Flashback Friday

It has been a while since I played Flashback Friday with Tia...

So clicking through some older folders on my computer I found these photos, taken with my phone a few years ago during our stay in Augsburg, Germany. I usually carry my digital camera with me but sometimes it gets left behind and I am forced to capture an interesting moment with much more basic phone camera.

I find these four pictures very characteristic of our German experience (clockwise from top left):
- very determined Madame Chancellor
- "No ball playing" sign in front of the grocery store
- one of the local breweries
- whimsical decor in a bathroom of a Biergarten

Flashback Friday - tag me!

Tomorrow is my 20th High School graduation class reunion - I couldn't believe it was really that long ago until one of my school friends, the one organizing the reunion, sent us this picture taken in May 1990.

Don't laugh!

Ok, you may laugh, so did I...

But once you are done laughing at funny hairdos, geeky jeans and padded Tshirts, I have a little game for you: can you find me in the picture?

It is not easy so I will give you a hint: my outfit could participate in the recent Etsy European Street Team's challenge that I won - you might have to look a few posts back to find the answer...

The first one who leaves a comment saying which one in the picture am I (top or bottom row, from left to right), gets a handmade Loddelina surprise - and no cheating from those who are in the picture with me! (although I'll be happy to hear from you as well :)

Happy tagging!

Post your own flashback at Christopher & Tia's blog!

Flashback Friday

My summer vacation is over and I am looking forward to getting back to my sewing machine and hopefully finishing some new handbags for the coming autumn season - as soon as I get around to cleaning my work space and sorting out all the supplies that I bought recently (some pictures soon, I promise!).

But when I'm back home, I always like to remember the most fun holidays or the loveliest places I have been to. These pictures were taken in Strasbourg the first time I visited it, which was soon after meeting my husband . We later moved to Germany and Strasbourg, together with even more charming nearby town of Colmar, became a very welcome stop on the way to our French side of the family.

Just thinking about those cobbled streets and black and white timber-framed buildings, surrounded by summer flowers, makes me smile...

Link your flashback to Christopher & Tia's blog!

Flashback Friday

It takes around 900 kilometres and 14 hours to travel from East of France to Slovenia's capital Ljubljana in our Citroën Berlingo, packed with two small children and eternally overastimated quantities of luggage.
The voyage is long because of frequent stops for snacking, nappy changing and playing at children friendly highway rest areas. In the car we listen to The Jungle Book soundtrack in a loop, count the big trucks that we pass on the way and the children fight over who's turn it is to play with mama's iPod touch.

Before having children, my husband and I would travel the same distance with much less fuss, stopping only for coffee and bathroom breaks. Sometimes we would travel through Italy and spend a night at a lovely B&B close to Lago di Garda, another time we would drive all night and cross the French-Swiss border at the Great St Bernard Tunnel.

The mountain pass at St Bernard (yes, that is where the famous snow rescue dogs come from) is closed over the winter due to snow but even in summer there are still patches of it lying on the ground above the deserted wooden cottage, where two bored customs officers yawn at you at seven in the morning. This picture was taken in mid July 2004 and the air that morning was fresh and icy - we didn't linger too long to enjoy the view but hurried back down the mountain to the French side...

Check out Christopher and Tia's blog for more Flashback Fridays!

Flashback Friday

The football worldcup in South Africa brings back soooo many flashbacks - it was almost exactly four years ago that my husband and I moved to Cape Town for six months, following his job.

Flying to the Southern Hemisphere at the begining of July 2006 ment changing from hot and long summer days to South African winter of 12°C and nights that fall before 5 PM. But the beautiful beaches of False Bay south of Cape Town, where we lived, were even more spectacular in winter time and the following september, at the peak of whale watching season, we were able to see majestic right whales from our living room window, swimming only 30 metres off shore.

Boulders Bay near Simon's Town - a penguin sanctuary

I was 6 months pregnant when I came to Africa and our son was born in Cape Town. Attending prenatal classes, held by a group of midwives, going to a state of the art, women-only gym for special prenatal gymnastics and finally giving birth at a modern private clinic, was in sharp contrast with the reality of South Africa, where every third pregnant woman is HIV positive and far from being able to afford a decent medical care.

South Africa is also one of the most crime infested countries in the world where those, who have, lock themselves from those, who have not, by living behind bars and hiring armed response security.

Nevertheless it is the most amazing country I have ever visited, with breath taking landscapes, delicious local food and friendly people whose arts and crafts are a neverending source of inspiration - from fancy pottery, patchwork blankets and carefully carved wood one finds in galleries to sculptures from scrap metal and miniatures, made of beaded wire, sold by the roadside.

The Waterfront - Cape Town

Me by the sea - a tidal pool at St James beach

(I am wearing a prototype Loddelina Sakadó backpack - a faithfull companion throughout my African experience!)

These days French TV is full of stories and documentaries about South Africa, the land and it's people. We enjoy these nostalgic moments and it makes us plan a Cape Town holiday in the near future - South Africa is definitely a country worth visiting!

Check out more flashbacks at Christopher and Tia's blog.

Flashback Friday - a day at the Louvre

After I met my husband in spring of 2004, I spent quite some time in France the following summer. Arno lived close to Besançon at than time and once we decided to take a drive to Paris and spend a long weekend visiting museums (something one rarely does when one lives too close to tourist attractions...).

We slept in a not too expensive Ibis hotel at the edge of the city from where we could still catch a fast metro connection to the centre. The first day we decided to go to Louvre - a priceless, but very exhausting experience. Eight hours of wondering around the endless galleries, stretching over four levels, an ant hill of people - and we still managed to visit only half of the exhibitions...

The next day we decided to take it easy and went only to Georges Pompidou Centre - it started raining heavily soon after we entered and I could make some interesting pictures of empty outside staircases with Paris stretching below. The upstairs restaurant on the terrace, busy with lunch crowd, was quickly deserted after it was clear the rain wouldn't stop.

An all-day visit to a museum is a distant memory now, not only that we couldn't afford it with two small children with an attention span of 12 minutes but I'm not sure we still have the strenght for an eight-hour marathon...

If you have a flashback of your own, link it over to Christopher and Tia's blog.

Flashback Friday

With this week's flashback photo, a sweet souvenir of summer holiday by the Croatian coast a few years ago,

I wish you a wonderful weekend!

For those of you who wonder about the teddy bear in the picture: he was just minding his own business on the washing line, soaking in the warm rays of the afternoon sun, when I walked by on my way to the beach. The picture was taken in the beautiful village called Valun, on the Croatian island of Cres.

If you want to play along, link your own flashback post to Christopher and Tia's blog.

Flashback Friday

Venice, May 2004:
after meeting my husband earlier that spring, we spent a lot of time on trains and planes from France to Slovenia and back. We would try to catch a cheap flight with one of the budget airlines or the night train Paris - Venice which was fairly comfortable and not too expensive when booked online.

Fetching Arno from Ljubljana took only three hours by car and afterwards we would walk around the streets of Venice a bit before driving back. When it was my turn to travel I would arrive in Venice late in the afternoon and then waited for the train to depart at 8 PM. Venice has two train stations, one in the city centre and another in Mestre, well away from the canals. I always chose to wait at the main station, sitting by the busy Canal Grande, munching on my prosciutto sandwich and watching the lights turn on along the water.

On the first picture I am even wearing a Loddelina bag in bright red corduroy - that bag traveled quite a lot in the next two years and I kept it even after it officially retired from service...
When in Venice I always like to roam around the tiny streets, finding secret corners and neat little squares with hotel entrances, small shops and galleries - those are usually the places less crowded by the tourists .

Want to play along? Link your flashback over to Christopher and Tia's blog.

Happy Easter!

This week's Flashback Friday doesn't go back very far - it was last year at Easter that my son helped me decorate this tree; it took us forever to hang the eggs, apparently taking them down was as much fun as hanging them back on.

Little ceramic bunny from the photo didn't make it past Easter, but we had expected as much. Which is one of the reasons why we used plastic eggs...

If you want to play along, link your flashback post over to Christopher and Tia blog.

Flashback Friday

I have almost erased this picture from my camera the day it was taken, it is blurry and you can hardly see my face because of the harsh back light - but today, six years later, I'm glad I kept this souvenir of spring 2004.

That was the year I met my boyfriend, now husband. It was him that took the picture when he came from France during Easter break to visit me in Slovenia for the first time (we have met on Malta a month before, long story, perhaps next time...).
I am standing in front of my desk I used to draw at and cut fabric on and I can't believe how tidy it is (no doubt I tried to impress my boyfriend!). On the far left are my pens and paint brushes and on the far right of the photo stands a cookie jar of doggie treats for my hairy flatmate, Zuza.

A spacious, tidy working desk is now a distant memory. But at least I kept the photo...


Want to play along? Link your flashback over to Christopher and Tia blog.

Flashback Friday

My love for flowers goes way back...

Want to play along? Link your post over to Christopher and Tia...

Flashback Friday

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A look back at Loddelina beginnings...

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The picture was taken when I was six and a half, enjoying a family vacation in Croatia. My mother made me this short summer dress in soft torquise blue terry cloth and my father brought the leather shoulder bag with printed flowers from one of his foreign business travels.

The original photo was printed on matt paper so the image was not very sharp to begin with. But you can see the smile on my face, showing I was proud of my first real handbag - and the huge inflatable swim ring on my shoulder proves that it took me another year or so to fully learn how to swim...

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It was Fallon's Sweet Fancy blog where I first saw this great weekly feature. If you want to play along, link your flashback over at Christopher and Tia.