{today I ♡}

I found this photo at The Style Files. 

I love the combination of the all white kitchen and the blue stove.

Have a nice Sunday!

{what's up}

I hope you had a good start into the new year. We did. The first two weeks are a bit sad, because of my mom and dad. But as I wrote before, I have found some peace accepting their passing.

The first two month's are always the dullest to me. December has so many highlights. Even though I am always happy that day to day live resumes, January and February are a bit boring.

I am also looking forward to spring, even though we still have to wait a little. The weather gods have been kind to us though. No real snow so far and I am very grateful for it. After two winters with lots of snow I have had enough for the next couple of years. As a matter of fact,  some of the flower bulbs think it is spring already as green sprigs and leaves are popping out of the ground and some crocuses are blooming.

H. and I have tried to book our vacation in Lugano. We sent 3 e-mails so far and I tried to call, but no respons. Usually we send an e-mail in the beginning of December and receive an response before Christmas. I hope signora Fischer, the owner of the hotel, is well and that she has not decided to close the hotel. Otherwise we will have to try to find another hotel and we both don't like the idea. It is a luxury problem though ;-)

I work full-time and off late I am experiencing difficulties working the 40 hours I am supposed to work. It would be a bad idea to start working less hours as my employer is downsizing. I am not afraid to loose my job, but if I would start to work less hours it would be hard to get more hours if that should be necessary in the future. Fortunately I have lot's of days off and I am able to buy 10 days extra.

I started to sell some of my Barbies, the "new" ones. I need to downsize the collection and I also want to get back to the heart of the collection, my vintage Barbies. I don't make money on the Barbies that I sell. Crisis has hit the Barbie world as well. I don't mind as long as I don't have to sell for next to nothing, I would rather give them to a friend's or colleague's child or grandchild.

As you may or may not have heard, Google is getting rid of Google Friends Connect. First they will no longer support for non-blogspot blogs and not long after it will be discontinued. If you are following my blog through Google Friends Connect, I advise you to start following my blog through the RSS feed in a Reader. I would really appreciate it if you would continue to follow my little blog.
My namesake Marianne of Songbird has made a very nice tutorial on how to follow a blog through Google Reader.

Well, that's was a lot of text. Very uncommon for me LOL 

Have a nice "rest of the week".

A photo of last year of our snowdrops.

{tea}

I recently showed you some pics of my new coffee maker. I need a good dose of caffeine every day, but I also love tea.

 This a my favorite at the moment. In Dutch it is called Sterrenmix (mixed by Blanche Dael in Maastricht). Translated it is Starmix, star because of the star anise that gives this tea a lovely flavor. But as you can see there are other ingredients as well.

This tea has a reviving effect on me!

Do you like tea?

{the crochet book}

H. gave me this crochet book as a present for Christmas (at my request).

The Crochet Book by Cath Kidston.

A nice chunky book filled with ...ehm yarn.

There is enough yarn to make a 30 x 30 cm cushion. The colors are lovely and very Cath Kidstonesque.

I haven't started yet as I am considering to make something else out of it. Maybe a sleeve for my iPad as it is now covered in very sturdy but dull grey sleeve.

Well. We'll see!

Have a nice weekend!

{today I ♡}

this hallway, look at the floor! Wow!

I am sorry I have to do another I ♡ posts. I haven't had time to prepare a post for you.

Bye,