Office revamp

As so often it happens, when I pack away the Christmas decorations and see our home with fresh eyes again, I feel like a change.

This time, I dealt with our office.
We had two very old IKEA shelves in here, that had been repurposed over and over in different rooms in our house. At first they were in each of the kids' rooms, then on the landing in the old house and here they had been bookshelves/storage space in our office. 

I got annoyed as one of them had become miscoloured, and also because they actually didn't hold much - I needed more space for more books..!

So, new plan - I got two nice and tall, very classic Billy bookshelves instead. Built them all by myself:

Even installed the LED lighting on top, with dimmer and everything! So proud of myself!

Now I have a LOT more space for new books!
The room itself has also become more spacious as these are slightly narrower than the previous shelves, which is good for the odd occasions we use it as an extra guest room.

The shelves are in the same wood as my desk, so it all looks really nice and put together in here now.
Very pleased.

Music of the Spheres

I September it was announced that the band Coldplay was going to kick off the 2025 part of their Music of the Spheres World Tour here in Abu Dhabi, and people went wild!

This tour began already in March 2022 and is scheduled to end in September this year. It is the most attended tour of all time. Every stop on their whole tour has indeed completely sold out, as soon as the tickets were released! Coldplay has set a variety of records with it at the venues they visited, for the UAE, it is the biggest concert to date, with 50,000 people each night, for four nights.

My friend Linda amazingly managed to snag four tickets, and very kindly offered us to come along with her and her husband; but as Nathan couldn't guarantee that he would be off, the forth ticket was eventually passed to our friend Nina.

On Saturday it was finally time for the concert, and we were all super excited! Johan took us over to the big shuttle bus parking in their car, left it there and shuttled to the arena. All went super smooth, both Linda and I were extremely impressed by the logistical organisation. Not a queue nowhere!

First we enjoyed a bite to eat in the Fan Zone, and bought some merch:

Nina, Linda and I:

Then we decided to head inside as we had standing tickets, and wanted a somewhat good placement, even though we didn't want to be at the very, very front.
We were all quite keen on listening to Elyanna, the opening act, who turned out to be real good!

Now I understand photos from a concert is not much to enjoy, you would've had to have been there! But I put them here for my own sake. They'll evoke good memories for me, when I look back at them some day!

It really was an absolutely unique experience, with big balloons bouncing all over the audience, confetti blasting at several occasions, lasers and lightshows, fireworks and of course - the PixMob wristbands, given to every concert goer transforming them into a pixel during the show.
You really felt like you were part of the show, as those wristbands turned the whole crowd into a light canvas, which was showing different animated effects, immersing the whole audience into the event.

We also got handed special "moon goggles" upon entering, that we were encouraged to use in one particular part of the concert. They turned blinking lights (and the moon!) into hearts when you looked at them through the goggles.

All very very cool! What a fantastic experience!

 

Abu Dhabi Public Art Biennale

Lucas got a really nice surprise the other day when his girlfriend Tove all of a sudden emerged in our living room, to come stay for his last week.
Her and I had planned it together, she had managed to keep it a secret; and I even managed to fool him going to get her from the airport, he had no idea - and got real happy!

Her first day we were all off, so I convinced them all to go into the city to have a look at the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennal that is going on at the moment.
We started with a long lunch at Craft, and then we went down to the Corniche which is one of the many sites that display artworks.

This is the inaugural edition of this artistic initiative. There are over 80 artworks displayed in the public space all over Abu Dhabi, from the Bus Station and the Corniche, to around the Cultural Foundation and the Carpet Souk.

We started at the Lake Park and then we took the underpass to the Corniche waterfront. We aimed for the Cold Stone ice cream shop for a bit of a treat, so ended up walking many more kilometers than we had planned...

It even ended up going dark before we made it back to the car, ha ha! Ah well.

A nice excursion, it's not so often I am in the city, and especially not in the evenings. The skyline is always so beautiful, and this particular day we got treated to some gorgeous sunset colours.

Doesn't get easier

My heart has been so full over Christmas, especially when my Find My-app has looked like this, with everyone in the same place:

Unfortunately Christmas didn't last forever, and to the difference of Lucas who has about a month off from Uni and is still here until tomorrow, Linnea only had two weeks.
She was due to travel back last Saturday, but since our Staff Travel never firm up her Long Service Ticket, she was waitlisted; and didn't get a seat until Monday morning. She wasn't too happy though, as that seat was an economy seat... ha ha, but at least she got back.

Just as tearful of a goodbye this time... it doesn't get easier.
At least I already have my (firm!) flight booked to go and see her in February, so it won't be too long until we can hug again.

My own Mona Lisa

Linnea had gone all out with her Christmas presents, not only did I get two (!) Taskmaster games, but also this huge LEGO® Art set of Mona Lisa. She sure knows her Mum!

As last time when I built a LEGO® Art set, this also had a podcast to listen to while you were building, which is such a great idea! Once again, I put on my headphones and stuck my head down, and learned so much about Da Vinci, Mona Lisa and how the LEGO® designers had approached the creation of this model, while I was building it.

There was also information about the artwork in the big book of building instructions:

An interesting little "Easter egg" was that the amount of pieces in this set - 1503 - corresponds to the year when Da Vinci created Mona Lisa!

I loved building this!

Apparently it is the "blingest" LEGO® set ever designed, with especially treated LEGO® parts to make the gold frame. The finished result looks awesome, and now I have my very own Mona Lisa!
I just need to decide if I should hang it on the wall or leave it like this on the side board.

New Year 2024

The days between Christmas and New Year went rather fast, as we spread out our Christmas celebrations across several days. I also worked for a bit, it was super busy at the museum!

I inaugurated one of the Christmas presents to myself, an æbleskive-pande. Æbleskiver is a Danish tradition, and they are a mix between a donut hole, a waffle and a pancake. They are made in special cast iron pans, and traditionally served with icing sugar and jam. Om nom nom!
For a first attempt - not bad! They were not as round and symmetrical as they are supposed to be, but hey - they tasted good!

We had our traditional fondue, but one day early as we were not going to be together for New Years Eve. Linnea was invited to a party in Al Reef with her friends, and Nathan was planning to sleep as he was going to check-in for another Paris flight just after midnight.
So, an understated fondue dinner on the 30 December, without the glitz and glam - but just as yummy!

I worked on New Years Eve. It seemed like most were home to prepare for the evening celebrations as it was a rather quiet day. I was still dressed in glitter, of course! New Years demands glitter!

As I came home from work, Lucas and I, and his friend Dominic, had an Indian take-away for dinner. I was feeling a bit under the weather so wanted comfort food!
They then left to go celebrate with their friends, and I spent the rest of New Years Eve alone on the sofa, watching Chicago Med and eating lösgodis (Swedish pick n'mix).

Nathan got ready and then at midnight we jumped off our chairs into the new year, and listened to the fireworks, ha ha! Couldn't be bothered going down to the beach...
I had to take Nathan to work as he couldn't get a taxi, and then it was bedtime for me while the kids continued to party into the night.

Welcome 2025!

2024 Top 9

Looking back at my Top9 this year from Instagram (the posts with the most likes), I see smiling faces, milestones, celebrations, holidays - good memories. Thank you 2024 for all the good times!

What you don't see, is that below the likes lies deeper stories and the full spectrum of feelings. 2024 really was a mixed bag of ups and downs.
Life sure is more than highlights showcased on Instagram. For every happy picture, there has been untold moments of struggles, challenges, setbacks, hardship, uncertainty and difficulties.

Acknowledging the quite a few difficult moments this year, doesn't diminish the joy of these highlights though, it rather deepens my appreciation for them. They are my glimmers!
They remind me to savour each and every good time and all the simple pleasures; and to remember the effort, growth and resilience that brought us those moments.

Glimmers are those moments in your day that make you feel joy, happiness, peace or gratitude. Once you train yourself to be on the lookout for them, these tiny moments will appear more and more. These glimmers, they are everything - and I'll keep looking for glimmers in 2025, in every day!
I hope you will too!

Kiwi Christmas 2024

So, on Boxing Day we had Kiwi Christmas, together with not just Will and Hannah, but also Matt and Luca. Maybe we should call it a Brunei Christmas!

We had ordered another turkey box, this time from Mariott Al Forsan. It was the juiciest turkey ever, and even though initially we thought the trimmings didn't look like they were going to be enough for eight people, we actually got left overs.

Will and Hannah were going to pick up Tash from the airport at 01.30am in the morning, so we spent the whole day together in anticipation. Some had a snooze:

We played games, again, and watched some TV:

We did last all day, but considering we had started around 1pm, we sent Will and Hannah off to the airport to welcome Tash in quite a state... ha ha! Well, it's only Christmas once a year!