Cooking is more than a routine for me; it is a cherished daily ritual, one I deeply miss when I am away from home. The joy of this ritual is amplified when my child joins me in the kitchen. His boundless curiosity about ingredients and his delight in being part of the process fill the space with warmth. Whether he’s plucking fresh herbs from the garden or carefully flipping crepes, his small contributions transform cooking into a shared adventure, rich with laughter and love.

Maps is an amazing format for exchanging the information. When I look at the map in a familiar to me format, I feel like I can grab the information in few milliseconds. Few years ago I did a course on the Skillshare platform with Tom Froese, who firstly told the audience a lecture why maps are important, then he brought few examples of the illustrated maps, he admires. That course brought my maps, which I draw anyway for our travels, on a different level. It became easier to draw and to annotate them. Well, on a question where have you been on Sardinia, the answer is a reference to the illustration now :-)… and yes, exaggeration was a tip from the course. Being someone with the technical background I did not dare to do exaggerations. I guess sometimes I have to be told to be free, to become brave to skip Corsica and other islands, since they were not important in our trip.

S‘Archittu on Sardinia island, an arch-shaped rock with the perfect spots for jumping into the water. This place was discovered by accident on the last day while driving north to take the boat back to the mainland. Even though we had to go, none of us wanted to leave. The sudden wish to jump into the water over and over again overwhelmed us. I think we could be easily robbed at that time, since we did not think about our stuff on the shore.

Having a birthday at the young age is quite exciting. It feels like your own day, because more attention as usually is attended to you on this day. Now being a grown-up, the most fun is not to celebrate my own birthday, but the birthday of my kid. I want to give him the feeling of happiness on this day and the feeling of being unique. It was quite a project with the invitation. I was surprise how few good invitations can be found in internet. We created our own one, where my son firstly draw me a sketch (see the kid section) and then I turned it into a digital illustration. It feels like a bit of amount of time went into this part of the birthday, but we both learned a lot.

Illustration is dedicated to the feeling, when too much things going on in life and the feeling of control over a situation disappears despite of precautions.

Dedicated to my son, who inspires me not to stop, when obsticales are on the way, by showing me examples on a daily basis. "Mama, look, I can still make it!" (One ring was missing, his hands were barely reaching the next one. If it was me, I would not dare even to try).

After vacations in Austria it is very hard to find a photo, where my son is standing still. I'm curious, how long this monkey phase will last.

These thoughts, that I, as a parent, unconsciously pulling my kid in my way of doing things, my religion (or better say into not having one), my beliefs what is better, are buzzing in my head. From one side my kid has to explore and to make decisions by himself. And from another, I know that society is not accepting much. Additionally maybe, I am not even capable to see and to understand the other ways of living.

Drew this picture after my first vaccination. Now it is the time for a booster. Surely, full chaos around and no hope for an easy appointment. Meanwhile, I realized that I know plenty of people, who are against of vaccination. At the same time, I know plenty of people, who are shocked that I personally know so many anti-vaccine people. I think it is a sign that I am open-minded person to different social groups and opinions!

Love cooking them with potatos.

Mummy will be back already in 3 days, but for both of us it felt much longer at the moment of saying goodbye.

That time I stopped breastfeeding my son. This way of sleeping kept him calm.

Our Corona gym sessions in front of TV at home. Sometimes I feel like Danny and my husband are a perfect match. They love to do the same things. It is a bit harder for me sometimes with my "boring" activities, such as drawing.

It is such a pleasure listening how my husband reads books to our son. Being in the other room in peace, I can't image a more pleasant sound than the calm voice of my husband reading a kids story.

Seeing things a bit abstractly and metaphorically helps a lot to take challenging events easy. This illustration is another thought on my life, which was never calm. Quite late I realized that I should be thankful for that. As a result, so many things were learned, so many interesting people met, so much was archived in the early age. I hope I will surf more waves in my life.

On of my first digital illustrations. I remember the feeling of drawing it. I was experiencing being with my son again. I was amazed by Photoshop tools and especially brushes, how easy they were to use. And then I saw the result, WOW I should continue drawing digital.

Before the second CORONA wave hit us, I got a chance to meet up with my old friends. It has been 3 days without a husband and a kid. On the way I drew some sketches and had some deep thoughts, which I share below. The same week my classmates were actively chatting in WhatsApp. It has been 20 years since we graduated. It felt like it was a different life, nothing in common with my life today. Was it even me, who was living that life? I guess the answer is yes. Physically it was me. From another side, this person, who was there, did not have any proper opinion and the right to have an opinion. The personality formed later, when the real life started. So what kind of me was in that life? Do I really know those people in the chat? I guess the answer is no, I only have memories about them, which are twenty years old. It was damn interesting to read, what is bothering my classmates these days, what kind of jokes they make, which professions they chose and how they are living now. Most of them are still living in the same city. Some of them even stayed close friends since school. Somehow it is really hard to imagine what kind of person I would be, if I stayed at the same place (city or region) and never moved. With this thought I suddenly realized that the place I live now is probably not the end of my story either. Well, everyone's life is different.

No need for a trampoline, a sandbox or a slide, when you have a proper stick and a pond with a mud in it.

Our pond was a mystery for us for a very long time. We were speculating, what kind of creatures are living inside.

No mercy to cuddly toys.

Playing cards outside at the playground, which were finally opened after Corona lockdown.

Letting thoughts go is not easy sometimes. I wish I have a pill to turn my brain off. My hypothesis is that I will be happier this way.

Why not ?! Women are sharing their time for no pay all the year around anyway.

Investigating animation possibilities in Photoshop.

Dads can combine nursing and training.

... even in rainy cold weather.

This week was special, since I started to move really fast around the city thanks to this awesome invention. Goodbye stroller, hello sporty figure.

Sometimes I wish I draw that girl falling down, but nope, she keeps standing. So am I.

Being a mom means judging other moms.

Keeping a balance. It feels good, when I succeed. Can I take more weight on my shoulders at this moment? Definitely not! ... although, my borders were constantly stretched in the last years. Take my words back:-)

Family portrait for a mommy with two kids. Planed to draw shadows on top, but then I decided that the picture is nice enough without them.

"Mama, bist du das?" "Ja" "Aber du bist nicht so dick." Compliment of the day from my honest kid.

Had this week a very important presentation. Danny got sniffles just on time, so we could not send him to the Kindergarten. My husband had a presentation scheduled at the same time. That's how Danny got an hour of TV. Directly after all of this I turned off my computer and drove Danny to a river. Suddenly sunny weather and a very warm day compensated all the stress from earlier. I had a feeling that my life is cool, even with new mutations of Corona around, even with a tight schedule, even with a lack of social life.

Birthday present to my dear friend, Jodie! Hopefully this drawing will encourage her family to organize more hockey events for kids.

Last year was full of virtual meetings, which became so normal that I already do not mind getting acquainted with new people virtually, which was a big issue before. If at first, I was ashamed of my voice, I was missing mimic part a lot during the conversations, now I think I prefer to meet people online than making a journey to meet people in person. Additionally, conversations are much more constructive. Nobody is wasting anyone's time.

Recently we finished watching "Our planet" on Netflix, the show about animals with an accent on consequences from global warming. Quite sad, but still very pleasant to watch and understand what is happening. I love shows about animals these days. They follow a story and have a point. They don't show other animals catching other animals and killing them. So you could watch these shows with small kids. Yes, I am a mom that thinks kids are allowed to and even preferably should watch TV, especially at this age. Not much, 30 minutes per day is totally fine. There is so much to learn from media.

Somehow before it was a must to travel on long vacations. Now with this lockdown, when you can't book hotels/apartments, we had to stay at home. It was still fun and a lot of joy. Delicious food, work in the garden, table games and the most important thing we had never had before is calmness. No need to hurry up to accomplish anything. It felt like the Corona lockdown would last forever with the speed of vaccination in Germany.

Biergarten in Germany is a very nice concept. Family friendly atmosphere and delicious food, among them duck, Schäufele and Kloß. Beer cups or the ones with Apfelschorle are surely 0,5l! ... And the best part about cold autumn weather is our weekly morning drawing sessions. Swap for more outcome this morning.