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?

on the international day of happiness

This has certainly been one of my most eventful weeks recently. And since it has mainly been an awesome kind of eventful week, what better day to summarize it on than the International Day of Happiness? And the first day of spring?



And of course, the day of the quite possibly most disappointing (partial) solar eclipse ever. And snowfall. Yes really.

But this is overall not a day, a week of disappointments, quite the opposite. And this is what happened -

• Sunshine every day up until today
• Good meetings (on- and offline) and 
• quotes will be left
• Fine lunches and fikas
• A couple of fine bobbaloos heading to the Swedish colony as I write
• Business speed dating
• New glasses ready and picked up
• I got the "do you have any cat or dog?" job! And
• I'm doing the happy dance

Remember my thoughts about questioning where I was/am workwise? And that life has/had an amazing way of kicking someone me in the heinie when least expected but probably just when I needed it?

And today was the day when this was kind of implemented. This being I will still work with my up until now major client, but since their organization has changed they will no longer be able to provide me with as much job anymore. And even if it's tad melancholic, because it has been such a smooth working relationship and it has paid well, I'm also so very, very ready for new beginnings and great things to happen.

And that this new long term, part time freelance gig landed now of all times is pretty amazing I think. I've worked hard, made cosmic orders and it seems it was just the right time for it. But still, for me, a mere human being with, in the big schemes of things, limited imagination (well) and brain capacity it feels kind of magic. The saying 'When one door closes another one opens' has never been more true somehow.

The other good meetings I've had this past week especially are also about really exciting things. Different and new paths but in their own ways just what I want to do and do more of. Hopefully those quotes will be accepted but even if they're not it's been so inspirational to think about such matters, that it's actually something someone believe I'm the right person to do. Yes, I know, it's all very cryptic. But for now, that's how it'll remain.

But once again, I'm thinking about how truly grateful I am for being where I am in life right now. Truly, madly, deeply.

One big reason, I suspect, for getting the purrfect cat or dog-gig was the fact that I do have cats. Needless to say the furry ones now demand great rewards for all their hard work ie just being themselves. And really who am I, a simple human, to say no?



Happy happiness day,
spring equinox,
solar eclipse and
weekend to you too!

are you a closet extrovert?

A year ago I wrote about "the power of introverts" and how many cords the then recently read articles on the subject and Ted talk with Susan Cain stroke for me.

The most important thing everyone should learn about the introvert personality is that most of us aren't anti-social loners, quite the opposite in fact. BUT we don't do the group thing, we don't thrive on being the centre of attention in social gatherings, we have no need for constant public acknowledgement. We love the one on one interaction, we find that being in social situations with loads of people often drains energy rather than gives and a lot of alone time for reflection and recharging is absolutely essential.

When I say "we" I mean I, but also friends and acquaintances who are introverts say the same. So I think it's safe to say that it's a reasonable accurate generalisation. Even if there's of course a floating scale of introvertism.

And that's why I'm asking the question "are you a closet extrovert?". Because the other day I talked with a good friend (we are star sisters and so much alike in many ways, we often read eachothers' minds, but also, apparently very much unlike eachother in others) about how brilliant I think business speed dating (aka speed networking) is and what a great time I had doing it again the other day. Showed her some photos and she exclaimed "This would be like my worst nightmare!". Too many people, to much talking, too short a time, too superficial, too draining. "You are crazy, you are a closet extrovert!".

I tried to explain how much I love the speediness, efficiency, no mindless and awkward mingling with perfect strangers, you can sort your thoughts and business cards out at home and see who you'd like to have a lunch or coffee with - and that it's very much a one on one thing, but a speedy one. Even if the sound level and the speediness can be tiring, it's mostly a great buzz and very inspiring, because even if you will certainly not click with everyone you will meet some really great and interesting people to contact afterwards to meet under calmer circumstances.

She insisted on it being nightmare inducing. "All those faces would haunt me for nights to come...". We are simply same same but different.

Being an introvert (but social in doses I choose myself) is another reason running my own business suits me so well, I have lots of time to reflect and work on my own. I would go mad having to spend time with people in an office on a daily basis again. I need quiet. But I also need inspiration, good talks and good people. And getting a buzz from that. I am not a closet extrovert, I am a social on my own terms introvert.

How about you, where on the floating scale of introvertism are you?
Or are you perhaps a closet extrovert?