enjoying blessings

The last two months of 2013 I didn't feel sincerely happy, because of reliving the last months of 2012. 

And although X-Mas was good to me, even as the start of 2014 together with my loved ones, the uncomfortable feeling came back again. Not being able to value all my blessings and posting my last-blessings-post on January 6 and actually posting less blogposts at all...

Things haven't changed the last weeks, mostly because I didn't take control and realizing today counting my blessings isn't the result of being happy, but the beginning, even as the need to take control!

So here they are, my february-blessings:

* enjoying Floor's football match and Sam's performance at his school on the first day of this month;

* baking cakes for Cas' birthday, celebrated on a sunny sunday with all my kids;

* a great week at the office being able to be there for my kids when necessary #balance;

* experiencing some valuable me-time on wednesday; and

* the spontaneous action to go to the movies with the kids on this cold sunday.

Enjoying to share my weekly blessings today, and looking forward to next sunday #resolution :)

Follow the weekly count your blessings posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw.

Berlin blessings

The first day of this new year we went to Berlin for a few days. Enjoying our stay in an apartment via Airbnb in Prenzlauer Berg, a very nice district in former East Berlin with many small shops and great affordable restaurants. Wandering around to see some places-to-be, visiting great expositions at the Hamburger Bahnhoff, which is such a beautiful building itself, the impressive Holocaust monument and parts of the Berlin wall at the Bernauer Strasse. Enjoying Potsdam visiting friends who live there.

Counting my blessings for so much eye-candy and freedom. And still so much left to see, which feels like a future promise in spring or summer time!

Follow the weekly count your blessings posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw.

b-day blessings

A busy week, actually too busy and most of all with lots of mixed emotions, but nevertheless, or perhaps because of that, a great week, like:
* Sam singing at the Muzehof on tuesday recorded by Floor also recording himself singing along and Pip warning him :)
* Sam performing at 'Mighty Mathilda' with school at the Hanzehof on friday and saturday evening. It was such a great performance shared with my loved ones on friday. For Sam it meant ending one and a half year practising with fellow students, which was quite emotional; and
* yesterday celebrating Floor's seventh birthday together with lovely presents but most of all lovely people. While going to sleep he said it was his most wonderful birthday ever :)

Have a nice week, perhaps enjoying celebrating 'Sinterklaas' on 5 December!

Follow the weekly count your blessings posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw.

positive life | pinspiration

Live a positive life and count your blessings:

* stenciled concrete floor source unknown
* positive life on picquote
* club love on out of office

Enjoy your weekend!

crushed blessings

A busy week, feeling a little bit crushed between loving my job and enjoying to be home with the kids, but also with nice blessings like:

* rearranging and restyling the bedrooms: Pip and Floor sleeping together from now on. Just hoping they don't make it too cosy every evening :)

* feeling gifted the kids enjoy their sports activities so much: Floor playing football and making a goal last saturday with his left leg!, Pip loving horse riding and Sam enjoying his singing lessons and practising for the stage performance 'Mathilda' (with three performances at the end of this month at the Hanzehof!)

* celebrating the birthday-party of Roos, the daughter of very lovely friends, this sunday

* winning a 'Plak 't' sticker designed by Lidewijs on facebook for our LOVE WALL. Happy and sharing a picture of it soon!

* a very nice, new cooperation on my blog, sharing a guestblog in january or february next year!

Have a nice week!

Follow the weekly count your blessings posts of all participants mentoined on Anki's blog Zilverblauw.

Dutch Design blessings #3

Our second day at the Dutch Design Week we spent our time at the Inner City area of Eindhoven. Starting with breakfast at CoffeeYou before visiting the Design Academy Graduation Show called Self Unself in the 'Witte Dame'.

I really loved the Graduation Show, being exposed in this great industrial, former Philips building with huge windows creating so much incidence of sunlight. Admiring so many inspiration in one place shared by students from the Design Academy. And suprised by so many projects having a relationship with communication, healt care and psychology. Like No Milk by Debbie Hovens, A Series of Mnemonics & Revealing Maps of Cancer by Renee Scheepers, The Rejection by Marieke Vonk or Settings of Connection by Sanne Ree Barthels.

The Van Abbe museum has an expo with the theme Self Unself as well, being part of the dialoque with the Design Academy. The last three pictures give a small impression, but unfortunately the battery of my camera was empty after visiting the Graduation Show. Happy for having my iPhone as a back-up, but unfortunately not all the pictures taken inside the Van Abbe were sharp enough. So perhaps you should go see the exhibition yourself which is still possible until the 17th of November!

Ending our Inner City trip at the Dutch Design Week at Crowdy House. A new crowdfunding platform for designers launched this week with beautiful concepts to be produced when supported by enough people.

Feeling so blessed for two days of inspiration, meetings with lovely people and leaving with so many impressions and pictures in my head. And for sharing blogpost #300 with you!

blog party

pic via Lark&Linen

Today I'm celebrating my 4th blog birthday!

Showing my addiction with Pinterest with #pinlove posts, sharing other great blogs with #bloglove posts, hoping to inspire with #interior and #kidsroom posts and keeping up an online diary of my life with my #count-your-blessings posts initiated by Anki from Zilverblauw. And also sharing my blog and pictures on instagram, twitter, facebook, bloglovin or pinterest!

Today sharing:
*my first blogpost 'everyday is worth a party'
* the most visited post until now 'white x-mas': and
* the blogpost with the most comments, which are always special: thnx for the many comments on this post which was a emotional post for me!

Trying to choose the blogpost I love the most, but I couldn't. Realizing I just hope to inspire in general and share things in my life with all its beautiful and sad sides. And most of all I love to keep sharing it in the future.

So thnx for following, reading, sharing and commenting on my blog!

bike blessings #2

Today I went running and Floor joined me on his bike. When I made a picture of him on his bike I realized I made more pictures of my kids riding their bikes in front of or beside me on instagram and also sharing this earlier in a blogpost. Nice to keep making these pictures as they grow up. Just like sharing this on my blog as a bike blessing.

This week my bike blessing #2:

* Pip having her first lesson horseback riding which she enjoyed so much, just as a sleepover at her BFF this weekend who accompanied her at her first lesson
* baking apple pie with apples growing in our own garden; still so many apples left so we can bake many pies or make compote the next weeks
* starting to run again after my leg injury this summer; friday together with a friend and today accompanied by Floor on his bike
* catching up with friends I didn't visit for a long time, experiencing this long period of time with less contact in real life doesn't matter mutually if there is real friendship
* following so many inspiring blog-colleagues visiting the dutch living fair 'Woonbeurs'. Feeling sorry I couldn't be there myself, but getting inspired by all their pictures, while planning to actually having planned to visit the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in october.

Wishing you all a nice week with lots of blessings ahead!

Follow the weekly count your blessings-posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw

no blessings...

Last weeks I published no blessings-post on my blog. Not because there are no blessings, but just because my head is sometimes too full to make pictures of it (in my head) everyday. But looking back there are certainly blessings to share:
* like loving my job, nowadays with a fully booked schedule but with so many positive things, like the people I work with and a dare-to-ask session at a network meeting with everybody helping each other, sharing their experience and contacts
* the kids: experiencing the open-mindedness of my children and them getting along so well together, but also basically gathering together a new winter collection for them, because oops they are growing so fast, wishing time didn't fly as it does....
* the lovely reaction by Anna-Rosa from My Lifebox winning the give-away on my blog; and
* enjoying the inspiration in MilK Decoration no.5 and Milk Magazine no.41, the 10th anniversary edition; loving the person who bought them for me in la douce France.

Pictures taken with room for thought, a lovely iPhone and android app reminding to take a picture everyday!

Follow the weekly count your blessings-posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw

follow (my) blessings

Met Melk&Suiker on Pinterest

Met Melk&Suiker on Instagram

Last week I had a lot of following blessings:
* on Pinterest I reached 9000 followers. Pinterest gives so much inspiration and it feels great to inspire so many other Pinterest-lovers
* I love keeping up a diary of my life in pics on Instagram and sharing this with 500 followers is so nice: thnx for following :)
* planning to change the follow buttons on my blog so you can link directly from the small buttons beside each other, but I don't know how. If you do, please let me know as a comment on my blog or by mail: metmelkensuiker@gmail.com
* following 4 kids at De Spelerij last wednesday while they were running around enjoying this great place to be for kids
and last not least:
* I followed my heart these three weeks off, experiencing I can rely on that far better than I ever did. A great blessing!

Follow the weekly count your blessings-posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw

App-inspiration for editing your pictures: a beautiful mess!

blessings with a capital B

colorful | pins source: Nomuramaya

jeans pins source: April&May

discodip & confetti | pins source: Studio Sjoesjoe

A blessing post on monday instead of on sunday. Because of having some weeks off, the days of the week seem to get a little bit messed up which feels like a blessing itself.
Just like:
* spending so much time with the kids, sometimes while catching up with my BFF or with a lovely friend at the edge of a swimming pool while enjoying the sun
* visiting the musical Sister Act with our eldest, not only watching a beautiful and funny musical but also his facial expression of admiration and impressions
* receiving nice requests for sponsoring, collaboration and give-aways on my blog: to be continued in the next weeks!
* and last but not least enjoying so much love with a capital L!

Follow the weekly count your blessings-posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw

Pictures: from my latest new boards on Pinterest: colorful | pins, jeans | pins and discodip & confetti | pins

lovely blessings

My lovely blessings this week:
*having my kids back home again and three weeks ahead to spent together with even one extra day off this friday :)
*spending our friday afternoon at Het Koelhuis; a cool and relaxed place to eat, drink and spent time with people you love; a place worth a seperate blogpost
*having spontaneous sleepovers
*painting Pip's pink bedroom wall silver; looking forward to styling her room tomorrow; and
*realizing health is not self-evident, but really worth a lot like experiencing real love!

Follow the weekly count your blessings-posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw

counting down my to-do blessings

This week I worked fulltime, like next week, trying to finish my long to-do-list at work before having three weeks off.

My to-do list at home is even longer, but is shrinking day-by-day.

But don't you worry, I also tried to relax once in a while, cherishing the lovely weather, sleeping in the hammock and enjoying the fact that my head is getting emptier by every to-do thing I line through!

Follow the weekly count your blessings-posts of all participants mentioned on Anki's blog Zilverblauw