A Treat For Me After Treatment

After the monthly MS treatment at the hospital (past month went by soo fast) I usually treat myself with a little something, that I usually does not indulge in the days between treatment. No more liquirice cupcakes from Agnes Cupcakes, since I do not like the flavour caused by the new way of frosting the cupcake - and Ben&Jerry's Cookie Dough icecream was sold out in the local store ?!?!?! Found a treat that is going to last for a couple of days: Marabou cookies - good!! Marabou happens to be my favourite kind of chocolate, and some of you know that I do not eat chocolate often. YUM!

Sometimes I Need a Reminder

Been working way to much lately, and even though this weekend was 3 days long it seems like I just returned to another week with long workdays *sigh* Just looking back at some pictures I captured Monday when I walked around in my city just relaxing and without any other purpose than walking......

Catching Up and Drinkin' Tea - Teahouses TeaSwap part 1

Whoops!! Do not think that working 84 hours within 6 days is doing any good for my health, so decided that today was only about doing relaxing things... and we have local holiday on Monday too, so plenty of time to catch up. Working that much results in catching up on 100+ emails, blogposts, weaved hearts etc. What kept me going during those 6 days was, that it involved seing people, that are usually a name in an email or a voice on the phone.

Josie called the 2nd swap at PaperCraftPlanet's Crafter's Tea Party with the theme: tea houses, and she my swap partner in this round. She send me this creation with 4 different kinds of teas - talk about eerie timing, since I had declared today as resting day, and with that comes the need for enjoying a (or more) good cup of tea.

The tag has a saying about memories, which is quite fitting as this swap has made me think of my own encounters with teahouses while travelling. Thanks for the swap Josie :o)

Crafter's Tea Party 1st Swap - Part 1

Over at PaperCraftPlanet, a group has been revived and is now up an running: Crafter's Tea Party.... the history of tea was told and the first tea swap launched, where we were to use flowers.

Before creating this card, I started to think about my history with tea. Drank my first cups of tea (with lots of sugar) at the neighbour's house when we lived at the country side - had only tasted tea until then, but never liked it, as our house only had the vile tea, Medova, that was a household tea back then in a lot of houses. The neighbours were drinking English Breakfast. Their china tea cups were white with blue flowers or Dutch windmills.

Then it was tea at a friend's house, where the family gathered at 4PM, ate a toasted piece of bread with butter and drank a cup of Earl Grey tea with milk. That was my first encounter with the big yellow Twinings tin with the tea (have a tin of my own now for tea storage).

In the teenage years, we girls always drank pots of tea while visiting eachother's houses: no milk and sugar, and mainly forrest berries tea.

Chose some white/blue designer paper from Panduro Hobby as it reminded me of the first tea cups of tea, and then used Meljen's digistamp, Fancy Little Teapot, coloured with my copics.

Also made a pouch to hold the two teabags, that I sent to my swap partner Mary Anne - the designpaper is actually the backside of the designpaper used for the card. Ribbon in shimmering green color from Søstrene Grene and a miniature version of the Meljen digistamp.

Read somewhere that Mary Anne's preference regarding tea, is black tea... perfect!! I could incorporate some of my tea history with the chosen teabags: Earl Grey from Twinings and organic EarlGrey from Fredsted (Danish tea company). Sentiment used is from Taylored Expressions' CreativiTea stamp set.

Sigh..... They Changed It :o(

Yes, I know: Sometimes change is good. But not this change!!! Last autumn I found the liqurice cupcake at Agnes, that was scrumptious, and it soon became my after-MS-treatment-treat so sweeten my day.

They have changed the way how they frost this cupcake (see link to old post with previous look above the photo) and it actually totally changes the taste of the whole cupcake. After I found out this Monday, I asked a friend (who also loved this flavour) to check out the new version and she called me up immediately, asking me if I too thought that it tastes differently now. We both believe that the old frosting-way allowed the liqurice taste to seap into the cupcake, now it seems like two seperate parts, where the cake does not quite fit the topping.

Buhu!! They have spoiled my monthly favourite treat after the visit to the hospital, so now it is back to Ben&Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dought ice cream.

Me-Time and scones

Yesterday was all me-time as we had a local holiday - that included sleeping in late, staying in the pyjamas ALL day, crafting, reading and.... baking.

Was suddenly in the mood for scones, and luckily I had all the ingredients in my house. Thanks to Sweet Paul Magazine, I had a recipe, that is super easy so follow .... LOL .. yes they got a little dark, the curse of suddenly not being able to find the oven gloves, and it only takes a splitsecond for the golden color to turn brown... but they taste scrumptious :o)

It was so much me-time yesterday, that I did not realise they they were finished in the oven at 8 PM, so skipped dinner and had a scone instead. It was just what I needed, and "just have to survive" one day at work and then weekend calls.

Everything seems more rush-rush these days - more fast-food or easy-cook meals are sold over the counter, 90% carries a mobile phone with them (yes I long back to the days where a phone was attached to the wall with the cord or if you wanted to call somebody when on the street, you had to use a payphone - work, family and friends had to wait until you were close to a phone, which usually was no problem), and old fashioned letters in your mailbox seems a million years ago. Since technology takes over more and more things and it is mobile, people can easily be stressed by having to be available more.

Believe that most people really should have a me-day, like I chose to have yesterday, and de-stress.... Know lots of people that would freak out over that thought, since they can not stand to spend a day for themselves: they have to be in the company of friends/family or at least have multiple phonecalls during the day, as they hate the thought of being alone. My "batteries" got fully re-charged, so I am ready to face the fast-moving world again.

Frosty the Snowman

A colleague at work mentioned the number of days until Christmas the other day, and found out, that if my schedule keeps being so busy, I better start making some Christmas cards. Winter Wonderland's Frosty the Snowman challenge just got me one step closer to the number of cards, that I have to make.

Another chance to make a spinner card, using a glittery snowflake, that I purchased a bunch of some 7 or 8 years ago - actually the snowflake is an ornament from the company Deco, but I bought it with other purposes in mind. Used the Snow Flurries die from Tim Holtz, design paper is a freebie from PaperCraftInspirations Magazine and Frosty  - he is the Gorjuss Snowman :o) Small blue snowflakes comes form a CelebrateIt confetti bag from Michaels.

My Tim Burton Week

There is just something in the quircky world of Tim Burton movies that has me captured - soo wanted to go to MoMA in New York when they had a Tim Burton exhibition, but sadly neither time nor money to go. They had some of his sketches for movie sets etc on display.

I have just become member of the local Cinemateque that is showing old movies - old as in no longer running in the ordinary cinemas.... and the first one I had to see was "Mars Attacks!" - saw it shortly after it came out on the plane to New York and have loved it ever since.... even have it on DVD, but have always wanted to get the chance to see it on the big screen... there were some details that I have never seen before simply because a tv size screen does not show it properly - I checked when I got back to my house.

This movie is brandnew, so went to the ordinary cinema to see it. Apparently it is based on a tv-series, never seen it so can not compare. Just imagine a vampire being out of the loop for almost 200 years and then encountering the 70's on acid - well the vampire is not on acid but it seems like the surroundings are - and a fun encounter with MacDonalds....loved that joke. A lot of the media here has not given the movie good revies, ok not one of Burton's best movies, but it is not as bad as they make it to be - wondering if they are really trying to see it the Burton way, because then they would have been laughing too. One of the most fun things is when the vampire is reciting 70s lyrics like they were some of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Ahhhh.... "Sleepy Hollow" also in my DVD collection and another of his movies, that I had never seen on the big screen. It is a Halloween movie - not that it takes place during Halloween but a good film you get you in the Halloween mood. The story is rich in characters, the surroundings, the myths, the dislike of new thinking instead of the old ways etc. Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is a New York police man that is sent off to Sleepy Hollow to find a murderer, as the New York law enforcers finds his methods to extreme - and suddenly he finds himself in the mist of The Headless Horseman's terrifying hunt of some of Sleepy Hollows citizen's.

Just a thought: The person who chose the front page of The Danish Film Institute's May program, have he/she seen "Sleepy Hollow"?! Honestely having seen this movie lots of time I don't think it is fitting that a movie still from the movie on the front page should be in colors, it should rather be in black and white. Again just my opinion.

Politiken (Danisk daily newspaper) captured Tim Burton on the front page of their movie section

Demolition

Yesterday at noon two tall Danish building,  that had been in the Copenhagen suburb Rødovre since the 50s, were demolished. The first time that two apparment buildings have been blown up like that in our little country.




Ruskær 2003



For me it was wierd watching the TV broadcast of the event, since one of the buildings are very much part of childhood memories. Some of my parents friends lived on the 10th floor, and I have spent many weekends there, when my parents were going to see some relatives in other parts of the country. Later when I moved from my parets house, I continued paying regular visits as they have been like family to me.

The man died years ago and, when the health deteriated for the lady, she moved to another part of the country and is now living at a nursery home - we still keep in touch. Wonder what goes into the minds of previous tennants, that had moved out of the buildings before the owners and authorities deemed it unsafe to live there (restoration would be too costly hence the decision to demolish the buildings)?

TeaSwap May 2012 - Part 2

As mentioned Friday, we had to incorporate flowers, red and green into this months swap card. I have seen some fabulous spinner cards lately (even received one on my birthday in February) and decided to go out of my comfort zone and create a spinner card for this month's tea swap partner, Dori.

Found the blog post, where I had found a wonderful spinner card and later bookmarked/pinned because it had a how-to so I could explore that technique and try to create one. Green paper are a freebie from a UK craft magazine, Papercraft Essentials - sentiment and teapot stamps are from Taylored Expressions' CreativiTea set. Wanted to use that teapot as the spinner, since this tea swap is travelling from Denmark to Hawaii....

Wish that spring was really here - we get a couple of good days, then back to cold weather, where that summer jacket does not seem warm enough, but refuse to take the wintercoat out again. Lots of tea is made, so send Dori samles of two tea flavours that have been brewing the most lately: PUKKA vanilla chai and YogiTea ginger.

The World of Jane Austen

I see some of Emily Albright in me - booking a vacation where a part of it was a guided tour of Jane Austen's country....  I could also see myself working in a bookshop just like Emily..... And then what is the thing that got my attention the most when reading this book?

Stepping out of a comfort zone and go your own way? Think I am already doing that pursuing new crafty projects, going places that has never been on my must-go-to-someday-list.... But then there is the job thing where I am wondering, if I am where I am supposed to be?

The stories of Jane Austen have been great intertainment for years - have most of her books and have two versions of Pride and Prejudice on DVD - the BBC production with Colin Firth as Mr Knightley and the never movie version with Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet - so could easily sign up for a guided tour to the area from where Jane Austen got her inspiration.... Do like going to England so the idea is not too far fetched.

Then there is this atmosphere of Jane Austen's view on relation ships etc. that a lot of people has fallen in love with: The idea of finding a real-life Mr Darcy. "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler touches a bit of that - though indirectly - but there are still references to the books of Jane Austen.

Yes, I will admit. I am a bit like Kathleen Kelly(Meg Ryan) in "You've Got Mail", that re-reads "Pride and Prejudice" and still hoping for Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to fall in love every time I read it. Is there an significant other out there for me? I would like to think there is. A Mr. Darcy: Well have all the Elizabeth Bennet-like heroines ever been actively looking for him? Think I have to qoute Mr Darcy in "Bridget Jones' Diary" here: "I like you, very much. Just as you are." that are the words of a guy, that I want to meet.

So if you like me, love to read a good chick-flic and have a soft spot for Jane Austen novels in general, then you should pick up a copy of Alexandra Potter's book and read it. Happy that a friend gave me an opportunity to read this book :o)

Bus From Baghdad

That is the title of an open-air photo exhibition that I saw lately in Copenhagen.

The Danish photographer, Henrik Saxgren, has photographed and portrayed 30 busdrivers, who are all foreigners, that all have come to Denmark to pursue a dream of a good life. Their stories are different and tales of a hard life - but all of them have a thing in common: they are all proud of their jobs as busdrivers as they have a job and can contribute to the country which is now their home.

Now there is room for thought: you often take your bus drivers for granted and never give any second thoughts to why they are in Denmark: what brought them here? When I grew up in the country side, we were all on first name basis with the busdrivers - here in the city it simply does not happen. Quite sad actually, as I have fond memories of some of the busdrivers from back then, as they have this ability to cheer everybody up while driving the bus just by them being there - lots of bad days were turned into good days during those bus rides.

Later this year, a book is published with their stories and I hope that a lot of schools will put this on the students' reading list and learn about integration of foreigners into our country. In English class at school, I remembered that we read a book called "The Melting Pot" which contained small stories, excerpts from letters, photos, statistics etc. about the people who came to the US in pursuit of getting a new chance (have later on tried to find a copy of that book without luck). I am glad that we had to read that, as it has giving me a some insight to the country that I like to visit on vacations - and the must-do of visiting the Tennaments and Ellis Island in New York and Angel Island in California.

You've Got Mail

Well that is the title of one of my favourite movies, but also what immediately popped into my mind when I saw the sketch challenge from Panduro Hobby - though not email but real mail.

What if...someday??!! Guess that is one of the curses when you love paper craft: you simply can not part with small pieces of scraps from other creations, as they might just come in handy some day. Found a template, that I purchased a long time ago in Panduro Hobby and had to downsize it with the help of the scanner/photocopier, so I ended up with just the right size.

I know how much I enjoy getting real mail in my mailbox and think the intended receiver of this card does too - just might attempt to do an extra couple of these cards with different sentiments, as it could be used for lots of occations.

TeaSwap May 2012 - Part 1

This month Fran called the tea swap with the theme: Flowers and colors: red & green. Got paired up with Dori again, she was the swap partner I had when I entered Fran's tea swap for the first time last year... already having received a couple of cards made by Dori, I could not wait to see, what she came up with this time.

One of the best ways to start up a weekend after a long work week (exhausted) is to find a teawap in the mailbox - and once again Dori amazed me with her card creations :o)

Brilliant use of the die as a "closer" of the card and then the elegant red flower - like the texture, which my fingers had to touch over and over again to convince myself, that it is made of paper.

How often does a Dane get a chance to taste tea from Hawaii?! Pineapple waikiki (black tea) and lemon chamomile - well a few times now thanks to Fran's teaswaps and still thrilled on being able to "travel" around the world's teas through the swap.

Thanks Dori for being my swappartner this month.

Latte Art

Got a cappucino at Joe & The Juice last week, where I encountered a new art: latte art.

Ok, have actually seen the decorated foam before, but did not know until last week, that it called latte art. In awe of those who master this art

No, Claire, not something on my must-try list, I am merely a spectator :o)

Photo Exhibit: The Flatlands Camp Project

Photo by Adam Jeppesen

A while ago I went to see the photo exhibit: The Flatlands Camp Project at The National Museum of Photography. Did not know what to expect, but was surprised by Adam Jeppesen's photos.

Imagine this: Spend 487 days walking from Arctic to Anarctica through South- and Northamerica alone - that is, the only constant company you have, is your camera. Could imagine the possibility of encountering some interesting places and people and yet still sensing the feeling of solitude on a journey like that.

He is playing with his camera, getting some wonderful deepts into the photos, and it is not only the camera that is a "victim" of his play - he had cut off a large picture of one of his photos into smaller pieces and then put them back together with lots of needes, thus creating a 3D-like effect. His play simply fuels the spectator's imagination :o)

Liberation Day

May 4th, 1945 at night: the Danish people received THE good news, that they had been longing for for more than 5 years - finally it came: Denmark is free!

To remember this day, we put a lit candle in every window at 8PM honoring those, who fought for our freedom.

Denmark is a small country, and had the people of Denmark fought back when Germany invaded us, I do not think that there would have been much left of our little country. There were resistance groups - my grandparents took part in one of them - and naturally they were doing something very dangerous. Others, especially sailors, contributed but sailing Jews accros the Oresund to Sweden in the middle of the night, as Sweden remained a neutral country all through WW2.

When Danish ask "Why are we lighting the light on May 4th" I get a little upset, that they do not know our country's history and encourage them to mark it in their calendar as light-a-candle day...

We need to remember.

We owe the people who endured WW2 to honour them.

Movie Test Audience

Before most movies hits the theatres a test audience is often consulted to figure out, if the movie's title is fitting, if there are some thing(s) in the movie that might be incoherent, if the dialogue is ok etc. etc.

Once in a while I get invited to be one of the "testers", and have experienced that something was changed before the movie premiered - salary: to see the movie for free - jobdescription: to answer a questionnaire when the movie is over.

The other night, I went in to see The Royal Affair (original Danish title: En kongelig affære), and must admit that I was a bit baffled to get invited to be among the test audience of a movie that opened a while ago and have been a good success attracting 400.000+ movie-goers (may not sound of much, but our population is 5,6 mio only) and won a couple of prices at the Berlin Movie Festival.

A beautiful movie about an historic event that truely changed the little kingdom of Denmark - spellbound during 2+ hours the movie lasted.

Then a complete surprise: "Did the subtitles bother you when watching the movie?" - Subtitles, what subtitles, the movie was in Danish?!?! Oh wait a minute it was subtitled..... They were testing us to see in they can introduce subtitling of domestic movies, so hearing impared people do not have to wait until the movie is relased on DVD to enjoy a movie.

Unlike a lot of European countries (Spain, France, Italy, Germany etc) foreign movies a not dubbed, but with subtitles, so we are accustomed to subtitles - just not subtitles to domestic movies. Everybody seemed to agree, we did not mind the subtitles at all as we simply overlooked them due to the fact that we understood/heard the spoken language. For me the same goes with English, Swedish, Norwegian and German movies - I actually do not need the subtitles.... but I hope that the Danish movies get subtitles too, so the hearing impared can have great experiences too at the cinema.