Around here: Christmas 2016.

Project Life: November 2016.

Here are my spreads for the month of November which is finished a couple of days ago. Only one month left of 2016 before I can order my photo book, I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! I used quite a lot of different products for these ones so I'm very pleased that they came out looking relatively cohesive :)

Around here: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Life Lately: November 2016.

Watching | Swedish TV shows Så Mycket Bättre, Historieätarna and Det sitter i väggarna, season 3 of The Affair, a couple of episodes of This Is Us (just love what they did with the pilot - if you've seen it you probably know what I mean), and the films Ithaca and Indignation.

Listening to | All the music from Så Mycket Bättre + (of course) my Christmas playlist.

Consuming | Plenty of blood oranges that are finally in season! And freshly made orange/carrot/apple juice for breakfast during the weekends when there's time for such indulgences in the mornings.

Reading | Finished Lullabies for Little Criminals and started To The Bright Edge of the World which is just a perfect read for winter.

Visiting | My mum's godparents who live deep in the big woods, on a day that just happened to be a beautiful winter day when every little tree branch was covered with frost. Also, my parents and my sister.

Enjoying | Getting to know our new family member Elsa, having a relaxing week off from work in the middle of the month, cozy nights spent at home watching films + TV shows, real winter days with snow and frost, more sunny days than in October and starting to prepare for Christmas.

Making | So much progress with my hybrid 2005-2009 album! I finished several years during November. I only have a couple of spreads for late 2009 left to finish before I can have the photos/cards printed. Look out for photos of the finished album early next year! I've also been working on my November spreads for my 2016 album, but 2005-2009 has definitely been my priority :)

Looking forward to | Finishing my 2005-2009 album and 2016 photo book! And just the holiday season in general with all it entails when it comes to food, time spent with family + of course some extra days off from work.

Around here: Welcoming a new family member.

Outings: Store Mosse national park.

Project Life: October 2016.

Here are my spreads for the month of October at last! I actually finished them several weeks ago but I've been focusing on my (physical/hybrid) 2005-2009 Project Life album these past few weeks and pretty much forgot about everything else. I've just been having so much fun with it! Might have something to do with the fact that I've been using this awesome new core kit you might have heard about for most of it.

Life Lately: October 2016.

Watching | On the film front we watched Speak which I had to watch to see how it compared to the book, which I read in September. I think it was a really good adaptation. We also went to see the crazy but fun Swedish film Morran & Tobias - Som en skänk från ovan at the cinema when it came out at the end of the month. As for TV we finally finished season 2 of The Affair, just in time for season 3, and Swedish show Så Mycket Bättre started which means we know what we'll be doing the upcoming Saturday nights. It's one of the few times we actually watch regular TV anymore.

Listening to | Went through (still going through) a major Lene Marlin phase for some reason. I guess her melancholy tunes just suit my mood these days. Other than that we've unsurprisingly been listening to the music from Så Mycket Bättre a lot.

Consuming | Nothing really stands out.

Reading | About to finish Lullabies for Little Criminals.

Visiting | My sister + her boyfriend to celebrate their birthdays, my parents, P's mum and my grandaunt and a second cousin of my father who I'd never met before. Got my hands on (well, got to scan) lots of old photos of my ancestors which was really exciting.

Enjoying | The (very) occasional sunlight, the colours of autumn, continuing to decorate my dollhouse and our biannual leaving party at work which was just as epic as always.

Making | Project Life spreads for my (physical) 2005-2009 album.

Looking forward to | It might be a bit early, but I've already started to look forward to ordering this year's photo book in January :)

Project Life: September 2016.

Today I'm sharing my spreads for the month of September. I actually finished most of these several weeks ago, but I felt like the colours and styles were all over the place and wanted to change things around to make the spreads a bit more cohesive. I am not super strict about all of the spreads matching or anything, but I like each month's spreads to have some sort of connecting thought behind them, even though it doesn't always work out. Finally in the last few days I swapped out some cards and recoloured others and arrived at a result that feels good enough. It's not perfect, but as we all know, done is better than perfect when it comes to memory keeping :)

Life lately: September 2016.

Watching | I watched some of my favourite films out of the ones I've watched so far this year in September. Me Before You was surprisingly sweet and not at all as cheesy as I had expected. Sully was such a gripping story, especially considering that it is based on a true story. Finally, Bridget Jones's Baby managed to greatly surpass my expectations, which admittedly were low considering the disaster that was the second film. I went to see it even though I was sceptical because I love the original film so much, and I loved that this one had the same feel and charm as the first film. I will forever ignore the existence of the second film and view Bridget Jones's Baby as the only sequel.

Listening to | Still mostly Melissa Horn + Miriam Bryant.

Consuming | Satsumas which are finally in season!

Reading | Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which believe it or not, I had never read before. I don't understand how I managed to miss it all these years, especially in my teens when I would have been all over a novel like this. These days I don't usually read young adult novels but made an exception after hearing great things about it, and I am glad I did because it is very captivating + has a very powerful message.

Visiting | My parents, P's mother and my sister.

Enjoying | Indian summer that lasted almost the entire month! It was truly a dream. Spending time outdoors in the sun, going mushroom picking, working on my Project Life spreads, joining the Amber LaBau Creative Team + embarking on a special journey.

Making | Updates to my family tree + the aforementioned Project Life spreads.

Looking forward to | More autumn colours + some answers that October will bring, for better or worse.

Project Life: My finished 2014 photobook.

My dollhouse: The ground floor.

Today it's time for the last part of the tour of my dollhouse, until I have some new updates to share at least. When I move to a home with more space I will add a garden for the house - I got one along with garden furniture + accessories along with this house but I had to put it in storage for now... The extension floor was also included when I bought this house (such a good deal!) and I knew from the start that I would place the kitchen in the large room downstairs. In my old house the kitchen is in the room that is the master bedroom of this house and I've always found it much too small. I think the kitchen has the most fun accessories and I don't want it to feel crowded :)

My dollhouse: The middle floor.

Tonight I thought I'd share the middle floor of my dollhouse, where the master bedroom, combined hallway/office and nursery are. On this floor I continued to deviate from the traditional Lundby layout - making the intended kitchen the master bedroom and the intended bathroom the nursery. (In the most recent layout of the Småland house the wall between the kitchen and former hallway has been removed, creating a larger kitchen.) For the wallpaper I used paper from the Project Life Southern Weddings paper packs (it's so convenient when my hobbies overlap like this!).

My dollhouse: The top floor.

I thought I'd share the rooms of my dollhouse floor by floor, starting with the top floor, where the bathroom and living room are. In my old house I kept the traditional Lundby layout with the bedroom + living room upstairs and the kitchen + hallway + bathroom downstairs (it doesn't have the extension floor). I've always found the intended Lundby bathroom a bit small and now that I got my hands on a house complete with the extension floor I decided to change things up a bit. Thus, I turned the intended master bedroom into a bathroom. It might be a bit strange to have such a big window in a bathroom, but I'm telling myself it's okay since it's on the top floor ;)

Amber LaBau Creative Team.

As you might have seen on Instagram, I was chosen to be a member of Amber LaBau's Creative Team for 2016-2017 earlier this month. I actually hadn't planned on joining another Creative Team until possibly next year, but when the opportunity arose I decided that it would be a fun challenge. I'm so excited to be part of this group of talented ladies :)



The first layout I completed was shared in this entry over on Amber's blog. I used her stunning Golden kit which is just perfect for autumn to document a little day trip my boyfriend and I went on. Since then I've put together another layout (about the same day) using the same kit.

My dollhouse: The beginning.

I've mentioned this project here once or twice these past few months and I think it's about time I share a bit more about it (+ some photos)! In late June I found a Lundby dollhouse in an ad on our equivalent to Craigslist. The seller was a tween girl who'd apparently spent all her birthday + Christmas money on it for years but had grown tired of it. Considering all the furniture that was included it was a very good deal, much too good to pass up, even though I had no idea where in our one bedroom apartment I would put it.

Project Life: August 2016.

August was filled with many different + random happenings. It took me some time to figure out how to fit everything that I wanted to document into my Project Life spreads, but now they're all done. As I've mentioned earlier this year I don't care that much about the number of spreads for any given month, I just fill up as many as I need. One thing I've noticed is that I fill up WAY more spreads now that I'm documenting my life as I go than before, when I would wait for months (or years). At this rate this year's album will be over 250 pages long and in the past they've been around 190 pages long. Goes to show how much easier it is to preserve memories when they're still fresh on your mind! Here are my nine spreads for August:

Around here: An evening in September.

Life lately: August 2016.

Watching | Per took me to see Captain Fantastic at the cinema for my birthday and it was the best film I've seen in months! It has such stunning scenery + a powerful message. Ever since I saw it I've been recommending it to everyone I meet. Other than that, we watched The Secret Life of Pets which was super cute.

Listening to | Melissa Horn has been on repeat pretty much ever since we saw her in concert in July, with some other tunes thrown in every once in a while.

Consuming | The one thing that sticks out is sushi, which I didn't use to like at all but now can't seem to get enough of.

Reading | As soon as my vacation ended I went back to my old habit of not reading very much at all, but I am hoping to change that in September. I did finish Purple Hibiscus, one of my favourite reads so far this year, and started Uncle Tom's Cabin, which, believe it or not, I've never read before.

Visiting | My parents + Per's mother.

Enjoying | Making the most of the final weeks of summer, getting back into my everyday routines + all the time I seemed to have for my hobbies.

Making | July's Project Life pages of course, including those about Greece, updates to my family tree after I got in touch with a distant relative from Texas, spreads for my (physical) 2005-2008 Project Life album (none of which have been printed yet though, but it will happen in the autumn for sure) and some updates to my dollhouse.

Looking forward to | Crisp autumn days, the leaves changing colour + starting an exciting new project.

Project Life: Greece 2016.

Today I thought I'd share my Project Life pages about our trip to Greece this summer. I used last summer's Summer Manifesto kit by Paislee Press almost exclusively for these pages, and it was such a fun challenge to come up with so many different ways to combine the papers and elements! I also loved creating my own journalling + filler cards, something I haven't done that much so far. This kit is a great example of why I love everything that Liz Tamanaha creates, all her kits are so versatile + work so well together!

Trips in 2016: Parga part 2/2.

Project Life: July 2016.

This morning I finally had time to add the finishing touches to my July spreads. I often put together the pages without journalling first and fill that in later, sometimes not until the month is over when I have more perspective on what I want to include. This year I've been keeping notes on my phone about daily events - just some short keywords about each day, and it has made it so much easier to keep track of everything! I wish I had started doing this sooner. In any case, here are my eleven spreads for the month of July. (These do not include our trip to Greece which I have yet to finish and will be sharing separately.)

Life lately: July 2016.

Watching | I actually only watched one new film in July, and it's not really worth mentioning. We didn't spend enough time at home to leave much room for watching films or TV. Towards the end of the month we started watching the British TV series The Last Kingdom which started airing on Swedish TV. It's pretty good so far.

Listening to | A random mix of old and new summer hits.

Consuming | All the fresh berries... Black currant, red currant, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and even some blackberries. And plenty of frozen yoghurt and ice cream of course.

Reading | While on vacation I finished Girl At War, The Storyteller and Gypsy Boy and now I'm about to finish Purple Hibiscus. Considering that I usually only read about a book a month I have to say I did pretty well. Our hotel in Parga had one of those convenient book swap shelves which helped me find new things to read :)

Visiting | My parents and P's parents. And it breaks my heart that this is the last time I can write that, because on the final Saturday of the month my father-in-law passed away, and life as we knew it will never be the same again. #fuckcancer

Enjoying | My three weeks of vacation, although of course considering the circumstances it wasn't as carefree as it usually is.

Making | July Project Life pages + renovating and decorating the dollhouse I bought in June.

Looking forward to | Things calming down a bit + getting back to my normal routines.

Trips in 2016: Parga part 1/2.

Project Life: June 2016.

June was a wonderful summer month, filled with lots of beautiful summer memories to document. I ended up with thirteen whole spreads for my album. This is one of the main reasons why I don't do physical Project Life - I would feel so restricted sticking to a certain number of spreads per month, and if I didn't, a month like this one alone would fill up almost a third of a 12x12 album!

Life lately: June 2016.

Watching | Most notably the films Race and Cider With Rosie.

Listening to | Spotify's brilliant Sommarhits Retro playlist - lots of good old summer hits that I thought I grew sick of years ago or never even liked at the time, but find myself enjoying now because they bring back memories of summers past.

Consuming | Ample amounts of fresh strawberries + peaches and lots of ice cream.

Reading | Finished Cider With Rosie (watching the film actually motivated me to finally finish it because I wanted to know more about the story) and started Girl At War.

Visiting | Our parents + my grandfather for Midsummer.

Enjoying | All things SUMMER. The food, the sunshine, the freedom.

Making | Project Life pages. Also, I've been working on another exciting crafty project. For the first time in many years I bought paintbrushes + paint and the kitchen might have been turned into a temporary craft studio. More on this later.

Looking forward to | My summer vacation and all that it will entail, especially going back to Parga in Greece for a week, and actually making it to Meteora this time around :)

Trips in 2016: Vimmerby.

Project Life: May 2016.

Today I'm finally sharing my May spreads. Ten whole spreads, which says something about what a busy month it was. I actually finished these a while ago but since I included some cards from the new Hello Lovely Edition, which is released in digital format today, I've had to wait to share them. In any case, here they are at last.

Outings: Vickleby forest.

Life lately: May 2016.

Watching | Three really good films this month - Miss You Already (so sad!), The Jungle Book (at the cinema) and Joy. Plus a bunch of things on TV thoughout the month, my favourite of which is Tänk om.

Listening to | Lots of 80s music before and during the 80s party we had at work. So much fun.

Consuming | More ice cream than I should have, as always at this time of year :)

Reading | I started reading Cider With Rosie but haven't finished it yet.

Visiting | The parents + my sister in Malmö.

Enjoying | The too-good-to-be-true summer weather we've had, all the flowers that have been in bloom throughout the month, being able to hang out on the balcony again, all the little summery outings we went on, picnics and, of course, ice cream.

Making | Project Life pages for May, which I will be sharing here soon.

Looking forward to | The little trips we have planned for June, summer and my vacation in July.

Outings: A summer day in Uvaklöva.

Project Life: April 2016.

Tonight I'm finally getting around to sharing my April spreads. I completed them a while ago but I used a random mix of products this month so finding the links to all the sources took some time...

Outings: A special birthday gift.

Infertility, part 3/3: The aftermath.

After I had emergency surgery, I was on sick leave for a week. I ate all the iron-rich food I could think of as well as iron supplements. I saw my own doctor who took blood tests to make sure the pregnancy hormone level was fading, which it did. Gradually, I grew stronger physically. About a month after the surgery I got a letter from the doctor who performed the surgery. She'd been in touch with the fertility clinic that performs IVF for patients in the area where I live, and they had decided that I would need to have my ovarian tubes removed before I could proceed with IVF. Some studies suggest that a salpingectomy can increase the success rate of IVF for patients who have had repeated ectopic pregnancies. Moreover, it would prevent me from having another life-threatening ectopic pregnancy in the future.

Infertility, part 2/3: My third pregnancy.

After a couple of months, when I had recovered somewhat emotionally and physically, we did another IUI. I was no longer so sure that it would work. And it didn't. However, a couple more months later, something strange and unexpected happened. My period didn't come. I took a test, and it was positive. I couldn't believe it. After two and a half years of trying, I had finally managed to conceive naturally! I was hesitant to get excited though, because it was still so early and I had learned the hard way not to get too carried away. I recognized the symptoms from before. The day after I took the test I went to a work party and had to try hard all night to cover up that I wasn't drinking. I didn't need alcohol to enjoy the party though. All through the night I smiled to myself about the secret I was carrying.

Infertility, part 1/3: The beginning.

I've been meaning to write about this for almost a year, but it hasn't felt right. For a long time I felt like I needed to end my story with a happy ending, in order to be able to share it. But I don't have a happy ending to give and I might never have, because as we all know, there are no guarantees in life. So I am going to put it out there, anyway, in the hope that it will make someone else out there feel less alone. As you can guess by the topic of this entry, I am also one of the "one in eight" who know the pain of infertility. This is the first part of my story.

Life lately: April 2016.

Watching | According to my notes I only watched two films in April. Goes to show how strange and busy this month was... At least the films I did watch - Freeheld and Big Miracle - were both really good + moving.

Listening to | The music I listened to in April was all over the place. I think I listened to The Wreckers the most, though.

Consuming | An unusual amount of cake :)

Reading | I started reading two books but haven't got very far with them yet. Thank goodness I read an extra book in March, otherwise I would have fallen behind with my book goal for this year.

Visiting | The parents + a close friend.

Enjoying | Project Life as always. Finishing my 2014 photo book + getting it in the mail. Celebrating a special birthday. My second trip to Poland of the year. Outlet shopping with mum and my sister last weekend.

Making | Project Life pages.

Looking forward to | Celebrating Walpurgis Night later today. Warmer weather.

Outings: Nunnedalen.

Project Life: March 2016.

I finished my Project Life spreads for March a little bit later than the previous months because I decided to focus on finishing my 2014 photo book (which should arrive in the mail sometime next week, by the way) first. Now, 2016 has my undivided attention again. March was a rather busy month and I filled up eight spreads.

Trips in 2016: A March day in Poland.

Project Life: 2014 album cover.

Life lately: March 2016.

Watching | Most notably, Spotlight, Fathers & Daughters and The Danish Girl. I enjoyed all three, especially The Danish Girl, not just for the story but also for the beautiful settings and clothes.

Listening to | I've been listening to Ted Gärdestad a great deal ever since I watched a recent documentary about his life and rediscovered his music.

Consuming | Lots of chocolate for Easter.

Reading | This month I finally finished Goodbye Sarajevo. This was the first novel I've read that is set during the Yugoslav Wars and I found it very interesting to read a firsthand account of what it was like in Bosnia and Croatia during the time. I can definitely recommend it. The second book I read this month was Necessary Lies which was an instant favourite. I actually read most of it in one day because I just had to know how it would end. I'm so glad I stumbled across it on Goodreads!

Visiting | The parents, two of my aunts and my sister.

Enjoying | Spring and the beautiful weather we've had, getting the chance to spend a lot of time with family + relatives on various occasions, catching up with old friends, a work-related road-trip I went on, Easter, some shopping I did and going to Poland at the end of the month.

Making | So many Project Life pages for my 2014 photo book. At this rate I might just finish it in April!

Looking forward to | Going back to Poland in two weeks + a little surprise outing that I've got planned for next weekend.

Around here: Easter weekend.

Around here: Glimpses from March.

Project Life: February 2016.

Yesterday I finished my Project Life spreads for the month of February. I love that the process I've developed over the past months makes it so quick & easy to stay up to date with my monthly documenting.

Life Lately: February 2016.

Watching | Several films but most notably Room and Man Up. The latter was hilarious + reminded me why I love British rom-coms so much. Room was the most captivating film I've seen in a long time, much like the book was one that I just couldn't put down. I had looked forward to watching it ever since I read the book in 2011 and wasn't disappointed. I was so excited to learn that Brie Larson won the Oscar for best actress.

Listening to | Adele a lot.

Consuming | A dozen or so semlas throughout the month.

Reading | Goodbye Sarajevo which I'm really enjoying but have yet to finish because I've been slacking with my reading this month. It's not the first year when I've lost momentum at the end of January, with my reading and other areas of life too, unfortunately.

Visiting | My parents, P's parents and my cousin to celebrate his 50th birthday.

Enjoying | The first signs of spring + noticing that the days are getting longer. Getting my 2015 Project Life album in the mail. Seeing family + shopping + other little things.

Making | This month I've been working on my 2014 Project Life album. I've completed about half of it in less than a month and I'm having so much fun with it.

Looking forward to | I should just say spring/lighter days/etc and leave it at that, but February sort of shook things up in unexpected ways and mostly, I am looking forward to a day when I can genuinely feel like I have things to look forward to again.

Around here: Signs of spring.

Project Life: Prague.

Here are my Project Life spreads about my trip to Prague in January :) I used the Everyday Edition exclusively for these. I especially love using it to document trips. The templates are by Valorie Wibbens. As you might see I've included some memorabilia in these spreads. I started doing that when I documented my trip to Croatia last year and I just love how convenient it is. I simply scan my memorabilia and then I toss out the physical items. Sometimes I even scan it using my iPhone as I go, so I don't even need to bring it with me back home.

Outings: Aboda Klint.