll try to get better at posting and keeping up with your blogs!
Image from www.marthastewart.com
Flitiga Myran tagged me, so here goes!
4 jobs I’ve had:
- Salesperson in a children’s clothing boutique (my first ”real” job that I had during high school)
- Baby-sitting and assisting an amazing 3-year old girl with autism (we spent 4 afternoons a week together during a 6-month period and became great friends!)
- Lunch chef at a café
- PR consultant
4 movies I can watch over and over again:
- Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
- Legends of the Fall
- Dirty Dancing
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s
4 cities I’ve lived in:
- Baghdad, Iraq
- Cairo, Egypt
- Amman, Jordan
- Paris, France
4 TV-shows I like to watch:
- Six Feet Under
- Gilmore Girls
- CSI (preferably the Las Vegas version)
- Nip/Tuck
4 places I’d like to visit (see this post for more details):
- Cambodia
- India
- Morocco
- New Zealand
4 websites I visit every day:
- Flitiga Myran
- Lantliv i Stan
- Shim + sons
- IMDB (well, almost every day…)
4 favorite dishes
- Spaghetti Bolognese
- My Mom’s White Wine Turkey Casserole
- My Grandmother’s Cabbage Rolls
- A really good smoky Hamburger!
4 places I like to be:
- By the water in the Stockholm Archipelago
- In the countryside amongst fields and animals
- On our living room couch with my husband watching a good show or movie
- Most anywhere if I’m joined by my best friends and family!
I've been really bad at posting balcony reports like I said I would. But finally here are some pics from our balcony from the past month. The wonderful warm weather and lots of sunshine has really helped many of my plants (and killed off a few too when we were out of the city I wasn't able to water them as often as needed).
These are the plants on the following pics: Kalanchoe, Pelargoniums, Lilac Tree (photo taken back in early June), Wild Strawberries, Tomatoes, another Pelargonium, Chrysanthemum, Pansies, Mint Leaves and Lemon Thyme. The last pic is of one of my Orchids. They have also been loving the hot weather and are blooming again like never before. (For larger pics, click on one.)
As a final post on my favorite interior decoration styles, here are some examples of the traditional Swedish style that I like a lot. I think it really works best in the countryside or in houses rather than apartments. The style can be the focus in a different way then.
Image from www.kallholmen.se
Image from www.skonahem.se
To continue on my three favorite styles of interior decoration and accessories, here are some example of influences from the Middle-East that I really like as details in home decoration.
Moroccan style ceramics and mosaic table (Image from www.moroccanbazaar.co.uk)
Tea glasses and some textiles in the background (Image from www.moroccanbazaar.co.uk)
Moroccan slippers (Image from www.vanilladesigns.co.uk)
