Winter in the city

Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.
If it weren´t for the cold or for the fact that you slip around like a Bambi on ice, winter in the city would be even more fabulous.
But after enjoying great dinner in übersuperfabulicious company, I really can´t complain at all.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

First snowy day of winter!
At least for me visiting out in the suburb. In the city it has been snowing but melted. Out here it´s all picture perfect, cottonlike. Very idyllic. And very cold.
But whattef, it´s great for wearing fabulous pimpstyle fake fur.
I do enjoy snow the most when indoors, possibly with a glass of glögg, cola de mono or other seasonal drink. Now that´s a really nice to get through the cold season!
In moderation though, of course.

(Picture of snowcrystal from www.snowcrystals.com)

Happy and Feliz Första Advent!

(Picture from www.sweden.se)

Glögg is fabulous

When in Sweden, do as the swedes! Do enjoy glögg!
During my 28 years here you bet I´ve really embraced the tradition of enjoying glögg come Advent.

Today I treated myself to a bottle of the 05 Glögg that is supposed to taste hjortron among other things and also a bottle of Dufvenkrooks Vanilj, which feels very Fanny & Alexander. I like!

After getting the glögg at good ol' Systembolaget, me and Ammi Bradshaw went to the opening of this new spa, very, very, nice. A great way to kick off the season to be jolly!

Enjoy the glögg folks, me, myself and I have to get ready to take my ass over to fabulous homegirl for great socializing.

(The picture is from http://www.dl.nu/glogg/)

Day after Thanksgiving

Hm. The picture at the left (from Wikipedia) must be wrong? Or do I have it all wrong?

I mean, it looks like the pilgrims are giving the natives food, but wasn´t it the opposite, that the natives greeted the pilgrims with pumpkin and other things from the harvest?

Anyhow, Happy Thanksgiving!

And an extra thanks to all of you that have cared and asked about my dad and my family after the fire. I really appreciate it.

Being Boring

Yesterday I got an e-mail from this friend, we can call her Tinkerbell, telling me she thought my blog was really boring and asking how could that be since she finds me sparkling & hilarious to hang out with.
I called her and thought about doing a "boring" version of the Goodfellas´monologue (Boring?! Am I boring to you motherfucker?!) but I forgot. Here goes the conversation:

- Well, I said, what is it exactly that you find boring? My life? My issues? The posts?
- It´s just that I can´t identify with anything you write. I get the impression that you´re not a regular woman, but a machine or something. You never seem to have PMS, you never argue with eventual partner, you never fuck eventual partner....
- Hey, who, when and why I fuck is MY business, don´t you think? And as for the other stuff you mention, every single blogging female is writing about their PMS, getting laid, boyfriend/whatever issue. There are loads and loads of Bridgets out there, why should I want to be yet another?
- Because you´re fun and smart but you have to show that you´re human!!!
- Did you have any doubt about it?
- I know you can be a fucking devil, but come on!
- Tinkerbell, you know what, I´m hanging up. I totally appreciate your opinion but it´s my blog and I can write about whatever.
- Wanna watch Top Model? I`ll make some meze if you bring a bottle of that nice spanish wine.

Evening good girl

Tonight I can go to bed with a somewhat ok conscience. I´ve been good: I´ve worked very efficiently. I´ve cooked. I´ve cleaned up some of the mess I created during the weekend when I was barely at home.
Goodie.

Now I might not burn in purgatory.


(The picture is from Wikipedia, it´s The Anima Sola, a "lonely soul", prays for deliverance from the fires of Purgatory; from a modern Roman Catholic holy card.)

Gonza Blatteskånska?!

Whattef?!
There´s someone calling himself Gonza Blattenskånska in Malmö or somewhere in Skåne. Speaking blatteskånska with a slight spanish accent. Apparently a member of the group Advanced Patrol. I think I´ve heard some stuff they´ve done, but it wasn´t quite really my cup of tea. Didn´t like the pan flute, music from the Andes´s not my thing.

I guess that if you have one of the most - if not THE - common surname in the Latinoworld, you can´t really claim originality, can you? But Gonza Blatteskånska, whatthef!

Det finns bara en Gonza och det är jag.
Hehe.

Afternoon chickflick

After a hectic weekend I treated myself to some well deserved entertainment and went to the movies with my auntie M. I had suggested the feelgood chickflick "In her shoes" since I really like Toni Collette and Shirley McLaine is alway a joy to watch. Done and done!
And I liked it. Not an Academy Award winner but definitely a good choice if you want to escape a grey november day, as was the case today.

Miss Diaz was brilliant as totally irresponsible, I-don´t-give-a-damn sister, but I couldn´t help of wondering if she´d managed to play the Toni Collette-character. Don´t think so.

The only thing that really bothered me was that the Toni Collette-character was supposed to be fat. She was not. She was totally normal. Dull yes, but neither skinny nor fat. It´s a bit scary thinking of todays supposed to be "role models" - if she was fat I don´t know...Oh, and the Choo with the broken heel was all but a joy to see. Maybe there ought to be info texts telling that "no shoes have been harmed during the making of the movie/episode/whatever" after the, what do you call them? You know, the texts with cast, etc info?

Meet the bloggers

Saturday I went to this blogger get together. Interesting - yes, kind of goofy - yes, stylish (thinking of aaaall girly bloogers writing about fashion this and that) - nope. I went primarly to catch up with bloggers I already got a connection with.

Very good fun seeing Sessans mom Gagga again, she gave me this gorgeous delicate and pretty knitted necklace. Also had good laugh with NB and SnyggMary and of course with sweetest überblogger Anna. Kept quite low key actually, didn´t really feel the urge to expose my big ego.

After this event, I went to Arlanda to meet my dad who finally was coming home. Met up with aunts, uncles and cousins that wanted to see how he was doing. Afterwards we all went home to my parents place for dinner Big Fat Latinofamily style. Delicious! Got home around 03.30 in the morning and had to be at a seminar about the skin at 10.00

Was so tired I actually almost fell asleep a couple of times although the speaker was this great outgoing and charismatic lady with the coolest accent, a mix of brittish and south african. Was supposed to finish a lot of stuff in the evening but only managed to watch my favourite surgeouns and then - off. Fell asleep with clothes and make up on.
Now where´s that latte.....

Lighters up

I´ve got Lil'Kims Lighters up on repeat in my Zen Micro, as well as Coldplays Talk. And Paragons Efter Midnatt. Still. Can´t live without it.

And can´t believe it´s monday morning already, where did the weekend go?!

Did most def not look like Lil'Kim when I woke up although I really wish I did. Or maybe not since the girl is going to be locked up. But I´ll bet she´ll be back badder and deffer, after all, she is Queen Bee.

People got it wrong

People magazine has voted Matthew McConaughey as Sexiest Man Alive 2005.
Do most definitely not agree. Such a redneck choice, but as the romans said, de gustibus....and I guess I shouldn´t say too much after yesterday evening, hm.

But I do have a suggestion for Sexiest Man Alive 2006 - the überhandsome Mos Def, whom you can see here to the right. Not only stylish but smart, just listen to his lyrics.

Now, Nikki, if you don´t agree about this brown sugar caramel, then I don´t know what happened to your taste girlfriend!

Moonstruck

As I´ve previously written, now and then I do enjoy a good romcom. Preferably one with drama though and characters with balls (meaning nothing with Meg Ryan or Reese Whatshername) like Moonstruck.

First time I saw it I was 14 and didn´t like it at all - we went to the movies with the class and me and posse friends didn´t make it to see an actionmovie you had to be 15 to be allowed to get in. It was soooo humiliating not making it, after all we were the coolest chicks in the class.

Second time I saw it I loved it. Now I´m addicted.
And maybe, what might be worse, I´m moonstruck. Fullmoon yesterday and of course a lot of weird stuff happened. Had one glass of red wine to many and puked my guts out when I came home. Luckily it happened at home and not in the cab or similar, been there and it was not a cheap thing to do, take my advice and avoid doing that.

Felt slightly hungover today and were supposed to take nice pictures with sweet photographer Lina. She thought I being hungover was very amusing and laughed her arse off, in my mind I thought about the brilliant part in Goodfellas when Joe Pesci goes "funny, do you think I´m funny, do I look funny to you?!" but I was way too tired to do a good version of it.
Hung out in the studio for a while and we had a good look at the stuff we did for Amelia Jul, the pictures are great and I´m really proud of it and superhappy that Her Fabulousness believed in me since I´ve never done that kind of stuff before.

Am closing todays philosophy/therapy/bullshitting with brilliant quote from Moonstruck:
Loretta Castorini: Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been two months since my last confession.
Father: What sins have you to confess?
Loretta Castorini: Twice I took the name of the Lord in vain, once I slept with the brother of my fiancee, and once I bounced a check at the liquor store, but that was really an accident.
Father: Then it's not a sin. But... what was that second thing you said, Loretta?

Beware of the dog - poo

When walking back home from the dry cleaner yesterday I slipped on what I thought were wet leaves. Cause it actually looked like it.
Right.

Later at home I suddenly felt an odour. To be more precisely - it didn´t just smell like shit, it smelled shit. I started snooping around my small place hunting the source of it. I knew I´d bought some smelly cheese the other day but it was in the fridge. And everything in the bathroom was fine. No feces appearing the wrong way around from the toilet. (Which actually happened an aquaintance when she came home from holiday, talk about a nightmarish welcome)


Finally my nose led me - to my shoe. And oooops - there it was. It wasn´t much but man it smelled. I almost puked when cleaning the shoe with every desinfecting stuff I could find.

Thinking of it, I haven´t stepped in dog poo in twenty years or something and I remember teacher telling me that "Oh, you´ll marry the king!"
I was like "What, I´m ten years old and he´s already married, what do you mean?"
Turned out she ment I was lucky. Like when a bird shits on you, you´re supposed to be lucky.

Well, some extra good luck every now and then every twenty years wouldn´t hurt I guess. And it might not hurt to slow down a bit either, not running around too stressed and watching my step.

Nonetheless, beware of the dog poo out there people!

Associationer

Just got home after golden cocktails at friends place, hommage to Zlatan and Henke and found Associationsleken at Sessans, fun!
Here are my associations, although some words are just not translateable!

Green: Emeralds
Paris: Notre Dame cathedral
USA: Freedom
Elvisp: NB
Curly: Sabina
Alcohol: Glögg
Horror movie: Pet Semetary
Junk movie: Tombstone
Drink (as in drink something): Italian mineral water
Destructive: Bitterness
Warm: Lussebullar
Death: Not afraid of
Funeral: Sadness
Wedding: Bridexena
Summer: Strappy heels
Zoo: Kolmården
Winter game: Trivial Pursuit
Candy: Trident cinnamon
Nightmare: Nightmare before Christmas
Nice: Secret
Sharp: Shavata tweezers
Jewelry: Vanja & Amanda
Politics: Next years elections
Paris Hilton: Bad taste
Syslöjd: Hated it
Pyssel: Pitcher of cosmopolitan
Plants: Orchid
Picasso: Spain
Music: Non stop
Cheese: Västerbotten
Fruit: Pineapple
Cousin: Have lots of them
Fragance: Comme des Garcons
Pizza: Hangover
Good (as in food): Seafood
Disgusting (as in food): Falukorv
Härligt: Stockholm

King Z & Emperor Larsson

Watch out world, Sweden will most def show golden balls next year in Germany.




Congrats to übercool Zlatan Ibrahimovic for winning swedish award Guldbollen tonight and also to superübercool Henrik Larsson for winning Tidernas Guldboll!

Happy shopping ending

The Jackie O-Gucci bag I got from ex when I turned, eeeeh - well, a couple of years ago - is loosing both looks and composure so yesterday I treated myself to this new roomy bag from Marc by Marc Jacobs. It´s more peackock bluish than it appears on this picture though. I love the pink seams and the great pockets - perfect for a I-carry-my-life-in-my-bag diva like me.

It´s very roomy, hence a great everyday bag. Am really pleased it´s not black, cause even black always is the new fabulous black, I wanted something bright and bold.

The week got a happy shopping ending after all, which felt great after disastrous shoppingday midweek.

Friday I had lunch with Ammi Bradshaw and when going back to the subway I found a nice green cardingan at Bik Bok of all places. After that I met up with superstylish and superfun Sabina and her übercute son Kéon for a walk. Ended up with this brown top from BabyPhat that I so fell in love with I didn´t even tried it on and a nice black D&G top with sparkling print in midnight blue. Superthanks to Sessan for the D&G bargain tip!
And of course a load of magazines, among them the Vanity Fair issue I feared I might have missed - the one with all fabulous hip hop artist photographed in very stylish environments. Great pictures!

New wolf in town

Just heard on the radio that a wolf´s been spotted outside of town but nonetheless nearby. Cool! Wildlife is creeping in from the woods, can´t blame it - I´ll bet the wolf´s looking for some good time and action in the city.

Speaking about action - this must´ve been one of the most healthy weekends in ages. Party and socializing in moderation meaning no hangovers, no gonzombie. Quite nice for a change I must say.

Good sister

Just ordered an iPod for my littlebrothers birthday. Am very pleased with self since the kid has wanted to have an iPod since they showed up. But now he´ll get the bigger, badder, deffer version of it - all good things to those who wait.

And he knows about it and will not be surprised about reading this. The reason why I actually write about it is because I´m smugly pleased about being a spoiling big sister. In the end, everything comes down to the ego, doesn´t it?

Antioxidants galore

Was extremely fed up with work and mess related to it yesterday. Shit do happens but if it´s unnecessary shit, it feels just unnecessary and really stoopid.

My irritated vibes must have trascended, cause in the afternoon I got the sweetest text from Vanja, the jewelry designer who made my pretty necklace with skull on. I´ll meet her and Hedvig, Amanda and hopefully also Anna the photographer for dinner in a couple of weeks. Am really looking forward to it, these get togethers are always molto inspiring and moltissimo fun!

When I called Hedvig to tell her to save the date, I realized it was too long ago since we catched up, hence I suggested afternoon wine. Done and done. We met up at Amaranten and had loads of a lovely Shiraz from New Zealand that has become a favourite. Although I do have a slight headache today, but it was sooo worth it, we had so much fun and gossiped about everything weddingrelated - turned out gonzalitas inner bridexena came out of the closet and payed a quick visit - beauty, and jobrelated. Marvellous!
As dear NB wrote in a mail the other day - antioxidanter från alla håll och kanter.
Damn right, antioxidants on the skin and in fluid form are the most enjoyable ways to keep your looks!

Negative

Today has not been a good day and I´m very glad it´ll be over soon.
I might come across as disgustingly superficial for whining about this, but whattef, it´s a somewhat free world and I can go on about whatever shit I want on my own blog.

Yesterday I forgot to get some yoghurt. Hence no breakfast. Soon after discovering that, yesterdays arguing with an ex continued. Managed to get work done despite being pissed off. Went to meet TH-magazine people for checking some pictures and new beauty arrivals. Was very pleased with self when I left the place.

Got in an awful, awful mood soon afterwards. The thing is I decided I could stroll around and visit some of my favourite shops since I didn´t have any hurry in getting back.
Right.
Don´t know how many garments I tried. Nothing fitted. Visited shops I usually don´t visit and tried stuff I usually don´t try on - my dear friend Her Fabulousness Herself has inspired me to never underestimate nor shops nor garments unless you´d tried them on. Needless to say, she´s an expert shopper. And she would´ve been proud of me. But nonetheless nothing fitted.
Nothing.
But a pair of leather gloves in silver.
At a weak moment I thought about buying the furry Dolce&Gabbana bag I´m still kind of in love with, but realized in time I would have bought it for the wrong reason, it´s not good doing stuff i affekt.

Came home kind of disappointed and somewhat disillusioned. I´ve always put my trust to retail therapy and really don´t know whattef happened today.
Did I choose wrong shops? Wrong garments? Am I totally wrong?
Whatever. Only one hour and ten minutes left of this day. Tomorrow must be better, shopping or not. I might take a look at the Stella collection at H&M, although I´ve only seen a couple of garments I actually like.
Besides, I got the cute Stella-necklace I got the other day. That´s stellar and above all original enough for me.

Goodnight world.

Knit-craze

As marvellous überblogger Anna wrote last saturday - here´s the proof that knitting is hot.


(Got the news from Annas Blogg, she got it through another blogger, the picture is from hilarious Conversations about famous people)


In case you wonder, I have not finished my midnight blue muffler with sparkling details, thing is I got to get more yarn.
But I´m looking forward finishing it before spring equinox.
Now - that´s a real challenge.

Stockholms Blodbad

Between November 7th and the 10th 1520, Danish king Kristian II had 94 men executed in Gamla Stan, Stockholm, which were then 1,5% of the population in town.

If you find yourself in Gamla Stan tonight beware - this night it´s said the executed haunt the streets of Gamla Stan, if there´s rain it will pour mixed with blood and heads will roll over the slippery cobbled streets. Not dejligt at all.

Whole lotta congrats

When it comes to music, I´ve been listening to a wide variety of genres since I was a kid. My parents really like music, all kinds of music and it was never quiet at home. Except maybe during the weekend siesta and the evenings.
I guess that, and my constant craving for new stuff, has led to my somewhat...undefined taste in music.

Today it was announced that Led Zeppelin and russian composer Valery Gergiev will be awarded with the Polar Music Prize and I can only bow and say congrats!


Never heard of Gergiev though, but Led Zeppelin - I know!
Some of my LZ-favourites include:
- Kashmir
- Whole lotta love
- Since I´ve been loving you
and Robert Plants 29 Palms.

International partygirl

In episode five of the first Sex & the City-season, Carrie meets up with the character "Amalita" who describes herself as an "International partygirl".
I love that episode. Not only because it´s about female power (not only regarding the sex issue) or because there´s a character in it called Amalita, or the fact that they meet in the Dolce & Gabbana store (I love Dolce&Gabbana!).
But because I really like the pay off, where the most powerful woman in Manhattan have to ask Carries for help in resolving a problem, despite the fact that she didn´t treat her nice to begin with.

Of course, I do find the Amalita-character really cool, besides the name, I like the "International Partygirl" thing. Now, with Spanish, Italian, Greek, British, Jewish, Arab and native Chilean origin (and hopefully there also is some African ancestry way back too, for the rhythms sake!) I guess I have the international bit, have to start working more on the partygirl part. Although I can´t complain of my latest accomplishments in that part either.

(Parenthesis: Most funny was though when someone smugly told me that "there are no latinas in the series". Well, obviously there was at least one. And with a cool name.)

Postcards

I like receiving e-mail but I love to receive old fashion regular mail. Today I got two postcards and the sweetest invitation. It reminded me of the penpal craze when I was a kid. At some point I had around 100 penpals all over the world, I got letters every day and I can just imagine what my parents had to spend on this particular hobby of mine. Not to mention all the books, magazines and movies in different languages.

The letters from the Asian kids were always the most beautiful. The stamps on the letters from Africa were the most exotic and cool.
I got to know new worlds from my room with the light blue walls in the suburb.

Today I´m still in touch with some of the people I got to know during that time. I even attended at the wedding of my dear penpal Francisca in Chile, who got married in this lovely, modern church with a Medieval touch in posh La Dehesa in Santiago and looked every inch like a modern Juliet. Most of our communication today is through e-mail, which is nice. But no matter how much you enjoy the sound of new mail in the Inbox - there´s nothing like receiving a real old fashion letter.

Hommage to the bravest woman of the 20th century

Rosa Parks was buried yesterday and thousands of people showed their respect to this very, very brave woman.

Suspended genius

Good thing about Juventus - Bayern München: 2-1

Not that good: Two yellow cards for Zlatan, which means no Zlatan tricks & goals in the next game.

Bad thing about it: Swedish expert commentators, yes, Zlatan did some unnecessary stuff but do you have to repeat it ad nauseam?
Glenn Hysén should shut the xxxx up, he never was as good a player as Zlatan and his comments glowed slightly envy-bittergreen. Pathetic.

Ibracadabra!

Meet Mr King of Cool with a great quote for everything.


"Jag är inte rädd för någon - bara Gud"

"Alla har sin spelstil, alla kan inte vara likadana, men just i Sverige är det elva man och alla ska vara likadana.
Jag är inte det"

"Jag är inte farlig, folk blir ofta överraskade över vilken snäll och trevlig kille jag är"

Day after Dia de los Muertos

I love the Mexican tradition of celebrating the dead. Why shouldn´t you?
Being raised with both catholic (home) and lutheran (school) influences, it gave me a somewhat too serious view of death and the supposed afterlife. The catholics seemed a bit too dramatic, although I enjoy a bit of catholic drama now and then, and the lutherans - boy, it´s 100 % the ora et labora-stuff, and very much melancholy. (If you listen to Kent you´ll know exectly what I mean.)

Anyhow, Dia de los Muertos has always fascinated me, I find it sooo cool to celebrate whatever comes after TOD.


And as Isabel Allende said when she was in Stockholm last year (once again, all my love to the Sparkling Sunshine for finding out how to sneak in although sold out!)
- Death is not an obstacle for communication and love.

She also said:
- Please don´t quote me because I can´t be consistent.

I want to be as cool as Isabel when I grow up.

Wednesday whining

Marshmallow day. And not in a good way.
Brain felt like big cotton ball when I woke up and my nose just wouldn´t stop snuffle. Had to cancel get togethers and cuddle up in warm clothing and sheepskin slippers. And loads of delicious take away latte. Could be worse.

Irish crush

I totally missed to say Happy Birthday Mr Mullen yesterday!
For those who don´t know, I had this kind of weird crush on U2-drummer Larry Mullen Jr during my Achtung Baby phase.



It was something about him, when being interviewed by Steve Blame or others at MTV, the Irish accent, his silent appearances although being member of the worlds greatest band, don´t know - but let me put it this way, I was really into Irishmen that summer. Must have been 1992 or something like that.

I still get angry though when I watch the Electrical Storm video in which Samantha Morton gets to make out with Larry. Hrmpf.

Mr CSI

Sorry to say, it´s not Grissom, it´s not H, it´s definitely not the fly-like vessel that leads the NY-crew.
It´s the character Mr Warrick Brown.
Couldn´t get hold of nice bigger picture, but if you want to see more of this exquisite man, have a look at The Gary Dourdan Experience. And watch that drool, girlfriend!

Friendship this, friendship that

Thought about this the other day when reading about friendship experiences of Nikki and EJP.
I have experienced similar stuff myself and wondered what the hell happened with my judgement? Usually I´m quite good att sniffing peoples intensions, nonetheless I sometimes find me in the company of superficial boring airheads who only talks about subjects I have very little - if any - interest in. Total waste of time. I have to stop doing that.

As Katarina once said - new season, new friends. Good idea to clear out the friendship closet as well as the ordinary. Cause friends are like wine - some get better while other turns sour.