Aug
22

Living your best life

by Sofia   -   in Random

What have you been grateful for lately? I have, as always, about some of the little things. My kids taking small but significant steps towards a little more independent life. New cookbooks to give me inspiration as our lives roll from holidays to the everyday routines. A pretty bouquet of flowers that gives me joy to no end. Some great weekends spent with friends and their families on our island and theirs.

My favourite kind of time spent with friends must be on cottages and ski cabins. Days spent together without make up and as hassle free and relaxed as possible. No fuss. Just us. Kids doing their own thing playing outside for hours. Cooking together. Having big family meals. Listening to our kids talk and wondering if they are so different from how we used to be as children and if it is a bad thing at all ( of course it´s not!).

There is nothing fancy or luxurious about our summer cottage if you do not count silence and nature as luxuries. It´s a very shabby and rural place but we love it just as such.  I do not mind the least. As life is not about competing with others for the nicer and better. It is about finding what you love and filling your life with that. Building a life that is right just for you. Doing things that make you and your family feel happy and content.

This is a subject that has been on my mind lately as we have, as a family, made some changes in our lives and as that have had to think where we want to be next. We have sold our lovely and much loved apartment and bought a new one. The apartment we currently have was always meant to be temporary but we did build it as a home to love and a home to live in. For me it´s always a little hard to say goodbye. But luckily we still get to spend the rest of the year here so I have my time to move on physically as well as mentally. Anyway, as we were pondering where life would take us next the only thing we needed to take in to consideration was our family. Us and the children. Where we wanted to be, to live next. If this was going to be our home for the unforeseeable future, luck be, then what would benefit our family most. It is a decision where you do not count other people´s opinions in. We have great friends who sold their beautiful city apartment to move closer to their kids school and friends so they did not have to spent hours a day in a car commuting. It was a fantastic choice for their family and they now have a gorgeous house where they are. In their decision they too took in to consideration what was best for them and their family. How their life would be most hassle free. More time with their children outside a car.

And it goes beyond houses. Why would we do anything or live our lives doing things for any other reason than to make our lives more enjoyable, or easier, or convenient. If we need to be closer to our parents to start taking care of them then it is a decision for our family. Or if we need to be closer to a school or friends then it´s the right decision for us. If we like to spend our holidays on a shabby cottage or if a family loves to travel easily on a package holiday it´s what they or who ever finds best for their family. I applaud everyone for doing so without thinking what others may think or feel about the change or the decision. There will always be someone wondering about your choices or second guessing them for you from their perspective. But never mind them. You know what you love and what makes you happy. It´s not like you are going to decorate your house to please others, you make it yours. To be a place that you love and cherish. The same should apply to everything. Making your choices for you and your family. Living a full life may mean skydiving for others and reading a book in the nook of a sofa for some. It´s not about doing things you don´t like feeling pressured to do it it´s about doing things you love because they give you joy. I would never find joy in jumping from a high place but I know people who do.  They would probably hate planning a child´s birthday party for longer than it takes to shop at the supermarket. We get along brilliantly. 

Aug
20

DIY crew neck sweaters

by Sofia   -   in DIY projects  Good things for kids

Well not quite the sweaters themselves but we tuned some basic sweaters with letters for the girls to personalise them a little. They turned out so nicely they got a lot of lovely comments on Instagram so I though I would share the easy tutorial. I bought the very basic pastel crew necks here. And the Liberty print monograms I have bought from Liberty of London whilst visiting there, but you can probably find cute monogram letters from any fabric store. Then it´s as easy as ironing the patch on as you probably already guessed. My kind of tutorial that is. The sweatshirts were so inexpensive that after they are small I might just cut the letters out and re-use them.

Have a great day!

Lattemamma

Aug
17

Positively negative

by Sofia   -   in Random

Do you know the kind of people that drain the life out of you with their negativity? The ones that come to a party, or a lunch date or to work and always start with how tired, unsatisfied, irritated or plain old bored of life they are. I´m not talking about people who sometimes have a bad day and feel like you are the kind of person who can cheer them up. I´m not talking about people who now and then vent about an issue or another. I´m not talking about people who sometimes feel the need to talk about another person because something is wrong or they did something that annoyed them. We all are that person sometimes. But I´m talking about the kind of people who are always leaning at least a tad to the negative radar. And often find fault in almost any situation or circumstance. I really struggle to keep those people in my life. I know it´s a whole different thing having real troubles or worries and that is not what I mean. I mean the “eat away from your positivity” kind of people.

I have noticed that some often seem super perky and happy on social media but when you see them in real life they just always start with something to complain about ( there are also those who always complain on social media as well). I sometimes wonder if they even realise it themselves. As we all know a positive mood from another person can change our day for the better. This kind of negativity is also catching. Either we start feeling low ourselves or at the very least we do not feel like being ourselves around these people on a good day as we can hear the eye rolls happening in their heads for thinking a rainy day may actually look so pretty ( just a silly example, you can stop rolling yours!).  

I was wondering how you deal with people who eat away from your mood? Do you just ignore the complaining? Do you try to change their mood for the better? Do you just cut them out of your life? What if they are colleagues and you can´t? 

On the other hand let´s talk about the fine mood we get in to when we meet people who are looking at the bright side of life. Who are enthusiastic about life or what they do. Who find the silver lining in most situations. I love being with these kind of people ( and hope that I am one of them when I´m not dead tired or having a one off bad day). The good mood is so catching. I think a lot of it has to do with being grateful for the little things and enjoying the moment. It´s about getting excited about small stuff ( doesn´t have to be rainy days!). I get so much energy from positive people! You know that person that you talk to on the phone that leaves you feeling all giddy and happy. Or the colleague you always find fun to work with and leave work feeling refreshed and excited. Even if something happens it´s worth a giggle instead of a frown. 

Let´s choose to be that person to each other. It´s ok to have bad days & sad days and larger than life worries are a whole different chapter. But on a daily bases when nothing is actually so wrong in our lives let´s try to enjoy the moment. And pass that mood on!