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Leo the Birthday Prince

In a birthday crown made by mom, with a pirate tattoo on his arm, and his beloved flowers in his hand, he was the sweetest birthday boy one could ever dream of. Thanks to everybody who made this, his 3rd birthday, so special and memorable. This time he for sure knew that he was the center of attention :)

And most of all, thanks to Leo Oscar, my amazingly lovely little son. I'm so proud of being your mommie. Happy 3, my little big boy! I'd be ready to give you all the pink Princess Cake in the world!

Oh, what a day!

The day that I quite honestly haven't been looking so much forward to, turned out to be one of the best days in my life so far! It was a day filled with so much joy, love, friendship and fun. We threw a "Bubble & Cake"-party at our studio, and I'm incredibly happy that so many old friends, newer friends, and family, showed up at an indoor party on the hottest day of the summer (+29° C ≈ 84°F)! Thank you so much everybody. I can't believe how lucky I am, having you all around!

I also want to send a very special hello & huge thank you hugs to the American family, and friends, who, even if they weren't here  in person, were very present through cards, phone calls, emails and gifts! I can't wait to order my very own design piece from one the Atlantic Avenue Vintage shops in Brooklyn, for example..! Wow. Thank you guys so much for all your love.

For Ezra & Leo (in new party shirts from Småfolk (Little People/Leo) and Hjorth Copenhagen/Ezra) – I wish I have had a video camera in my bed, when you sang the Happy Birthday song to me at the top of your voices in the morning! That meant everything! My little boys are indeed getting bigger.

For Joshua – you make my life. A man who knows how to pick up cakes for 45 people on a bike, who takes me swimming here at 9 pm on the night of my birthday, just to brush the algae out of our hair to bike us to a fancy Italian restaurant – that's the man I love!

Check out the party pictures here!

And again – thanks to all who made this day so beautiful and memorable.

Summer lovin'

Clear blue skies for days and days. Much hotter than it usually gets here. A wonderful weekend with our friends Cecilia, Martin, and their son – my God Son – Luke, at their summerhouse in Skälderviken, close to Torekov and Båstad. A gazpacho to die for made by Cecilia. An early birthday party with home cooked Indian food. By the great cook Cecilia again. A marvelous cake. A great gift – some very hot apple (!) clogs. A photo of them, and some more pics from the weekend can be seen here. Four boys dining in the garden. Beaching, beaching, beaching. Napping in the bike after a long beach day. An occasional moment of indoor playing. Although I wish that this summer would go on forever.
Peace out :)

A countryside adventure...

Sometimes things don't really turn out the way one plan... This vacation certainly nothing went according to the books, so far...  The summerhouse turned out to be a wonderful little house in the middle of the woods with two cows as the closest neighbors. So far, so good. Unfortunately the water pump broke down the first night, and we had to pump water from the well. I can absolutely see the charm of living the kind of life my grandmother used to live during her childhood; going outside to fill up a bucket from the well, heat up the water on the stove to do the dishes, mix freezing cold and steaming hot water for giving the kids their baths out of a pitcher – at least for a few days...

But this wasn't everything. The second day, when we took a trip to an art gallery nearby, the owner of the house came to fix the pump, and discovered that during the two hours between when we left the house and until he arrived, somebody had broken into the house...

Unlucky. Yes.Our vacation ended sort of abruptly already on Tuesday night, only two days after we arrived. My new camera was the biggest loss on our part, but still not that bad considering. We're just happy that everybody is ok, although I  miss having the camera as I was planning on doing a lot of photography this summer. Well. 

After a day or so at home, trying to relocate, we ended up doing some nice things anyway. Here are a few examples from the rest of our "summerhouse week" – more pictures to view here.

Thanks for all Happy Holiday-wishes :)
The same to you!

Top photo: At the beach in the Barsebäck Harbour, a very beautiful place, despite the now closed power plant that's located nearby.

Middle and bottom: We took a day trip to the island of Ven, mostly known for being the place where the astronomer Tycho Brahe built his observatory.

We  got to pick a few blueberries and enjoy our pancakes with raspberries directly from the woods...

...and play a rocket ship taking off in lush nature, before our summerhouse adventure ended.

Back in Malmö, we went to a concert with Anna Järvinen.

Some people danced and played all night long.

Taking off!

Ok, we're taking off this afternoon! We rented a torp in the woods close to this lake and will be hiding out there for a week. So excited to get away on a little summer vacation. See you in a bit - Happy summer everyone!

Hot, hot, hot...

Hot chicks visiting from Brooklyn/LA, new hot area in Copenhagen – "Kødbyn" alias The Meatpacking District, hot restaurant with lamps by Olafur Eliason, hot summer days in Southern Sweden...

Welcome in...

... to Sven Eighteen. We'd like to proudly present our studio. We're almost set – just the lounge corner of the room left to go. See the pictures over at Flickr.

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There has also been made some progress in the guest room-to-be – and some new projects are started. Well, there's still some crap in the corners but it's a lot better, and tonight I had to take on a little painting project (that turned into two). Meanwhile I was painting and listening to Jens Lekman on NPR,  J was making fennel sausage and chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen. What a night! I wish I could blog the amazing smells that came from there. They actually worked very well together :)

A painter's snack is never wrong.

Can't stand this "IKEA-wood" next to the old dark wood cabinet, so it had to go white. Even a little chest, that I will donate to Ezra & Leo to keep their endless amount of tiny things in, will end up white. Second layer of paint tomorrow night – I can't wait!

Don't know if all this made you feel calmer Vanessa, but the photo below is taken in the same corner as the first photo of the last post, if that can be somewhat reassuring :)

Decluttering and preparing for guests

Ok, you see the situation, but it should still be possible to manage to get one – only one – blog post up before March is over. As you can see, I have a few other little things to take care of these days. Since the fire in our basement, actually exactly one year (!) ago today, our office room has been serving as a stand-in basement, but now's really the time to change that! Auntie Becca and her friend Karen are arriving in 10 days, and the cleaning project is much farther ahead than what you see in these pictures (believe me :). As I have a tough time doing things half-hearted (often to the extent of stupidity, but still), cleaning this room started a whole process for me, and I'm now spending my nights studying Feng Shui, meanwhile trying to clear my life from clutter...
(It actually already started at the studio a few weeks ago, and I will try to take some pictures from there tomorrow.)

Well, we'll see how it goes, but it's very relieving – and really – the biggest inspiration is to turn that room into a nice guest room for, at first, Becca & Karen, and later this spring, for our former neighbors CC & Vanessa from Brooklyn. I hope these pictures won't discourage you, guys – or any other of you who have been thinking of coming to visit... But trust me, we can't wait to use this room for much better reasons than keeping tables underneath the tables, and red plastic sleds in! That's definitely not feng shui from what I've learned so far.

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The days are finally getting longer and brighter. Now it's daylight until almost 8 pm, and the bright nights will steadily be longer. By the time CC and Vanessa arrives, it won't get dark until 10.30-11 pm. And probably, the light might also be a reason for bringing out the spring cleaning spirits!

More photos

yes, I still do Flick'r even though I'm mostly experimenting with my new camera these days. although, I did upgrade to a pro account today to put some (good) pressure on myself :)

A sign of spring!

Last Thursday when we went to Lund for a work meeting (meeting some of these great women), we walked through the park by the cathedral to find the ground filled with these wonderful, promising signs that soon, hopefully very soon, spring will be here!

I also like how the flowers are sort of wrapped in leaves, like a little pot made by nature itself.

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I know that the appearance of these delicate, little flowers would have meant a lot to my plant and nature loving grandmother Inez, who – if she had still been alive – would have turned 87 today. So, these little snödroppar (snowdrops), they're for you, mormor Inez.

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