Buckets of hope!!

Well hello - Blogger and I are in disagreement, that post was not due.... Yet! I hadn't had time to finish.

Sorry.

New buckets will arrive. In due time :-)

Peace out!

Two off the Bucket list in a week!!

WTF you might say. And rightfully so!
Two off my personal life-Bucket list in a week??!!

It's true though.

Let me begin at the... beginning:

A loooooooong time ago, approximately six years ago (yes, a totally different life in every way) I felt I needed to get moving and exercising. I had no money, little time and a small child. What to do? I started jogging even though I loathed the idea of it.
It seemed boring, hard and not in the least exciting. I had some old shoes and worn out jogging pants and started by jogging slowly and then walking and back to jogging. This procedure started out with a 3 km route.
Slowly I upped the speed and after maybe three weeks I could skip the walking parts.
Progress felt good - I was now a person who was as jogger!

The years went on and I would go jogging every now and then. At certain months and periods I'd go regularly, at least once a week and others... well, not so often.
The initial six days a week process couldn't last after moving and having four hours of commuting daily.

Fast forwarding to year 2012 and the month of May.
I needed to find a routine. I needed to work out and I needed to loose weight gained from a hard period 2010-2011. The Boy's friend's parents praised a gym in town and I signed up. A man called Jan showed me the machines I ought to use and the crosstrainer and I went to it.

Came the month of August came a decision: I'll visit the gym three times a week (Monday, Thursday, Saturday) and I'll jog Sundays. Routine will be OK to break for work or AW and will mean no guilty conscience. It will be a way of life, so I will have the rest of my life to make routine!

Let me tell ya': this routine works!
At the same time I switched my then 20 minutes jog into a 30 minutes jog. After some months I felt I surely could double the jog and I could! By now I jogged approximately 7 km.

Fast forward until May 2013.
I decided "WTF it's time to jog those magical 10 km now!". It sure was and I did fine. It felt heavenly and such a personal achievement! Had someone told me even a year ago I would have said "I wish".

Go figure!
That's one off the Bucket List: jogging 10 km and I did Saturday.

Six days later I checked another off that Bucket: being part of a Eurovision Song Contest experience!
All my life I've followed this event. I and my maternal grandmother had it as a tradition and we would call each other to discuss it after we had seen it, when I was a child.
Friday I went with husband and last born to a dressed rehearsal semi final ESC-event and it was fantastic. Magical. We had a true blast and I'll never forget it.
If my first born and his gal would have accompanied, it would have been perfection :-)

There it is: TWO off the Bucket List in one week.
I doubt it I'll repeat that soon...?!

Other Buckets recent years were New York with my first born in 2010 and Venice in 2012.
How lucky I am!

All those mini buckets are being checked off regularly: BBQ is one!

Common BBQ sighting ;-)

She's quite cold, Mrs Summer, 8 degrees yesterday. But she's here!

The front side offers this sight, early in summer.

If computers and phones and stuff had been working with me, I would have showed you many shots and maybe even movies from the ESC-adventure. 

However, the iPhone with which I shot most photos and films deleted all my photos when trying to load them into the computer.

Hubs + iPhone + Mac is rarely a success story... I don't know why!!

Now I have only a few pics for you, from that blessed evening.

I'll show some Instgrams also :-)

(even that turned out a lie - because Instagram won't let you get out the pics out of Instagram... grrr.......)

Enjoy!

Me. Waiting for the other two, outside the arena!

The other two!

The arena!! The camera/crew/light experience was truly awesome!

The beautiful and fun host, who also suffers from severe back pains.

Loving every single minute of it! So much fun, such a warm heart <3

Going to Emporia (new huge luxurious mall) for dinner and... posing as Loreen!

Yay!

The iPad boy in iPad heaven!

The ESC nerds in ESC heaven.

Dinner after - lovely!

The train ride home.

So, here's Saturday again. Having longed for a sleep in, I was annoyed about waking up at 6 AM and getting out of bed around 7.... Ah, well! In a few hours I'll do my third jogging 10 km Saturday routine and as always I can't wait!! Chips are less tasty and wine too - 10 km jogging has topped everything for me. It's as crazy as wonderful.

Have a great one, out there. Remember your relations, and in this country: remember your mother tomorrow :-)

Monday, Magic Monday!

Magic
My Boy is totally into doing magic tricks, these days. He says it's "totally magic" and shows us trick after trick! He gets really creative in the process and makes up new tricks as he goes along.

Sometimes The Boy gets so into his tricks that he walks around, putting on quite the show, stepping on the dog by accident and then the magical show is over, 'cuz honey, does the dog NOT like that trick...!

Now, how can a Monday be magic, I ask you?
Apart from the delight of having magic tricks performed, there's a other end of the rainbow for me and The Hubster this evening. I say no more right now!

Magical, beautiful - no word does it justice. A bird. Wild and free.

Contrasts. Intense blue sky and white snow. 

The innocent little kind and poor dog....?!

Loving his mommy like his life depends upon it.

Perfection in a day.

A lifetime in a day?

If we could fit all the meaningful dealings in a day, what would it contain?

I'm willing to bet that all the things on my bucket-list would be rejected and the day would be filled with the every-day-bucket-list things that I have (as a mini bucket of sorts) and isn't that actually a little weird? 

The really-really big, huge, important things in life are fitted in the every-day bucket whereas the not-so-important things are the ones that rank all the way up there as the so-saught-after?

It's natural, of course, that trips to far away places rank up there and that coffee in the kitchen with a husband is every-day bucket.

But there it is.

Had I one day to fit the big ones in, I would have coffee with husband, dog and two sons. All day.

That's a lifetime in a day.

Today I fit a son, a dog and a husband in a day, in a weekend, and all that's missing is my firstborn. 

There's no question that I have it all.

Makes me happy that I'm aware of it!

Don't I know it?! Sun worthy of Miami!

Getting into a 100% playful mode.

Yes, The Boy was ill and it's rare seeing him like this. Good thing it has passed.

In this fella's little life every day is the perfect day to play.

And to be indescribably cute. For sure.

Yeah: be still my dog-loving heart!!

Those soccer cards.

Big business.

Easy times.

(always a perfect time to beg, too...)

Yeah, be still, be still my heart. My over all pounding heart.

Daddy playing the fool, pretending to snuck The Boy's Saturday candy away...

Oh, it'll be a good Monday, this! 

All day I will look forward to some fun with the hubs and all day The Boy will look forward to some fun with his friend. Unbeatable.

I wish y'all a spectacular week. I'm hoping that maybe maybe I'll have some extra good treats awaiting me this week. But I still don't really know...

Take care out there!

Sunset (and hope) springs eternal!

What a wonderful world
It is truly a wonderful world, a wonderful life.
Writing this it is Sunday and I am in the weekend that I was excited about a few days ago. It is right here, right now and I am enjoying it to the fullest!

The being in the world is so intense when I give it my fullest attention, as I do now: talking to my boy, having coffee with my husband, getting grand kisses from my dog. Music in the background, Youtubing together, every now and then, showing The Boy my old favorites, laughing and hugging - THIS is exactly where it's at. My life.

I have everything I need and want (not right here but right now at least).
The times I get to feel that very emotion, I feel as if I have the meaning of life within my reach - it is as if I almost grab it and then it escapes...
I am close, though.

Life.

Yeah, I did it!

I had been wanting, for quite some time, to capture the gorgeous and fantastic sunset, that I get a glimpse of sometimes when I go home early. I then see it from the train and always think "darn it, I missed out on THAT again"...

For the upcoming weekend I had a secret mission: getting to capture the sunset! I aimed for Saturday and when I aim for something, my aim usually delivers!

So brace yourself and be prepared, here's some of the world's beautiful wonders captured by me:

(no, I couldn't choose, as usual, so I offer quite some photos...!)

As much as I hate repeating myself, it can endure being said again: what if I could be a bird, eh?!

It seems like they have an enchanting moment.

I, for one, loved the moment!

The colors a sunset brings!!

Seeing the photos (beside the warm fire, inside our house) I have no problem pretending this is Miami, right there! Being outside in "The Russian freeze" (what the papers call it), is another story...

And in this pic it's obvious: this is not Miami, not even close!

No matter where this is, it is pinch-arm-beautiful!!!

Looks like someone's feeling kinda victorious, for getting dream shots...

To die for-shots!

It is so breathtaking, I can't believe this is the town that I call home. In the middle of town!

I need absolutely nothing else, nothing else to feel fulfilled. This is soul remedy.

Filling the heart and soul up with beauty and focus is a splendid way to rest and let your hair down. Sitting here Sunday, I feel as if I have been on a vacation and I guess this awe:ing has something to do with it?

Yes, we did more fun things this weekend, that contributed, but we didn't leave town and Sunday I didn't even leave the house! Blessed Sunday of chill....

Listening to yourself is so important, when it comes to life perspectives.

Right now in my life I need weekends that make me feel as if I took a mini vacation - so be it then!

A Sunday as still as this ocean was Saturday. Thank you, sweet weekend!

Repeating myself again - well worth it though - "awe is a darn good thing"!

The marina had things under control, everything was cool.

And boats left in, stayed in...

And as the setting sun left the wonder of magic in my soul and called it a day...

... the moon took on the challenge of guarding our beautiful town during the the night.

Coming to think of it: this photo shoot is one off my every-day-bucket-list for sure!!!

With that I leave you in the good and fresh hands of the brand new week!

What might the week hold?

I really wish you a good one and keep my fingers crossed that you will all be embraced by sweetness and care. 

I hope I will too. Happy Monday!