He is not only inspiration to my illustrations he is also the cutest and wildest pensioner I know. Nantwich Lad aka Spot came from England to Sweden as a birthday present for my sister 16 December 2004, 10 years ago!! It was a cold and snowy winter that year and he was acting as if he had never seen or experienced cold, snow and ice before. I lived in England at the time and I was helping Family Smith to ride their young horses. They had this very furry pony that was not doing a great lot. He was old already back then and had had an injury to one of his front tendon "Why don't you send Spot to you sister?" Cheryl asked me one day. I thought why to send that hairy old thing with bad legs all the way to Sweden. As I got to hear his history I realized that this pony is just not any old pony he is a very special pony with a extra big heart.  According to his passport Spot is born 1981 and I have heard that he was bought on Beston cattle market as a young pony...

This weeks topic on Illustration Friday is SWIM It got me to think about my own relationship to water and swimming. A walk down memory lane took me to somewhere in the middle of the 80th. I can still feel the cold wet tiles where me and a bunch of other small people had to sit on the ground and practice frog movements over and over again. A cheerful teacher cheering us on. Huu there I was shivering with goosebumps all over my body and blue lips. When we finally could move on from the cold floor the water felt just as cold. It took me at least half of the lesson to be brave enough and get into the water. The yellow plastic floaty things wrapped around my little chest was squeezing and hurting me. Teacher told us to collect apples and pears as we jumped up and down in the water. We could get different medals if we achieved different things in the water. I managed all the way to the "golden frog" medal , but then the water became deeper and I simply wasn't brave enough to...

Saturday was sunny but very cold Great visit of Mamma/Mommo Mi We decided to go for a long walk to down-town Prague We had a good time and enjoyed the day We were out for quit some time.  Had a late lunch with some nice wine.  The whole team enjoying it But next minute Baby Nikolovski had ENOUGH!!! PANIC!!! Baby Nikolovski SCREAMING, SCREAMING, SCREAMING!!! The rest of Team Nikolovski stressed, stressed, stressed Shaking, shaking, shaking - didn't work Ssshhh, ssshhh, sssshhh - didn't work  Running, running, running - didn't work  The way home felt LONG Having a screaming baby on the metro is pretty stressful I can tell you When we finally reached home, Baby Nikolovski smiling again Enough is a enough and no compromises !!

 At the bus stop A purple haired lady, her small white dog, a scared first grader and a stubborn teenager attached to her phone. They are all waiting for the next bus to come. They are patiently waiting.-  Vid bushållsplatsen En piffad tant med lila hår, hennes vita lilla hund, den rädda förstagluttaren och en envis tonåring med näsan i mobilen. De väntar alla på att nästa buss ska komma. Tålmodigt väntande..

We have been fed with sooo much food during our trip. The Balkan food and the way of eating are amazing. It starts with meze containing cheeses, salad's, bread, aijvar, salami, ham, tomatoes and much more. At this face of the meal I am very hungry and there is so much nice, so I eat and I am every time eating too much. Seriously it looks like this is the main dish as it is so much food, but  this follows by a nice warm soup and more bread. This is also very good and after a portion I am really starting to get full full. Don't think this is the end, oh no here comes the main dish or dishes I should say. I have no room for more food but it smells and looks so good that I have try to make extra room and continue to eat. A big piece of a very tasty homemade cake finishes the meal of. By this time I can feel that I have eaten far too much and that the food coma soon will kick in. The question is why the hell I don'...

Monday this week I left work a little earlier to attend my first prenatal yoga lesson.. A great warm, sunny day and I was double pleased with myself,  not only did I manage to find the way without any problems but also being in time...  Pragues all metro lines, trams, buses, where to go and which exit to take is still a bit of  a jungle for me, but hey I am definitely getting better and better... The yoga experience started with a cup of green tea and a chat about that it is a difference between stretching your body and feeling pain even if it is a fine line between them.. I should have got a little worried here, but I thought if I have managed to ride all sorts of wild horses, been doing boxercise (regularly every third year at Friskis and Svettis..) and with a lot of willpower even trained capoeira (OK only for a few times but even so... It counts..) Yoga will or at least should be nice and relaxing way of doing exercise. I do admit I felt very rel...

  I will more in detail explain Team Nikolovski's climbing Giant Mountain experience in heavy rain and thick fog. Husband was a little skeptical at first as the rain was really pouring it down and not sure that it is clever to climb mountains with a wife carrying a 6 months big baby bump.. I was prepared and squeezed into rain gear from top bottom. Cute colorful rain jacket and trousers which I thought would be waterproof, but of course turned out to be everything but waterproof. As my husband says "if you pay peanuts you get peanuts" very true and a very wet lesson to learn in the middle of nowhere.. What I was thinking when I picked my white jogging shoes (to be clear jogging shoes which has never been for a jog and will never go for a jog, not with me anyway..) I can confirm these type of shoes are not waterproof what so ever and an extremley stupid choice... My husband looked like a walking condom with a plastic cover wrapped ar...

  Team Nikolovski has just got back from a trip to the Krkonose (Giants Mountain) National park located on the Meadow mountain plateau next to highest Czech mountain Snezka. Together with some of our colleagues the plan was to enjoy and team build out in the wild nature for a couple of days. We stayed in a mountain chalet with its own brewery and bakery, great beer and fresh bread in the middle of nowhere..   The previous days in Prague had been summer warm and sunny and even if we had seen the rough weather forecast the amount of rain and the radical temperature drop came as a chock... Some people were more prepared than others to this weather conditions and also for the planned activity to climb Snezka. Looking around you could find everything from hardcore outdoor equipment with goretex, stakes and backpacks to shiny office shoes and blazer jackets (super non waterproof as you can imagine..)   Even though it was raining very...

Island of Vis Vis is an island in the Adriatic sea and of all the inhabited Croatian islands this is the farthest one from the coast. Up until 1989 Vis was the navy and military base of the Yugoslavia army and was closed to outsiders. Well preserved nature, beautiful beaches and ecological agricultural, makes Vis an unique island and a great experience. Team Nikolovski experience As we reached the little Croatian village Komiza on the island Vis the dark had already fallen. The boiling hot temperature had calmed down and the whole island was quiet and calm. The sound when the waves meet the shore was the only sound to be heard.10 days to enjoy and relax in Komiza, vacation 2012 edition finally here. We fell asleep after a long day in the car tired, warm and very happy. Far too early husband suddenly wakes up from a very loud noise coming from outside.. What is going on and what is this? Big water sprinklers surrounding us at this time in the mor...

One of many weekend activities - House searching. Great day with extra super nice weather. Take-away coffee in our white C3 called Sneska, ready for adventures. With a printed copy of Google maps directions, ready for adventures... In the hands of a Google map taking us on small, slippery roads with potholes in the middle of nowhere without any idea where the hell we are or where we are going.. Great experience, BUT my next purchase will be a traditional roadmap...