Whenever my mother made dauphinoise potatoes when I was a child, she used a Mouli Julienne to slice the potatoes really thinly, and I do love her dauphinoise potatoes recipe. Her Mouli Julienne still works very well, and as an adult I tried to find one of my own, but those I saw had plastic parts and when I bought one of those I quickly realised that they were not sturdy enough for my needs.

Since then I've been on the lookout for the old, more traditional, metal version and yesterday I became so happy when I found one on the Swedish version of eBay, Tradera. This morning I also managed to win the auction and the seller has promised to send it to me today. Hopefully it will reach us in time for preparing the big dinner on Friday. I do want my dauphinoise...

Next Friday is my big day, and we are all preparing for it. My own clothes are ready — various garments in purple, mauve and grey — and can be seen here. In the evening I will wear a mauve dress together with the suede coat and a cream white pashmina shawl. Our oldest son will wear the black suit we bought for him last summer and a grey shirt. T. has bought a black suit and a new purple/mauve tie today, and our youngest's outfit has been completed with a tie and a jacket and the result can be seen above. He's thrilled to get his first suit and tie and he looks so handsome!

A turquoise and white striped shirt from La Redoute, a black suit from H&M, a tie from Dressman, and simple textile shoes (which he can use in any context) from Skopunkten.

These clips were really popular about ten years ago and I remember having several versions of them, in plastic as well as metal. I still use the metal ones occasionally, as I fasten my hair rolled into a bun with them, but the metal has darkened and I don't have many left either since these small items tend to disappear. Yesterday I decided to look for new ones and was happy to find these from BaByliss at Stylingagenten and I ordered them, since the price was really good as well. I was so surprised this morning when they arrived in the mail. Excellent service! And the clips seems to be in sturdy metal and really good, too.

Upon request I made scones this morning. It was great!

To match the new theme and desktop on my new computer I decided to create some personas for my Firefox browser. The result can be found (and used on any Firefox browser) here.

An amazing silversmith, an avant-garde artist, and a fascinating woman... When reading Ann Westin's biography earlier today my image of Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe was confirmed. She was born in Malmö in 1927, educated at the university college of arts, crafts and design, Konstfack, in Stockholm just after WWII. Travelling widely, she lived in France, Germany, Indonesia, and Denmark before her death in 2004.

Among Bülow-Hübe's most famous work is the watch, Vivianna, and the Continuity jewelry series, both of which are still in production and very sought-after at Georg Jensen.

I'm "moving into" my new computer at the moment, personalising it, and tweaking the small details the way I want them. The above photo is my desktop image. The original is a photo I took years ago of rain with a dark blue background, which has then been altered in Photoshop. It's a bit funny how this computer feels even more like my own. I have almost felt the same about my work computer, but there is definitely a difference. I like that.

Since I will be leaving my current employment at the end of June, I also have to hand in my work computer, a 13" MacBook Pro, and my iPad. I've been pondering whether to buy new versions of each from Apple Store, but a few days ago I found a fairly new — and reasonably priced — MacBook Pro on Blocket, and contacted the seller. Today we went to see it, and, since it looks really good, I also bought it and, after transferring everything I have on my work MacBook, I'm actually typing this on my new one. It's great.

The iPad is a different issue, and I have not yet decided whether I should buy one or not. It might be fun with one in white, though...

Soon we'll have a garden! Our small balcony has been wonderful, but it doesn't beat a real, large garden and we are certainly looking forward to getting our hands dirty. Gabriella Dahlman's Gabriellas trädgård provides plenty of inspiration.

Since the house we're moving into is a rented property this means that we will not be able to put down roots properly, but some potted trees and plants will hopefully thrive nonetheless and give us the feeling of home we crave. The olive tree has just received a new pot, one of our older pots is crying out for a new white hydrangea, and various herbs have already either begun to grow on the balcony or in the kitchen window. We were lucky enough to get an entire tray of herbs at T.'s sisters work as well and these will be replanted outside soon — on the balcony, since we don't have access to the garden yet. But we'll be happy to bring it all with us when we move.

No, this is not a photo taken now — it was taken on a Danish island in July 2008 and is one of my favourite photos — but it does reflect the mood I'm in right now. It's a wonderful morning today. All the trees are green. The sun is shining and it was quite warm outside already at 7 am.

We're busy doing the laundry this morning, which gives me only short periods to focus on other things, but that's fine on a day like today. Some yoga soon, then a late breakfast, and, when we're done with the laundry, I will focus on work again.

The ongoing sale at La Redoute gave us an opportunity to update our summer wardrobes. Particularily the boys needed some new shirts, since I'd like them to look good as well on the "big day" at the end of May, and this seems to be a perfect opportunity. Now I only have to find a pair of black trousers for my youngest son...

Dresses and shirts from La Redoute, pashmina shawl from My Pashmina, and the shoes were found at Javari.

We'll be moving on July 1st and it feels great. The contract has been signed by both parties and we've begun to think about how to decorate the new home and where all our furniture should go. Soon we'll begin to pack things up at our current location as well. I really don't think we'll have to buy that many new furniture at least (since we do have plenty in that regard), but today we decided to buy an olive tree. I think that's a wonderful addition. :)

Blue water, blue skies, and a grey-blue bridge. I love the silhouette of the Öresund bridge and I look forward to being able to see it on a more regular basis — and taking photos of it more often.

The weather has been slightly cooler for a few days, but the weather service promises some warmer weather towards the weekend and I have to admit that I look forward to it. The above photo was taken a few days ago and the magnolia blossoms are indeed something I look forward to as well. Almost before anything else springs to life, the magnolias are there. No leaves. Just the flowers large as tea cups. Fascinating.

Well, macadamia nuts is what it was supposed to be, but I simply could not get hold of any in the stores around here, so I decided to use para nuts instead when I baked these giant cookies yesterday. (All in all this has been a rather creative weekend.) The cookies are really tasty — both children, T., myself and the family we visited yesterday evening thought so — so I'd say that the alteration of the recipe works. And there is more left still...

This is what I made today: a bag for my yoga mats. I had a piece of cotton fabric and decided to make this quite large mat bag, which will work well especially for my travel mat and the cotton rug combined. These two are the yoga mats I most likely will be bringing with me when I'm travelling.

I've added a few more asanas, for instance "half shoulder stand" and the "fish pose," to my regular morning yoga practice and the level of difficulty is increasing, but it's really good fun. In the last six week I have only missed out twice (once because we had to drive early and the second time because we had laundry day and a number of other urgent practical things to attend to) and I feel rather proud of myself. I'm amazed by how much stronger my body feels and the various movements I'm suddenly able to do. I really do like this daily routine, and it certainly doesn't feel like a chore.