Skodsborg – here I come!

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      skodsborg3           skodsborg1

One of my very good friends, Karen, is turning 40, and she has decided to celebrate by treating a small group of girlfriends to dinner and overnight stay at Skodsborg Kurhotel & Spa (Skodsborg Health Centre). So that’s where I’m going tomorrow. I can’t wait.

We’re checking in early in the afternoon, having a massage, and getting ready for dinner, which will be enjoyed in the restaurant Frederik & Louise. Discussing important as well as unimportant stuff all evening, and having food, wine, and lots of good laughs, until we give up and go to bed. And then Sunday, sleeping late and having breakfast in the restaurant before we check out, split up, and go home.

I can’t wait! (Did I say that already…?)  :)

The colours of late summer

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 Now, there’s just no way around it. There’s not much summer left, and we’re moving towards cooler days. Most of the perennials in the garden have now withered, and are just waiting for next spring, when they will come back with full strength as they do every year. A few are still hanging on by their fingernails, but now it’s just a matter of time. One stubborn shrub has started to bloom again, pretending that we have everlasting summer in Denmark. But hey, that just isn’t the case, and I for one love our changing seasons – though I do find it particularly hard to let go of summer.

Ronja's sunflower 

Some things still lend a hand in keeping the garden colourful, though. A month ago or so, Ronja brought home two sunflowers that she had planted in a pot at kindergarten. One of them is blooming now, and the other one isn’t far behind. Looking at them definitely does give you a summery feeling!

Apples 

The apples on our two 4-year old apple trees are almost ripe – I think they need a week or two still to be perfect, but a few have fallen to the ground, and they have been eaten with much pleasure! Those apples are so crisp and juicy – the perfect snack apples!

Ronja had a wonderful birthday – or rather she had three of them. Besides the kindergarten visiting Friday, we had the family visiting Sunday, and as her real birthday was Saturday, we celebrated then too with a traditional birthday morning, a visit to the National Museum, and her own choice for dinner. And what does a 4-year old choose, when she gets to pick anything? Spaghetti with meat sauce… :)

 Ronja's new puppet theatre and xylophone

Ronja had so many wonderful presents, and she was really happy. She has been playing with all of them (no, literally) since – she didn’t get a single one that wasn’t appreciated. Mads and I gave her a puppet theatre, which we are having lots of fun with – it came from this shop:

klodsmajorlogo

Now, some of you will remember, that I recommended a toy shop in Amsterdam not so long ago, and now I’ll recommend one in Denmark (this probably goes mostly to my Danish readers, sorry about that). It’s an online shop, and it’s by far the best online shopping experience I have had for a long time! Klodsmajor.dk not only has fabulous toys for all ages, the service around the purchase is also just impeccable. They will wrap your gift beautifully at a fair price, they ship quickly and include a nice personal note with every order. If you wish, they will handwrite a birthday card and ship the present directly to the recipient, and you can still be certain it looks wonderful! I have recommended them far and wide, and I have used them or seen them used several times – it just always lives up to the same high standard. Thumbs up, Susanne!

Now finally I want to say a belated thank you to Wondermommy for awarding me these prices:

kickass           brilliant1

 It’s so kind of you and greatly appreciated! At the moment, I’m only going to send them on to one blogger – I’m running out of time for today, so I hope you don’t mind! However, Amy over at Habitual continues to inspire and entertain with her wonderful style in crafts, her beautiful photos, and her personal and well narrated daily adventures. I was sorry I didn’t nominate her the last time I had the chance, so here you go, Amy – two in one! :)

Has it really been 4 years?

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It has been a busy week. No sewing, no blogging… Really busy week! 

It’s after midnight now, and Ronja’s turning 4 years old today! She’s getting so big, and yesterday the kindergarten was visiting to celebrate her birthday. She has been looking forward to that specific event for weeks, so Mads and I did our best to make it special for her – which I’m sure it was.

Cupcakes for Ronja's birthday 

I wanted to do something different for a birthday cake, and I chose to make cupcakes. I’m saving the more traditional birthday cake for the family on Sunday… I was really happy with the result too – they looked very pretty, and everybody liked them. Ronja wanted to serve them herself, and she looked so sweet, balancing the plate on one hand, and handing out the cupcakes with the other.

Eating a cupcake 

After the kindergarten left, we had a real family afternoon – just hanging out, relaxing, and having fun. The girls are really starting to enjoy each other’s company, which is awesome!

Today – when we get up in the morning that is - we’ll celebrate some more! So…

Happy Birthday, Ronja!

Birthday roses

Birthday and pool

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Finished!

The house 

Well except for the fact that we still need to paint the footings of the house and install the new downpipe at the front and the new front door. And except for the fact, that we would really like a new roof, and, and, and…. No truly, we’re so happy with the way it looks now, it’s excactly the way we wanted it from the beginning. But we won’t be finished for a while – there are still lots of projects – big and small – to throw ourselves at. It just looks a lot more finished. Check out the little bathing nymph by the picket fence.  :)

Celebrating Mads' birthday in the garden 

Yesterday was a great day! We had Mads’ grandmother, mother, and sister down for celebrating his birthday, and the weather was just awesome. We brought out Ronja’s pool, and she spent very close to the entire day in there… I also think Frida enjoyed watching her! (By the way, Frida is wearing this little apron – I just love it!) The first thing Ronja said this morning when getting up was “Where’s my swim suit?” – and right now she’s jumping around in the water.

Ronja in the pool with Frida watching 

The rest of us were benefitting from the good company with drinks, fruit, rolls, and cake. After the guests were gone, Mads and I sat in the garden, just relaxing and enjoying! Ronja was singing and splashing in the pool, Frida was taking a nap, the house was white washed all over, and the garden was just a perfect little oasis with no sounds except for the singing Ronja. Total bliss!

Right now Mads is out biking with the cycling club, but he will be back a bit later, and we’re going to have a quiet day together doing nothing except what we feel like. MMmmmmmm…….

The house 

Thirtysomething

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Happy Birthday  

♥ Happy Birthday, Mads! ♥

The girls and I woke up Mads at around 6:30 singing birthday song and bringing his present. He has gone off to work now, but we had breakfast together and we’ll continue celebrating him, when he gets home. He has been a really good boy – there’s not a single cloud in the sky, and the weather forecast for today says dry and sunny.

This evening we’re just going to relax together, barbecueing in the garden – no reason to go anywhere when our garden is the best place to be!

An evening of summer in the garden 

Peony 

So happy birthday Mads – hugs and kisses from your girls!  :)

New job, birthday, and pumpkin man

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October 1st I started my new work at VIA Travel. Since then I have been going through a well planned learning program, well aware that I have no knowledge up front about business travel. Now, three weeks later, I know a whole lot more, even though I still have a long way to go. My first time with the company has been very positive, and I’m looking forward to get going on my own – even though, I guess it’ll be a while yet. Everybody has been very kind and forthcoming – not to mention patient! ;o)

Last weekend I celebrated my 31st birthday, starting Saturday night with a girls’ dinner. We had a cosy evening with lots of girl talk and good laughs! I have never had a tradition of doing something special for my birthday, but I think I’ll keep doing the girl dinner-thing – and it’s also a nice opportunity for some great girls to get to know each other. Sunday morning Mads and Ronja woke me up with a birthday song, gifts, and breakfast. Mads got me tickets for the show “Gasolin“, which I’m looking so much forward to seeing. I’ll have to wait until December, but then we’ll make a long evening out of it. The weather was really good (of course), so we spent the day in the garden building the swing set that Ronja got for her birthday. In the evening we went to a small restaurant – nothing fancy, but we had a really nice evening.

 

Today Ronja and I made a pumpkin man, since Halloween is coming up. We had lots of fun doing it, and I think he even turned out quite handsome! Later, some of our friends came over for coffee, and in the afternoon Ronja and I went to Vallø Castle, just walking in the park, kicking the fallen leaves and talking to the ducks. Great day! Mads of course has been working upstairs – I’ll include more about that next time! ;o)