A Bag Made Out Of Straw

I haven't been blogging for a week so I thought it was about time to write a post now. I just came back from a successful shopping day with my sister, who came back to Sweden Wednesday! There's a mall not too far away from where we live, and this mall also holds a second hand shop and this is where we spent most of our time. I found a very nice black skirt for only 10 SEK (about 1 euro), it's knee length and somewhat pleated. It's by the brand "Lapidus of Sweden" and doesn't seem to be manufactured recently as the sizes doesn't seem modern, but I can't quite place the decade on it. I also got a very cheap, but lovely dress by the brand Mari Phillipe along side a pair of H&M cateye sunglasses. Everything found extremely cheap and i'm very happy with the day as a whole.

The other day, Wednesday, I did meet my sister up by her flight bus as she arrived to Stockholm central station. As she flew off to the Netherlands before I came back from Germany we hadn't seen each other for 3 weeks, so guess if I was happy to finally see her again. We grabbed some food out and soon decided to go visit our grandmother. The very same day she was supposed to travel to Portugal to visit a friend but had to cancel this due to having severe pain in her knee. Over the years she's had a lot of problems with it, but now it's worse than ever. To cheer her up we bought some flowers and showed up at her door surprising her. Needless to say, she got really happy! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the flowers but take my word for it when I say they were really adorable and I know they are in great hands. My grandmother is a real flower person, opposite to me who seem to be very prone to kill plants so I usually go for plastic ones.

I also had two orders done a few days ago. I ordered a really cute dress from Zalando, dark blue with white polka dots and the thought is that I will be wearing this dress on my boyfriends family gathering next month. I also bought a vintage bag, a 50's one, and it's absolutely lovely. It's from a Swedish webshop http://vintagesmulor.se/, so take a look if you're Swedish, or otherwise as well, she may even ship abroad? It was love at the first sight! As I actually was torn between my love for the bag and my senses telling me "no you need to save your money" a friend had to give me a push to actually buy it. And i'm glad she did! The bag arrived two days ago, only a day and a half after I ordered it, and it also came with a handwritten note thanking me for ordering from her. I was surprised with the really good service, and I never want to be without this bag ever! I got some photos of the bag, and I will also post photos of the dress after it arrived. Hopefully it will on Monday.

Other than this me and my mum went to the cinema together last Sunday and we saw "Snow White and the Huntsman". I must admit I was a bit sceptic to the film at first due to Kristen Stewart being in it as i'm no fan of the Twilight serie, but I was actually surprised in a good way. Kristen did a great job along side other actors such as beautiful Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. Even though a lot of the traditional Snow White elements such as the dwarfs, the magical mirror and poisonous apple were all there there was a nice change to see Show White picking up a sword leaving the views of how these traditional fairy tale princesses are seen as. In my opinion it's definitely a film worth watching.

I got some chocolate mud cake waiting for me and some chocolate, so i'll definitely have a nice Friday evening even though I really miss the German chocolate. Luckily i'll be back in Germany on the 11th of July so the countdown has started.

Have an amazing Friday evening!

Love, Kristina

The Sound Of Midsummer

Yesterday the Swedes celebrated one of our most Swedish traditions, the midsummer. A tradition that goes back to before Jesus time. Me, my mum and dad spent it this year at Skansen open air museum, which is one of my very favorite places in Stockholm. We got there around 11.am and we had a look around in the old houses before we sat down and ate the sandwiches we brought. After that I decided to make a garland of flowers to put in my hair. They actually offered these stands where you got help with making real nice and professional garlands but the line for it was way too long so I decided to make my own, less fancy garland made of Ox-eye daises instead. I wasn't completely pleased with the result but it would have to do. Then we had a look around the park. Skansen is both an open air museum and a Zoo, but are mainly having animals you can find here in Scandinavia. If you want to see the more exotic animals you'd have to pay extra to enter an aquarium building where these are kept, but this time we skipped that. So I walked around the park photographing animals and houses until it was time to head for the rising of the maypole around 2.pm. It was crazy how many people had gathered there, my estimation would be over a thousand, which made it quite hard for me to see anything and even harder to get that good pictures (I tried though). I didn't do any dancing as there were too many people and I felt rather quick that I wanted to get out of the crowd and instead I bought soft ice cream with chocolate sprinkle and sat enjoying the sun. We topped it off by looking in a couple of shops before we headed back home, pleased with the day. My arms got really burned during the day, not really hurting unless I touch them but still. I got such sensitive skin and really need to be more careful.

So what is midsummer? It's a celebration celebrated at the summer solstice, when the day is the longest and the night the shortest. In the very north the sun doesn't even set at all during this time so there's daylight during the whole night. There are different ways to celebrate midsummer around the Scandinavian countries but the Swedish way is that we are dancing around a big maypole - a pole that's been decorated with leaves and flowers. You gather in rings around the maypole and dance around it in a big ringdance while singing old folk songs, usually ones that have a playful ring to them. The maypole is in fact stolen from the Germans though, probably sometime during the 14th or 15th century.  It's also very common to make a garland of flowers and wear it on your head. All this to celebrate the longest day of the year. The usual dish during the midsummer in Sweden is soused herring, sour cream, chives, potatoes often served with dill and for dessert strawberries, lots of strawberries. Snaps, beer and other alcohol drinks are often served. The midsummer weekend is in fact one of the the weekends of the year when the Swedes consume most alcohol. Of course there are also none alcohol alternatives such as normal soda, must (pressed juice from berries that's been stopped from fermentation) or alcoholfree cider. The midsummer night also have a page full of believes of supernatural creatures and prophecies to it. Folklores are saying that you should watch out with bathing outdoors cause "Näcken" might take you. "Näcken" being a supernatural creature in form of a man playing a violin sitting naked on a stone in the river. He's said to enchants young women with his beautiful music making them walk into the river and drown. Young unmarried women are also supposed to pick seven or nine different kinds of flowers, in seven or nice different gardens and put these under the pillow when they go to bed on midsummer and in their dream that night they will see the face of their future husband. Also the midsummer dew would contain supernatural powers. People would roll in it naked and that way they thought they would be protected from illnesses during the whole year.

Here are a few photos from the midsummer celebration 2012.

I may also point out that midsummer without my sister who's currently with her boyfriend in The Netherlands is not the same. Next year we need to do midsummer together again! 

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this post. Now i'll just sit back and talk some more to my boyfriend. Have a nice evening! 

Love, Kristina  

Hakuna Matata

 I finally have the pictures from Hagenbecks Zoo ready so I wanted to share some of my favorites with you all. I had a really great day with my boyfriend Monday last week, with the highlight being getting to feed the elephants! They had a stand selling fruit and vegetables in plastic bags, and we got two bags. One for the elephants and one for the goats. I ran around humming to the soundtracks to the Lion King while photographing the beautiful animals :) I've been a fan of the Lion King ever since I was three years old so seeing lions and other Afrikan animals for real was an amazing experience. The weather could have been better though, the rain really started to pour down once we got there but started to clear up a little bit towards the end. But I had been looking forward to this since January when I went to Hamburg for the first time, so nothing could ruin this day.  

Tomorrow is midsummer here in Sweden. Me and my family will be heading for the open air museum Skansen in Stockholm city to celebrate there. When my mum got off work earlier today we bought groceries for tomorrow together. We will bring egg sandwiches, grapes, yoghurt and some pastries. Let's dance around the maypole. I can not wait! I will definitely spend the day taking photographs so expect to see some in the oncoming days!

Have a nice day and happy midsummer all Swedes!

Love, Kristina   

Once Upon A Time In Stockholm

I'm back in Stockholm for the time being. When I walked through my front door last night the clock was almost 2 a.m. so guess if I was tired? After greeting a very happy little rabbit I fell into bed rather quickly. Whenever i've returned from Hamburg it always strikes me how lonely it is to sleep alone again, and I really don't like it. I can't wait to have a more solid place to stay as going back and fourth is starting to get a little bit tiring.  The travel itself yesterday was okay I guess, I can't say anything interesting happened, it was calm and I spent most of the time reading.

Today has mainly been spent with little Milton, but i've also ran a few errands. I got Milton an appointment at the vet next week as he's been sneezing for a few weeks now. Milton is almost a bit of a celebrity at that particular clinic now as he a year and a half ago got castrated there. He had one of his testicles in his stomach which lead to a much more complicated surgery than first intendend, and none of the veterinarians present had ever come across another case like it so they had to call specialists in order to perform the surgery. So today when I called to get the appointment the woman I spoke to exclaimed "Oh Milton!" when she heard his name haha. Other than this, I took a walk around the area where I live and bought a little something. Two adorable glass bottles. They are nice just for decoration but if I actually can find use for them as well it would be ever better! Any suggestions on what I could have them for would be very appreciated!

My mother also got me a small present. A cute candle with my name on along with a text saying "A trustworthy woman. She's kind and fights for her opinions". Any truth in that perhaps?  

Tonight will be a calm one I believe. I brought a whole lot of chocolate with me from Germany as their chocolate is much nicer. They have plain white chocolate which I haven't found here in Sweden. So I will probably spend the evening eating chocolate and speaking to my boyfriend. I will try to edit some of the pictures from Hagenbecks Zoo soon so I can share them. I think I got some quite good ones!

Love, Kristina

A Round Of Scotland Yard

I recently got back after having lunch with my boyfriend. He's back at work and this is my last day in Hamburg for this time as i'm heading for the airport tonight. I feel a bit gutted having to leave already but at the same time I have so much to be happy for, and I know I will be back soon. Most likely next month already to attend the platinum anniversary celebration of my boyfriends grandparents. It's quite exciting but also a bit nerve wrecking as his grandparents only speak German, and my German is quite limited to say the least.

Yesterday was a rather calm, but nice day. We spent it looking around in shops in a town nearby where we live and even though I didn't buy anything I was very tempted several times. The idea was to find a water bottle for the gerbils as they keep getting their water in the bowl dirty, but the water bottles we found wouldn't work putting up in their cage as there are no bars on the side of it. Soo the hunt continues! We also entered several other shops too. As we had a look in a shop full of stuff for painting, drawing, sewing and other creative activities I saw a whole new side of my boyfriend. The man is more creative than I thought and was completely taken with several of the things they were selling in there. Myself found a sheet with vintage inspired tags on it. It was really beautiful and it was one of the things I almost bought but as I didn't know what I would have it for I left it in the shop. I almost regret it a bit now!

In the evening we first decided to watch a horror film. The Japanese version of the Grudge, but unfortunately the film only had Japanese and German audio and only German subtitles which didn't work for me as my German is still very bad, and well, Japanese even more so haha. So we ended up watching the football game between Germany and Denmark instead. Even though Germany won I had to eat my words a bit as I said "Germany will win, easily" as the Danes actually put on quite a good fight. To make the evening complete we ate apfelstrudel with ice cream and drank wine and played a bit of Scotland Yard before hitting the bed.

Now it's time to pack my bags and clean up a bit around here. My boyfriend can witness and tell you all about what a messy I am. For now, Auf wiedersehen Hamburg! I will be back before you know it.

Love, Kristina  

Vintage & Rags

Good morning!

Yesterday we made our way to a vintage shop here in Hamburg called "Vintage and Rags". I only made a quick visit as we were under time constrictions as we were meeting up a friend of my boyfriend to attend a party together. The shop seemed to be in a similar style to "Beyond Retro" and I found several nice skirts and dresses, even a military jacket I couldn't quite place the year on, but it was all a little bit too pricey for me at the moment so I had to leave them in the shop. Buhuu. It was a big plus though that the shop is right in the city centre which makes it very easy to just pop by whenever you're in the area. I will definitely return soon with a somewhat fuller wallet. Be so sure of that ;)

Later we caught the train and attended the party which was located in a town outside of Hamburg. The hosts of the party have recently made a world trip around Asia and South America so the guests were supposed to bring something from the places they had visited. We brought Costa Rican rum as Costa Rica was one of the places they had visited and also some Swedish cinnamon buns as a suggestion to where they should go next ;) It was quite interesting trying out drinks and food from other countries even though i'm usually the boring kind that only eat what is already familiar to me. Needs to change that perhaps?

I'm not quite sure yet what we will do today. We wanted to go to the Baltic sea and spend the day at the beach but the weather didn't seem to quite agree with us. I'm sure we will find something else to do though.

Also, the football match didn't go quite so good for us Swedes the other day. We were in the lead for a while and we were screaming on top of our lungs but it wasn't enough. I've seen that readers from the UK have streamed in lately so if you're English or rooting for the English, congratulations!!

For now, have a lovely day! :)

Love, Kristina

A Touch Of Blue And Yellow

I've never been a big fan of football, but lately I've started to find it more and more interesting. I believe being in Germany during the EM and that way really have been a part of the football culture here and the celebrations being a big reason for my newly born interest for the sport. Tonight is Sweden (my native country) playing against England and i'm keeping my finger's crossed for blue and yellow. We're a bit of the underdogs in this match but never underestimate the Swedes. Stranger things have happened! My boyfriend told me that Sweden played very well during the qualifications so maybe we will stand a chance?

Anyway, today has been a calm day. We woke up late, ate and played some Playstation before heading to a festival to see what it was but it turned out to be mainly for children. There were some children performing dances on a stage and some of them was quite entertaining to watch. We headed back to the flat quite quick though after some grocery shopping. I really don't have that much interesting things to share for the moment but I hope my next post will be more interesting.

Finger's crossed for Sweden tonight and have a lovely evening, friends! :)

Love, Kristina

Postcards from a Victorian Hamburg

I'm back with a new post! We recently got back from a day in the city centre where we did some shopping! My boyfriend needed a suit for work and that was our prio number one and he ended up finding a really nice one. He was a bit worried cause it was black but shifting into a darker blue shade which apparently is extremely horribly awful on him according to himself. I can witness and say he was very handsome in it though! :) We also got a table for ironing and a kitchen machine that was very much needed the other day when we baked a cheesecake. Guess if my arms was aching after stirring it by hand! haha A nice wooden bottle to store soap in with a matching cup to keep my toothbrush in was also found and bought and now gracefully placed in our bathroom. As I picked up two postcards a friend requested I also found a really cute little can to store things in and it had to come home with me along side a small box containing 48 gorgeous postcards of Victorian Hamburg. I only have a picture of the overview of them so far but I might photograph my favorites one by one later and put up here for show if anyone is interested. Pictures below show overview of the Victorian postcards, the really sweet can and the matching cup and soap bottle.

Yesterday we finally got to bring our little gerbils home from the breeder. Two girls we call Nalah and Ruby and luckily they seem very happy with their new home so far. They are still a bit nervous but just an hour ago I got to hold little Nalah properly (more than just to transport her between her cage and transport cage that is) and she seemed fine with it. They are still very young and more jumpy than adult gerbils but i'm somewhat used to the little creatures by now after have had 13 of them in the past (but not all of them at the same time! lol). 

I don't really have much more to report than this. Tomorrow will probably be a calm day with so far no greater plans than watching the Sweden-England football match, and on Saturday we will attend a barbeque at my boyfriends friends place and i'm really looking forward to it!

Have a lovely evening! 

Love, Kristina