100 happy days :: day 95

coffee. tea. and instagram filters that make even my crap old kitchen look inviting.

100 happy days :: day 11

the flat white has recently come to denmark. it's darker, more brooding than a latte. i like it. definitely today's happy. and my new go-to drink.

my inner bitch drinks coffee

coffee. i don't know if neruda included coffee in his odes to common things, but he should have. if i were a poet, i'd write an ode to coffee. it's gotten me through the week so far. which makes it sound like it's been a hard week. which it hasn't. it's been exciting and full of good experiences and people who give me energy rather than taking it away.

i did discover one little thing. yesterday, for a good cause, i got to let out my mean, tough corporate bitch self. and you know what? i loved her. she did a deliciously satisfying job of shredding a slimy belgian salesman (i know, belgium, it wasn't really playing fair). he didn't know what hit him. and it was so much fun. he even bought lunch, which ended with this coffee. i just might have to keep her around for when she's needed. in moderation, of course.

just like the coffee.

grateful tuesday: because it's been awhile

it's been far too long since i did any posts about gratefulness. a mild depression over huge change and upheaval (even if self-chosen) in our lives surely intervened - changing home, part of the country and work all at the same time is stressful, even if it's what you want. but i feel it lifting. and even tho' the kitchen i have to live with for the time being (flaky (if adorable) architects and building permits take time) continues to depress me (and cause my continuing absence from domestic sensualist), i am coming up for air. i can feel it. interestingly, what's triggered it today is sabin's morning fever, which caused me to stay at home with her today. waiting on her, running to the store for the cottage cheese she was craving, drinking tea together and watching an entire afternoon of BBC Lifestyle programming gave me a sense of well-being that i could scarcely remember. (note to self: remember this.) and all of that has filled me with a desire to express gratefulness...

i'm grateful to lisa of lil fish studios for our recent swap. i sent one of my painted feather stones and she sent me this gorgeous feather stone of her own. very different from mine, yet a sister of it somehow. and an immediate treasured possession. and i'm ever grateful to trinsch for getting me started on the feather stone thing in the first place.

i'm grateful for being published - in an art book by hong kong-based artpower publishers (and i'm grateful that it finally arrived today) and even more grateful for the amusing asian translated subtitle of the book (because who doesn't love different color shades that serve as prevalent colors on the sock). but on the inside is a whole beautiful 8-page spread of my photos of my beloved blue room (along with a whole lot of other inspiring artists that i will share soon). and that just makes me smile.

i'm grateful for the creativity of my child. she creatively wrapped up the blog camp berlin presents today. and yes, i'm also grateful for the upcoming blog camp berlin.  the kid learned how to make these pretty boxes at school (thus i'm also grateful for the danish school system) and taught me how to make some today as well. and even if i do say so myself, i'm pretty pleased with what's inside.

and thank odin for that vintage scale, which seems to be where i take all of my photos of late.

latte. i'm pretty grateful for latte. and when it's accompanied by a tall hyldeblomst (elderflower) beverage and enjoyed in the sunshine at a gorgeous marina, all the better.

but today, i'm most grateful for an encounter i had with the folks at the apple help line. back in february, through the apple.dk website, i ordered one of those big, giant 1TB My Book Studio external hard drives made by western digital. i was in terror of losing my 50-some thousand photos after spilling water in my MBP and having issues with my iMac (now solved, thankfully). i got it and hooked it up, but never really got it properly set up because it kept giving me a strange message that it was going to shut down because it was too hot after i had it on for about five minutes. i never did anything about it at the time because of the chaos of our move, but today, i finally called about it to see if there was anything that could be done. and would you believe that without argument or questions into whether i'd dropped it into the bathtub (for the record, i did not), they said they would send a new one out to me by courier immediately and collect the faulty one? so tomorrow, i will have a new 1TB WD My Book Studio external hard drive. now that's service. and a big part of why i love apple.

what are you grateful for today?

the choices we make: coffee places

there's been a lot of talk around here lately of starbucks. i may even seem a little obsessed. and strangely a hankering for a really good latte has replaced my desire for a really good south african chenin blanc. i've tried not to think too much about that, but what i have thought about is what draws you to a certain café over the one right next to it (in the absence of starbucks, of course - because we always are drawn to starbucks if there is one and by we, i mean me and sometimes husband).

i'm thinking about this because i downloaded a bunch of iPhone photos into iPhoto this evening. and i realized that i take a lot of pictures of coffees with my phone. oh, and shoes, but we're talking about coffees at the moment. maybe there will be one gratuitous shoe shot at the end (if i remember).

when i walk through sandvika storsenter, which is the most direct route from the train station to my hotel, i pass half a dozen coffee places. why do i, time after time, choose steam? it might have something to do with these beautiful cinnamon bread thingies (husband is right, the norwegians can do a mean cinnamon bread thingie (that's the technical term)).

but fattigmanden also has really nice things to eat. like this shrimp sandwich. but still, i had to force myself to go there, just to try something different. but i really wanted to go to steam. and both of them even do those pretty hearts on top of the coffee, so it shouldn't really matter.

but you can see that a double latte at fattigmanden just isn't as creamy-looking as it is at steam, so that's part of it. but there's something more, something i can't put a finger on.

it's about atmosphere too. or the light. or the lighting. the decor. the pillows. whether they have comfy chairs or tall barstools. the availability of guinness. wait. that was just in dublin. but you have to admit it is rather coffee-colored.

i think it's only partially about the coffee, tho' the coffee does have to be a rich, robust roast and the foam creamy and i never order skinny because i think only whole milk truly foams properly. it's mostly about how i feel in the place. whether people can sit too close to you. whether there's wifi. whether it feels hyggeligt (that wonderful danish word that means so much more than cosy).

and it helps if they have really cool lamps. i'm a sucker for a really cool lamp. but strangely, i don't seem to photograph them, i'll try to remedy that.  but now, i promised shoes...

happy weekend one and all. i, for one, i'm happy to be headed home today. because there's starbucks in the airport in copenhagen. and i'm looking forward to it already.