Getting ready for network meeting

Today's topic: Facilitation

She is really married!

A true fairytale party filled with romance. A weekend filled with celebrations to be remembered. All the ingredients were present: the castle, the prince, the princess and the whole court. The champagne and the music flooded and were only paused to allow one of the seventeen speeches some air to honour the bride and groom. Little B was prettier than Grace Kelly in her long, red dress, silver high heels and sparkling jewellery. But nothing sparkled as much as the eyes of the newlyweds when they looked at each other. Real love.

Snapshots from the weekend

Prague the day after

Fairytale weekend in fairytale city.

Prague next

Little B's wedding celebration. She is already married to fairy prince and we now get the opportunity to give them the big send-off into married life. Hooray! A weekend of romance, champagne and party in a city sparkling of Christmas lights and frost. Fur coat on.

Mirror mirror... been there before

Auction time again. I have the perfect matching wall for this mirror. Let's hope nobody else thinks the same.

Advertising when it's good

French humour at its best. This made me laugh: Action with Canal Plus.

Christmas all around us

I wonder if this is what the architect had in mind when he created the "mushroom", Stureplan's landmark.

Learning from nine year olds

At the leadership seminar last week the organisers had invited a group of nine year olds to remind us of the fact that they are tomorrow's employees. What does that mean for leadership devleopment?

Facilitator: "What does a leader do?"
Nine year old: "Make decisions."
Facilitator: "What do you think is important for a leader?"
Nine year old: "To be nice."

A piece of India

Framed and soon on the wall as a reminder of an unforgettable month in India earlier this year.

Pottering

Q: What is the ultimate housewife chore?
A: Cleaning and polishing silverware.

In addition to ironing and baking saffron buns, that's what I've spent a significant part of the day doing. I enjoyed every minute of it thinking I could get used to doing this every day, knowing that's probably not true.

It all started with some browsing

I always claim to be very efficient and focused when working from home. No rules without exceptions. The derailing started already this morning when I just happened to browse through an auction site and just happened to find a coffee table that looked like it belonged between my two couches. With less than four hours until the close of the auction there was no time for real life inspection but had to trust the web to give an honest view of what seemed to be the coffee table I've visualised for quite some time.

What do you do when you wait for your bid to go through? You go to the plant shop of course. Very important to have amaryllis and hyacinths in place in time for new coffee table to arrive.

And when the bid goes through, hooray, you need assistance to transport it from the auction hall. Someone seemed to be as efficient as I was as Adorable also had a piece of furniture which needed to be picked up from the same place. With the new additions in our respective homes we decided to call it a day and totally just veg out.

Days like this are also necessary.

AM: home office, PM: networking at leadership conference

French bistro in Stockholm

A relaxing atmosphere, a menu characterised by elegant simplicity. No more, no less. Lovely L is just around the corner. I know we will have an evening filled conversations that matter. Just the two of us. A highlight of the week.

Christmas outside our office

A different meeting

Leadership and spirituality was the theme of the afternoon. A discussion group, or just a group actually, of people coming together to share some thoughts. Guest of honour was a woman who is normally based in a zen monastery but is currently in Stockholm working on her PhD. If it was her doing or the fine mix of people participating I'm not sure, but the presence in the room was complete. People meeting people for real and because we wanted to.

Greta

Just a click away... Want? Yes! Need?...

Mornington

Soon Saturday afternoon coffee with Little B and Adorable. Later birthday celebrations with Lovely L. Fabulous friends on a relaxing day in a pretty city.

May be the most beautiful capital in the world

The short version

Crêpes and catch up with Little B. A spontaneous lunch and welcome break in the middle of a busy day. Today I've been wearing the hats of the IT manager, the accountant, the secretary and the consultant. The pros and cons of being self employed.

Interaction overload

A week filled with sessions of interviews, coaching and yoga. Impossible to be anywhere but in the moment. Although that's exactly what I aspire for, I'm now longing for a day without interactions. How boring does that sound?

It's dark and cold but it's home

Crisp bread, Swedish liver pâté and tea in the favourite cup. Sometimes you need to go away to appreciate things you otherwise take for granted.

Last summer night for a while

Getting ready for an Egyptian dinner.

Snake show

Couldn't help feeling sorry for the snakes. They never asked for human attention.

Egyptian nights

Starting with a soft warmth and a dry breeze and then the temperature starts to sink as the evening progresses. Desert climate.

Cousins on holiday

This little hero, my second youngest nephew, is like a duracell rabbit. His energy is amazing and he happily tries everything that comes his way. The biggest idole is his five year old cousin. Anything she does, he does too. She knows it and slowly starts to take advantage of it. Female cunning and male obsession.

How to make hotel guests feel special