Team Nikolovski is back from a great week in Sweden. Midsummer time is amazing with the light nights and it is easy to loose track of times ( read remember to put Mila in bed and to feed her in decent time..)

I have taken great pride in organizing Mila's own corner. Millions of books, cuddle toys & plastic things. On the wall she has mamma's illustrations and mammamade pocket organizer as well as cute french dresses. I have also bought nice wooden boxes that I am having fun painting and decorating. It is cute that she has her own little space and she likes to play here although most of the time she transfer toys from her corner to the living room or actually spreads them out in the whole apartment.

Team Nikolovski is packing.  We are heading to Sweden tomorrow to celebrate Swedish midsummer We will head to Lundsätter to stay with my dad and to breath some quit forest air.  Midsummer eve ( always third Friday in June) we are heading to my mothers summer place where preparations for midsummer started half a year ago.  We are a pretty big gang and we have already received roles, responsibilities and a detailed schedule for the day. This is a summary of how our day will look like! Collect flowers for the maypole, make the maypole, Eat herring lunch & strawberry cake and sing snaps songs and drink snaps. Dance around the maypole, Midsummer Olympics with 6 different competitions, BBQ, Campfire, sauna and swim in freezing lake & at midnight hotdogs. After this we will sleep very very well I am sure!! If you want to know more about Swedish midsummer here is a fun video for dummies!!   Swedish Midsummer for Dummies    And why ...

Summer heat came to Prague last weekend and has stayed But I mean heat heat as in 35 - 40 degrees Celsius It is HOT outside and it is HOT inside I am dreaming about a cool pool And a big cool cocktail

Today I finally made a comeback in the yoga studio A great class on Tuesday mornings for mothers and their walking kids Great studio and best teacher  Nice to stretch and to relax Or actually forget the relaxing part Sweet cute Mila is having fun but also needs assistance from her mamma Running around collecting all candles in the room In need of a snack (bribed to keep happy..) Asking every two minutes "what is that?"( in swe "ä dä?") Heartbroken when she wants the same toy as the other kids until her mamma finds a replacement fun activity. And ever so often needs to come up to mamma for a cuddle especially if yoga teacher come too close or touch her mamma. If you live in Prague and looking for great yoga teacher, check out Wellness Yoga

  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...

First of May is a very important date. It is not only a day of demonstrations and welcoming that finally the spring is here but it is also my friends Titti´s birthday. Heaven forbid if I or anyone else would forget this day!! The good thing is that she starts to remind people in her surrounding well in advance that her special day is approaching to make sure not to be forgotten. We have known each other for 22 years this year ( My God who old we are ?!) which means that I have remembered her big day for some years now. When we were younger her mother used to bake a great cake based on almonds called Måntårta (moon cake) a good reason not to be too hang over from Valborg celebration the day before so I could maximize my share of the cake, it is by far my favorite cake. This year I decided to make this illustration for her. It is basically saying that I wish that we were closer to each other so we could celebrate here with presents, balloons & cake. And maybe ha...

May has for Team Nikolovski been full of traveling. We celebrated 1 of May and that we have lived in Prague for 2 years with great friends and the day after we began our traveling. Me and Mila took a plane to Stockholm to spend a week with my family before continuing down to Skopje. Loren jumped in the car down to Macedonia to first work in Greece a week and then to have a week off all together in Skopje. Many new experiences in Sweden. We spent a few days at my mamma Mi & Göran´s country house, Lugnet. Mila got a closer introduction to our old pony Spot and his girls. First time on a horse, big deal for me and proud mormor Mi (that´s why several horsey pictures...) Mila was more focused looking for the closest swing-set so she could escape the wild retired pony who wanted to run off with her. Corn on a cob was a success dinner. Warm bath in the hot tub was also a success but even more fun was to climb mormor´s very steep stairs ( and there is...

Lundsätter the place where I am born. In the darkest forrest kilometres from small village. Nothing special, but very special to me. I go here and I feel calm, good and creative. Me and Mila spent a few days here with my dad last week. I got feeling and collected left over and forgotten furniture's and paintings. In the cutest part of the building I made a Team Nikolovski style country home. I added some colors and some crazy creative solutions and I can't wait to come back to midsummer and continue and also to relax here...

Status update about our little Mila 16 months and what she likes Favorite activity: Gunga ( swing) and she is saying GUNG countless times from she wakes up until she goes to bed. She knows where the swings are and if I am planning not to go to swing she points in the swings directions and looks at me in a firm way and says GUNG! When she is on the swing she might look as if she would be bored.. But she is NOT bored she is just enjoying and has that very important face on. Most times it is drama to get her off the swings and I am sure she would swing all day long if we let her.  Favourite toy: NALLE ( Teddybear) was Mila´s first word after mamma, titta (look) and tack (thank you). She is using it that frequently that even her small friend which has no other connection with Swedish is also saying nalle as she is carrying a big teddy-bear around. Mila loves her teddy bear, she puts them on her little car, drives them in her small stroller, tries to dress them in dresses, ...