USA 2013 | Brooklyn & DUMBO

 
While 'Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass' we stopped at Grimaldi's for a slice of pizza before going to gasp at the beautiful views of the water.


 
In the evening we went and sat in Washington Square park for a little while and then set off to a fun evening of drinks, games of shuffleboard at the Fat Cat and laughs and dinner at the Comedy Cellar.

Happy birthday Fabien!

Today is my youngest brother's birthday; and because what I ordered for him is taking longer than expected to get to him, I told him to download a little something to keep him waiting patiently until my package makes it to its destination: the eboy FixPix app.

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The app, just like eboy's fantastic posters, is full of countless little details (we've have the one pictured above in our entrance hall for more than a year and I still discover new things every time I look at it).
The game is colourful, it's fun, and fixing the pictures by tilting your iPhone/iPad feels strangely satisfying (and probably makes you look a little crazy - I'd avoid playing the game while waiting for a bus or metro in a crowded space for example).
Head over here to try out the pixel fixing fun! :-)

Remembering Paris

We went to a second hand shop on Saturday and got this big puzzle with a picture of Paris. We're making it, remembering our special weekend there last year...
It's not exactly Mart's favourite thing in the world (the puzzling part, not the thinking-of-last-year part!) but he's been a good sport and has come to sit with me for a bit every time I get to it.
Ah, the things you do for the one you love...

♥

Pretty paper popsicles

After coming across this beautiful post a few weeks ago, I knew just what I wanted to send our friend Celina for her birthday. As she was turning 6 and because she's a very clever girl, I wanted to make the game a little more difficult than the basic 12-pair one. I therefore printed everything twice and 'pimped' half of the popsicles to increase diversity.
I made a little pocket to store it all (the jar idea was so cute but not as practical to post to Denmark), et voila!

It was a lot of fun to make, and very easy. I'd definitely recommend it for a cute and colourful present!

Machinarium

All photos from here.

I've been playing a lot of this wonderfully captivating game in the past few days. I've played so much that I actually just finished it.

And I have to say I'm a little sad... I wish there was more! :-)
It's such a lovely adventure, full of weird little creatures, lots of mind-puzzles and very sweet moments. I can't even begin to imagine how much work was put into making this game. The drawings are amazing, the mini-games are great and very varied, and the sounds effect complete it all perfectly. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to anyone.

(Just know that if you're stuck, you can unlock the hint book, which will help you get through tough times. I wasn't aware of that in the beginning and got a little frustrated at times!)


P.S. I played it on the iPad (careful: apparently it only works on the iPad 2!) but I just saw on their website that it's possible to download it for computers too.

Tiny wings

I don't buy apps very often, but I'm so glad I got this one. It's a really fun game, and so pretty! And there's no risk of ever getting bored as the hills you jump and slide on change every day, showing hundreds of different patterns and colours.

To see more on the game and story, click here.

Baby cubes

Our friends had a little boy during the holidays. A cute little Marten, which we cannot wait to meet very soon.

As I had:

• plenty of free time,
• access to my mum's incredible collection of fabrics,
• and her great collection of ribbons,
• and all her sewing tools and diverse material,

I decided to make him a little set of fabric cubes to play with. They are all quite small and just adorable.

Day 9: The after-wedding day

What a lovely wedding reception it was. Full of love, laughter, amazing food, a fair bit of drinks too, lots of sweet traditions, great music and fantastic dancing. It went on until the small hours of the morning, and we all went to bed when the sun was coming up. Just in case you were doubting it: Danes know how to party!

So the next day was very relaxed. Most guests stayed for breakfast (for the ones who were actually up) and for a lovely barbecue in the sun. In the afternoon, we played games (an old Viking one where you throw wooden sticks around), spent time on the little lake in the property, and enjoyed playing with the girls.

Counting to the stars

Mart tells me this game is called 'hopscotch' in English... sounds a bit weird to me though, so I'll just call it by its French name: Marelle.

Well, this afternoon we saw kids playing marelle on the street. I guess they started with a very traditional one. And then one little boy noticed that the paving was perfect: he didn't need to draw the boxes anymore, and could just write the numbers in the right places... Well, he made a very thorough use of his discovery. As you can see in picture 3, his marelle wasn't finished yet, and at the time we cycled past, he was up to 187 (!).

Now I don't know if that's the case for every marelle game in the world, but in French the last box (which usually has a semi-circle shape) is usually called 'ciel' (sky). That's where you land once you've hopped your way all the way up the numbers. I think the little boy will not only make it to the 'ciel' - he's well on his way to the stars!

Sink or swim

I got an early birthday present in the mail today: yeeey!
It's a 'brainteaser puzzle' called sink or swim. The aim is to move the pieces around to get the boy in the red buoy to the steps on the side of the pool so that he can get out. It's full of absolutely adorable little figures and it's definitely not as easy as it looks at first sight!