Hej!

Yesterday David and I couldn't wait anymore! We wanted to go film in the woods, snow and cold weather be damned!
So we put on lots and lots of clothes, packed the car and went to that place I told you about in my last post.
We thought it would be less snow in the woods because of all the trees... HA! Stupid city folk!
There was so much snow! And nobody had walked there before us so it was all untouched and incredibly beautiful.
We had planned for a film set in a mossy green forest but this, this was just even more amazing!

The long walk was tricky but beautiful and I had to stop and take photos along the way.

Look at my feet. Yeah.
We hadn't even reached our destination yet and they already looked like that. I'm not really known for my weather appropriate (appropriate schmappropriate) clothes and even though these particular shoes are my most responsible ones they are not meant to hike in snow like this for hours...

Trees were bowing under the heavy snow.

And on top of the hill there was a little red cottage.
I am so curious how in earth they got the material up there to build that thing! There are no roads and the paths are sometimes very tight. I just don't get it.
It's perfecly situated on top of a hill with a wonderful view over a lake, so I definitely understand wanting the cottage at that exact spot.

An old house structure (or something like that) with snow covered stairs.

Hard to see but the small path goes underneath that fallen tree. We could stand underneath it with the tree barely touching our heads.

It was so extremely cold though and after a few hours it was impossible to keep the longing for warmth out of our minds. We kept going for another hour or so. Coffee and fried egg sandwiches helped a little but after four hours it was just not happening anymore. We could no longer feel our feet and hands, more than an instense aching, and it felt really weird to walk on feet that didn't know when they touched the ground.
So we gave up for the day and went home.
We promised to return as quickly as our shoes had dryed and that will hopefully be tomorrow.
The weather is supposed to be warmer then. Yay for our hands and feet, but possibly not so good for the beautiful scenery.
We'll just have to hope for the best.

When we came home and shredded our cold and wet clothes in favour of warm and dry ones, we heated some soup and cozied up under blankets for the rest of the evening. It is quite interesting how the body feels extremely cold at the same time as the skin feels like a furnace.

And if we go back tomorrow we will experience it all over again.

(I'm thinking of covering my feet with first a pair of socks, then plastic bags, then another pair of socks on top of that to keep the wet snow from reaching my feet. Ingenious, right?)

Tjingeling!
/Lotta

Hallå!

Notice anything different around here?
Larger photos, new links on the side, new font and so on.
I am also working on some bigger changes of this place, but we're taking it slowly so it won't be a big reveal, you'll just notice new stuff happening over time (maybe a little reveal, if I can't contain my excitement).

Anyway! David and I have been scoping out forests lately. We were in a hunt for the perfect location for some filming, and we think we have found it!
Then the snow came and destroyed our weekend filming plans.
So instead of spending the sunday filming we've been fixing with this site and eating pancakes. Not too bad, but lets hope the snow melts away soon so we can get to work!

First location to check out was the nature reserve Ängsgårdsbergen right next to the Botanical Garden here in Gothenburg. I had read that they had a group of Japanese pine trees that looked incredible on the photos I managed to google my way to.
So on tuesday we went in search of those.

We found them! And O'boy were they beautiful!

Such a great, moody feel to this place.
Sadly the area was a little bit to small for the project we had in mind. But we're definitely filing this in the "must film something here" part of our brains.

Slow dancing with a Japanese pine tree. Hands on its ass, of course.

When we happened upon a little stream I had to try my rubber boots in the water. They're doing their job perfectly!

And then there was an area of Japanes birch trees too. Also very filmic looking but way too small a place for what we have in mind.
But a neat spot for photos!
I made a cute little GIF that you can see here .

And then, on wednesday we went half an hour by car outside of Gothenburg, to Iglekärr Gammelskog that is one of the really old forests in this part of Sweden. We had decided that this was the place we wanted so we packed our car with camera equipment and I dolled up accordingly and had my cape on.
We didn't know what was waiting...

We knew beforehand that we would have to walk for a while.
This was the easy part.

Soon we were starting to get tired becuase the roads were very steep, it had started to rain, and we had a lot of things to carry (I hide everything under my cape).

And then it turned even harder. The trail pointed upwards, at many places the path was completely covered in water and we had to walk over rocks, roots and through thick vegetaion to reach the place we had read about.

But then, when we were so tired that we could hardly take another step and our arms were sore from all the carrying we started to get deeper and deeper into the woods.

We decided that Yes, this is the place where we're going to film but not today. It was starting to get dark and the wind had picked up around us. We needed to walk the long trek back to the car before it got dark because it would be impossible to find our way back without light! (Plus, my perfectly combed hair had turned into a more wet and wild style and that is NOT what we're after for this project!).
But first things first: Fried egg sandwiches and coffee!

We sat on a fallen tree trunk and ate our own packed excursion food, and I said to David: We have become "outdoorsy"! When on earth did that happen?!

The way back to the car went fairly quick because it was all downhill. Plus, we had the added strength from fried egg sandwiches and coffee!

So, let's hope for some mild weather in the coming week! We will not be able to make that trek with ice and snow underneath our feet, it was difficult enough as it was.
But that place, it was just magical! You'll see...

Yesterday David and I went to the woods.
We had two things planned for the day.

1. Film a little thing that I will show you next week probably. Not a short film. One of my own projects.
2. Take self portraits for my series A Lotta Dancing.

So that's what happened. I took some photos while we were there just because the woods look absolutely magical this time of year. They actually look magical all year round but, you get what I mean.
Anyways, here's a little behind the scenes/spooky nature romanticism photos for you.

The colours here just blow me away.

We had to walk a little to reach our destination.

There, in the darkness.

Rotvälta. My favourite swedish word. It means uprooted tree.

And there was a quiet woodland lake.

My vintage nurse cape had a big part in the filming and photo shoot. You'll see, in a few days.

Two hours later. Wet and cold feet, tired and very hungry. Time to pack up and go home.

Walked back through the beautiful beech tree forest.

Spent the evening eating good food, getting warm under blankets, drinking tea and playing videogames in front of the crackling fireplace.

Cozy, is the word I'm looking for.

/Lotta

Hello!
David and I decided it was high time we visited the family summer house for a few days of writing and clearing our heads a little.
It's been rainy and miserable in Gothenburg lately so we were so happy to wake up to wonderful sunshine yesterday.
I decided to document the entire day because I've really missed that kind of blogging.
So, here's my entire day yesterday.

Woke up late. We always do that here.
The first two days are sort of foggy too, especially in winter because the house is warming up after a couple of cold months, so it's cold and a bit damp before both the house and we have gotten used to the whole thing. The day after we arrived we were so tired we could hardly keep our eyes open.
Well, that was a sidetrack, let's continue with yesterday.
Breakfast was two avocado toasts with salt and pepper, and a cople of cups of coffee with milk.

A pile of orange cloves.

Drank some more coffee and checked the internet for a while.
(And check out that little fruit sticker underneath my slippers. It's still there, I can't be bothered to remove it right now. Mabe later.)

Then we went out for a walk. Walked past the hen houses.

Said hello to some hens.

Bright sunlight behind hay bales.

And then we heard someone calling for us. We turned around and this little fellow was running towards us. Such a cutie!

We love eachother.
I always wish I weren't allergic when we meet one of these super friendly cats around here. I can be around them for a few days but it won't really work out having them in my home. So sad.
For a video with this adorable cat click here .

We said goodbye to our new friend and walked to our tree. It's ours because we got married underneath it in august 2013.

Over the stile we went.

And up the steep hill.

And then we had to catch our breaths for a while.

And check out the beautiful view.

It was very windy and cold up there. As you can see.

Heeeeej!

Took a few self timer photos of us too, of course.

And then we began our walk down the hill again.

To say hello to all the sheep!
(And sorry to the sheep in the front who got himself captured on photo while pooping...)

Flowers in wintertime.

When we got back to the house it started to get dark outside so we heated the fish stew we made the day before. I found the recipe online (it's in swedish though) and we're definitely making this one again! Lots of vegetables, lemon, oranges, chili flakes and thyme makes this soup a wonderfully spicy taste explosion.

After dinner I sat and edited photos from way back in november. I'm so behind on this!

Then I read through what David and I have been writing on.
This is our set up when we're here by the way. We eat on one side of the table and work on the other.

And a poke on the nose is absolutely necessary, of course.

Back to editing again. And looking up at my beautiful husband once in a while.

Clementines and coffee kept me going.
(Love Love Love that mug! We got it from friends as a wedding gift and it stays here in this house so I'm always happy when I get to use it.)

Listened to podcasts and worked by our computers until our tummies started to growl. Sandwiches with crisp apples on them is super tasty so don't knock it until you've tried it, alright!

And then it was night and time for bed.
So that was my day yesterday. Hope you liked to see this little glimpse into my life.

See you soon again!

Tjingeling!
/Lotta