On the Shelf

 I have a bit of a thing about empty walls... 

Also, I feel very unbalanced and visually disturbed 

if all the attention is on the mess on the floor.

So there's quite a few wall shelves in our place. 

Even if there is not really so much of a need to store "stuff and things". 

I like to at least pretend that I'm organized 

and get stuff away and off the floor as much as possible.

Pretty boxes on the shelves only help of course!

The "Moppe" mini drawers from Ikea come in a few different sizes,

and are super easy to glue on some nice paper or paint to your very own fancy.

(Check your local paint and wallpaper shop, 

there are usually offcuts in a corner somewhere 

which they give away for free if you ask nicely.)

I love the freedom of adding things to the walls

that I find visually pleasing for the time being. 

 

The great thing of course with wall shelving 

is that you can change what those things are very easily, 

over and over again with minimal holes in the wall.

There may come a time though when you suddenly decide 

that your wall shelves have outlived that particular purpose, and that's ok. 

Just try them somewhere else 

and it's suddenly like a whole new piece of furniture!

Those yellow flowers on the dining table are such a treat. 

(It's a shame the light was all wrong on that photo) 

We had some friends over on the weekend to celebrate getting older, 

(which unfortunately seems to happen every year.)

But it doesn't seem quite so bad 

when you get left with a fridge full of food and wine

and flowers in every possible corner of the house!!

We are quite spoilt really!

Just looking at these wonderful flowers and thinking about our even more wonderful friends here in Gothenburg makes my cheeks hurt from grinning! 

It doesn't hurt though that spring has finally arrived :D

How gin and tonic can save your chives

Europe seems to be experiencing something called 

second winter at the moment...

But! 

April is around the corner,

and there are moments (behind triple glazed windows)

that you can almost be fooled in to thinking 

that it's actually warm outside! 

Perfect timing to start growing some seedlings

with the hope of putting them out on the balcony...

When it really does get warm!

On the left is some herbs which Ikea sells in a little kit.

Cups, soil and seeds just waiting for some sunlight and water. 

My colleague told me that she has the flower version of these kits on the go 

and was almost scared to go home because they're growing so fast!

Then we have some chives struggling to get going. 

But then I realized that maybe they want

a slightly more snuggly environment.

(3 layers of glass is apparently not enough)

I just happened to have a few tonic water bottles

 lying around waiting to go the recycling... 

Now they all have their very own little greenhouse! 

That mint back there doesn't need any help. 

It's ridiculous! 

It was a puny little thing from the supermarket, 

which I thought I had well and truly killed, twice.

But now it's turning in to a small tree 

and smells amazing any time you move it about. 

Here's some more bottles on my windowsill just now, 

looking gorgeous in the sunlight. 

And finally, one more tip for you. 

(If you are a follower of Pinterest or anything along those lines, 

then you'll already know aaaaall about Washi tape...)

But did you know that your average roll of Washi-tape 

is the perfect width to wrap around a tea-light candle?

Now you do :)

Home

 I've had this old map of Gothenburg

rolled up on top of the wardrobe for a while now.

Which is a shame because I really like the colours

and there's just something about it, 

kind of geeky cool or something.

Being fairly huge, I thought that it needed 

to go on a really big wall...

But then I realized that was never going to happen.

So up it went in the smallest part of the hallway!

(I was standing so far back in amongst the jackets

 in the little closet to get this photo, 

I very nearly ended up in Narnia!)

Right now as I type, I'm looking at this poster... 

daydreaming up all sorts memories from back in NZ. 

(While in reality snow flakes fall quietly outside.)

The Keruru wood pigeons who used to gorge themselves

 on berries from the Holly tree all day long.

Then swoop down from the bush,

practically skimming the roof of our house 

with their big fat bellies. 

Sweet little Fantails who would follow me 

when I went on adventures through the forest.

Diving down behind me to snack on the bugs rustled up by my feet,

while I listened to the hilarious warbling of the Tui.

The Morepork who would come out at night, 

keeping watch and sounding just a little bit spooky. 

Sometimes, if you stayed up really late and stayed really really still,

you might hear the shrill of a kiwi somewhere in the distance.

And then there's the cheeky Kea, 

meticulously picking the rubber off the windscreen wipers

from the cars left in the carpark on the mountains down south. 

New Zealand native birds are definitely colourful and cool. 

They are one of the things I miss most about home.