Day 25 - My fears

My fears include:

- heights
- snakes
- being lonely
- not being able to have kids
- not finding love
- that we're gonna completely destroy planet earth
- cancer
- that something is gonna happen to my friends and family
- losing somebody who I love
- not being able to get over somebody completely
- having somebody break my heart
- flying
- being rejected

Layout for the December challenge

It has been a while since I spent some time on scrapbooking, found a bit of time today and created this layout. This is my contribution to the December challenge for Svensk Scrapbooking.

I'm very proud..

of these buns :) And they're yummie too!

Day 24 – This makes me cry

Some of the things that make me cry are:

- chopping onions
- watching women giving birth on TV (ha ha and it's getting worse..)
- a broken heart
- getting so pissed off that you start crying
- a good heartfelt speech
- when someone is saying something really nice to you
- watching people walking up the aisle at weddings
- disappointment
- getting hurt
- stress
- when someone is taken away from this world way too soon
- funerals
- frustration
- feeling lonely
- people being seriously ill
- love and being in love

Day 23 – This makes me feel good

Some of the things that make me feel good are:

- my family
- my friends
- being appreciated
- being loved
- doing a good job
- Swedish summers
- travelling
- workouts
- flowers blooming
- love
- people caring about you
- thoughtfulness
- small gestures
- playing with kids
- having a tidy home
- kindness
- being surrounded by nice people
- nice food
- being able to help other people
- photos
- singing
- shopping and nice clothes
- wine
- laughther
- a nice smile
- being healthy
- the sun
- people reading my blog
- visiting Åland
- hugs
- kisses
- inspiration
- being able to support a child (my lovely Djamila from Cape Verde)
- good music
- strawberries and cream
- being in love

and so much more...! :)

Day 22 – This upsets me

Some of the things that upset me are:

- injustice
- people who think they are better than others
- illnesses
- people getting hurt
- bad service
- a broken heart
- bitching
- rude people
- physical and psychological abuse
- denial
- rasism
- lies
- stress
- people not listening
- unhappiness
- loneliness
- child abuse
- selfishness

Day 21 – A photo of me taken more than 10 years ago

Photo taken at my graduation 1998

Day 20 – Confessions of a shop-a-holic

Clothes, clothes and more clothes... I just can't stop buying clothes so I guess I have to admit that I'm a true shop-a-holic!

I started quite early but back then I didn't have that much money to spend on clothes. All the money I got for birthdays or from my monthly allowance I spent on clothes though. I remember that whenever I got home with my shopping bags, I used to try to hide them from mam ;)

I used to be addicted to jeans and had between 20-30 pairs at one stage, but I'm getting better these days. Well perhaps I shouldn't say I'm getting better, what I really mean is that I don't spend all my money on jeans but instead I buy dresses, blouses, jumpers, cardigans, shoes, bags and so on. I don't want to think about how much money I spend on clothes each year. I try not to walk around in the shops because that is when I just want everything and the thing is that the more I buy, the more I want to buy. Something is seriously wrong with me!!

My wardrobe is completely stuffed with clothes and even though I, on a regular basis, try to go through my clothes to see what I can give away, it's not enough. For many people such a wardrobe would be enough for two people but I think that the person who is going to live with me will have to be prepared to come up with other solutions ;) Sometimes I'm actually embarrassed with how much clothes I have got, the good thing is that I know I'm not alone with this problem (if you want to call it a problem) :)

Anyway I love wearing nice clothes so it's definitely worth it. Sometimes I just wish I could save a bit more rather than spending it all ;)

What's behind these doors? ;)

Are you impressed by the amount of hangers? ;)

Christmas Party

Tonight it's time for our yearly Christmas party with work. I was afraid I wasn't gonna be able to go since I haven't been feeling well in the past few days. But here I am, dressed and ready to go! :)

Early xmas pressie

Today little L came by my desk with an early xmas pressie :)

Thanks darling, I loved both the wrapping and the present ;) You sure know what I like at this stage! ♥

Day 19 – My regrets

To be honest I try not to have any regrets in life. It takes too much energy to regret something and you don't gain anything by having regrets. Of course I've made mistakes in the past and I will probably make more mistakes in the future but each time you learn a lesson and you know you'll never make the same mistake again. My former boss said to me that It's ok to make a mistake once, as long as you don't make the same mistake twice and I agree with him. You should learn from your mistakes and I believe that they make you a stronger person in the end.

Day 18 – Memories of a birthday

Birthdays are great and I just love having friends around me on my birthdays. I don't need to do anything extraordinary and I don't need any presents but I wouldn't want to be without my friends and family on my birthday! I get so happy when I get birthday wishes from all kinds of people and it's nice to have one day when you get a bit of attention ;)

I've had a lot of lovely birthdays throughout the years and I don't know how to pick one, but I remember a particular birthday when we were in Gotland. It was in the summer of 2007 and me and the girls were in Visby for a week. My birthday is on the 20th of July so it's in the middle of the summer and we spent this full day on the beach. In the evening the girls brought me out for dinner and then we stayed in the same place and danced all night long. I was really happy and it's definitely a birthday to remember :)

Saint Lucy's Day (Lucia)

In Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, Lucy (called Lucia) is venerated on December 13 in a ceremony where a girl is elected to portray Lucia. Wearing a white gown with a red sash and a crown of candles on her head, she walks at the head of a procession of women, each holding a candle. The candles symbolize the fire that refused to take St. Lucia's life when she was sentenced to be burned. The women sing a Lucia song while entering the room, to the melody of the traditional Neapolitan song Santa Lucia; the Italian lyrics describe the view from Santa Lucia in Naples, the various Scandinavian lyrics are fashioned for the occasion, describing the light with which Lucia overcomes the darkness. Each Scandinavian country has lyrics in their native tongues. After finishing this song, the procession sings Christmas carols or more songs about Lucia.

We got to hear some beautiful singing in work today by the ladies in the picture above. I love the 13th of December :)

Day 17 - My dreams

I dream about a lot of things, I think it's important to have dreams and goals in life. Currently I dream of:

- living a healthy life
- living a happy life
- finding true love
- having kids and starting a family
- buying a house with a big garden
- meeting a lot of interesting people
- travelling to all kinds of places in the world
- being surrounded by my group of wonderful friends that hopefully will grow bigger as the years go by
- keeping my stress levels under control
- always having a job that I enjoy and where I can grow and develop
- having time for hobbies and interests
- making money from one of my hobbies
- always treating people the way I would like to be treated myself
- being loved unconditionally

Day 16 – Friends from the past

I don't know if I should call this guy a friend as such but I just have to tell you about somebody that I just recently got in contact with after 12 years. In the summer of 1998 myself and Maria went to Kos to enjoy 2 weeks in the sun. It was in the beginning of July and I remember it being really hot over there, it was around 40 degrees!

We met a lot of different people over there and had a brilliant time. One of the guys was a bar rep and I think we bumped into him one of the first days. His name was Mattias and I liked him from the start. Obviously he was working nights and didn't get off until early in the mornings but somehow we managed to get some time together anyway.

I liked him a lot I remember, I wasn't the only one though.. Therefore we ended up fighting a bit while I was over there, it's not easy being that young ;) One of the days myself and Maria went to the beach Grabbarna Grus and found Mattias and his friends there. They had a beer competition and there was a looooong row of beer bottles along the beach. After a couple of hours Mattias ended up on all four in the water puking his guts out - I didn't feel sorry for him! I think he left the island shortly after and I never really thought of him again..

..until a couple of days ago when I stumbled upon a photo of him on the web. I looked at the photo and didn't recognize him instantly but I thought it was a familiar face for some reason. After a couple of minutes I realised who it was! I sent him an email asking him if he had been working in Kos about 12 years ago. He replied back and said that I was right. In the last few days we've been talking about old memories in Kos and we both think it's such a funny coincidence. It's a small world we live in :)

Me and Mattias outside the bar Saloon Tex in Kos - July 1998

Day 15 – A favourite memory

This was more difficult than I thought it would be, how am I supposed to pick out a favourite memory!? I think I'm gonna go back to Åland and my summers there again, there are a few things that I will never forget.

We used to stay in my grandparents house and every morning me and my brother used to go out and pick strawberries in the garden that we would have for breakfast with milk and Kellogg's Rice Krispies - it was yummie :)

My grandparents when they were younger

Something I absolutely loved doing while being over there was to lay fishing nets. I was so fascinated by this and it was so exciting to go out in the morning to see if there was any fish caught in the nets. It was such an adventure and I had no problems getting up early those mornings ;) When we came back with the fish, mostly plaice and perch, I used to stay close to granddad watching him clean and gut the fish. Sometimes we used to go to a place to smoke the fish as well and I just loved the smell and it tasted so good :)

Christmas layout

This evening I've created a new Christmas layout with material from the December kit from Mollys Scrapbooking. I've submitted this layout as my contribution to this month's kit challenge as well :) The photos are from Christmas last year.

Day 14 – In my handbag

Luckily I've recently gone through my handbag since I tend to collect all sorts of stuff in it. It gets heavy at times I can tell you but right now it's not too bad ;)

Currently you can find the following items in my handbag:

a Chic magazine
the book Spara mindre - få ut mer by Claes Hemberg
my purse
a 2010 calendar (ordered from www.personligalmanacka.se and I've already ordered one for 2011)
a pen
a bag of chewing gums
my Iphone
my work phone
sun shades
a hat
an umbrella
a camera
a bag of sweets (yes - I've got a sweet tooth)
compact powder
powder brush
two lip glosses
a lipstick
Bephanten (which is great for dry lips ;))
Försvarets hudsalva (also great for dry lips)
hand cream
work key
key holder with various keys
car key
USB memory
bank security tokens

That's it for today folks ;)

Food delivered to your door

Since I haven't done much cooking at all for such a long time and I'm now sooooo sick of going out for lunch or buying something from Ica every day I decided to look into the options for having the food delivered to you. After looking around for a while on the web I decided to go for Middagsglädje and received the first delivery on Sunday. You get food enough for making 5 dishes for 2 people; 2 easy dishes, 2 medium dishes and 1 to enjoy ;)

I've made two of the dishes so far and I really like the idea. You only get deliveries every second week and that suits me perfectly fine, you can pause deliveries whenever you want as well. I'm hoping to get some inspiration now to start cooking more than I've done in the past. The best thing is that I can now bring my own lunch boxes and it tastes so much nicer than anything else right now!

Day 13 – Photo(s) from my childhood

For this blog post I decided that I wanted to show you some photos from my younger years. Thanks dad for helping me scan in these photos, the quality is actually surprisingly good at least for some of them :)