Christmas cards

This year's Christmas cards were a little bit more than just cards.

They were little presents :-)

Monkey leggings

One of the Christmas presents I made this year were leggings for my ne(w)phew.

I've had this monkey fabrics at home for a while and it was just perfect for the occasion.

Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, I was really in a hurry.

Ljubljana

A couple of years ago, I loved the Christmas decorations in Ljubljana. They were neat and lovely and just pretty.

Since then, they are just adding more and more and more... There is no editing, no coherence and it's just getting too messy.

Some ideas are cool albeit slightly off.

 

Others are very off ... 

Some students used photosensitive threads and I love it

The best thing, however, are local graffiti!

Christmas cards teaser

I'm late this year, but here is the teaser for this year's Christmas cards ...

Working on them, working on them ...

Jewellry holder

When I was cleaning up my sewing area I found this lost treasure mess.

And walking through a hardware store I found a key hanger that was just perfect for tidying up my precious "jewellery".

Two screws later ...

:-)

Green is greener

I love it!

The new Pantone colour of the year.

The green Greenery.

Finally I will stop seeing the hideous rose colour, which is just about everywhere, from baking trays to hair dye, from notebooks to shoes, from sports equipment to bathroom tiles.

And, while we're at it, my bathroom is already green, although all the architects told me it should be pale-brownish-creamishly-boring. So I guess I was just ahead of time ;-)

Christmas elf

I never thought I would have to sew a Santa hat but MiniMojcek Nr.2 was a christmas elf in a school play (at least he wasn't a lobster!) so I had to make one.

I bought the prettiest pom-pom I could find and a couple of minutes later the hat was made.

Yes, he had the fluffiest pom-pom on the stage :-)

2-2-2

Two birthdays.

Two castles.

Two funerals.

This pretty much sums up my life in the past three weeks. Almost like a Hugh Grant film. The castles were pretty, though.

Perfect 10!

MiniMojcek is 10 today!

And for his birthday party I made some Superhero muffins. As we're not huge fans of fondant, I made is as thin as possible, so thin you can almost see the cake through the thin layer. And therefore also every crumb and crack on the muffin. Oh well...

Ironman: chocolate only for the picky kids
Green lantern and Captain America: chocolate with sour cherries
Spiderman: vanilla with raspberries

Foam!

Believe me - you do NOT want to know what happens if you empty two bottles of bath foam into one bathtub...

... and simultaneously accidentally overfill the bathtub...

Foam everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE.

And I was only gone for half an hour!

Ravioli

I just love Mr. Mojcek. It was he who made the ravioli. I only planted the tomatoes and grew basil.

And ate the whole thing. Yum!

Insane!

Remember how I was complaining about Easter Bunnies in February, almost two months before Easter?

Well, today (OCTOBER 3rd!) I received a save-the-date-email with a list of Christmas parties.

Now I know the dates of three of around 7 or 8 Christmas parties I will probably be invited to. Starting December 7th.

Insane!

PS.  I'm spending all my time rebuilding-renovating a balcony with nothing exciting to show. Just yet.

Science!

You just have to love it, right?

A 10 year old LCD TV with chevron structure

A recent mobile phone display

Random thoughts

1. I saw a billboard today announcing the premiere of Bridget Jones's Baby. And I was wondering why they put the ad so soon as the film won't open till September, several months from now ... wait ... ooops!

2. Within one hour and all within a couple of hundred yards from my home I spoke to one of the national best gymnasts (multiple world champion), sat in a meeting with the singer of the nationally most famous rock band, and met probably the most (nationally) known TV presenter. A funny place, my hometown.

3. I decided to follow this year's Bake Off and started with the famous Jaffa cakes. Well, they tasted really delicious.  Their appearance, however, well ... let's not talk about it.

4. Somehow I stumbled upon Glee radio where they only play Glee covers.  24 hours a day. I mean... Seriously? 

5. Reading Kobo Abe, Herman Hesse, Nick Hornby and John C. Parkin. How many books can one read at a time?

La Vuelta

Why is Le Tour covered by all television stations and La Vuelta by none?

So I couldn't watch the stage when they climbed up Covadonga.

Not that I had the time to watch it anyway, but I would have loved to see if anything changed in the 17 years since I was there.

Oh, and I'm so so happy for Quintana. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Hmmm...

Just watching The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

And reading Green's Paper Towns.

And there I go and buy a book on houseplants.

Must. Do. Something. About. It.

Just for Q's and old time's sake some photos from Everglades.

Everglades, about 10 years ago

An alligator we accidentally ran into

PS. Paper towns are very (too?) similar to Finding Alaska, but since I liked Alaska, I also liked Paper Towns. Even more so.

Ladybird purses

Sooo, a new page is just turning in our lives as MiniMojcek Nr.2 is leaving kindergarden and going to school!

And I thought it would be appropriate to give a small thank-you present to his teachers, who have been with him all these years. And with MiniMojcek Nr.1 before that.

This is the start

Can you guess what I'm making?

A ladybird!

MiniMojcek Nr.2 was in the group called Ladybirds so what could be more appropriate than ladybird purses/pouches... They loved them!

Ah, the wrinkled sheets ...

Elba

After wanting to go to Elba for several years we finally made it!

Portoferraio

My favourite place on the island - Chiessi

Two weeks of lying under stone pines and bathing in wonderful blue waters.

Photo stolen from Mr. Mojcek. It's also his foot.

We managed to include some hiking and Mr. Mojcek some mountainbiking.

And! We've had two weeks of sunrises and sunsets and even full moon.

Le tour!

This is getting so reptitive...

The Tour started again. And this year I'm not scanning any old photographs from Normandy but rather show a picture from our recently renovated National Gallery.

A house in Normandy :-)

Jurij Šubic - A House in Normandy, 1882

Reading update

Just a quick recap on the books I've recently read.

Four Colin Dexter novels. I quite enjoy reading them but I just wish he would write about Cambridge and not Oxford so that I would recongnise every street, every bridge and every house.

I've read two further Jo Nesbø novels, including the Leopard. As uncomfortable as it is to read (especially the beginning), I quite liked the location -  a mountain hut in the middle of nowhere in Norway.

I've also re-read several Edgar Wallace novels, just because I have them at home. Ah, the English countryside...

And oddly enough, I read a John Green novel, Looking for Alaska, just because I got it for free in a bookstore. And I must admit I enjoyed it. Maybe just because it was so different from what I read currently or maybe because I miss some teenage immaturity in my life or maybe just because it's a good book. And no, I don't have any photos of Alaska :-)

Sour cherries!

You know that Masha and the Bear cartoon where she cooks porridge? And they end up with porridge everywhere?

Taken from Youtube.

This is exactly how I feel now if you replace porridge with sour cherries.Everywhere. In every form.
Sour cherries just picked.
Sour cherries pitted.
Sour cherries frozen.
Sour cherries jam.
Sour cherries compote.
Sour cherries ice cream.
Sour cherries muffins.
And about half of them still on the tree.

A month sans sucre

I've made it!

I've made it through all of May without eating any (added) sugar.

Or stevia.
Or sweeterns.
Or dextrose.
Or added fructose.
Or whatever food industry adds to make everything taste better.

I did have difficulties finding food with ZERO added sugars, because things like ham, salami, cornichons, mustard, crisps ... all contain (added) sugar. I won't even mention sweets like fruit yogurt, corn flakes, baked beans ...

But I've made it.

And how do I feel after a month?

Relieved.
Hungry.
Grumpy.
Miserable.
And I've lost 7 pounds.

Looking forward to tomorrow :-P

What's up

April was too hot, May is too wet. But we still manage to have a day without rain and what could be more satisfying than hiking among gorgeous wildflowers...

 

 

Oh, and after many years (twenty, thirty ... who knows) the local sailing club organised a regatta in the city centre. Optimists :-)

The kids were cute, though.