If you're reading this...

... you should probably be part of my reader directory! It's a line-up of all my followers that is accessible via this badge in my sidebar:

So, if you are a regular around here, let me know your details and I'll get you on the list. And if you are a brand-new follower, let's see your info as well. Hopefully, the directory will grow over time and will give everybody a platform for their blog and an opportunity to find out about other bloggers you might like.
You can read more about the Day Trippers list, why I started it, and what little information I would like from you here.
© Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Once again...

Remember when I answered a bunch of questions for Sarah recently? Well, guess who's popular? I've only been tagged again! This time by Michelle from Creature Type. Thanks, Hon! These are the questions Michelle asked, and my answers:  

Do you believe in guilty pleasures? Why/why not?

I absolutely do! It's a good thing to indulge in silly, childish or unhealthy pursuits from time to time. I just often have the problem of developing an addiction, be it to TV series like 90201, to Nutella or to buying vintage crockery...

What is your favourite/most-loved souvenir?

 

 It's a little snow globe I bought in Paris on the weekend my husband proposed to me.

 

 What’s the worst job you’ve ever had to work?

Erm. I hope nobody I am professionally involved with reads this, but my current job is pretty dull. I'm an office administrator, and a big part of my working routine is about filling in forms. However, I like my colleagues, my office and the pay, so I try not to complain too much.

Even if you don’t generally like pop music, what’s your favourite pop song?

Walking On Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves is pretty high up there.

 

What hobby/subject has made you the most fan-girly or obsessive? Was it a phase?

Have a look here. And yes, it was a phase. I'm over him now. Although I still think he's attractive... 

 

What’s your favourite kind of cuisine?

That's like asking a mother who her favourite child is! I love all food! But if I had to choose, I think I'd want to eat Thai food for the rest of my life. 

 

Which is your favourite Harry Potter book? Movie?

I am not massively into Potter, so I cannot really give an answer to this. I've read all the books and enjoyed them, and I've seen some of the movies (cannot remember which ones, though). The cinematography and special effects were pretty neat, but I don't really get all too excited over them.

If you could have any hair colour – naturally and maintenance-free – what would it be?

I would have loved to have sleek, rich dark brown hair like my Mama had when she was young. At this point in my life though, I cannot wait until I go grey completely, as my mousey brown colour combined with grey streaks just doesn't really do it for me. 

What is your favourite drink? Not necessarily boozy!

I'm boring. I like water. And tea. Which is generally made with water.

What musical(s) do you know all the lyrics to?

Not sure if this counts as a musical (even though it's now been adapted for the stage), but I think I can sing every song from Dirty Dancing.

What’s the last movie you saw in a theatre?

I saw Beasts Of The Southern Wild, which was sad and inspiring and very poetic.

  © Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Just tagging along...

My new bloggy acquaintance Sarah from Well & Cheaply tagged me for the answers to some questions a couple of days ago. Now, I'm supposed to ask a few other bloggers my own questions, but because I already did something like this a little while ago, I thought I'd do it slightly differently this time. I'd be really interested in how you would answer any or all of these questions, so I'd love you to indulge me in the comments. Also, if you have anything that you would like to ask me, shoot and I will write another post with the answers to your questions soon. Okay? Here goes.

 

Um. Hardly ever? I always thought that was because I didn’t like going to the hairdresser’s and getting your hair cut was so expensive, but even now that I have found a really nice one that is also affordable, I still do not go more often. I usually trim a bit of my fringe myself when it gets too long. Which reminds me: I got to book an appointment!

If you’re talking author: Ernest Hemingway. If you’re talking character: Phileas Fogg (from Around The World In Eighty Days). I part want to be WITH them and part simply just BE them (without Ernest’s shot gun suicide).

 

I usually retire sometime between 10 and midnight. I need a lot of sleep to be at minimum grump level, so I tend to have a similar bedtime during the week and on the weekends.

   

I love semolina porridge. Any kind of porridge is good, but semolina just has the best taste and consistency to be completely and utterly comforting. I like to eat it with stewed fruit. It reminds me of childhood.

 

I picture a round chocolate cake on a round plate, with three layers, chocolate cream filling and chocolate icing. On top is written “Happy Birthday” and there are little sugar flowers and a bunch of those little candles, one for each year. The cake is being carried to me by my husband Marco and his face is lit up by the candle flames. I have a vivid cake imagination. Does anybody actually have some cake for me now???

 

I have a list for news channels on Twitter and try and watch the evening news on TV. Sometimes, I must admit, I get my news by reading other people’s newspaper over their shoulder.

 

I think that changed through the years. I remember two toys I was really attached to and which both went through little tragedies. I had a little stuffed toy mouse called Beate, who once went overboard on a sailing trip. Luckily, she was rescued, and we were reunited. I also had a MonChiChi doll (I don't recall his name) which somehow ended up with a hole in its head after a playground visit.

Last year at this time, I was visiting my family in Canada. I had lots of guest posters, but on 3^rd October, I actually checked in and briefly told everybody what I had been up to so far. I wish I was in Canada now. It always feels like home to me.

Coffee & eggs in bed. Windows cracked open to listen to the rain. The cats would be there, and they’d want cuddles. A drive to the coast and a long walk on the beach. Getting wet, but feeling refreshed. A pub with a view of the ocean and a fireplace, roast lunch and a few beers to get just slightly drunk. A museum. Sober up, drive back and buy cake. Get caught in traffic. That's fine, because there's music in the car, and I like hearing the windshield wipers. Back home, a fire and hot chocolate with marshmallows, cuddle up on the sofa, eat cake, watch an old movie, fall asleep. -- Oooh, I want to make it happen!

 

Don’t judge.

 Hm. Toughie. This one. I think.

Now you. 

Talk to me!

  © Text & Photos - Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated).

Guest Post - Aimee from Husbandry And Wifery

Today's guest post comes from Aimee of Husbandry And Wifery. Aimee lives in the States and has been one of my longest followers. She's a mommy, an ambassador for sustainable lifestyle and owner of an amazing vegetable garden. This is her first guest post, and I am glad that she wrote it for me! 

***

Wow, am I ever excited to be guest posting for Annika! I just love her style and this great blog she has!  Since this is my first guest post ever, I was really wracking my brain with what I should share with you guys.  Then I thought that in honor of Annika's love for lists, I would share some lists of my own to help you get to know me a bit better.

First, about me.

I am :

• a Christian
• a wife
• a daughter
• a mother to 4 sweet kiddos
• a sister
• an aunt to 8 awesome nieces and nephews

My favorite things:

• arts and crafts
• making the best chocolate cake anyone has ever had
• doing anything with my husband
• coconut rum
• doughnuts--no really. love the doughnuts.
• learning to live more sustainably and simply
• watching our gardens grow
• finding bargains
• beautiful and functional old dishes
• a good story
• reality TV
• Marlborough Lights in a box
• driving
• Madison Beer Garden (the hot wings there are truly unbelievable, plus just going there makes me feel cool)
• pretty braided hair
• peonies
• straws

My least favorite things:

• dishonesty
• unkindness
• green beans
• being left out
• horror movies
• strict schedules
• acrylic yarn
• cleaning
• that I am such a bad photographer (note that this photo of the peonies is one of the nicest ones  I have ever taken)
• realizing that I wasted 1 1/2 hours on a sucky movie

I hope you come visit my blog so I can get to know you a bit better too! 

Aimee

***

Thank you, Aimee, for sharing a few of your favourite (and less favourite...) things!  I'm curious about your chocolate cake (how could I not be!) and completely with you on the old dishes. I do like green beans, but cleaning? Bleargh! By the way, I don't think Aimee is a bad photographer at all. Just go look at her blog and all the pictures she posts there. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them!

What about the rest of you, people? Feel like sharing your one most favourite thing or the stuff  that bugs you?

© All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated) 

I Am Totally Endorsing Listmaking!

 You might know that I am a loyal list lover.

 So naturally I am taking part in:  

  Are you? A month of writing a list a day! What could be more fun!? 
© All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated)

7 x 7

I was recently tagged in one of those 'Seven Things' posts by the lovely lady behind Small Catalogue. What an absolute honour! Make sure to read her seven paragraphs on the colour green and the Muppets!  

I must say that I was chuffed to bits to be asked to share my seven things! And because I like writing lists, I thought I'd give you seven things in seven different categories. 

So here goes:

1. The day I met my husband, Marco.

2. My first view of the Grand Canyon.

3. My holiday fling with a handsome Israeli when I was 20. 

4. Hugging Marco goodbye the night before our wedding day.

5. Having all my friends and family congregate at our house during our wedding week. 

6. Ice skating on our local pond and drinking hot chocolate from a thermos as a kid.

7. Making Christmas cookies with my Mama.

1. I like 3 parts tea with 1 part milk.

2. I only eat my bagels toasted.

3. I eat jam & cheese sandwiches.
4. I like my sandwiches cut on the diagonal.

5. I hate pink yogurts.

6. I hate pink ice creams.

7. Milk chocolate with whole hazelnuts is my one true love. 

1. Landslide - Dixie Chicks

2. Baby Can I Hold You - Tracy Chapman

3. In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel

4. Just Breathe  - Pearl Jam

5. God Only Knows - The Beach Boys

6. Flugzeuge Im Bauch - Herbert Grönemeyer

7. Secret Garden - Bruce Springsteen

1. Barista

2. Assistant to David Attenborough

3. Art Restorer

4. Gardener

5. Game Keeper

6. Housewife

7. Ballroom Dancer 

1. The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood

2. No One Belongs Here More Than You - Miranda July

3. A Farewell To Arms - Ernest Hemingway

4. Little House In The Big Woods - Laura Ingalls

5. Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

6. To The Wedding - John Berger

7. Demian - Hermann Hesse 

1. Go to a cat café in Tokyo, Japan.

2. Camp in the rain forest of Brazil.

3. Feed the jukebox in a roadside diner in the States.

4. Rent a cabin by a lake in Sweden

5. Eat in Thailand.

6. Visit the souks of Marrakesh, Morocco.

7. Take pictures of old cars in Havana, Cuba.

1. Coffees & Milkies

2. Dreaming Of The Country

3. Little Somethings

4. JenMun(a)

5. Chocolate & Creamcake

6. 14 Countess

7. The Corner Of The Internet I Call Home

And now, especially if you're bored after reading through my 'fun facts', go on over and check out those ladies' spaces. They are all very different, interesting reads and well cool!

And to my seven lovely ladies: grab the award if you like, bask in your glory for a bit, and then maybe share seven things about yourself. Don't feel obliged, though. I just wanted you to know that I think you're awesome!

© All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated)