it’s tuesday, and time to stop for a moment and think about all that has touched and piqued my senses in the last week… it was kind of a blended week, i think. busy times and relaxing times. a bit of just regular ole life, which is not a complaint at all. i’m feeling quite lucky that things are just rolling on. let me show you…
quiet mornings all by myself…
fika meet up with TEN women from asheville – lots of new people this week!
a working lunch at a fave cafe.
friday celebrations with my love & my bro…
lina has officially completed her first semester at an american university! i am one proud wife!
so far, so good. ten days done! finding inspiration in my morning ritual.
headed down to raleigh saturday for a scandinavian christmas fair/market. road trip!
found this awesome button: i’m officially swedish!
scandinavian people everywhere. so crazy and kinda weird. hehe.
my love was a bitty swedish girl, running around grabbing up swedish goodies that she is missing. it’s a proven fact… one of the biggest things that expats miss the most is food!
traditional swedish christmas yummies!! 
and st. lucia was there too. a huge, amazing tradition in sweden during advent (dec. 13).
on our way home, we decided to be a little spontaneous and stop at the festival of lights in tanglewood park. it is the largest light show in the southeast, i think. anyway, the little side trip put us back about 3 hours, but it was so worth it. fun traditions!!
we celebrated the 2nd sunday in advent with a cozy, relaxing day at home. i wrote an article for the newspaper, we finished all of the seasons of breaking bad, and… that’s about all i can remember. basically, it was a pj day. awesome.
Seeing: christmas decorations and lights everywhere. oh, gosh i love this time of year!
Smelling: tea, coffee, cinnamon, evergreen leaves. wonderful smells of the season.
Tasting: yummy swedish food!! and some special, locally brewed beer at the brewery about a block from our apartment.
Touching: receiving hugs from the little kids that i taught when i visited the school to talk about being a writer. having a chance to be around a classroom full of children again was just wonderful!
Hearing: the voices of new friends and interesting women during my fika meet up. it is so crazy to listen to the stories and adventures of different people, discovering how we all ended up here in asheville at this moment in time.
Feeling: calm and peaceful in the early mornings before the sun rises. it’s my own private time to just breathe and ease into the day. i have been trying very hard to soak in this december, intentionally focusing on the season, in the hopes of not getting all caught up in stuff.
though it’s already tuesday, it has been and is going to be a very festive week! dinner out last night, friends coming over tonight for a little, cozy christmas celebration, family time drinking beer at the brewery again (we loved it), going to the theater, and parties this weekend – more on that later!
hoping that your week is going well… only two weeks till christmas! sending you lots of cheer and love today.
