T. has been extremely productive. He finished painting the wooden tiles for the balcony floor yesterday and we put them up this morning. After breakfast we then went to IKEA and bought a new table, ÄPPLARÖ, and two chairs, SANDÖN. A few things still remain — we need some cushions for the chairs for instance and some kind of shelf on one of the walls — but all in all it feels really nice. My youngest son has already decided to make the balcony his favourite spot when he's drawing his own Superman comics.

No, I haven't read anything by Dan Brown, but I watched The Da Vinci Code for the first time together with T. a week or two ago. I think that movie has an interesting basic idea, although I have to confess that I at times I found the movie slightly confusing. Funnily enough, when T. and I accompanied his parents, sister and brother-in-law to the movies Saturday night, I realised that when it comes to Angels and Demons it's almost the other way around. The plot is a pretty straightforward power struggle which becomes interesting mainly because of the Vatican setting and the CERN twist, but the movie itself moves along in a well-told and structured (but yes, extremely violent) way. All in all, it was really fun to go there and watch it together with the whole family and it's quite interesting that the two movies are so different, but I can't say that any of them shook my world. I guess I'm not a "Dan Brown-person."

This recipe was new to me when I met T., but it was already one of his huge favourites and has become one of mine as well. Well-known chef Jamie Oliver has created a simple pasta dish with mushroom, spicy sausages, lots of parmesan cheese, fresh thyme and parsley, and it is truly delicious. We had some nice white Argentinian wine, Aberdeen Angus Chardonnay, with it and it is certainly a very good way to end a wonderful, relaxing day!

T. and I are always on the lookout for good chocolate (as some of you might have realised), and today we found these when we were exploring in the vicinity. Sockerbageriet was founded in 1904 and Björn Holmgren is now the fourth generation making exquisite — and beautifully packaged – candy and chocolate. I promise, it tastes really good!

We had a very interesting discussion yesterday and I was able to put many of my ideas about how people ought to behave towards each other into a context. Research shows that there are actually both societal and financial benefits to be had from acting decently. The idealist in me rejoices.

We were talking about sustainability, which of course primarily is centered around environmental issues. However, we also talked about an aspect that was equally important: the social one. If people don't trust each other, and that means consciously making an effort to create an environment where trust becomes possible, it will indeed be almost impossible to work for a sustainable society. People's willingness to put their ego aside is crucial for the outcome of the environmental struggle. Thank you, G.! It surely showed me a reason to keep on doing what I do. Relief.

It has been a rather eventful day at work, when I've had to fight for what I believe in. In my opinion, a workplace ought to be an open, honest, inspiring and challenging (in a good way) environment, and since this is not the case here I felt the need to speak up (in as balanced a way as I possibly could) when the opportunity arose. When returning home I was drained of energy and not entirely sure of whether I had said too much or not.

The weather outside reflects my wish for seclusion and recovery at the moment. It feels (and looks) as if the entire landscape is covered with cotton wool. Sleep tight!

...but on it's way. This is the way our balcony looks at the moment. On a day such as today it just feels great. The weather is amazing with only a slight breeze. There is one thing though: we haven't done anything to the floor yet, but that will probably be the next thing to address. It's actually b****y cold when I go out there with bare feet!

Everyone is asleep now. I can hear T. breathing rythmically beside me and the boys have been in bed for more than an hour. It has been a good evening and it was a good day as well. Nice weather and I managed to work through a lot of the material I had hoped I would finish. For dinner we made some Chinese food and everyone ate as much as they possibly could and then we spent a few hours relaxing in front of the television. Both T. and my oldest son have a cold and my youngest and I are of course hoping that we won't catch it as well. It's time for bed for me as well... Good night!

T. just came back, which made us really happy. Another thing that made me (especially) really happy was the fact that he brought so many plants for our balcony. We now have a "Delgrina" dwarf apple tree (which apparently will grow to a maximum height of two metres); herbs such as basil, oregano, sage, rosemary and thyme; a white hydrangea (thank you, sweetie!); some wild strawberries from his parents' garden and a rather unusual type of begonia from his sister (who is a gardener — thank you, too!). Grinning happily, I have spent most of the evening putting everything into pots and I promise I will take pictures of it soon. It just looks pretty messy at the moment, however, and I need to clean it up before even bringing the camera out there. Let's hope all the new plants will thrive!

Things are happening regarding my work situation. I am so very much done in my present context. Nothing here will take me any further on my journey and this is something of which I've become more and more certain in the last few months, but I haven't known where my future might lie.

Today, however, I saw a glimpse of where my path might lead next. It might be a short stop on the way or it might make a more lasting imprint on me and the things I do. I'm not sure if I dare to hope for the latter. What I really want and what I really need is to feel that there is meaning in what I do, something that gives me an opportunity and impulse to continue exploring, to learn more. It's happening now. The time has come to decide. I'm not leaving my old work context formally at this point, but I am indeed leaving nonetheless. In my mind. I'm sure it will materialize sooner or later in a hopefully productive and interesting way.

I just wanted to share a memory from last year's vacation. The image above of my mother and father was included in the book I created for my father's birthday, which I wrote about here. Walking along the beach looking for amber was very relaxing and kept us all busy to an extent that surprised me. We found some too, actually... tiny pieces of amber that can be seen below.

As I've indicated before, we've been moving things around in the apartment lately and I thought I'd give you a sneakpeak of it. We might still change a few more things of course, but right now I feel pretty happy with the result. I have felt that there were things I wanted to change in the living room, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Today T. and I decided to turn the sofa around and suddenly it all fell into place. I then bought some potted plants for both the coffee table and the dining table and re-planted them in low glass vases. The arrangements look really nice and add the element of green that I was longing for. This evening I really like sitting here, curled up in the sofa corner. I just wish T. had been here too... but he will be in a few days.

We've focused on moving things around mainly in the bedroom this weekend. We have taken out all the books and reorganized the shelves, moved my grandparents's beautiful old chest of drawers and mirror from the bedroom into the hallway, the desk from one wall to another (while waiting for the 26 inch computer screen we're going to place on the wall behind it), and taken down some shelves that we're going to put in the bathroom instead. We are also talking about trying to find an old wardrobe where we can put our clothes (we need a bit more storage space now when T. has moved in), another chest of drawers to match it and a new (but old-style) slightly bigger desk. Additionally, we have ordered an apple tree which we're going to pick up in a few days. We have been pretty busy, but at least we took some time to enjoy the crunchy rhubarb pie I made after having made lasagna for dinner. Yummy.

No, this photo was not taken today, but I just thought it sums up the feeling at the moment. The whole family just got back from visiting a friend and colleague and her family, and we have had a really nice, relaxing evening with them. Just sitting there by the huge table in their beautiful new kitchen, eating and talking... hearing the children play... Thank you for an amazing evening, guys!

Right now T. is working a little next to me while I'm catching up on e-mails and various blogs. Things feel pretty good.

My dad just turned seventy — Happy Birthday, dad! — and my parents and my brother came here to celebrate. We had dinner at a really good restaurant, which we all enjoyed, but before that my mum and I had made this cake, which topped it all off. It was truly delicious, even the children loved it, and I'm sure we will make it again.

We've had a few rather busy days lately. Last week I was working a lot and this was the case at the beginning of this week as well. T. has moved in now and we're slowly creating new habits that suit all four of us. It feels amazing to have him here and it's interesting to see how the process of "moving in together" continues.

Over the weekend we went to T.'s parents and, seeing their fantastic garden, I realized that it's time to do something to the only "garden" I can have at the moment: our balcony. We bought some plants, which we have planted in pots already. Next week we will get some herbs and we have also talked about buying a small potted apple tree. I really love white hydrangeas and I'm sure we will buy one of those as well.

A few other things need to be done too. We have just bought two boxes to plant the herbs in (and put them together IKEA-style); we'd like to put a wooden floor on the balcony (the concrete one is not that nice to walk on); and we're talking about buying some new outdoor furniture. We have looked at the floor above from Jem & Fix, the ÄPPLARÖ table and the TÄRNÖ chair from IKEA, and perhaps also the table cloth from H&M Home. I'm sure our list does not end here, but it's a beginning. I have to say that this is a nice break from work at the moment and I really enjoy planning and carrying out this project together with T.