loulouloves

The Magic of Midsummer in Stockholm

It's also a celebration of fertility and that's why around noon on Friday we will be dancing around a phallic pole, doing a traditional frog dance with a crown of flowers on our heads. WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE ABOUT THAT?

Why not?

We've never owned a property, only apartments, so we have no experience WHAT SO EVER in any of these important issues and me in particular, have never shown any interest in anything other in home ownership, other than candles and organic linen in the shade of Marigold.

Celebrating Easter in Sweden

Nothing has changed. Not one thing. Maudy Thursday is still about witches. There is not a single chocolate easter egg to be found. There's still snow. We're still eating Christmas food at Easter. But one thing has changed.

After the attack on Stockholm…

But more than anger and powerlessness, there is a feeling of unity, togetherness and overwhelming love. I'd like to fill you in on some things that have happening in the city in the days that have followed.

Buying a House in Sweden – part 1

The final nail in the 'let's move to Sweden' coffin was when we found out that - despite not being residents there/me having any form of income in that country/TSH not even having started his job/us living in Australia - we could indeed get a bank loan and purchase property there. This had long been our dream, to find a family home.

Backstory

Who could it be? TSH was working nights so it was just me with the girls. I opened the door and found myself face-to-face with Bosse, the tall Swede. He explained to me that he was the local fish van man.

How to become even more lazy with Ekolådan

Week after week, root vegetables. Week. After. Week. The freezer is full of soup and if I fling another rosti at the team, there will be trouble. Sure, they taste fantastic but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, what am I meant to do with another parsnip?!?!?!

Boxes of Wonder

Prior to leaving for the trip, I had given STRICT instructions, that he was to get rid of most of it; sell, donate, give away, just get rid of it. When he arrived in Stockholm, I kept giving him the same instructions, 'just get rid of it'.

Moving to Sweden – part 2

I felt exactly like Cameron Diaz in 'The Holiday' when she was walking down the long laneway to that beautiful house in the Cotswolds.

Exactly like Cameron, except I wasn't in designer high heels, I was in my knock-off Sketches sneakers that were built for summer and not cute snow-covered laneways in Sweden.

Moving to Sweden

Five suitcases with 130 kg's of luggage, 3 car seats, 6 carry-ons, a double pram, a teddy bear, a unicorn and 'Pigga'. Everyone at the airport was super friendly and efficient and we were done and dusted through security at 3 hours before departure. We arrived at the AMEX lounge at 2.59 minutes before departure.

Home or House hunting?

We would be stalking the property market and sharing our finds with each other. I would often be heard saying, 'well yes, it's nice ... but I can't see where my chickens would go?'. TSH would then mention the fact that I haven't been able to keep a herb garden alive, but I would remind him that our children seem to be thriving, so I was confident in my skills.

Snow Change

Just a few weeks ago, at the end of long and tiresome week, I opened the door to us moving back to Sweden. I must have been very tired.

Heading South

On Friday at 5pm, I am hitting the road!

I'll be picking up my hire car in Manly, hugging the family good-bye, swearing whilst sitting in bad traffic through the city, then heading south on the new freeway down to Batemans Bay.

I'm so looking forward to spending some time with one of my best friends, Rach.

‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying’

On Sunday, I KonMaried my wardrobe. I pulled out every piece of clothing I own, placed them on my bed and then, one by one, picked them up and asked myself if it 'sparked joy' in me.

Turns out, a lot of items sparked joy in me.

KonMari Method

Only keep things that 'Spark Joy'

The basic theory behind KonMari is that you should surround yourself with a few things that you love, instead of many things that you like. You touch and feel all the crap you have in your home and then decide if it, 'Sparks Joy'. Then toss or keep, but mainly toss.

Hello World!

After taking a break from blogging due to lack of time in May 2014, tonight, I had the sudden urge to write some more drivel, despite having even less time these days.

To be honest, I would've loved to have continued writing drivel all throughout 2014-2016, but life got in the way. We had the surprise baby and moved our family of five from Stockholm, Sweden to Sydney, Australia.

iPhone be blown

When I called our insurance company and explained the situation, they told me to contact Apple Care who would organise UPS to come and pick up the phone and then would either repair it or replace it. I called Apple Care who turns out, don't really care.

Bunny versus Rooster

"Oh, so what, at the end of the egg hunt, the kids will get ONE cardboard egg filled with candy instead of proper chocolate eggs all delivered by a rooster not a bunny, well that's not very exciting..."

Another Easter Miracle

"The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances."

The Swedish Christmas Goat

As darkness still reigns outside, we all gather in the main house ready for the Christmas festivities to start. We will eat Christmas porridge sprinkled with cinnamon, chat about the day ahead and drink coffee and tea.

Waddling in a winter wonderland

And I'm hoping to be waddling in a winter wonderland as Sweden at the moment is, well rather warm. There is not much snow around so most of the country is looking not at a white Christmas, but at a grey one. Luckily on Saturday we are flying north to Norrland, to celebrate Christmas with our family in the only part of Sweden to be pretty well assured of a flurry of snow.

Fika fun!

And I must say, our strategy of me staying out of the kitchen and letting TSH do all the cooking, proved to be our biggest success. Our menu plan of traditional Swedish with a modern flare seemed to be well appreciated and everything did taste so darn good.

Jul Fika

Although at this stage, the raspberry caramels (which look absolutely gorgeous in the recipe picture!) may just turn out to be caramels as we have been to 6 different shops and cannot seem to find the all import dried raspberries. As it is now Friday, I'm either going to spend tonight picking out dried raspberries from our breakfast muesli or we will have to have raspberry caramels sans raspberries!

Tis the season to be Jolly!

The kids did enjoy it and got to go on a few rides but the thing they were most excited about was the purchased of 2 big helium balloons and once TSH had had some rum in his hot chocolate, he was excited about having to look after them too.

Thanksgiving

The normal Thanksgiving tradition is that the girls spend the day cooking and chatting and the boys do their thing. Well that was until 5.5 children popped onto the scene, so now the girls will spend the day cooking and the boys will run after the 5 little girls that they helped procreate.

Being Bog Standard

Even though I consider the conception of our surprise baby to be nothing short of a miracle, the Swedish government sees otherwise and I have been officially deemed bog standard, transferred over to the public health system with no frills or fructose added.

Friday Sorbet

How did the weekend rock around so fast? This week has flown by, literally actually. I flew to Warsaw for work, just over the day, as you do. One minute it was Monday, the next nearly Friday! Best to stop and take a quick look at the week gone by with some sweet things for the soul

Remembrance of things hard

Over the weekend I decided to make some Madeleine cakes, the baking urge just took over. Mmmm Madeleine cakes, those buttery light lemon-infused cakes that Proust bangs on about in Remembrance of Things Past.

Good News

Why do the majority of news sources take every available opportunity to sensationalise and emotionalise the impact of a news story? I feel like every news item that appears is broadcast in the same style as a Wagnerian opera – ‘news drama’ in the extreme.

I Quit Sugar

I'm reading 'The Sweet Poison Quite Plan' by David Gillespie which advises that for the first few weeks when you are in sugar/fructose detox, you need to break the addiction so should not eat treats with glucose/dextrose in them but go cold turkey. As these first few weeks will fall through Christmas, I've decided to bugger that advice.

Friday Sorbet

So, I've got 5 days to myself so this 21 week pregnant chick is going to go wild! I'm meeting friends tomorrow night for dinner, then I'm planning on getting a few things done around the house that I never have the time to do, whilst the kids are away. Sleep. Sound sleep.

Dinner party differences

Similarly, your normal red wine jus will now be replaced with just drinking red wine straight out of a cask because you burnt all the food that you’d managed to buy, whilst trying to convince said small child not to drink the toilet water.

The day I knew I was a witch.

After The Flash had arrived, I was holding her in my arms and TSH was lying next to me in the hospital. I had the strongest feeling, all of a sudden, I felt like this wasn't going to be the last time TSH and myself would be in hospital looking down at a sweet newborn.

Friday Sorbet

What are your plans for the weekend? We're having friends over for dinner on Friday night and I hear from TSH that some type of Lamb/Rosemary/Goats Cheese combo is going to be on offer! On Saturday our body corporate is having it's cleaning day and we are going to lend a hand. Organised Swedish fun, couldn't be better.

Autumn Leaves

The falling leaves drift by the window, the autumn leaves of red and gold, I see your lips, the summer kisses, the sunburned hands I used to hold... so sings Sinatra in Autumn Leaves - the great jazz standard - the perfect backdrop to the end of Autumn in Stockholm.

Friday

It's Friday night and the house is quiet. The kids are asleep and TSH is with our neighbour watching soccer. I've covered the house in fresh roses and tea candles. There's a cup of tea to my left and the computer on my lap.

‘My Heart is Singing’

So, to celebrate our anniversary and my 38th birthday, we decided to have a fantastic night out, starting off with pre-dinner drinks at one of my favourite Stockholm sky bars Gondolen and then off to a new restaurant called The Flying Elk on Gamla Stan (the old town.)

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