A Saturday in January.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Finally some snow and light!

It's one of those very rare days... I'm home with Andréa because she had a fever for a few days. She's much better today so I took the opportunity to take a long walk with her in the sleigh. Because finally the snow came to Stockholm. White, beautiful, magical snow! 

Fresh air for Andréa and a real work-out for me, win-win!

As I walked it hit me how thankful I am that we moved to this special suburb where we have the nature and Mälaren just around the corner.

Please let it stay for a while...

My summary of 2014.

It's always a bit overwhelming to summarize a year and realizing how much you did, went through, laughed and cried about..

Did you do anything 2014 that you never did before? Yes, I finished my first marathon which was magical, challenging and bittersweet in the sense that it was probably the reason for my long and stubborn injury.

Did you do a big change? This was the first year since I had the children that both me and H worked full time. It's one of the reasons, probably the biggest one, that I've been very tired and a bit down during the fall. I can't help wondering if this is the best way of living. Probably not when you have small children. But if you both have a carrier, if you don't want to loose to much pension than this is the way to go. It's a big change from being home full time on maternity leave and the whole family is still trying to get used to this life filled with daycare, work, short evenings and to little spare time...

Which date from 2014 will you always remember?  That has to be the 31st of May when I ran and finished my first Marathon. Such a wonderful day and a memory for life.

Did anyone close to you die? Thank God no.

Which countries did you visit? US and Canada. 

Best buy? More ecological food than ever...

Did anyone make you very happy? My girls and H make me so happy everyday. 

Did you miss anything 2014 that you want 2015? More and better sleep. And the second half of 2014 I really missed running.

What do you wish you did more?  I wished I could have kept on running through the whole year. I also wish I would have done more rehabilitation during November and December but sick children and my tooth operation made it hard.

What did you wish you done less of? Stressing, worrying and yelling to the girls. 

Favorite show on TV? Without a doubt Downton Abbey and Homeland. 

The best book you read this year? It's been a bad book year for me. When I'm stressed and tired I always forget what a relaxing and decompressing thing it is to disappear from reality in a good book. A few I read and the one that touched me the most was "I kroppen min" by Christian Gidlund. A young mans struggle against cancer.

The best music discovery? I have no time and energy to actively discover new music with any major enthusiasm but I did listen to artists that's new for me but certainly not new for the rest of the world, Adele and Zachary Richard among others.

What was your biggest success at work during 2014? Starting a new job, MRI, that meant learning a completely new technique and method. I'm still at my old work 50% of the time and to have two jobs are quite challenging but I'm happy to say that I've managed it well.

The biggest success in your private life? I have to say completing the Marathon in the way I did.

Biggest misstake? To ignore my body and not getting enough rest and sleep.

Where you happier or more sad during 2014 compered to earlier? Happier. I like the fact that the girls are getting bigger, our life is easier now that we have our own house and even if our every day life is stressful I'm happy to say we're healthy and I see no big problems ahead.

What did you spend most money on? That's hard for me to say but I think it is our house and travelling. Which is two good things to spend money on!

Did you wish for something that came through? To run a Marathon.

Did you wish for something that didn't come through? To be able to run a whole year without injuries. More sleep.

What did you do on your birthday 2014? H surprised me with a fancy supper at a Italian resto in the old city with the girls. At first I worried about spending a whole supper sitting down in a fancy restaurant with the girls all over the place but it turned out to be a very nice supper and the girls behaved like real resto professionals! Sometimes you just have to do it!

Is it something that would have made your year better? More sleep and less stress.

What made you feel good? I feel good when I exercise regularly and often. That's my best trick to avoid the worst stress.

Who did you miss? We miss our Canadian family. Always. It's hard to have families on two different continents. 

The best new people you met? The whole MRI team is really great. A new group, a lot of energy and fun.

Most proud over? My two wonderful daughters that doesn't stop to amaze me every day and every moment. Lovisa started to write, she can now write a bunch of names: her own, her sisters, her best friend at daycare, my and H:s. She's starting to understand mathematics and can add. Andréa's has grown from a baby to a little determined girl. It's just so lovely to see their constant development even if it's also a bit freaky that time just flies. It was only yesterday I was breastfeeding and complaining about my sore nipples, right?!

What's your wish for 2015? More sleep and a more peaceful world. Two very hard things to achieve but as I often say: hope is the last thing that leaves humanity.

What are you going to do different during 2015? Listen more to my body, that means sleep more, stress less and exercise without getting injured.

So long 2015!

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Wonderful vacation

The 8th of January we woke up very early and took of for Dubai, or more accurate Ras Al Khaimah. It was a long journey but it was all worth it in the end... Together with lovely friends we took a break from Swedish dark January and payed paradise a visit...

The first morning the children hardly had time for breakfast because the beach was waiting to be explored...

And boy did they play on the beach! Collecting seashells and building mighty sandcastles was two favorite things...

We were very happy with our hotel resort and just look at the beautiful wall behind my little model in the ladies room!

To travel with good friends is awesome, a lot of fun, a lot of play and a lot of love!

The food was overall very good, here's my Salad Nicoice....

This is the picture I'll take with me during the next following cold months... Until next time...

Cycling on the 6 of January...

And I can't help the feeling that something is not right with our world...

Happy New Year! And happy 50th Hubert!

Christmas passed as usual very fast and we were looking forward to celebrate New Years with good friends when the girls and I fell sick with the stomachflue late Monday evening. So instead of seeing our friends we stayed home trying to get into some celebration spirit... Lovisa made little place cards with our names, we set the table nice and cheered in bubbles. The girls stayed up til 12 and we watched the fireworks on a cloudy sky. It was a good New Years celebration although as it often turns out when you have small children it was not the way we planned it...

The second of January Hubert turned 50 years old and it was time for the next celebration. The girls were so excited when we made the birthday boy his birthday breakfast and woke him up singing...

The celebration continued the whole day...

And the next day when I surprised H with a hotelnight in the city. Thanks to my dad and his wife we could get away and had the most amazing night eating, celebrating, dancing and laughing together...

It's always hard to find special gifts for special occasions but I think I found just the right one for this occasion, a painting of our special family with a little bit of us all in it...

Oh and if anyone is worried that H has got a second wife it's not worry, it's just his oldest daughter that grow up! That's what happens when you turn 50 I guess... Now I'm looking forward to the next 50 years together with my love.