One more time

It's a good thing Pia comes back every three months, so that I get to the salon. Such a boring thing to do by yourself... ha ha.

Yes, she was back this week, for the third time this "season". Not for any special reason this time, just to hang out and do what we normally do, the mall, the salon, cooking, shopping, chatting, playing board games and other things.

I wonder how often we will see her after we start the direct flights to Copenhagen in October..!

Al Manama

During Ramadan there has been several interesting happenings at the museum, like oud and calligraphy performances, and a few talks.
A rather eye catching thing was the installation of three Manamas under the dome, for the visitors to enjoy.

These are traditional (no longer used) "summer houses", that used to be built during the hottest months in this region. The architecture is using sustainable forms of construction, for example being elevated from the ground, to allow a breeze to flow through which keeps these pavilions nice and cool.

The Manamas at the Louvre Abu Dhabi were a more modern reinterpretation of the traditional structure, and they were designed by Ahmed and Rashid bin Shabib, two renowned Emirati architects.
For the purpose of the exhibit, these three Manamas included a library, a film screening space and also a majlis, as seen on my photo below.

Nice to see you!

Last weekend we finally got to host the Dehli family at our house. They hadn't yet seen our new place, we actually realised we hadn't seen each other since Lucas' graduation party last May, so about time!
This time it was no problem convincing Frederik to come down to Abu Dhabi though, as he picked up his new truck the same morning, so he was super keen on a road trip!

They really liked our apartment, and the surroundings. They boys went for a drive bringing the girls to the mall, and Anne and I spent the afternoon in the neighbourhood, by the pool and on our balcony.

They stayed for the night, and the next day I was going to work. They came with, and since I didn't have any tours planned for the beginning of the day, I could show them around for a bit.

It was their first visit (finally!) to the museum, but I don't think it'll be their last. They liked it a lot!

Iftar 2023

We have one more week left of Ramadan. Every year I try to go to at least one iftar, and this year that ended up being upon invitation, a work do.

Louvre Abu Dhabi invited their employees to celebrate together and share an iftar at the St Regis Saadiyat hotel. I wore a twist on last years Ramadan outfit, grabbed my best partner Kathleen and off we went.

It was set up in one of their big ballrooms, and the tables were beautiful:

So, so, so much delicious food:

It was a lovely iftar, with some speeches, some quizzes and lots of chatting.

Thank you for a very nice iftar!

Sam!

Linnea and I came home from Sweden Saturday night to an empty house. Nathan had received a visitor that morning, and they were out painted the town red. We didn't mind of course, as this was a very special visitor - Sam!

We had to look back in the archives here in the blog to see when we last saw each other, and as far as we can see, it was in the summer of 2018. So about time!

They returned home eventually, and it was really nice to see them together again.
Sam was on a work trip to Mumbai for a couple of weeks, and as he had the weekend off out there, he flew up to see Nathan (us). Even though it was just two days, they still had time for a good catch up, a big night out on the Saturday and a bit of sightseeing around Abu Dhabi on the Sunday.

Good to see you Sam!

The first Zeina Easter

This was our first Easter in the apartment. I decorated already before leaving for Sweden, by changing the pillow covers to in some spring colours in the living area, and adding some spring flowers:

Added some Easter decorations on my desk:

And in the rest of the house:

Love spring colours!

I also brought home some Swedish gold... Swedish pick n' mix, yum!

Happy Easter!

Easter is coming

In a way I wish we would have come a week later, and really enjoyed the Easter weekend in Sweden. Not only because the weather seemed to shape up as we left, but I really would've have liked to go on the traditional Konstrunda, which kicked off the same day we left.

But, we did get some spring feelings, especially on the sunny days. The spring flowers were really fighting against the cold temperatures, but there were some!

We had Easter themed fika!

And, it the Easter spirit we had a relaxing week. We played my new board game 'Mexican Train' which I got at Ullared (after having played it at Game Night), and I sat on the balcony and enjoyed the sun.

We had some Easter food as well, the day before we left. Well, Easter, Christmas, Midsummer... actually it's all mostly the same, meatballs, sausages, egg and herring. Add some yellow napkins, and it makes it Easter food!

Only a week this time, then it was time to go - farewell Skara for this time.

Always goodbye photos on the porch.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

These girls

Even though Linnea and I wasn't really home for Easter, but on Spring Break (so a week too early), we managed to be in Skara at the same time as an old friend of mine, Kattis, who was also visiting her parents this week.
We decided to meet up, and even our friend Linda joined in - and drove especially all the way from Tjörn up to Skara to have a fika with us! Naw!

It was ages since we last saw each other, Kattis I saw in Skara in 2018, and Linda I visited in 2016! We spent over three hours in the coffee shop nattering away. Gotta love friends like this, where time apart doesn't matter at all.

We've known each other since middle school, I can almost not count how many years... over 35? Grateful for them, and for our friendship.

Easter outing

My cousin Emma picked us up to go to an Easter Market on the weekend. We had expected it to be a lot bigger, so it was a quick visit. Not much to see, nothing to buy. I was looking for some nice handmade Easter decorations, but no luck.

But at least Sixten got to meet the Easter Bunny!

And, it was sunny! Yay!

We ditched the market rather quickly though, and went for fika instead. Emma took us to a creperie out in the middle of nowhere, and we enjoyed some nice filled pancakes there; and some play!

Perfect time for Ullared

We arrived to Ullared in the middle of the afternoon, and after checking in to our cabin we went for a first visit to the big yellow warehouse. We had decided to stay the night as it would've been too much for Mormor to drive both there and home the same day; AND to make a happening out of it.

It turned out that a completely normal Thursday afternoon in March was the perfect time to visit the shop, it was nearly empty! Such a pleasant shopping tour! We got through everything we wanted to have a look at in only a few hours!
Before we headed back to our cabin we went for dinner in the restaurant. Normally this parking (yes, parking for shopping trolleys) is so full you have to fight for a spot, but now, look, nobody!

I had some serious Swedish husman for dinner, kåldolmar, mmm!
This week the shop was also celebrating their 60th anniversary, so of course we had to enjoy their special celebratory dessert!

Heading out after a successful shop-up, only a couple of bags this time, but we were both happy with our finds! Clothes, board games, underwear, make-up, sportswear, kitchen stuff, books and much more.

We spent the evening in the cabin watching TV and hanging out, and after a steady breakfast the next morning we took another stroll through the warehouse to make sure we hadn't missed anything; and then returned home to Skara.