1. Bearded Dragons, which come from Australia, are friendly and chilled. They like leafy greens, insects… and being licked by dogs! Photo by Christina Spicuzza.

2.You’ve gotta be slightly concerned about having to muzzle your own pet. Still, some people are willing to keep an animal that would happily bite the hand that feeds them! More information can be found here. Photo by amyelyse.

3.As well as being docile, friendly and super-cute, hedgehogs enjoy being handled and can purr, whistle and snuffle to boot. Just don’t call your hedgehog “Sonic,” unless you want it to spend all day curled up in a ball, hurtling around the house killing enemies. Photo by The Hadfields.

4.Looking like a strange cross between a lobster and a snail, land hermit crabs can make good pets if you look after them right. Thing is, they are neither a true crab, nor are they hermits, and they love to have a bunch of buddies to hang out with. Photo by blhphotography.

5.With a face like the alien out of Predator, stick insects are hardly the prettiest of pets. But they’re popular for children and in schools, though you have to be careful when handling them: some can bite, some have a poisonous spray, and some are very prone to losing their legs. Choose your stick carefully! Photo by SpindlierHades.

6.Even hippos can make good pets under the right circumstances. Retired South African game warden, Tonie Joubert, keeps a pet hippo called Jessica. It is believed unlikely that Jessica was the mother’s first choice of name. Photo by garlandcanon.

7.Smart and affectionate, Potbellied pigs can make great pets as long as you train them not to wreck your house. But weighing in at up to 150 pounds, christen it “Babe” at your peril! Photo by maveric2003.

8. The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach is not your ordinary roach. They can grow up to 3 inches long, and sometimes live as long as 5 years! And in case you’re wondering, yes, they hiss – by squeezing air out of their breathing pores. Sounds like perfect pet material! Photo by Muffet.

9.Llamas are not just for farming. This Russian bear trainer decided to adopt one as a pet. It lives with him in his apartment, happily snuggles up in the back of his car, and performs with him at children’s parties! At least it’s safer than having a bear around the house. Photo by orazal.

10.The Axolotl is a type of Mexican salamander that doesn’t undergo metamorphosis, so the adults retain their gills and remain aquatic. Although critically endangered in the wild, they are kept as pets around much of the world. Fun fact: in Japan they are sold under the name “Wooper Looper.” Photo by dragonsinger.

11.Naturally curious, sensitive, and very intelligent, skunks can be kept as pets in the same way as cats and dogs. You have to handle them a lot and treat them with lots of TLC so they don’t turn out mean and vengeful. Remove their scent glands at an early age to avoid your house smelling of skunky lovin’. Photo by Rosa Pomar.

12.Having a pet that doesn’t like to be handled, and can both sting and pinch you, seems kind of strange. But Emperor scorpions are such popular pets that they are threatened with extinction in the wild. It might be because they can reach around 8 inches in length and live up to 8 years. Or it might be because they glow blue-green when exposed to UV light. Popular with ravers! Photo by Furryscaly.

13.Sugar Gliders are nocturnal, gliding marsupials native to Australia, Indonesia and New-Guinea. Although lively, inquisitive and undeniably cute, they are delicate animals that can be difficult and expensive to care for properly. Photo by SignalPAD.

14.It’s unlikely giraffes will ever be that popular as pets – you just can’t get the cat-flaps for them. But Kenyan couple Tanya and Mikey Carr-Hartley keep 8 of them on the grounds of their estate. Granted, they aren’t pets as such, but they do sometimes pop by for breakfast. Photo by badjonni.

15. Cheap and easy to maintain, and in the right environment living for millions of years, a rock is the perfect pet for the young professional who has no time or energy to waste on living organisms. Although many people believe rocks to be repositories of great intelligence, there is scant evidence this rubs off on the owner. Photo by flattop341.

During a sunset in the dunes between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the mind traverses the landscape of the soul. Photo by Michael Liberati.

At the Bay of Fundy in Maine, seventeen-meter tides uncover clay riverbeds twice a day, where those caught in the mix transform from careful and clean to completely carefree. Photo by Harold Godsoe.

A top-down view of Macchu Picchu, Peru. Photo by Gayle Lazoration.

Nothing says “I’ve reached the top!” like a well-blown stream of bubbles at the summit. Photo by Tyson Schutz.

“Hey Dad, if this is New Zealand, where’s Old Zealand? Are we there yet?”. Photo by Katrina Greitschus.

As we emerge from childhood, it is not darkness, but the light of discovery, which greets us . Photo by Jerry Maxedon.

A sunrise hot air balloon ride in Macedonia: a perfect hybrid of old and new. Photo by David Quirk.

“So what if my scalp has been burnt to a crisp? I’m living life to its fullest degree.” Photo by Chris Lynn.

Sixteen intrepid travelers, each on the same path, yet with such vastly different journeys. Photo by Deborah Gordon.

Providing and obtaining healthy food in a sustainable manner on a small farm in Costa Rica. The farm provides fresh, inexpensive, completely organic fruits and vegetables for local residents. Photo by Katy DeSantis.

It’s difficult to not feel mighty after standing on the roof of Yosemite. Photo by Rachael Taft.

On the top of Lion’s Head in South Africa. No description needed. Photo by Heather Thorkelson.

While this may be one of her first moments of reflection, it’s certainly not her last. Photo by Alicia Masemom.

“Hiking with the two dogs in central Florida.” Photo by Eva Matthews.

Amidst the landscape of the Indian Himalayas, one feels both massive and minuscule in the same moment. Photo by Adam Seper.

Though it’s not as apparent, the cow is actually making the same expression as the girl. Photo by Kaya Howe.

New Zealand: the only place in the world fit for sunbathing on ice. Photo by Manfred Greitschus.

In Mt. Cook National Park, a father and his daughter share an icy dip of relaxation. Photo by Katrina Greitschus.

It seems that when we find that we have nowhere to go, we always return to nature and its trees, and though the base of the trunk may be the strongest part, our eyes never stray from a longing to reach the top. Photo by Elena Bargo.

All for one and one for all in Costa Rica. Photo by John Suhar.

After 46 mountain hikes, there’s not much left to do but laugh with your twin sister. Photo by Sarah Ohanesian.

It’s fascinating how we can wear such an expression of looking for something in places where we have come to because we know we will find nothing. Photo by Kyle Warden.

This jumper knows not to waste a single sunset. Photo by Mike Hedge.

1. Daniel Nahabedian: “Home” is just a roof I can rest under temporarily. I am not attached to any place, any country or location. It is more a base where I can put my belongings and come back to rest, and abandon easily to go and discover what should be considered our true Home: Earth.

2. Sarah Menkedick: Home for me is 5 p.m. on a winter evening in Ohio. It smells sharp like woodsmoke and ice, and the light has a quiet, melancholy gentleness to it that makes you sense the whole of your life passing, so short. When I was in high school I used to stare out the back windows of our kitchen at this light in the winter and think about where I was going, about the life that lay ahead. I do the same thing now whenever I go home in December; find myself looking out the windows of my parents’ farmhouse and feeling the winter and the passing of time.

3. Slava Bowman: Home means fresh, sun-kissed, home-grown colorful veggies cut up in a delicious, mouth-watering, towering feta-topped shopska salata! Mmmm…YUM!

4. Abby Leonard: Home means sitting on a porch, watching the sun set over the Sound, enjoying the wisdom that a bottle of wine brings out in friends and family. This photo was taken in Bellingham, Washington.

5. David Miller: This photo was taken at Hot Sulphur Springs along the Colorado River. Layla was looking at deer on the mountainside. We were essentially “homeless” during this time, Summer of 09, having left Seattle and basically just camping / traveling in Colorado. And yet this feels super “at home” to me. Just being together, experiencing places that Lau and I love and can now experience again for the first time with Layla. That’s what “home” means, I think: being in love with the places you find yourself and the people there with you.

6. Rebecca Kinsella: For me, returning ‘home’ in 3 months means hanging out with my brothers and sister again after two years abroad.

7. Kendra Hoffman: Home is a faded memory: my mother’s garden lingers where I once danced with my sisters among the sunflowers, and my father’s woodshed looms behind it all. Only the winter speaks the truth: we all await rebirth.

8. Nancy Harder: Home is transitioning for us right now. Home is wherever my husband, James, and my dog, Zoey, are, which will be this house in Blacksburg, Virginia on May 30. In this pic, Zoey’s scoping out the new scene on the day we closed.

9. Elga Reyes: This is home in the Philippines – but not until recently, not until Typhoon Ketsena (known locally as Typhoon Ondoy) hit my country, my hometown, all my loved ones hard. All my life I’ve only wanted to go away, to travel and experience the world, and never had I looked back and considered point zero. I am still a wanderer but now with an anchor, or better yet a return ticket to what truly counts, my family.

10. Soultravelers3: The world means home to our family as we’ve chosen an open-ended global tour lifestyle since 2006, and raised our trilingual child as a citizen of the world. Everywhere is our home and we are related to everyone! Home is where the heart is and our heart is everywhere! Home lives inside us and is the love that guides us, and which also is constantly reflected back to us by the beautiful people we meet and places we see.

11. Debra Lane: This is me experiencing “home” while with the Dogon Tribe in Mali, Africa.

12.Lindsey T Rue: Home is a place that wraps me in comfort – where I can breathe, imagine, play and gather with good friends. I’m a perpetual traveler that changes locations with the seasons, and this photo is of my gypsy caravan parked along the banks of the Taya River, Alaska, in 2008.

13.Scott Hartman: Hiking down the Escalante River in southern Utah, looking for a camp… found this sandbar with a heart on it… home IS where the heart is!

14.Jeff Bartlett: Hailing from the oil and gas town of Fort St John, located 1200 km north of Vancouver, home has always meant two things: snow and work.

15.Tom Gates: Home means dreaming about being away. This is the top of my fridge, with a hand-sewn card from Laos and a blinding digital clock from Japan. They’re the first thing I see when I stumble towards a glass of water in the morning and I will inevitably grin when I see them, no matter how morning-grumbly I am.

1. Loneliness isn’t an easy thing to admit, I’m glad you did.

2. Take the enrichment from that experience to right your wrongs. A guilty conscience is a good thing.

3. It took me awhile to comprehend the significance of a five year old writing a suicide note. I hope you find happiness, I think you will.

1. They aren’t at their peak yet, but thanks to the right weather patterns through the fall and winter, this is supposed to be an amazing year for wildflowers.

2. Central Texas is popular among both types of bikers.

3. Texan tidbit: All species of the bluebonnet are considered to be the state flower of Texas.

4. It is best to get off the crowded highways and drive the country roads. Just be respectful of private property.

5. If you can’t find a reliable wildflower spot, you can go to a wildflower farm – where this photo was taken.

6. Stuck at home? You can watch bluebonnets bloom on the Bluebonnet Cam.

7.Wildflowers popping up among the cacti.

8. Bluebonnet festivals appear in small Texas towns all through the month of April.

9. A lot of Texan families return to the same spot every year when the wildflowers bloom again.

1. “If this is not a real owl, then what the heck is it doing up here in this tree?”

2.How many cell phones can you count in this image?

3. A paradise for pigeons.

4. Rainy day in Manhattan on the way to Zabars for coffee and chocolate.

5. Oh, my. Oh, my. Is that what they’re doing on Broadway these days?

6. Bicycle nomad, meet mismatched-shoe lady.

7.So is this guy happy to be having this conversation or not?

8.Who needs boring socks?

9. Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

10. Who are all these guys?

11. Spring in Verdi Square.

12. And I love you, too…

13.Meditation in the sun.

14. Hit by a taxi, this man tells his story using handwritten signs. Another sign says he was hit by an 18-wheeler and and became paralyzed due to brain damage. Which do you believe?

1. “Dancing Venezia” by dell_wilberg.

2. The Flower Girl by karindalziel.

3. Be an activist. “Make Slove, not Warcraft” by moggs_oceanlane.

4. Zombie Ballet by moggs_oceanlane.

5. Falling petals on the Tokyo Peninsula by Ravenelle.

6. That’s right, your Second Life characters need to do their laundry. “Shadows@Laundromat” by Ramona.Forcella.

7.Moosh Fashion Show with models and DJ. By Ravenelle.

8.A book signing event with author Julian Dibbell, whose book ”Play Money” is available in both Second Life and in the real world. By John E. Lester.

9.Your Second Life doesn’t necessarily have to take place in human form, be creative. By BlueLinden.

10.A dating world to explore when you’ve already exhausted the real one. By Yuval_Y.

11. “Tuna Oddfellow and Shava Suntzu’s wedding in Second Life.” Not sure which one is the groom and which one is the bride. By isfullofcrap.

12. “The Show Must Go On” performs for the Raglan Shire community, by Vlan Bjornson.

1. Orion, the 2009 Oliver Legacy Elite Travel Trailer.

2. Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard, owners of Orion, their first day as full fledged RVers.

3. Kiki the kitty hanging out in the back of the RV, where Chris and Cherie have favored a full size bed over a four-person dinette typical of many RVs.

4. The back upper bin of the trailer is all that is needed for the couple’s tech gear. Here they stash a Mac Mini, a WiFi long-range antenna, a back-up drive, a small Canon printer, and a few other essentials…like books.

5. The kitchen view: occupying only about four cubic feet of space, the refrigerator comes complete with freezer and can store enough food for two weeks. The drawers are also deep and great for storage.

6. A larger view of Orion’s kitchen.

7. Fun photo art by Ben Willmore. The technique used here is “lightpainting.”

8. Cherie hard at work in her comfortable office.

9. No such thing as a hot bath here, only room for a shower in this tiny bathroom.

10. A rising moon at one of Technomadia’s campsites.

11. A curtain attached to the ceiling with suction cups helps separate the bed area from the living area when privacy is necessary.

12. Technomadia’s Burning Man camp where many Matador team members camped as well.

1. Here’s a sink dressed up in pastel colors and checkerboard print found in a chalet in Alsace. Photo by socaloca

2.Part of me wants to clean up the muck splattered all over, but mostly, I’m taken in by the collision of color. Photo by Philo Nordlund.

3. A decrepit sink in an abandoned house on the eastern plains of Colorado. Photo by vjstark.

4. This sink comes from an exhibit not-surprisingly titled “Everything But the Kitchen Sink” at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County, South Carolina. The original sink-art by Keith Tolen is called Sink-e-delic. The photographer calls his sink photo Testing Twittergram. Photo by raggedj.

5. Sink graffiti, from Paris. The photographer explains how you find them all over the city in different colors. Photo by reel aesthete.

6. You never know what you’ll pass along the way. This sink looks like it somehow belongs all shiny, clean and among the weeds. Photo by DPhotoOP.

7.Flamingos in the sink. Of course there are. Photo by ricko.

8. Underneath the sink. The parts you rarely notice unless they stop working. Photo by jhhwild.

9. Every sink should have a window over it, so your eyes can drift to the outside world while you’re finishing those mundane chores. The photographer calls the photo “Canning Day,” but it’s the striking blue scene outside the window you notice first. That and the evil strawberry on the wall. Photo by MizMagee.

10. This sink took part in the 2008 Museum of Modern Art exhibit titled “Home Delivery.” Want to see more from this exhibit? Photo by Scott Norsworthy.

1. The Vogels — @familyonbikes — can be seen stopping on the Panamerican Highway in southern Colombia. Nancy and John gave up their jobs teaching to travel the length of the Americas by bike while homeschooling their two boys. You can read more about their travels at their website Family On Bikes.

THEIR TIP FOR BALANCE: When you live a simplified life on the road, balance comes naturally. We wake up. We pack the bikes. We ride. We eat. We sleep.

2. Christopher Elliott — @elliottdotorg — is National Geographic Traveler magazine’s reader advocate and writes the syndicated column The Travel Troubleshooter.

HIS THOUGHTS ON BALANCE: Balance? What’s that? In an always-on world with its 24/7 news cycle, I’ll settle for staying afloat.

But if you want to try to find balance — not saying you will, but you can try — you have to block off the time and announce your plans to the entire family: “We’re going to SeaWorld on Saturday! We’ll ride one of those pink Flamingo boats out on the lake!”

Then, if something comes up and you try to back out, they’ll put you on a guilt trip that makes the terrifying Kraken rollercoaster on the far side of the park seem like Disneyworld’s It’s A Small World.

Word to the wise: Don’t disappoint a two-year-old. Or her brothers. Ah, balance.

3. Paul Sullivan — @paulosullivano — is a writer, author and photographer specializing in music, culture and travel. He lives in Berlin with his girlfriend and 20-month-old son. You can read more about Paul on his website. He is also a contributing editor and Matador Network’s editor-at-large.

PAUL’S TIP FOR BALANCE: Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

4. Julie Schwietert — @collazoprojects — blogs about parenthood at www.9mos.wordpress.com and about the writing life at www.cuadernoinedito.wordpress.com. She’s a new mom and the managing editor of Matador. Here she is at the airport. Mom, kid, dog and luggage. What more do you need?

JULIE’S THOUGHTS ON BALANCE: Balance? Muah huah huah!

No, seriously. I’m pretty sure I’m never going to feel like I’ve achieved balance (there’s too much I want to do to fit into one life), so I try hard not to pursue balance as a goal.

I do that by not setting rigid rules for myself or my family. For example, I just read about someone who has a rule about turning off the computer at 8 PM. That’s nice, and I’m glad it works for them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it works for me (especially because I work with people in different time zones) or that I have to adopt that as a rule in my own life. I also quit trying to impose impossible expectations upon myself. I just do the best I can.

Oh, and one more thing: I have an extraordinary husband who handles all the dirty details of life: eating, cleaning, laundry, and the like. That’s the real secret!

5. Jenna Park — @whimsyandspice — has been working as an art director and designer for over 13 years. She and her husband Mark run a Brooklyn confectionary called Whimsy & Spice that was founded in 2008. You can catch them daily on their blog, sweet fine day, which chronicles culinary, family and New York City life.

Read on to the next photo for Jenna and Mark’s ideas on how to maintain balance in family life.

6. Mark Sopchak — the other half of Whimsy & Spice –has been working as a pastry chef in the NYC restaurant industry for over 12 years.

HOW JENNA AND MARK KEEP THEIR BALANCE: How do we find balance between our working life and family life?

After nearly 6 years as working parents, first with a freelance business and jobs, and now with our own confectionary business added to the mix, we are still trying to figure it out. 1 kid became 2, and with each age comes its own challenges and needs. You feel like you figured out how to handle the 2s, but then they turn 3 and turn your world upside down, and so on.

I think the key for us has always been to just go with the flow and take each day’s challenges one by one. As business owners, there are no boundaries between home and work life – one often flows into the other at all hours of the day, so we’ve stopped fighting it and let our lives become what it is.

Some days have better balance than others, but we always make time to drop and pick up the kids from school, eat dinner together as a family and spend some quality time with the kids a good few hours each day.

7. Lea Woodward — @leawoodward — lives a location independent life and founded the Location Independent Network to help others manage successful careers while traveling. This photo shows her working hard on her balcony in Dubai. She just left Dubai to spend a few months in Thailand.

All the while, Lea continues running her online businesses with her husband Jonathan. She has just launched a new site with parents specifically in mind, www.LocationIndependentParents.com.

8. Even with her busy travel and work schedule, Lea makes time to play with her daughter.

LEA’S TIP FOR FINDING BALANCE: Finding balance is an interesting one.I’ve found recently that it just requires making the decision to balance whatever is out of balance and then doing it…and then seeing what the consequences are and living with them. Not always easy but sometimes necessary.

9. Debbie Dubrow — @deliciousbaby — created and runs Delicious Baby, a website dedicated to making travel with kids fun. If that wasn’t enough, Debbie is also one of those responsible for Passports With Purpose, a raffle fund-raiser currently working toward building a school in Cambodia, complete with clean water, vegetable garden and a school nurse.

In this photo, she enjoys family time with her kids at a Seattle Storm game..

DEBBIE’S ADVICE FOR CREATING BALANCE: I don’t know any parent who has an easy time balancing the different areas of their life. Instead I try to focus on making sure that I spend the bulk of my time doing things that I either truly enjoy or that contribute to my goals.

When one area starts to take over too much, I sit down with my schedule and figure out how to rearrange things and where to cut back.

10. Jamie Pearson — @travelsavvymom — was in Belgium in a hotel dining room when her then 3-year-old daughter threw up. In the mortifying moments that followed, she caught the vomit in her cupped hand, called to the waiter for help, and was (eventually) handed a single paper napkin.

Most parents can relate to such a situation, and if they can’t, they will eventually. Thus the idea for her website Travel Savvy Mom hatched, and she went about creating a website where parents can find kid-and-family friendly hotels worldwide.

JAMIE’S WORDS OF ADVICE: When I was growing up my mother often told me that I could be anything and everything I wanted, just not all at the same time. This is the best advice I ever got.

In addition, she has three points for all traveling parents: 1) Never leave home without peanut butter, 2) No child is too big for a stroller, and 3) Bring plenty of new toys—$50 for three pounds of plastic crap will seem like the deal of the century at 3am in a London hotel.

11. Allison Nazarian — @AllisonNazarian — is a well-known writer, author (OneMinuteCopywriter.com) and consultant who lives in Boca Raton, Florida, with her son, daughter and Black Lab. Read Allison’s truth at www.AllisonNazarian.com.

WHAT ALLISON SAYS ABOUT FINDING BALANCE: I first became a Mom 12 years ago this month. I was and still am what you might call a Control-Freak-Type-A-OverAchiever (I’m in Recovery). I thrive on order and organization and things that are smooth and predictable and controllable. So when my first child was born, you can only imagine my utter inability to make heads or tails of my life. I was overwhelmed and definitely not in control. I was a mess!

I went on to spend years judging myself and my mothering abilities. I was never good enough. Or I worked too much. Or I was not involved in school enough. Or I should have made more nutritious dinners and snacks. Or I should have spent more/less time helping with homework. Or I made a mistake in “forcing” one or the other to do a project themselves instead of taking the easier route and doing it for them (happens all the time … Parents, you know who you are!).

Until, finally, somehow, I realized I was already good enough. I just stopped the constant attack. I was already everything they needed. Even though I make mistakes or curse in front of them or get fast food more than I should or tell them they are on their own with the math homework, I am a great Mom. Just this year, I became a single Mom. My kids’ Dad and I are great friends and great parents together. Being married does not a great parent make, and I resisted my natural urge all year long to feel any guilt or beat myself up over the divorce. We are still a family and always will be. And in the end, the constant quest for balance is more the same than different.

So I am human and messy and imperfect. And I bet you are, too. Yet I am an awesome Mom. And I bet you are, too.

12. Leigh Shulman (that’s me!) – @thefutureisred — spent the last three years traveling with my husband and daughter. In this photo, we went horseback riding in Cafayate, Argentina. It was a five hour ride, and Lila chatted happily away the entire time. You can read more about our travels on my blog The Future Is Red.

MY TIP FOR ACHIEVING BALANCE: I’ve come to the realization that no matter what, there will always be something more, something else, something different. Worry doesn’t help. It only makes you less likely to enjoy the moment.

Aside from that, the best advice I ever got about parenting also relates well to finding balance and in many ways ties in many of the ideas and thoughts of these other parents. Try something. If it doesn’t work, try something else.

Emma Lundmark shows off some tunnbröd dough.

1. Located in the village of Klöverträsk, The Lundmarks run their small one room bakery right next to the equally small convenience store where they sell groceries and toiletries. Their attached pub/restaurant is just a door away behind the store.

2. “It’s fun to work with your hands,” shares Emma as she kneads and prepares dough early in the morning. Each batch makes roughly 40 kg of tunnbröd so two batches are made per day.

3.A grooved roll pin is used to aerate the dough and to give it its texture look.

4.The bread is passed multiple times through a “kavelmaskin” – a machine that is used to stretch out the dough into a near paper-thin layer.

5.Once the dough has been stretched to the right weight, it is sliced into manageable pieces for baking.

6.The sliced up dough is then flash-baked for 20-25 seconds.

7.The baked crispy bread is cut into stackable pieces while still hot, and piled into boxes to continue their cooling down process.

8.Each box is weighed to make sure they meet the 400g (800g for larger boxes).

9.Simple clear cellophane tape is applied to seal the boxes up.

10.The freshly baked tunnbröd is ready to be delivered to local stores, including the Lundmarks’ own convenience store.

11.Another Lundmark specialty is cardamom-infused biscuits called Bettans Biscuits.

12.It takes about 20 minutes to mix and prepare each batch of dough.

13.The dough is left to rise for 45 minutes before baking for another 45 minutes.

14.Once the bread cools down and edges are cut away, they’re left to dry out for about two days. After that, they are put in a cutting machine to continue making smaller pieces which are baked one more time for close to two hours to give them their signature crispy taste.

15.Once ready, the biscuits are bagged and ready for sale. The Lundmarks also sell breadcrumbs accumulated from the baking process so that these cardamom-flavored breadcrumbs can be used for other baking purposes.

16.The finished products end up in the backyard pub and restaurant for guests.

17.The boxes and bags of thin bread and biscuits also end up in their convenience storefront for local customers to buy. The store is literally a door away that leads from the bakery.

18.Twice a month, the Lundmarks deliver tunnbröd and cardamom biscuits to roughly 60 local stores and supermarkets all across Swedish Lapland and in neighboring towns of Luleå, Piteå, Älvsbyn, and Boden.

1. An exhibit in Chicago’s Field Museum, showing the diversity of life with the addition of a little girl. Variety is key. Photo by Brian Finifter.

2. The Dalai Lama’s Instructions for Life, organized in an impressive tree-chart. Just about everything you’ll ever need to know. Photo by pshutterbug.

3. Apartment Life, even at home things get upside down. Find balance. Photo by shoothead.

4. She Lives in Nurnberg, a portrait of waiting. This leaning figure with laced fingers is in no rush. Photo by egomaniackid.

5. Life Force, taken at Columbia University. Sometimes you just need to look at things from a different perspective. Photo by llahbocaj.

6. Thug for Life, life-sized graffiti. Art comes in all forms, you just have to look for it. Photo by silverfox09.

7.Colour Your Life, crosswalk art. Why not add some colour? Photo by zigazou76.

8. Way of Life. Stay true to your beliefs, discard the ones that don’t fit. Photo by Paraschiv Alexandru.

9. Soho Life, a Corner Shop Chorus Line. The caption says it all: “This lot had just been singing some kind of show tune, inside this small shop. I had my camera poised & as soon as they spotted me we had a bit of a showbiz moment, it’s a Soho thing.” Dare to be bold. Photo by fast eddie 42.

10. Fill Your Life With Croutons, graffiti from Melbourne. Because why the hell not? Instincts matter. Photo by s2art.

11. Life. I didn’t choose this image for the final cut the first time around, but it had to be included. Sit. Close eyes. Smile. Enjoy. Repeat. Photo by rbackowski.