Yesterday started off with breakfast. This one, to be precise.

The kiwi fruit was exceptionally happy to be a part of my breakfast.

We were going to have friends over and David decided to remove some of the big snow lumps by the road to make it easier to reach the driveway. This house has no snow shovel so all he found was a regular shovel. I stood in the window taking photos and giving him thumbs up for the good work.

I felt like giving my face some makeup. Hello from tiny 70's style bathroom with sloped ceiling!

Had time for another cup of coffee before our friends arrived.

When they arrived we had (more) coffee and vanilla buns before we bundled up and went outside. The weather was EXTREMELY windy but we were brave.
Aili, Jonas and David took the lead with me staying behind to take photos. Like always.

The hen house. And look at the small house to the right, can you see the little face popping out from behind the hatch? It's the dog guarding the hens. She lives there and barks when someone passes. We yelled back to her until she stuck her head out to bark some more before going back in again. Haha, such a sweetie!

Aili almost blew away. Her scarf actually unwrapped itself from her neck and here she is fighting the scarf and wind.

Our tree!

The beautiful valley that you can see in this post from november last year.
Look at all that untouched snow! So pretty.

We decided to go up to the tree where we got married in august. Aili and Jonas were our wedding witnesses so it felt really nice to show them how the place looks now, five months later.

The hard journey up there. The snow was so thick in some places but that actually made it easier because it prevented us from slipping down the hill. Oh, and it was so windy here that I couldn't see if the photos were in focus or not so I just snapped away and hoped for the best. I still really like these photos because they show the struggle it was to get up (and later down) the hill in that much wind and snow.

Almost there!

Look how happy Aili was to have made it all the way up the hill!

David doesn't look too happy though. Because he left his hat and gloves in the house, and it was sooooo cold up there!

I think he thinks he looks cool.

Jonas covering Aili from the wind. So much love.

Heeeeej!

Aaaaah, I'm blowing away!

I really like this one. David took all three of these.

And now, prepare yourself for a little photo series...

Plopp! David got stuck in the snow!

Heeeeelp!


(Behind him I am laughing so hard I can hardly breath.)

Aili and Jonas: Huh!? What have you gotten yourself into THIS time?

Jonas and Aili skipping merrily over the fields

When we came inside we started working on dinner. We made butternut squash soup that turned out EXTREMELY SUPER DUPER EXTRA HOT! I mean it was insane. I usually make this soup and complain it isn't spicy enough but this time it was CRAZY. We added water and milk but it was still too hot. Very tasty but oh my, that was not how it was supposed to turn out.
After dinner we played Scrabble.

David thinking of his next move.

Aili contemplating.

David further into the game.

Jonas put the Galej in our evening. (Galej means party, but an extra festive and happy one, I would say.)

And that was yesterday. Aili and Jonas went home later in the evening and David and I sat in the sofa reading before we called it a night.
Such a great day!

Hej hej!
Let's talk about 2013 for a while.
For me it was a year filled with so much love and adventures. Every year when I plan out these reviews and look back at all my posts throughout the past twelve months I'm always surprised over how much I've done. I think I have blogged less this year than any year before but the posts have been filled with so many photos and experiences I think I can safely say it was a good year.
So lets start this now!

January:
We started off the year with a trip to Österlen where it was wintery and cold as in all of Sweden at that time of 2013. It was a very long and hard winter here but in January I hadn't begun to hate it that much yet and could still appreciate the beauty of an ice covered beach. I also posted a large post from one of our walks over the stunning snowy hills.
I also wrote about a dream with snowflakes stuck in glistening bubbles that stayed in my memory for a long while.

February:
I stayed inside a lot this month and entertained myself by taking still life photos of pretty things. I showed you all of the Knick knacks in my window sill.
February was also the month when I introduced you to the Bush Willow Necklace Pendant.
David and I did venture outside on occasion and one of those times I brought my camera along for a stroll over the cemetery in the setting sun.

March:
It was still bitingly cold in Sweden by march so when David and I headed to USA and California for a couple of weeks it was with a severe longing for sun and warmth. I dont think I ever have wanted heat as much as I wanted it then. My body suffered so badly from a lack of D-vitamine, bright light and warm sun on my skin so when we arrived in the warmth I almost started to cry with happiness. It was just so needed.
The reason for us going there was that David's short film Ladyboy had the premiere at the Cinequest film festival in San Jose and David and his producer Claes had a few meetings with film studios in Hollywood. I had the pleasure of tagging along on the trip and it was such a fun two weeks!
I blogged quite a lot about our time in the states and as I'm very proud of every single one of those posts, here they are:
San Jose through my camera.
I had the great opportunity to meet up with my dear etsy friend Jillian and she showed us around the cute little town Capitola. Such a wonderful town and it was so great to get to know Jillian in real life!
Then we drove From San Jose to Hollywood where we stayed for the remainder of our USA trip.
I showed you 7 days, 7 ways in outfits.
We visited Venice Beach where it was too touristy for our tastes but I took many nice photos.
Fell totally in love with all the fluffy trees and Santa Monica Main Street.
And then the last post called LA Days.

April:
Spring had hardly arrived yet when my sister and niece came to Gothenburg in April. We went for a walk a few hours in the garden Trädgårdsföreningen that I love so much.
I blogged about people from long ago and realised that my iPhone was filled with photos of food, clothes and home so I turned that into the post Lately: Food, Style and Home wise.
And then I starred in Davids horror short Cam Closer.

May:
May was a busy month blog wise! It was SPRING and sunny and beautiful and everybody came out of their houses to enjoy the weather. I had been home sick for a long time and blogged An entire day: Health at last as a celebration. I showed you Behind the scenes of Cam Closer.
During my cold I got struck by creativity and made the Spear Cage and Drop Cage Pendants.
David and I had a Cherry blossom Saturday in the city and we actually bought David's wedding pocket watch that day but I was all secrets and teasing smiles in the blog post. Tihi.
It was 100 days until our wedding day and I let you all see our wedding invitations.
I had a fun filled wednesday with my best friend Johanna when she came to Gothenburg to rehearse my wedding make up and hang out for a couple of days.
One day David and I went location scouting at the old Papyrus factory. That was a dream I'd had for a long time and it was amazing to be able to see it for real!
At the end of may my mom visited us for the weekend and we went to fleamarkets and put together a tricky jigsaw puzzle.

June:
In the beginning of the month I went to Scotland to visit my friend Jennie. She was going to make my wedding dress so I came there to get measured and buy fabric (lots and lots of tulle!). It was a great week and since Jennie and I hadn't seen eachother for many many years it was amazing to get to spend time with her again. I made three posts from my time in Glasgow and took a few of my favourite photos from 2013 while over there. I loved to look through all three of these posts again during the last couple of days.
A few days in Scotland Part 1.
Pollok Park. Scotland Part 2.
A few days in Scotland Part 3.

When I came home I showed you what had happened over a month or so through my phone (Love love LOVE the first photo in this post).

I told you about my evenings running at the cemetery. I miss this so much during these dark months. I wish it could get lighter in the evenings soon so I could get back to my running routine again.

Then it was the fifth birthday of lottalosten.com and I celebrated with a jewelry giveaway and a photo giveaway. Many of you entered and I know that quite a few of you found your way here for the first time then. I hope you like it here and that you continue to pop by to see what's up in my life, it makes me so very happy!

July:
As opposed to the extremely cold winter it was a very warm summer in Sweden. David filmed his short film Wallace and I was acting coach for the project having auditions in june and helping the actors find their roles during our three filming days. It was such a terrific experience and I hope to do similar things in the future. I had a little acting role in it too but that scene had to be cut in post production. When I think back to those few days though I hardly remember the acting part because it was such a little part of the adventure and it was far more rewarding to work with the teenagers and getting them to feel sure of themselves and their roles. Here you can see the post from the first day of filming Wallace and here is some preview photos from the day at Papyrus when we filmed. I also had a photoshoot with my friend Hanna that turned out so great and I showed you Part 1 of the Hanna at Papyrus photos.

August:
August was Wedding month!
David and I went to Copenhagen to stock up on alcohol for the party and spent a few days in the lovely city and then we drove straight to Rörum where my family where. The post A week away: Copenhagen and Rörum is one of my favourite Iphone photo posts to this day because it just contains soooo much adventure and love! My nephew Alfred was all new in this world and I got to see him for the first time.
In the middle of the month it was time to go to Scotland again! This time David followed along and it was really nice to be able to show David the places and things I had discovered on my trip there in june. I showed you snippets of a week in Glasgow and then it was WEDDING TIME! It was a truly wonderful day and I can't describe how amazing it all was. Everything turned out even better than we hoped for. Both David and I wanted a very calm and stress free day without any rules and that was exactly how it was. Beautiful, warm, loving and so very much like us in the ways of party and ceremony. I still have lots of photos to show you from that day and I hope to get to it soon.
For our honeymoon we stayed a week at Österlen and only did things we wanted, like having a romantic picnic on an old fort by the sea.
August was the BEST.

September:
Time had finally started to wind down a little and I took the opportunity to blog about everything that had happened during august.
In A bright spot, a dark dancer I let you have the first look at the vintage nurse cape i bought in Glasgow.
David and I exchanged pocket watches instead of rings at our wedding and I made a post to give you a closer look at our wedding pocket watches. They mean a lot to us.

I finally got around to edit the photos I took with my real camera during our Copenhagen trip in august and blogged Memories of summer: Copenhagen.
We bought a new camera the days after the weding and I turned into the Super Hero Photo Girl and then I showed you how I made my wedding shoes in my first ever DIY.
I also FINALLY found the time to post Hanna in Papyrus Part 2.

October:
Autumn came and I worked very hard to give my etsy shop a much needed makeover. I removed all the items in the shop and took new photos and polished up all of the descriptions. It was a huge job and I am really proud of the result. It looks so much more clean and fresh now.
October was theatre month for me and the rest of Teater Esther. We had three shows of the play SÃ¥rskorpor and it was a success! All the shows were sold out and I am so incredibly proud to be part of a theatre group where we make everything ourselves with the help from lovely friends around us. So rewarding and fun!
David and I celebrated two months of being husband and wife with a very cute GIF and at the end of the month we went to Österlen and I posted an entire day: Autumn at Österlen .

November:
We were at Österlen and I made An entire day Iphone only post.
We came home to Gothenburg with two large bags of apples and I peeled a gazillion of them before I was able to peel an entire apple in one go. The pride I felt for myself knew no limits.
I took it upon myself to show you that november isn't only grey as so many people seem to think. A walk over the hills at Österlen took care of that. All those colours!
I got myself a Flower crown addiction and was having an incredibly creative month where I created the Tangled Triangle Necklace that first got to be called The Geometric Tilt Necklace. When it was time to take photos I had a clear picture in my head and wanted to look like som kind of Rita Hayworthy type movie star from the 50's. Here is the result.
This month ended with Memories from summer: When we found half a bridge. I love to go on these kinds of photo adventures with David. I hope 2014 brings us many opportunities like this.

And lastly December:
Not so very long ago and I still havent posted everything I have planned from this month.
I attended the christmas fair in the mall Nordstan for a week and got to meet so many lovely customers. On christmas it struck me that now many many people have gotten Lotta Losten jewelry and photos as christmas gifts and it's such a weird and wonderful feeling. I hope every single one of them are loved by their new owners.
Of course, I created the Advent Calender Lotta's Christmas GIFs and here are some of my favourites:

Day 4.
Day 11.
Day 12.
Day 16.
Day 20.
Day 21.

And so a few days ago I showed you Lights out, the horror short David and I did a few weeks ago as a submission to the Who's there Challenge. I hope you keep your fingers crossed for us! At the end of january we will know if we are one of the finalists.

Thank you 2013 and hello there 2014!
I hope it will be one fabulous year for everybody, and that I get to show you lots of fun, beautiful, creative and weird things over the coming twelve months that is 2014.
Thank you so much for following along!

Tjingeling!
/Lotta

Hello!
Since the second part of december was a very busy time for me I didn't have the time to edit all the photos I took when David and I went to Österlen for the first week of the month.
It's such a great feeling to be able to spend time in the house and just write, cook tasty food, go for walks, read and just do nothing. This week it was raining every day except the day before we had to go home. It felt weird to not take long walks every day but at the same time it was so nice to just sit inside and drink tea and talk about ideas or just sit quiet and enjoy the stillness. David had been very busy right up until we went to Österlen so he really needed the rest and I sort of saw it as the calm before the storm since I had so much to do when we returned home again.
These are some of the photos I took during our week there. Most of them from our walk the day before we went back home to Gothenburg again.

Reading something intriguing on my phone while trying to keep warm in a house that hadn't been heated for over a month.

It took me three days to turn on my computer and start to write. I had to let the story swirl around in my brain a while before I could try to transform it into words on the screen. Then it was a lot of staring into the computer in frustration between bursts of total writing frenzy. I write a lot when we're at Österlen but I'm having a hard time to get in the writing mood when we're at home. It just isn't the same and it's like I have a different kind of creative flow in our apartment. I don't make any jewelry at Österlen but at home it's so easy to get ideas for new pieces.
I need to come up with something to force my creativity to start wherever I am. Like some kind of triggers. It would be really interesting if I could think of something like that!

And of course we had to have breakfast at Café Kagan in Simrishamn a couple of times during our stay. It's obligatory.

It's been a mild winter so far.

We had to visit our tree. It's four months now since we got married underneath it.

The view was spectacular as always.

It's necessary to stand in complete awe and look out over the hills for a few minutes.

Hello!

Husband being all beautiful.

When we stood under the tree we saw another tree from afar that we had to look closer at so we walked down the hill again.

When we got there the tree was as spooky and beautiful as we thought but what impressed us the most was the sky. Look at those clouds!

Down there is Rörum, the village where my family have the house.

And look! Our tree! It looks so very small and cute from afar.

We found our way down the hill again.

And then we met some sheep!

David made a friend.

This one in particular was very interested in what we were doing there.

And then we got spotted by a cat who came over and climbed up on David's shoulder to cuddle.

Then it wanted to try my shoulders as well.

It wanted to stay there forever!

Haha, look how it twirled it's tail around the bun in my hair!

After a while David had to lift away the cat so we could keep walking. It purred and purred and just didn't want to leave. So cute!

The colours are subtle but not less beautiful.

A new year has started and I feel really hopeful and energetic about it. I have even made a list of New Years Resolutions that I can't wait to get working on. I'm not going to show them to you but I can tell you this much: 2014 is going to be the year of being brave in my creativity. I have a tendency to be very good at coming up with great ideas but I'm too scared to not succeed with them and therefore I just let them stack up in the back of my brain. I want to get my ideas done this year because I know they are good and then I shouldn't be scared of making them a reality!

So let's make 2014 a year of creative bravery, shall we?!

Last week David and I filmed a short horror film to submit to the Who's there Film Challenge.
Today it's up on youtube so I thought I'd show it to you.
Hope you like it, and that it scares you a bit too!

Today David and I are celebrating New Years one day early because I'm working all night tomorrow. We are going all in with fancy food, dessert and toasting at midnight. I hope we confuse our neighbours tonight by shouting HAPPY NEW YEAR to eachother and Ooooh:ing and Aaaah:ing while we're pretending to see beautiful fireworks from our balcony.

So with this I wish all of you a Happy New Year! I'll be back soon with a Look Back at 2013 and also a post about my christmas with photos that should melt your hearts with cuteness.

Until then: Tjingeling!