goodbye april 2018

If I was to summarize April in three words only, for me personally, it would be - emotional, sleep deprivation and sunshine.

I most certainly look forward to May being a month where the great things that sprouted in April will have a gloriously happy flourishing. Add more great things to happen. And obviously that The Mess that has brought so much anger, worry, disappointment, and yes sorrow, will be sorted in a positive way. That Karma will bring everyone involved just what they deserve. Simple as that. Not too much to ask for, right? Right.

So, to summarize this last week of April;



An unexpectedly lovely movie, much better than the book I read in 2009 - surprised it took them so long to turn it into a movie -, even if one of the loveliest characters is a pig farmer and there is a roasted pig situation. But it was a beautiful movie, every film frame a picture postcard perfection, a Downton Abbey reunion(4 actors) and cute, stylish costumes. Highly recommend.



An unexpected job interview. The startup looking for that "rockstar copywriter" that contacted me two weeks ago. It was a nice enough interview. I prefer to be neutral if I am a great fit for them or they a great fit for me. Sometimes it's obviously a 'yes please' or a 'no thanks' feeling after an interview. In this case it can go either way. Let's see. I trust the process.



A sweet box of new tea. I'm not a fan of green tea - it's so delicate and tricky to brew correctly to be drinkable - but I couldn't resist the name "Fredagsmys" (a very Swedish concept, translated "Friday coziness"), it smelled delicious and it's quite lovely, fruity to drink, when you get it right.



Two great seminars - one on "Mind the gender gap" on how to work with gender equality in the workplace. Very enlightening, both theoretically and practically. It was a breakfast seminar and the little fly in the ointment would be the fact they didn't offer a vegan option, despite I had asked for one.



The other one an interesting talk from one of the founders of the Swedish banking app Tink - I remain healthy sceptical about most things involving having your financial details ready and available to be hacked, but that's just me... It was a good talk and the vegan lunch was great.



It is the cherry blossom trees in bloom time of the year. Which always makes me happy. I do plan a revisit early next week when they've blossomed into that truly magic pink, soft light.





For the first time I had a really good laugh about the weirdness of the keywords for which one can be found on LinkedIn. I've always found it curiously entertaining that everyone but I seem to be found by strange and irrelevant keywords. Now I know better.
A) My name may be Pia but I have absolutely no knowledge of PIA (and I can’t blog about it). B) I do appreciate that LinkedIn sees me as some omnicompetent source of How-to. I'm unlimited indeed.

Even if I alas never heard back about that amazing communicator position in a well-known international environmental organisation, I guess they went with someone else, however inconceivable as that might be. But Ms Sustainability 2018 comes in many shapes and forms. It's important to move on from disappointments, which always is easier when you make a point of cultivating resilience.

And on Friday I applied for another job I would absolutely love to get. As Brand Manager for a fabulous, delicious Swedish vegan food brand. So, I would appreciated more fingers, toes and paws crossed now. From the internetz and Universe.



Oh, darling May, can you be utterly kind and awesome, please?
Less worry, more sleep, more laughters, beautiful news
and sweet surprises of the very best kind.
I would be ever so grateful, dear May, I really would.

hope will carry you home

April so far has shown a sunny face and a capricious personality. It has been an emotional month of highs and lows, professionally and personally. I wish life could stabilize, that I could worry less - that useless feeling - and sleep better. As good as I am in being actively mindful and enjoy the little bright and beautiful things as usual, my subconscious mind lives its own life.

And it really didn't help that I got some quite shocking, but far from unexpected, news  on Friday afternoon about the company that has caused the project mess and for which I haven't been fully (under)paid. News which quite possibly mean I won't get the final payment at all. That I have put in so many hours for free. Which obviously makes me incredibly angry, hurt and disappointed. At the person/s causing this to happen and at myself for being somewhat naive, accepting too much, working too hard.

I'm the least gullable person I know, I always question and analyze everything and everyone. Yet clearly I've not been quite myself here. And trusted people that weren't worth my time, creativity, hard work and trust. Such a fool was I. Because I wanted it to be true. I was happy. And why must everything be too good to be true? Well, in this case it was.

That I trusted my team, that clearly wasn't a team in the complete sense of the word. Everyone, but I, seem to have had a hidden agenda and a very casual attitude towards this project. Did their own thing with no thoughts whatsoever as to what ramifications their actions would have on the team, other people's lives and finances.

It has certainly been a bitter life lesson. But such is life. And with all this I took quite a leap in my personal development. Now I can only hope for a decent solution appearing soon, very soon. And I certainly know what kind of work circumstances I won't accept in the future. And the people I will never recommend or work with again. To trust the gut, and facts, has definitely proven important.

That they managed to run the company to the ground, with such a long and great why story and products, basically due to bad leadership and poor business acumen, that's just heartbreaking. On so many levels.

The interesting thing in this is that what I accomplished in the project is actually one of the things I'm professionally most proud of. Unfortunately I missed taking screen prints on everything, for my portfolio, and the beautiful website I created with so much attention to details is no longer there. The Twitter account no longer exists, but all the photos I took and captions for Instagram I have of course saved as well as the articles written.

And noone can ever take away the fact that I worked incredibly hard, way above and beyond what I signed up for. Even if the end client wasn't worth it, and the teamwork I treasured turned out to be a pipe dream. So in a very strange way I'm still deeply grateful for the opportunity at the same time as I'm equally deeply saddened how it turned out.



On the bright side of last week - had my annual dentist check-up which second year in a row turned out to be a happy one - even if you basically pay 1000 SEK just to step inside the door of the dentist - no cavities, hooray! Who's a good girl? Well, I of course.



Before I was reached by the above upsetting news on Friday I had a sweet meetup with my grief recovery process group. We hadn't seen eachother for 8 months and it was really lovely to catch up a bit, three out of four of us where there. The one who couldn'make it and another one still work at the same place, and even eight months after our sessions they still haven't had lunch together because it's a case of 'What shall we talk about after we've shared our most personal secrets and life's sorrows?'.

Looking back at those intense sessions and the work we did together, the tears, sorrows, laughters and gratitudes we shared, it's pretty amazing. And having shared all that, and never judging, we can always talk much more freely with eachother than with other people. We are very different people, and I'm not sure we would have become friends if we hadn't met like this, but I think we've formed a very special bond through this. For which I am truly grateful. Hopefully it won't be eight months until we meet again.



On Friday early summer also arrived, it was a whooping +24 C. That awkward time of the year when you don't really know how to dress weather appropriately. However it was the first day of mary-janes and no socks in shoes. The following days haven't been nearly as warm, and now rain has finally fallen. Which is a relief, because all this April sunshine and no rainfall has turned into a fire hazard. So far this April has been the warmest month in Sweden since the early 20th century. Hello global warming. But as snow fell on May 9 last year, who knows what will happen next. I hope for more rain at least.



One of my favourite restaurants in Stockholm is Vietnamese Minh Mat. They serve three dishes for lunch, of which one is vegan - and they have a special vegan menu in the evenings which is amazing - and every Thursday they have Vietnamese crepes filled with veggies and lovely organic tofu. It's absolutely delicious, if a bit tricky to eat since it's so crispy.

I would never have thought of making this dish myself, since it looks so accomplished and complicated. But then a friend told me her partner had made it and that it was simple and turned out crazy good. I got the recipe and decided to make it this weekend. Conclusion; I will never be a great pancake maker, but the whole dish with the filling (veggies only) and a delicious, spicy soy dip turned out brilliantly. I will definitely make it again.



Food should make you happy to look at, delight your taste buds, satisfy your stomach and be kind to the world. This dish certainly tick all those boxes. I will share the recipe in another post. And no I haven't forgotten about that yummy vegan Snickers-dessert I made at Easter. My mind has just been rather preoccupied with sorting out other things lately.



I've listened a lot to Causes' 'Where does love go?' lately. It's not only a simple and beautiful song, but I can't stop thinking about the phrases 'Where does love go when it dies?' and "Where do tears go when they're cried?'. No simple answers to that, but food for thought.



Hey, April, would you mind, prettiest pretty please, showing your very benevolent side from here on? And finish these final weeks of your time with happy news, kind fireworks, applaudes and colourful confetti? I would be so grateful if you could make that effort, m'kay? Thank you ever so much in advance, yours truly and hopeful.

the pussybow blouse and other weekly snippets

I do believe Spring has finally sprung in Sweden. Although given the fact that last year the last snow fell on May 9, we should probably be prepared for that this year too... But that said, today it was +15 C, that awkward time of the year when you don't really know how to dress weather appropriately. And you feel like a dazed, shabby mole sticking your nose out the door.



Unless you're a cat, then you pretty much always look ypur snazzy best. And just absolutely love being able to roll around in the sun in the garden again after six long, dark, damp, cold months. And yes, I'm writing this on the veranda in the company of said furballs. Which is a pretty blissful way to spend a caturday.

I think I might call my week that was another cosmo geek one, which will certainly be reflected in this blog post. Let's start with some skin care.



One of my personal goals for 2017 - which remind me that I haven't set any obvious ones for this year, at least not in blog. Might still exist though, believe it or not - was to get my skin back to normal. Better but not quite there yet. Might be an age thing, might be stress, might be me not being great at sticking to strict daily skin care regimes. Be as that may. Work in progress, part of trying to figure things out, as life in general.

I then got this little bottle of a fancy serum from a friend, who couldn't use it herself because it wasn't compatible with her skin type. Moroccan rose superfood facial oil from Dr Botanicals. I'm not a huge fan of serums, they're super expensive in general and have never done anything miraculous to my skin. Perhaps I hadn't found the right one, perhaps my skin now is mature (like old cheese) enough to benefit from it.

Anyway. Opened this tiny bottle of the vegan superfood for face and was smittened at first sniff. Because that rose scent is absolutely irresistably delicious and calming. You only need a tiny drop under you're (not so) daily skincare, so the expensive bottle will last a long long long time.

That is, if your not too tired in the morning and make the fatal mistake of emptying practically the whole bottle over your left arm instead - I was afraid I'd grow a baby's arm due to that superfood serum overload, but I'm relieved to report that didn't happen. At this time in life I wasn't really interested in paying full pricey price for a new bottle, so I was so happy when the same friend picked up that someone sold a brand new bottle at Tradera (the Swedish version of Ebay).

And I was even happier I won the auction, the price was 75% less than shop/online bought. Well, won and won, I was the only one bidding, might be such a bizarre little product most people have no idea what it is anyway. Will. not. make. the. same. clumpsy. mistake. again. My precious.

I'm also thinking that when I've actually created an account and made my first Tradera purchase I will now do a bit of spring cleansing and see if I can sell things instead.



Sensitive readers might do well in averting their eyes from this image above. It is just what it looks like. A supersized blue willy painted on a wall. If it wasn't well in to April already I would have thought that it was an April's fool joke, but it isn't. It can be found on that same wall in Stockholm until Wednesday when it will be removed.

The background is that this inner city wall, in the district Kungsholmen, has been assigned to legal street art by the property owner. And every six months or so a new painting adorn the wall. However the motif of this particular painting hadn't been revealed to the property owner beforehand so at the denundation last week it came as a shock. The female artist claims it's an empowering mural, in the aftermaths of #metoo. She apparently painted another one in New York last year, a red one, and it was immediately removed as being offensive. Go figure.

Myself I can't see anything empowering (for women) in a yet another phallus symbol in a world overflowing with them already, it's just unsavoury. And if I was a neighbour to that wall I most certainly wouldn't want to open the blinds in the morning for six months seeing a gargantuan blue willy. I like the blue on yellow, but other than that I think the only amusing thing about it is the fact that it's painted just above the goods entrance of the supermarket chain Willy's. And that the carpark P sign points in in its direction. Just in case you've missed what it is.

The property owner said the nearby residents have complained (duh) and it will therefore only remain on the wall for a week. Hopefully replaced by art that actually is empowering.

Which brings me to another debacle of last week, involving the Swedish Academy, which is the institution behind the Nobel Prize in Literature. You can read the story in the New York Times article, so I won't write anything extensive about it. Again, it's just bizarre thing that shows the patriarchy is still alive and in parts thriving even in Sweden. The debacle stems from one of the academy member's French husband having sexually assaulted many women over the years, with the good memory of most of the other academy members.

This came to light with #metoo and ever since it has been an internal discussion that kind of blew up after the police investigation. Several members have resigned, the good guys, and now the female permanent secretary, Sara Danius, was forced out yesterday. Since it's a royal academy the Swedish king is also involved in this decision, and he is most certainly not known for his feminist views or his irreproachable lifestyle. All and all a most sordid story on so many levels.

Since Sara Danius - needle felted version at the Liljevalchs art exhibition last month - is well known for her fabulous outfits and fondness for pussybow blouses, yesterday many women (including myself) wore that in support of her. Hashtag #knytblus and #knytblusförsara on Instagram. Enough now, patriarchy, enough now.

I don't own a pussybow blouse at this time - but I should, they're lovely and I used to have a few of them - so I made it up with making a big bow of an old, gorgeous silk scarf I got in Venice years ago. That works too.



Which brings me to the next topic, namely clothes. When I get rich, monetary that is - might be on my both professional and personal list of goals this year - high on my wishlist was a wonderful blouse from Marimekko. Yesterday I popped by the recently renovated flagship store in Stockholm to see if they had it so I could try it on. The model yes, the colour no.

This is my grumpy face before I tried it on, it's the yellow one hanging on the wall. No I will never master the decent angle full-length selfie, nor do I wish to. But it's nice to try it in a clean dressing room, compared to my full length mirror at home with a usual messy hallway. And I had a pretty good hairday.

Anyway. The blouse turned out to be of a spectacularly lousy fit. A really narrow bodice, if you're not tiny and flatchested don't bother, and oversized arms. Ah well, I saved myself not only money but also the disappointment and hassle of ordering something I'd have to return by courier.



I'm also happy to report I did finish that second book I had hoped to during Easter. As Anna Gavalda is one of my favourite authors, for her insightfulness of human nature and unique language, my only reason for not having finished it two yeasr ago when I got it is my lost reading mojo. But it was a lovely read, as usual. 'La Vie en mieux' isn't translated to English I think, but in Swedish it's called 'Livet vi drömde om' (The life we dreamt about).



I still hope you keep your fingers, toes and paws firmly crossed for Ms Sustainability 2018, should know more this upcoming week. However I don't have the luxuary (?) to passively wait for other people to make their mind up on things that very much involve my life. Thus I continue to be open and curious about other possibilities.

So this past week I went to a really nice speed meeting at a recruitment agency I already knew. Similar to the business speed dating I really like, but it's only you and a recruiter for 15 minutes. You have to tell your very condensed story, the whats, hows, whys and wants during that time. And let me tell you, 15 minutes go fast. Really fast. But it was lovely experience, and just look at that gorgeous wall paper they had in the room. How about that for a fabulastic sign of great things to come?



After that meeting, which took place in their office at the same street as Sturekatten, I had a sweet solo lunch at just Sturekatten. Turns out they have vegan options there now too, I opted for a fine lentil soup and a cup of tea (of course). My favourite cafe in high school, countless cups of teas and apple pies accompanied by philosophying and giggles have been consumed there over those years, it was nice to be back. Rarely visit these days, for various reasons, but I highly recommend it, a Stockholm classic.



Rounded the week off with being contacted by a recruiter via LinkedIn about a job at a startup where they wanted a "rockstar copywriter". And as much as I'm allergic to that startup buzzword rockstar this rockstar unicorn that - whatever is wrong with simply having many star qualities and great capacity, values and visions? - I was intrigued by the company and its vision (and they quoted Nelson Mandela) so I said I was interested.

Who knows if it'll lead to anything that's a great fit, or if it was just one of those generic, highly unreliable contact efforts from recruiters who hasn't really checked you out at all despite what they claim? For now I'm just calmly curious and Ms Sustainability 2018 fingers crossing in a confident pussybowl blouse wearing way.

You've been pretty great and overall interesting so far, April, let's keep it that way, okay?

fingers crossed for ms sustainability 2018

One of the reasons I moved to this suburb of mine early 1990ies was that it's the countryside with close links to Stockholm city - about 30 minutes with commuter train - fresh air, grand views, woods, walks, a serenity you will never get living in the city - which I love obviously, but I would never ever live there again. Inner city born and spent my first five years there before we moved to the suburbs, on the very opposite side of the city where I live today - I need room to breath, less people, crowds and traffic, more nature and green spaces. Might be the introvert me speaking. Or just nature loving.

Unfortunately things have changed a lot since I moved here. There has been a generic building frenzy these past 10 or so years, with no care for the beautiful green spaces. Instead of using the already built upon places, like obsolete tennis courts, industrial (non toxic) areas and so forth the county politicians (no matter political colour) see it fit to bulldoze nature and the important green open spaces. In some unholy alliance with building companies, which obviously isn't unique for this county, but close to home makes it easier to grasp.

One of the more recent bulldozing is based on some crazy idea that we need yet another shopping centre out here. As if the large shopping area 10 minutes drive from here, including IKEA and an outlet village and other shops, isn't enough. Agenda 2030 and encouraging consumerism aren't compatible. I'm so tired of politicans not making such simple connections.

Off with the woods, blast the rocks, build even more ill planned, fugly, generic houses. Don't forget to make sure it's easy accessible by car alone, no need for public transport. Oh, and we need a gas station too. Nevermind the Swedish strict regulations where gas stations can be built vs residential areas. Sure enough, after the gas station built was well on its way someone suddenly realised that building permit was illegal. Obvious to anyone but the permit giver.

To this new part residential, part shopping area a new, supersized Coop supermarket has moved. Previously situated a couple of kilometres down the road, easy acessible for the nearby neighbourhood and a few bus stations away from where I live. So instead of renovating an already working supermarket within easy reach for the customers by walking, biking, bus and car, they saw fit to move it and erect a new building with no easy access unless you live very nearby or have a car.

Building in 2018 should be all about sustainability and careful, smart planning, with practical solutions that don't revolve around cars and driving. Quite possibly too little too late, but still to be this *insert foul words of choice* stupid, ignorant and negligent is not acceptable.

That said, it seems like this new supersized Coop hasn't become as popular as they thought, partly because the nearest bus station is three kilometres away and you have to walk through a muddy construction area not fit for pedestrians to get to and from there. So Coop offer free, special bus rides there twice per week.

They don't exactly advertise the service. I've taken that bus once, last month. We were three people on it. And that's the usual quota. Ill-advised *service* is a kind word for it.

Coop makes a big deal of this new supermarket being sustainable, green and everything extra awesome. Myself I see food waste galore. Because there is simply no way they get that abundance of food sold while still edible. I don't like supermarkets, I want small, independent shops or at least smaller grocery stores that take the vast food waste problem seriously.

That said, this post has now reached the top of the grumpy, muddy hill and it will now be a breeze of positivity, sunshine and grand views on the easy walk down.



When visiting the Coop I discovered they had suddenly catered much more for vegans and there where a lot of new, organic brands present too. So I was admittedly a bit starstruck by that fact, in all my grumpiness. If money wasn't an issue and had this residence many mouths to feed I would possibly had bought a lot of nice, tasty, green things. But I settled for some old favourites and trying some new ones. Amongst them nicecream.

There was a whole wall full of different vegan icecream brands. I have never seen something like that, it was amazing. Hadn't tried the Ben & Jerry's vegan icecreams, but since I never liked their original ones which I find to be overloaded with sugar, I was most certainly not going to spend my money on a tub of that. No I had my eyes set on a Swedish brand. Until I saw the price, jeez. So in the end I went with a tub of Ben & Jerry's vegan chocolate fudge brownie, because surely that was cheaper than a nicecream that clearly had gold dust as a secret ingredient?

It was only after I checked my receipt that I realised that it was in fact 15% more expensive than the other one. I was in shock. For a nicecream I wasn't even that keen on. I'm such a fool.

I was really sceptical when I opened the tub. Had a spoonful. Died and went to nicecream heaven. Turned out it was in fact one of the best vegan icecreams I've ever had. Smooth, flavourful and not too sweet. The amount of chunky brownie bits in the chocolate was perfect. Did not find any visible gold dust though, which is surprising.

No plans to get another tub anytime soon, if it wasn't on special price. But then I had the homemade chocolate sauce for the Easter dessert (no, I haven't forgotten about the recipe) left over. And bananas. And always un-sweetened coconut cream in the fridge. Banana split sounded like a nice thing to make. So I needed nicecream.

Once again I was fooled by the B&J price, and saw another price than it actually was. In fact even slighty more expensive than the first time. April's fool I.

I'm afraid I'm well on the path of becoming the (not) so crazy cat lady that buys really expensive vegan icecream, because I'm worth it.



However, when I made the banana split that price seemed well worth its literally weight in gold. Because needless to say, this bowl of chocolatey, peanutty banana split was heavenly. Easy peasy to make, a banana (organic of course), whipped coconut cream (un-sweetened), a couple of scoops of B&J chocolate fudge brownie and peanut butter cookies, drizzle with chocolate sauce, topped with crushed peanuts.



The third part of this post will be about work. Because on Thursday I got a call from Denmark about an interview for a communication position at a well-known, international environmental organisation, for their Stockholm office. I applied for it a couple of weeks ago, but while I don't doubt I'd do a great job and tick a lot of important boxes on their wishlist, the competition must be absolutely fierce, it's such an amazing opportunity.

The interview was scheduled for Friday already. It was a lovely meeting, I would love to get the job, a six months gig. Such a fantastic chance to make a real difference and work with passionate and like-minded people. Two details that warmed my heart at the meeting, there was a huge delivery of Oatly iKaffe oat milk in the kitchen and the head of communications had swam with manatees, twice. Obviously the position screams my name.

As usual I went into analyzing overload mode after meetings like this, what did I say, what didn't I say, what could I have presented better, what did they say, how did they react and act, what if, how come? But, as usual, what's meant to be will be, I can't do anything else but trust the process now. And no matter what I was so pleased to get the interview, I will always treasure that fact.

So, dear universe and the internets, fingers, toes and paws crossed firmly now, okey? If I could I would treat you to a heavenly vegan banana split to get you into a magical and powerful mood for it. But since I can't I will send you an abundance of kind thoughts of gratitude instead.

Yours sincerely,
Ms Sustainability 2018

PS The Ms Sustainability 2018 expression is courtesy of my ex-team mate, he had some brilliant and entertaining ideas along the way. When I think about that the whole situation is even more sad and incomprehensible. DS

finding your feet over easter

It has been a rather fine Easter weekend, after all. Two years later.



:: Hadn't been to the movies since "La la land", "Finding your feet" was a sweet, funny and melancholic British comedy, perfect for Easter. It's never too late to find your true tune.



:: Hadn't been to McDonald's for years (for obvious reasons, I'm not loving it) but I've been wanting to try the McVegan burger since it launched in December. The burger is made in cooperation with the Swedish vegan company Anamma. It's nice, worth a try, but not something that turned me into a repeat customer. And certainly not a satisfying, well composed meal that leaves you happy for a long time.



:: Put the finishing touches to a couple of caps I've knitted a few years back. The purple Lovikka cap was for my mother. Better late than never she got it now. One of my personal goals for 2016 was finishing old knitting projects. Well, that didn't really happen. Made the same goal 2017, but after these mittens nothing else were finished. My heart and mind just hasn't been into it. But these simple finishing touches and finally completed projects, it was very satisfying. Every tiny step.



:: Walking, thinking, sunshine, cooking, eating, reading, sleeping have also been lovely parts of my Easter weekend. If you haven't watched 'The Miniaturist' or the movie 'Still life' yet they are still available on SVT Play (in Sweden) and shouldn't be missed. Haven't read the book 'The Minaturist' but the TV-series is captivating and beautiful like an old Dutch painting. 'Still life' isn't exactly cheerful (understatement) but it's so well-made and endearing and in the end I just bawled my eyes out in a very liberating way.



:: Cooked pulled jackfruit for the first time. Have eaten it at various restaurants, sometimes delicious, sometimes they clearly had no idea how to prepare it right. Been meaning to do this for years, and finally I did. Surprised at how easy it was, took a couple of hours of slow cooking but the result was very satisfying. The glazing was too spicy for my liking, so next time I'll make it milder. Very nice to serve with turmeric rice and fresh veggies of choice.

Again, nature is amazing and offers so many intriguing, tasty plantbased options. There is absolutely no need whatsoever to inflict so much pain and suffering to other earthlings and the planet to get food. We should know better in 2018.





:: Since I have lost my reading mojo, again, I have a lot of unfinished books lying around. I got 'The Vegetarian' by Han Kang just before Easter and promised myself I would finish it plus another book over the weekend. I did finish this one, am only half way through the other one. But have high hopes of finishing it this week. Not sure what I think of 'The Vegetarian', part one and two was strong and intriguing, part three was much weaker and the ending was abrupt and awful. A very unusual book that made you think though, and it's only around 200 pages so it's a quick read.



:: I made a lovely vegan Snickers-dessert - Snickers is a Swedish candy bar with chocolate, toffee, peanuts and biscuits - which Pelle loved too. And no, just like with dogs chocolate isn't good for cats, but it was a quick and brief tasting. I'll share the recipe in a separate post.



:: Got news that I'm apparently on the Top 20 List of Swedish Lifestyle Blogs to Follow. Can't say I have much, if anything apart from being Swedish, in common with the others on the list. But being an odd bird is of course something I enjoy, as usual. Thank you for the award, it's lovely to know someone still reads and appreciate my random shares and snippets of life as is.



:: The large fly in the Easter ointment was that I managed to strain my right gluteal muscle in a major way yesterday, when I alas didn't do something exciting but simply had one of those very unfortunate, very un-glamorous accidents at home. Silly me. It has been like a serious delayed onset muscle soreness, a non visible bruise and doable indoors. However, going out with the garbage today, about 200x2 metres... jeez. Hobble shuffle along with a painful grimacing face. Had plans, but think I and my heine needs a slow week.

Goodbye Easter, hello April, 
please be kind and brilliant.
Yours truly and grateful.