More pink. I've been slightly apprehensive about tinted gold in general and I not fond of purple-tinted gold in particular. To my surprise, however, I did quite like the colour of rose gold, especially when I envision what I will be wearing this upcoming summer and, checking what was available at the moment, I found all of the items above at very affordable prices on Ebay.

T. was slightly annoyed with me a while ago when I kept walking around in the rain without anything to shield me from it, so I decided to find a fun umbrella that I could keep in my handbag at all times. I found the above one on Ebay at a very reasonable price and delivery was extremely quick.

A while ago I managed to get hold of a Bruno Mathsson chair (Eva) to function as a reading chair at work. Since then I've brought a few more objects there to make it more comfortable in my office: a green plaid similar to this one from Jotex, an old cookie jar, a set of black notebooks (found at work), some plants, a cushion such as this one from H&M and a small bowl for my favourite cashew nuts. The wooden bird (or one similar to it) is not something I own or have in my office, but I though it looked good in this spread.

A few days ago, I decided to upgrade to the new OS X Mavericks, a free upgrade, which at the moment seems to work very well. The layout is closer to that of the new iOS 7 for iPad/iPhone etc., which I like a lot. In the process I have also upgraded to the new versions of Pages and Keynote, both of which seem faster and more streamlined. The fact that the Keynote file size dropped from 16,2 MB to 1,2 MB without any visible loss in information is amazing. Not a bad upgrade, so far.

I have a beautiful necklace and earrings in amber from the Danish island of Fanø and I have been thinking of finding a bracelet and a ring to go with them. This bracelet is not real amber, but the size and design are nevertheless matching them in a good way. As for a ring, let's see...

I'm definitely something of a nerd when it comes to these things, but I really enjoy making my office space personal and I've always brought a lot of my own stuff to every workplace I've worked at, or, alternatively, I've made sure that I'd be able to order things I like. I like it when the colour scheme is pretty subdued and subsequently many of my objects are white, transparent, black or grey.

Now I've decided that it's time to put all colourful ring binders, plastic sleeves, and tape dispenser that have been left in my office back into storage and bring in some of the objects that at the moment reside on the shelves at home. The display above shows some of the things I like, or already own, and intend to bring to work.

A picture frame from IKEA, a SIGEL stapler, pale grey ring binders, my favourite black, very fine pens, a red whiteboard pen, a stack of post-it notes, a bird which functions as a holder for paper clips, and last, but definitely not least, a sixty centimetres tall wooden zebra found at eBay.

For years, I have had photos of my loved ones on my desk at work and the photos have become slightly outdated over time. As I begin my new job, I thought it might be time to update with newly taken photos in black and white. Since all frames, back as well as front, are in glass, I thought it might be fun to have quotes from various famous people at the back.

The above is a quote by Winston Churchill and in addition to this I will also quote Marcel Proust ("The voyage to discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes"), Marie Curie ("Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood"), and Galileo Galilei ("We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves"). All of the quotations are in some way related to teaching and learning, which I found very appropriate. The colours of the backgrounds are orange (as in the example above), red, yellow, and bluish purple.

Since I've just begun a new job and won't be working from home that much anymore, I've decided to put some effort in making my office a bit more personal. Since I originally come from Dalarna, I decided to bring in something that reminds me of that: i.e. a Dala horse.

I could have chosen the "correct" one of course, the wooden one that has been handcarved and painted at Grannas or Nils Olsson in Nusnäs, but I opted for a glass one instead, thus mixing my geographical origin with the "glass kingdom" in Småland, which we visited many times when we lived in the vicinity. The Dala horse was made at Lindshammar glasbruk.

I managed to get the one in the photo above at Tradera this morning at a very reasonable price.

For weeks now I've been on the lookout for a metal hanging candle chandelier to light up our new pavillion on the terrace on warm and dark August evenings and today I managed to find one at a very good price at an auction. I must have been very lucky, since nobody bid against me. Chandeliers such as this one are usually quite pricey.

To describe it a bit more in detail: it is quite rustic and heavy, made of iron (with a bit of rust), and the diameter is 51 cm. It seems to be from the 1970s and is designed to hold six mid-sized pillar candles, which I think will be perfect in the pavillion.

Today I've spent some time browsing the beautiful items that can be found on Etsy. The above are examples that I thought were lovely and they are also, in colour, matching what I'm wearing today — a pair of beige jeans and a white, knitted short-sleeved cotton sweater. From the left: a sterling silver and quartz ring, a sterling silver cuff bracelet, clay countryside houses, and a rustic brooch.

One of the books given to me by my father-in-law for Christmas was the luscious Design og magi written by Carolyn Quartermaine in the late 1990s. Her feminine and colourful designs might not be exactly to my tastes, but the manner in which she talks about colours, fabrics, textures and patters really appeal to me. She describes her creative process in a way that raises my awareness of the steps in my own creative process and it's a truly fascinating read.

T. had forgotten what I received for Christmas last year, and he subsequently bought another copy of a book his parents gave me last year. When we realised this we returned it and I found a "replacement gift," which happened to be Pia Jane Bijkerk's wonderful My Heart Wanders.

As a stylist and photographer, Bijkerk has become quite well-known in her native Australia as well as in Europe since moving here in 2006. In amazing pictures as well as texts, this book tells her story when deciding to move to Paris and, a bit later, to Amsterdam. We get glimpses of the apartment she decorates in Paris as well as the houseboat on one of the canals in Amsterdam, to which she and her boyfriend move. More of her work and her ideas can be found on her own blog and on Pinterest.

Just like Bijkerk, I have travelled quite a bit and, when I last counted, I have moved seventeen times. In February it will be my 18th move, as we move to yet another house — and we already know we will move again in another year and a half.

I recognize Bijkerk's struggle to find her bearings in a new culture and context. I recognize her joy when exploring a new place and when discovering her ability to read and discern the social cues — as well as her sadness when feeling completely out of place. The experiences are priceless and Bijkerk's book displays her amazing ability to show us this. A fine read and a beautiful book.

My old coat had begun to show signs of severe deterioration after frequent wear in the last ten years and I decided to find an alternative, and above is the result: a black army-inspired woolen jacket from Anne Weyburn. It is made of fairly light wool, but it is still quite warm and fits me like a glove. It felt good to wear it for the first time today as we visited what has been described as Scandinavia's largest mall, Emporia.

T.'s sister and brother-in-law are visiting and we spent a few hours walking around and shopping for a bit. I managed to get hold of a few Margrethe bowls in sizes I didn't have and some lids in other sizes for bowls that didn't have any yet. In addition I found some replacement glasses, Cabernet from Holmgaard, since there has been a few accidents in the last few years.

The roses we bought are for the New Year dinner table tomorrow. The colour scheme will be white, champagne, and green, and I hope it will be as beautiful as we think.

Currently we have no Christmas decorations up, but we're of course planning to put them up soon. This will no doubt be both the first and the last Christmas we spend in the house in which we currently live, which means that house-specific additions will not be an option. This aside, I do enjoy the colour red at the moment and decided to go on a visual spree.

The christmas tree ornament can be found at Etsy, Christmas Tea at Kusmi, the glasses from Voya can be found at Royal Design, the bed linen from Gripsholm can be found at Ellos, and the candleholder can be found at Höganäs Keramik.

I've just realised that Christmas is not that far away anymore and today has been filled with various preparations and pure logistics. As it is in most families, there is a whole jigsaw puzzle to be addressed each Christmas. Various family constellations and travels...

For once, we're actually going to spend Christmas Eve at home (this year with my parents, who will have arrived a few days earlier). The day after we'll be travelling to T.'s parents for the traditional Christmas dinner together with his relatives. A few days later the boys will go by train to visit their father and New Year's Eve will hopefully be spent in the company of T.'s sister and brother-in-law. Tickets have been booked and plans have been made. All in all it feels really good.

Christmas gift lists are also on the agenda as are the Christmas decorations. It will soon be time to bring out the beautiful nativity scene from Village and perhaps also a few candle holders. These traditional red ones can also be found at Village.

And here it is: my own doctor's ring. Traditionally a doctor's ring is usually in red gold, but lately it has become more common to offer them in white gold as well. Unfortunately, there was no choice at the university where I received my degree, so I decided to have my own ring made of silver and white gold, and, as you might have noticed, it has now been engraved as well.

Luckily, winter and snow are still pretty far away where we live, but it's slowly getting more chilly. Since I've always loved the look of snowflakes, I decided to take this opportunity, before the snow actually arrives, to highlight various snowflake designs.

The wooly, warm sweater was found at Ellos, the mittens at Becca design, the candle holder at HJ shop, the large Eva Solo teapot at Dansk Design, the diamond snowflake necklace was displayed at Diamond Engagement Rings, and the black and white scarf from AnickasCottage was found at Etsy.

Our small dessert bowls have decreased in number over the years and, a while ago, I decided to replace them with different-looking glass ones from various Swedish glassworks.

I've managed to get hold of four at the moment and now I hope to increase their numbers with time — I'm not in a hurry. The only thing I've decided that they ought to have in common is the colour green (in various nuances) and I think it's a good thing that they are different, since it will be easier to add new ones when the need arises. Right now I'm continuing to keep an eye on Tradera and Blocket.