Last week was amazing. Düsseldorf got sun and summer temperatures. We sprung to life. It is a life after winter after all (although mild winter here it is still winter) Nature is waking up. Birds, bees and flowers are busy. The Grüne Mitte park just a cross the street from us are full of happy kids and happy parents all afternoons. And all the Magnolia and cherry trees are blossoming and it is all so beautiful. That I had to buy antihistamin for the high pollen count doesn't matter. I have been able to sit outside in the backyard in t-shirt and shorts zipping coffee and threading my Easter bunnies. I am tanned like I have been on vacation for a week. Lets enjoy this. Lets enjoy nature and the small things that makes you happy. To look away from screens and depressing news and enjoy the nature and when brown and grey becomes green in many cool nuances. 

We have been home with a cold on and off for the past two weeks not bad but it was dragging. Now we are all better and trying to build up energy again and to enjoy the beautiful sunny spring weather here in Düsseldorf. Open-air Easter spring market is coming up and I am making some new products for this market. Easter Bunny bags for example. It took sometime to figure out how to make them but now I have a good idea how I want them to look and in which order to sew the different parts. And good paint a 3D which is even washable to draw the face with. If I might say it myself I think they are pretty cute. Great little Easter gift bag. In Sweden we give Easter Eggs in many various sizes ( made in paper which can be opened and we fill them with sweets ) but why not use a Easter bunny bag this year or even both.  I also got a feeling that I would like some new Düsseldorf postcards printed so I started painted a new version. Lets see how it turns out. 

The war in Ukraine started Friday 24/2 and all war are horrible, unnecessary and causes so much pain. I was thinking and hoping that the conflict would not reach this level and it was a bit of a shock to wake up to the news of that an invasion started. I am also disappointed because I was hoping Russia would manage to hold back against provocations from west and that this could be solved in a diplomatic way. I am strongly against war and against Russia invading Ukraine. But also upset that media is not showing both sides of the conflict or at least a nuance. Propaganda is heavy from both sides in this conflict but we are blindly seeing what they want us to see just like with covid. Some pictures which has gone viral should have been source checked better, unfair to publish pictures from documentaries and from other conflicts. Or maybe even more so I have issues with the moral dilemma of that countries and politics are pointing fingers how bad this is when their is so much shit going on...

Cool date today 22.2.22  If it felt like spring here in Düsseldorf last time I wrote, well certainly it didn't feel like it last week! It has been storming with hurricane winds and hailstorms. All schools in Düsseldorf even closed last Thursday because of the storm. We have of course been out as much as we can during the weekend BUT to be honest the weather has really been shitty so more time spent inside then usually. I have been working on some different creative project - I have mostly been focusing on sewing because I have a new market coming up end of March. I have been making new hairbands, cutting bags and hats (which still needs to be put together)  But also I have become obsessed with knitting. I decided last year that I should give knitting a new chance. My mother and grandmother tried to teach me when I was a child but I never got the hang of it. So last year I bought sticks and yarn and watched Youtube tutorials over and over. I struggled but kept struggling a...

 Another week has past and here in Düsseldorf the past few days has really felt like spring. Birds are singing like crazy and some spring flowers are blossoming.  I have ordered some new fabrics with very happy and spring influenced prints. All cotton and BIO certified from a German company I found. I am making gift bags which I will be selling on the market here in Düsseldorf which is coming up end of March.  Loren came back from his trip to Sweden and brought back Semla ( special Swedish pastry which we eat in February)  And I keep brightening up life with all the nice an colorful flowers  I have a lot to write about what I think about all this covid vaccin exaggeration and all this current super weird restrictions here in Germany mainly connected to how many times you have been vaccinated. It is all so crazy and idiotic. But we are not suppose to talk about our unhappiness or questions things. Basically we have lost the right to be even just a little source ...

First day of February and time to make a summary of my January Challenges.  No Alcohol ✅ No sweets or chocolate ✅ I am very proud to report that I managed with both !  For February I have come up with a perfect challenge Champagne ever Tuesday (because February is I think the most boring month of the year and Tuesday the weekday without an identity) so why not bright it up with some bubbles. Staying off sweets will be continued as I have some sort of sugar addict not that I eat heaps but I do feel that the sugar controls me more then I control the sugar.  What else to report from the last week of January... One sunny day (btw I think Düsseldorf only had a couple of sunny days in all of January - it has really been very very grey) me and Loren did our lunch walk and as usual passing through Kalkum Schloß park. Also as usual I took up my phone to try and take a picture of the green parrots. Düsseldorf has a large colony of green parrots ( Rose-ringed-paraketees) hundreds of...

Another January week has passed. Here in Düsseldorf the weather has been pretty mild and frost free most nights. We have got into everyday routines again after the break. Mila and I bike to school everyday. It is still pretty dark when we leave at 07.45 but on my way back it is already getting light, if it is not grey and cloudy which it is most days in all honesty. When I get back from biking with Mila I either wake Filip up or he is already up watching TV. I drink my coffee and serve him his breakfast and get him dressed. We get in the boxbike for Kita at 8.53 and it is just across the park so we make it on time for morning circle at 9.00. I exercise at boot-camp two times per week in the morning directly after dropping Filip off. It is outside training and we have a great trainer with so many good exercises and it is a nice group of international ladies. I pick up early and drive Filip to his speech therapy centrum 3 times per week. The centrum is located closer to city so while Fil...

 First week of January and the first steps in a new year. No big changes. Covid-19 has developed from Delta to Omicron to dominate and infect record many people in Europe. German has new restrictions coming along called 2G+ which means that no longer can the Covid-pass ( Vaccinated 2 times) open doors for you now you either have to add the third booster vaccin or show Covid-pass + test. This is for restaurants, bars, indoor fitness, pools and cinema etc. I don't know what to say I have no energy to think too much about new restrictions again more then I am not complaining as long as schools are open. In the schools the kids wear mask and are tested twice per week.  This illustration ( watercolor and black inc fine line) I finished this week well the inspiration is pretty clear right  I have not yet got around to do an illustrated summary of my 2021- but maybe it will come. Also the inspiration of doing a wish list for 2022 is low. But I did decide to have a white January ...

 Happy new year and welcome 2022 ! I am hoping this will be another good year. I am aware that being in the middle of a pandemic might not be classified as an amazing year, but on a personal level I think 2021 was a nice year. The scare for the virus was higher during 2020 when everything was new and restrictions felt more dramatic. 2021 we were already use to having this virus present although invisible and how to handle restrictions testing and masks.  For my creativity and productivity 2021 has been great. With part of the year being home-schooling I had less time to think what to draw or what to make and why. I just had to create what-ever came to my mind to have some time for me and a feeling that I am "doing" something. I constantly had my watercolors and drawing pad on the kitchen table - only cleaned it way a bit when we were eating. I have tested new techniques, spend a lot of time on the same drawing and from that I feel I have developed so much this year.  Here...

 I try to make a family portrait of me an my family every year for Christmas and new year With this year edition I want to wish  Happy new year 2022 !!  I also added this years edition of our family Christmas picture