around here | december
- on: December 10, 2015
- By Gabi
- theme: aromatherapy | essential oils, around here, family life, photography
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Getting into the Christmas mood over here. I love love this time of the year!
Improvising during challenging times. This year the weather has been crazy and we are getting one storm after another followed by power outages. The longest power outage so far lasted over 15 hours. We were ready to prepare dough for our gingerbread cookies when the power went out so we put running head lamps on and did it anyway. One has to think outside the box sometimes.
Celebrating that our Christmas cactus has blooms! Last year we didn’t get any so it makes me double happy that it has decided to bloom this year.
Switching to a greener way of living. I’m on a journey to transform our household to greener and more healthier one. Last week I said goodbye to dryer sheets and said hello to these wool balls. I put a few drops of an essential oil on them and add them to the laundry. Simple and effective. These balls should also shorten the drying cycle.
I also made homemade foam soaps and air sprays using essential oils. I’m loving the smell and also the fact that there are no chemicals in them and those are safe to use every single day. We are also diffusing the oils daily using this diffuser from Young Living. I grabbed it when it was on sale two weeks ago and loving it! I can’t wait to get the second one with my starter kit for Christmas. Kids are already fighting over who is going to have it in their room overnight. Once we get the second one, this problem will be over.
Baking my grandma’s gingerbread cookies. We use the same recipe every single year and they always turn out so delicious!
Opening our advent calendars every day. Kids can’t wait each morning to discover what’s hidden in their Lego calendars and I love tasting new teas every day.
Getting excited about my next professional step. Only four more sleeps until my new job starts. Can’t wait!
Soaking up the little moments this beautiful season is bringing to us. Taking it slowly one day at the time. Enjoying the little stuff. Making new friends, reconnecting with the “old” ones.
Bring on the magic!
Leave a comment...around here. right now.
- on: July 13, 2015
- By Gabi
- theme: around here, self care
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Right now I am…
Listening to kids screaming upstairs. They love each other one minute and in a split of a second they fight each other. The never-ending circle of sibling-hood.
Feeling overwhelmed and confused. I’ve lost my job last week and right now I need to figure out what is the next step for my career. I have a rough idea but don’t know how to get there.
Reading Chasing Grace and photography tutorials.
Planning our family’s mini staycation. We supposed to go away but due to the wildfires we cancelled and will be exploring new places locally.
Training for my upcoming biking race (87km) which will take a place this Sunday.
Practicing patience. Being suddenly stay-at-home mom with two kiddos and one active dog during the summer months brings not just a lot of joy but also a lot of conflict resolving and day to day schedules planning.
Choosing living in the moment, being more patient and family above everything.
This post by Kelly Rae Roberts is a perfect lesson about ourselves. Exactly what I needed to read at this moment.
Leave a comment...documenting the everyday | project life
- on: July 03, 2015
- By Gabi
- theme: memory keeping, project life
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It’s been months (almost a year!) since I’ve done anything project life related. As sad as it is, I guess life just happens and I didn’t have time to document it. But I really missed it. The creative process, the finished pages capturing our daily life. I love going through the old pages with kids and bringing the memories back. The time has come and I set a goal for myself to get back to memory keeping.
My friend Harmony has decided to jump back into the creative life as well so we support each other this way. I really admire her determination as she is catching up with old spreads. I don’t think I will be able time-wise to go back and finish all the missing pages. For now I’m happy with just capturing the right now.
I’ve started fresh last week with the start of summer. Here is my first double spread capturing the last two weeks (well, two weekends to be exact).
I’ve been a huge fan of Liz’s work (also known as) Paislee Press for years. I love the look of her minimalistic designs and have been using her digital products since my early years of digital scrapbooking. My favorite paper project life kit is also from her – Midnight sun (the yellow and black filler cards). Lately I love using her digital templates which are easy to use and look amazing while printed out. I love that I can put several photos into one 4×6 inch photograph in seconds, print it out and be done with it. And the best part is that those can be used over and over again.
I also used old stash of cards from various sources (Studio Calico kits), printed out out some digital cards etc. I’ve fallen in love with acrylic stamps lately; I think the once used on this spread are by Elise and Kelly.
I’m really hoping that this time I will stick with it and continue documenting our everyday.
Leave a comment...around here
- on: June 08, 2015
- By Gabi
- theme: around here, everyday life, family life
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Here are a few things happening around here lately:
1. Anything soccer. Patrik is living and breathing soccer for the last couple of days and isn’t talking about anything else than soccer players.
2. We’ve got some very hot, hot days. The weather is insanely warm and I can’t honestly wait till it cools downs. I’m not a hot weather person. The worst are the nights when it is so warm outside that even having all windows open doesn’t help to cool the house down.
3. We’ve got our patio cover up so we can finally enjoy eating outside. It is my favorite part of every summer.
4. I finished a book last week. I don’t remember when was the last time I finished one (probably months and months ago). The book I read is called Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center. I requested the book in our library a few months ago and finally I was on the top and able to pick it up. I read it within a few days and really liked it. I read all Katherine’s books, this one might be my most favorite so far.
5. Ivo is training for a mountain bike race, his first one. I hope everything will go smoothly and without injuries.
6. Both kids are counting days until their summer break. This summer will be challenging as we need to figure out camps and activities for them which we didn’t have to deal with in the past.
7. Ace is 10.5 months old now. He is still a crazy puppy but also a lot of fun to be around. We did an overnight road trip with him to Whistler and I was pleasantly surprised how well he did.
8. We are harvesting our first strawberries (Ace already discovered them as well…) and red currant from our backyard. I can’t wait for our tomatoes to be ready.
9. Loving this song lately. It’s different, and that’s probably why I like it.
10. There is nothing better like having an amazing people in your life. I’m so thankful to be surrounded by women I can trust, laugh with them, bike with them and share joy and a glass of wine with.
11. Around here life is happening. One day at a time. Exactly the way how we like it.
Leave a comment...around here
- on: February 07, 2015
- By Gabi
- theme: around here, family life, photography
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around here there is still a lot of playing with Lego
around here we stay connected with our loved ones on regular basis
around here we keep on cooking our favorite grandma’s recipes
around here we learn patience and how to stay calm
around here we relax together
around here we show love and give hugs
around here we explore new places
around here we try new things and learn new skills
around here we celebrate B-days
around here we also celebrate friendships and big Canadian milestones
around here we deal with big challenges and the ups and downs of everyday life
around here we are not afraid to get wet and dirty
around here we enjoy every single day to the fullest.
Leave a comment...around here
- on: October 15, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: around here, family life
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KATRIN
- enjoys her swimming practices. I went to watch her swim last week and was in awe about her awesome style. She looks so elegant while swimming. And this girl is FAST!
- loves having her puppy at home even though he bites like crazy when he gets into “his mood”
- had her first sleepover last weekend with her friends. They stayed up till 3am! I couldn’t believe when I heard that she lasted so long
- loves to play with her iPod
PATRIK
- is totally crazy about cars! He tells us all the maximum speeds each car can reach and many more details. He knows so much about them
- Need for speed. His favorite right now. And photography which makes my heart sing
- his biking season is slowly getting to the end. Currently he is doing cyclocross and is really good at it
- is so good with all kinds of technology. Definitely kid of the 21st century
IVO
- is training for a marathon which is coming up in just 2.5 weeks
- the tri-season is over so he is putting more time into programming once again
- he is mostly in charge in training Ace as he spends the most time of the day with him. I love to see both of them together
GABI
- so much to do. not enough time…
- trying to get back to the kitchen and experiment more when time permits
- fighting the lack of sleep thanks to our little four-legged buddy. But it is worth it
- feeling that it’s time to get back to crafting but struggling with the time issues
- loving the everyday walks with Ace. It is such a great way to stretch my body after sitting the whole day at work
ACE
- is 11 weeks now and definitely a very active puppy
- loves to chew on everything and his favorite activity is biting us on every single occasion (oh my, the teething is worse than with kids)
- is dealing with worms at the moment. Hopefully the worst is behind us
- he is the best welcoming buddy. for sure. I love coming home to his wiggling tail and puppy kisses
It seems fall has officially started. The skies are gray and we are getting more and more rain. I’m so grateful for the long Indian summer we had this year.
Our hands are definitely full right now. It seems it’s our way of life.
We get through one day at a time.
Life is good.
Leave a comment...currently
- on: August 17, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: around here, everyday life
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The summer has been flying by so fast! The days are getting shorter and it’s getting dark outside so early. But I don’t mind, I love the end of summer | beginning of fall. Here is what we have been up to in the last couple of days.
Currently we are enjoying the everyday little moments to the fullest.
Hope you do the same thing.
Life is good.
Leave a comment...
project life – august
- on: August 10, 2014
- By Gabi
- theme: family life, memory keeping, project life
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So, it’s official. My first PL spread after months of hiatus is finished. I’ve jumped right in into August. I’ve decided that I’m not going to stress out about getting back and finishing everything before starting fresh. If I have time, I will go back and if not, I’m totally ok with it. This project is mine and there are no rules so I’m not going to freak out and just let the “how it supposed to be” go.
We started August with traveling down to the states for Patrik’s cycling race. It was two days event full of excited kids and youth who share love for cycling.
On the second day after the race we did a little bit of exploring of Seattle’s downtown. Good times!
It feels good to be back in documenting our lives. I don’t plan to do spread every week, my plan is to highlight the “best” moments of our everyday life in the certain month. It can be a lot of photos from one day and then nothing for a week or maybe it will be more often. I’m not sure yet. I will go with the flow and enjoy the process.
Products used: Paislee Press @ the-lilypad – photo templates no.3, Presscards No.25, Studio Calico – July kit – Penny Arcade, Amy Tan – alphabet stamps, Thickers by American Crafts, Seafoam PL edition by Elise Cripe
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