a knitted update

second yarn project of the season is a beanie. a special order which is a really fun one. beanie itself is now finished, but the quirky details remain to be added. 

first yarn project, the sweater, is actually all finished. it took 4+ hours to sew together. a seemingly simple model and yet no it wasn't very obvious how to assemble it...

as i suspected it wasn't a very flattering model for my body type. unfortunately. someone completely flat-chested would rejoice in it. me not so much. i'm thinking it would be nice to turn the sweater into a cardigan instead. then it would be more suited for me. thus will have to find a solution for that i think.

yes i will take pictures. i've already the scene set. it will involve a cat. who will most likely be the star of the photo, instead of the uncomfortable wearer of said sweater. stay tuned for that.

and yes, even if sweater isn't what i'd like for me i'm quite pleased that i actually did finish the whole yarn project in a reasonable amount of time. i'm notoriously bad at that, when i start things for myself. orders for others, that's another story of happy endings.

centella recovery skin-salve

unfortunately it turned out that the kiehl's skin rescuer i got a month ago just wasn't enough for my sad, dry winter skin. it may be during summer (i'll save it for then) with the combination of cold weather, dry indoor air and spending a lot of time in front of computer it's not nearly enough.

so i went back and asked for something else. got this tube with a salve that supposedly soothes temporarily irritated and sensitive skin. (every time i go for a facial the beauticians assure me it isn't rosacea, so far i've trusted them in that. i may have to look into that more thoroughly again though...)

plus a bunch of advice and samples. the former i'm not very likely to follow as i am so not interested in a ridiculously complicated skin regime that takes a gazillion different products. a good cleanser, a good day/night cream and now and then a face mask that is all i'll ever use.

but i'll try the samples. who knows, they may be miraculous. the salve i've used a couple of days now. it feels ok, skin is still dry but it may look less flushed. fingers crossed. again. i'm getting rather tired of the look of nonresilient winter skin.

the prettiest flower bouquet

Passed a fine little flower shop in the city today and swooned over this bouquet of flowers in the window display. It is definitely one of the prettiest bouquet of flowers I've ever seen. Love the simplicity and adore the colours chosen. Nothing strained or bombastic, just a (seemingly) simple, natural and very effective flower arrangement where the obvious beauty of colours, roses and carnations speak loudly for itself. Simply swoonworthy gorgeousness galore.

Apart from tulips I rarely buy fresh flowers (I feel a bit sorry for them to be honest...) but I got a bit of an urge today. Of course I could treat myself to a bouquet, but somehow the notion of someone else knowing what I love and adore when it comes to flowers would add an extra heart to the beauty of a bouquet of flowers, wouldn't you agree?

cats and foxes

Behold the irresistable pieces that made me break my firm but apparently not completely unbreakable rule of not shopping at highstreet stores like H&M... My hairdresser friend made me do it.

I really wanted fox mittens, like hers, but they were sold out. Instead I got cat mittens and fox socks/slippers/moccasins. The mittens are one size only and, granted, slightly to short for my longer fingers, but they're very cosy and I'm sure they'll stretch with wear.



The moccasins are great to have when I work in pink office, because energy efficient as I am I tend to have it rather cold in here and the floors get very unfriendly for feet. Whenever I look down at my feet in fox moccasins I get a silly grin on my face. Smile inducing socks and shoes are the best!

There was a cap to, a cat hat. With ears, nose and big eyes. I didn't went for it since I thought it was a bit over the top somehow. Believe it or not.

green food, green dress

My rave for colour matching has apparently gone so far as I match my food with my outfit du jour.

Well, not in general (promise), but it was a rather fun moment when I realised the crazy green spinach pie on a very green bed of lettuce (that came before the lovely hot raspberry cocoa) went really very well with my green dress.

How about you, is it a recurring thing to match your food with your clothes?

PS You lovely people who have left a 'yes please!' comment in the Christmas cards (swap) post - and for everyone else who'd like a fabulous Prosit-card from yours truly! - could you please email me your address to piaktw (at) gmail (dot) com? And I'll reply with my information of course. This is will be much fun! DS

suddenly it happens

one of those phrases it's good to remember. (and no, you don't have to play the swedish national lottery to embrace it 'plötsligt händer det!'.)

on a glum day, a blue day, when you feel a bit discouraged or even thwarted - remember that 'suddenly it happens!'. whatever your 'it' might be.

right now i have three specific 'its' in my life. i do not feel neither encouraged nor focused at all times, every day. but deep down i know 'suddenly it happens' and therefore i feel expectant and sure. because really, there are no options to bonheur in these special 'its'.

the moo christmas cards and such

my latest moo cards were delivered on friday and i have to say i think this batch is pretty darn awesome. 

before ordering i did have issues with the fact that for some silly reason you can no longer choose 50 different motifs on your postcards, only ten (the minimum for postcards now), so in order to get 50 different motifs you have to order them in packages of ten and by that paying a higher price. ridiculous. i was not going to order any postcards at all since it was so annoying, but ended up doing it anyway. so pleased i did, despite silly pricing, because they turned out lovely. 

and i'm so so happy that also good iphone-photos become really beautiful postcards (hence you don't have to rely on the dslr to get great result in that size). 

i'm especially struck by how fantastic the follow the hedgehog-photo turned out in print. pure magic! it looks totally unreal, like a painting or a fairytale illustration. when really, it was just a very special moment in my garden one summer morning when the light was right and the hedgehog and cats met.

unfortunately i only ordered one postcard with that motif. i'm totally going to order more asap.

it was a big box with business cards, postcards, christmas cards and stickers. only a very few didn't turn out so well in the print (bit too dark, bit too red) but nothing too bad or upsetting. i'm just very finicky. 

and it's interesting how one learns which motifs will most likely turn out well in moo print and which will not. i'm mostly correct in my choices of photos, sometimes not, sometimes they turn out less pleasingly, sometimes they are pure delight. which, i suppose, is part of the charm. why one keeps going back for more moo.

the package has of course been inspected, by a proper prosit spokescat, zigne. she did gave paw of approval. so now the postcards and christmas cards are ready to be written and sent.

so who wants a christmas card to possibly swoon a bit over? feel free to shout 'yes please!' in a comment or send  me an email. i'd be happy to send you one. and even more delighted if you'd want to swap christmas cards with me. yes, as you know, cards around christmas, that is something i thoroughly enjoy, sending and receiving. the joy of a handwritten, pretty and personal card.

hot raspberry cocoa

i don't much enjoy hot cocoa. but today i decided to have one at lunch at a cafe. and oh my was that a good decision! they had different flavours to choose from and i went with raspberry chocolate. and soy milk. it was absolutely amazing. the flavour of raspberry was distinct and the chocolate was of the texture that the spoon could almost stand straight in the cup. it felt like a rather sinful treat somehow.

needless to say enjoyed by small sized woollies too.

you can enjoy this particular hot cocoa at
marsipangården (the marzipan house) in smalltown trosa.

happy birthday, sigrid ~

Once upon a time I was the best at not only remembering my own cats birthdays but also all the kittens raised and sold. I sent birthdays cards to everyone.

These days I'm rubbish at remembering birthdays, humans and cats alike. So if I happen to forget yours, please don't take it personally, very very few gets remembered anymore.

But I thought that at least the oldest cat in my bunch should get a birthday blog post. Sigrid, 11 years old today, blacktortiespotted, British Shorthair like the rest of course. To be honest, not the smartest of them all, but very sweet tempered, an awesome mother and grandmother. And that counts for a lot.

Happy birthday, sweetie, and many more to come!

Other posts on Sigrid;

the brain trust trio

crowded

cuddle trio

cuddly cosy torties

the clever cat thurs-day before christmas

clever three

gender postcards

seriously, why assume that it's only women who might go a bit overboard with their downton abbey-lism?

and who says only men would find it terribly convenient to know six ways to effectively hide a case of wind?

clearly not a greeting card-designer who's able to think outside the ridiculous restraining box.

it is the time of hyacinths

This is definitely my favourite scent this time of the year! The scent of hyacinths I adore.

- I am not the least bit interested in the self-imposed musts, shoulds, ridiculous stress, the hyped commercialism and gluttony that is Christmas in the western world. Not that we've ever spent it that way, but unless you're a hermit there's no escape from what's going on around you this time of the year. While the world is burning people still spend a ridiculous amount of time and money overconsuming goods and food this time of the year. I wish we could all spend more time all year around being kinder towards all beings, find happiness in making wise and unselfish decisions instead -

Enchanting and seductive, calming and uplifting at the same time. This is my first hyacinth friend of the season. It adorns my pink office window sill alongside a pot of bright red and pink cut geraniums, the heart plate with miniature pumpkins and the pink loudspeaker. Four things pretty, side by side in perfect harmony.

november stockholm

The pros about November/first winter month in Sweden being this mild and snow-free (touch wood!);

no dangerous icy patches,
thus you can walk faster,
you can wear much less clothes than usual this time of the year,
it feels like a British winter,
the electric bill is more manageable

The cons about a mild, snow-free November;
most days are unbelievably dark and gloomy,
thus the energy levels are pretty low
(despite vitamin D supplements etc)

But despite feeling a bit low due to the lack of sun and overall light I have to say that the no icy roads and streets really is a huge relief. So thank you lots and lots for that so far, winter!

And yes Stockholm manages to look pretty pleasing no matter weather, lucky her.

dear dear colours

As it seems like I've started a red theme week I might as well continue on that path.

Today it'll be about stockings, socks and such. After becoming awfully tired about nylons that are most always too short in legs and too low in waist I've been very pleased these past five years or so with wearing leggings instead. Plus they are indeed more practical and warmer when winter comes.

This season however I've found good nylons that actually have legs that are long enough and a waist that is high enough. And my *new* thing is to combine shade with shade in stockings/boots/shoes and if possible in skirt/dress pattern. I think it creates such a nice, somehow seam-less, impression.

My favourite so far is wine-red hue in hue. Which is a bit of a surprise since I do prefer brighter colours in general. But it is a nice autumn/winter colour I guess. And it helps in having to great pair of wine-redish boots to do the matchy thing.

The only let-down is that, believe it or not, I do not have enough colours in shoes/boots to match every fabulous stocking. Or perhaps it's the other way around, the supply of the perfect stockings in size doesn't come in as fabulously many colours as my shoe/boots. Just other fabulous colours.

What's your favourite autumn/winter colour/s this year?

if i write it they will come

Despite having spent time this weekend writing copy for a cleaning company and focusing on "If I write it, they will come!" they have not come. Thus I was forced to do the annoying cleaning of house myself. Go figure. (Such a disappointment!)

The good things about it are that

a) doing mundane things like this keeps the restlessness at reasonable bay, it's kind of therapeutic and the brain can rest a bit

b) using the red vacuum is rather a delight in itself

c) the kitchen sink has probably not been this spotless since we moved in here (nearly 12 years ago now)

d) I found a little lost book of important information I thought accidently had fallen into the recycle paper bag a year ago

After the arrival of handymen and the installation of a new dishwasher tomorrow I am totally looking forward to another awesome week. Lovely things planned, great things booked and sweet people to meet.

Happy new November week to you too!

a dreamy red dress

Stumbled over this stunner of a red dress in a shop window recently. Which got me thinking that even though red is one of my favourite colours I have far too few pieces in red to wear. And I do believe my wardrobe holds no red dress at all. Clearly room for improvement there.

On the other hand, it's not that I lack something to wear. Or that shopping for other than essentials is high on my agenda anymore.

But it's nice to dream a bit. And red is a lovely colour. And that is a really beautiful and likely to be flattering dress, for most body types. Although a tad too short for my liking. Plus I have absolutely no idea when it would be a useful dress to have. But a gorgeous piece just the same. A dreamy red dress it is.

what a week it has been

It has certainly been quite a week with ups and downs. But the downs -

the low point must be concidered to be the flood in the kitchen due to the dishwasher breaking. There will be a new one installed on Monday. Apart from the obvious nuisance of this not being a great thing to having to spend money on I'm not exactly looking forward to the handymen arriving. I will have to clean the house and since I live by the "A clean house is a sign of a wasted life" this does not make me a happy bunny. Plus the cats tend to be a little too "helpful" when new things happen and new people arrive. It's definitely easier to deal with stuff like this when you can "store" the cats in the garden while installation is happening -

have been so much easier to take due to the many fabulous ups. And a change of attitude definitely helps. Have I mentioned that I love oh so many things with my 2013?

So the good things have been lovely meetings, social and work-related, good fika - I'm adamant that every week must hold at least one really great fika-moment. That is something so very Swedish that I am actually proud of - great walks, fresh air, a decent amount of work and rather sweet news (not to be revealed yet).

I'm really really working hard on not taking too much notice about the restlessness that has been my companion this year and bear in mind that things will happen when they are meant to. And while one wait for that meant-to-time there are plenty of other things that need dealing with.

And I'm constantly amazed how much I've learnt during this year, not over yet but passed by oh so quickly, and continue to learn. How much serendipity and magic moments it has held, how many great people I've met and inspiration in abundance I've felt.

Thank you life, thank you universe for yet another, rather emotional, week brimming with good things and not so good things to learn from ~

once upon a time with the prosit sisters

I'm really proud about the fact that the fabulous Prosit sisters Zigne and Ztina have the same impeccible (of course) taste as I when it comes to TV-shows. Here we're watching "Once upon a time". Some more mesmerized than others.

icecream for everyone

It's a while now since I bought this fabulous cookbook filled with deliciously quirky and kind icecream recipes which are vegan only, no dairy products, no eggs. It's a totally inspiring piece on so many levels! Love the photography (just the fact that it's a pink cover, adore) and the recipes sound mouth watering indeed.

The recipes are made by Swedish vegan food bloggers and the cookbook is published by the largest animal right's association in Sweden Djurens Rätt (The Animals' Right) thus all the surplus goes to a great cause, which of course is another reason to go get the book asap!

What a wonderful Christmas gift this would be for any icecream-lover! You can get it in the webshop and in online bookstores plus in certain shops around town. In Swedish only, but I'm sure the recipes are fairly easy to translate and - just like the IKEA bakebook - you will love the inspirational photos I'm sure.

Do you have a favourite vegan (or vegetarian) cook/bakebook?

naked bobbaloo at afternoon tea

met a good friend to celebrate her good fortune to be employment-liberated with a decent severance pay - finally she can plan her own days and go after her dreams!

of course we had to celebrate in style, afternoon tea it was. at a newly renovated classic cafe in stockholm. lovely interior and ambiance.

unfortunately though the afternoon tea left a lot to be desired. room for improvement indeed, especially for us vegetarians. i will write a proper review on yelp asap and link to it.

but the company was great and we had a lovely afternoon. and the bobbaloos were delighted, the naked one most of all.

and as it happened i got some sweet news of my own, so it was a silver lined day indeed. despite the glum skies and rain pouring down. a happy day.

the woman and her dog ad

I adore this photo! Possibly because I can relate to it on so many levels. It's a German ad for Philips TV - I have only a very vague idea what the text says, but if a photo alone could sell a product to me this would certainly be one of those rare occasions.

It would be fun to try and recreate the picture if it weren't for these reasons;

- there's no little loaf around to pose anymore
- the cats would never ever pose like this (I can hear them laugh at the notion alone)
- I never dress this stylish at home (and I doubt a fleece housecoat that looks like a horrific English flower pattern broadloom would create the same snappy impact)
- I hate having my picture taken

Do you have a favourite photo in an advertisment?

hedgehog print

A few months back I passed a little art and design shop called WOS, that sold wonderful, original animal art pieces and prints. I didn't have the time to stop by then, but I promised myself to do so in a not too distant future.

Then a few weeks back, as birthday gift, I got this lovely print with hedgehogs, from my dear friend and fellow happy muse. She had simply remembered - and really, nothing simple about it since so many people do not remember things like this... - that I had posted a picture of the cute shop on Instagram earlier. And of course, I adore hedgehogs. And pink and green. Such a well-thought through gift! Heart a lot.

Today I finally framed it and I think it looks lovely. I have it in my office, in front of my desk. It makes me smile and is a sweet reminder of both the cuteness of hedgehogs and the darlingness of good friends.

caturday meet cute

Met this terribly friendly li'l chap when we stocked up on organic food items at Saltå Kvarn today. He made my day. Like cats and meet cute tend to do.



Excitement, blurriness and shaking of hands and paws (well more like me carefully trying to remove his needlesharp claws from legs and tights without harming either).



Lotsa cuddles and sweet kitty kisses too, before he had to return to his awfully impawtant tasks of the day.

serendipity friday

spending my friday evening watching one of my favourite movies which happens to share its name with one of my favourite words. and notion. serendipity. heart.

wishing you a wonderful november weekend, 

may it be filled with sweet treats, 

serendipity and sprinkles of magic ~

what entitled cats do

Every day, the examples of cats sense of entitlement are seemingly endless. Regular ways and new ways.

Example of a regular way - this particular one grabs MY corner in the sofa and claims it to be HER corner every time I get up to do something. 'If I turn upside down and show a very dotty tummy of course it's obvious I'm the proprietor of this corner.' Believe it or not, I have no problems with lifting her up and putting her in the other sofa corner. She's a baby I have no issues with putting in a corner, just not my corner.



Example of a new way - a redhead cake thief! Seriously. And yes, she's very much a blend of her mother's (above) and father's ways. Thus she's everywhere all the time, purring and taking interest in EVERYTHING.

No use in sighing too much over it, like cat like owner...

same same but different

/greetings, the atheist

hurraw lip balm

Wee Calvin picked this up for me the other day. Hurraw! chocolate lip balm. I He chose between chocolate or cherry - of course he picked chocolate.

Turned out it smells more of coffee than chocolate, but still absolutely awesome on lips. I will promptly go and get myself a cherry one too.

Because despite my intention to perhaps use more red lipstick I always end up with a bit of gloss or lip balm only. It's so much more convenient and care-free.

But I do enjoy a lovely (not overpowering) scent with most everything I use, so lip balm with a scent I something I treasure. And one which is organic, raw and vegan, what's not to adore?

What's your favourite chapstick or lip balm?

artifical sunlight

For every year it's getting harder to cope with long, dark, glum winter days - I've never seen myself as a person depending this much on sunlight as I've grown to do these past few years. For every sunny day I feel lighter and brighter, inspired and more in a pleased mood than on grey days. Alas one can't fuel up as much sunlight as one think for a rainy day.

As this past week has been pretty bad regarding dark, heavy skies and it has felt like it's 5 pm already when it's only 1 pm, I've also felt a bit blue and perhaps not as active and productive as I would have been otherwise. Today we had sun and everything suddenly felt great on a whole other level (that crap and unexpected things happened during the day, well I'm sure I would have felt so much worse about them if they skies had been depressingly grey and heavy).

And it got me thinking about adding certain vitamins to the winter diet probably is a good idea, no matter how good you are at eating a varied diet of fruit and veggies perhaps a sunlight supplement is a good thing.

Possibly visiting places with artificial sunlight regularly can help chasing the Nordic winter blues away too. Though granted, when I found myself in such a place some weeks ago, by chance when we had lunch, it was mostly just annoying with such stark white light. Not the least bit relaxing or uplifting actually. Not at all as exhilarating as real sunshine (mostly) is. Alas.

Fingers crossed for a speedy winter, please, and more regular glimpses of sun. Snuggling up in sofa with tea, candles, a good book or a decent movie can't always help chase the dark winter blues away.

How about you, how do you cope with really dark winter days?
Food supplements, a special diet?
Perhaps visiting artificial sun rooms?
Do you feel it helps in a significant way?

the tiny mother

Stumbled over these tiny gnomes (yes, Christmas decorations already...) at a department store the other day.

Yes they are really cute - even if this type of small clay gnomes with oversized hats have been around in Sweden for about 20 years now. And originally they were carefully handmade by crafters and artisans in small-scale productions. Quite the opposite of this...

But most of all they're the spitting image of my mother (apart from the size). Really. (But just like me she loathes having her picture taken so I don't have any as comparison. You have to take my word for it. And visualize.) A whole table filled with tiny Pia-mothers. And that made me laugh.

And a good laugh is always welcome. In any shape or size.

new breakfast habits

I've officially become my grandparents. In breakfast habits at least. I've always been a night owl. I've never been a morning person. I've never been breakfast person. Until recently.

I'm actually tired in the evenings. I actually usually wake up all by myself without an alarm clock early in the morning. Without feeling tired and grumpy. Not sure if that means I'm a boring grown up or not.

My breakfast habits have become more regular. And very much like my grandparents - although I'm fine with not having the same stuff whenever I eat breakfast out or travel, they didn't, they brought along their own food so they could have the same breakfast all.the.time... - you start with a bowl of sour milk (filmjölk) or yoghurt with fruit and seeds. And then continue with a cup of tea and a rye bread sandwich. They did. And I usually do too these days.



As I don't do dairy products I've become addicted to the Alpro soyghurt instead - after trying several other brands of plant based yoghurt which weren't pleasant in flavour and not good for my stomach (just like the dairy products) I found this one and I love it! It is so tasty and so good for my stomach. Not to mention the environment, animals, health and conscience - so I have to have a bowl of it every morning at home.

I thaw frozen raspberries, add the soyghurt (it comes in four flavours, natural, rhubarb-strawberry, vanilla and blueberry, my favourite is rhubarb-strawberry) and sprinkle a generous amount of psyllium seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds on top (which I of course have done for many years already whenever I have a bowl yoghurt or a homemade smoothie). It's a lovely way to start off the day! (The psyllium seeds are rather hellish when it comes to sticking in between the teeth though, a toothbrush isn't always enough to get rid of those tiny brown seeds...).



My stomach feels so much better these days, usually. Granted it might have something to do with the happy place thing and worrying less, but I definitely think a change of eating habits is part of the equation too.

Sure I like to have a good fika, a cake, pastry, bun or dessert now and then. But I never have cravings for chocolate or sweets these days. Even if I've never had major sugar cravings I've still had them on and off (the sugar conspiracy thing...). Now I don't. It's a good feeling, for body, mind and wallet. As I swear on the linseed oil capsules for much of my positive changes I think they've covered this bit too, the unnecessary sugar thing. Liberating somehow.

Are you a morning or night person?
How's your breakfast habits?
What's your favourite breakfast?