a little bit of turquoise here and there

I happened to be sporting my blue sandals while happening to wear turquoise-blue nail polish.
I had just bought a lovely icy blue turquoise-ish cardigan on summer sale in one of my clothes favourite shops in Stockholm.
And then I happened to sit down with a perfect cup of oat-latte at a turquoise table at one of my favourite cafes in this city of mine. (Where I mostly buy fantastic teas.)

Perfectly delightful little matching details, wouldn't you agree?

playing tourist in my own city

I've talked about taking one of those hop on hop off buses in Stockholm with a friend for ages now and finally we did. Unfortunately we ended up chosing the wrong bus company for it, Red Buses Sightseeing. The tour was crap in so many ways and you can read all about it in my Yelp review.



So if you're looking forward to having a good tour, with a great audio guide and a clever ride in Stockholm, whatever you do do not chose Stockholm Red Buses. You will be sorely disappointed and miss out on great sights and good information.



Felt like a mystery shopper when I did the tour and discovered just how bad it was and I will certainly email the company and tell them just how bad it was + give them tips of improvement. I've done many hop on hop off-tours in other European cities and they have all been great, some more than others and I can safely say that absolutely none has been as unprofessional and irrelevant as this one.



As far as I know there are two other companies doing the hop on hop off tours in Stockholm, the green buses by Strömma  and the other red buses by City Sightseeing, surely they can't be equally bad to the Stockholm Red Buses? Obviously I haven't tried the City Sightseeing-buses in Stockholm, but I have enjoyed them in other European cities, hopefully they are as good here.



Despite having thrown away 280 SEK on a rubbish bus tour it was a lovely day. All due to the friend-company, the unusual view from the top of a bus and the great lunch we had afterwards.



You'll most likely have a lovely visit to Stockholm, but chose your bus tour company carefully. Actually you will probably have a better tour around the city with a regular bus and plan your own intinerary.

In fact I've put together a little list on Yelp on what to see, do and experience in Stockholm  - in Swedish, but feel free too Google translate it even if it won't be as accurate you'll probably get the idea.

Welcome to Stockholm!

welcome to my colourful garden corner

Certain lassies might think the new garden seat cushions are for them. But really they're not. 

I had always said that when I got around getting another perky garden chair they would get a pair of special seat cushions. 

I had my eyes set on a nice one from Gudrun Sjödén, but when I saw this - in the same style as my carrot cardigan from last summer - it really REALLY screamed my vegetable loving name. 

Organic cotton in the most wonderful pattern. Very robust and comfortable for the heinie. Snatched the very two last ones. So happy and relieved about that.

Inaugurated them with a luxuary breakfast the other day. It was de-lovely and I'm looking forward to more weather permitting summer days to come.

And no no no, they are not perfect seat cushions for adorable fluffies. They are not.

Chairs from IKEA

Seat cushions from Gudrun Sjödén

the tiniest frog

Caught Zigne playing with something in the garden the other day and I just knew it had to be a frog - since they are terribly "fond" of them...  Luckily Nerdle and I were immediately there to help the tiniest frog I've ever seen. Too cute!

Lifted him/her up and set him/her were the frogs usually appears from under the terrace. Hope s/he'll make it and grow into a big healthy frog able to fight the cats off without bobbaloo or human assistance.

the berlin to-do-list 2015

Just like last time in Berlin, I had a to-do-list this time too.

And I checked off at least half of the things on that list. But with a city as huge as Berlin, you will never be able to tick off everything. And the list will grow longer by the minute.



:: Have several breakfasts at Cafe im Literaturhaus - check!

:: Visit Spreepark, abandoned amusement park - check but not check one might say...



:: Roam the shoe sales - for El Naturalista and ART shoes. Again, sadly check but not check. Because A) the shoe sales were not really on yet in June, but the major reason is B) there are so few shops that sell the brands in Berlin now. So from having absolutely brilliant shoe shopping experiences before it was quite a bit of blaha now. So one pair, one beautiful pair on measly sale was my only loot on the Berlin shoe front.

:: Have innocent perfectly pink - check.



:: Revisit KaDeWe, have something to eat in the Wintergarten restaurant and shop tea - check.

:: Find quirky office supplies - check. See top pic. More of later.



:: Buy a bigger vegan bag at BagAge suitable for the computer - check.



:: Get a new pair of Birkenstock - check. Because clearly I needed a I Love Berlin-pair in another colour!

:: Visit a Berlin city beach - no check. Sadly the lovely Strandgut is no more and we didn't get around to check the other ones out + the weather wasn't all that beachy this time.



:: Visit a flee market - check. But the only thing I bought was some art postcards and the tiniest VW beetle you'd ever seen (ie a bobbaloo toy car!)



:: Have a Berliner Weisse or two - check. Also bought quite a few bottles with us home. Berlin in a bottle!



:: Buy ice tea at Tee Geschwender - check. This time I had a couple of them there and took 10 with me home. Bless.



:: Take that picture of bobbaloos at Brandenburger Tor - semi-check. Not from a proper angle just passing by in the car snap.



:: Have that glorious Hawaiian coffee at Cahoona - check! And they have soy milk and it was awesomeness in a cup. Sadly no filli vanilli donuts available this time though.

:: Ride the tram - no check this time either.



:: Have vegan dinner at La Mano Verde again - check. Fantastic. Though this time the starter and dessert impressed and the main course not so much for neither of us unfortunately.



:: Eat at several new vegan and vegetarian places - check! And it was lovely and oh my Stockholm is such a poor food place for us who are compassionate eaters.



:: Buy Aveda haircare products - check.

:: Buy lots of tea - oh yes! check.

:: Be inspired - CHECK.

be yourself

Now go out there and be awesome!

the peacock island in berlin

I firmly believe that every holiday and/or trip should hold at least one visit to a world heritage site. It's usually a good reminder in this bleak world that the humankind can accomplish beautiful and keep-worthy things too.



This time in Berlin we visited the lovely nature reserve Pfaueninsel (Peacock island), which is a 67 hectares island peacefully situated in the Havel river in the outskirts of the city. It's an absolute idyll which can be reached with a tiny ferry only. On the island you're only allowed to walk, so no vars or bikes allowed. Bliss!



This time of the year the whole island smelled gorgeously of mock orange and there were a very limited amount of visitors so the whole experience was very serene without one feeling alone. Yes there are free roaming peacocks on the island, but fewer than I expected. And also other birds, sheep and horses. There were signs for buffalos, but we didn't see any alas.



There are also a sweet, little (wooden) castle and other castle-like buildings for different purposes on the island, as well as a fountain, temple, rose gardens and a cute cafe situated at a large meadow which I can imagine is full of visitors in high season.



We shared a apricot cheesecake there and it without a doubt the best dessert/cake I had in Berlin this time. Such loveliness. Befitting the overall experience. It was such a nice walk around the lush, pre-holiday season island - the perfect place to wind down, relax and get out of the busy city mode.



Very well worth the visit if you're looking for peace and tranquility. A very modest 4 euros for a ferry-ride (which takes about 2 minutes) and then you can spend as much time there as you like. I'd imagine it's a very popular place to visit in peak summer season though, so slightly less peaceful then perhaps.

løv is in berlin

Befitting somehow, that the very first tin of löv tea I bought was in Berlin 2011. I loved the red berries flavour! And I've been a great fan since.

Though admittedly, for an organic tea brand with teas that comes in pretty tins ready to be refilled again and again and... it's really odd that there are no refills in every country that sells the tea. Not available in Sweden, nope nada. And to order a refill from their website is absolutely crazy ridiculously expensive with the postage.

Thus for me, when a tin is empty it is empty for good unless I can find a refill.



So you can imagine how absolutely giddy I became when I spotted a löv tea flagship store in Berlin! (In the vicinity of Father Carpenter Coffee Brewers.) Yes I bought two new tins recently, buut the tins available in Sweden aren't the complete assortment and obviously I had to browse the shop. Besides, the rule is "you an never have too many teas".



Oh it was a löv löv lövely shop! Colourful, bright, stylish and peaceful. With a very helpful shop assistant. I could probably have bought pretty much the entire shop, but I modestly ended up with two, new rooibos tins and a refill for the red berries tin above - though unfortunately they don't sell black tea anymore (?!) so I had to opt for a green version instead - plus a really adorable tea timer. In the fab canvas bag. And I got some complimentary tea bags.



I feel another tea post coming, because the whole shopping experience was so utterly pleasant. It's not all that often that happens, as a whole. The colourful teas and accessories deserve their own post.

To be honest, I did buy quite a lot of tea in Berlin, not only these löv teas. In fact I think all the teas were actually my best buys in Berlin. Teas are always great, tasteful and tasty souvenirs. Thank you löv tea Berlin.



Yelp reviewed the shop here.

ginger herb coughdrops

Briefly mentioned I got a cold during the last days in Berlin. So so grateful it didn't happened upon arrival, that would have been truly awful.

Found these ginger herb coughdrops - seriously not bonbons at all, whatever where they thinking giving this very effective cold remedy a candy status?? - in Germany and they kept me (reasonably) sane all the long way back home to my own bed. As I always lose both my sense of smell and taste a few days in to a cold I couldn't really tell if they tasted good all I know is that they were really strong and that inside the hard drop there's soft, gooey ginger paste. My throat loved them.

I remember I bought another tin of special coughdrops at a pharmacy in Wittenberg some years ago, they have been brilliant too.

Go figure you have to go to Germany to get decent herbal remedies in coughdrop shape, Swedish coughdrops that make a difference like this do not exist alas.

I most certainly don't plan to get a cold anytime soon again (touch wood) but at least I do have some of these aweseom ginger herb non-bonbons left for whenever that happens next time.

goodbye june, hello july

This time a year ago I had just begun my hard work on recovering from the "sweet rejection".

So much has happened since. High and low water marks. But nothing quite as low as that on a professional level. Something to be grateful about.

How about June this year then? I can safely say it hasn't been nearly as an exciting as last year's (because I was so certain and giddy all month that that particular dream goal was finally going to be reached). And the weather this June has been rather dismal.

But it's been a pre-holiday month -

because basically Sweden closes down from work between Midsummer - mid August. It's a weather- summer-holiday- and this-is-how-it-has-always-been-thing here. For us small business owners this is neither ideal nor true, most often than not (if we work with Swedish clients) we're forced to close down during summers since it's just not possible to book meetings and get new jobs in the summer time. As I don't work with Swedish clients in such a regular way, at this time, I don't much care. But I know it's an issue for many small businesses who rely on that. And it is a rather weird out-dated tradition I think. -

in which I've managed to do good lunches, met interesting people, had fun, been inspired and hopefully there'll be good follow up of at least some of those inspiring meetings come after-summer time.

And there was rekindling with Berlin. Which was lovely. But you know what, since we did make the major summer trip so early in the season it's all a bit anti-climactic right now. And wistful. And it isn't even August, the month of melancholy yet. There is so much summer left. What to do, oh what to do? Which of course is a class A luxuary problem. Still, hello wistfulness. And hello July.

May you brings lots of exciting sunny fun, lovely surprises, joy and laughter as well as calm, rainy days perfect for reading and lots of cups of tea.

And thank you for being a friendly month, June, it was real nice to meet you.