FILIPPA K

Before our last Christmas celebration this Sunday we made a quick stop at the shopping centre. In thirty minutes I only managed to get into one store and get out of it with one tiny piece of linen.

With forty percent of and a gift card I got this linen tee from the very simple and minimalistic brand Filippa K for a ridiculously low price. It’s one hundred percent linen and in such a lovely quality. I bought it in a medium instead of a small and it hangs so flattering. The original price may seem a bit too much but this tee will probably last me a lifetime.

Invest in your basics, they’ll be your best wardrobe friends.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS

Vans Old Skool / Calvin Klein Bralette / Man Repeller by Leandra Medine / Wera Stockholm wallet

#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso / Fazer dark chocolate / Tromborg Lip Balm Rose / Style By subscription / Rörstrand Swedish Grace plates / Tacky pink key ring with my name on it

I’m ashamed to tell you that the things on the pictures aren’t all that I received, I received more.

So except from the amazing things on the pictures I also received a gorgeous bag from Zara that I’m sure will make an appearance really soon, a gift card at a shopping centre, dry shampoo, socks & underwear, workout clothes, Body Salt Scrub Lemongrass also from Tromborg, Rörstrand Swedish Grace plates in a larger size & Rörstrand Swedish Grace bowls.

A big thank you to everyone for their great kindness, I’m still overwhelmed.

CHRISTMAS DAY

The mandatory Christmas selfie with the tree.

As mentioned in yesterdays post I celebrated Christmas with my mother’s part of the family today. Compared to the calm and cosy celebration yesterday today’s was a bit louder and more pacey but filled with a lot of love and laughter.

I received such nice things and the last two gifts from my parents got me by surprise since I really didn’t expect more from them. I really am so grateful for every single item, even the tacky pink key ring with my name on it.

CALVIN KLEIN

After publishing yesterdays post stating that I wanted to do a post on my Christmas gifts I realized that I’m receiving my last gifts on Sunday and since Sunday is a few days away I decided to post a sneak peek on what my brother got me.

Obviously I have been a really good sister this year!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Merry Christmas!

Only a few minutes ago I crashed down in the sofa after spending Christmas Eve at my grandmothers with my father’s part of the family. Here in Sweden we celebrate Christmas the 24th on Christmas Eve and I have no idea why, it just happens to be. Even though, I will be celebrating tomorrow too with my mother’s part of the family.

I’m absolutely overwhelmed with the love and gifts I received today and I can’t believe that I will receive both more love and almost the same amount of gifts tomorrow. I’m really pleased and thankful for the things I received and I’m thinking about doing a post on that in a few days.

I wanted to do a whole body Christmas outfit but the rain poured down and a space with both a good background and good lightning doesn’t exist in my house. I wore a new dark grey polo knit with black culottes. On my face I wore The Body Shop Dusty Fawn eye shadow, IsaDora Perfect Lipliner in number 36 Ruby Red and Loréal Collection Exclusive lipstick in JLO’s Pure Red.

QUEEN BEY

To be completely honest I haven’t been a fan of Beyoncés music for so long but on the other hand I’ve been a fan of her as a human being and woman for years. This is worth watching and listening to, both because of the beautiful black and white video and the powerful speech.

LONDON

Last year whilst walking through Oxford Street at two in the morning.

In the past four years I’ve been to London five times and I’ve managed to build such a strong relationship to that city, it’s my second home and one day I hope to make it my home for the rest of my life. It felt empty not going this fall but I guess that it's also making me even more excited that Elin wants to go and that she wants to go with me. In January, after receiving my highest salary yet, I hope that we’ll book a weekend there in the spring and that I then will see her fall in love the way I did.

EYEBROWS

I am the worst at selfies.

A few years ago I never thought that eyebrows would be such an important thing in my life and that when I do my make up they would turn out to be the thing I spend the most time on. I’m not pleased with my natural eyebrows so I dye them about once a month and fill them in religiously. Today I tried to fill them in a bit different than usual and I was so pleased with the result, they were at their absolute best today and I guess that’s why I’m so thankful for managing to take an okay selfie.

CHURCH

I am an atheist and today I went to church.

My belief has been clear to me for about four years now but every now and then I go to church. This happens about one time a year but I don’t go there for any religious reason, almost every December around this time there’s a great Christmas concert that happens to take place in the church. My cousin is a part of the very talented choir and her participation is mainly why I started to attend these concerts many years ago.

Even though my belief I still respect religion and as an architecture lover I appreciate the architecture of churches.

STORM

It’s supposed to be a storm outside tonight but I don’t know if I would call it a storm. It rains quite a lot and it’s a bit more windy than usual but to cancel all the trains in the area I live is a bit exaggerate. I really don’t mind the rain as long as I’m sat inside with a blanket and some candles. 

Except working a lot more than usual and being sick I’ve been having a few bad days mentally. I feel that I annoy everyone I approach, even my closest friends, and haven’t really been in contact with anyone for the past days. I know it’s silly and probably only making the people around me think that I’m not interested in talking to them which I actually am, I just feel so annoying. I’m sorry.

SWEDISH IDOL

After working four long days I took yet another train to Stockholm Thursday afternoon. This time the main reason was that me and two of my friends got tickets for the final of Swedish Idol.

Swedish Idol have had surprisingly good guest acts performing between the contestants this year, for example Ed Sheeran and Olly Murs, and topped it all off with a guest performance from One Direction.  Even though they only performed one song and then went straight to the airport they managed to be as charming as always, posed for a selfie with the good looking host and brought a little girl up on the stage during their performance.

The two finalists haven’t really been my cup of tea. They’re both talented but nothing unique so I didn’t care that much about who won. Even though, it was really exciting to attend a live TV recording.

LIGHT

It’s that time of the year again.

I must admit that it’s been a few years since I got any kind of Christmas feelings but this year, even though it’s not December just yet, I got it and I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year. I guess it have mainly been kicking in this weekend. Everyone have started putting up stars and pretty lightning, my mother has baked something called Lucia saffron buns (or Lucia cats) while my cousin played her favourite Christmas songs and I’ve made a fire in our fireplace two nights in a row.

I’m really looking forward to this cosy season.

THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE

I treated myself and bought the ELLE Feminism Issue before going home from Stockholm.

When I first heard about ELLE UK releasing their December issue as a feminism issue it made me really excited, fashion and feminism is two of my favourite things in life.  I’m sure there’s smaller more independent magazines that’s been doing something similar before but I can’t reach that many foreign magazines in Sweden and seeing such a famous magazine as ELLE doing something like this is revolutionary.

I just finished reading the interview with Emma Watson and it’s perfect. I knew after seeing her speech at the UN that it couldn’t be anything but perfect and I’ve been sat with a smile plastered to my lips while reading it. I still got the interviews with Jenna Lyons, Diane von Furstenberg and Benedict Cumberbatch left to read and I’m really looking forward to it. Other than that the issue is filled with inspirational and successful women for an example ELLE UKs own editor-in-chief Lorraine Candy, who I’ve been impressed by for a long time, who is a mother of four young children, a feminist and got the career of my dreams, she’s really an inspiration.

Buy it, read it and get inspired!

BUT FOR TONIGHT I WANNA FALL IN LOVE

Globen, Stockholm, Wednesday November 12th

One time isn’t enough.

Elin and I met up with my brother and his girlfriend for his first concert ever. We managed to sneak in with my brothers classmates and get some really decent places after not queuing at all. When Ed walked in I could see the enormous excitement in my brother’s eyes. I’m still in a loss of words to describe Ed’s live performance but it was just as magical as in Copenhagen. I was placed a lot differently but it didn’t make it any less powerful and the fact that I got to experience my brother’s first concert with him I think made it even better. I’ve never seen that boy happier and that make me so incredibly happy.

After the concert it was really nice to get back to Elin, eat and actually get to sleep on a mattress since I was exhausted, I even talked to her in mys sleep. I took that boring four and a half, five if you count the train actually home to my little village, hour train ride home yesterday but it’s just a few weeks until I get to see Elin and visit Globen again. More about that in December…

PACKING UP AND TAKING OFF

When I travel a lot during a short time I always think that it’s what it feels like being a celebrity but I always remind myself that a celebrity probably doesn’t have to sleep on the floor at the airport that often since they can afford a few hours at the expensive Hilton Hotel next doors, however I can’t and I have to sleep on the floor at the airport looking out at the Hilton Hotel building dreaming of the beds inside.

After the Ed Sheeran concert we picked up our bags at the Central Station in Copenhagen and went to the airport. We arrived around midnight and went straight to Burger King for a veggie burger and some much needed water before we thought that we could get through the security check but shame on us, the security check didn’t open until 5am. We thought we could get in to the actual airport and find some comfy chairs to spend a few hours on before the tax free shops opened up but instead we had to sit outside the checks, on a really hard floor, for four hours. I managed to get a few minutes of sleep thanks to some blankets that could act as a pillow and the hours went pass rather quickly.

The picture above is taken around 7am right after the plan had taken off to Stockholm, were we landed at 8am. From the airport me and the friend I traveled with had to go separate ways to the people we would spend the night at in Stockholm and I had to go on three buses and one train to get home to Elin for a well needed shower and some breakfast.

TAKE MY HAND AND MY HEART AND SOUL

Forum,Copenhagen, Tuesday November 11th

Let’s get this started with me telling you that seeing this man perform live is the most powerful thing that I’ve ever experienced. I and a friend of mine went to Copenhagen early Tuesday morning with food and blankets. We were sat outside the arena for about nine hours before we got let in and managed to get in the front, a bit to the left but still in the front.

It’s difficult to find words to explain the concert. Afterwards my friend and I didn’t say anything to each other, we couldn’t find the right words to explain it. All the worlds’ superlatives aren’t enough but I’ll do my best. Ed is all alone on a large stage with a guitar, two microphones and some loop pedals, nothing else, and he creates the most powerful music I’ve ever heard live. There was a security guard right in front of me all the time and he seemed amazed by how the crowd sang their hearts out to this simple redhead on stage and followed every wish of his.

I’m sorry that I can’t tell you more, there aren’t any words for it. He makes the songs so much better live than they’re on CD and on CD they still are bloody amazing. If you ever get the chance to see him live, take it.

WHILE DREAMING OF DIOR

I used to have my ears stretched but a few months ago I removed the plugs and now I can finally wear normal earrings again.

I doubt anyone has missed the Dior double pearl earrings. I myself have been dreaming of these for a while but working at a day care doesn’t allow me to buy anything Dior. Of course the high street stores have done their job and put out similar earrings for the price of almost nothing, I bought these yesterday and I feel a bit silly for being this excited about wearing a normal pair of earrings. 

BECAUSE YOU'RE MY MEDICIN

THIS IS HOW IT STARTED

Debaser Medborgarplatsen, Stockholm, Thursday October 16th

By now there’s no doubt you’ve heard about The 1975, right? Only about a year ago they weren’t as famous and that’s when I saw them for the first time.

I don’t think anyone could ever understand how much this band has come to mean to me. Their music is genius, their lyrics is unbelievable, their singer is out of this world and their first album is perfect from first to last song. But it’s not only that. When I saw them in November last year it wasn’t only a magical concert in the most tiny venue in Copenhagen it was also the first time, and the reason, that I met my now best friend. It was all very spontaneous. I got in touch with a Danish guy four days before the concert, which was sold out, who offered to sell me his two tickets. Elin booked a train in a second and four days later we met up at a train station, gave each other a weird hug, went to Copenhagen and the tiny venue located by the entrance to Christiania (a small town in the middle of Copenhagen where it’s legal to smoke weed). After the concert, where we’d basically been standing on the stage, we gave each other the day’s second weird hug but that hug was weird in a whole different way, the way that it felt like we’d known each other for a lifetime. I guess that’s how it started for real, our weird but beautiful friendship.

A few days ago we saw them again. My favourite band on stage and my favourite person by my side. It was all a bit nostalgic. I don’t think anything can beat the first time we saw them but it sure was another magical concert. The whole venue smelled of marijuana and out they walked, dressed in black from head to toe, and started playing. It’s so hard to describe something that means so much to you.

If you get the opportunity to see them live, don’t miss it.

DREAMS

I live in a small village. I’m scared to leave the house after nine in the evening. I cross the street if I see someone. I’m scared to walk the streets where I grew up. Light, life and movement comfort me. As a kid the worst part about sleepless nights were the silence, knowing that everyone but me were sleeping. 

I want to live in a city. I’ve known this since I was a kid and slept on the couch in my aunt’s apartment in the city. I was laying awake but I didn’t feel alone, I heard cars, voices and I could see the street lights through the curtain. I find comfort in noises and light, knowing that I’m not alone in the world.

I’m a restless person, a small village isn’t for me. 

LIVING OUT OF CASES

First of all, I would like to excuse my absence. My computer went crazy and I lost Photoshop and as a perfectionist it’s not easy to blog without Photoshop. Also, I’ve been busy looking for a job and been away for a few short trips with my family so there hasn’t been much time for me to fix the Photoshop problem.

This weekend was no exception. Thursday morning I and my dad went on a four and a half hour long train ride to Stockholm to meet his sister, her husband and my two little cousins. Friday morning I took the train to my best friend to spend the rest of the weekend with her. We have only known each other a year but it sure feels like a lifetime. It’s weird to think about, that we didn’t physically meet until last fall, that it’s only been a short bit over a year since we started talking and that we’ve only been able to actually meet a few times since then but still she knows me better than anyone else and she’s the only one I feel that I can tell anything without being judged. We are basically the same person in two different bodies.

When you aren’t able to meet that often you don’t really feel like you have to do something special every time you meet, it really is good enough to just associate, being lazy and watch a ton of movies together. Although, Saturday evening we went into the city to meet my friend from school who just got a job and moved to Stockholm and I hadn’t seen him since graduation in June. To be honest it was quite sentimental, we used to see each other at least five days a week for three years and now we hadn’t seen each other for almost three months. I went on that four and a half hour long train ride home again with my dad and arrived home quite late yesterday.

Don’t get me wrong now, I love my family but I’m not one of those who like to come home after being away. I don't feel homesick, I don’t miss my bed after sleeping on mattresses for weeks and I don’t miss having a place for everything after living out of a suitcase. After a night at home I’m tired of it again. I want to travel, explore, sleep on mattresses and wear my clothes wrinkled from being stuffed down a suitcase.

PRAGUE

Last summer I went to Prague.

I’m not saying no to spend a week by the beach in a warm country getting a tan but I prefer cities. Big cities with beautiful buildings are my weakness, no wonder I’ve been to London five times in just a few years!

I would really recommend everyone to go to Prague, first of all it’s really cheap and the culture is amazing. The buildings and bridges are old and beautiful. The picture is taken at a café called Café Louvre. You can go up in a small version of the Eiffel Tower placed on the hills, it cost a small amount but the view from up there was really worth it.

I want to go back some time but before that I got New York, Paris, Amsterdam and Budapest on my list of cities to visit. And I would love some other recommendations too!

FAVOURITE PLACE ON EARTH

Brick Lane is probably a holy place for all street art lovers. 

Last fall I did a small book with pictures from this area of London as a final assignment in Esthetics- and Media. With the book I also wrote a text about street art and the hate from the unknowing and now, after I’ve been back taking new pictures, I thought that it would fit pretty well here.

This district is well known for its colourful culture, its colourful people and maybe most of all for its colourful buildings. Brick Lane is the definition of street art. It’s easy to get carried away and get enchanted within the brightly coloured alleys covered with impressive paintings in all different kind of shapes. You easily spend a whole day among these artworks and constantly gets dumbfound by the talent of the so called criminals. Street art is, believe it or not, illegal.

With my photos I want to convince the once doubting. Street art, or graffiti, does not need to be something ugly and something that ruins. The paintings are often done anonymous or only signed by something called a tag, a performance name. This does not mean that these artworks are less artistic than paintings hanging in museums signed by well-known artists. A lot of people got the whole idea about street art wrong. Street art is not the words scribbled in the public bathrooms at the central, street art neither is the big letters spray painted on the trains that has been outside for the night. Street art is in fact art. Street art is powerful paintings that rather often carry a strong message, usually political, that affect people around ongoing public debates. With my pictures from Brick Lane I want people to see the beauty in the art that is out there for everyone to see, the art that you do not have to pay any entry to see hanging on a white wall. The annoying scribble we all see in our everyday life is far from the same thing as street art.

I'VE BEEN IN ENGLAND FIVE TIMES

 I must say that after four times in England and not leaving London for a minute I was quite ashamed. I didn’t let myself say “I’ve been in England four times.”, instead I told the truth about how I’d been in London four times. 

A fifth trip to London booked and still a bit ashamed me and my travelling partner decided to take a day away from the capital and visit another city! Said and done, we booked bus tickets to Brighton and got really lucky with the weather. We arrived early to a clear blue sky and were able to walk the almost empty pier before the city woke up.

I do now let myself say that I’ve been in England five times.

BUMPY RIDE

Even though the ride only took about ten minutes it was an experience...

The hotel we stayed at offered a free bus ride back from the east beach with an happy turkish driver who gladly hit the horn every time we passed someone. The so called roads back from the beach were bumpy and the bus lacked seatbelts and closed doors, even though it probably would be more risky to walk back in the heat.

BEHIND THE FAKE DESIGNER BAGS

A fifteen minute ride away from the tourist part of Side, Turkey.

Behind the horrendous amount of fake designer bags and neon coloured tops with either a YSL or Jack Daniels print I found a colourfull farmers market filled with fresh fruit, vegetables and spices.

Since I'm not one for screaming sellers and fake Hollister tops I found this a safe, calm, place while the others in my company fought with the sellers and wasted their money.

While walking around in my own world, taking tons of photos, an adorable old lady offered me a cherry and I got a good price on some dried cranberries.

Time well wasted.