the things i do while i'm looking for my new dream job

Stockholm Pride has been. And apart from the love is love, kindness and equality vibe that's in teh air during that week, I always enjoy taking rainbow coloured pictures near water. This year we were at magical Millesgården for a really sweet exhibition with illustrator Lena Andersson's adorable drawings and work. A perfect place for a little rainbow gang to pose.



The exhibition is on until September 22 and well worth a visit.



Car-pooled to the retrieval plant the other week. It was such a bliss to finally get rid of years of broken old stuff that's too heavy to take on the bus. I should make this a regular thing. Not that I got that much heavy stuff to get rid off currently. But a good cleanse of stuff in general is liberating.



The cats were less than happy though, since I threw away one of their favourite chairs (nasty old thing). These were the scenes after I had pulled it apart, making it ready for throwing away. As if there would never again be a better place to lie on.



The season for cherries seem to get shorter by the year, but I have enjoyed the reasonably priced ones I've seen. Ah, cherries, on my top three of best fruit and berries in the whole wide world, alongside raspberries and pineapple. Closely followed my mango.



I was so excited when I saw that Fjällräven had turned their beloved Kånken into a little messenger bag (the big one made in collaboration with Acne last year has alas leather details). For those days when your dress doesn't have pockets (which is such drawback, I know, but still it happens) and your good with a smaller bag or wear it with the Kånken to have your most essentials close at hand. (The pretty red bag from Matt & Nat is of another style, for other days and occasions...).



Granted I thought it would be the same size as the Kånken Mini, but as you can se the Kånken Sling is much smaller. I deliberated if it was a keeper or not, but I decided it was. Even if it isn't big enough to fit both umbrella, sunglasses, a big wallet (I need to downside to a mini one) and all the extras I usually carry in my backpack. And a keepcup is definitely out of the question. So either you have it for very special occasions, with the backpack or with a cotton tote bag.



One interesting sighting of this summer - which has been so so much better than last year, thank goodness for that, at least a little grace from global warming effects - is that there have been so much butterflies, as well as (too many) mosquitos and flies. And since the mosquitos lovez me... But at least, touch wood, the tics have been very few and far apart. And last week I got my final TBE-shot, so now I'm fully vaccinated, hooray.

It was a petty costly affair though, and given the devastating consequences of getting TBE, it's very strange indeed that the usual Swedish health care doesn't cover these costs too. There are so many more unnecessary things it covers, it's baffling.



Remember the sunglass clip-ons I got for one of my new glasses back in February? Well, for some reason, somewhere, I must have misplaced them recently and I can't find them (yet, as the search is still on). So I thought I might pop by the optician and ask if I could buy a new pair. A simple plastic design, as they were included in the very reasonable price for my glasses I couldn't imagine a replacement pair would be very expensive. Boy, was I wrong, the price would be 1/3 of what my glasses cost. Thanks but no thanks. Seriously.

So I'll keep on looking for my misplaced ones, and really, just a quick google search I find the equivalent much more reasonably priced. There are many things worth paying for, while others are just ridiculously overpriced.



I posted a list of 12 (old and new) books I recommend for summer (or year around really) reading on LinkedIn the other week. On which these two appears, the above book is by much loved Swedish artist, painter, feminist, body activist Stina Wollter (I attended a writer's talk with her in June and it was amazing). Only in Swedish, obviously, so far, but I highly recommend you read it.



And the first book in the trilogy by Sylvain Neuvel, "Sleeping Giants" had me mesmerized. Can't wait to read the other two.



Last week I was inspired by pic A to do an even shorter blunt cut. But the result turned out like pic B. And all of you Swedes who grew up with the TV-show Hedvig & Helge know what I mean, the rest of you have to google. The cut was also a bit shorter than I had planned, as I was trying to multitask by talking on the phone at the same time. Yes, true story.



However, after a wash and slight styling it didn't look too bad. And the funniest thing of it all is that after years of being super-reluctant to cut my hair short, and having been pretty sad when I let my hairdresser cut it shorter than usual, is that I basically don't miss it at all. And I can still make a tiny ponytail, if I should so wish.



And I got myself five little jars with the vegan Maria Nila colour refresh. As I am curious if any of them is as great, or as crappy, as the pink resp blue colours I've tried before, I only went for small jars instead of the bigger bottles of the previous two.

I tried the Lavender one the other day, but alas it added only a very faint hint of colour to my sun-bleached grombre hair. But it was a nice nourishing hair pak at least. Fingers crossed the next colour will be as great as the Pink Pop.



Realised it's really quite easy to use public transport to get from here to Sigtuna. It doesn't have to be more time-consuming than 1 hour and 20 minutes from door to door (and if you didn't have waiting time between train and buses it would be even shorter). So I had a little fne outing with little mum last week, with fika at Tant Brun and a stroll around town. I'm looking forward to the fact that it will now be a no biggie to get there for the annual Christmas fair.

More on Sigtuna and its history as the oldest town in Sweden, in this old blog post.



On my above visit to Millesgården I was smitten by this handmade glass ring with coloured water. It wasn't easy to chose colour but in the end I went for a pink + pink one. It's such a nice summer statement ring. From Pylones.



After weeks of deliberation I also decided to get myself this amazing pre-autumn classic shirt dress. It haz pockets. Obviously from Marimekko with its Unikko pattern. (I admit to a slight addiction.) And isn't the pale pink-beige colour combination adorable? It will look great both on cooler summer days with a tan, as well as colourful stockings and cardigans come autumn and winter. For many years.



I've also become a sponsor to this beautiful boy named Benjamin. A young bull at Swedish animal sanctuary Gotlands Djurfristad. May he live a long and happy life there with his friends. As opposed to all the billions of his species that are needlessly oppressed, abused and killed for food we don't need.



And that was a few things I've done lately while I'm still looking for my dream job - and now there's even a reversed job ad up as an article on LinkedIn on that. And if you care to like, share or do something other positive and amazing to spread the word on my quest, that would needlessly to say be much appreciated. Onwards and upwards.

Now I'm looking forward to the vegan cooking class this week, that will be so much fun I'm sure!

easter shenanigans in pink

Over Easter I began planning in my Bullet Journal, one of my goals for April and forward was to blog 1-2 per week. I've already begun slacking obviously. At least there are other areas where I've ticked a reasonable amount of boxes. And I honestly think we would be very boring humans if we got A+ in every single thing we aimed for. Life is so much more fun and interesting if we leave room for spontaneity and life's little surprises, wouldn't you agree?

And just as the BuJo principle says, if you haven't ticked the box there's always a new month for that task. Or perhaps it's not important enough, and can instead be removed form the to do lost.

Welcome to my easter shenanigans in many shades of pink!



As if I needed more tea. I got it anyway, easter calls for special tea. Including a refill of the wonderful angel tea I bought after the completion letter session in my grief recovery process group. And as M's birthday would have been on the 19th, and instead his funeral was on the 20th, three years ago, I got it so we could have a cup of tea together of sorts.



As is also obvious by now, is that everything need special snoopervising by special feline lens louses in this household. In the end, everything is about the cats. And more often than not about this redhead.



I picked up the green Marimekko blouse that needed altering, from the tailor. It looked great and I inaugurated it on a museum visit to one of my favourite Stockholm museums, Thielska - which I wrote a bit about 12 (!) years ago - there was a special exhibition on the Dalecarlian design sisters Jobs - behind my beautiful slippers from 2011 - the exhibition wasn't very good alas. (Unlike the William Morris at Millesgården on my birthday.)





But visiting the charming Thielska gallery is always lovely. And I got to visit the magical tower room with it's painted ceiling animals and see one of my favourite paintings, The Knight and the Maiden. The only vegan dish on the menu in the cafe was rubbish though. An overpriced salad in serious need of protein and lots of love. Plus a cheeky seagull that snatched parts of it before I sat down.







I enjoyed my breakfasts al fresco, with my special Easter teas and the vegan Easter muesli. And look, Zigne. Plus speckled eggs nails and dairyfree chocolate bunnies. Wish I had bought more that one jar of that muesli, it was so crunchy and lovely.





There was a simple vegan Easter lunch and too much plantbased candy. Loveliness. I read books, watched movies, went for walks, cleared the garden from the clematis. It's absolutely crazy how it grows and grows and grows every year. Still need to figure out how to get the garden waste to the disposal site. Tricky without a car of your own. But problems are there to be solved.



Remember the vegan hair colours from Swedish cruelty free brand Maria Nila? I saved them for a first use until spring. And what better than try one of them during Easter weekend? I chose pink and I'm happy to say that despite still being predominantely brunette my hair now has now highlights of light pink (thank you greys!) and a pink overall glow. As it's only hair mask and colour refresher it'll only last 8-10 washes, but I think that's perfect to have a play with. Looking forward to try the blue one. And as the pink was such a hit I'm no stranger to find more colours to try.



And the gorgeousness of pink cherry blossom trees in Kungsträdgården happened during Easter too. It was their 20th year of bloom this year. Pure magic as usual. And another year of collecting pictures for my long-term planned book "Men under pink cherry blossom trees".





Here is the blue Kånken my mother went for, ended up replacing the one I bought for her birthday for a blue that suited her better. And look, Zigne.





The vegan brunch I treated her for on her birthday, on Easter Sunday, was lovely. Happy birthday to little mum, and many more to come, I hope and wish!





Got me some lovely soaps from Lush. Miss that Serendipity (you know, my favourite English word, and notion) has been discontinued, but Rockstar and Maypole are other favourites I return to. Plus the scrubby Sandstone is pretty good too. And look, a cat. A photobombing cat. How unusual.



There have been many sunny, beautiful days since I last blogged. But as we're in desperate need of rain to cope with the probable hot summer, and this is just too warm too soon, I struggle to appreciate the beauty amongst climate angst and, frankly, human stupidity everywhere.

- Yes, I also think the fire in Notre Dame is sad. But I think human priorities are just crazy warped when so much money can be collected into the cause of rebuilding it, when the whole world is on fire and desperately needs rebuilding and caring for. There will be no planet to live on, breath on and enjoy architecture and culture on, if we don't stop using and abusing instead of rebulding and caring for nature and species we share this planet with, first. That there are in fact private citizens who have so much money, and so little common sense obviously, to give away and chose to give to such a cause when there are a gazillions more important causes out there, that's mindboggingly distasteful and infuriating, in my opinion. -



But as someone wise said, nature won't thank us for not appreciating the beauty it still offers. Despite its seasons being warped. Who knows how much time we have left, the planet have left. I will appreciate more, I promise, despite my constant companion, melancholia.

I had looked forward to wearing the combo above all winter, when the day finally came, during Easter week, it was too warm, too soon. But yes, at least I have an abundance of colourful clothes and combos I get happy just thinking about combining and wear. And that I appreciate lots.



And colourful, quirky cats with lots of character. Who I am every so grateful for.



Apart from starting the Bullet Journal during Easter - not fully in to the daily process yet though, but I hope it'll help me focus and tick more boxes than before - I also finished that reversed job-ad for LinkedIn, I have no idea if these things actually work or if it's a lot of much ado about nothing. Time will tell I suppose.



As this will be the last post for April, I want to say thank you ever so much, month, for everything colourful, beautiful, magical, pink and kind things you have gifted. And all the amazing plantbased food and drinks. You have not been without struggles and sadness, but you have taught me a lot and for that I am grateful.

Welcome, May, I can't begin to tell how excited, curious,wishful and not least impatient I am over what you will bring! Can we decide that it will only be good, very good, much good things? A gazillion grateful thanks in advance.

bold by nature and other march snippets

The month of March has had a flying start - on the first I got a call back for a second interview already. It took place mid week and it felt great, so even more fingers crossed for a third one. Of course, like most always, afterwards the brain starts questioning should I have talked less about this, more about that, been more this, less that. Which is obviously a waste of energy, what is meant to be will be and I went to the interview with hope and good, honest intentions. And yes, it still sounds like a great position where we could thrive and grow together. Will know more late next week.



The Liljevalchs spring art salon was a disappointment this year alas. Looking back at the photos I snapped I see there were some lovely pieces, like this monkey and chicken painting. But the overall impression was a lot, to put it mildly, naive art. Or not so mildly, toddler's daub. In other words, a vast difference from last years wonderful, high quality and very varied exhibition.



These guys weren't impressed either. A sad void of good places to watch and pose, when you're tiny. I think the best thing about the visit was that I inaugurated my Palava sheep o'hoy dress.



Hello there. Although no full length mirrors to be seen, so even though it really really deserved a proper sort of glamourous selfie there was only a toilet mirror available. Sorry, sheep dress, there will never be a chance for a new inauguraton day photo, but hopefully we will have many fun and sort of glamourous days together from here on anyway.



Afterwards we had a vegan burger and sweet potato fries at favourite place Mahalo, that never disappoints.



The weather continue to be scary. Lots of snow one day, heavy rain the next, -10 degrees C one day, +5 the next. Which obviously have led to icy streets here and there. I hope it will only rain from here on. And that the temperatures can keep around zero C. Climate change in your every day life is incredibly energy draining.

Not really visible in this picture, but the snow is falling again, the winds are icy and on the ground of this cemetery are patches of tiny, yellow flowers sprung and eagerly waiting for spring to come and stay.



I was up way too early for comfort, basically half asleep still, for a breakfast seminar on inbound marketing (it was great and unpretentious) earlier this week, when this gorgeous sunrise appeared. The way my house and garden are built I never get to see these amazing sunrises or sunsets when I'm home. So it's a rare treat when the weather conditions are perfect and I happen to be in the right place.



Something else extraordinary happened this week too. I found a pair of trousers that actually look half decent and are wearable. For most of you that sounds pretty trite I suspect. But if you haven't found any trousers that fit for the last 10 or so years, I can assure you it's close to a miracle.

Since my early twenties I've always preferred skirts and dresses, for so many years I've found trousers to be very limiting and unflattering and skirts/dresses liberating. Now and then I still wore the odd pair of trousers back then. But with age the body changes and to be honest, when you find you look like a tall version of the Astrid Lindgren character Karlsson-on-the-Roof, when you still live in hope and sometimes actually go into a changing room to try them on, that's just dispiriting and not empowering at all. Unlike the magic that happens when you try on a really great dress.

But then something miraculous happen when I put this pair on, I'd never ever contemplating trying this type of model on before. I'm not sure what changed my mind. But I'm really glad I did. They were on sale and I wish I'd gotten a second pair, but they're all sold out now. And I have to be grateful I at least got one pair. Maybe they'll produce the same model for autumn again.

The blouse is from Marimekko. It's a tricky model to match so I'm happy to see it actually goes well with the trousers.



On the subject of Marimekko. And clothes. (Of which we should all buy less, even if it's sustainably made, of course. Not quite there yet. Obviously. Work in progress.) As is pretty obvious by now I adore their designs, patterns and colours, especially the Unikko flower (over the years, hello dresses, pencils, notepads, shower curtain, umbrellas, bag, vest, once upon a time iPhone cover, sneakers, anorak...).

And trying the dress visible in the top photo on the other day I was rather smitten. Even though I would have preferred brighter colours it's not like anything else I have in my wardrobe and I've found it's the type of model that fits me. Today there was a little fashion event in store which I attended and after trying it on again, and again getting so many compliments for it it's a bit embarrassing, but also empowering, I decided to get it. The dress is a blend of bold, classy and playful and will look great with red shoes and accessories/red lipstick.



Given the fact a lot of guests tried the pattern on in various models, I fear there will be a lot of women clad in navy blue Unikko pattern-clothes strolling the streets of Stockholm this spring through. Or maybe it will be a happy change from all the drab, black clad people of Sweden. The new flower power army hits the streets. Oh the joy.

I just couldn't resist taking a picture of a sales girl and a customer wearing the same Unikko kaftan dress, aren't they adorable? The Marimekko theme for spring and summer is Bold by nature. A statement which naturally appeals to me, not sure how bold the average Swede will be though, mixing patterns and colours like this.



But it does look great, so I hope I'm wrong in my assumptions of un-boldness.

The pretty flower cookies on Marimekko offer were vegan and natural superfood cookies, another tick in the Pia boxes of approval.



For Fat Tuesday this year I neither bought a dairyfree semla at a bakery, nor baked my own. Instead I bought ready made semla buns at the grocery store, and they were of a surprisingly lovely quality, whipped soy cream and made my own almond paste. Then assembled them and sprinkled powder sugar on top. They turned out really very tasty.



And so thought the cats and their tiny tongues too. I love how they also embrace plantbased milks and cream. Dairy is scary. Cow's milk is for baby cows. And that's that.

On the subject of that, this weekend I'll most likely attend a vegan forum, with various interesting and important talks. And then I'm all set for another exciting March week. Have lot of great things and workshops booked for the evenings so it will be a busy one.

Cheers and thanks, March, keep on bringing the good stuff!