Driving... is cool

The other day I found out I had to renew my drivers licence. Gosh! 10 years flew by just like that! I remember, just after getting my licence, I got my parents permission to use the old Ford Sierra from the year of -86. It wasn't the fanciest car, but I was certainly proud to drive it to school! When other students passed me and my friends (that I would drive home) by in the school parking lot on their way to catch the bus, I remember hoping that they were at least a little bit jealous of us... I know it's soooo childish, but back in those days it was so important! You had to get some cred and a drivers licence definitely gave you some more C-R-E-D.

Here in London I don't even use it. I'm so used to the cars driving on the wrong side here I'm a little bit worried I might drive a la "British style" in Sweden if I don't pay attention...

I must say I am happy to renew my licence for a very vain reason. My photo. I look like a shiny tomato! Whenever a friend asks to see my drivers licence I always feel like I have to explain that I had run all the way to the photographer's and that it was very hot that day... My new photo is much better, so hopefully I won't fee like I have to explain the circumstances of it for the next 10 years...

Deers can be dangerous!!!

Girly problems...

I didn't think I would get to this point, but I can officially state that 2008 was a bad hair year. The whoooole year. I never used to have bad hair days - they were just all normal - never great. I've never cared much about doing my hair, because it's a constant battle - and I always lose. So having straight hair suits me - I don't even need to brush it in the mornings. Perfect!

I think I had my hair cut about 3 times last year and once in Dec 2007 just before I came here. All were bad. Not disasters, but they were not haircuts I felt comfortable in. I like the feeling of leaving the hairdresser's feeling that I made an improvement. But in 2008 every time was just "Naaah..., not really me" and the worst thing is that you instantly, after confirming the bad haircut in the mirror at home, think of the time it takes for it to grow out... Gaaah!

So for 2009, I wish for a good, or at least normal hair year.

Yesterday was Valentine's day...

...which means today is my Mom's birthday! 15th of Feb! Congratulations, Mom! Grattis på födelsedagen, Mamma!

Chicago

Cloud Gate in Chicago

A work mate recomended me to go to Chicago, when I was planning my New York Trip. He said that it's more beautiful. At the time, I just had New York on my brain and the trip was a present for D, so I just thought "maybe later"...and didn't think more about it...

Recently, an American friend of mine (we were classmates in University in Kyoto), annouced her wedding dates - she is getting married in both Japan and America (her fiancé is Japanese) - one is in April (Hiroshima) and the other one i July (Ohio). I'm leaning towards the Ohio wedding, since my schedule is more or less free around then. I'm super excited! Oh... I realise I am flotaing into outer space away from my point...

Sooooooooo, while I'm in "Los Estados Unidos" (=The United States) I want to go see some other cool city. My friend at work showed me so many cool/beautiful/awesome/wowoweewah (Borat) pictures of Chicago that I almost fell in love with the city!

Another cool thing about Chicago is that they have the lake!! The lake is "Lake Michigan" and it's huge! It's also beautiful. That's something NYC doesn't have... A lake... The one in Central Park does NOT count!!

Hopefully my Ritsumeikan University friends Alex (who just got a kick ass job offer in Tokyo!!!), Sakiko (my Japanese H&M secret agent) and Daiki (Mr. Interior Design fashionista) can make it to the same wedding as me. That would be so much fun!!!

Ritsumeikan University reunion in Chicago!! Saikooo!

Darn Italian bread!!

THIS desert would have made my day!!!!(It's actually from the Restaurant SMAK in Stockholm)

Carluccio's is a chain of italian restaurants in London (and maybe more places...). They have really nice food at reasonable prices. But they aaalways take so long to serve the food because they don't have enough staff working there (my theory). I was there with my fellow CFA:ers and we had a really great time. However, by the time I got my food I hade eaten so much of the Focaccia bread I was pretty stuffed! (Yeah I know I should have more self control, but I still blame the restaurant!! They should bring out the food in time or I will eat the napkins!! I was starving!!) Pretty disapointing! I was sooo looking forward to having a nice and sweet desert!!! There was no room for it! That darn Focaccia!!!

Dinosaurs

The museum entrance - and a perfect shot of our nostrils

Nice architechture

Uh oh, D... DON'T MOVE..There is a T Rex behind you!!!

Sunday morning was sunny, so going out was a god idea. Me and D felt like being a bit cultural, so we decided to go to the Natural History Museum. After a hamburger at the Ultimate Burger restaurant in Picadilly Circus, we headed for South Kensington.

The building is so beautiful! I had no idea, but it was a very pleasant surprise. We are not people who can go a whole day around a museum - we last for about 2 hours, then our batteries die... So we decided to go straight to the coolest part of the museum: the dinosaurs!! When I see these huge sceletons I wish I could go back in time and see them for real - disregarding the fact that they would probably eat me straight away... They were so big and cool! I know I sound like a geek, but I kind of always knew I was one anyways, so I don't care! I would definitely recommend people to go to this museum. It's got a lot of interesting stuff.

If I had to choose what dinosaur I would like to be I would say I'd be one of the swimming seaweed eating ones that look like seals with really long necks... In my head they had a pretty cool life swimming around with gigantic pre historic fishes...

A night out in London

Yesterday was a lot of fun! It's been way too long since I last went out. After work I met up with a friend I hadn't seen for quite a while, at Pitcher & Piano at Cornhill. We had decided to have some drinks there and then go with a few friends of hers to have dinner at Rocket. I had such a good time! It was a proper girly night out! At Rocket I also had a lovely meal - the weirdest salad - Fish'n chip salad! It was delicious!

After dinner I called D to see if he was still out on his after work. It turned out he was just next to the place we had been earlier (P&P) in the evening - the Abacus. I said goodbye to my friends who were heading home and went in to Abacus. D was there with 2 of his workmates. We had a good laugh! I also bought a lollipop for 1 pound! That's the most expensive lollipop I've had in my life!

Just like Cinderella, we had to leave before midnight, but not for the same reason - we had to catch the last tube. I fell asleep straight away on D's shoulder on the tube...

It was just the kind of night I needed!

Snowy pictures...

Proof of the weird London weather...

Snow

The London commuters' worst enemy is apparently the wite stuff falling from the skies when it's cold. This morning me and D woke up and it was white outside. "Wow!! This is great!" was my instant reaction, having been extremely unlucky and missed all the big snowfalls in Sweden for the last 5 years. We checked on the internet if there were any disruptions on the Tube lines and - Yes sir! Disruptions on ALL London underground lines due to the wacky weather! No buses whatsoever - Great... That's how we get to the Tube.

Well, being Swedish has its advantages - Us Swedes are used to this! I told David that this was nothing compared to what we have in Sweden! "OMG the world doesn't stop just because it starts snowing! It's not even a snowstorm for crying out loud!!!" is what I told him. Who was right? - It wasn't me! The world actually stopped in London because of some snow! We had to leave work early because we were worried we might get stranded in the city if we left later! Big drama! BIG BIG Drama! Let's just hope for a milder day tomorrow...

A cute little thing

This one was sent to me by my Spanish ex colleagues. I think it's so cute!!! Thanks Julio and Micaela!

Swoosh to Sweden and swoosh back to London!

I made last minute plans to go to Sweden because D had decided long ago to go to Palma. Some quality Sweden time was definitely in order.

We started off checking out the yearly jewellery fair in Infra City. It was me, my parents, brother, P, and his girlfriend, J. I think it was interesting and I also bought a cool necklace.

After that and a nice lunch, I hit downtown Stockholm with my brother and Josefin. (By the way, my brother thinks I'm a complete dork for blogging, but on the other hand he's always a bit late to follow trends so I will probably see him setting up his own blog in about 3 years...;-)). We went to a fancy dress shop to find P something cool to wear for the "Moulin Rouge" themed party he was invited to. Me and J suggested a variety of cool accessories (fish hat, Joker hat, big moustache, hot dog hat, glittery mask etc) for him to wear, but in the end he settled for a high hat, a shiny red old fashioned shirt with frills and a moustache.

In the evening I went with my parents to a cool restaurant called "Smak" (=taste/flavour). The theme is to taste different small gourmet dishes with one main spice per dish. It was really delicious and a fun theme for a restaurant. My favourite dish was the sashimi tuna with watermelon and pistaccios in soy sauce - the main spice was of course wasabi. Yum!

A perfect winter day in Stockholm. A little bit of everything.

PS. Will post some pictures tonight!