A Christmas Recap

Some pictures from last week of Christmas joy.

The Saturday before Christmas Maria and Daniel came over for dinner and some Wii. Daniel especially liked golfing even though he ended up losing against Peter. Luckily he beat him at bowling.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day featured quite a lot of food and eating!

Every year we break the Christmas presents record!

I played Santa. My parents have two trees, the plastic one on the left (which is pretty life-like still and has even started losing its needles) and the all-year-round miniature pine tree just behind me.

Christmas Day, or in the evening to be precise, I went for turkey dinner at Peter's parents. They had a beautiful real tree. Peter and I didn't have a tree this year but we plan to have one next year.

On Boxing Day Peter and I went to his family's country house in the Stockholm archipelago (Vindö) and spend two cosy and relaxing days. We took walks in the snow-free but frosty and sunny weather.

It would have been great if the lake had been frozen and we could have gone ice-skating!

We baked a delicious pizza!

We finished this Wasqij jigsaw puzzle in less than two days!

Merry Christmas

God jul!

Long Time, No See

You've probably wondered why it has been so quiet on the blog. The simple answer is a busy work schedule as well as social calendar. A recap:

Thursday 4 December - Preparations for Céline and Diego's visit from Barcelona; tidying up and baking for Friday's gathering (though I did blog that evening)

Friday 5 December - Céline and Diego arrived just before our other 15 or so guests for a glögg (mulled wine or Glüwein) evening.

Saturday-Sunday 6-7 December - As Céline and Diego have been to Stockholm before they wanted to see a new part of Sweden. So we chose an overnight stay in Tällberg, Dalarna (Tällberg is probably most famous for Tällberg Forum, an annual international conference). We visited a couple of traditional Christmas markets, looked at local handicrafts and stuffed ourselves from a huge julbord (Swedish Christmas buffet) as well as enjoyed a swim and a facial/body treatment at the hotel's spa. Most importantly, Tällberg was covered in snow, something we don't see in Stockholm too often these days. We even slid off the road on one of Tällberg's hills - note to self for next trip: don't bring a back-wheel driven car.

Monday 8 December - We dropped of Céline and Diego in Uppsala on Sunday night but Monday night they came back to Stockholm. Peter and I cooked some meatballs and mash for them, very traditional, and I have to say, better than the Ikea version! :)

Tuesday 9 December - On our visitors' last night in town I accompanied them for some souvenir shopping before we met up with Peter for a dinner at one of the local Thai restaurants.

Wednesday 10 December - Not an exciting evening at all; had to do the wash. Like many Stockholmers we don't have our own washing machine make use of the building's complimentary laundry room. We only manage to book it every ten days or so due to its popularity but with three washing machines, two dryers (though the one is usually broken) and one drying cupboard, we can easily do our washing in three hours.

Thursday 11 December - Time for my work's julbord, which I had organised, from 4 o'clock onwards. Unfortunately I had to leave already at 7pm since my mum was coming to spend the night ahead of our trip to London. Although after all the food I had consumed I was pretty tired anyway.

Friday-Sunday 12-14 December - Long weekend in London designated for shopping, eating and enjoying each other's company. Unfortunately I got a migraine and had (for some stupid reason) only brought this new medication I hadn't tried yet and it turned out not to work. So Saturday and Sunday I was a bit down but Friday I was still fit-for-fight - and quite a fight it is to do your Christmas shopping in London less than two weeks before Christmas. Saturday was really rainy so we went to the brand new super-size shopping centre Westfield in Shepherd's Bush. A great place to shop plus there's a very nice Italian deli near the entrance by Waitrose is located, where I had a very nice English breakfast and my mum had salmon and scrambled eggs on toast. All felt very freshly produced and the staff was very friendly.

Monday 15 December - Did nothing in particular except recover from landing late at 00:40 the previous night

Tuesday 16 December - Worked late; did an evening presentation for a bunch of teachers

Wednesday 17 December - The annual Christmas party at work with the usual after party in the work pub (didn't stay too late but sometimes 11pm on a work night feels pretty late!)

Thursday 18 December - Tried to do most of my remaining Christmas shopping

Friday 19 December - Dinner at Peter's cousin and her fiance who have just moved to Hammarby sjöstad. Very nice evening with glögg marinated pork tenderloin as main course and ginger cookie cheesecake for dessert!

Saturday 20 December - We were supposed to celebrate "little Christmas" with my relatives (aunt, uncle and cousins with families) but my parents, the hosts, got sick and it had to be cancelled. So I spent the day tidying up and cleaning and wrapping presents instead and in the evening our friends Maria and Daniel came over for dinner.

Sunday 21 December - After a well-deserved lazy morning I met up with Helena, Tommie and kids for a late lunch before going to a Christmas carol service at Sofia Church. Helena used to sing in one of the participating choirs and her sister still does so it has sort of become a yearly Christmas tradition. In the evening Peter and I attended a little glögg do at his sister's before it was laundry time again!

Monday 22 December - Last night I had meant to blog as I had the whole evening to myself while Peter was out with the lads! But I ended up wrapping presents, watching TV and weeding and posting photos on Facebook instead. Things that were also necessary of course! :)

So this brings us today, Tuesday 23 December. My last working day for five days! I left the office already at 3pm actually and picked up one last present. Then packed my bags and made sure I had all packages with me before setting off to Södertälje. Peter and I will spend Christmas Eve and most of Christmas Day with our respective families but on Christmas Day I'll go over to his parents for dinner with his sister + boyfriend, grandmother and uncle + cousins. Last year we spent Christmas in South Africa so everybody is happy to have us home this year.

So with the last few weeks' of hecticness (is that a word?) I haven't even had time for Friday Show & Tell! I did spend some time weeding old recipe collections around the time of the cookbook theme. I have four huge binders with recipes that I subscribed to in my late teens, early 20s, but since I have hardly used them (what a waste of money!) I have set a target to myself to reduce the collection of recipe cards to a size that fits into one binder. I have done pretty well and am now down to 1½ binders. I figured that I would only keep those that I know I will actually cook/bake.

When it comes to dream travel I will need to come back to that. It does remind me though that I still haven't blogged about the last legs of our US trip this past summer. I will simply have to make that one of my New Year's resolutions!

....Ask What You Can Do for the Climate

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man.
No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
John F Kennedy

Granted, things might be changing in the midst of the financial crisis, but the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's yearly survey on people's attitudes to climate change that was presented three weeks ago did have some uplifting information.

• 8 in 10 Swedes think that they can contribute personally to putting a halt to climate change, which is a clear increase since 2002 when "only" 68% said yes and roughly the same response as last year

So how do people contribute*?

• by choosing public transport - 54%, up from 45%
• by taking the train instead of air travel for long-distance journeys - 76%, up from 71%
• by car-pooling - from 54% to 59%
• by leaving the car at home - 57% compared to 33% seven years ago
• by lowering the indoor temperature - from 36% to 59%
• by driving slower (eco-driving) - 63%, up from 41%

What other measures wouldn't people mind taking?

• buying energy-saving domestic appliances - 86% answered "absolutely"
• driving a car with a better fuel-economy - 77%
• taking the train instead of a plane - 76%
• decreasing the energy use in the home - 75%

But when asked if people were willing to eat less meat, only 40% said yes.

67% wants more information on climate change, especially help with choosing goods and services that reduce CO2 emissions.

What else did people say?

• 100% said that they knew or had heard about climate change
• 96% thinks that Sweden has already been affected or will be affected by climate change
• 71% thinks that it is very important that Sweden takes action against climate change
• 84% thinks that Sweden is able to do something to halt climate change
• 80% thinks that they themselves can do something
• 67% wants more information on how they can reduce their own carbon footprint through news in the media, while other information sources are preferred by between 21 and 46

Finger crossed that the EU agrees its Climate & Energy package (the 2020 package) in the coming weeks!

* Figures compare 2002 and 2008 if not otherwise indicated

Show & Tell: Christmas Preparations

I thought the theme this week (well, Friday three days ago; I'm late again in the usual fashion) was Christmas presents preparations but since I haven't bought too many presents yet (and don't want to reveal what I'm planning either since certain people read this blog!), I figured that I would just write about Christmas preparations. But then I looked at Marianne's blog again - she's been the hostess of the theme in November - and realised the theme is Christmas traditions. Oh well. I will just show you some of the Advent decorations we have put up so far and how far I have got in my preparations.

I guess this picture would have been better had I actually lit the first Advent candle... Oh well. This is our living room window anyway. I wasn't sure if I should put out tomten already now or wait until nearer Christmas but Peter hinted he wanted it so now it sits there and waits.

This little golden tree makes those long, dark winter evenings warm and cosy.

This is my parents old Advent candle holder. I like the wrought iron and the red (electric) candles!

The balcony is also ready for winter - the trees are supposed to survive winter if they are properly insulated with bark in a sack clothing - and decorated with what is probably the neighbourhood's brightest lights :)

Also wanted to show the amaryllis that my parents gave us - it's well over a metre tall!
Hope it doesn't fall over!

The glögg (mulled wine) has been purchased for Friday's get-together when Céline and Diego visits from Barcelona. I'm particularly curious about the chocolate glögg in the black bottle.

Finally, a collection of Christmas presents bought so far.

Show & Tell: Jewellery

Better late than never... I haven't had a chance to take photos of my own, actual jewellery, but fortunately there is the Internet. The photos are a bit small but they will have to do.

I have lots of different necklaces and earrings from different designers (Swedish Snö, Danish Pilgrim and some in similar design to Snö and Pilgrim that friends of friends have made) but most of the time I wear the following:

Camé (cameo) ring and a necklace with a cameo as well. Both in gold. I'm really a gold person even though I will wear earrings and a necklace in silver once in a while. My cameos don't look exactly like the one in the photo but you get the picture I hope :)

This image turned out really small but it's supposed to be a Bismarck ring.


I also wear a Bismarck necklace, together with the cameo one.

And last but not least, I was given a Bismarck bracelet when I was christened that I still wear to this day (well, I started wearing it as a teenager when I finally fit me and at the moment I cant wear it because I need to get the lock fixed).

Images from www.skovsantiques.com, www.westinsweden.eu and http://www.kaplans.se/

8 -Track

I've been challenged by my cousin's wife to provide a few personal details.

Rules
1. Publicise the rules on your blog
2. Answer the six 8-lists
3. Notify those you want to challenge on their blogs

8 Favourite Shows
1. House
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Scrubs
4. Two and a Half Men
5. ER
6. Heroes
7. Design Simon & Tomas (home decoration show)
8. Äntligen hemma (home decoration show)

8 Things I Did Yesterday
1. Went to work
2. Spent half-an-hour on hold with the doctor's office (specialist; my regular doctor answered right away)
3. Drank too many coffees at work as usual
4. Met with my Jusek (union) sponsored mentor and the other four "mentees"
5. Bought a dress and a skirt at H&M
6. Had tacos for dinner
7. Watched "House"
8. Went to bed early for a change (which means 2230)

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Visiting Malin on Friday-Saturday
2. Doing show & dinner with my parents on Saturday
3. Putting up the Advent lights and candles on Sunday
4. Céline and Diego's visit from Barcelona next weekend
5. Spending Christmas with my family, especially since we were abroad last year
6. Spending New Year's in Paris
7. In the long term, getting married
8. In the longer term, having children

8 Favourite Restaurants (in Stockholm, no particular order)
1. Kungsholmen
2. Beirut Café
3. Elverket (for brunch)
4. Babajan, Etnografiska (for lunch)
5. Texas steakhouse
6. Restaurangentm
7. Abbios (for the pecorino sandwiches)
8. Ljunggren

8 Things on My Wish List (in no particular order)
1. A bigger flat in the city centre or a house in Enskede
2. A new job, either in the Swedish government offices or at an EU institution
3. Marriage (and a wedding too)
4. Children
5. Travelling to the continents where I haven't been yet, i.e. South America and Oceania
6. Losing a few kilos and become fit
7. Making or winning lots of money so I never had to worry about that
8. Long, happy and healthy lives for my family and friends (and myself)

8 Persons I Challenge
1. My cousin Emma
2. My cousin's fiancée Marit
3. Skolfröken
4. Lullun
5. Marianne
6. Petra
7. Britgirl
8. Fröken Johanna

Have You Met Ahmed?

What's In a Name

I went to the doctor the other day and it was a different doctor than my regular one. Her name was Sicking! Doctor Sicking. How appropriate is that! Or not!

Show & Tell: Windows

This month it's Marianne in Kairo who has come up with the Friday themes. You can see them in the column on the left. I missed the first theme of the month, sweets, and I'm already three days late with the second theme, windows. But better late than never, right!

I thought I'd illustrate the windows theme with some photos from my recent trip to Oslo, Norway.

We met up with my cousin Emma who is 21, loves cars and driving. She calls her car Diesel Doris and the text on the back window says "Real girls smell like diesel" :)

Not really a window in the true sense but this gate in the Vigeland Park was so beautiful I just had to include it.

If we continue with the creative interpretation this is a window of sorts. This is also from the Vigeland Park with the famous statues.

View from the hotel bar (through the window)

View from our hotel room the next morning

Peter posing in front of Oslo's new Opera House - almost all windows!

Oslo views through the lens of an opera house

The sea

A cute window on Akers Hus, the fort/old castle in Oslo

Loopholes are also windows!

When it comes to sweets, I love them! But I'm pretty good; I mostly just eat them on Saturdays. A Saturday without sweets feels weird. The childhood tradition of only sweets on Saturday really stuck on me! I planned to write more about sweets but...some other time!

For Lack of Something Else...

A list while I wait for some inspiration.

YOUR FIRST:
operation: on my eye when I was very little and can't remember (I had some sort of fat tissue on my eye lid), otherwise appendicitis when I was 20
piercing: ears, when I was 10 or 12. Added one to each ear when I was 19-20 and a third one a year or two later but today I wish I had only the first original piercing. But even if I last wore earrings in the 2nd and 3rd holes 7-8 years back they never seem to close up!
sport: football, played from age 9 to 16
pet: budgies but they were really more my parents' pets. My first very own (sort of) pet was the cat Kitty Tigera when I was 13
vacation: probably the island of Öland off the east coast of Stockholm where my parents rented a cottage the summer I was 1 year old
concert: no idea but the first big one I remember was New Kids on the Block when I was 14
love: Basse when I was 10-12 years old and then Johnny all through 7-9th grade :)

RIGHT NOW you're:
eating: nothing, but just had a cup of green tea
drinking: the last few drops of the green tea
going to: do some work (since I'm actually at work)
listening to: colleagues typing away or chatting on the phone in their rooms
waiting for: the work day to end and the ladies' film night to begin
looking at: the computer screenwearing: jeans, black top and turcoise-green cardigan

YOUR FUTURE:
children: yes, please, I'd love to have at least two, maybe three
marriage: hope so
career: promising, enjoy my current job but is at the same time looking ahead

WHAT YOU PREFER:
hugs or kisses: don't want to choose, although if I really had to I think hugs because it would be difficult to live without them for the rest of one's life. Sometimes you just need someone to hold you.
shorter or longer: que??
fine-looking stomach or fine-looking arms: arms, since I show them more
mischievous or obedient: mischievous; it's more creative

HAVE YOU EVER:
kissed a stranger: not kiss-kissed (it depends how one defines stranger...) but kissed as a greeting like it's done in Spain or Belgium
lost glasses or contact lenses: no, partly because I don't need them
broken a leg: no
run away from home: yeah, usually to my grandparents
X-rayed: yes, but probably only at the dentist
broken someone's heart: think so
turned someone down (who had feelings for you): yes, mainly while I was still at school and when I gave Internet dating a go
cried when someone died: yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
love at first sight: not really, I think it's something that grows
God: sometimes
miracles: maybe
aliens: not little green men but there is probably some life form out there in a galaxy far away
magic: no, only mojo
a heaven: hope so
Santa: of course (with less than 7 weeks to Christmas...)
angels: if there is a heaven there are probably angels
transformers: Darwin evolution, yes

MIXED:
are you in love with someone? yes, in Peter, very much
do you wish you lived somewhere else? in a nice and cosy house in Enskede, or perhaps a penthouse flat in New York!
do other people find you attractive? think so
do you drink? don't we all? I drink everything in moderation
do you use drugs? no, unless my migraine medicine counts
what shampoo do you use? Herbal Essence
what perfume do you like? at the moment mostly Ralph Lauren, Y.S.L. Elle and Oui Lancôme
what are you afraid of? dying before having accomplished what I want, realised my dreams
do you like doing the washing? yes

Yes!!!!!

Image from dn.se

I'm off to London for a few days and will be back here next week!

Show & Tell: Halloween Groundhog Day

I'm off to Oslo tomorrow (part pleasure, part business trip) and had a full day today so this will be a brief Show & Tell post. I felt I wanted to write it now and not leave it for Tuesday since it's a Halloween theme after all and Halloween only comes once a year and that day is today.

If I had to wear the same Halloween costume every day, I would...

It's quite tricky this theme I've given myself and the rest of the Show & Tellers! It is possible to dress up as anything for Halloween so there's quite a range of alternatives. But I don't want to pick something boring, like "the costume of myself" or "grandmother" or "teacher", i.e. costumes that don't really require a costume. On the other hand I don't want go for the other extreme and pick "ghost" or "witch" either.

So I will have to choose doctor. And then I don't mean just the title, but the profession and that I would have to wear a white coat along with stethoscope and other equipment doctors have to carry around. I choose to be a doctor because at least people wouldn't be looking at me in the street (and in the winter I could wear a coat and "be undercover"). It would be a bit weird at work though since my colleagues know I'm not really a doctor.

I would also find myself in potentially tricky situations. For example, yesterday I was picking up some thai take-out food on my way home. When I entered the place there was an older woman on the floor and another woman (who turned out to be her daughter) sitting by her and calming her. Apparently she wasn't feeling well and had fainted and they were waiting for an ambulance. In that sort of situation it would be difficult to be dressed like a doctor but not really be able to help and have to hide in a corner. (I should mention that I left before the ambulance got there but the woman seemed to be fine and they had had confirmation that the ambulance was on its way.)

Okay, I'd better finish packing and get some sleep! Have a nice weekend folks!

My Balcony

Summer

Autumn

The Icing on the Cake

Last night I went to an ice hockey game for the first time in 15 years or so! My hometown team Södertälje played the Stockholm team Djurgården. Södertälje hasn't won a single game for the last six games (out of 15 matches played since the beginning of the series) but last night they won with 5-3!! I guess this means I need to go to all the games for the rest of the season since I clearly bring some luck! (Especially since they are still at the bottom of the league and need to win a lot more matches!)

Peter and his two friends who are Djurgården fans (though not huge fans; none of them had been to an ice hockey match for a while either) were not that happy of course but they still enjoyed the game since it was quite a happening one with lots of goals, beautiful play (mostly by Södertälje) and some action (read fights).

We were seated quite close to the Djurgården supporters and I must say that despite the fact that I had to cover my ears a lot for the shouting, it was quite interesting to watch as some sort of social study.

So a fun night for me and I may go again soon!

Show & Tell: If I Were a Time Traveler, I Would...

I got the idea for a time traveling theme for Show & Tell from the book The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger that I read a couple of years ago and consider one of my favourite books. It's about a man with a strange genetic disorder that causes him to unpredictably time travel, and his wife, who has to cope with his frequent absences and dangerous experiences. Because of his time travel he knows his wife throughout her life (almost) while she of course does not know that she will marry him in the future. He also knows when he is going to die. The book has been filmed - and will be out at cinemes in December. A must-see for me!

I also like the books about the literary agent (detective) Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde. The first book in the series is The Eyre Affair where Thursday Next is chasing a criminal by moving back and forth between an alternate 1985 and the pages of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Not really time traveling in the true sense but traveling between the real world (well, in this case the author's made-up 1985 and the years preceding it) and a fictional one. So far I have actually only read the first book but I have bought some of the others in the series and they are sitting there on my shelf waiting to be read...time permitting.

When I was little I had a recurring dream that I was sick in a hospital back in the 1920s or 1940s or something and my mum was a nurse in the hospital but did not have time to care (only) for me due to all her other patients. For some reason it took place in England. Probably it was just an effect of me dealing in my own little way with having a brother and having to fight for my parents' attention and devotion, but I like to think that perhaps there is a little chance that I had memories of sorts from an earlier life. I don't really believe in that stuff but at the same time I cannot see how I at the age of 6 and 7 could have imagined an English hospital. Or perhaps I had seen too many Forsyte Saga episodes with my parents...

In a way this theme sits very well with this weekend since we (at least in Europe) are changing the clocks this weekend. I didn't know that back when I came up with the themes so it is really a fun coincidence. Spring forward, fall back is how I remember whether we lose or gain an hour though in Sweden they usually illustrate it with whether you're taking out the grill for the summer or putting it back inside :)

As I'm writing this I've just got back from a dinner with three childhood girlfriends. This particular evening we didn't talk at all about the past but some times when we meet that's all we talk about! The old days and common memories. One of my friends, Jenny, remembers everything; we call her our collective memory. Sometimes I wish I could go back to certain experiences, events or feelings, but most of time looking at photos or having an evening of reminiscing will do fine. I don't think anyone of us want to go back to those early teenage years when we had ugly haircuts - of course high fashion for the time - and pimples. The school photos from those days sure provide a good laugh!


I guess this post doesn't really answer the question what I would do if I could time travel but is rather a summary of whatever comes to mind when I think about time traveling, but it will have to do!

Images from Amazon and January Magazine.

Palin Tribute

Show & Tell: Time Traveling

If I were a time traveler I would go back to this morning and write today's Show & Tell post on time traveling.

But unfortunately I'm not a time traveler so I will have to take a raincheck and get back to you tomorrow :)

Mr President(ial Candidate), Sort Out the Healthcare System!

I've written on the issue of different healthcare systems before. I came across this article on the American health service in my saved items in my inbox and wanted to share it with you. It's a year old but it feels very topical.

America’s Lagging Health Care System (editorial in New York Times, November 2007)
Americans are increasingly frustrated about the subpar performance of this country’s fragmented health care system, and with good reason. A new survey of patients in seven industrialized nations underscores just how badly sick Americans fare compared with patients in other nations. One-third of the American respondents felt their system is so dysfunctional that it needs to be rebuilt completely — the highest rate in any country surveyed. The system was given poor scores both by low-income, uninsured patients and by many higher-income patients.

The survey, the latest in a series from the Commonwealth Fund, is being published today on the Web site of Health Affairs, a respected health policy journal. Researchers interviewed some 12,000 adults in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Given the large number of people uninsured or poorly insured in this country, it was no surprise that Americans were the most likely to go without care because of costs. Fully 37 percent of the American respondents said that they chose not to visit a doctor when sick, skipped a recommended test or treatment or failed to fill a prescription in the past year because of the cost — well above the rates in other countries.

Patients here were more likely to get appointments quickly for elective surgery than those in nearly all the other countries. But access to primary care doctors, the mainstay of medical practice, was often rocky. Only half of the American adults were able to see a doctor the same day that they became sick or the day after, a worse showing than in all the other countries except Canada. Getting care on nights and weekends was problematic. Often the care here was substandard. Americans reported the highest rate of lab test errors and the second-highest rate of medical or medication errors.

The findings underscore the need to ensure that all Americans have quick access to a primary care doctor and the need for universal health coverage — so that all patients can afford the care they need. That’s what all of the presidential candidates should be talking about.

Autumn Bliss