things I do and things I like

*bathroom feet//onesie feet//view from our bathroom*

Today's randomness:

Does anyone else watch The Office? We saw the latest episode last night on Hulu and I'm pretty surprised at how some characters have developed recently. Is there anyone else who got upset about what happened to Andy?? Ben thinks I'm silly but I feel like they changed Andy's character a lot lately and it's too bad he's not with Erin anymore.

Today I got all nostalgic and looked through our posts from last year. I found our love story that Ben wrote here on the blog and our adventures on Valentine's Day! It's so crazy how much happened over just a year, but I'm very happy where we are at now.

Right now I'm making lots of different popcorn for a guest post on one of the other blogs and I'm really excited to share it with you soon!
Have you entered a giveaway that we host on JessicaWho? You can win a super cool book "Instant love" about polaroids and instant photography!

Don't forget to come to the blog on Thursday for a big surprise! (pssss! gifts are included!)

More things I like:

*^this pug pancake by Laura*

*Anna moved to the dark side! I love her new style so much!*

*learn how to make these instagram photo cubes with Jesse*

October favorites and thank-yous

1. Persimmons. There's a connection between persimmons and holidays in my head. Or a frosty morning and my dad bringing me a persimmon, and it's so sweet and cold.. I'm just really glad it's this season again.

2. Aqua Allegiria Tiare Mimosa by Guerlain. A birthday gift from my friend. My favorite for fall season! It reminds me of honey.

3. Sun, sparkles and colorful leaves. I kind of like that on a sunny day it's more comfortable outside now: no heat, no bugs - the same bright sunshine, more hot drinks and more layers.

4. My new iPhone case c/o The case of Mr. Pelham - isn't it perfect for the coming winter season? I'm so excited! A bullfinch is a winter bird, I love seeing this red feathered pretty on white snow. Now I have my own seasonal birds in a pocket!

5. Ben gave me this flowers when I arrived. He said these are autumn flowers. Dark purple, blue and red looks like a really good fall color match.

6. Hand stamped initial necklace c/o illusy is so sweet! Gold is one of the main accents for me this season and this pretty piece fits so perfectly! 

7. Uno the cat is very friendly recently. And he kept getting in my pictures and knocking off my props. What a furry ball!

8. Everything is so colorful around! When I was leaving Moscow it was all grey and rainy and Sandpoint really surprised me. This town makes me appreciate autumn. 

I also wanted to thank my wonderful blog friends who guest posted for me while I was away. Thank you, Sara, Lauren, Laura, Katia and Alice! I really appreciate your help! I loved all of your posts and it was a pleasure to have you at Chestnut Mocha!

Oh, and there's a giveaway going on our blog. If you haven't yet you should enter to win a credit to an art shop. There are lots of cool prints and cards for the coming holidays gifts.

what to do on a sunny day

11 Questions

Beautiful Alice from The Mow Way tagged us on the "11 Questions" post! Thanks, dear! Your blog is super cute and I'm in love with your Paris the pig (guys, you all have to check it out - so cool!)

The rules:

- Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog
- Choose eleven people to tag and link them on the post
- Go to their page and tell them
- No tag backs

11 things about Ben&Katie:

1) We are getting married THIS spring!!
2) We both adore sweet peas.
3)On the weekends we watch Disney cartoons.
4) We met on the 27th of June, 2009.
5) Katie is scared of walking down stairs.
6) Ben is awesome at reading the menus in French out loud.
7) We keep creating new nicknames for each other all the time.
8) We ate snails for the first time in our lives last week.
9) The craziest thing we've ever done together was mountain dog-sledding in Norway.
10) Our favorite thing to do on the subway is riding escalators together.
11) We're having guests from France tomorrow!


Continuing the tag:

Smiley Katia from Kitty Snooks
New Yorker Natalie from The SoHo
Lovely Debbie from Debbiecutieface
Poetic Gina from Contemplating Beauty
Charming Angela from Simply Simple Me
Romantic Laura from Polaroids and Kisses
Wonderful mom Sarah from A Girl in Transit
Stylish Lizzie from Place Clever Title Here...
A fantastic fur hat owner Liv from Liv+Dave=
Sweet Chloe and Dominick from Lazy Explorers
Vintage Enthusiast Jessica from Steve and Jess

This is Ben working on our future big surprise! ;-)

Have fun!

7 things

I love name Katia - not only because it's my name but also i believe that it always belongs to great people! It was great to meet one of them online: Katia from Kitty Snooks has a nice little blog with some cute pictures and pretty outfits. This week she tagged us in a post "Tell me about yourself Award"! Well, i guess it means it's time to share with you some secrets about Chestnut Mocha.

Here are the rules:
1. Say "thank you" with a linking post
2. Write 7 things about yourself
3. Give the award to 15 other blogs
4. Inform them about it!

1) We have a cute little ball of fur named Jena.

2) We always have some toy cameras in our pockets when we go outside.

3) We met in Montana, lived in South Korea and Ukraine and now settled in Russia for awhile.

4)We travel a lot and usually have Michael TheMonkey with us.

5) Our favourite food is chocolate and sweet peas (separately haha).

6) B is a filmmaker, an artist and a singer.

7) K is a mushroom hunter, a horse-back rider and a massage lover.

B and I in Provence

So that's it! Now lets give out the tags!
*Laura from Polaroids&Kisses
*Kylie from Spencer and Kylie
*Debbie from Debbie Cuttie Face
*The Noisy Plume from The Life and Times of the Plume
*Taylor from Fanciful Wanderings
*Chloe from Lazy explorers
*Sonja from Big {Blue(print)} Ball
*Melissa from Simply, Melissa Ashley
*Angela from Grahangela
*Autumn from Stay gold, Autumn
*Lady from Mr. Taylor and his Lady
*Angela from Simply Simple Me
*Shari from Exploring the Wonders of Life
*Katie and Reuben from House of Humble
*Nicole from The Lookbook
*Patience from Love Never Fails
*Becca from Adorable optimism
Ooops haha i made it up to 17! I just too curious i guess :-)Hope to be reading 7 things about you soon!

what made me happy tonght:

this polaroid taken on a picnic a few weeks ago

~ holding hands on the way home
~ the smell of the wind after the thunderstorm
~ vintage Coca-Cola bottles
~ evening run with Mister
~ fresh raspberries

Today we love

~ summer rain
~ green apples
~ hot mocha
~ shorts
~ instax
~ long walks
~ spinning photoshoots
~ finished roll of film
~ stuffed fish dinner by my dad
~ orange fuzzy caterpillar
~ Michael TheMonkey

smile with us

Just. Look. What. I. Found. A little bird has already flown away by the time I picked this cute thing and I’m pretty happy with this new décor element for the balcony!

Happy nails for summer days: baby blue and popcorn yellow make me smile!

Homemade banana cream popsicles: keep refreshing ourselves!

From meadow with love: found these beauties on the way home from a store and now have a little of the sunshine on my desk.

I keep photo hunting for her yawn but recently get only these cozy lazy looks from Simona.

After filling ourselves full with these pretties we used the rest for yes-yes-yes strawberry jam!!!

I just can’t get enough of these little ears!

My mom is amazing at gardening and planting. She’s always best friends with the flowers and herbs. Look what she grew on my balcony! And there are so much more out there!

PS: I'm so excited!!! Look at THIS! Benjamin made a new friend and he has a beard too!

Summer route

Making lists is fun. Making summer to-do lists is even better. This one is just to remind me of all the wonderful and simple ways to make the most of this time of the year.

Nice things to do this summer:

1. renovate the balcony
2. remember to have picnics whenever it’s warm and nice
3. master homemade popsicles with fresh fruit and berries
4. take walks after dinner at least 3 times a week
5. discover some new parks in the city
6. take a day trip to another town/have an adventure
7. have fresh flowers at home
8. fly a kite in the countryside
9. design and put together a summer photo album
10. be spontaneous)))

Rainbows, Bunnies and Sam Cooke

May is almost over, we've been having lots of fun recently, we:

-  took some bunny polaroids

- witnessed a double rainbow

- spent lazy Monday at home together

- celebrated Michael’s bday and hosted Flying Toy Photo Contest

- went to a Sand Theatre and Russian Folk concert on Friday night

-  walked across a huge bridge and discovered a new fav raspberry milkshake

-  I watched the new pirates movie with a friend. We were disappointed. The mermaids were nice though

-   Ben performed as a real American Eagle for the AEO opening in Moscow

He got a new summer look. And a lovely surprise for Katie

- had bbq with friends in a park on Sat

-   made mozzarella and peanut sauce pizzas

Ben having fun at work. {AEO}

Our mozzarella pizza

The girls in the traditional costumes singing Russian folk songs.

Peanut sauce pizza by Ben

With my Yena-bunny on the balcony.

It has been stormy and windy for the past couple of nights, making the doors shake and keeping us up, but the rainbow was worth it.

And finally, here's some Sam Cooke, just because.  These are two of Ben's favorites from his gospel recordings.  And here is a great live versions of one of his pop songs.