Our new home

As you know, F and I bought a house a week and a half ago and we're very excited about it. We thought it would take quite a long time to find something we'd both like, but after two weekends of house viewings we found a house where we both felt that this is a future home. We actually took part in the bidding for another house in the same street first, but we never got it. We loved the area in Skarpäng, Täby so much and realized that there was another similar house that had been up for sale for quite some time. The seller hadn't got it sold the first time around so we thought perhaps we could get a good deal. F rang the estate agent and organized a pre-viewing of the house. It was what we thought it'd be like and we even liked the layout better than the layout in the other house. After a bit of consideration we put a bid on it. The seller didn't accept that bid but we only had to give a tiny bit more in order to seal the deal. Happy days!

The bathrooms are in good condition but we're probably gonna fix most surfaces like paint the walls, paint the ceilings, put up wallpaper and put in new floors. We're also gonna build a new kitchen in time but I guess it won't be until the summer. There are three floors and we're gonna try to fix all three bedrooms upstairs before we move in. We get the keys on the 30th of November and I can't wait. It will be a great home for our little family :)

On Thursday we've organized for a house inspection, the seller has already had that done but we want to do our own as well to be on the safe side. Fingers crossed it'll go well. Below you can see some "before pictures" of the house.

6 weeks to go

What a great weekend we've had, no plans and no pressure. Except for a trip to Mio, I've done absolutely nothing but chill out at home and I needed it. Today myself and my baby have cleaned up to make the apartment ready for the photo session tomorrow morning. I hope the photos will turn out really nice.

We've also taken some photographs of my belly and our little miracle today. We first thought about booking a professional photographer but then we thought we'd try out taking some pictures at home. There are only 6 weeks to go now and 4 weeks left in work. I'm getting both nervous and excited about giving birth, it's scary but at the same time I'm trying to convince myself that I'm strong and that I can do it. I'm dying to meet our little girl now, I can't stop wondering what she'll be like. She's very welcome to our family anyway, but I'm not ready yet so she'll have to be calm and stay inside for another little while ;)

Mango favourites

Below you can find three of my favorites from Mango right now, I get serious cravings!

Today is Saturday but I woke up early as I tend to do all the time now. We don't have any plans for the weekend other than that we have to clean up the apartment. A photographer will come here on Monday to take pictures of the apartment as we now have to put it up for sale. I hope everything goes well and that F gets what he wants for it. Have a lovely Saturday everyone!

7 weeks to go

So, I've come to the end of week 33 and that means I've only 7 weeks to go - 7 weeks!! I've been feeling fine the whole time but lately I'm getting heavier (even though everybody says I'm so neat) and I don't have as much energy as I used to. I get tired very easily, physically I mean, so it's important to rest when I get the time. Unfortunately there has been a lot going on lately (good things though :)) but I'm hoping that it'll all calm down very soon. Thank God I have my yoga on Mondays, I love going to these sessions and we're going through a lot of different relaxation techniques and poses. It calms your body and mind and I feel like a new person every time I'm walking out of there.

Summer / Holiday memory

The scrapbooking kit August challenge for Molly's Scrapbooking was to create something with the theme SUMMER and to pick a holiday memory. I chose to create a layout with two photos from when myself and F went to Hotel J by boat (F's boat that is now sold :() to have dinner at Restaurant J and to stay the night. It was my anniversary present for my darling. It was such a lovely day and one of the warmest days of this summer actually. We had such a lovely time and enjoyed each other's company while having a gorgeous dinner. This is definitely one of the nights I'll remember from this summer :)

Magic Mike

Last night myself, Micaela, Petra and Jessica from work had decided to go to the cinema to see Magic Mike. We went to Vigårda for a bite to eat first, then we had a cup of coffee at Espresso House before we got some sweets for the film. It was a lovely evening and I enjoyed watching the film as well, Channing Tatum is a bit of a favourite :) Didn't get home until late last night, don't think I went to bed until 1:00 am. Needless to say I'm tired today, better head to bed soon ;)

Shopping and house hunting

What is it with the weekends, they're just flying by. I've just realised that I've only got 6 more weeks to go before I'm going on maternity leave, it's a strange but lovely feeling :) There are 8 weeks left until my due date 21st of October, I'm nervous but I'm also really looking forward to it - exciting times ahead!

Yesterday Fredrik helped Maria & Marcus to paint the rooms in their new apartment in Sundbyberg. I love the fact that they'll be so close to us until we find a house to move to :) While they were all painting, I went into town to get a few things. I wasn't there for that long and when I came back I went over to check up on the progress. Of course I brought some cookies and vanilla buns as I figured they needed some energy to keep going ;) We all had dinner together at the local pizzeria last night.

Today F and I have been house hunting. We went to view three different houses in Täby, two in Visinge and one in Skarpäng. I fell in love with the one in Skarpäng but I'm afraid that it's going to be too expensive. We'll see how the bidding goes during the week, keep your fingers crossed because we're definitely gonna give it a go.

In between the viewings we went to Täby Centrum for lunch and I bought a coat that I've been looking at in MQ. I got a 20% discount which was great, looking forward to wearing it!

Sweaters

Sitting in the couch chilling out after a swimming session tonight. I went to the swimming pool that they have here in Sundbyberg after work, it's actually only a few hundred metres away from where we live. I swam for abut 40 mins and I love the fact that you're weightless in the water. Because when you're pregnant you're definitely not weightless above the surface ;) Anyway it was so relaxing and I think I'm gonna continue with the swimming at least once a week, for as long as I can manage.

Browsing through the web shops - as you do ;) - and found some nice sweaters in Gina Tricot's web shop. They're really nice with lovely little details and look so comfy :)

Vanilla buns

Today I made some vanilla buns and followed Ingrid's vanilla buns recipe as that is my favourite :)

Ingredients:

Dough
150 g butter
5 cups of milk
50 g fresh yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom
13 cups of flour, 12 + 1 cup

Filling
100 g butter
6 tsp of sugar
3 tsp vanilla powder

Brushing
1 egg
2 tsp pearl sugar

How to do it
First melt the butter in a saucepan, add milk and heat to 37 °. Place the yeast in a bowl and then pour some of the liquid over it so that it dissolves. Add the remaining liquid, salt, sugar and cardamom. Add the flour and work it to a smooth dough. Let rise underneath a tea towel for about 40 minutes.

After the dough has risen, roll and stretch half of the dough on a floured surface into approximately a 40 x 25-cm rectangle. Do the same with the other half. Mix the filling and spread it on each of the sheets of dough. Form into two rolls and then cut the rolls to make about 12-15 buns out of each roll. Place the buns in paper baking cups on a tray. Then cover with tea towel and let buns rise for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 250 °.

Beat the egg and brush it lightly on the buns. Sprinkle with pearl sugar and bake the buns in the middle of the oven for 8-10 mins. Let cool for a while before you serve them. Enjoy!

Crayfish party

Saturday night F and I were invited to Kim & Lisa for a crayfish party. My brother was there as well. I was so looking forward to it as I absolutely love crayfish and don't get to eat it that often. Kim & Lisa had organized it so well with decorations, hats and other food that we all enjoyed together. It's tradition to drink snaps and sing Swedish snaps songs and they had printed out a lot of these songs for us to sing as well. I couldn't drink of course and buying alcohol free snaps wasn't so tempting but I sang with them as loud as I could ;)

We had so much fun together and I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard! I love spending time with these guys because we always have a good time. Thanks for a lovely evening, I hope we get to do something similar soon again!

Time for scrapbooking again

Yesterday, myself and F had a relaxing day - we didn't do anything in particular except going down to the supermarket to buy some crayfish for last night's party that we were invited to. It was so relaxing and I finally took time to do some scrapbooking again. I found a lovely photo of my brother taken at Arlanda airport about 10 years ago when he was doing the compulsory national/military service.

I used a kit from Mollys scrapbooking with material from Bo-Bunny's back to backs. Hopefully I'll have the time to continue doing some more layouts soon again because I really enjoyed it. The sketch (from Svensk Scrapbooking - August challenge) and my interpretation of it you can see below:

Happy

Today has been a great day, I'm in a good mood and feeling positive about everything. I love days like this. Early this morning it was time for a check up at Sundbybergs barnmorskemottagning. The baby is healthy, it's always lovely to hear her heart beat and she seems to be growing just as much as she should. I'm also still feeling great and the blood pressure and sugar level was fine. She didn't check iron levels or weight this time (I don't like standing on the scales any longer ;)).

On top of this, I'm currently in the process of selling my apartment and the bidding is going on as we speak. We have taken a break until tomorrow morning, but it seems like I'm getting more than my asking price and I'm so happy about that after all the work with re-renovating the bathroom and having to wait with the sale. Hopefully we'll be able to seal the deal very soon snd then F and I can start looking for a house!

Tonight I've been cleaning up in the apartment and now I'm watching the olympic games before I'm heading to bed. Below you can see some of the photos of my apartment, it will be sad to leave it behind because I really liked my apartment in Ulvsunda but I'm so looking forward to buying a new place with my darling that I hope we'll be able to find in the near future.

The Vow

Last night myself and my baby decided to go out for dinner, we went to a local restaurant in Sundbyberg called Bra Mat which is a fish restaurant. We both had a lovely bouillabaisse with salmon, hake, prawns and clams and we could sit outside while enjoying it.

Afterwards we walked home and watched a film called The Vow with Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. It was a really good film and even F seemed to like it. I recommend it!

Autumn favourites

If I could, I'd probably dress like this when it gets colder again and it's time to wear some autumn clothes.

Today's fashion pick: Jacket Gina Tricot, Shoes Zara, Bag Proenza Shouler, T-shirt H&M, Jeans Bikbok (Kick dark)

Baking bread

The other day when I went into town I found a book at Designtorget called Bröd hemma. I really like baking my own bread and especially now when I have my kitchenaid machine at home, it makes it so much easier :) I fell for this book as there were so many nice recipes of different kinds of bread so I bought it. Hopefully I'll find the time to try it out soon, will let you know the result!