Hello friends! I just returned from the farmers’ market and guess what? I returned to receive confirmation that our boxes from the states will arrive here next week. To say I’m over the moon is a light way of expressing my joy, I’ve over the galaxy! Our things left Boston by boat on July 27 and we expected them one month ago but our shipping company was having a hard time booking a truck for us so everything has been sitting in London for 3 weeks now. I’m so pleased that soon I’ll have all of my belongings, and the funny part of this is: I only remember 1/3 of what I packed so it will be a bit fun to go through all of my boxes. Have you ever moved to another country and experienced this – waiting for your shipment and then forgetting what you actually shipped? Ha! I learned a bit of a life lesson from this: THINGS don’t mean all that much when it comes down to it, they are easily forgotten. At least most things.

Though I must say that the 1/3 of what I remember are those that do mean something to me – old photos, letters, journals, childhood toys (only a few but still), gifts from friends, fabric, all of my decorating books and magazines, and some of my favorite outfits and shoes. And also some crafty items and of course, the art I’ve collected over the years. But the kitchen things and glassware and gosh, the other masses of things: well…. I wonder now why I bothered packing them if they could be so easily forgotten? So, from this, I’ve learned a valuable lesson and so I thought I’d share this with you before you spend thousands of dollars to move – bring what you absolutely love and what is meaningful to you if you’re relocating abroad anyway… the rest will take care of itself when you land in your new country.

See, I just taught you and your family how to save a good amount of money that I feel I’ve wasted by not carefully considering every single item that I packed. But, life is this way of course: you have to learn through mistakes because if you did everything right all of the time, well for one that’s not possible but if you always did everything with absolute perfection then you’d have little room to learn and grow. I think that so much has to do with our attitude when we do something less-than-perfect. Do we beat ourselves or have a sense of humor about it – laugh, learn, share the mistake (helpful to others and keeps us humble), and move on? So instead of complaining over it, I’ve chosen to laugh and move on. The way I see is that if I open all of these boxes and find lots of things I no longer want or need, I can rent a table at the flea market one Saturday and sell it, or put it on eBay. All is never lost, right?

So… the title of this post is Swedish Design House and by now, you’ve most likely noticed the gorgeous photos above and wondered, “Where is Holly going with all of this?”. So let me quickly share that the Swedish Design House is a new online shop that I wrote about today over on Real Simple. You can read about it here if you’d like to. They ship worldwide and carry some items with the lovely dala horse motif…

Oh and one last bit to share. Gosh peeps, I’m so sorry for allowing my heart to rule over my head yesterday because I took the entire afternoon off to spend with a friend of mine. I made apple, cinnamon, nutmeg pancakes with maple syrup for her (and sent some over to my mother-in-law who never had pancakes American style, nor had she ever had maple syrup), and we ate a huge stack of them by candlelight with rooibos vanilla tea. Then we watched a movie and talked… and day became night, and well you know how it goes. As a result, I did not post Etsy Take Five Tuesdays. I took five in a different way, I guess, I took five hours to do absolutely nothing but cook, eat and spend time with my friend. But a girl needs that now and then. As a result I feel refreshed, inspired and ready to write and share with you today. :) And wow, did the pancakes taste amazing. :)

(images: swedish design house)

20 Responses to “Swedish Design House”

1 Juana @ SweetVisualAids commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 6:38 am

Hi Holly! i really enjoyed reading your post! Indeed if you never do mistakes you will never learn and grow. But this is a thought lesson, specially for perfectionist people, like my self :P we always try to get it right at the first time. Regarding the moving what a great advise! to really take the time to see what is valuable and what is not. And for what is not, nothing better then a garage sale!
.-= Juana @ SweetVisualAids´s last blog ..Simple, recycled and unique, this is Freitag =-.
2 Lizzie commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 6:51 am

Hello – we’re moving tomorrow from Japan to Sydney. My own things left London 2 weeks ago having been in storage for 2 months. I halved my possessions then and I have no idea what will arrive! Enjoy London, its the best city in the world (I’m biased!)
3 Margarita commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 8:20 am

We should not feel guilty for stopping and having some quality time with friends and family. All I seem to do lately is work, thanks god my friends understand this and forgive me for not spending much time with them!!

We all need breaks and fun not just work, so well done!!
.-= Margarita´s last blog ..Amelia Critchlow beautiful art =-.
4 Esti commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 8:37 am

Thanks for sharing this experience. I totally agree. There’s a lesson to be learned here. Good luck in the new country!!
5 Laura Gaskill commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 8:39 am

Oh Holly, I am at home sick today and you just put a big smile on my face! I am happy to hear your belongings will be arriving soon – and I am going to check out Swedish Design House (from my laptop, in bed, with a cup of tea) right now. Dala horses and Scandinavian motifs are some of my favorites, especially in the fall/winter season.

Have a great day! Those pancakes sound yummy, too :)
.-= Laura Gaskill´s last blog ..Under The Weather =-.
6 Mela commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 9:01 am

When we moved here to Portugal (from England) I was quite small, so all the packing was done by my parents. And being the hoarders that they are, they brought over literally everything! So, bin bags full of junk! And the funny thing is they also brought stuff that was stored away from our first move, from Brighton to London, but never unpacked. So I rediscovered my baby toys years after the first move!

Hoarders will always pack everything they can :)
7 Monica commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 9:18 am

I sent items over to Portugal from Canada this past Summer & the one before that. However, they were all new items to furnish my Summer apartment. Basically, these items had no emotional connections (yet) as they were sent because furniture & art was cheaper to buy here than in Europe. Also, who wants to spend their vacation looking for furniture:) But your right items are replacable because memories stay with us.
.-= Monica´s last blog ..get Fresh {freshMinerals review} =-.
8 fer commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 9:29 am

A pesar de que he tenido que traducir este post, he disfrutado mucho leyéndolo. Muy lindas reflexiones.
Me encanta tu blog y me inspira…
Te mando saludos desde Argentina!
9 Melissa de la Fuente commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 9:35 am

Well, first of all…I am so glad you took 5 and had such a lovely break with your pal…secondly, you always make everything sound so lovely and warm, you know? And thirdly, I have thought that exact thing recently when Joel and I moved…..why did we bother with a lot of this stuff? Stuff that was still in boxes from the first time we moved! I mean, really! :) Have a wonderful wednesday hun.
xo
Melis
ps those ceramics above ARE lovely….very.
.-= Melissa de la Fuente´s last blog ..It’s my bag, baby! =-.
10 alexandra keller commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 9:50 am

i once read a story about a family that moved overseas for a few years for work and ended up staying over 20 years. they did come back to the states, and when they unpacked their storage unit, they found all sorts of things they kept: toothpaste, an old tv, an old typewriter, and tons of clothes from the 80s.
.-= alexandra keller´s last blog ..what i made =-.
11 thedoodlegirl commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 10:12 am

Those pancakes sound super delish!! How fun that you got to have a nice time with your friend! I’m so glad for you. Everybody needs to do that now and then! I enjoyed your post. It’s true. Every time I have moved I have forgotten about so many of the things I packed even when it’s taken me a while to unpack boxes. :) Beautiful, beautiful swedish house photos!!!
.-= thedoodlegirl´s last blog ..Fall, I love you! =-.
12 lizzy commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 10:26 am

happy that you are happy! and glad you took the day off. Not one thing wrong with that!
13 decor8 commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 10:48 am

Lizzy – only half a day. :) :)
14 enna commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 12:11 pm

I want that pancace recipe. It sounds so delicious! Lecker schmecker ;-9
15 Lydia, Clueless Crafter commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 12:36 pm

Moving is an enlightening experience because it forces you to think about what you value in life. When we moved from undergrad so I could attend grad school at the Fashion Institute of Tech (NYC), we gutted so many things that we thought meant the world to us. It was freeing to let stuff go, rely on a few small pleasures!

And, the moving company charged by weight, so I wasn’t about to keep the extras for no compelling reason!
.-= Lydia, Clueless Crafter´s last blog ..HouseCraft: Illuminate Your World from the Inside Out =-.
16 Nadine commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Hi Holly,

I moved from Germany to the UK almost 2 years ago and only took a couple of suitcases with me. I must admit that I still bring stuff back with me whenever I visit my parents, where the rest of my stuff is stored now. I very much enjoyed the fresh start and getting new stuff but I must admit that I miss all the books I had to leave behind. I could have them send here but London flats are not very spacious and I think I will wait until I get a bigger place.

All the best,
Nadine
17 Lydia, Clueless Crafter commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Nadine, yes, that was the ONLY thing I truly regret about purging all my stuff when I moved. I let go of so many ART HISTORY BOOKS THAT I LOVED.

Cannot count how many times I’ve reached for a book on art criticism or Weimar art and have been so sad:-(
.-= Lydia, Clueless Crafter´s last blog ..HouseCraft: Illuminate Your World from the Inside Out =-.
18 Sarah Shaw commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 4:56 pm

Love the photos! The colors are stunning
19 Sonja Barrett commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 8:41 pm

More Swedish Dala horses here… http://www.revisiondesignaus.etsy.com
I’m in love with them!
20 maria1975 commented:
October 21st, 2009 at 11:32 pm

Thanks for the intro to Swedish Design House – sooo many sweet things :)

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