JAM-PACKED JARS OF JAM

I finally finished my last christmas gifts today: six jars of christmas jam. I found the very delicious recipe at Talisa's blog Blütenschimmer and immeadiately knew I had to try it out myself. And now six people that are very dear to me will get some tasty apple-marzipan-cinnamon-raisin-goodness for christmas, I hope they'll like it.

TEA WITH A TWIST

Lately I haven't ended or started the day without drinking a warm cup of tea. About two weeks ago I've suddenly discovered my love for tea with a bit of lavender-taste. Brewing any kind of tea together with a teaspoon of lavender buds gives it such a delightfully flowery taste. And with adding some freshly squeezed orange or lemon juice and a bit of honey it becomes even more delicious, you should try it out!

WHAT ELSE ARE PEOPLE INERESTED IN IF THEY LIKE...?

Hilary Mason, chief scientist at bitly (a webpage that shortens URLs for you), created an awesome interactive graphic for Scientific American that shows what kind of internet pages people visited after they've visited one about another topic.

You can view the interactive version here, and believe me, there are definitley some unexpected links between topics.

via Scientific American

SNOW

Unfortunately it hasn't snowed where I live yet, but I'm not giving up hope on a white Christmas.
If you too can't await the first flakes to float down on you, these links might help a little.

Do you want to learn a bit more about the fluffy-looking, ice-crystals? Then you should really check out Snowflake Physics.
It's an interactive page with information and videos from SnowCrystals.com, a website by Kenneth G. Libbrecht, a professor of physics at Caltech.

If you're bored and don't know what to do, you could always just Make-a-Flake.

Some really talented people make snow sculptures at different festivals each year, just look them up on Google!

via

Feeling a bit crafty yourself? Here are some instructions on how to make snowflake origami.






I hope this shortened your time of waiting for snow a bit :)

TAKING THE DOG FOR A RUN

I just came back from jogging. While it may not sound like anything unusual, it was a premiere for my dog Lana and me, because I took her with me for the first time.
I'm perfectly aware that it will get better over time, but I still have to say that it wasn't exactly a piece of cake. In the beginning Lana kept pulling on the leash I had slung across my upper body because she wanted to run faster and faster. Soon she settled for a moderate speed, but it wouldn't be Lana if she didn't have something else in store for me. Suddenly she put on her "funny" face and wanted to play with me. She did this by awkwardly running in front of me sideways (don't ask me how she can still run so fast that way!), jumping up and down, poking my belly with her nose and taking the leash in her mouth.
I kind of felt a pang of guilt when I told her "no", because when I'm running it must look to her like I want to play with her: Moving at a quicker speed than usual and jumping up and down.
Those were the "downsides" of running with Lana, which I'm pretty sure will disappear completely after a few times. The joys of running with her completely outshone all these little annoying side-effects. The time seemed to pass a lot quicker than usual and I had way mor fun than I've ever had while running! Having an athletic dog running beside you gives you a motivational push that nothing compares to (at least that's the case for me, I'm aware that other people might as well feel different about that).
Just having her running next to me, eyes glowing with happiness drives me to run faster, so she can finally stop her trotting and start to run.
Now we're both exhausted and happy, her relaxing on the couch, me sipping a warm cup of lavender-tea, yummy!
Does anyone have experience in jogging with their dogs and can give me some tips?
And if you have a dog and like running, why not take him with you the next time? :)

Lana and me (Her face looks oddly long in this photo)