For The Journey Not just the destination…

For this week’s Fun Monday, Karina asked:

What I want to see are the items you just cannot leave home without. What is it that if you leave your house without, you feel naked, incomplete, not quite right? This can be one thing or many things. And since most of us don’t live in a clothing optional society, lets just assume we all leave the house fully dressed…

The first thing I thought of was my purse. I feel really awkward if I don’t have my purse with me, but the weird thing is that I refused to carry a purse until I was out of college. Before then, I would carry my phone, wallet, keys in my pockets. Now, in my purse, I carry phone, wallet, keys, sunglasses, pen, hand lotion, nail file, mints, iPod, and lots of scribbled on sticky notes.

I mentioned my phone and that’s the second thing I thought to put on my list. Thomas and I have become a family without a landline – only cell phones, so, without it, I feel really disconnected.

Finally, I wear very plain jewelry – opal earrings and necklace. Opal is my birthstone, and my necklace was a gift from my Dad years ago, and the earrings were from Thomas on our first Christmas dating. He picked some that match my necklace wonderfully.

(Note: I normally wouldn’t show a craft until the recipient has received it, but I mailed this one late, and the recipient is only two and a half, so she can’t read my blog anyway…)

In Sweden, everyone gets a Name Day. It’s sort of like a birthday – it’s the same day every year, and you get a cake, but you share that day with everyone else with the same name. Today is my niece’s Name Day, so I made her a Name Banner. I used scrapbooking supplies to make this – paper, stickers, hole punches, and strung it with ribbon. I think it turned out real cute, and it would be a quick and easy decoration to make someone for a baby shower or a little girl’s party.

• Close up photos

I have a Swedish calendar in my office that helps me keep up with name days. Each day has two names – usually similar with one male and one female. Since there is no way to make sure that the calendar includes all names, you’re supposed to pick the name closest to your own. The closest Swedish name I could find to mine was Daga. 0_o

What’s your Swedish Name Day?

• Find it by date
• Find it by alphabet