best of 2006

I think the best way to approach this is to have some different kind of categories, like niceprice, well-worn etc, since every best buy, or experience, isn't (of course) the cheapest...

Best handbag: Dark pink (no way it's lavender!) Rosemary Mulberry (yes even though it sort of fell apart a bit and I had to wait a looong time for the mending and I didn't get any compensation for it...), my dearest Rosa. Who went with me almost everywhere all Summer. So stylish, so cute, so very Pia!!

Best outdoor garment: Pinkish trenchcoat, Kapp-Ahl. For once in a blue moon, both design, fit, colour AND a nice price go hand in hand.

Best cardigan: Darkgrey lambswool bow jacket, Odd Molly. So warm, so casual, so always right.

Best dress: Greenish blue patterned jersey wrapdress, Mongul. Such a lovely colour, model and flattering shape. Not to mention a very nice price. Bought at one of my favourite boutiques in Copenhagen (one of my favorite cities of course), Bella Anna. Where one always find fashion with a twist in decent materials at more than a decent price

Best shirt: pointelle longsleeved jersey, Odd Molly, three of them, in mustard yellow, brown and dark grey with white trimmings. Always comfy and cute!

Best shoes: Camouflage sneakers, Puma, at a discount. So very, very, VERY nice for my feet and kind of cute too

Best sale: Almost everything at Noa Noa, but an extra plus for that sweeter than sweet white cotton dress shirt with embroidery and a bunch of really comfy, all-year-wearable cotton vests

Best jewellery: well, apart from all my own then, I must say Heather Wynn's lovely, simple bird earrings. I really love the delicate design of lampwork and silver (even though I admit to not being completely satisfied with the soldering and the finish of parts. I feel they could have been more polished. On the other hand beauty can certainly be in that tad imperfection)

Best beauty product: Hm, a hard one... Since I'm in a generous mood I'll pick four;
* Lisens Organics Rose-scrub;
* Bettina Barty Chocolate Showergel (can't beat that smell of chocolate in the shower!);
* Kiehl's Algae Mask (yes it actually do work and leaves skin feeling soft and smooth. Not a nice price buy though...);
* Philosophy Kiss me lip balm (kissable, soft, plump, sligtly red but still natural lips. A slight minus for the sort of yukky scent...)

Best buys always: all books, all yarn, all pearls and semi-precious stones and all café-visits

Best dessert: Well, that has to be two; Ivôiredome pastry at Vetekatten and vanilla icecream with warm cherries in Lübeck...

Best coffee overall: ice latte, Baresso Copenhagen

Best coffee Sweden: caffe latte, Coffee Cup

Best drinks: Alex pavillion, Hamburg (on a hotter than hot July day overlooking the Alster lake)

Best book: Not technically from 2006, but read my yours truly during the past year. It has been a good reading year, in many ways, to name three of the truly great ones;
* Caipirinha with Death (Caiprinha med Döden), Maria Ernestam (oh what joy, what intriguing fantasy and such an enjoyable language in this well-written novel)
* A heaven for Ellott (En himmel för Elliott), Katarina Danielsson (less can really, remarkably be more)
* A widow for one year (Änka för ett år), John Irving (better late than never, it has been standing in my bookshelves for years... A huge fan of Irvings fantastic language and way of composing a truly remarkable story over and over again, I do think this book is one of his best)

Discovery of the year: those extra tiny socks you can wear even in sneakers and summer shoes without looking a complete and utter unstylish nerd (yeah, I know it isn't news for anyone else but me...)

That sort of sums up my shopping year. It was a nice one, 2006, in many aspects not only shoppingwise. Still, it would have been even better if I didn't have to say goodbye to it with the cold/flu of the century and greet 2007 with the same...

The huge, overwhelming questions this shivelling last day of 2006 are: how much snot can there be in one, tiny nose? How much cough can one throat bare? How long lasting can an ophthalmia be? And above all, how long should a normal kind of earinflammation last??

I WISH YOU ALL - especially you owned by a cat or two - A HAPPY & PROSPEROUS, NEW YEAR! MAY IT BE FILLED WITH EMPATHY & GOODWILL, GOOD FOOD FOR THOUGHT & LIKEWISE SHOPPING!!

Birthday cat Greta says Happy New Year - WCB # 82

Today is the 7th birthday for my bluetortie darling Greta, a beautiful but timid and quiet catlady in my herd of fourlegged furry ones.

That behaviour was not her usual one at catshows though. There she was always a social, cuddly kitty who used to - she's retired from that arena now - charm the judges with showing her best side.

Greta has now feasted on some special delicacy for cats, having had some birthday cuddle she's now gone back to having a nap in the wardrobe in my study. Her favorite place to be.

Before going back to sleep though, she whispered in my ear that I was going to wish everyone a really happy and prosperous new cat-year on her behalf - so

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Host this last weekend of 2006 is Champaign Taste and the roundup you'll find here

Doggy bags & tea

If your're a tea-maniac, like me, or know someone who is perhaps these cute and tasty doggy bags are something to invest in? They'll most certainly make a lovely little present to a tea- & doglover!

They come in a small range of different breeds and flavours, Punky pug is red tea flavoured with raspberry, cream, rosehip and pieces of apple.

French kiss is glamourous enough to be flavoured by champagne and roses.

I found these doggy bags at Kamari, Rörstrandsgatan 6 in Stockholm. But of course it's quite easy to make something similar yourself, and why not cat bags for that special tea- & catlover close to you?

Scream

This must have been the worse Christmas ever, for me, as far as I can remember. I'm just a snivelling, aching, dizzy wreck with a head full of cotton wool. A wreck with ophthalmia still.

Not much of hearing left here, so until this awful, painful ear-what-ever-it-is get the *** out of my head I really shouldn't - and don't want to - socialize at all. Since I tend to scream out what I want to say - it's always nice to hear what one says - and can't hear what other people say if they don't scream back...

So the sofa it is, with the sound on very loud, and possibly, maybe a bucket or two with luxurious ice-cream...

Feeling like this I wish I at least was as unbelievably cute as the owl woolhead to the right - I'm not.

Santa's little helper WCB # 81

This is Siri, you have met her before. These past weeks she's been so very busy with helping Santa getting ready for Christmas - or at least that's an excuse that works well this time of year if you're a CUTE cat and in the way.

So in the pictures you'll find her - apart from once being so small she looked like a little cuddly toy in a teamug - having a leg in when some baked goodies a served - a nibble is never wrong! - overseeing so Santa teddy's cap is on, that the Snowman is of the right height and built, somewhat reluctantly posing for this year VIP-Christmas cards - and then of course check those cards out so they meet that very special, very high standard of Siri.

Having done all this hard work she now thinks she deserves a whole lot of rest, looking forward to her very first Christmas ever! And she is absolutely certain that this -massy thing must include some extra special yummy food for extra dotty kitty tummies -

she wish you all a very merry Christmas with joy for every one!!

The host for this WCB is Tiggy the tiny tiger at Tiggy's blog. The roundup is here.

Christmas cards, an absolute must

Almost the only thing I hold sacred every Christmas is the Christmas-card-tradition. I have a neat "little" list for that, who deserve a really fancy, personal, handmade one or not. Who's blacklisted and who's not. It's quite an intriguing system and of course I can't share that system with you!

Anyway this year the cold had gotten me in its grip before I was able to finish off all cards - my very first year of trying a bit of scrapping in a more serious way - so actually some of them haven't been sent yet, sorry.

Maybe one of these cards as seen in the picture will find its way to you not in time for Christmas but in time for New Year's instead. Or another kind of cute card, or not at all if you happen to be on the black-list - ho ho ho!

I'm cancelling Christmas

I feel like crap. After five days of this horrible cold I'm no better. The fever comes and goes, my poor left ear and that part of the head is stuffed with cottonwool, my nose is sour along with my throat, which now is accompanied by a horrible, dry cough. And as the finishing touch I now also have a really neat ophthalmia mainly in my left eye.

I have no sense of smell and my tastebuds are no longer with me at all. I only drink applejuice and eat toast. Now and then really spicy food, like vegetables in green curry. Ah, yesterday I had an encounter with Häagen-Dazs pannacotta raspberry, as far as I could detect it was really nice, and soothing for my poor throat.

So now I only have one wish for Christmas - please, let me get my Häagen-Dazs favourite flavour Lemon cheesecake on Christmas eve! Other than that, I think I'll cancel Christmas this year...

Misery

I feel a cold coming on. Or actually it's already here. Obviously I didn't made it all season without one. I hate this sour throat thing. Trying to get rid off it with interesting American pills - all legal of course! - so far without any luck.

Misery like this sure loves company and if I might have any saying about that company, it's tea - and not that nasty, nauseating cough, headache, aching limbs, lack of taste and smell... Since I do like my tea with milk that's a bit difficult to drink with a sour throat. I usually end up drinking lots of applejuice instead.

But as long as I can have that cuppa, it might as well be with one of my favourite brands of tea - the Finnish brand Nordqvist. It can't be found in Sweden, as far as I know, so Mats always buys some packages of them when he goes on his frequent business-trips to Finland.

It comes in many different flavours in colourful packaging. Both black and green tea, flavoured or not. My favourites are still Faithful friend - and not only because the bags are decorated with cat paws... - and Cheery Rainy Day. Caribbean Sun isn't too bad either.

So if you happen to have the time and inclination to take a trip to Finland, that neighbouring country of Sweden on the other side of the Baltic sea, don't forget to bring home some packages of that lovely tea!

Stockholm in December

Not the Stockholm in December we're used to, but still, it made a pretty picture!

Now, I'm - as usual nowadays - to tired to write something intelligent. Green December in all it's - perhaps - glory, the snow sure gives light and a cozy, snuggle-up feeling to a Scandinavian winter! And I must say that this is the only winter I've been this tired most all the time.

The rare rays of sun only make their appearance as a sort of glimpse. A glimpse here and there doesn't make a lot of good concerning the replenishment of the energy-supply Pia-wise.

WCB # 80 - She laughs best who laughs longest

I thought I might write a few words about Prunella (aka Mini-Knut or just Mini since she's the spitting miniature image of her father, last WCB's Knut). She's an inventive, mischievous, life-enjoying oddball in redspotted fur.

From my own breeding, about two years old this neutergirl has a big appetite for life as well as food in general and ice-cream in particular - she was sold but came back home after some months with her friend and cousin above, Qlara (blacktortie). Since the buyers "had decided they were allergic to cats". If I sound bantering, it's just because it's not the fist time kitten-buyers tend to "cry wolf" with that excuse...

As you can see in the pictures above Prunella is always there when IT happens, whether it might be that lovely icecream on a warm Summer day, or that table full of shawls I'm working with or simply a suitable couch with a friendly companion. And in the end, she always ends up the best who laughs longest.

WCB this time is hosted by kitchenMage and the roundup of weekenders you'll find here