Friday, May 31, 2013

Etsy love and a new list

I love the idea of supporting small businesses instead of mass-produced crap, that's why I love Etsy.  In the spirit of helping those small businesses I thought I'd share my latest purchases. I don't buy much, but these lovely things somehow made their way to my home within a few days of each other. Excuse the bad photo's, we don't have the best light today.


My birthday present to myself - a fern fiddlehead coffee mug, by Bunny Safari Pottery. I love the look and texture of fiddleheads, so I fell in love with this mug when I first laid eyes on it many months ago. Now it's finally here, and yes, my coffee does taste better in it!


These were meant to be new spring/Easter ornaments, but I ordered them a bit too late. Linen and Roses makes lovely handmade ornaments from felt.



Last but not least, I purchased a new smock for Esther from Pinkdixie. I adore these smocks, and I think they are perfect for summer. Better yet, they're on sale and since the owner won't be making any more of these lovely smocks you'd better get yours now if you are interested!

Now, my birthday was way back in February (I can't believe it's almost JUNE!), but I have been meaning to make a new birthday list. A "34 before 34"-list. I'll be stealing more than a few things from my last list since I've been terribly bad at crossing things off, but thankfully the doing isn't so much the point for me. It's the dreaming and wanting and reminding that I need!

Here are the things I can cross off:


1. Find a reason to crack open the expensive bottle of champagne we have had at home for way too long.
2. Step out of my comfort zone when it comes to clothes & accessories
4. Enjoy a quiet morning alone with my cuppa and other morning indulgences
5. Go crab-hunting with my boy
6. Go completely organic on the beauty products front.
7. Grow potatoes on my balcony
8. Find my abs again (where did you goooo?)
30. Lie on a blanket in the sun with my bare feet on the grass
14. Do my best to make sure my crazies (that is, the kids) know their worth and feel good about themselves.
18. Move out of the shoebox
21. Go through our storage room and get rid of things we don't need anymore
24. Get a full-length mirror
29. Have a picnic in a meadow
31. Give an unexpected gift
32. Go for more walks in the woods alone. Pure meditation.
33. Make a campfire with my kids


The most fulfilling was definitely moving out of the shoebox, even though we are temporarily in a smaller shoebox. That was my reason to open up that expensive bottle of champagne and led to me finally doing something about our over-flowing storage room. Nr 14 is permanent and the most important. That one stays on in the list indefinitely!

Here's my new list, things I really want to do whether it is this year or the next. I started writing this post a while ago, so I've already started crossing things off.

:: Take my family to Iceland
:: Have a pedicure
:: Make sourdough bread from scratch (I did try, but the starter died on me!)
:: Get that tattoo I've always wanted. (Still undecided on this one, a tattoo at the age of 33 just feels sort of like a midlife crisis, doesn't it?)
:: Improve my photography skills
:: Participate in a run, 5 km minimum I did this one two days ago, a 5 km run with friends!
:: Send someone a hand-written letter
:: Take the kids to the butterfly house in Stockholm  Done! We had the best time.
:: Plan a garden
:: Take the kids on more outings
:: Knit something for my husband
:: Have people over to our place more often, especially family
:: Make the time to slow down and just be, even if it's just five minutes a day
:: Sew a dress for Esther
:: Buy a new piece of art (be it a painting, pottery etc)

I'm sure I'll come up with more things, but for now these are the things that are foremost in my thoughts.