birthday wishes from stockholm.

phew. i have landed back in the good ol' US of A. i have been in vermont with my family and friends, and enjoying the beautiful snow fall and the company of amazing friends.
i am plotting my mexican runaway for jan 12, provided all my errand running around goes smoothly the next 12 days.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! thinking of you ALL in sweden!
thanks for an unforgettable 2009; and may 2010 find you well!

birthday wishes from stockholm.

"dearest colette, 24 years ago during a cold winter night a loving mother gave birth to a little baby girl whom she called colette.
colette came to this world and became a member of a warm and gentle family and grew up in the enchanted woods of suburban usa. this little girl grew up and made many friends. playing with chocolate all day long she knew there was more to life and she remembered a lullabay sang by a girl with platina blond hair and her own rockband in a small icey country in the north. so it became that the girl colette entered a flying plane and went to a country called sweden. in sweden colette grew and matured and amongst her new friends was erik. erik was a boy with the very best intentions and he was ever so happy to have meet colette the good force from across the atlantic. and on this very day he blesses the snowy day in 1985 when a loving mother gave birth to a little girl whom she called colette..."




xoxo.

hejdå skåne!

my last visit to malmö; my favorite place to runaway to with the best kids ive met in sweden.
i arrived to a beautiful hand painted banner hanging from the kitchen window from the 5th floor of the apartment. it is probably my favorite thing i will take with me from sweden. xoxo.
the sounds play on saturday night, while the climate demonstration in copenhagen happens across the bridge; with stories from the roommates to make you say WHAT?!
goodbyes to mr david hjelm make for tears and rocks in the chest.











xoxo.

lucia.

danderyd, sweden.








xoxo.

secrets.

california dreaming was just california dreaming.

im off to mexico to help my girl louisa from photo school open her photo studio.

her amazing work is at

www.coquiart.com

and i am just tickled i will be working for her!

from swedish to spanish.. meatballs to tacos..


xoxo.

peter mjöberg.

borlänge i stockholm. inte i malmö.






xoxo.

portraits in malmö, sweden.

in all my travels i told myself not to go to one place twice.
but in the back of my head i knew there would be a place i would keep going back to.
that place was malmö, sweden.



david.

andreas.

maria och gustav.

once upon a pepparkakor night.

pepparkakor;
gingerbread cookies;
sugar and spice and everything nice;
ahh, the warm spices of sweden in the winter.

with the millions of pepparkakor recipes and different variations, hanna picks the one that has me completely head over heels.





tant harriets pepparkakor. "aunt harriets gingerbread cookies."
oven temp. 390 F.

1 1/3 cup butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup or molasses
1 tbsp. ground ginger
2 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 cup water
6 1/2 cups flour

blend the butter, sugar and syrup, with hand or electric mixer until smooth.
add first the spices and baking powder. then the water and last the flour.
blend until well mixed, add more flour if needed; dough shouldnt be "wet."
cover with plastic wrap and let stand in refrigerator atleast overnight.

roll out on floured surface into desired shapes. place on greased baking sheets or with just baking paper.
bake in the center of the oven for 4-5 mins.

icing!
2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg white
few drops of vinegar

blend all ingredients together. add food coloring if desired.

xoxo.

Bonjour de Paris! La vie est belle!

my little swedish babies take me in to show me their beautiful paris.


























xoxo.

11 months down, 1 left to go.

so the swedish story stops here.
i will return back to the states, next month in boston.
though i was very excited to stay for my swedish christmas, the temptation of family and friends from far and wide couldnt compete.

11 months down, and 1 left to go.

i will plan to be in boston for a few days visiting all my beloved and missed ones, then up to vermont for a while.

the plan in the works has been san francisco by february!

if anyone wants anything special from sweden just let me know!

coffee talk.

for the number 1 coffee consuming country;
they like their coffee. often. and strong.
i bet you couldnt handle it.
im sure my coffee refusals have been frowned upon.





"its a scandal- a house without coffee." Christoffer Molin

xoxo.

ute mitt svenskt fönster.

out my swedish window.

forget going to Skansen, (Stockholm's zoo) when you can see swedish animals in the neighborhood! playful deer, ticky foxes and huge elks have been spotted. i was lucky enough to be so sneaky with my camera this morning.






xoxo.

better late then never! sofia + PP in sthlm.

one of the biggest highlights in stockholm happened thursday, september 03, when PASSION PIT played at debaser!

my good friend, sofia got me addicted to her boyfriends band, passion pit in boston 2 years ago. going to their shows was my favorite activity next to burrito eating! from the first time i heard their ever so popular, "sleepyhead" i KNEW they were going places... and places they went!

they have been a huge success story in the states, and i almost fell over backwards when i saw their debut album in ÅHLENS!-a personal favorite place to shop here in sweden :)

they toured europe, and came through scandinavia, like i told them they would last year when we said goodbye.

nothing short of magical this night was with lady sofia and good ol' sing along boston songs in stockholm.


check them out,
passionpitmusic.com

and try to get this song out of your head,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bfseWNmlds

xoxo.