Shoes are good for a lot of stuff...

Finally summer in Stockholm...or? Remember to bring your mittens and hats and gear up for the swedish summer.

The first pic nic this year. Tantolunden, Stockholm

Oh and this is my collegue. Crazy lady. Fox in a box! Would you think that our age added up is...56 years?!!!

Stockholm City Hall

I felt like such an important person the other day when I was working at Stockholm city hall. You know, where the Nobel price is awarded... Well I got to walk the famous stairs up and down like a dog, so now I'm just waiting for an invitation to the Nobel prize ceremony so I can show how I can walk down those stairs in my sleep. Or maybe it's just the king and queen who walk down the stairs. Anyway. Hey, I just realized I've walked the same stairs that the king has, wow, How hot am I? On fire! So now I can add "walked the same stairs as the king of Sweden" to my list, right after: "sat on the same toilet as the President of Finland". Tsssst, don't get burned, that's how hot I am!

The best hot pot in the world

Who would have thought, after living in Hong Kong for 6 Months, that the best Hot Pot would be intaken in *drums* Jordbro, Stockholm, Sweden! But that is in fact the case. We were invited to my BFF Christine's parents' house this Easter for dinner. And how we ate. Yummy in the tummy indeed! Christine's mother is Japanese and she makes the best Japanese food we have ever eaten. She would have a long line of kids outside her frontdoor waiting to get some of her food, figuratively speaking. I was first in line, of course. ;)

Eric Prydz at Berns 30.04.2009

I worked at Berns tonight, which is one of Stockholm's finest nightclubs, and had the pleasure to see Eric Prydz do his magic. I had an excellent time and couldn't believe I actually got paid for it.

Rolling, rolling, rolling down the river...

You know that thing bellydancers do with their tummies? The rolling thing. I can do it. It used to be my partytrick up my sleeve as a kid. You know the ones where you'd go: "I'll do this if you do that or I'll show this if you show me that". Well now I've decided to take this fantastic gift (I mean it's very useful. I should put it on my cv) to a whole different level. The thing is...I signed up for bellydancing lessons! Thank you Malin and Mia who got me into it. I hope to be able to put up some pics about it, or even better...a film of the rolling! ;)

Oh and this is what I would want to look like doing it... ;)

The place to go for bellydancing in Stockholm is found at: www.orientaliskdans.se

Where to go running in Stockholm?

• Hagaparken
• Kungsholmen (around the island)
• Norrmälarstrand-Södermälarstrand (with the amazing Västerbron)
• Liljanskogen
• Södermalm (around the island)
  

Don't give it all away!

We were out bouncing in Stockholm on Saturday. We wanted to listen, and dance to some electronic music, so we went to grodan ("the frog"). They had some problems with the descant sound, which was a real bummer, but when they got the soundsystem up and running again the party was ON and twice as good. BUT the thing that hit me this evening was the appearance of the girls there. Call me old, call me oldfashioned, but OMG. Girlies, don't give it all away at once! It's just too easy! I'm no prude myself. I like to show some skin, but still keep it stylish and interesting. It felt like their cheap look (and I'm not talking about my intended cheap look, I'm talking about the cheap cheap look) made them act cheap too. They totally sold themselves short. Is it due to a lack of selfesteem or lack of a sence of style, I don't know.

Being cheap in Stockholm

It's hard having a shopping ban in Stockholm. I mean it's especially hard here. It's not like I can't do anything else than shop (I can, I really can! And I do!). But (there's always a BIG BUT!) here in Stockholm there is just too much fancy stuff out there waiting to be bought. Plus everybody else buy them, it feels like. Everybody in Stockholm is fabulous. I'm not kidding. So I'm taking a different approach now.

Thank you Anne Taintor. If I have to be cheap, I might as well look cheap, right? :) And maybe I want to, right?

Are men too feminine now a days?

Sweden is one of the most equal countries in the world. Which, of course, is fantastic. Still has a long way to go, but still way ahead. In Finland when you sometimes see a well dressed man you might think he is gay, because of his taste, but most of the time he is just swedish. In Sweden it has become an issue lately. Are men too in touch with their feminine side? I mean in midst of all the "pappaledighet" (paternal leave, in Sweden we have the longest in the world. Up to 7 months I think) and diperchanging and ironing (!), do men forget their manliness? Have we created a madonna-whore complex for men?

Owning your own home

Thursday February 19 th the Government in Sweden decided on something revolutionary (to Sweden, the other Nordic countries are way ahead). From May 1st you are now able to actually OWN your home! I know it sounds braindead, but that's the fact. Before, when you bought an apartment, it meant that you bought a share of the tenant association (bostadsförening). You could only buy and completely OWN a home if it were a house that was seperate or in a chain, not if it was an apartment in a high-rise or a block of flats. So now I'm eager to see how this will work out and how it will take shape. I'm just glad Stockholm is up for some change.

The swedish trends for FALL 2009

According to the swedish designers these are the trends for next season:



Transparent fabrics (oh my...there will be alot of booties with frostbite in Stockholm this fall)

Anything tailormade

Green stuff

velvet

Torn jeans

Chunky Shoes

Hoods

Apricot (the colour)

Inspiration from the Circus (yes that includes the clowns, unfortunately)

Checked fabrics

JOIN ME!

Okay you couch potatoes, it's time to MOVE IT MOVE IT! August 15 th 2009 at 22:00 the annual "Midnattsloppet" (= Midnightrun) will take place in Stockholm, Sweden. Come join me, race me (you know I hate to lose), dress up, cheer everybody on and feel and be a part of the pulse of the city!

Check out: http://www.midnattsloppet.com/

What defines you as a person?

Since I've been, willingly, I might add, trapped in the so called "woman trap" (kvinnofällan) for a year...i.e. I've been following my husband wherever his job took him for the past year. That took us from Helsinki to Stockholm and Hong Kong, which was fantastic but also meant I had to put my career on hold. I got some great jobs in both Sthlm and HK, but they were only for short whiles and didn't add anything to my pension (oh yeah, I'm that old...I start thinking about my pension).

I'm not the kind of woman who wants to be at home doing nothing. I can't do it. I don't do it. So I started thinking (uh oh hopefully nothing will break in there) about what defines us as persons? I'd say being back here in Stockholm, once again looking for a job, has made me realize how much your job defines you as a person. I'd say the second question after the often not so sincere "how are you and what's your name", would be WHAT DO YOU DO?

Does what we do define us as persons? Or does who we are define what we do?

Mioli's day

Stockholm in March



Västerbron (which you have to cross twice when running tha Stockholm Marathon, ouch)



Lunch with Aril and Katrin. His fist looks bigger than Kat's head.



Katrin's style tip of the day. Chanel's fabulous lipgloss. And those tights...Rrrrroarrr...Are mine.


The perfect way to spend the day started with a 1h 28 min run with my homie Katrin. The best run in Stockholm (when you're not alone in the dark) is definitely: "Kungsholmen runt". You run around the island and you have fantastic views, especially at a day like this.

Today was the official waffle day in Sweden, so I finished my day off with a bunch of yummy waffles with my bro, my bro's gf, my hubby and my diddy pop (that would be my dad) at my brother's and his girlfirend Alexandra's place. Family rocks. Definitely when it involves waffles. ;)

The element of surprize!

Don't underestimate the element of surprize! I went running tonight in Stockholm. Oh yeah, I'm training for my second half a marathon. On my way to check one of those bucket list numbers off (running the complete marathon). Anyway, I left home eightish and my hubby thought I should bring my phone. Nah, it's too fancy for swetting on, I said. So off I went. And OMG, kiss my squirrel! I had forgotten how bloody pitch black it gets here...even in March.

My route involves parts of forrest and stuff. I had to use my ZUNE (For you Mac lovers who don't know what that is...It's Microsoft's version of Ipod) as a flashlight. As I was running, all the criminal novels I've read resently came into mind. Fantastic. Did I have to read those "woman gets murdered in the woods" and "woman gets raped on her jogging trip"- books? I start running faster. It turns out it's very efficient running in the dark. You're like night rider; fast as lightning.

So there I am...running with my bodyguard ZUNE, which is pink BTW. And I look back...Nobody there...Heart pounding...Looking forward. And *swollows* there is a huge black creature. It's a man...No it's a giant. And I'm not a small girl at my 5"10 (or what is 179 cm in feet?)...So he had to be at least 2 metres. The giant is all dressed in black and looks totally like a gangster. He has a dog...this is all happening very fast. Remember...I'm Flash Gordon at this point running on my tiptoes. When I'm a few metres (9 feet...when are you Americans gonna realize the metric system is genious?) away from him ready to fight for my life (and thinking that Visa was right...should have brought my bloody phone) he turns around and... GETS STARTLED OUT OF HIS MIND!

The Hulk says: OMG! You have to make some sound when you come running like that!

Mioli thinks: Is this a trick? He wants me to slow down so he can knock me over?

The Hulk: Here I was daydreaming, and all of a sudden you come running like the wind and almost giving me a heartattack!

Mioli: Oh...I'm sorry!

Lesson for today:

1. Bring your phone when you go out for a run. And paper, your snot will flow!
2. Don't go running in dark woods all alone when it's dark. People do get mugged, killed and raped, usually women, even in Stockholm. So all of you thinking I'm just an exaggerating, easily startled chic (which I of course am): Think again.
3. Don't judge people by their looks. Even The Hulk can get startled. And Giants daydream.

Extensions, baby!

On my trip to Paradise (Northern Mariana Islands; Saipan) I took the chance to get something fake. And it was not a purse, but eyelashes! I only paid 10 US Dollars for the whole shabang. In Stockholm the price is tenfold. (I actually found a place that pimps your eyes here in Sthlm. Check out: http://www.fakermaker.se/ (Their price for a new set is 1195 sek).

Anyway, I can just say: PIMP YOUR EYES AWAY!

Am I this easy?

I was on a walk with my friend when we passed a store that I just had to take a quick look at. And there it was...The newest of the newest trends á la Stockholm: The belly button shirt. Let me write that again: BELLY BUTTON shirt!!! And I laughed at it to my friend whereto she responds:

"You know that it will only take a few weeks/months and you'll be wearing one of those puppies, don't ya."

Maria: "No I would never wear something like that, it's really ugly".

Being in Stockholm...Is sometimes like a disease. It's contagious! So I'm now worried I will get the belly button shirt germ and start wearing them. I'm telling you...If I do wear one of those monstrous shirts...You're totally free to hold it against me!