New Year

Papa's Bar, my favourite pub, in preparations for this evening's big party

A day for this year's summary. All the good and less good things that happened. A day for wishes, promises and plans. A day of hope that in the New Year we will be even more wonderful than we are.

Vampires & Co.

Holidays are the perfect time for sweet leisure, especially those days between Christmas and New Year. The best way to spend that time is watching movies. All kinds of movies. Even those, which you know aren't exactly the highest artistic achievment, but just a pleasant pastime.

That's how I ended watching teenage dark vampire romance The Twilight Saga.   I am not fooling myself that this is a valuable achievement in film industry, but I found certain charm in obsessive and symbiotic romance between a human-girl and vampire-boy.( I guess everyone had a similar kind of relationship in their love CV. ;)

That reminded me of other memorable movie vampires:

THE best vampire ever, Tom Cruise, "Interview with the Vampire"

Antonio Banderas, "Interview with the Vampire"

Brad Pitt, "Interview with the Vampire"

Gary Oldman, father of all the vampires in "Dracula"

Kate Beckinsale, "Underworld"

Dacota Fanning, "Twilight Saga: New Moon"

And, of course, currently the hottest vampire in the world, Robert Pattinson

So, next time you feel unusually exhausted after banal meeting with an acquaintance, a friend, or even a (close) relative, ask  yourself do the vampires only exist on a film tape. ;)

A Day for a Daydream: Sweden

There are some days, and on those days you usually have nothing special to do, so you have pretty much time to imagine all the things you're usually too busy to think of. Let's call it daydreaming. Do you know that feeling when you wish to be somewhere else, do something else, visit places you never visited, do things you never did, eat food you never ate? There are some days when this feeling is more intense than usual. It's not that you're unsatisfied with your current life, it's just that sometimes you are more sensitive to the calls of a distance..

I've never been to Sweden, but I would love to visit the homeland of Stieg Larsson, whose novel and it's northern atmosphere still inhabit my mind...

Gamla Stan, Stockholm

Stockholm

Swedish Bicycle

Kullens, Sweden

Kaffe Konditori Valand, Stockholm

Guest Dessert Table from Sweden

A Tea Shop in Stockholm

Workspace from Elle Interior Sweden

Story Hotel in Stockholm

Swedish River Villa

Origami tablescape by Lo Bjurulf for Ikea Sweden

Swedish home

Frida Gustavsson, Elle Sweden

Sweden in the Summertime by Mikael Jansson

 

Stieg Larsson

Angels & Sweets

One of my favorite Christmas gifts

First working day after Christmas, but not for me, fortunately. One of the good things when working in education is having school brakes quite often and quite a lot of time for yourself. So, I spent Monday admiring all the little treasures I found under the Christmas tree, taking some photos and thinking about my next commission, which is going to be an angelic creature that has to become alive in my next illustration. Oh yes, and I was eating cake leftovers from holidays. A lot of them.

About Christmas and Cats....

...one 4-footed, who I happened to live with, and there was also one 2-footed, who I accidentally found under the Christmas tree ;)

 

all photos by me

Merry Christmas!

                                                     

Decisions & plans

After barely surviving this morning (I guess I managed it only with heaven's help, I was feeling so sick I thought I would die), my mind was occupied with much more trivial thoughts during the day. I was thinking about upcoming Christmas Eve and  dinner I am preparing for my family. I decided to prepare a carp which I bought few hours later, it weighed 2 kilos and it was almost bigger than my cat :). I've never done it before and I hope I would know how to deal with that animal, staring at me with its eyes from a fridge shelf .

Jellied carp by Bozena Wojtaszek

This year I decided to be eco friendly, so I am not going to have a pine christmas tree, but a branch from a nearby wild bushes, which  I am going to decorate with handmade paper snowflakes, pine cones and small Christmas lights. I decided not to buy any other decoration. I made quite a few decisions, didn't I? ;)

Via Canadian House & Home

by cassia

 

The only thing I have to think about are the presents for my family, my boyfriend and my dear friends, which are going to be symbolical and small. There is a certain amount of charm to it.

by duch blue

I have it all planned up. The realization is something else. ;)

Rest

photos by me

The main advantage of having cought a cold ( finally, thanks to my good genes, I am ALWAYS healthy, which is exhausting sometimes) is having a perfect alibi for resting in the middle of the week and doing things you like, or actually doing nothing, without feeling guilty :)

So, my main occupation today will be reading Stieg Larsson's novel and watching a movie "Anastasia"  from 1956, with Ingrid Bergmann and Yul Brynner. Sounds like a perfect day. :)

Monday after

My friend Lili turned 50 yesterday, so she threw a big party, with looooooots of gooood food and many other hedonistic sensations....

Lili, birthday gal

Fran, my brother, with a big happy smile :)

And, after that, a  Monday morning came, serene, lazy, inactive.....It would be so nice to stay at home, drink tea for my sore throat, read books ( desperately hooked on Stieg Larsson), and watch my cat do all the little mean stuff he isn't allowed to do :)...

One of my recent treasures from Amazon

 

 All photos by me

 

My Saturday