sweet rejection

Today I got the sweetest rejection mail I've ever received. But as nicely put as it was I've never been more disappointed about a rejection. Because it was something I was (is) so passionate about, on a professional as well as personal level. Something I've worked for for so long. So after moments of dumbstruckness I bawled my eyes out for a long time.

That never happens unless it's sorrow over personal losses, animal cruelty or times of Weltschmerz. But this was about longstanding dreams and absolute, total conviction I was (is) the right passionate as well as competent person for the job (because passion and competence is a match made in heaven).

It was about my love for creative expressions, about possibilities, collaborations with likeminded people, important values and spreading of goodness.

So actually, I think it was just the right reaction. It's my rejection and I cry if I want to.

And it didn't help that the rejection mail also contained the sentence "Please don't be sad." That's like pushing a cry-button. Such a mail deserves a classy reply. Just let me dry my tears first and I'll be right at it.

So from yesterday which was a lovely day in so many ways, to today, the very last one of June, matters changed unimaginably fast. This is life as it is, inconcievable.

I can't begin to describe how serendipitious life has been this past year and a half, so many unexplainable coincidences pointing in one obvious dreamy direction. Sure there have been the odd here and there lowpoints of confusion, but there've always been something urging me down the path of continuing to plant subtargets in order to harvest dreams.

I've amazed myself in doggingness and conviction at the same time as I've been open to possibilities unknown. And I've worked hard, learnt oh so many things about my own capacity. While always firmly stuck to the importance of values and quality, curiousity and professionalism.

I wish the last day of June had held better news. It was not the final day round off I had expected, far from perfection. Some day this will make sense. Today is not that day.

Dear July, welcome and please make sense. Give joy.

summer stockholm yelp on a boat

There's something special with Yelp's summer elite events, Stockholm and a very nice bunch of yelping people. Today we spent a couple of sweet hours on a boat named Flyt (Float), chatting, eating and drinking. And not even the unfortunate fact that the summer weather insists on not showing a benevolent attitude could dampen the event. It was a perfectly lovely way to round off both the weekend as well as the month of June.













And the walk along the quays to and from the event showed that nothing can dampen the prettiness of Stockholm. It certainly is a city easy to fall in love with and in.







The weather has been the obvious drawback when it comes to the month of June, other than that it has been a pretty eventful, overall lovely, mysterious and exciting month. Grateful for having known you, June of 2014, but guess what, I am all ready, set, go for something spectacular to begin this week and letting sister July be the month of truly fabulous new beginnings. No more waiting and patience, okay? Time to make those happy things happen!

red summer sandals

Not a fan of wedges, but when a friend swore that her new pair of summer sandals were one of the comfiest ever and they happened to be available in red too I was very tempted despite the wedges bit... Because even if I *hrmf* have been known to get a pair of pink sandals recently I've been wanting a red pair for many years. In vain since it's seemingly impossible to get just the model I want and whenever I've found a good model they don't have my size.



Ordered them online, something that always go well with models from El Naturalista and ART which I know fit, this was a bit of a gamble as I haven't worn Camper for years and this model never. But I'm glad to report they fitted perfectly, look great and above all, they are very comfortable. Have so far worn them once and I was worried I wouldn't be able to wear them all day without issues, so I carried around an extra pair of shoes. Which turned out to be unnecessary, they were fab all day!



The Camper model is called Ada Beetle, like the bestest car. And I'm a sucker for such coincidences. The first time I wore them I spotted their car equivalent. In red. If it had been possible I would have crawled upon the bonnet begging someone to take an awesome shoe per diem snap. Alas it wasn't.



I also like the fact that the sandals are both sporty - despite me not being a sporty animal - giving springy steps as well as stylish in a surprisingly elegant way. Ie they go with most everything. And so do the Prosit sisters think. They have inspected every little corner of sandals in a most impressive way.









They're not only thoroughly paw approved, they also happen to go very well with radishes (and strawberries), which always is an extra plus of course.



How about you, have you found any great summer sandals this year?

fredagsmys with my hedgehog bästis

I couldn't resist going a bit Swenglish, because there's really no way to translate "fredagsmys" into English with quite the same corny ring to it - but basically it means tgif, let's have a cosy time with snacks in front of the telly as coined by a Swedish chips-company many years ago. And "bästis" means chum.

And today I did have a bit of fredagsmys with my chum, Hedgehog 2014 - aka the alternate board member who enters and crash - s/he with cat crunchies, me with strawberries, vegan vanilla icecream and a rather fabulous miniature version of coconut tops.





To be honest I was probably the one enjoying the company the most. S/he had an expression of 'it would be rather nice to be able to eat uninterrupted for once'.



And then s/he fell asleep in the food bowl. Eating can apparently be an exhausting business. Just as board meetings.



Enter hedgehog numero two - there are at least three of them, but they usually take turns or visit different food corners at the Hedgehog DropInn - and there was a bit of a prickly beef. Because of course you can't eat from different bowls.



And one went upside down, like someone always do, and I had a serious awwwness moment. Look at that nose, those paws, those tiny claws and all the furry bits...



Luckily the hedgehog cat patrol was nearby, always at service, and things were soon sorted.

All and all a pretty eventful evening in chez Prosit. And sweet.
Just as I hope your weekend will be,
have a great one!

hipster cordial

I've been meaning to make my own elderflower cordial for years, but every year I miss the bloom and besides I'm not really sure where to find elderflower in my hoods. But one day...

Elderflower, alongside rhubarb, is my favourite cordial. Summer and freshness in a glass. I had a really lovely glass of it the other day, a pure hipster cordial from the deep south hipster hoods of Stockholm, Södermalmsfläder.



In the company of bobbaloos though, you can never only just sip a coffee, tea or cordial and such, you always need to make it a proper fika-moment. So we had pretty fabulous sourdough cardamom buns too. Hipster buns. Which went splendidly with hipster cordial of the elderflower kind of course. Cheers.

PS The corner shop to the right in the top photo is the one where linen coat 2014 was obtained. Ie a lot of good stuff in those hipster hoods too DS

stockholm ad campaigns

Maybe I see things differently these days, but I distinctly feel there are more fun, inspiring, cute, witty and pretty ad campaigns in Stockholm right now than ever before. I may not be the least bit interested in the product as such, but I can still enjoy a lovely picture, great design, snappy copywriting or smile about some silly wittiness.

So here are a few recent ad spottings that I've smiled about, for various reasons -



Creamy potato salad for easy summer living - fun picture, but I can definitely do without the product. Personally I shy away from semi-cooked food like this and I can't help but thinking of the TEDx talk last week about food additives and adulterated food...



Love the graphic designs in this campaign for the care-guide (Vårdguiden)! The place where you call if you're worried about some seemingly minor injury or condition but you're not sure if you can care for it yourself or need to see a doctor. The girl above is from the same campaign.



A bit of magic in this pretty ad for Tom Tit's Experiment - a popular museum/science centre for all ages some miles south of Stockholm. More great photos at their website.



Obviously something LEGO-ish, but since I'm not really a LEGO-ish person I'm not sure for exactly what. But it looks cool.



I love me a good pun and this is a silly simple Swenglish one, yoghurt sauces for barbecues "Think Hink!" means Think Bucket due to the sauces being sold in plastic jars.

Although nothing is as super adorable as the bunny campaign of course...

flavoursome chick-pea salad

This salad turned out so incredible lovely and full of flavours I have to share it. I got the recipe from a Swedish grocery store's member's review, but I tweaked it with ingredients I had at home instead of buy stuff which usually only get used once...

Chick-pea salad with halloumi
Ca 5 portions

2 tins of organic chick-peas
400 g coctail tomatoes
1 large sprig of radishes
1 medium sized cucumber
1 red onion
a generous amount of fresh parsley

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I used raspberry flavoured and it was great)
2 tbsp sesame oil

ca 200 g halloumi
(or tofu to make it vegan)
rapeseed oil
ca 0,5 roasted sesame seeds

1. Peel and finely chop the red onion. Put the chopped onion in a bowl with cold water and let it rest there for at least 10 minutes, if you like me doesn't enjoy the sharp taste of raw onion.

2. Rinse the chick-peas and pour into a big bowl. Rinse and slice the coctail tomatoes, radishes, cucumber and put it in the bowl with chick-peas. Finely chop the parsley and add it to the mix. Add the red onion. Then pour the balsamic vinegar and sesame oil over. Blend well.

3. Tear the halloumi into small pieces and fry it in the rapeseed oil until golden.

4. Lightly roast the sesame seeds in a dry pan and sprinkle over the salad.

No need for dressing because there is so much flavour, textures and moisture in this lovely summerish salad. Enjoy!



PS It tastes even better after a night's rest in the fridge. DS

the linen coat 2014

One might not think I lack something to wear, but indeed I did lack a perfect unpretentious, light summer coat for chillier days. As usual the image in my head of what the perfect, light summer coat should look like didn't meet what was offered in shops. But today I found it.



I wanted a light linen coat in a simple, stylish design of good quality. This time, very unlike me, I wasn't looking for a colourful coat, there are som many colours around during the summer anyway - the fabulous happy coat is still the perfect winter coat of course. And funny enough it was really difficult to find that simple design, in linen, in neutral colour.

But I'm happy to report I did find one in the end. This one I got at the summer sales at Bric-a-Brac, it's a lovely, slightly quirky coat and I can't wait to get it all wrinkly and sweet. My plan is to wear it for 20 years or so to come - which is a scary thought really... so let's settle for the next five years for now - good quality and timelessness can achieve that.

Not that I want the summer weather to continue to be this kind of miserable, but a rare day now and then, I could live with that for the months to come and so could the perfect summer coat me thinks. (Hope I didn't jinx the Swedish summer by saying that, sorry...). Just sharing a little bit of happiness in a linen coat.

all about the animals in 5 ways

Sebastião Salgado, exhibition Genesis currently at Fotografiska, very well worth a visit if you're in Stockholm

I promise you'll go from tears to laughter, if you read/watch these five pieces. As it's always better to go from sad to happy, let's begin with the tears bit (but it all ends well!). Not every piece is brand new, but they are all worth a peek or two. That I promise too.

~ Depressed goat gets reunited with his bestie donkie friend - be prepared with tissues galore.

~ Gorgeous, sweet and quirky family photos of children and animals in a rural Polish village - these photos will only warm your heart.

~ Cat people are apparently smarter than dog people - but that we already knew, right? Right.

 ~ Very, very high on my wish-list now is this lovely rolling pin with engraved cats... I'm sure the cookies will taste even better with it, can be bought in the Etsy shop - in the curious case you wouldn't want cats as motif there are other motifs as well.

~ Last, but certainly not least, Fat Cat Art will make you burst into laughter, absolutely brilliant photomontages with a fat, red cat inserted in famous paintings. The cat's expressions are priceless.

strawberry season sweden

Despite the current very non impressive Swedish summer weather - seriously, +15C and cold winds, what's up with that? And down to +4C during the night... Topsyturviness galore - it is after all strawberry season. And for that one can be grateful and delighted.



Not to mention the rekindling with one gadget favourite, whatever did I do before I met my bestest strawberry stem gem friend?



And then there was a (mandatory) strawberry Midsummer cream cake - it was pretty great. I baked it in a heart tin, but with all the whipped cream (soy of course) it just became a big white fluff with strawberries on top. But it was all heart eating a piece.

The Swedish strawberry season so far. To be continued I'm sure.

happy midsummer 2014 ~

Some of my personal favourite ingredients for the day will be of the innocent pleasures kind;
good, vegetarian food, cake, strawberries, flowers and hedgehogs. Possibly cats too.

Hope you'll have a lovely summer day,
however you chose to spend it! 

what have you done today to make you feel proud?

Yes it's an old-ish tune, but it's only recently I've really listened to it. And that refrain is really powerful in its simplicity. What have you done today to make you feel proud?

What if we thought about that every day, or better of course, what if we actually did something every day, however small, that we felt proud about? It's a bit like the dare to compliment thing, start small and work towards bigger things that will make a real impact.

I've also come to the conclusion, that on those days I may not have made an impact on or a difference for someone or on the world (most of us probably don't alas) I can at least be proud over a picture I've taken. Today this was the below picture my proud thing.

Red hair, blue eye and a black teacup. And, without realising it until afterwards, some really neat reflections of Stockholm on a cloudy day (and my iPhone snapping) in the teacup.

Some days that type of pride is enough. Saving up for real impact on other days.

Listen to Heather Small - Proud
(though I prefer the above music video, shot in beautiful Cape Town)

the trials and tribulations of a ceo

The usual type of board-meeting at Prosit, the focus is rather low amongst the attendees

I'm well aware that the way my boss (ie me) runs her company probably isn't significant for the general ceo. But I still believe that the trials and tribulations she (I) experiences on a daily basis with unruly employees, board-meetings with slackers, too many agendas and too little focus on important matters, master suppression techniques and skirmishes between colleagues are much the same no matter size of company.

Behold some of the dealings my boss (I) has dealt with this week. Only so far -


Look, the sun is out, I need to soak up some vitamin D,
can we postpone the meeting to a time with grey skies?



Having board-meetings with alternate members doesn't improve the standard of meeting, they enter, they crash. And not even the regular members manage to wake them.




Look, there's a lawn and it makes me feel like dancing,
let's have the meeting another day, okey?



There's nothing quite like the ones mastering the suppression techniques...


I'm in a tricky situation right now,
I'll call you back when I get down, alright?


It's been an awfully tiresome day, is it okey if I leave a couple of hours early?
Promise you'll have the impawtant stuff on your desk first thing in the morning.

I'm thinking I need to surround myself with focused, passionate about the work, more competent advisors and board-members. Well, at least they should be awake when at work. I don't think that's to much to ask for.

Just not sure were to begin. Do you have any advice?