The Mindful project day#32

Hello,

The Mindful Project day#32

My Wednesday morning routine!

Every Wednesday I go to our local, regular market to buy veggies/fruits and etc. Its a good break of my week as I am still unemployed. It fells good to see lots of people and interact with the venders.

After the market I always check one of our local thrifty shops in search of good deals. Today I bough two wood boxes for 0,50 euros each!!! a bargain!! as there original price was 2,99 euros!!

 This beautiful orchid was a housewarming gift from one of my sisters-in-law and her boyfriend, I love it and fits very well with our living room (including our green-lime vintage cabinet)

 

My original idea was to use them to store our CDs (we don't have much) but they don't fit as I wanted in our Ikea Billy bookcase.

 

Maybe I will use it in our kitchen which has very little storage place. We have a kitchen-island from IKEA made-off the same time of wood. Above it my husband placed two shelves to store our glass

storage containers (that I adore!! I have a fascination with glass-jars). I think the two wood boxes would look good on this shelves as storage for kitchen stuff, will see!

Have a lovely day!

The Mindful project day#31

Today I am grateful to be able to enjoy my surroundings such as street art,

 So important

 

And who doesn't need a cupcake now and then??

 

sitting in the park and enjoying the view, listening to the birds and relaxing.

 

 

 

I also collected more of  Nature's spoils to upgrade my fall table-decoration. Around here we have lots of acorn and chestnuts trees and, fitting the season we are at, they are shedding the fruit so when you cycle/walk under the trees you continuously hear and see the nuts falling.

 

 also same rosehips

 

This is how my fall table-decoration looks now: 
 

 

 

Have a lovely day!

The Mindful Project days #22 - 30

Hello,

The last week has been quite busy as we went to Portugal last weekend  (18 - 22 of August) and this weekend we had a joined birthday and warming house party, lots of stuff to prepare. Nevertheless here are the Mindful project pics I collected.

Embrace yourselves this is going to be a long post!!

The Mindful project day #22

Public gardens/parks!

On our first Saturday in Portugal we went to Parque dos Poetas (Poets Park) in Oeiras. Its a huge park that has been over construction for several years but is finally finished except for a few details like the panoramic restaurant and a walking bridge that will connect parts 2 and 3 of the park.

From: http://kantophotomatico.blogspot.nl201410o-parque-dos-poetas-em-oeiras-uma-outra.html

If you visit Portugal I highly recommend checking out this park.The entrance is free, part 1 has a kid's park, there are public toilets, water spots (with free drinkable water) and the landscape/sculptures are amazing.  For more information visit the site : http://parquedospoetas.cm-oeiras.pt/  (it has the option translate to English).

 

Each leaf, as you can see in the schematic layout, is dedicated to one Portuguese poet. The garden and sculpture in the respective leave will be inspired by the poet's work.

This leaf is dedicated to Garcia de Resende

 

 

At the entrance of each leaf there will be a small biography of the poet and the schematic layout of the garden with a description of the plants used (pic bellow).

 

 

One of  the features that I love about this park is that all over the floor you will find poems from the different poets represented (see pic below).

 

The view from the top of part 2, where the panoramic restaurant will be is breath taking! You have a 180 degrees view of the water (Tagus river mainly).

 The Mindful project day #23

Visiting churches in each country that I travel to.
Curiously, I am not a religious person...

 I  believe that:
i)  there is more to life that what we see;
ii) karma is a bitch and  "you harvest what you sow";
iii) the 10 commandments are universal  rules;

Nevertheless, I love to see the arquitecture of churches from all over the world and from the different religions.

On our second day in Portugal we visit this new catholic church and I was amazed by the simplicity and beauty of  the altar. I think it conveys  a "lighter" message than the usual.

 

In Sweden, where most people are Lutherans, the churches are much more simple and lighter and I would even say, naïve in the decorations (check pics below).

The simplicity of the altar...

 

and the ceiling...

 

 The Mindful project day #24

Gardens, particularly botanic gardens!

On our third day in Portugal we went to Lisboa. It was very warm (even worse in the city) so after we walked around a bit...

 Coffee place close to Chiado set up in an amazing building

 

Rossio Square (pic by husband)

 

I took my husband to Estufa fria (literal translation "Cold Greenhouse"). If you ever go to Lisboa I recommend this place as  it feels like an oasis in the centre of hectic Lisboa. It has an entrance fee of 3.10 euros which is nothing considering that it is very well taken care of, has lots of places to seat and as my husband said, its a good choice for a date. 

 

Among the plants you can find all this funky sculptures (pic bellow) that give a whimsical touch to the gardens.

 

 

The Mindful project day #25

 

Returning home after a trip, such a good feeling!

 

 

The Mindful project day #26

 

A good TV programme that I watch all snuggle up in the couch with my other half!

 

Our Wednesday favourite -  The Great British Bake Off !!!

 

 

I was so happy when I found out I could see it here in the Netherlands !!!!

 

 

The Mindful project day #27

 

Go through a to do list!

 

I love making and crossing out the items of a to do list!!!

 

 

The Mindful project day #28

 

Baking! I find it very relaxing!

 

 

The Mindful project day #29

 

Enjoying the company of good people!

 

We had our birthday/house warming party today and it was very nice to have family and friends around. A good company always lights up my day!

 

 

The Mindful project day #30

 

Enjoying the spoils of Nature!

 

Fall has officially arrived here in the Netherlands as you can see in the colour of the trees thus I decided to make a fall decoration for our table.

 

Materials:

 

- Handmade wrath (some branches I collected on our bike tour; some with red berries);

-Tray bought for 0.50 euros on our nearby thrifty shop;

 

-beautiful autumn leaves from the grounds surrounding our house;

 Look at this colours, amazing!!!

 

-wire;

 

-apples (a gift from opa (that's how Dutch say grandpa) and/or other "autumn-fruits"

- creativity!

 

 

Tip:  you may want to dry and pressed the leaves for a few days before assembling it as they will tend to curl a bit if you don't.

The Mindful project day #31

 

First day of school!!

 

Today is my first day of the Dutch course. I fell thrilled and scared/nervous at the same time,as I always do with every social interaction!!!

 

Have a lovely day!

 

The Mindful Project days#19 - 21

Hello,

Its been a busy week and we will go on a big trip soon, hence the silence but here are my pics/choices for the Mindful project.

The Mindful project day#19

Lighting up a candle!

It might sound weird but there is something calming or soothing about the flickering flame of a candle. Besides, I think they add that cosy feeling to any house.

Usually I have, at least, one candle burning  in my salt candle holder (pic bellow). When I was writing my thesis I always lighted up a tea candle before I sat down on my desk to write, it was a ritual that would help me get into the study/writing mode. 

 

This little candle holder with  grey metallic houses surrounding the glassware (pic bellow) was my last acquisition (0,85 euros at Action!! I love this store), I just love it!

The Mindful project day#20

 

Small big gestures -in this case an unexpected postcard!

 

I had my birthday last week and the friend who sent me the card had congratulated me on the day so when I received this card I was so surprised and really HAPPY! These are the gifts that make my day!

 

The Mindful project day#21

 

Our Thursday game evening with friends!

 

My husband is addicted to games and has passed a bit of his passion to me. Right now we have a huge collection of different games. You can see a sample of it in our lime-green cabinet!!!

 

 

In Sweden we (more my husband as he is the social one) started a game evening and it was lots of fun with lots of different people joining each week. In the UK however, we didn't had the opportunity but here in the Netherlands its a different scenario as we already had friends in the town where we are currently living. I enjoy it a lot, we have lots of fun and get to play all the games in our collection.

 The Mindful project day#22

Tiding up!!

It may sound strange but getting the house in order gives me a feeling of fulfilment. Its not just because of this wave of decluttering and purging blogs/vlogs/books , I think it has to do  first, with my need to control my environment and second its also my way of organizing my thoughts. Indeed, before I start a new task such as writing or a craft project, I need to clear and organize my surroundings.

Less stress means more free mind-space for the important things!

Have a lovely day!

The Mindful Project days# 16, 17 and 18

The Mindful project day#16

Markets!

On Saturday we visit Wageningen's Mill Market where you can find lots of stuff like second hand items, flowers, nice food from local farms and lots of information regarding different community groups that are around.

Even if I don't buy anything which was the case, I love the energy around this type of markets.

Wageningen's Mill in the background

 

The Mindful project day#17

Getting to know the country I am living in!

On Sunday we visit Arnhem's open Museum where you can find different buildings (such as a butter factory, an old tram station, different farmer's houses) from different times and from all over the Netherlands. In each building you can find lots of info about how things were done and how people lived in those times.

In parallel there was a farmer's and art market (YEAHHHH!!) where you could taste different types of cheese (I love cheese!!!), chocolate or mustard and visit different decoration/arts and crafts stands.

Again, I did not buy anything (the tickets were a gift from my parents-in-law that were with us) but I had a lovely day.

I am loving cycling in the Netherlands, its much easier than in Sweden and especially, than in the UK plus the landscape is amazing!

The Mindful project day#18

I love different arts and crafts!

My last project was to paint a robin (the bird) which is, in my humble opinion, the cutest bird in the world!

In the UK, robin's are everywhere and I tried to take a picture of one and it never worked until, in Oxford during our honeymoon, this cutie (look at him!!) actually stood still long enough for me to take a snapshot!

Granted it's not the perfect picture but it's good enough for me. I decided to use it as a model to paint a small canvas (that I bought at Action which is like the pound or dollar tree shop around here)

to decorate our feature wall where we also have an aquarelle painting of us (made by my youngest and very talented sister-in-law), the mosaicked word Relax (by my also very talented mother-in law), a beautiful picture of the poppies in the gardens of the London tower  (by a friend of ours) a so on.

It's no Van Gogh but I am quite happy with the result!

Have a lovely day!