Long Time No See

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm doing such a good job with this blog of mine.. I've been so busy working this spring that I don't seem to have time to report on anything fun happening in my life. This summer I'll have some more time off but I'm not sure I can promise better blog updates. We will see, time will tell. 

Until then I can share a bunch pictures from our 6 (!) year anniversary two weekends ago when we took a weekend trip to a town called Chattanooga in the state of Tennessee. I want our next move to be Sweden of course, but if we ever come back here, I think that is were I would like to live. Such a beautiful place! Mountains, rivers, greenery and walking distance to nearly everything. They also have one of the world's longest pedestrian walking bridge and I think we walked across it a few times, one time early in the morning on a run, so awesome! It's only about an 1 1/2 drive from the ATL, so it's perfect.

We stopped on the way up to do some horseback riding in a national park. It was so much fun and a beautiful ride through the mountains. Even though I ended up with a sore butt for days and Christian's eyes swelled shut from an allergic reaction and we got rained on, it was well wort it!

Picket and Hunter

We visited the Chattanooga aquarium

The pedestrian bridge from a park near by.

While on the bridge.

On our morning run, there of my not so happy smile.

In the Bluff Art District.

Anniversary dinner

We stopped at Lookout Mountain to take some pictures of the view on our way home. 

Time To Get Inspired

I'm just starting a new book that arrived at my doorstep yesterday. It's called "the dirty life" and I'm hoping it will inspire and create hope for the future.

Memorial Day Weekend

My past week in pictures

Three cellphone talking little ladies. How cute are they??

Running errands with the little one in her cool sun hat.

Just me.

I had "fika" with my Swedish friends Maria. I had a delicious cupcake and the tiniest little diet coke bottle.

Went for a hike.

This is usually what happens when I try to take a picture.

Had Mexican food. Yum!

Started a new book. A very good one. I'm almost done as of now.

I have the best little friends on the planet!

New Wall

I have yet to post any pictures from our newly renovated part of our house. We use to have a little porch that you could access from our living room through sliding glass doors but we found we never spent anytime out there. In the spring it is just too much pollen and in the summertime too warm. There were never any air circulating in there so we decided to take away the sliding glass doors and make a big opening and enclose the patio with some big windows. We also took down another wall so you can access our new room from the dining room as well. I absolutely LOVE the new space! Now we're slowly starting to furnish it and this weekend I put up a new "photo wall". I picked out a bunch of photos that I liked and put them up in the shape of a heart. Most of the photos are somewhat older when I tend to no longer develop my pictures but just put them on my computer. But we'll change them out as time goes by and when we develop more recent pictures.

I love each and everyone up there!

American Mothers Day

An Italian mothers day that is. Today we celebrated my mother in law with an Italian fiesta! Me and Christian (read Christian) made fresh pasta and ravioli and the rest of the family teamed up and made three different kinds of pasta. It can be hard sometimes to get the whole family on board and organized but in the end it turned out great.

the table was set with a bit of an Italian rustic theme... ;)

 

 And I also want to give a shout out to my WONDERFUL mother today. I know it's not the Swedish mother's day until the end of May, but what mother doesn't deserve to be mentioned twice? 

Sunday night, new week ahead. Let's go!

New Week

A new week. I'm starting it with cartoons on the iPad with the little one. Two more days and my hubby will be home. Can't wait!

Love of My Life. And Burgers.

My hubby has been out traveling WAY too much lately and he's leaving again tomorrow for a few days. Buu. Tonight though, we accidentally got to spend some quality time with each other. I say accidentally because we were suppose to meet up with my Swedish friend Maria and a bunch of other people for her graduation dinner at a restaurant in a part of town called Decatur. But as time were ticking away as we sat there waiting for her and the rest of the group, I realized her e-mail said Sunday night. Ooupps! We decided to stay anyways and had a great time with great tasting food! Much needed hubby time! 

we figured out I had been to 17 states and Christian to 39...

Red wine spritzers are amaaazing! the only way I like to drink that red wine...

the food was delicious!

From Garden To Table

Yesterday I was living my dream. We were able to harvest our beets from the garden and later cook them at the house for dinner. It was amazing! We also steamed some peas from the garden and while I'm usually not that crazy about peas, let me tell you, these were incredible! We roasted the beets by putting them in an aluminum package, drizzled with olive oil and S+P, in the oven for about 45 min. Then we used our lettuce from the front patio and put the sliced roasted beets, some toasted walnuts and a blue cheese dressing on top. I also made a pie/quiche from Georgia's own Vadalia onions. It was SO good! I now wish I would have put down many more beet seeds! 

the peas..yum!

the beets about to be thrown into the oven.

lettuce from the front porch.

the beets right out of the earth.

I put some lettuce seeds down i a huge pot that I have on the front porch and they've grown SO nicely!

The goodness all on one plate. Delicious!

My handsome hubby enjoying every bite! 

Happy Freaking Friday!

Yet another week has passed. Let's hope for a slow weekend, meaning it'll feel like more than just two days! Of course I stopped at the usual place to celebrate the past week and the coming weekend with a latte.

Mother's Milk

I blogged about this before and how a hippie friend of ours knows everything there is to know about herbs and how it can cure everything from a minor bug bite to a serious illness. Her recipe for a good night sleep is absolutely delicious! Her recipe calls for a herb called Ashwagandha, which I use, but it may be hard to get a hold of. If you can't get it, you can still make this concoction. Just mix milk (however much fits in a mug of your choice), a teaspoon or so of honey and some vanilla (I use vanilla extract but I'm sure vanilla sugar for you Swedes would work to whisk in there as well). Heat it in a pan (not microwave!), but don't boil, just let it simmer. Put in a mug and sprinkle with cinnamon. It is seriously the best thing to have before you hit the bed, whether you have the herb or not.

Sleep tight.

My Week In Pictures

My favorite hockey team back home won gold, therefore their jersey and golden flip-flops were a must ~ A stroll through Atlantic Station on a beautiful spring day ~ Trying to make a 3 year old nap sometimes lead to no nap but instead a photo session with the iPhone ~ Yummy breakfast at the new breakfast place ~ Minigolf very late at night ~ Watching a ton of hockey on my computer ~ Making homemade pasta ~ Walks with a cool baby hanging out in the stroller ~ Yum for fresh cookies out of the oven