Only eight more days!

Do you know that feeling when summer break is so close, but every work day seems like an eternity? Yeah, I am right there.

Only eight more working days in class for me (plus one day of testing) and I cannot wait to go into summer break full force. We have plans to go to the sea and add some days in Hamburg, but I will also enjoy four weeks at home. The first two weeks of the holidays, Big L is at summer camp and I will be home with Little L, who also has some time off of daycare.

Here is what Little L likes to do:

• Drink milk
• Go outside
• Go on holiday
• Go to a museum (with animals or dinosaurs)
• Paint
• Go to the forest
• Go for a walk
• Egg hunt 

I think, I will manage that. I'l keep you updated. ;o) 

Summer Reading: Little Beach Street Bakery

I love reading. I love the seasons. I love seasonal reading. I read Christmas books in winter, lovely short stories in fall and books taking place on the beach in...well, in summer.

I would love to introduce you to my favorite summer reads, just in time for summer break and your vacation on the beach.

I am starting with chick lit by Jenny Colgan. In fact, it's a trilogy, but just the first two books are set in summer. Little Beach Street Bakery and Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery.

This is what it's all about: Heroine Polly Waterford just lost her boyfriend and her job. As she is looking for a fresh start, she moves to the sea side resort of Polbearne in a little flat above and abandoned shop. To get her thoughts straight, she does what she loves most: baking. With every loaf she bakes and with every rich ingredient she adds, she finds more of herself and a new life (and love) where she never expected it.

Oh, how I loved these books! I read them - have a guess - last summer on the beach. And if it wasn't for me to actually be on the beach, I would have smelled the salty air of Polbearne and heard the waves break. The writing is really good, the story extraordinairy. Chick lit, but without the idiotic heroine. No Bridget Jones moments. Great characters, unexpected twists.

In case you are looking for a good summer read, go for it.

Also, the third book in the series is called Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery. Just perfect for my anglophile, Christmas loving self. But I will talk about this in half a year.

Happy Reading! Love, Sanna

Important to me

Today in class, we talked about wishes and dreams and what's important to us. That made me remember one of my very favorite songs by Joey & Rory. And it made me think about what really is important to me. Here are my top three.

Health. Yes, that sounds simple and we easily forget, but being healthy is the most important thing in life. It comes before family and friends and everything else. Without health, nothing is important. Without a healthy body, you cannot dance at festivals. In case your upper limbs are involved, you cannot hug someone special or tie your own shoes. Without mental health you cannot love and laugh and feel. So yes, health is the most important thing to me. And I am still learning to do so, but it is my top priority. Being good to myself. Body and soul. That's where it all starts.

Family. Where would I be without my family? Like all the many people that are special in my life. Starting with mom and dad. My husband and kids. My in-laws, my brother and his family, my cousin and aunts and uncles. And great-granny! There is a place in my heart for all of them. And I know from experience that they would do a hell of a lot for me, too. My world moves around my family and I know how lucky I am to have all my beloved ones still around.

Being me. Sometimes, getting older sucks. But sometimes, it is also a very good thing. The older I get, the more I fell like really being me. Doing what I really love. Being happy with myself. All of me. My heart and my body. I might not be perfect, I might wear size 14, but I am good the way I am. I am enough. And so are you. My journey from PPD back to life brought me closer to who I really am. And I am so grateful for it.

What is important to you? I'd love to know. Love and hugs, Sanna

Four weeks

The countdown has started. It's a short week for me because of a holiday on Thursday (I am free on Fridays), so there are only four weeks left until summer break! I am so looking forward to getting some time off work and spending it with my kids and family.

For the first time in ten years or so, we are NOT going to the Netherlands (because our holiday home was occupied), but we are staying within Germany and will spend some time at the North Sea coast. In fact, it's the very same sea we are going to every year, just more up North. We are real adventurers.

Apart from that, I plan on being lazy, do everything without a hurry and I am looking forward to visit Big L at summer camp.

I also wanna read lots of books and I herewith as for recommendations. I love seasonal reading, so I am looking for romance that's set preferably on the beach. I already have downloaded the latest books of Kate Angell's Barefoot Williams / Boys of Summer books. I L.O.V.E. these! Have you read them?

I might also re-read SEP's Honey Moon. I haven't read it for ages and I feel like doing it. But summer break is six weeks and I need more books! Spill!

What are your plans for summer? Any specific? Adventurous? I'd love to know.

Until then, finish the school year strong. Stay focused, but don't forget to dream about the beach.

Love, Sanna

Solo parenting

For five days, DH was away in Berlin to work his ass off. Which meant, I was solo parenting and at first it was a bit overwhelming to think about it. Because since I got sick, I was NEVER responsible for both my kids on my own for mor than 48 hours. I was worried, if I'd manage. Also, I was pissed, because it was a public holiday and long weekend. I like to spend those days as a family, but sometimes you don't get what you want.

So on Friday morning, DH went to Berlin and left me in charge.

Friday was good, because I went to work, the kids to school and daycare and it was just a normal day of the week.
Then the long weekend started and we spent it with lots of activities and fun. We went out for dinner, went shopping at the mall, went to the zoo and stayed up a bit longer than usual.

I loved our early nights, when Little L was in bed and Big L and me watched movie after movie and had way too much sweets. I hardly see my big boy, because he is running wild and free this summer, but every night he was there for a movie he got to chose. We watched teenage movies and romances and sometimes stuff with action. Afterwards, we would go to bed (he slept with me) and chat about the movies and our day. We would fall asleep happy and in the middle of the night Little L would come over and snuggle in with us.

It was an intensive time for the kids and me and I enjoyed it so much. Of course, it was a holiday and we had nowhere to be, so it was relaxed and easy.

Solo parenting is easy when you know that your better half is coming back in five days. I can only imagine how exhausting it must be, when you are a fulltime single mom or dad. In case you are such a parent, you got my biggest respect. You are wonderful and enough and doing a great job!