Sunday.

The flowers are called Krokus (in swedish), my parents taught me today. See, you learn something new everyday.

Got up early to go into town and meet lovely L outside bafta on Piccadilly and we went to the 1st screening of Arbor, which was a very sad film, but brilliantly done, and the acting was magnificent.

After that I met the Italian in Sainsbury's and we did some well needed shopping for the week.

I was starving when we came home, but I have been feeling a bit down the last few days so I couldn't think of a single thing I fancied to eat. Snack time ended up with one actimel and some cottage cheese with grated apple and cinnamon.

I bought a "feel-good" film in Sainsbury's that was going to cheer me up, but I didn't like it. The ending off course made me cry anyway;)

I have to be at work in 11 hours so we will probably just have an early night and get ready for a new week....

Let's hope I am not as exhausted at the end of that one....

Spring??

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are. Maybe they can live through a tough winter, but I saw these when I went for a run this morning, and if I see a flower I think of spring. So I have decided that they are the first sign of spring I have seen this year.

Yay! Breakfast on the balcony next week whether the Italian wants to or not..;)

Shopping In Sweden

Hat and scarf from Indiska, bag from Chloe, Jeans and cardigan from Vila (off course).

As I am sure you have all understood so far, I LOVE vila's clothes.

So the shopping made in Helsingborg was mainly there.

And today I am wearing some of the things I purchased.

I love the colour and fitting of the Jeans (they are skinny all the way down, but I had a tiny hole in my sock so had to put on my boots before photo-time, but I have now realised that my feet aren't showing anyway....) 

and they are SO cheap 399SEK (about £36), and the Zebra top is so comfy, but still nicely fitted as well.

Oh my god I'm white, I hope maybe the trip to Italy next week will change that a little bit....;)

Nice Week.

I am a bit confused this week, because I am working nights rather than days, but it turned out good actually because both me and The Italian started at 3pm yesterday and today.

Yesterday morning there was a tiny bit of sunshine coming through the clouds so I suggested that perhaps we should have breakfast on the balcony.... The look on his face made me change my mind....

Just because I spent last week in half a meter of snow, and thinks that no snow + sunshine = SPRING!
But no, The Italian is off course right, we would be freezing our bums off sitting on the balcony. 

Even so, it has been very nice to see each other in the mornings. This morning we watched such a lovely film that Lovefilm sent me. It was so beautiful and had me in tears (off course) but also made me laugh and generally feel good.

Hope you are all having a lovely day.

Full of love this morning.

Never mind my nice, relaxing morning yesterday.

This morning my niece told me that she loves me for the first time and my heart just melted, and even now, two hours later, I have the biggest smile on my face.

I LOVE YOU TOO!!!!

Good Morning:)

I don't have to be at work until 12noon today, so I am having a nice morning.

I went for a run and now I've just had a lovely, healthy breakfast with Special K, natural yoghurt and honey, rye bread with cottage cheese, cucumber and tomato, a boiled egg with the essential Kalles kaviar, green tea and orange and mango juice. What a lovely start to the day, let's hope it stays this way. Have a lovely Tuesday.  

Sweden Trip

I had such an amazing time, but unfortunately I didn't take many photos so not much to show.

This is the only photo I took while I was in Stockholm and it is actually from the train with my iphone as I am about to travel down south to Halmstad so it's a bit shaky...

I really enjoyed my time there, I stayed with my amazingly sweet friend E who is just so, so sweet and I am glad that I went up to see her beefore she goes to the other side of the world for seven months.

I met my friend K for lunch on the wednesday and we haven't seen each other for about five years, I think we were both quite surprised that it was like we've seen each other every day. So great to catch up and we spent the whole afternoon together.

The evening was spent in E's flat with sushi and gossip:)

Thursday was shopping day, and E and I walked around in the freezing cold, I found some great things, mainly presents for other people, but still.

In the evening I met K (another K) at the metro station and we went together to our friend M's house where we stayed there for a couple of hours, and had some dinner and a semla (what we swedes eat on shrove tuesday). I haven't seen them for a long time either so it was great to catch up.

Got back to E's flat about nine and we stayed up chatting for a bit, but then we had an early night since both of us were travelling early in the morning. 

The train down south was a bit delayed because of the extrreme weather conditions (even for Sweden), but I had managed to get into 1st class so I got some food on the way which is always nice. 

 

I finally arrived an hour and a half late so not much time to spend with my parents before the bus departed down to Malmo. I had time to rush home and shower and change though, but that was it.

My gorgeous friends T and P came to meet me at the bus station and we went for a drink at a cute bar called something with Grappa I think. We went home to P's house where her lovely husband R and T's husband P were making us dinner.

They weren't quite ready, and very secretive about the process of the cooking, so we were directed into the bedroom with a cocktail each in our hands, we didn't mind:)

Her lovely husband had made a birthday cake for his wife, so after some gorgeous food we had some delicious chocolate dessert and also strawberry cake:)

We sat up chatting until about 2.30am, and then a few hours sleep before the bus back up to Halmstad left at 7.45am.

Saturday was spent with my family - my parents, my sister and her husband, and my super lovely niece/god-daughter who came over in the afternoon and stayed for dinner.

Sunday morning I went to see A with D and we had some rhubarb and apple crumble before going out to look at the house the A and her fiancee L are building. It is absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait to go an visit them there next time I come over, when they will have moved in AND had a baby, so lots of exciting things happening there.

In the afternoon my sister and niece came over again and we had some dinner. After that my parents and I did some crossword thingy from the local paper (something they do every weekend together) and it was really lovely.

This morning my sister and I went to Helsingborg and did some shopping - most of it in Vila off course. And then I got on a train to get to the airport and she got in her car to go back home.

It always fills me with sadness to leave, but I always leave with good memories that will be with me for a long time, and the good thing is that I know that they are close by and that I will see everybody soon again.

Another bonus is that I will see the Italian soon when he gets home from work:) I haven't seen him for about a week so it will be great to give him a big hug.

That was my week summed up, back to reality and lots of hours of work this week..... Now shower and sleep. Night night. xxx

Since Wednesday

Thank goodness for books. I know I am a bit of a book nerd, but this week, with a lot of travelling up and down Sweden I am very grateful for all the aythors out there that has managed to keep me entertined while I've waited for trains and buses and planes etc.

The first one - Goodnight nobody, kept me going at the airport on Wednesday morning and on the plane. It's about life in the suburbs for bored housewives, with a bit of blood and murder thrown in as well.

The second one - 1222 över havet, kept me entertained all day on Friday when I was on a train from Stockholm - Halmstad from 10.30am until 4.20pm. It is about a train crash in snow storm, which might not be the best thing to read while you are on a train in snowstorm:) But other than that it was very good.

The third one - Udda, is about lesbians and people with no legs and it kept me company on the bus to and from Malmö on Friday night and Saturday morning, It's very interesting and witty, and at the end of the day it's mostly about the fact that we all just want to find somebody to love....

The fourth one - Svart Notis, is about all the people that come into Sweden with no papers and live a life without all the things that we take for granted like insurance etc. I have only just started it, but I am excited that it is going to travel with me on the plane today back to London. 

And the magazine Amelia I've read in the evenings before going to sleep while I've been here. It's probably the best Swedish magazine according to me.

Still lots of snow and -10C here in Halmstad. 

The poor little lights in my parent's garden are trying to get noticed under all the snow:)

 

I'm alive....

I am not really going to blog now, because I am far too relaxed and full from all the gorgeous food I am eating here:)

But I just wanted to show one photo of all the snow in my parent's garden. I have never seen so much snow down here in the south of Sweden... It is really beautiful and peaceful.

More of an update about my week later. I can tell you straight away that I am having a great time though.

I made it

I did it. I woke up on time and managed to get myself to the airport:)

I have just realised that I am literally on the first flight of the day leaving stansted....

And nothing's open here because it's too early.

Luckily I've got my book...

I should be asleep

I'm all packed and ready to go, the alarm is set on 2am, and the only thing left to do is sleep for a few hours.

I hate flying when it's rainy and windy and it has not stopped raining all day today.

I was sitting at work at the end of today looking very smug when everyone else were complaining about going outside getting soaked.

The reason for this is my waterproofs, that makes me look like a bit of a tramp, but who cares when I'm on my bike, at least it keeps me dry.

However... as I get ready to go I realise that the zip on my jacket is broken.

Oh no, not so smug anymore. PRETTY cold to cycle home in just my jumper. Even my bike went into shock and got stuck in the first gear.

But as always I got home ok and I hope it stops raining before my flight tomorrow.

90210 just finished so now I'm off to bed. Night night.

Last Time I was in Stockholm

was in June 2008 and it was a lot, lot warmer than it will be this time

It's such a beautiful city

I am assuming that it will be filled with snow this time though

And about -100C :)

Soon...

I am so excited about going to Sweden tomorrow and see family and friends, I can't wait. This is the "relaxing" time I have planned for myself.

London - Stockholm (Wednesday am)
Stockholm - Halmstad (Friday am)
Halmstad - Malmö (Friday pm)
Malmö - Halmstad (saturday am)
Halmstad - Helsingborg (Monday am)
Helsingborg - Köpenhamn (Monday pm)
Köpenhamn - London (Monday pm)

All this in five days, but I am not complaining because that means that I get to see all my loved ones:)

Movie Freaks

We did something we've never done before.... we saw both films - two cinema films in one day.

We got to Leicester Square and I had obviously already googled the time for the film I wanted to see, it started at 3.30pm and I got us there at 3.10pm, thinking that this meant that we would end up seeing my film.

He still kept asking about wolfman and I tried my hardest to ignore it and explain that they probably don't show it here anyway.

Across the square there is a massive poster of Wolfman above Empire cineman. F***.

Ok we'll see what time it's on and then we'll discuss it. I thought, it couldn't possibly be on at the same time....
It starts in two minutes.... I can see that I am slowly losing my case.... So I put on my grumpy, sulky face, refuse to buy chocolates and popcorn, and we watch his film. About half way through the film I come up with the brilliant idea that we can see my film after this one. This puts a smile on my face and I tell the Italian about my plans. I also tell him that I wish we bought some popcorn - he is not impressed.
I actually quite enjoyed Wolfman - I would obviously never admit this, but the acting is fantastic and I would kind of half-recommend it....

So then we trip back over the square and watch the film I wanted to see and eat a bag of crisps and a bag of chocolate since all we've had is breakfast so far and we are starting to get a bit hungry, nutrisious I know.

I enjoyed it, but I could've probably waited to see it on DVD, this, I obviously would never admit either.  

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I don't really agree with Valentine's day, I think it's commercial crap, I don't have more love inside me just because it happens to be the 14th February..... but since I am here and I have so many loved ones out there that I miss so so much every day, I might as well send out a big kiss to everyone. Mwah, Mwah!!

We are having a very lazy morning here today. Didn't wake up until 12.15pm... Had a nice breakfast and listened to the Italian's new favourite song on maximum volume over, and over, and over again:)

We are now off to the cinema, I want to see this and the Italian want to see this so we will see what happens when we get there.

Lots of love to you all this grey Velentine's Day ♥

Film time

I am snuggled up under the duvet in my pyjamas watching a swedish film - Olycksfågeln, which is another film made from one of Camilla Läckberg's books.

It's in two parts which means that there was plenty of time in between discs to make myself a little snack. Bonus:)

And also a reason for me to use this gorgeous tray that I have bought in Indiska which is the most amazing shop for accessories and things for the flat. So double bonus:)

Shhhhh...... the second part is about to start.

And then

When the Italian came home last night I got an early valentine's present from here which is a gorgeous jewellery shop in Shepherd's Market, Mayfair where everything is hand made.

Just because...

These were waiting for me when I got home:) A nice Friday surprise.

Last Night

I went to the European Premiere of the ultra, mega chick flick Valentine's Day. I obviously loved it, since I have a real soft spot for these films.

It was funny as well though, and with all the eye candy in it, I think the boyfriends/husbands out there can easily be convinced to come with you as well;)

When these tickets arrived yesterday, I got a nice surprise that we were also invited to the after party. So my friend V and I went off to the party and drank some Moët and Red Wine and ate lots and lots and lots of canapés, to a point of where the waiting staff almost refused to serve me any more.....

I forgot my camera but V took some photos, so there might be some coming later.

Thank god.....

.... that this arrived in the post yesterday. I really wasn't ready to give up chocolate just yet. It wasn't actually for me but The Italian was kind enough to share:)

Missed opportunity

The other day I said to the Italian that I was looking forward to my fun-filled week that was ahead of me The only thing that would make it even more perfect would be if I would get tickets to the Arsenal-Liverpool game to fill in the gap on Wednesday night.

Yesterday I left my desk for two minutes, and when I got back it turns out that we had been offered two tickets for last nights game, but by the time I had time to say - I would...... - they were gone.

Hmm you snooze, you lose....

So I have now banned myself from any drinks at work, I am not taking another loo break and missing out on more goodies...

- I have something to tell you

The Italian said.

- Me too I replied. We didn't have time to speak about it because we are both at work. So now both of us are walking around with curious heads and have to stay like that until he comes home tonight... Grrrrrr I want to know NOW!

Enough....

The Italian and I (mostly me actually) have decided that enough is enough.... I can't remember the last time I went through a whole day without chocolates or cakes or sweets.....

I am waiting for somebody to congratulate me, and ask me when I am due....

Happy Birthday to you:)

We had such an amazing "weekend" for the Italian's birthday.

Unfortunately there is a lack of photos.... I brought my camera and was even going to show some photos of the two of us for the first time. But, we just had too much of a good time so I forgot to use it. I did however take some photos of my own outfit while I was waiting for him to get ready:) (Selfish)

I am going to get better at putting photos on here of us.

I finished work at 4pm on Sunday and went straight there, where he was waiting for me with a glass of champagne (he had already had time to have a few before I got there).
We sat at the bar and talked for about an hour before we went up to the room so I could drop off my things.

I started putting all my toiletries in the bathroom and when I was skipping out of there, ready to go back down to the bar for another drink, or perhaps go for a walk in regents park or perhaps do some shopping at the market, or perhaps.... I look over to the bed and he is fast asleep;)

So I had to re-think, and realised that since he had worked over 85 hours last week, maybe we should just relax instead - it is after all HIS birthday treat, not mine. And my body and mind - having been up since 5am both saturday and sunday - agreed with me fully. 

It was a nice afternooon nap, in an extremely comfortable hotel bed, and something we both really needed. By the time we woke up it was already 7.15pm.... We got ready for dinner and went downstairs to the restaurant for our reservation that we thought was at 8.30pm, only to realise that we were booked in at 7.30pm. The Maitre'd didn't seem to mind but I was horrified by this. I hate being late, and to not even have the courtesy to phone and let them know.

But anyway, we got passed that moment quite quickly, and went in to this beautiful restaurant hiding at the back and downstairs. I never realised it was that big, but I was very impressed (it reminded me of one of those cute cave-looking restaurants in the old town in Stockholm) and we had a great meal and some more wine and champagne.



This is the photos of the outfit though

And this is without the cardigan to show the beautiful dress properly (and my horribly white body). It has got this bright yellow tu-tu looking skirt underneath the black which gives it a beautiful fall. This picture still doesn't give it justice though, and the gorgeous necklace is a belated christmas present that I got from my friend E the other day. It is so me, and I love it:)

We had a great time and I would defenitely go back for dinner again.

After we had finished it was 11pm and since it was a Sunday there wasn't much available for us to do around there. So we had a very nice and relaxing time catching up on lots of well-needed sleep.

We woke up late on Sunday and The Italian got to open his birthday presents. He got the Fast and Furious box set with all four films, to lead up to his main present which was a red letter day experience from me (Ferrari and Lamborghini driving), and vouchers to be used at Diesel from my parents.

He got VERY excited about both presents. After that we went down for a lovely, massive breakfast.

Then we got ready to face the day and checked out. The Italian could feel the vouchers burning in his pocket and wanted to rush into town and spend them immediately:) And we found the most amazing jacket that looked STUNNING on him (off course), but they didn't have it in his size. So they are going to call if they get it - fingers crossed!! I tried to find a picture of it online, but I wasn't able to.

After that we went to the cinema and watched Edge of Darkness which I found really hard to understand, they were mumbling and their american accent were so strong, but the story line was good - I think, what I understood anyway;) Thank goodness for Ray Winstone so I could understand some of it at least;)

Last night we just relaxed at home and had some dinner together and watched the first of the Fast and Furious films and I actually really enjoyed it, it has got some eye candy in it both for male and femal watchers and it is what it says- Fast and Furious;) I asked if we could watch the second one straight away but we both realised that it was time for bed since we are both back to work today.

My dad saw my last input....

....and raised me this picture...

Seems like I used to knit when I was little after all;)

Proud

I've been putting it off for about a week now, but then tonight I knew that I had to do it. Again I kept putting it off, and putting it off, and putting it off, and doing everything but.
But then, when all of a sudden there was nothing else to do but to go to bed, I finally did it....

I finally sewed in a button by myself for the first time in my life, and I actually found it quite calming and therapeutic... Maybe I should take up knitting or something.

I apologise for poor photo quality but I was just so excited..:)

My week

I've had a few complaints in my inbox about the lack of updates this week;) So here it is...

I've had a really nice, relaxing week, which I feel a bit guilty about writing, since I know that the Italian has had a really stressful work week.

Monday was the day when I was supposed to clean out the boxes but ended up reading Vogue instead.

Tuesday the Italian was off and we wanted to go to the cinema, but I had to work a little bit longer than I first though so we missed it. We just had some nice dinner together at home, and then I forced him to watch 90210... Yes it's embarrassing to admit but I do watch it...

Wednesday I went for a quick dinner at Wagamamas with my lovely friend N. Quick is the word, I was at hoime by 7.30pm already, went to bed to read for a bit and woke up at 11.30pm when the Italian phoned to say that he'd finished work, so I just got up, had a shower, washed my face, and went back to bed.

Thursday - day off, I woke up and went for a run and then I cycled to Blackheath to see my friend E and her little baby girl who is 8 months old, and my friend M who is 6 months pregnant, last week I said that she is 7 months pregnant but that was appearantly a lie... And it was lovely, the bike ride there was so beautiful, along regent's canal, down to the Thames, and then all the way along the Thames to the Greenwich foot tunnel. When I got there the lifts weren't working so even today, two days later, my arms are aching from lobbing the bike up and down the stairs... But when I arrived, we had some brunch at her house and then we walked back down to Greenwich and had a look in some beautiful shops and I screamed with exitement when I realised that they had a Graham and Green shop there. I have never seen one in real life, only on the internet, but I didn't buy anything, I was on my bike and it would've been hard to get back with me. 

Friday M mentioned yesterday that she wanted to go to Borough Market so I said that I might come with her, so we met there about 1pm and walked around for a bit. I bought some lovely Mozzarella and cherry tomatoes that I had for a snack when I came home later. And then we stopped by some lovely italian coffee shop and had some coffee and cake.

And today I am back at wor, but it's not too bad. I am off again on Monday since there's a birthday to be celebrated and I am very excited about that:)

This is the Mozzarella snack I had and the book I am reading is a book I've borrowed from a girl at work. We have started a little book club almost since we discovered that we have the exact same taste in books.
This one is very good, it's quite different from the ususal chic-lit because it has got quite a few twists and turns in it.

So a long one today, after a few days of nothing....

It made me laugh

Almost every day I send a cute little email to the Italian to try and cheer him up a bit on his break, during his LONG days at work. And the other day when I was looking for a cute attachment for him I came across this.

And it made me laugh so I thought I'd share it with you.

Little Me

My dad has also gone through hundreds and hundreds of old photos of us all and sent me loads and loads of me as little, and their wedding and of grand parents etc. I just went through all of them and I have to be honest, it made me a bit teary and made me realise how much I miss them all.

It also made me realise how previliged I've been growing up with so much love and care around me and how much I love them all.

Here is one of me as a little (and fat) baby.

Snowy Sweden

My parents sent me some photos from my home town today. There is lots and lots of snow. Since I am from the south of Sweden we aren't used to this much snow, it's almost half a meter deep now...

This photo is from when my dad was walking along the beach earlier today as the sun was setting, you can even see the ice on the sea as well.

And this photo is from a few days ago from their front garden

And this is the same day in the back garden.

It's beutiful isn't it? But I think it might put the Italian off going to Sweden for a while... And when I go in a few weeks I will need to bring all my woolly winter warmers with me.

WI-FI part III

Ok enough, I get it, but just one more thing I love, is that I can watch some TV shows on the internet, sitting comfortably on the sofa with a blanket and a hot drink.

So I just watched a swedish/norwegian TV show Skavlan which is a talk show, and last week Rhianna was a guest, and she spoke about when she got abused by Chris Brown, and looked absolutely AMAZING! I then realised that there had been another show after that, and one of my favourite authors - Liza Marklund and one of my favourite swedish actresses - Pernilla August were both guests, so I decided to watch that episode as well.
The last guest on the show was the author to the book Push, which is now a major film called Precious.

So I have now decided that I am going to try to convince the Italian to go to the cinema tomorrow night to watch it. And the good news is that our local cinema has a cheap Tuesday with only £4 per ticket. Yay, good life:)

I have no self control....

What I should be doing.....

I should really be sorting out these boxes that are still in no order at all since we moved in six months ago... but.....

...What I am doing  is .....     

...reading Vogue. It arrived in the post today and clearly that seemed a lot more interesting than digging around some dirty old boxes.

WI-FI part II

Another great thing about going wireless is that this beautiful piece of funiture has now come alive, after posing as a computer table for the last six months.... I bought it at Oliver Bonas on Upper Street when I lived in my old flat in North London and I absolutely love it! I haven't decided what to put on it yet but it has to be something beautiful for sure.

Today's Deal vs. Steal

I usually buy my lunches for the week at M&S, since they have great deals on nice food. They have the Count on us range on 3 for 2, and some other ranges on 2 for £3 offer. So I usually get my whole weeks lunches for under £10.
This morning, I went in and got 3 Count on us meals for just over £4.50.

This afternoon, I fancied a little something for my afternoon snack, so I went to Pret and bought a little snack and a drink and it came to just under £5.

It's funny isn't it? What could feed me for a week at M&S gives me just a snack in Pret.