Happy New Year!

May the dawning of this New Year, fill your heart with new hopes, open up new horizons and bring for you promises of brighter tomorrows.
May you have a great New Year! ♥

In 2010

How many...
People did you kiss? Mainly three - Stephen, Anton and Erin. I'm sure my sisters, nieces (definitely the newest one!) and parents may have gotten a kiss or two as well... :)
Countries did you visit? One. We went to Northern Ireland in June. :) It was Erin's first visit "back home" and I hadn't been over for 4 years.
Places did you live? One, the same place as previous 4 years.
People did you date? None. If you don't count fika-dates. ;) I don't think you really date that much after getting married and we barely dated before marriage anyways! ;)
Books did you read? Not as many as I would have liked to. 2010 was the year I became a Twilight fan! :)
People were living with you? Three - Stephen, Anton and Erin.
Animals were living with you? Two cats - Ossie & Charlie and a bunch of nameless fish.

What was your...
Favorite movie? I've only been to the movies once this year...I think. :) The Twilight Saga - Eclipse. :)
I'm trying to think if I've seen any decent dvd's or such...terrible memory! ;P Up! I liked - or at least remember! ;) Whatelse...? Ah! How to train your dragon that kiddies got from friends for christmas was excellent too. :)
Of course! :D We saw Avatar too!! :D I really liked it!
Favorite concert? The Christmas concert with Sanna, Shirley and Sonja.
Worst experience? We've been spared from bad personal experiences this year but my worst mommy experience was when not-well-with-fever-Erin got soooo sad on her birthday, for not getting what we didn't know she wanted. :/ Spraining my ancle sucked majorly too, I still haven't really gotten back to my good walking routine after it. :/
Politically, the result of the election was truly disheartning. :(
Happiest moment? Probably getting accepted to uni but...silly enough the royal wedding made me giddy for daaaays (still does)! :D So did getting my new "mugs of joy". I'm all about the little things in life. ;)
Biggest change? That'd probably be starting university. :) I mean it's still studying but it feels more...real...you know? Like there's a truer goal now in a way that it wasn't before. My weight shifted a great deal too (towards the better!) during 2010, but I've still have a long way to go.
Biggest surprise? Finding out that big sis was pregnant again. :D Realising that not being logged on constantly actually isn't as challenging as I would have thought. :)

Did you...
Break a bad habit? Yeah, but I picked them up again too! ;P
Start a relationship? Nope, but I've made few new friends I hope. :)
End a relationship? No.
Change jobs? No.
Change living situations? Nope.
Lose a loved one? Thankfully not.
Start a new hobby? No.
Have an addition to the family? Yes! :D September 21st we, or more correctly, big sis Sanna and brother-in-law Boris got (our) their "surprise" ;) baby - *Alice* Emma Lilo Susanna.
Get married? No.
Get divorced? No.

So, what are the things you want to see happen in 2011? Are there things you want to change in your life? About yourself? Comment!

As usual I want us all to be healthy and safe from harm. I want to do well at university, loose more weight and finally get my drivers licence. I'm quite happy with myself for a change, feel like I'm "on track" so to speak. I'm not so certain where I'm/we're going but also not too worried about needing to know. :) I think 2011 might be somewhat of a cusp in our lives. I feel change coming.
We'll see if I'm right in a years time! ;)

New page!

I don't know how may of you have checked out my "pages" (the tabs at the top of the blog) but in an effort to tidy my home page I decided to move the links of my favourite blogs to their own page. It turned out better than expected actually! :D I can now display the blog headers and buttons in a much tidier way. :) :) :)

If you haven't already checked out my favourite blogs go, go, go and please let me know if you've got any gems of your own that I can follow!

Edited Dec. 29th to add:
Hmmm... I wish there was a way to put the blog archive on it's own page too! I like, for me, to be able to go back in a easy sort of way (i.e. not have to scan the post archive from the dashboard) but as far as I'm aware it's not possible to move them...or...??

Christmas 2010 in photos

On the eve before christmas eve (when us Scandinavians celebrate christmas) me and little sis did our last (first!) christmas shopping. When we got to Partille where Mommo and my troop had already gathered we did some gingerbread baking and chocolate dipped marshmallows followed by the decorating of the tree.

(all photos Sanna P.)
Anton marshmallowing.
Erin decorating.

Christmas Eve Julia, Erin, Elsa & Anton.
Anton, Erin, Elsa & Julia.
Big sister Sanna, middle sister E. :P & "baby" sister Anna.
All worn out after a long food & fun-filled day.
Girlies (Elsa, Erin, Julia) in their new Hello Kitty nightgowns.

Another christmas is over, filled with a whole lot of new anecdotes and memories... :) It was great, as always, and I'm eternally grateful to Sanna who every year is the one sorting, organising and putting up with all of us descending on her household. :) Thank you! ♥

Despite not really having to think about anything more than getting to and from our get-together I think I most enjoy christmas now, when it's over. :) When we've had the fun and family time, now when we're home again and have another day to just ourselves, to just lounge about and do whatever we please. :D

♥ E.

Happy Holidays!

I've put my books down over the weekend and trying my very best (hardest!) to tune out all the "study buzz" going on in my head. I'm off now, desperate for a short, far too short, break 'cause on Tuesday it's time to go into overdrive again! :O It's madness the amount of uni stuff that is due in the first week of Jan. ?!?!

BUT! :) For now only Family time - hopefully with a little bit of peace & quiet thrown in there somewhere! ;)

However, whenever you celebrate this winter season and change of the year - Brightest Blessings to you from us.
♥

Sanna, Shirley & Sonja

We've (me, sisters and mum) got a new tradition - treating ourselves to a xmas show that we've been interested in seeing. This year is, I guess the official start of this tradition as we went to our 2nd xmas show (2 times is tradition isn't it? ;)). We went to see Sanna, Sonja & Shirley ("backed up" by Björn Kjellman, Brandur Enni and Måns Zelmerlöv).


It was beautiful. I think the girls could have done it all by themselves but with this being their third xmas show I guess they too need some diversity. :) We all enjoyed it, both the show and company (as intended in our xmas show idea ;)) and I think this tradition will live on. :)




My gorgeous sisters!
(li'l & big sis)♥ E.


Edited (25/12) to add:

 4th advent
När fjärde ljuset brinner,
Vi hämtar julegran,
Och alla barnen räknar,
Da'n före da'n före doppareda'n.

Rough translation
When the fourth candles burning,
We get the Christmas tree,
And all the children start counting,
The day before the day before Christmas Day
(or actually Eve).

Grinchy

Like I wrote earlier, December (possibly Nov. too) hasn't been great for me.
What's been going on with me...really...?

I'm still not sure, I've just been SO drained physically, mentally, spiritually. Stuggling to "catch my breath" in all the everyday stuff, not really any tougher than usual but, I guess, somewhat new - with me still trying to find my footing at university. My 'fight' against the lbs has also sort of gone a bit off track and Christmas is a hard time to find motivation for that too...

So, really I'm just generally bummed and a bit grumpy but I know I'll come again, better and brighter than before. ;P Isn't that sort of weird (too), that I'm always sure that I will be alright...? :) 'Cause I am...

It doesn't stop me from being a bit of a Grinch but...I will come around! :P

Later on we're going over to big sister Sanna and will stay the night there too. Best Friend Anniina's promised ;) to see if she too can pop by and maybe join in on the fudge and toffee making. :)
There's nothing like some good ol' Sister Time to make a girl feel better! :) :) :)

♥ E.

Weird...

♥ My little Lucias ♥
(photo: Mine)
My Christmas-feeling's been put off a little bit... My usual Christmas boots is the Lucia celebrations but this year it was "cancelled" due to teachers and kiddies at nursery being sick. Sure, Lucia happened anyways but my 'part-taking' in the tradition is seeing the little ones dressed up and singing the Lucia songs. It's so beautiful and just gives me that *feeling* that Christmas is just round the corner.

This year Anton wanted to be a Lucia too. :) They were sooo adorable all dresses up and both little ones had practised so hard on the songs and the little advent-rhyme too...and, now it seems that it's not happening at all (was initially postponed) and I'm more than a little bummed. :( Kiddies are fine (thankfully!) without it though... :)
On Saturday I'm going with my sisters and mum to a Christmas concert with amazingly fantastic Sanna, Shirley and Sonja. :) :) :)



That will hopefully give me the boost I need to get shopping for Chrismas pressies...otherwise everyone will end up being without them! ;)
♥ E.

Not a "safe haven" anymore...

Although, not sure there is anywhere that's "safe" anymore...

Sweden seems, by all accounts, have had it's first hit by a suicide bomber. Yesterday afternoon a car bomb went off in central Stockholm and shortly thereafter a man blew himself up only 300 meters away from the initial blast. Thankfully things doesn't seem to have gone according to plan as it seems he only managed to kill himself. According to the news on TV4, 1 of 5 bombs that the suicide bomber carried with him went off.

(image: bbc.co.uk)
It would have been nothing but a catastrophy had he managed to get into the crowds of busy christmas shoppers... Two people have been taken to hospital, with minor injuries, received at the site of the car bomb.

Read more about this on:
bbc.com - "Stockholm blasts..."
cnn.com - "...explosions i Sweden"

♥ E.

3rd advent

När tredje ljuset brinner, vi julklappar syr
och alla bakar kakor
och har ett fasligt styr.

Rough translation:
When the third candle is burning, we Christmas presents sew
and all are baking cookies
and busy, busy bees.
♥ E.

Painfully Cold, Achingly Beautiful

Early December morning ,our little ones on route to nursery. - 15C or if you "like" 5F.

Walking up the road to our little yellow house.
This afternoon, with the sun setting behind the trees.

Breathtaking don't you think? And less cold too! ;) "Just" -5C (23F).
♥ E.

...

(image: Google)
I've been terrible at keeping up-to-date the last month, definately during December. We're just completely swamped with assignments and stuff at uni and I am so worn out. I'm knackered beyond belief and just feel like quiting, I just don't know how to. By some bizarre ... I-don't-know-what I seem to finish just in time, everytime, and *sigh* this time I doubt that I will 'cause I'm done. Finishing in the last minute is not (as you might think) amazing at all, it just feels like a fluke and I feel like a fake. :/

The last two days I've been doing everything but study for the assignment due in tomorrow, because I don't know where/how to start! I'm royaly STUCK and all I want to do is QUIT, give up, give in and comfort my wounded Self with chocolate, chocolate and white bread with cheese...

Winter is so beautiful right now, cold, crisp and clean and I've taken photos but just can't find the energy to transfer them to the computer (it takes all of 30 sec. to do it but still). Last weekend I had a kids&husband free day/night which was amazing and next weekend I'm going to a long awaited Christmas concert with my sisters and our mum but that's all I'll give you right now 'cause...I'm done.

E.

Iloista itsenäisyyspäivää!

Happy Independence Day!
♥ E.

2nd advent

När andra ljuset brinner är snart Lucia här
Hon bjuder oss på kaffe och bud om julen bär.

Rough translation:
When the second candle's burning, Lucia will soon be here.
She brings to us coffee and tidings of Christmas.
♥ E.