Challenging Shots – Dog and Toddler Taking Over The Set

Long time no post! What happened? Well, weather is nice and work spirits are high (not so high for Birgit as she preparing for exams). I've been a busy bee though. During the last week I made some of my favorite bags (oh, how much I love to make them!). I can make one bag a day. If my dog would require my attention I could make two. No way to blame him though. He is just too cute and lovely. I mean, could you mad at a doggie which is interested in dog magazines:

But back to bags! After I made some last week Birgit and me went to our parents' place for the weekend. My parents have a lovely garden and I hoped for nice weather so I could take photos oft the bags in their garden. Friday and saturday sucked. The weather wasn't really bad but no proper sunshine.  I prefer sunshine because the light and atmosphere are a lot more relaxing. Sunday compensated though. For lunch our aunt and cousin with his girlfriend and baby son were invited for lunch. We had a lovely BBQ and went from lunch to coffee and spent all afternoon in the garden. 

After lunch I wanted to take the photos. Some years ago our dad built a little bridge over the "trench" in our garden. Why we have a trench in our garden? Don't ask! Endless story! Anyways, we have a cute little bridge surrounded by trees. The trees filter the light and create a lovely atmosphere. I wanted Birgit to sit on the bridge and just put the bag next to her. So far, so good. Somehow my dog Edmund like the scene and decided to join Birgit.

Well, first I didn't mind since it looked funny and my bags are meant to be fun so a cute couldn't hurt. I took some shots to adjust the settings ..... 

.....then Edmund really seemed to relax ......... and joyfully licked (a chewed!) his "private parts"

Our giggling on the bridge caught the interest of my cousin's one-year old son. He just learned to walk came over to the bridge and kept Birgit busy....

... and apparently liked my bag so much that he tried to steal it:

I gave in to the fun and we played together. The photo session was postponed to later that afternoon. I'm quite happy with the result and hope to start listing the bags some time during this week. 

We ♥ To-Do Lists - Download The SmileMolecules To-Do-List

Yes, we love To-Do lists!

I write one every day and I can't understand why not everybody has one. To me, To-Do lists are fun – not because I see the many tasks I need to accomplish, but to feel good about the things I've already done. On my To-Do lists, I even put tiny tasks or things I do on a regular basis (like walking the dog). No matter how tiny the task is, it still needs to be done so it is just fair to have them on the list.
Some people argue that they cannot have a To-Do list as they forget where they put it and then forget about the list and its tasks at all. When I'm at home, my list is on my desk, usually near the keyboard.

Some time ago, I discovered I have even more fun to work with a To-Do list when I have a nice looking list. So I sat down and made one. Now I think it is time to share!


This is what it looks like (click the link below to download):

Click here to automatically download the SmileMolecules To-Do list (an empty window will pop up, just check your downloads folder)

Whoop whoop!

Tiny sunday evening entry:


Our SmileMolecules Facebook Fan Page welcomes it's 10th fan! Whoop Whoop!

Click here to become a Fan too!

Mission Smile: The Piano Player

Birgit and me came up with SmileMolecules to cause smiles and thus help to make the world tiny bit better.  We try to achieve this with our goodies, but also with "random good deeds". I think we should start documenting our random good deeds and I think our blog is the perfect spot to do that. Let's call it "Mission Smile". I intend to have this as a (more or less) regular entry.
The idea behind this mission is pretty simple. Apparently it is darn easy for people to complain but it also seems close to impossible to point out anything good. I believe this habit causes so much bad energy and really is a killer for happiness. It is like being stuck in a doom loop and we are tired of it. So let's step up to break the doom loop and cause smiles!

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Mission Smile – The Piano Player

Case story:
Some time last year a young woman moved into our house. When I passed by her door I heard her playing piano. From what I could tell she played really well and professional. The walls in our house are rather thin and mutual respect is required. I never heard her playing during midday or in the evenings.

Earlier this year a letter was put up on the message board of the house. It was a letter of the young piano player. When I read it I couldn't believe my eyes. Apparently, someone put a letter with the rules of the house written in Russian in her mail box. I believe her name leads people to the assumption that she is from some eastern Europe country. She pointed out that she feels appalled since she is not Russian and does speak proper German. Moreover, she does not wish hear knocks on her wall when she plays piano since she never plays at inappropriate times. She wrote that she is a student of classical music and daily practice is mandatory for her. If anyone has a problem with her playing she wishes to be addressed in person so she can schedule her playing according to the needs of her neighbors.

I was shocked and sad that this happens in my house. I tried to guess which neighbor could be rude enough to behave like that and I really can't figure it out and this shocks me even more. Apparently nice people turn in such dicks (sorry, I really can't think of any other word).

So did we do?
At the weekend I sat with Birgit in her room for some crafting with the window open. It was a lovely day with nice warm (but not too warm) weather. We heard playing and it was lovely. She played light and cheerful while we crafted. She made us smile so we felt we have to let her know that she just did something nice. So we stopped with our actual projects to make a card. I took some photos of Birgit making it.

Over the flower we wrote "Thank you for the music" but forgot the take a photo of it. The back says "We enjoy your music. When you play our windows are open". I put the card into her mail box. Actually I wanted to push it under her door but we a have a small step in front of the door so there is no gap to push through the card. I hope we made her smile anyways! 

Ahhh.... this is how a treasury works

Today I figured out how the Etsy treasuries work.... and of course instantly tried it out. I focused on the colors pink and lime green. Together they look so fresh.

The treasury can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c10f6a519246d91609a8ecd/so-fresh

Comments are much appreciated! =)

Tidy Up Entry - Monitor My Progress!

Today I want to try something new. I need to tidy my room. It is WAY too crammed. As I'm a rather lazy little bug, I think I'll need some supervision. I took photos of all the ugly corners that need to be sorted. As soon as I'll be done with one little task I'll log it in this post (at least I hope so). Will I managed to work it out within one day?

Here are my ugly corners:

Behind the door I keep most of my bags. At least half of them I don't need on a regular basis. They need to go somewhere else. 

This is where I usually drop things and never remove them. Time to find a better solution!

Would you believe there are only four hooks to hang stuff? I use this spot at I'm too lazy to put my stuff into the closet. Now I'm blushing. 

I really don't know what to do here! I'd like to keep the boxes (you never know what they might be good for!). But they can't stay there. 

Half of the stash of my magazines. Actually, I'd like to keep them (you never know what they might be good for! I said that before, didn't I?). They take up too much space so they need to go.

The space behind my sewing machine. I don't necessarily need that space but it looks so messy. I have a clue where to put it though.

Last, but not least: my desk. Constantly packed, constantly untidy. I have a feeling this one is going to be a failure today. Duh!

Updates:

10.02 AM:

Bag corner is tidied. Quicker than I thought. Yay! You don't really see a difference? The stuffy backpacks are gone! Where? Now they are hidden in a big trunk in the corridor. Not sure if that was a good idea. At least they are out of my tiny room.

10.21 AM:

The chest drawer looks tidier. I have a feeling I should be tiding the drawers as well. Hmm well, maybe not (now).

10.43 AM:

Way bigger challenge than I thought it would be. I took two photos of the pile I took of the hangers - and deleted them accidentally. Four hangers can actually hold 5 woolen cardigans, 6 sweaters, one dress, one small ironing board, one camera bag, one tripod, a small purse, two fabric bags, a medium size tote bag and a big plastic tote bag in which are 3 more plastic bags filled with kipple. This is what my door looks like now:

10.59 AM:
That was fast again. Birgit "offered" me some space under her bed for the boxes. Well, she didn't really offer the space. I rather begged her not to throw away the boxes.

11.50 AM:

Tough one! I packed my magazines (about 110 issues) to four heavy piles to throw them out later. This kinda hurts to throw them out but it made room for the stuff and is blocking the space behind my sewing machine. I left one box on the table and the rest went to the empty space below the desk. 

2.04 PM:

DONE!!!!! I even managed to tidy desk. Only a tiny pile is left but that's ok. Later I might move some furniture to find a new place for my giant yarn box. Lalala I'm done!!!!

Today my Surprise Package arrived

When I came home today I found my surprise package in the mailbox.

So I quickly went upstairs to open it. This is what I found inside:



Isn‘t that just lovely? Postcards, gift tags ans a little soocer journal for keeping the fan-stickers that you get with chocolate here in Germany during the World Cup. According to small caps the booklet is limited to 18 pieces so I think I can call myself lucky to have gotten one.
I‘m not sure yet who gets the postcards but I think I‘ll come up with some ideas there. But actually they are way to cute to give them away. So maybe I just keep them all to myself. We will see...


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Als ich heute nach Hause kam, habe ich mein Surprise Package von Small Caps im Briefkasten gefunden.
Also bin ich schnell nach oben geflitzt um es in aller Ruhe auspacken zu können. Was ich darin gefunden habe, seht ihr oben.

Ist das nicht toll? Briefkarten, Geschenkanhänger und ein Fußball-Büchlein zum aufkleben der Sammelbilder aus den Schoko-Verpackungen. Das Heftchen ist limitiert auf 18 Stück, also fühle ich mich glücklich und geehrt, dass ich eines bekommen habe.
Wem ich die Karten schicke, weiß ich noch nicht. Aber da fällt mir bestimmt noch was ein. Eigentlich sind sie ja viel zu schick um sie zu verschenken, vielleicht behalte ich sie auch alle einfach für mich. Schauen wir mal...