Lieber Patensohn

It is soon that same time of the year when my godson will be celebrating his birthday again. What hurts is that I am on the other side of the world and in a completely different time zone. His day is my night, and my day is his night.

However, it doesn't stop me from sending him a present. Question is what I should get him this year. Last year I got some wonderful help from a store clerk on Hauptstraße. Unfortunately I am nowhere close to Thalia at the moment so I will have to improvise big time.

Tomorrow I will be meeting loads of friends for coffee and breakfast, and even drinks later in the evening. They better be able to brainstorm with me. I need tips!

Christmas shopping

So today I went einkaufen for some Christmas presents and found some awesome presents for my mom. She gets three this year, pricey but enough I would assume.

First present is an alarm clock because her current one has sort of broken down. This is one that is very much alike the Philips "wake-up light". It has a radio so she will definitely be getting up in time for work and I no longer need to lend out my own clock.
Second present is a perfume box from the Body Shop: White Musk Libertine. I think she'll be liking that one a lot, besides she gets to smell wonderful!
Third but not the least, I found the most incredible thing ever! Each Christmas I go to a retail store that sells Elizabeth Arden's products and ask for the body lotion for Red Door (my mom's favorite fragrance). Each year it is a no because they stopped manufacturing it. BUT this year I thought I might as well try and had a feeling that I might not be disappointed - which I so was not. And Bianca finally managed to get her mom her favorite body lotion ever, which will be such a surprise for her (assuming that she herself has not found the lotion before I did).

Awesome! Now I just have to figure out what to do for her birthday or what to give... (Her birthday is three days after Christmas eve. Fitting for the wallet!)

Other than that today has been great! I am finally done with all my exams, handed in my essay to the department of English, done with Christmas shopping and I hung out with Ida this whole afternoon. We drank some coffee, did some Christmas shopping, walked about and we most importantly saw that Twilight movie (Breaking Dawn - part 1). Eeeh... that movie was okay. I was a bit put off with how it was made but there were some great scenes. It will be interesting when the second part is released and then it will also finally be over! YES!!!


What I recently noticed as well, is that at this time one year ago I was heading off to a certain someone's place to watch a movie but actually I was planning on spending the night, which I did, which was one of the most amazing nights in my life... I kind of miss that feeling. Hopefully that same feeling will come around again, I doubt that it won't.

Fill my wardrobe with...

~Reem Acra, Marchesa, Ted Baker, Elie Saab, Azzedine Alaïa, etc.


Lately I've actually had time to go through some Autumn-Winter 10-11 collections by my favourite designers. I also checked up some new ones whom I've never heard of before.

Check out Elie Saab's AW10-11 collection, especially the jewelries. And also (one of my absolute favourites - big time!) Reem Acra's collections and jewelry. If I had the money, I would've bought all of Reem Acra's garment. One of my favourites is the one I posted on December 1st.

Other designers I keep an eye out on are; Marchesa, Azzedine Alaïa, Roland Mouret, Stephane Rolland, Caroline Seikaly, Matthew Williamson, etc. The list is slightly long.


Back to my mathematics then...

designs by Reem Acra

I can't find the energy to do it.

German is driving me nuts and exhausted! I can't be bothered to open my books and sit and study. I blame the sun! And I blame my damn social life and my work for getting in the way and consuming my precious time and energy. I should be channeling it all on my studies but no, other things come up. I would love to try and keep me to myself for a full week, in preparation for my exam. I have a feeling that I won't achieve as well as I did on my former exam. Oh God heeelp meee!

And apart from that I keep looking at clothes, shoes, accessories that I don't need or can't afford. And since when did I become the type of materialistic person who wants a model of a dress in three different designs?

*chanting to myself: "I'm not becoming materialistic! I'm not becoming materialistic!"*

Here are the dresses btw, if you'd like to know what's calling my wallet. All of these are from H&M...

I settled for one though, it's the one to the left.

What I've been upto the past days..

Okay so let me fill you in on the fun parts... Let's start at last sunday!

So sunday I was invited by my mentee, Min Ah, to a Cake-party. Very strange, very fun, great people, and apparently it's a Japanese tradition to host a cake-party. Asians dominated the party; mostly the Japanese then Koreans, there were three swedes there I think, and then one half-philippine (me). I baked a carrotcake, basically the only thing I feel super confident to bring to a party. If you'd like the recipe then holla, because it's really foolproof! And I think (hope) it was appreciated...
At the party I met really great people. Met friends of friends, and of my German pronounciation teacher. I also met friends whom I hadn't seen in ages, meaning John. He and his friend Marcus played a couple of songs on guitars for us who were at the party. They were really good! And the Kings of Leon song was naturally my favourite.

Monday I finally helped out Amnesty International with the can-collection. It was a lot of fun actually! I feel very useful for once. We were six people banging on doors around Lappis collecting cans for a good cause, enhancing peoples karma. Great stuff! We managed to fill up 7½ black disposal bags which equaled ca 490sek. Not bad at all!




Tuesday I met up with my two childhood friends, Ida and Habiba. We were going to help Ida find a present for her boyfriend. I was worried that we weren't going to be useful. I mean a present for your boyfriend or girlfriend is quite important and it has to be perfect! Then Ida filled us out on her whole plan for his birthday... And I started wondering what the fuss about the scarf really was. She has really gone all the way with his birthday, her gift(s) is sooo romantic! I can't wait for her to tell me how it worked out. Also, Habiba donated money to two guys who needed "hairspray".
Either way, we ended up shopping for ourselves instead (of course) and naturally the body needs fuel, and since I've been malnutritioned for 4 days my head started pounding like hell, we desperately went to one of the closest cafés. It turned out to be one of the cafés we frequently visit, so we were happy with our choice because their food is awesome. Unfortunately... they were closing within an hour but you could still order and that's also when I completely lost it! We all ordered different meals. Habibas and Idas were the fastest meals to prepare, mine was probably a bit more complicated. They hand out those numbder-notes to all of us except Ida. 15 minutes pass and there's 45minutes left until they close. They appear with Habibas order. They hand over the wrong one and Habiba returns it to them saying that she said pasta no sallad. Then the girl (obviously lacking service-skills!) says; "Well can't you eat this one anyway?" WTF? No she can't. She specifically ordered pasta, what's so hard to get - they didn't even have a lot of customers. Habiba receives the right order and when it has passed 30 minutes and it 30minutes left till closing time, I start asking Ida where our orders have gone and if they expect us to shove it down our throats within 5 minutes. We ask them and the first one can't reply she just says "yes" which was not a fitting answer in any way. The next one looks at us and it was obvious that they hadn't even given our orders to the chef. I got so mad, mostly because I was so hungry and had a splitting headache. The first girl comes back to us and (showing her lack of service-skills again!) says Om ni vill så kan ni få en bulle istället? I stället!? I don't think so I paid 100sek for my meal I'm not wasting it on a fucking bun. So I (rudely) exclaim that I want my money back. Apparently the girl was close to tears, but what the hell? You don't enter a job and not learn how to meet your customers... For all I cared (then) I thought she should get fired. Naturally, I was in a much foul mood then and now (with a happy stomach) I'm quite embarrassed about my behaviour. But I can't change it, and I won't return to them until about a month or two.





Then came wednesday and thursday. My baking days. I baked yet another Carrotcake and a Marängtårta for the amnesty bakesale which was held on thursday afternoon. I helped out selling after my class. It was loads of fun. Helen and I tend to get slightly pushy with it. Helen is probably more pushy than I am. But at least we get things sold and really manage to raise something.


I'm quite happy at the moment. The sun is coming out more often, it's getting slightly warmer, and my boss changed our schedule's. Menaing that I can have a regular social life again and I don't have to feel like I wither out at work every weekend. I get very other weekend off, and work perhaps a day or two more during mondays-fridays. Perhaps not the same big income but it doesn't matter for now.

Mellandagsyra

Update!

Igår fyllde morn min år (eller iförgår, beror på vad bloggen kommer visa för dag). Hon fyllde 55 fastän hon ser typ ut som 45. I allafall, jag fixade en hyfsat fin frukost och gömde hennes present (den fyrhjuliga reseväska som hon tjatat om sen 2 år tillbaka) bakom hennes stol. Och precis som jag antog så blev hon väldans glad!

Efter frukosten följde jag med henne till jobbet på jakt efter hennes försvunna örhänge. Den är så sjukt vacker och det var en gåva från mina gudföräldrar. De har ofantligt bra smak! Varje paket de skickar är alltid en kreation av en finsk designer, oftast är de väldigt retro och de gåvor som jag får blir det som ska pryda mitt första (egna) hem. Hursomhelst, så "ransacked" vi igenom Danderyds Sjukhus och det var som att leta efter en nål i ett höstack - heeeelt hopplöst! 

Jag märkte att mamma blev lite deppig så jag bjöd henne på middag på resturangen Vapiano (ett nytt favvo ställe). Hon fick välja absolut vad hon ville och hon begränsade sig verkligen inte, vilket iförsig var bra och tanken med. Jag blev lämnad en ganska så stor nota, kanske inte det roligaste men hon förtjänade verkligen den uppvaktningen så det gjorde mig absolut inget.

Det roliga när mamma fyller år är att det är under mellandagsrean. Denna tid känner vi till som synonymerna kaos och galenskap. En massa folk på stan och alla går ihop som packade sardeller ner för Drottninggatan. Sedan ökar chansen att man stöter på folk man känner, växlar ord medans resterande sardeller knuffar sig förbi och slår in i en med diverse kassar av fynd. Oftast hittar jag en massa saker att fynda på men inte i år. Hittade lite granna, för det mesta så var det blusar. Mamma hittade en klänning, hon hittade rätt mycket så jag hängde med henne in till omklädningsrummen för att kunna ge lite tips och åsikter - men det slutade med att jag tog bilder på mig själv istället. (Unlike mommy, I actually dressed up for her birthday! Vill ju då ha en hyfsad bild på mig själv om jag ändå lagt ner tid och energi...) På sistone så har jag fallit in i en Elizabeth Bennet-fixation vad gäller frisyrer, det borde väl märkas på dessa bilder?

En sak som jag fyndade dock, som verkligen har blivit en favorit, är en slags flannel klänning som jag hittade. Lite konstigt skuren men snygg snygg snygg! Och mysig för den delen. Den har lyckats bli en ny favorit outfit som jag säkerligen kommer att ha sönder mig! Så pass mycket att jag aldrig kommer vilja ha flannel igen, hehe.

Jag är faktiskt ganska stolt över mig själv att jag inte ruschar åt mig en massa plagg och köper de bara för att. Jag väljer verkligen saker mer noggrant nu för tiden. Det ska vara något jag verkligen tycker om! Inga fler köp på sådant som jag kommer lessna på inom 3 veckor. Det blir så jobbigt annars, sen har man spenderat en hel del på plagg som man sedan ger bort eller lägger längst in i gaderoben. Det ska bli ett slut på överkonsumtion, och detta är ett sätt att börja det på!

Men en sak som (för mig) är svårt att inte överkonsumera på; är givetvis skor. Och något som jag behövde (helt ärligt!) var ett par vinter stövlar. Jag lyckades hittade ett par på Nilson (det stället jag alltid hittar mina skor på). Är däremot lite tveksam om färgvalet då de finns i svart också, och måste erkänna att de är lite svåra att få på. Jag kämpar och trampar in min fot (tydligen har jag ett för högt "vad-heter-det-nu-ben-grejs-på foten-var det valv-det-hette-kanske? enligt kassörskan) men kommer den in så kommer den in! Fashion is pain someone once said, vem vet jag inte... Tur att jag har öppet köp/ångerrätt på dem fram tills 10:e januari fastän de var på rea, så jag har väl en hel del tid att fundera vidare på det...

Bortsett från all shopping och firande så ser jag fram emot en mysig dag med två goda kompisar imorgon. Det blir pulka, skridskor, South Park-maraton, Borat och Bruno, komedier, mat, kakor, godis och en massa annat!

Lägenheten är städad, mitt rum rensad, kylskåpet påfyllt och nu ringer ugnsklockan för att påminna mig om att ta ut min morotskaka! 

Natti-natt! Dags att nussa... :)

What to wear, what to wear? A girl's reverberated dilemma.

I've got six days left to put together an outfit for the Nobel Prize concert. For the moment, I've also got six different dresses to choose from. So I need some help in deciding which one to pick!

Dress no.1:

A very cute and girly dress. 

I've worn it once for my "studentmottagning".

Not too short, so I suppose no one will condemn me with their eyes. 

The dress feels a bit boring though...

Dress no.2:

My graduation dress.

Although I'm not so sure about this one, it makes me think Marilyn Monroe. Not to mention that it might be too much above the knee.

Perhaps it's a bit too wedding-ish?

I think this one has to be passed...

Dress no.3:

My old prom-dress from 2006.

I love this dress so much!

I'd wear it, if it weren't for the fact that I've worn it to almost the majority of events that I've been to.

Dress no.4:

My recital dress from my graduation concert.

It's green and lovely. More elegant than the other dresses. The thing is; it's a tad short and I'm not sure that it's a smart thing to pull on a conservative event.

Black stockings perhaps?

Dress no.5:

My old recital dress which was worn for "less special" concerts.

It's black and it's boring... and the fabric a little worn out...

But it is long enough!

Dress no.6:

My absolute favorite dress, by my favorite brand (Ted Baker).

Probably shouldn't be up for the campaign but I just wanted to post it up anyway.

It's too short, too glossy, too much cocktail, too "out there".

But if I was a rebellious soul, I swear - I would've worn it to the Nobel Prize concert!

Well, now I just have to continue fretting over what dress to wear! Search some more stores in hopes of finding an electric blue replica of Reem Acra's dress. Then figuring out what shoes, purse, jacket and hairstyle to wear... But I'm so indecisive it'll never work out until the last minute.

Indecisiveness - the great attribute of a Libra!

The Nobel Prize concert and I want a blue dress!

Oh, how I wish I had the perfect outfit for next weeks concert! I've been roaming around, or no hunting down, the perfect dress but it is nowhere to be found. It is the Nobel Prize concert with champagne that is to be served during the pause - I have to look good! And I want to look good in a blue dress with beige pumps! 

If I had all access to any dress, if I had the money for it, I would wear this gorgeous dress by Reem Acra:

        

To the left it's on a model, to the right you can see it worn by Katherine Heigl. It looks better on Katherine Heigl...

But I think I'd swap shoes and chose these delightful ones

That would've been my dream! Picture perfect - but alas! every time I have a vision; I never find the clothes, and the vision is shattered...

I suppose I have to ransack my closet and pick between some old dresses. Not really what I want, but what am I otherwise supposed to do?

So here they are on my floor waiting to be chosen for the event next week...