47 / 52 weeks

kai:  holding his world map school project that he spent hours (!) on. 

getting cozy

there's something to be said for feeling cozy.  cozy brings happiness, calm, and comfort.  everything seems better with coziness in our life.  

in sweden, getting cozy is a winter sport.  it has to be with the darkness that engulfs the country and the cold that comes too early.

the first couple of weeks in our apartment were anything but cozy.  it's still empty except for some basic rental furniture that stefan's workplace has provided us.  let's just say it is far from cozy.  however, with the arrival of some of our stuff we put on an air freight and with a few new purchases, our apartment is slowly cozy-ing up!

now, for getting cozy, i have one of two swede tricks up my sleeve: 

1. a happy (new!) rug (plus others that arrived on the air freight) for softness underfoot.

2. candles, alot of them, strewn about the house.  a pretty candle holder helps too. i also brought this one, locally made in vancouver, with me.  their railtown candle with tobacco, amber and black pepper smells divine. 

3. blankets (arrived in the air freight!) to wrap oneself in.  and even better when snuggled on the sofa with a cup of tea and kinfolk to read (i found a shop here that sells my favourite magazines!).

4. decorating for the holiday season early.  i picked up this cute gnome (the swede's santa) at a xmas market.  alongside a couple of my favourite things, it makes for a sweet vignette.

5. glögg, a swedish mulled wine served warm (simmering with raisins and almonds is optional). 

i hope these days are cozy for you too.

stockholm weekend pics, saluhall och abba museum

we trekked out to ostermalm on saturday, a red-carpet suburb of stockholm just 15 minutes north from us.  xmas arrived there with decorated trees, xmas music playing in the streets, and reindeer too!  

the ostermalm saluhall brought us out there.  a saluhall is a food hall, albeit a pretty nice one.  it's located inside a gorgeous brick cathedral and since 1888 it has been doing the same thing it's doing today... offering groceries from stalls selling high quality meats, veggies, pastries, fish, etc. and providing delicious swedish food from the many 'restaurants' to devour while taking in the surroundings.  we did both, groceries and eating.  it was the perfect place for stefan who appreciates good food.  and finally, i got kai to try lingonberries and he loved them!  

this photo was taken at about 4:30pm... dark!

 

the weather has been grey and gloomy, always in some state of darkness right from the morning so, on sunday, when some patches of blue sky showed up, i was happy.  guys, it was actually daylight out!  it didn't last of course, but at least i know it's possible!  whew.

another source of happiness on sunday was the abba museum.  yes, i admit it, i love abba.  my boys, however, may not share my enthusiasm.  let's just say the abba museum wasn't on stefan's to do list while in sweden :)

the abba museum is a happy place.  my favourite thing was the audio guide; the four swedes share their own stories and memories as you make your way through the museum.  it made it feel more intimate.  inside, you can sing on stage as a fifth member of the group which kai and i did much to stefan's chagrin!  you can dance and even record a song.  abba's stage clothes - platform boots and supertrouper outfits, their private collection of artifacts, interviews and concert footages are all on display.   

their history as a band is pretty impressive so whether or not you're an abba fan, i highly recommend visiting this unique glam rock museum.  

recording mamma mia :)

 

hope you had a lovely weekend.  

46 / 52 weeks

kai: waiting for the tunnelbana (subway), playing on his phone, and wearing his wintry attire for the cold walk home from school

stockholm weekend pics - rosendals tradgardscafe och nordiska museet

the weekend started out very lazy with a sleep in and a decadent breakfast of kanelbullar (cinnamon flavoured!), we slowly made our way through gamla stan (again!) to take kai to the birthday party of our sweet eleven year old friend.  gamla stan was all lights... after the party we met up with her parents and some of their friends to continue the celebration.  it was so lovely to finally socialize; it's been rather lonely out here without our dear vancouver friends.

we also went back to djurgarden, an island that was once the king's (karl xi) playground to hunt, walk, and entertain but is now the stockholmers' playground... i think it will be a favourite of ours.  

on this visit, we ate at rosendals tragardcafe, a lovely cafe serving organic foods, most grown right on site. stefan read a glowing article about it so we had to check it out.  because of the cold temperatures we ate in the greenhouse but otherwise on a warm sunny day you can eat your meal under the apple trees.  swedes know how to make a delicious sandwich and the baking is divine.  i could easily have eaten another piece of the cardamom cake!  i've challenged stefan to recreate it at home.  

after our lunch, we meandered around the grounds but didn't get to far due to the cold and retreated indoors...  

at the nordiska museet, a castle really, we whiled away a few hours learning about sweden's culture and history.  there were so many things swedish... fashion, interiors, jewelry, folk art, and even table settings, but surprisingly, it was lacking all things viking so one of the boys (hint: the bigger one) was a bit disappointed.  we had fun nonetheless and i especially loved the photographs!

 

 

 

  

  

there's so much to see and do on djurgarden, i'm pretty sure we'll be back.  actually, i've got my boys' promise that we'll come back next weekend to go to the abba museum!!!  

what were you up to?