hej . hello

February.
Moa's "hej" from Sweden for each week of February is on the left.
My "hello" is on the right.

Think we needed a few more flowers?
=)

hej . hello

Lest you think otherwise, my friend Moa and I have continued to photograph our weeks.  

A quick refresher:  Moa lives in Sweden and I live in Minnesota.  We met many many moons ago on Flickr and after enjoying each other view on our surroundings and the things that make us happy, realizing we had many likes in common, and after pretty much swooning over each other's Flickr stream for forever and becoming fast friends, we decided to try a weekly project together.  That first project, was called Two Girls, Two Postcards.  The next time we joined forces we shared Our Year of Photos, and last year we were at it again with The Weekly Holiday.

This year our lives (like I'm sure of everyone) have become increasingly busy and stressful, but we have found through it all that taking a moment for ourselves to look at a the underside of a leaf or the arrangement of our snack on the table, makes us stop and calm and feel good.  We might not have the time or the energy for a lot, but we do have a few minutes to say "hello" or in Moa's case "hej" to one another.  And really we are also saying it to our cameras.  They are our very good friends and co-conspirators in life.  Once you see the world through a camera, I find it best to never let that relationship fall by the wayside for too long.  Just as you would with any friendship.

Here are our Hej and Hello's for January.
(Moa's being on the left and mine on the right.)

Thanks for visiting!  See you again with February!

January

January.
Polar Vortex.
A birthday bubble bath.  A birthday cactus garden and lots of birthday champagne.
We wore lots of layers and began our wishful thinking of spring with flowers.
Kid is a little obsessed with apps but thankfully keeps his books quite handy.  I dove into a book again myself.  Might never come out.
Cabin trip, basketball night.  I'm so lucky to have kindred spirits.
A surprise party and a goodbye.  Life is beautiful, confusing, heartbreaking, hilarious, and just plain never-ending.
 

 

Blue room, in January.

Just some snaps from around here lately.  The air plant ornament has promptly begun to die.  But other than that things are good.  Another year, another Rifle Paper Co. calendar...

Reviewing December

What I will always remember from this December...

Letting the little boy run through the snow and stop to eat it when we really should have been getting in the car.

The day we had the greenhouse to ourselves, and while we were warm and Christmas songs played, he ran up and down the aisles among hundreds of poinsettias.

Taking the Jeep for one last ride as a family to get our first real Christmas tree.

The realization that Sorels are the best thing on the planet, in Minnesota, in the snow.

Downtown St. Paul at night, while wearing a party dress and fascinator.

How gorgeous the snowy trees along the lake on the parkway look in the morning.  Making you slow down and enjoy being up and on the road for another day.

Having the house full of laughing friends and being so thankful we have each other.

Doing another wintery weekend trip up north.



Review our whole instagramed year here.

Home

Some serious winter chill.
Home from the holiday travels.
The paperwhites bloomed while we were gone.
Happy to be hibernating with my boy on this freezing-snow falling-trapped in the house amongst the perfume of flowers-day.

The Weekly Holiday: week 52

Another week 52 has arrived for Moa and I!  Another year of sending each other a photo each week.  This final week of The Weekly Holiday contains my view of the lake from the windows of my aunt and uncle's cabin in northern Minnesota.  Moa's photo is of the twinkle lights glowing through the windows of a little decorative house.  (As I typed that I realized once again our photos have something in common.  Those are the lovely surprises that make me smile every week.)

We are brainstorming what to do next, but in the meantime, I want to thank Moa for another great year of emails and photos and friendship.  From my camera, to hers all the way in Sweden, after meeting on Flickr over 6 years ago (I think, math involving years trips me up every time) we've seen each other's lives and kept each other shooting.  I can't wait to see where we go from here!

Goodbye 2013!  And cheers to The Weekly Holiday!   

The Weekly Holiday: week 51

This week is a fave of mine, to be sure.  =)

(I'm trying to make a bouquet of baby's breath trendy.  It's appearance is all light and airy like a snow fall.  The smell however, something to get used to...)

The Weekly Holiday: week 50

Pssst.... Christmas is coming!

The Weekly Holiday: week 49

I brightened last week with some glittery holiday decorations, Moa brightened it with tulips.  Hope your week was just as cheery, if not more.  Just as long as it's not as COLD as it's been both in Sweden and here in Minnesota, you should be good.  =)

Reviewing November

A steady shower of orange and yellow leaves.  Driving along the river.  Lunch dates in the car.  Farmers' market in the greenhouse.  Sweaters and hats.  Running here and there.  We hold hands and move our feet as fast as we can.  Babe had his first ear infection and fell asleep at school.  Getting yard work done before it (as it) snowed.  So many errands, so little time.  A few more walks.  The month (each week) went so fast.  We ended it with a holiday road trip, out to where you can see the whole sky, and where grandmas and grandpas want to cuddle little boys to sleep.