flower lantern

I just played around a little with my camera and a glass lantern I bought for 1 euro today

My little guy was assisting his mummy :-)

I hope you have a nice evening.

Tschüss...

(images: Nina Lamb) 

Some new things...

Last weekend I managed to do some sewing and I made two pleated skirts inspired by Emmerson Made's pocket skirt. I did end up making a mustard yellow one as well but it's not quite finished. 

I wish I had more time to sew and the piles of fabric that I want to turn into something are growing and growing. Now that I have my sewing corner set up I have the luxury of leaving everything and not having to tidy up after every time I sit down to do a little work on a project.

Do you sew at all? I hope to share a few more projects on here but fear not, Living In won't turn into a sewing blog, I have far too many other interests and things to share ;-)

I've been looking for a locket pendant for some time and was so pleased to find this perfectly round one through Bon'A Parte. I really love it but will have to eventually replace the chain as it's really thin and I worry it might break if the boys get hold of it.

My final purchase to share are some fun wooden clogs. I still remember as a little girl I used to wear my grandmother's clogs in her garden. They were way too big but I loved the sound of them on the garden path. I chose ones with a Missoni inspired pattern made by danish company Sanita (also available through Amazon). I think they are quite nostalgic with a modern twist.

Tschüss...

(images: Nina Lamb)

Holiday Home

I have had the most wonderful weekend with my family. We went for a long bike ride with the boys munching away on snacks in their trailer.

The weather has been amazing here (over 30 deg celsius) and I spent the morning at the pool with my little guy. He's a real water rat and jumps fearlessly into the pool regardless of temperature and depth. He was squealing with delight when I took him down the huge hydroslide a total of seven times.

Talking about summer, like most New Zealanders, my husband and I dream of one day owning our own seaside bach (holiday home) to escape to over the weekend. This swedish home featured in Skona Hem Magazine has the exact laid-back, beachy feel I adore.

I hope you all had a great start to the week and thank you so much for your lovely comments on my blog facelift.

Tschüss...

(images: via Sköna Hem photos by Martin Cederblad)

Simple Table Setting

Happy Friday! Sorry if you have been experiencing some downtime on my blog last night. I am working on updating a few things and I hope that you'll bear with me as I try and figure out how to change pits'n buttons. I am a bit html phobic and I am worried about doing something that would make me lose everything. Funnily enough my husband is a computer programmer but I feel a need to figure this out myself and get a sense of achievement when it's done.

Before we went on holiday I took some photos of a simple dinner setting I made using lavender from our balcony and some roses I stole picked from the neighbor's garden.

Enjoy your weekend!

Tschüss...

 (images: Nina Lamb)

Impressions from France

Hello my friends. I'm back from our holiday and want to share some impressions of the places we visited. A week is far too short to explore even a small part of France so we focused mainly on the area between Lake Geneva and Lake Annecy (in the north west). Our camper-van allowed us to travel freely and follow our noses a little. I love traveling and enjoy seeing as much as I can. I do feel a bit exhausted after this week but I have come home with a million impressions and full of new ideas. Different countries open your eyes to new things don't they?

I have a love hate relationship with the french language, even though I learnt it in school for four years I feel completely stumped when I try to speak - I am really self conscious and worry about sounding stupid so I end up speaking in english and feeling ignorant in doing so. Maybe a few more trips to France will fix my dilemma.

In case I'm not back here in the next few days - come find me in the laundry. Our pile of washing is epic and at the rate in which clothing is drying on our line - it'll take me days to get through it. The joys of coming home :-)

Tschüss...

(images: Nina Lamb)

France here we come!

I just wanted to wish you all a happy weekend and let you know that I won't be around for a little while. We are going on a 10 day holiday to the French Alps. I am super excited as we will be hiring a camper-van and following our noses. The only place on our list so far as a must see is Annecy, have any of you been there? It sounds like a lovely historic town on the shores of a lake surrounded by mountains. 

Tschüss and bye for now...

Rut Karadottir's Home

The last thing I should be doing right now is drooling over beautiful interiors when my own house is beyond chaos. Things have been pretty hectic around here with my husband away on business (again) and me trying to prepare for our holiday next week and coping with a persistent toothache. The boys seem to sense my moment of weakness as Oscar "painted" the carpet with his crayons and Alexander threw a pile of folded towels into the bath water - never a dull moment. 

Anyway, I (hopefully) have another hour of 'me time' while the boys have their midday sleep and I want to take you on a little tour of Interior Designer Rut Karadottir's home. She's studied and worked in Italy before returning to Iceland in 1997 to set up her own firm. I like how contemporary yet warm and inviting her home feels. 

I hope you are having a great day and I will be back with another post later this week. Hopefully with some of my finished sewing projects - ready to take on holiday.

Tschüss...

(images: via bo bedre photographer: Trine Thorsen)

Stripe Mania

I thought it would be fun to take part in Holly Becker's stripe mania party: Bloggers wearing stripes.

It's a fun way to get to know other bloggers a little more, we know each other virtually but we wouldn't necessarily recognise one another on the street. 

Her's my photo:

There's also a little story to this outfit that I wore to a friend's wedding. I had spend weeks making a silk one shoulder dress for the occasion and when it was finally fished the day before the wedding I didn't want to wear it - I couldn't put my finger on it but it just didn't feel right. You know the feeling :-) Well, in my despair I decided to make this black & white skirt out of some IKEA fabric I had left over. I ended up finishing the hem and closure in the car on the way to the venue - that's me haha. 

Outfit breakdown:

Skirt: made by me using IKEA fabric

Top: H&M

Headpiece: Zara

Bracelet: Gift from my very stylish mother-in-law

I would love it if you took part as well. Go Stripe Mania!

Tschüss....

German Cherry Crumble Cake

I have just finished making my grandmother's cherry crumble cake (to take to a friend for german Kaffee und Kuchen) and thought I'd use it as a model to try out my new camera lens. If you feel like making one yourself, I have included the recipe below. It is super easy - even for a hopeless baker like me :-)

Here's what you do: Mix the yeast with half the flour (200g) and the warm milk. 

Leave covered for about half an hour. 

Then add the rest of the ingredients and knead 

the dough so it has a nice elastic consistency. 

Leave to rest for another 30 minutes and roll it out on a large tray. 

Cover it with the cherries. 

Now mix the ingredients for the crumble and add on top. 

Leave everything to rise again for 30-60 minutes 

(depending on your room temperature).

Bake at 200 degrees celsius for 30 minutes or until the top has a nice colour.

This same recipe works really well with apples too. Just replace the cherries 

with about 1 1/2 kg of sliced apples.

Best eaten with lots of whipped cream!

Enjoy!

(images: Nina Lamb)