AT SEA- FASHION: THE PIER DRESS

  Here is the newest addition to my holiday at sea collection, a black and grey striped dress. Until now everything in the collection has been more or less blue. So this is a nice change, and it goes especially well on cloudy days.

Inspired by the weathered pier at our summer cabin, I designed this dress to be a dream to wear on holidays. Easy, stretchy, care-free, non-wrinkling, and most of all comfortable. Mission accomplished!

Two rules of dressing while vacationing at the cabin: 1. no makeup, 2. no bra. Hail freedom!  =)

I love the look of weathered old wood. These planks have taken the sun, storms, and frost since 1995. Beautiful.

A lazy day is a (rare) treat well earned...

The fabric is wonderfully soft, light, and literally feels like I´m not wearing anything at all.

Simple joys of life.

The fabric was stretchy also lengthwise, so it stretched the neckhole too big for my conservative taste. So I added a slab of scratch fabric underneath (to keep my ribcage, not cleavage =), from showing). It looked too plain as it was, so I dug through my storages and found this satin ribbon. It adds a vintage touch somehow, and completes the otherwise simple look.

An old lantern I found from the shed behind the cabin. I like to sprinkle little vintage details around to create a special spirit to the place.

Happy (and lazy) days!

FREEDOM FASHION: THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS

  The classic of all times: a little black dress. This one is not for fancy coctail parties, but rather for everyday wear. When worn with minimalistic golden earrings, it is very casual, but when loaded with fake gold jewelry like I did for this photoshoot, it goes well even for a night on town!

Since I´m so in love with the shape and wearability of this dress, I made one more with the same pattern (like so many other dresses this year  =).

The fabric is not entirely black, it has dark grey abstract and messy stripe-like rows running accross it. And that is the reason why I chose it. The print makes the whole more interesting, without drawing pretty much any attention to it. And it is more careless to wear. You know how well even a single blonde string of hair shows on plain black. But not on this baby!

At this point of year I want to show my natural tan and freckles. They are what give me the ultimate summer-look. Thus I want to keep the makeup natural, even when going out to town. Here I only applied very light and see-through finishing powder on my skin, to keep it matte. The eyes are lined with a black liner, and a peachy blush and lipgloss add the final touches. 

I was at my sister´s and, among other things, we went to taste Italian ice creams on a promenade terrace. I tried out cardamom and pistachio flavoured treats.

Hmm... tasting, tasting...

Yay! Excellent! Awesome! Very sweet and not too fatty. Too bad the cup was so small. =)

Moving on, by foot. I love strolling by the canal on a light and warm summer evening. I wish it could be summer year-round!

  In my sabbat-related wardrobes black is only used in Samhain Collection. But black is the basic color in my Freedom Collection, along with denim, grey, and white. This dress is the first black piece, and I must admit, it is a pleasure wearing it. So easy and care-free. Didn´t even have to worry about ice cream dripping on it!

FROGS RULE!

  Frogs possess an unexplained cuteness to them! I know my mom doesn´t understand that, but I have just loved frogs as long as I can remember. Even as a little girl, at about 5 or 6, I collected frogs into my little bucket I carried around with me in the forest. I liked to think they were my pets, watched what they were doing for a while, and then let them go back into the wild of course.
  Even today I have the deepest sympathies for frogs, and always am careful not to step or drive on them, or cause harm in any way.

  Now it is the time of year when baby frogs crawl up from the ponds and streams, and find their way to the big world. Here is one cutie I saw today:

This little fellow is smaller than a raspberry!

  Simply seeing this adorable baby toad made my day a little brighter. It is the little things in life... =)

DETOX MORNING DRINK

  Sometimes I just crave green drinks. The urge comes and goes, but I interperate it as my body´s way of telling me it is time to take it a little lighter for a while. As my body is my temple - my home - I need to respect it´s needs.

  Here is what I had for breakfast the other day:

A large plateful of veggies...

... blended into a smooth green drink. It is amazing how much greens fit into a 1/2 liter pint!

The recipe for "Triple Green Juice" (serves 2) :

3 cups chopped fresh kale
1/2 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 seedless cucumber, chopped
1 carrot, chopped, or 1 apple cut into 4 pieces

+  Place all ingredients in a juicer and squeeze, or puree in a blender with a little spring water.

   I did not have kale, so I used lettuces and some wild edible greens from the garden instead.
  The taste was definitely healthy and surprisingly  pleasant! Another positive surprise was to find out that I did not become hungry until three hours later, only a little before lunch time anyway.

  The inspiration overall, and then the recipe above, came from Mayumi Nishimura´s book, Mayumi´s Kitchen, which I bought recently. She introduces a loose approach to macrobiotism, petit macro. That seems like an easier path into the somewhat confusing world of macrobiotic eating and lifestyle. I´m very excited about the world petit macro opens the door to!

AT SEA- FASHION: BLUE SWIMSUIT

  My husband thinks my store-bought swimsuit is grandma-like and makes me look horrible... Well at least he´s being frank and honest!
  Regular swimsuits make me look out of proportion and fat even. What is a girl to do but try and make one herself? Here is my first attempt:

I adore swimsuits with a little hem attached to them! So naturally I wanted to try it here too. It is unbelievable how versatile the pattern I used to make this swimsuit with is! It is the same "old" tunic pattern I have used to make for example the Cottage Look or the Bunny.

There is a hidden secret to this; it doesn´t include anything to go to the bottom. In order to save time, not to mention effort, I just grabbed my old bikini bottom and wear it underneath the swimsuit. It doesn´t show unless I bend down really low or sit cross-legged. And besides, the bikini bottom is also blue, so probably nobody would notice anything.

This reminds me of the ancient swimsuits they wore back in the 1930´s. But of course mine is made of modern fast-drying fabric instead of cotton.

Fun and play is what this garment is ideal for!

I like to cover myself up from too much sun exposure. I don´t burn so easily, but it has happened, so I try to avoid ever having to feel that again.

  Somehow it feels actually easier to dip into the water with a one-piece swimsuit on, instead of a two-piece. But in any case, enjoying the summer is the key, whether in or out of water!

HOLIDAY AT SEA

  A little humble cabin on a small island  is where I find peace of mind. Our own secret hideaway, beyond public roads, bridges, even ferries. The only way to get there is by a private boat.
  That is the place we bought a couple of years ago. A place I originally hoped and dreamed of getting about fourty years from now, right before retiring. But oops, we did it this early! All the more fun, now we can enjoy awesome holidays at sea with our kids while they are still small. A shared fun is a double fun, as they say.

  Here is a collage of one of our trips this summer:

It all starts with a three-hour road trip.

I keep snacks at hand to prevent me from falling asleep while driving. No, I did not eat them all...

Then there is the 15-minute boat trip.

I can nearly smell the sea just by looking at this picture. Lovely!

This is the sight I wake up to. The cabin itself is old and needs to be fixed in the upcoming years, but who cares when it is located like this! I´m so in love with the sea.

Terns are waking up to a new day with me. They are beautiful birds, but they poop on our pier...

Red-breasted mergansers also inhabit these waters.

I got a moment of peace when the boys went fishing, and our one-year-old took a nap at the same time. As a stay-at-home mom I can dearly appreciate and enjoy moments of absolute solitude. Here I´m reading a macrobiotic cookbook.

Although "our" island is small and rocky, and rather barren I might say,  nature´s flowers still find a way to grow and beautify our life there.

Sauna is a must every evening, and after that I got acquainted with some whiskey and cola. Actually I prefer rum with cola, but this whiskey my husband got as a present, and I´d hate to waste it...

Every day ends at watching the sunset.

Although I´ve seen it so many times, this sight keeps taking my breath away!

    Having a "second home" (without any amenities or anything luxurious) suits our family´s needs of getting away every now and then. We have our paradise only three hours away from our home, and we can go there weekly if we want.
  It is not easy to travel the world with a kid who has severe multiple food allergies, and now the diabetes as an additional challenge. Plus overall I bow to people who limit their flying to the minimum for the sake of our planet. We are definitely doing our share. =)
  This secret hideaway place gives us the feeling of total freedom, detached from the "real world" back in main land. It is a place for family, fun, summer, relaxation, and always a happy holiday!

PURE HOME- FASHION: BROWN BEAUTY- DRESS

  Need is the reason I made this dress. I´ve been totally lost while my favorite Cozy Rosy Dress has been in the wash... But no more! Brown beauty to the rescue:

Hay fields are slowly turning yellow, as Lughnasadh approaches. The Brown Beauty Dress suits particularly well this season, although in it´s neutrality, it can be worn year-round.

I love the color: greyish cool brown. I can see myself wearing this like all the time! And it is so comfortable it could be a nightgown. (But I will take it off for bedtime =).

The viscose jersey fabric is so stretchy that the neckhole ended up a little large... So it opened a great opportunity to use a vintage lace shirt, I once got from a co-worker (who again had gotten it from her grandmother), to make it less revealing. I cut a piece of the original neckline of the lace shirt, and placed it under the dress. Now I can walk around decent! The lace looked so nice, that I wanted to add a little more to it. Luckily I found a few crochet flowers from my stash to hand-sew onto the dress. Now I think they complement each other, and it looks nicely finished.

The sun was still rising when the photoshoot took place.

Ta-daa! I made a mini-bolero-like detachable sleeves of the same fabric to keep me warm on these chilly mornings and nights. Since the sleeves are made of the exact same material, they don´t stand out as they would otherwise. At a glance this looks like a long-sleeved dress.

In the back the bolero gives a little more volume to my shoulders, and narrows the waistline. Who wouldn´t like that?

Luckily I´m not allergic to hay pollen!

A close-up of the fabric. This type of pattern reminds me of the 80´s. I´m not particularly fan of the style in that era, but in this dress the pattern works well, and brings to mind grandma-style rather than the eighties. And I´m just fabulous enough to wear grandma-style without looking ancient, right (but let´s not ask my husband =) ?!

Since this is home wear, no makeup is included. I believe skin needs it´s rest, and I never wear makeup at home. (In pictures it looks really bland, but hey, that´s just me!)