Nap in the sun

One of my favourite things to do, when all musts and chores are done, is taking a nap on my sofa, and if the sun is shining it’s even better. Must be the Cat in me… And today the last day of the year, the sun decided to shine its glorious and warm rays over all us. When coming back from a last minute trip to the shop I could not resist the urge to lie down on the sofa. Warm, nice and cosy! I slept like baby for more than an hour and the sun was still shining when I woke up. Life is good!

A mild New Year’s Eve

The mild and wet weather is continuing here in northern Europe. The first snow usually arrives around New Years, but the temperature is till hovering a round 8-10 degrees, so the heavy winter coat and boots remains in the closet. Due to the mild weather there is no ice in the Baltic Sea, something that’s very rare.

Northern Europeans were poised to celebrate the passage to the New Year in a way that is out of the ordinary for them: with an ice-free Baltic Sea.

"It's quite unusual that we welcome the New Year with no ice in the Baltic Sea," Tarmo Kouts, senior researcher at the Estonian Marine Institute, told AFP.

Family overload

I love my mum and my small extended family dearly, but especially during the holidays I tend to suffer from family overload after a couple of days. Last week we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday together, and this week it’s going to be the same. And now it’s starting to become a bit too much for me…

Today we went and saw Casino Royal, which by the way was is one of the best James Bond movies in years, before going to a Thai restaurant. Tomorrow it’s NYE, which I hardly ever celebrate, but have to this year since it’s mum’s husband’s 65th birthday. Another evening of feeling smothered and over protected wondering if mum really knows that I’m going to 35 the next time.

Can’t believe I’m turning 35 next year, but that’s a totally different story or post…

Sale

As usual the big Christmas/New Year’s clearance started here on Boxing Day. For once I wasn’t really out to get anything and just going because it’s a clearance no thank you very much. But on Wednesday morning I felt like I had to get out of the flat. Reading is fun, but fresh air is better for you. So I ventured downtown to the shops along with everybody else just like I had expected. Some shops I didn’t go into because of all the people. Other ones I just went in and out not feeling like fighting over shirts or trousers. As a last attempt to find I bargain I went to my favourite shop, which of course didn’t have a clearance. But there were no people there. Very nice.

Just before heading for the tram I passed a bath and bed shop whose signs said 30-50% off on everything. Not even I could resist that… The cotton satin sheet I had looked at before Christmas was marked down 50% so I ended up getting two sets for the price of one. Their finest (and priciest) towels were also down 50% so again I got two sets. One blue and one pink. On my way to finding the queue, which went through whole shop, I also found a new very fluffy pillow marked down 30%.

So an "I’m not going to buy anything, there are too many people everywhere”-attitude changed into a full fledge shopping spree. And yes, my bedroom and bathroom look very nice now with the new linens and towels.

Reading and trying to relax

I’ve been off work for a week now and I’m slowly getting into a more relaxed mood. The sad part is that I’m already thinking about that I need to go in on January 2 to close some 2006 statistics. Not a good sign I guess…

I’ve spent the last days reading a lot. More or less the ultimate relaxation for me. At first I had a hard time concentrating and felt quite restless, but now… Too bad I have to get up and make something to eat… Where is that butler, when I need him the most?! Right now I’m in the middle of Camilla Morton’s book How to walk in high heels, which I find highly entertaining. Don’t think I ever will own a pair of Mano Blahnik’s though… Nor will I ever be a Carrie Bradshaw…

Even thought the last day at work ended on a pretty high note with finding out that decisions we’ve been waiting for finally have passed two management boards and will pass (hopefully) the executive board in January, I can’t stop thinking about all the stress and pressure I’ve been under this autumn. Is it really worth it? Will it change if things change? Will there be a new role for me? Should I stay or should I go? How do I become stronger and believe in myself more? Should I fight or should just lie low? How come some people can’t take a woman (who at least on the outside) is strong and opinionated?

My colleague from IT and I talked a lot about this over a very long lunch right before Christmas and guess that’s what eating me now.

Need to get back reading instead of thinking...

Quote of the day

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.

~ George Burns ~

I can’t help finding this hilarious…

Remember Brian?

The blogging pigeon. Brian took a trip on the London tube the other day. All the way from Piccadilly to Turnham Green. I never really thought of this perspective when travelling on the tube…

I miss you

By Hugh MacLeod at Gapingvoid

Year in review questionnaire

It’s time to sum up the year 2006. A year that has finally made me feel like I’m back on the ground again and a road lies ahead of me. Thanks to my Atlanta friend Laura for showing me this fun questionnaire.

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Online dating

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make New Year's resolutions

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin Maria

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No

5. What countries did you visit?
Norway, Denmark, UK and France

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More strength and believing in myself

7. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 29 – Started my new job

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting a job

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don’t think I failed, even though bad things happened

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My RED iPod Nano

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Me getting a job

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Don’t remember

14. Where did most of your money go?
I hate to say it… Cloths, books, food, wine and travels

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting a job

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
I don’t feel like dancin’ by Scissor Sisters

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
About the same emotional wise, fatter and richer

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading books and relaxing

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worked or thought of work

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With family and friends

21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
Not sure, but I’m closer than I've been in years

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Sopranos, West Wing and ER

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No, I try not to hold a grudge

24. What was the best book you read?
Ugly by Constance Briscoe

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Scissor Sisters

26. What did you want and get?
Alarm clock, cotton silk sheets, books

27. What did you want and not get?
Nothing

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Queen

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 34 and I had lunch with my stepsister

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably moresatisfying?
No idea, it’s been a pretty good year

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Classic and tailored, leisure

32. What kept you sane?
My friends

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
George Clooney as always

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Inheritance tax

35. Who did you miss?
Lots of friends scattered over the globe

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Philip and Per

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
I am stronger than I think and things will be fine in the end even though it might take some time.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
”For suddenly I saw you there. And through foggy London Town the sun was shining everywhere”

Happy Christmas to all

Dear friends whether you’re in Australia, the UK, the US or Sweden tonight, the same star is shining bright for us.

I’m thinking of you all.

And to all a goodnight!

Christmas music

The radio has been playing Christmas music all day long today. Some songs are just beautiful and you can never get tired listening to them. Others are just plain awful and you have to wonder why on earth they were ever recorded in first place…. But most of all Christmas songs bring back memories. When My grown-up Christmas list with Amy Grant came on it was suddenly 1992 and I was back in Texas and college. The lyrics were beautiful already back then, but I don’t think I truly understood the meaning of the words. Yes, I was one of those spoiled college brats… But now I know better and those wishes will always be on my grown-up Christmas list.

My grown-up Christmas list
Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee.
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies.

Well I'm all grown-up now
And still need help somehow.
I'm not a child,
But my heart still can dream.

So here's my lifelong wish.
My grown up Christmas list...
Not for myself
But for a world in need.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start
and time would heal all hearts.

Everyone would have a friend
and right would always win...
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list.

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see was
Something lovely wrapped beneath our tree.

Well heaven surely knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal a hurting human soul.

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts.

Everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up Christmas list.

-David Foster & Linda Thompson Jenner

Christmas tree 2006

I finally got around putting up the Christmas tree today. I actually dragged everything down from the attic last night, but fell asleep on the sofa. Surprise, surprise. Not!

I’m probably a bit silly but I think the tree look particular nice this year. I didn’t put in (on?) as much stuff as a usually do. Just lights, red glitter garlands, some gold stars and some red balls. Less is more I guess.

Happy winter solstice!

I’ve been too busy today doing last minute things to realise that today are the shortest day of the year. From now it’s just going to be lighter and lighter outside. OK, it might take a while before we see any difference here, but it can’t get any darker than this. Yippee yay!

It’s Christmas

OK, the extremely mild weather and all the rain lately haven’t really gotten me into Christmas mood. But hearing Chris Rea and Driving home for Christmas put a big smile on my face. It’s on of my favourite Christmas songs and hearing it just means one thing - Christmas is here folks!

Frosty

Wow! This is what I call one big Frosty the Snowman. He 12 meters high and can be found in Canary Wharf in London’s Dockland area.


Via Londonist

Air travel 101

Trying to not be a too much of a posh snob I have to admit that I just can’t take people who don’t know how to behave on an airplane. In the article Behavior 101 Barbara Correa writes about what everybody should know when being on airplane.

• Learn how to share armrest space
  
• Rearranging overhead space
  
• Go the bathroom before getting on the plane
  
• Intruding on airline seat space
  
• Loud cell phone conversations
  
• If you can't lift it into the overhead bins, check it
  
• Don't drink and fly
  
• Space underneath the seat
  
• Kids and flights

The last two points are really my peeves. Use the space underneath the seat is in front of you, not behind you. If you use both those spaces where am I supposed to put my handbag and last but not least legs?! I do not like to be cramped up with my legs just because you are bringing to much stuff onboard. That's what checking in are for.

Kids. So I don’t have any kids of my own, but that really doesn’t make me bad person. I do understand that it can be tiresome flying with kids, but as a parent it’s your responsibility to make their flight pleasant. I remember short flight down to Copenhagen a couple of years ago. Three kids, siblings, were sitting in the seat in front of me with their parents on the other side of the aisle. Just in this very short flight they managed to jump up and down in the seat, hit each other, hit other passenger in front of them, scream and shout. A plain and proper nuisance. And the parents were just sitting there doing nothing. We learned very quickly that the family where going somewhere in the US, and when we were leaving the plane the man next to me said: "I feel sorry for those people who are going to have sit next to them for 8 hours crossing the Atlantic. They either have to get drunk and pass out or have nerves of steal." And that was just 40-minute flight… I wonder how that transatlantic flight went… It’s not like you can throw people off in mid-air…

Done

I’m finally done with my Christmas shopping and wrapping, card writing and decoration. I made it this year too. Yeah! For a while I felt like skipping it all and just hide under the covers, but when I finally got going it wasn’t that bad. OK, some of the Christmas cards are going to arrive late, but it’s the thought that counts… Next week I only work four days until it’s time for 11 days of relaxation. Or even more. Most people at the office won’t be back until January 8 and I really want to be able to do the same. I just have to see what happens this week. Just like every year, people tend to believe that the world will disappear at New Years. Everything has to be done by then. Even things that people haven’t thought about in months… Only four more days!

Quote of the day

In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.

~Kirk Douglas~

Wise words from a Hollywood star of the old school.

Gingerbread can’t take the rain

The latest victims of global warming are the gingerbread houses. Yes, gingerbread houses. A Swedish and Nordic tradition around Christmas, but the mild weather and the rain have made the houses moist and instead of standing tall and beautiful they collapse.

The damp weather spells immediate devastation for gingerbread houses. The problem is the mild winter," spokesman at Sweden's leading gingerbread wholesaler Anna's, Åke Mattsson, told Swedish news agency TT.

Enough rain for you?!

And it just keeps coming. Day after day. Until yesterday so far in December we have gotten 137 millilitres of rain. The western winds also makes it quite difficult. Instead of pushing the water out to the sea it blows in to the city, which is already drowning...

Flooding continued to threaten the Gothenburg area on Wednesday, with further rain leading emergency services to describe the situation in and around the city as "critical"

Cinderella treatment

Just back from 100 minutes of pampering at the beauty parlour. I had something called the Cinderella treatment, which meant neck and shoulder massage, cleaning, peeling, steam, acupressure, mask and massage of the face, eyebrows coloured and plucked, and last some very nice hand massage. When it was time to leave I was so relaxed and tired (but in good way) that I could hardly get up. Best of all, my mind had gone completely blank and what was left in there was just some nice fluffy thoughts.

Reality came back pretty fast though when I had to walk up the hill since the next bus was in 30 minutes. But still, I do feel like Cinderella and one of the prettiest women in town. At least for tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to spend the whole day onboard one of the ferries in a meeting and I don’t think they will notice if I had a Cinderella treatment or not. But on the other side, one can never know. Men sometimes notice the strangest things on women.

I’ve seen the sun

Yes, the sun, which is bright, warm and so very nice. Three times actually. First on Thursday morning on my way into Copenhagen. The taxi driver took the scenic rout from the airport driving along the Öresund strait. Definitely a sight for sore eyes, which hadn’t seen the sun for a long, long time. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. People were walking along the beach. For a while I just wanted to tell the driver to stop the car so I could spend the day right there or at least a couple of hours. By evening when we had planed on going to the Christmas market at Tivoli the rain and very gusty winds were back again. Of course.

Then on Saturday the sun made a short, but sweet comeback. The same thing yesterday. A couple of hours of sunshine before it got windy again and started to rain around midnight, and has since then. But now I know that the sun actually does exist. There is hope.

Good thoughts needed

On Thursday afternoon in Copenhagen I got a frantic phone call from one of my best friends. On Tuesday her daughter had visited the school nurse complaining over headache. When she left the nurse’s office she collapsed and lost consciousness. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital she also stopped breathing. Early Wednesday morning she had brain surgery to remove a blockage in the brain. When I talked to my friend her daughter had just left the ICU, but was still in critical condition.

I felt so helpless being in another country. All I wanted was to rush over to the hospital hug her and tell her that things would be all right. Thankfully the neurosurgeons at the University Hospital are among the best surgeons in the world. So I did what I could do. I called another one of our friends and she immediately rushed over to the hospital with lots of hugs and support from the both of us.

I talk to my friend every day and her daughter is dong better and better, but it’s going to take a long, long time before she’s back in school again. So if you feel like sending some good thoughts, please do. She will need all the good thoughts and prayers she can get.

Totally ridiculous

The Wild 'n fresh restaurant is one of my favourite places to have lunch at. Only five minutes away from the office my colleagues and I usually end up there at least once a week. Great food, great service and great girls, who are working very hard to make the business go around. But since last week the trade union is blocking the entrance because the owner Sofia Applegren won’t sign at collective agreement with them. Her employees actually have higher wages than the collective agreement, but still... I just think it’s so ridiculous! By tradition the trade unions have lot of power in the labour market, but instead of helping they are trying to ruin a new and prosperous business.

Bargain wine

Having two hours left at Copenhagen airport on Friday afternoon I as usual l hit the shops. After a year with at least a one layover a month at CPH I hadn’t been there for almost a year so some of my favourite shops had moved. But I soon found their new locations, of course…

In the wine shop I looked around at the more expensive wines trying to find something special for mum and her husband as a Christmas gift. And I did - Château de Sancerre 2004. According a sales clerk the wine taste like nectar of angels and who can resist something like that?! The price was also a bargain compared to Sweden so I ended up buying a bottle for myself as well. Something to drink and savour on a special occasion.

Not weak, strong

Sometimes getting told, "you’re not weak" makes all the difference. Thank you Philip, my very special and dear friend.

XO

Mark Twain quote

Another quote from the Scandinavian Airlines in-flight magazine.

I have found out there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.

~Mark Twain~

So true, so true. Something that both my friends and I discovered over the years. Not everybody travels well.

Need of comfort

Back home again this evening I had a great urge and need of comfort food. I just feel so tired and worn out. A bit of anxiety is riding me too. Something that haven’t happened in a long, long time. So asparagus risotto and some Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand - Saint Clair Vicar's Choice 2005 - it was. A combo that usually does the trick for me, but not tonight. The meeting in Copenhagen was a pretty good and efficient meeting, but I more and more doubt my competence and myself. I just don’t think I’m good and smart enough. Clearly if I was I wouldn’t feel this way. A colleague of mine that I trust and think very highly of told me to take some time off and just relax. According to him I’m getting close to break down/melt down and then things will get even worse. But I don’t do things like that. It’s weak, even though somewhere deep inside I know that would be the right thing to do. Just looking at the amount of emails that have accumulated in my inbox the last two days made me cry. I just can’t do this anymore.

Wonderful Copenhagen

I’m spending the next two days in Copenhagen. Hopefully escaping the rain and wind that just keep coming here on the west coast. The thought of building an ark doesn’t seem that wrong any longer…

Even though it is a business trip some colleagues and I are planning on going to Tivoli and the Christmas market tomorrow night. We will need some fresh air after being coped up all day. But if it’s rain we will probably just end up at the closest restaurant. I really can’t say that I’m looking forward going though. Two days with people who really haven’t got a clue what’s going on and they will not know more when we leave on Friday. The fact that I have more knowledge of things put me in a weird position. I can’t tell and should play along, but on the other hand I should try to, without making it look too suspicious, don’t support any further developments and decisions. I don’t like it one bit. I’m too honest for things like this. Just simply ugh!

Blooms of winter

Regardless of the dark, wet and dreary weather some of my flowers are in full bloom right now. An amaryllis, the Christmas cactus and an orchid. I’m particular proud of the orchid, which I got around this time last years when I left my old job. For most of the year the plant has looked almost dead and I decided that if nothing happened by Christmas I would throw it away. That obliviously did the trick. A couple of weeks later there were lots of buds and now they are all in full bloom. Looks like I better keep the orchid for another year.

Recliners or uprights

Which one are you? From Wall Street Journal:

Like window-seat lovers and aisle-seat devotees, travelers are split into two philosophical seat-recline camps -- recliners who believe they are entitled to a little more comfort (and perhaps sleep) versus upright travelers who prefer to use their tray tables for reading or working. Battles over cabin space can get nasty, from annoying kicking of the reclined seat to heated arguments. Many tall travelers admit to trying to send a message through a seatback by repeatedly bumping and kneeing the reclining passenger in front, or holding a newspaper up high so it brushes the head of the recliner.

I’m one of the tall uprights who knee the reclining passenger in front of me. (Sssh, don’t tell anyone…) Having long legs it doesn’t matter if I recline or sit upright; I still think airplane seats are pretty uncomfortable. That is if I don’t go in business class, which happens once a year or so… So when the person in front of me reclines I feel completely trapped. To start with I can’t stretch out my legs and then to suddenly have someone more or less lying in my lap when I’m trying to read the newspaper or a book, I will go totally nuts. Still trying to behave I start with accidentally bumping my knee in the back of the seat and if that doesn’t help I get into proper kneeing. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes I get looks that could kill, but my looks are lethal too. Nobody messes with this upright aisle-seat woman...

Back home

After two days in a very secluded bubble without no Internet, no TV and no newspaper (that I just didn’t get around to read). Instead it has been a lot of nice food, wines, laughter and visiting with what’s left of the family on my father’s side.

When I walked into my aunt’s house yesterday she and my cousin started to laugh, and so did my mum who was behind me. Both my cousin and I were wearing grey paint suits and black high heel shoes (our flight attendant shoes as we call them). Her top was black and mine was pink, so at least there was some difference. Our hairstyles were also the same. We both have golden brown hair cut in a pageboy style. Later on my cousin's husband commented to mum on how much we looked the same by adding that the style in my flat was exactly the same one as my cousin had when the two of them met. Almost a bit scary. Looks like our fathers (who were brothers and had a very similar taste and style), formed us more than we ever thought was possible.

Gone for the weekend

I’m off to visit mum and her husband in the countryside for the weekend. Tomorrow we are going to naming ceremony of our newest relative – Frida. Hopefully a weekend away will help me relax and don’t think about work too much. I’m so tired of all power and foul plays that are going on. A straight answer and a decision on where things are heading would be so nice.

World AIDS Day

Today’s World AIDS Day and over the world people are helping to raise awareness about one of the most devastating diseases of our time. New reports by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization indicate that, as of 2006, the epidemic continues to spread in every region of the world. By now more than 65 million people have been infected with HIV and well over 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981, 2.9 million in 2006 alone. Figures that can’t be ignored and should be a very big concern to all of us. The spread of HIV/AIDS is something is happening right here in our own countries and not only the third world. Support the awareness and fight for finding a cure.