my love of all things swedish {and Sweden loves me back}

yep, i love swedish design.  every last bloomin bit of it!

lots of white.  clean, modern patterns.  bright colors.  makes me smile!

i {heart} ikea.



i {heart} the swedish chef from the muppets.



and i am crushing on lotta jansdotter's newest fabric collection (also swedish, wink!)



so now i have a little story to tell...

several months ago i was contacted by a lovely photographer in sweden who came across my work and wanted to know if she could possibly get her hands on one of my clutches for an upcoming photo shoot.

i thought about it for like a split second after seeing some of  her amazing photos.  Em specializes in pin-up style and retro photography.

time went by (and i forgot about it)...she emailed me.  the magazine that she was doing the photo shoot for was postponing it.  she was disappointed but graciously offered to return my merchandise.  what? don't worry about it, i replied.  keep it and if you end up using it--great!  if not--no big deal.  you may certainly have it if you wish:)

well, a little more time passed, {and of course i forgot about it} and viola! i get a sweet, sweet email from the the sweet, swedish Em.....

the photo shoot is done!
it is on the newstands:)

{that is my lovely little chevron clutch in green}

i can't tell you how much fun it is to think about shipping items all over the world!  and this is just an added kick to my own personal fun-fest!

photographer: Emmelie Aslin

model: Lovisa Fhinn

co-model: Sofie Gode

see more of Emmelie's work here

independence day

red, white, and blue pancakes for breakfast:)

not difficult, but super delicious!

the berries are ones that we picked and then froze.

somehow they taste soooo much better than the bags of frozen ones at the store?

little paper star decorations for my children's drinks:)

they get a kick out of the little stuff, people.

then i neglected to photograph anymore of our activities on this 4th.

but it was easy and lovely and relaxing and spent with our family.

there was perhaps, a wee bit of a chess match involved:)

and yes, that is harry potter chess.

we also spent a decent amount of time discussing the birth of our nation.

we just visited George Washington's home {Mount Vernon}, which is amazing and fantastic btw, and since that was fresh in our minds, we had a lovely experience to help make it all real.

i pray that our nation would continue to be free and that we wouldn't readily give up to our government what was so hard won.  remember: the government exists to serve the people, not the people to serve the government.

linking up with kim & katy here