Lorraine in Sweden

My new babies

2012-01-26T22:16:00.001+01:00

Here's what I'm going to work with at my new job. Nice, uh? Me like. A lot. :)

Big news

2012-01-22T13:06:00.000+01:00

I have two big news in my life right now.

One, I have finally tested Sèche-vite after reading about it on many beauty and make-up blogs. It's a top coat that you put on top of your nail polish to make it last longer. In case you don't know yet about it. They all rambled about how it was the best in the world and bla bla bla... I was a bit sceptic about it but at the same time wanted to try. And oh my god! how I wasn't disappointed. The difference between this one and all the other top coats in the world is stellar. To all my "nail polish lover"-readers, throw away any top coat you have, and go get the Sèche-vite, run! It will be the best that ever happened to you.

It may be the best thing that happened to me in 2012 but I might have to revise my judgement tomorrow.

Indeed tomorrow I am starting my new job. In Stockholm. With amazing people. In Stockholm. I am going to work with marketing, communication, strategy, internet, all the things that I love. In Stockholm. Have I already said Stockholm? That's probably because I can't wait! Oh and I am getting an iPhone and a MacBookAir. Tomorrow will probably top last Tuesday when I tried the Sèche-vite on for the first time.

Summerhouse with friends

2012-01-19T11:44:00.001+01:00

Saw some pics on a blog about this house that is for sale. It is located in the South of France, in Roquebrune near Monaco.

I love the turquoise shutters. And I like that it matches with the turquoise of the swimming pool, hehe.

The house is for sale for $27 millons. If I can find 26 friends it will only be $1 million per person, that's a deal, no? ;)

So, who's with me?

Paté

2012-01-15T14:14:00.001+01:00

Didn't come back from France empty-handed... ;)

Champagne

2012-01-12T13:56:00.001+01:00

I love champagne. Simple as that. I was in France three weeks over Christmas and New Year's and it was a great luxury to be able to be with the family for so long. And during these weeks I had many opportunities to drink champagne. Here's what I drank, in alphabetical order:

Ayala
Ayala Rosé
Dom Pérignon
Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial (twice)
Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial Rosé
Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage 2002
Ruinart (twice)

A very good 2011 millésime I would say!

How cute?

2012-01-10T19:36:00.002+01:00

Christmas

2011-12-24T17:09:00.003+01:00

Merry Christmas!

Cheese

2011-12-15T17:20:00.001+01:00

Often when my friends are coming for a visit from France, they ask me if I want them to bring me something. Like cheese for instance, we're French after all...

But who needs French cheese if you can have Kolibrie or Moulin Rouge brie instead?

Lots and nothing

2011-12-13T23:07:00.001+01:00

Haven't blogged in a while... I have been busy with a lot of things even if I don't have much to blog about. Some of the things I have been doing:

Hang out with Viviana and baby Laia
Take the train to Stockholm (and back)
Eat a lot of lussekatter (saffran buns) and pepparkakor (cinnamon and gingerbread cookies)
Drink some glögg (mulled wine)
Try to fix my shower stuff, not going too well...
Hang out with my best friend Sophie who was here for the week-end (was GREAT!)
A bit of Christmas shopping and Christmas planning

That kind of stuff...

Saveur de l'année

2011-12-05T23:37:00.001+01:00

Look what I found at my local supermarket on Sunday? Some cherry tomatoes. What's so special about cherry tomatoes you might wonder... nothing special, it's true. But check the language on the packaging. Nothing wrong with a packaging in French, it's true. But you are in Sweden and you see those tomatoes. With a packaging in French. With a sticker saying it was voted "Saveur de l'année 2011" (2011's best flavour)... well that starts to be a little surreal, right?

Green

2011-11-30T17:09:00.001+01:00

November is usually the month of the year I like the least. You could go as far as saying I hate it since it brings the worst out of Gothneburg and Sweden's west coast. Grey, rain and wind... most often all at the same time. Doesn't sound too good, does it?

Well, this year has proven me wrong! We have had an exceptionally good November with temperatures above normal (7-8 degrees today compared to -1 in Mexico City!) and a lot of sun. The good weather have given a feeling of a lot of light. A consequence of the sun and light is that the grass is still very green! Almost nuclear green sometimes. Unusual but I am not complaining.

The photo below wasn't taken in November but in July and not in Sweden but in France. At home, on holidays. But it's still green, right? And it's nice so...enjoy!

Grès

2011-11-28T22:45:00.001+01:00

Last March, I flew quite hastily to France for sad circumstances and I spent a few day in Paris and the champagne region. A few days before that I had read on the Internet about a fashion exhibition about Madame Grès in a sculpture museum. That could sound like a strange idea but when you see the dresses below you realize why this was a genius idea.

So while I was in Paris, I went there with my mum and my aunt and fell in love with the dresses and Madame Grès' genius... I mean look at that! The dresses below were designed between the 50's and the 70's but could just as well have been shown at fashion week this year. They are so modern...

The orange one is from spring/summer 1977, the black one I don't know. The grey one is a spring/summer 1956 (!!!) collection and the red one on the left is a autumn/winter 1961-62 piece.

Anyone need a wedding dress? Personally there are a couple here above I could think of for my wedding (just need to find a hubby first but that's another question, hehe).

And speaking of wedding, I just froze when I saw the red dress here below, an autumn/winter 1974-75 model. Turned to mum and told her it reminded me of her own wedding dress. Not a coincidence she told me, my mum designed her dress herself and had it sewn by a seamstress; and she said she was inspired by this very dress. How cool is that? The dress was white though. :)

Fougasse

2011-11-24T21:06:00.001+01:00

My breakfast this morning: French fougasse.

I was in Stockholm yesterday and today. Slept over at Vera's, we met a bit less than a year ago and quickly became good friends.

On Tuesday she asked what I usually have for breakfast and I answered tea, eggs, bread, müesli... what's in the house basically. :)

Guess how touched and flattered I felt when I came and discovered that Vera's boyfriend Patrik (whom I hadn't had the oportunity to meet yet) had baked some bread, some French bread for me! It was so good: "miam miam" as we say (like yummy in English).

Thank you Vera and Patrik!

Chanel and I

2011-11-22T10:44:00.001+01:00

That I love fashion is everything but a mistery for people who know me. But you might not all know when it started. Well, early. Very early. The Chanel ad below came out in 1992, I was 13 then. I didn't know much about Chanel then (my mum was still wearing Guerlain at that time, she changed for No 5 much later) and I didn't understand everything but I was just fascinated... It is so aesthetic! And the music is special, almost hypnotising.

Another Chanel ad I remember well from my childhood is the one for the male perfume Egoïste (which means selfish). Again, very aesthetic, very geometric this time as well. And a staccato rythm that makes it a bit hypnotising too, according to me. What I never realized then and which I discovered in Geraldine's post today is that they are reciting verses from Le Cid from Corneille. I might be because I first studied the book a couple of years later, hehe!

And you? Do you remember these ads or other ones from your childhood?

London

2011-11-19T13:00:00.000+01:00

So, as I told you in my previous post, I went to London the other day. I arrived on the Saturday mid-day and departed on the Tuesday again around lunchtime. 2 ½ days and a breakfast as a bonus. I was meeting my mum and my sister and we were staying at my cousin's place.

The whole stay was about: food, culture, shopping as well as family time and of course a lot of talking!

Here are a few pics of some of the things we saw and did.

The British Museum

The roof of the British Museum

A typical local pub where we had a Sunday lunch or Sunday roast. I had a Cumberland pie with Chips (French fries) and very green peas. Yummy!

Big Ben at night

A building with beautiful architecture and a well-known name on it

Tower Bridge at dusk

The Tower of London at dusk

Happiness in a box

2011-11-17T14:06:00.001+01:00

A couple of days ago I was in London to spend some time with my mother, my sister and my cousin who lives there. We met a her workplace and just around the corner, there is a Ladurée mini store. I remembered reading on vogue.fr that Ladurée was to launch a special box designed by Matthew Williamson so I ran there and oh joy! There was just a couple left and I got one! Isn't it amazing?

And look at what's inside? Pure pleasure... pistachio, coconut, apple+cinnamon, rose, salted caramel, heaven!

And I love that when the box is empty (it isn't yet, I still have two or three!) then I can use to put jewels, hairpins or stuff like that.

Happiness in a box, happiness is the box!

Espadrilles

2011-11-10T21:24:00.001+01:00

Do you collect things? I have never collected stamps or perfume bottle or anything. Shoes possibly if that is something you can collect. I don't collect them, it's just that I like shoes a lot, buy too many pairs and have a very hard time throwing away old pairs.

But with my espadrilles you could say it's a collection. They come from St Jean de Luz where I lived the first three years of my life and where I also spent all my summer when I was a child. They have a local brand making espadrillos by hand. I bought the first two pairs two years ago. The turquoise and the pink ones. They are so comfortable I love them! I used them all summer on holidays and then at home instead of slippers. So I decided I would buy a new pair every year. So last year I bought the red ones and this year the aqua ones.

Wonder what colour it will be next year...

Fashion critic

2011-11-01T11:54:00.000+01:00

I know fashion editors have criticised the Dior Spring Summer 2012 show last month - which was the first one not designed by Galliano - saying it was quite boring and lacking this sense of show that Galliano was a master of.

I personally loved the show. I was quintessentially Dior, very elegant, very timeless, very 60’s but very modern. I mean look at these sunglasses!

To me, this collection was going back to the roots, going back to Christian Dior himself. It was like taking a big breath of fresh air, trying to catch up you breathe before taking a big jump. Before they get on a new designer who will incorporate his/her aesthetics, this was a true Christian Dior collection.

How about you, did you like the collection? And what do you think about the Dior/Galliano thing?

Autumn

2011-10-26T23:08:00.001+02:00

November is my least favourite month of the year. In Sweden the weather is usually quite bad with lots of rain and wind (often combined). And grey, everything feels grey in November. Not really looking forward to it. October on the other hand. Now THAT is a month I like! There's something with the air feeling so light and pure, the light so clear and the colours... The colours! So vibrant! Look at this tree in my residence! The quality is quite bad since I shot the pic with my iPhone which doesn't have a flash but I didn't retouch it or did anything to the colours.

Amazing right?

Thief!

2011-10-25T12:09:00.000+02:00

Call your girlfriend

2011-10-22T10:00:00.000+02:00

The cover

The original

Food!

2011-10-20T18:16:00.000+02:00

I most of the time do my grocery shopping at the supermarket closest to my home (who doesn't?). But the other day I decided to change and go to Lidl, a German rather lowcost chain store. What a good idea it turned out to be. I found lots of French food there! Not only the Maille mustard or Le Rustique camembert cheese. No, Lots of food and local dishes.

Not too difficult to identify as French right? Now, I didn't know this brand before, you can't find it in France but I checked the packaging and every product is produced in the right region so I believe it is a brand focusing on exporting outside the hexagon and working/buying from local producers.

But the best that day was this cheese. My sister and brother and my cousin will grasp the magicness of it.

Allez la France!

2011-10-15T15:06:00.001+02:00

Rugby is not a common sport in Sweden so it's very seldom broadcast on TV. Over the last five years I've only seen a couple of matches of the Five nations tournament on an English channel in a pub or the final of the French championship on the French-speaking channel TV5 Monde last year.

But right now it's the world cup in New Zealand and I want to see it! Luckily the matches are shown on a channel that my friends have in their satelite package.

So today I did like last week. Woke up at 8 and went to my friends' place for a breakfast+rugby. And today, I passed by the French bakery in my neighbourhood for some baguettes and croissants. French breakfast and French rugby team.

And they won! France is qualified for the final!

Mobile again!

2011-10-12T17:15:00.001+02:00

A good friend of mine lend me her old iPhone, thanks again V! It means I'll be able to blog from my phone again! Looking forward to more spontaneity.

Things that make me happy

2011-10-10T21:58:00.000+02:00

- a new pair of training shoes with some red and pink
- a pink training bag (bought last June but still love it!)
- 3 hours of great training this week-end (2h on Saturday and 1h on Sunday)
- inviting two good friends to come and take part in this good thing
- giving them the chance to try zumba with me
- the fact that they liked it and liked my gym
- a gym full of people dressed in pink proving that together is strong and collecting money for a good cause and spreading some joy (and some sweat!)
- the fact that between 2007 and 2010 my gym has collected more than 500.000 SEK and has been the highest private giver every year. Hopefully we will break a new record this year!

Check out rosadygnet.se, see if you can find me on the pics and, if you live in Sweden, help us break the record and send an sms to make a gift (see on the right).

Think different

2011-10-06T09:40:00.003+02:00

RIP Steve Jobs.

How to hurt a friend

2011-10-01T14:14:00.003+02:00

How many of those little phrases do we say without thinking? Without thinking that we don't know everything about the others' lives, even the close ones, yes even our friends. And some of these sentences can hurt. A lot.

I've been looking for a job for a while now and some people might wonder what the heck I do all day since I still don't have one. "How is it going with your jobhunting?" is a question I get regularly. From people I meet here and there, friends, acquaintances, people from various networks... I often wonder what kind of answer they are expecting. Or what I am supposed to answer to that.

Let me tell you how it goes: I've been studying at one of the business school in France, around 10 years ago when all was fine and there were many jobs. When I entered the school in 1999, one of the first thing they told us was that I now belonged to the elite of the nation, France's elite, no less than that. Impressive, uh? After that I got two masters degrees, learn several languages so that I now speak 4 fluently and understand 2 other (Italian and Norwegian). I have worked for five years and I am good at what I do. I got to work with things I knew nothing about and turned out to be good at that too. I don't know everything yet (far from it) but I learn fast and I know I can do anything.

And still, I don't have a job. I've applied for many jobs and got as an answer (when I got one since it's not always the case...) that I lack this and that, that I don't have enough experience in this, that other candidates were stronger than me... all these different ways of saying that I am not good enough. How is it possible for someone who's supposed to be France's elite? Well not good, let me tell you. It's not easy to be rejected like that all the time. It's a daily struggle to remind yourself you are good enough, that you need to be patient, remain strong and it will come. And people asking all the time is not helping... How is it going with your jobhunting? Well obviously not well, if it was going well, I would have a job by now. So please stop asking. Or what answer am I supposed to give, what are these people expecting me to answer?

"When are you getting a boyfriend?" sometimes followed by the question "but why won't you try online dating?". Since when being single makes you less worthy that people having a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Why are you seen as a hopeless case? Because I'm over 30 now? Because it's now or never? But what if it is never... will my life be worse that my friends' one who had the chance to find their soulmates or husband or wifes or boyfriend or girlfriend when they were in their mid 20's then? What if people are happy to be single and satisfied with their lives? Now in my case, I would like to meet someone but I also want it to be natural. I don't want to provoke it, to "evaluate" every possible single man on a website. I know some friends who met online and they are great peopkle individually and a great couple together but that's just not for me. End of story. It will come when it will come and I am not desperate until then, I have a great life and I enjoy it until then. But of course if I wish I had someone in my life sometimes. So reminding me of my being single is just not nice. That's just a silly and hurtful question.

Which leads me to the even meaner and more hurtful question. "why don't you get a baby yourself?". Question asked by a friend a couple of days ago when talking about her own baby. Sorry but WTF??? I am single, how is the baby question even relevant? To me a baby is the fruit of love between two people and I cannot see myself having a baby alone. If I had that this friend is also one of those who pushed to try online dating, that might show you the level of "not thinking". But I have of course thought of babies, I don't have much of a choice since everyone around me is getting one. And of course I want kids but until I find the daddy, I won't have any myself. And of course I long for it, I'm 32, not 22 anymore... And this "biological clock" thing IS stressful. Meet someone, realize he's the one, move in, get engaged, get married, live your life... all this takes time before you can get to the baby step of your life and it is stressful so please stop reminding me of what I am missing. And stop making me feel I am less worthy that you, that "I cannot understand", that "I will see when it's my turn" or that life only starts to be relevant and worthy when you get babies. How about all these years before? Was your life shit then? Studip, annoying and once again hurtful.

I am far from the only one to get the baby-question although my friends, always when they are newly wed get the "WHEN" version. Now that you are married, when is the baby coming? There's not even an option there, it has to come. And fast. As a friend said, marriage is committing to each other, not promising to a baby. And how about couples trying to have babies but do not manage for some reason? I can only imagine the pain they are going through. There's a TV program starting next week in Sweden, a documentary following couples who are trying to have babies and don't manage. I hope it opens the eyes of some people, that it makes them think, that they can see this as an alternative answer to why some couples don't have babies. So that they stop being pushy and asking that stupid question.

Another friend (married this summer) told me the other day that when she gets the question, she answers "we're still practising". I thought that was genius! She says people get embarrassed and change the subject directly.

And in the same style we have the "when are you getting married?" question that some people living together for some years get. A friend of mine loves her boyfriend, loves her life but doesn't want to have kids and doesn't want to get married either. That's her choice and it shouldn't be seen as negative. I know many friends who live together, who buy flats or houses together, who move abroad together... aren't all those signs of committment not strong enough? Do they need a paper from the cityhall or the church and a church on their fingers? As of today I would like to get married (if/when I meet the right one) but that's my personal opinion and it doesn't mean everyone has to share it.

What it means is that we are all different, we are all living our lives they way we can, you don't always choose in life, you just try to do the best of what's thrown at you. But one thing we all can do is repect the others and their decision and try to keep in mind we only see the floating part of the iceberg and that there are many things we don't know about so we should be careful about some questions. I know I have thought about it and I try to avoid asking those silly questions now.

Edit: I hate to criticize just for the sake of it, I believe if you're gonna critique something, you should try to give an alternative, an option, something... so here's an alternative. I know some people mean well when they ask about the job hunting. Most of them, I am aware of that, it's the formulation that's awkward... Another way of asking is "how was your week?". It's easier to focus on the last few days than a longer period (since it's the "long" part that's the problem). What's more, it's the kind of question you could ask someone working, so it makes the unemployed one less different that the ones working... "Do you find any interesting job to apply to these days?" this kind of things is also fine since it's a positive and constructive question. Easier to answer to.

Home sweet home

2011-09-28T16:34:00.002+02:00

Where I spent the first two weeks of August...

This is the first picture I took when I arrived. More to come soon from these, as you can imagine, exhausting two weeks.

Happy feet

2011-09-27T14:20:00.003+02:00

What do you think?

Summer

2011-09-22T19:48:00.001+02:00

Avignon, end of July 2011

Geeka & Fika

2011-09-15T20:32:00.001+02:00

This is what I am going to do every other Thursday this autumn. Meet with my Geek Girls and blog together. You can talk and get some inspiration, get some help with you blog when you want to change the theme, put some plug-in, start a wordpress blog... anything. Or just have a cup of coffee and relax with nice people. Me like!

If the title sounds like Chinese to you, it's normal, it's in Swedish. Geeka comes from geek as you might have understood, we took the word and made it a Swedish verb. And fika is one of my favourite Swedish word, it stands for gathering, eating a bite and having some coffee or tea. That's what we do: eat & drink, talk (a lot) and blog.

Someone like you

2011-09-07T15:25:00.002+02:00

If by the end of the song you're not crying or at least feeling an aching stomach, then you either deaf or you have a heart of stone...

The world's proudest sister

2011-09-06T18:56:00.002+02:00

Do you remember when my sister was running for 80 or 90 km two or three years ago? If not you can read about it here, here and here.

Well, forget about that now. How about:

- leaving from Chamonix, all around the Montblanc through France, Italy, Switzerland and to go back to France and back to Chamonix

- 170 km

- 9700 m of positive altitude change

- max 46 hours to complete

Pretty crazy, uh? Well...

As you can guess from the smiles on our faces, these pics are from the finish line where the world's best sister arrived after 44h and 10 min.

I am not going to write more about it. First because Gratianne will, hopefully, in a couple of days and she does that better than me [will give you the link if you're interested). And then, because it's something I shared with my parents, my brother and with her and I kind of want to keep it that way, wonderful memories that are just ours.

But one thing I can say: I am the world proudest sister!

Clin d'oeil

2011-09-03T01:07:00.001+02:00

Tous les ans à la mi-août se passe l'un des événements les plus attendus de l'année en Suède: la parution du nouveau catalogue IKEA. Il est distribué dans toutes les boites aux lettres. C'est d'ailleurs le livre le plus imprimé au monde, encore plus que la bible: incroyable!

J'ai donc recu le mien et en le feuilletant je suis tombée sur cette page. Une très bonne copine adore le violet, si elle pouvait, elle ne s'habillerait qu'en violet, aurait toute sa vaisselle en violet, repeindrait son appart dans les tons de mauve, lilas, parme, fuschia, etc. Bref, vous voyez le genre....

Ma DD, file chez IKEA!

Ulriksdal

2011-08-25T22:07:00.000+02:00

Last July I went to Stockholm for two days to meet up with my mum and my aunt who were there for a whole week to see ALL the Royal Castles around Stockholm. They managed! And I saw the last one with them Ulriksdal. We went by car and it took 15 min max from the city centre. There is also a direct bus that must take no longer than 20 min + 5 min walking. A great spot to spend a sunny afternoon. Why not take a pic-nic next time?

A very nice garden and a great day!

Back to the roots

2011-08-22T15:08:00.000+02:00

I spent the first three years of my life in this town as well as every summer when I was a child. Since then I like to go back and spend at least a day there every summer. Like a pilgrimage.

Do you know what city I am talking about?

(I have a lot of pictures to show you from my holidays but I shot around 1,5 Gb so I need to download them first and sort them out.)

Cuvée 2011

2011-08-17T15:20:00.000+02:00

This *cough* *cough* was not in my luggage three weeks ago... Every year is the same. Or every time I fly back to France I should say. Every time I get home (to Sweden) with my luggage full of more things than I left with...

I must precise. I didn't buy everything, thank god. I got some stuff from friends or family. Oh and there is one dress missing. Had to have it redone a bit. A 15€ sale from Zara.

Not much food this year, no space in the luggage. Need to learn to leave more space. But shoes and make-up as usual. And handbags. Only things I need of course. ;)

Fable du jour

2011-08-15T11:06:00.001+02:00

La Grèce, ayant chanté
Toutes les années de prospérité
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la crise fut venue :
Pas un seul petit prêt
A faible taux d'intérêt.
Elle alla crier famine
Chez l'Allemagne sa voisine
La priant de lui avancer
Quelque fonds pour subsister
Jusqu'à l'embellie nouvelle.
"Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle,
Dès les réformes faites
Intérêt et principal de la dette "
L'Allemagne n'est pas prêteuse :
C'est là son moindre défaut.
Que faisiez-vous de vos impôts ?
Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse.
- Nuit et jour à tout venant
J'embauchais des fonctionnaires à mon aise.
- Des fonctionnaires ? j'en suis fort aise.
Eh bien! payez les maintenant.

Cushions

2011-07-22T13:10:00.000+02:00

New cushions on my soffa. Bought them in Mexico last Christmas. Do you like them? I do!

The lake

2011-07-12T11:07:00.000+02:00

One thing I love about Gothenburg is how close to the nature you are. Take the tram for 20 min and you're either by the sea, ready to board a boat that takes you to the archipelago, or close to a lake.

Last Sunday, we opted for the lake for two friends. A bit of food, a book, sunscreen, bikini & sunglasses and here we go. When I went down the tram, I had a little walk.

First, I passed this old house.

Passed the stable, didn't the see the horses this time though. :(

Continued and recognized these marvelous little cottages. You can book them for a wedding for instance. Anyone tempted?

Walked a bit more and finally arrived there. Our usual spot is on the peninsula that you can see on the left in the background, so that where I headed after taking the picture and being surprised on how little people there was this day. Holidays + nice weather, where were they? Eh! Only better and quieter for us.

We usually take the end end of the peninsula but there was people when we arrived (took the pic later).

So we chose a spot a couple of meters from there. Put our blankets and towels on the ground and take off our shoes.

Suddenly a duck mommy with her babies passed by. It had to be a good spot.

So I laid down and did nothing the following 5 hours except from eating and talking with my friends and thinking how great life is.

Sweden at its best

2011-07-03T21:56:00.001+02:00

Had a BBQ with some friends yesterday. We chose a nice little spot with a sweet view. Right?

You see the two churches in the distance? I live somewhere between the two of them. :)

Wedding outfit

2011-06-30T22:26:00.000+02:00

Two weeks ago I was at a wedding outside of Stockholm. This time it was my good friends Brenda and Andreas that were getting married at Andreas' parents summer house which is located at a beautiful place by a lake. That's my only wedding this year, a change compared to the previous years where it was an average of three.

Anyway, here is how I looked. I had the dress already that I wore two years ago at another wedding. And I just loooooved the peacock earing that I got in Mexico last Christmas and I thought the colours would be great together. After that, I just had to stick to the green-blue-turquoise color scheme.

Dance III

2011-06-27T21:46:00.000+02:00

Here are some more pictures from the dance show I saw a couple of weeks ago. I've realized there are actually some other pictures from yet another number. So more pictures coming up!

"Dance"

Summer is here

2011-06-23T09:58:00.000+02:00

Summer has come. On the paper at least. When it comes to the temperatures, we're not exactly there yet in Sweden. We had around 25 degrees at the beginning of the month but now this week, it's more 15-16 degrees, brrrr. But in a way, not so surprising since this week it's Midsummer, a big celebration in Sweden about summer where, ironically the weather is usually bad, cold and with rain. But that's not what I wanted to write about.

Back to summer and warm temperatures. That's when I change my perfume to Pamplelune from Guerlain. I've had it for several years. The strange thing for me about perfume is that I have a very hard time to change, for a very long time I had only two, one in the winter and one in the summer. Pamplelune being the summer fragrance. And I can't wear it until the thermometer reaches a certain level. That's when summer is here for me. Summer, warmth, holidays, strawberries, swimmingpool... That's the associations I have to my perfume. No wonder I love it!

PAMPLELUNE: L’ESPRIT DU PAMPLEMOUSSE ET UNE NOTE DE BERGAMOTE

Au petit matin, les volets s’ouvrent
Le soleil se lève et réchauffe
Vue sur un verger d’agrumes

Source: Guerlain.fr

How about you and your perfumes? Do you change often? Do you have any summer favourites?

Dance II

2011-06-15T19:35:00.000+02:00

A week ago, I wrote here about a Mexican dance show I saw here in Göteborg. Here are a couple of pictures. Click on the pictures to see them in their original size.

The dancers changed their outfits three times. The first ones (top pictures) are from Vera Cruz. The ones above are from Nayarit where the dancers are from.

The last outfit was the most beautiful in my opinion, with larger than large skirt which creates great effects when turning and swirling. You saw a glimpse of the dress and of those effects in the Dance post. And I took a lot of pictures that turned out great. Will try to narrow down to a few and post them this week.

Handicraft

2011-06-14T23:09:00.000+02:00

How fabulous is that?

Beautiful peonies

2011-06-11T12:00:00.001+02:00

This bouquet is unfortunately no longer in front of my window and that's too bad. Gosh! These peonies looked amazing! I think peonies are now competing with azaleas and a couple more flowers to be my favourite.

Stockholm

2011-06-10T19:54:00.002+02:00

Last week we had a long week-end, Thursday to Monday so my friends and I went to Stockholm for five days. First my train was cancelled (for a reason still unknown to me) so I had to wait for more than one hour at the train station. Then when I arrived in Sthm, I met my friends at the hotel and we hanged out on the terrasse on the roof and relaxed and planned the week-end.

In the evening we walked through the city and Gamla Stan (the old town) and went to Debaser. During the winter this is a hip concert venue but in the summer they have a big outside terrasse and like a beach club feeling with DJ's playing. Really nice.

On Friday, we started with day (like the following ones) with a huuuuge and very good breakfast. After that, we walked through the city with some shopping stops and headed to Djurgården, one of Stockholm's 14 islands, past Skansen, the world's oldest open-air museum and to the Prins Eugens Waldermarsudde. Prins Eugens is the current king Carl Gustaf's uncle and his private residence was transformed into a museum when he died.

On Djurgården, near Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde

My friend Vera joined us and we went in to see the Lars Wallin exhibition. Lars Wallin is a Swedish fashion designer who is celebrating the 20 years birthday of his fashion house. He usually designs clothes for the Nobel Price dinner and for the Swedish princesses Madeleine and Victoria. Last year for instance he designed 14 dresses for guests for Victoria and Daniel's wedding. The show was great!

On Djurgården, near Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde

After that we had lunch in heaven. Heaven being Rosendal's garden, an amazing place still in Djurgården, so green since you have nature all around, so calm, (så good food!), you wouldn't believe you're in the city. That's one of the things I love about Stockholm, even if you are in the city, the nature is everywhere! In the evening, we had dinner at a great Latin America inspired restaurant called Supper. Incredible food and a great experience.

Östermalm seen from Djurgården

On Saturday, we went for some shopping, more walk throughout the city, a nice vegetarian lunch with a view over the city at Herman's and visited the photo museum Fotografiska.

Katarina Church on Södermalm

View from Södermalm

View from the Herman's restaurant on Södermalm

On Sunday, more walk in the city. Have I told you by the way that the weather was great every single day? Blue sky every day and 25 degrees. A great feeling of summer. Anyway after that we stopped in a sports bar to see the Roland Garros final between Nadal and Federer. Well, only the first 2-3 sets because then we had to go back to the hotel because the others went a Jerry Seinfeld show.

The Af Chapman boat on the island of Skeppsholmen

Monday was also a day off in Sweden since it's was Sweden's national day. I met my friends Anna-Carin and Sanna for lunch. We chose Moseback theater, which offers once again a great view over the city. After that, the temperature "required" we had an ice cream so we left Södermalm (the South island) and went to Gamla Stan, bought our icecreams and found a spot near the parliament, in sun, to enjoy the icecreams. There we were joined by Helen, who I had met on Twitter but never IRL. It was really nice to meet her. She also wrote about our meeting (in Swedish) here. :)

In the background, the National Museum

I spent my last hours in Stockholm with Romain on the deck of the Af Chapman boat. You know the floating youth hostel? They have now opened a café on the deck. I think it's quite recent because I didn't know about that. Not many people seems to do either which is good because it meant it was quite calm there in comparison with the crowd in the rest of the ctiy.

On the way back to the hotel, we saw the military closing the streets so we asked what was happening. It turned out the royal family was going to leave the old castle in Gamla stan (they don't actually live there) to go to Djurgården. We waited to see them pass and managed to get a glimpse of them. After that, back to the hotel to get our luggage, buy some dinner and huuuge (and delicious) muffins from the Muffin Bakery on the way and jump on our train back to Gothenburg.

A glimpse of the princess Madeleine (Carl-Philip behind her, Victoria and Daniel were cut)

A glimpse of the Queen in the traditional Swedish costume

A great great week-end!

Dance

2011-06-08T17:32:00.000+02:00

Last week I was a dance show of a Mexican group. Professional ones travelling from Mexico to several places in Europe and Gothenburg among others. It was an amazing show and I took a lot of pictures. Here is a sneak peak.

PS: I was also in Stockholm for five days and the weather was incredible. 25 degrees and blue sky everyday. Hence a lot of pictures. Of course I'll show you some!

Flowers

2011-06-02T12:00:00.001+02:00

My two previous posts showed pics from a walk I took in the city the other day. Most of the pics I took during that tour were actually pictures of flowers. So here is a small selection.

This one is quite similar to the one above so it shouldn't need to be there but I quite like the effect of blurry flower (forefront) and sharp backgound.

Downtown

2011-05-31T11:00:00.001+02:00

This house is located in the middle of Göteborg. Amazing, uh? I love walking around in the city because you always find this kind of hidden treasures. How unexpected! My house (building) is far from being pretty (build at the beginning of the 70's...) but I still have a lot of nature all around, it's very green and very quiet so I feel very blessed.

Mexico vs Sweden

2011-05-30T11:12:00.001+02:00

Do you remember this picture that I took during my last days in Mexico? (It was in this post).

Well, this is what I shot in Göteborg the other day...

The perspective, the evening light on top of the building... I think I see a pattern. Do you? ;)

Love is all

2011-05-26T12:14:00.001+02:00

Loved that ad when I was a kid, loved the music. Can't believe it was 20 years ago. TWENTY!!! How old am I really? Pffff... anyway, fun ad.

Longing

2011-05-25T15:38:00.002+02:00

Back and forward. I want to go back there. Hopefully this summer, I'll go again. But I also want to go back there. Back to my childhood memories. 'Cause there wasn't that many tourists back then. We had a flat very close so the place was ours. It was like our garden, our backyard. Pretty cool, uh?


Saint Jean de Luz - France

Click on the picture to see it full size, you'll be amazed.

Cute!

2011-05-24T22:27:00.000+02:00

I do!

2011-05-19T10:14:00.000+02:00

Prepare your tissues before you press play...

Would you like a proposal like this? Or how would you rather have it?

Where's Charlie

2011-05-14T12:01:00.002+02:00

Last week-end I had a little trip. Let's play a game and see if you can find where I was....

In the morning I went running in this park.

After that I took a boat (bigger than the one on the picture) and went to this part of the city to see a museum called FRAM in a cool building.

And from there I had a great view of the city with this big thing in the background, on the hill.

So, can you guess where I was?

EDIT: eh oui, j'étais bien à Oslo! :)
Le parc s'appelle le Frogner Parken et on y trouve beaucoup de sculptures de l'artiste (norvégien bien sûr) Vigeland. Le musée FRAM et le batiment triangulaire renferme un bateau construit dans les années 1890 et raconte l'histoire extraordinaire de marins et scientifiques norvegiens et leur aventure au pole nord entre 1983 et 1986. Et la vue sur la ville, et avec dans le fond, Holmenkollen et la piste de saut à ski.

Blondie

2011-05-05T20:23:00.000+02:00

Blonds have more fun. Summer is coming. I want to have the same hair colour as when I was a child. I need a change. I like the way I look when my hair is lighter. I want to look more Swedish.

For all of these reasons (well not the last one, that one was a joke)... tada!

One More Time

2011-05-05T08:17:00.001+02:00

Elle + I = true

2011-05-02T10:24:00.001+02:00

Elle US gets me. By telling them I like Sancerre and my ideal holiday would be snorkeling in Costa Rica, they can tell I'm more of the classic type. Amazing, uh?

Source: ELLE USA

And you? What type does Elle say you are?

Converse

2011-04-30T10:24:00.002+02:00

You remember my virtual design (see here)?

Converse themselves did a special shoe for the 25th anniversary of Super Mario. How cool is it? Check the star. And what? Mario is 25 already, are we that old? Let's put it that way: we're the Super Mario generation. It sounds better doesn't it? ;)

Easter Sunday

2011-04-29T10:20:00.000+02:00

Mexico: part IV

2011-04-28T10:24:00.000+02:00

Yes it's not over! Well soon... this is the last part of my trip. Can't believe it was so long ago already. But I can't complain since I have wonderful memories, great pictures and some nice small reminders such as earings and bracelets. If you want to read the other parts of the travel, here is part I, part II and part III.

So! The date is now January 4th and on that day I have tried all the possible means of transport: taxi, plane, taxi, bus and taxi again. Going from Mexico City to Tuxtla Gutierrez and then Palenque in the Chiapas region. Left Mexico around 8AM and arrived at around 1AM... Long day.

On the following morning, I eat breakfast, take a "colectivo" (one of these volkswagen mini-buses where in Europe you can have 8 people, slightly more in Latin America), get my ticket, find a personal guide and here we go, let's get blown away by this magical place. Palenque is one of the highlight of this trip, truly. OMG, that's all I can say...

After a few hours on the spot and a quick visit to the museum to see a tumb and some jade masks (impressive), I go back to the city and wait for my bus to take me to San Cristobal de las Casas. And from 30 to 13 degrees... although I knew it, I still got a bit of a chock when I got out of the bus, brrrr!

San Cristobal is another highlight of the trip. It's a small town right in the maya region and a lot of maya people living in the small villages around come to the city to sell their handicrafts and their harvests. The women still wear traditional dresses with different colours and patterns for each village. It makes the city very colourful and very vibrant.

There are a lot of tourists, mainly backpackers in the city but somehow you don't see them everywhere as they melt naturally in the crowd. It's very different from Yucatan and Cancún where you have the Americans on one side and the locals on the other one. Here everyone mix and respect each other.

There is an amazing market where I bought almost all the presents for my friends and family there, very convenient to have it on the last days of the trip, hehe! I stayed there 1,5 days and I wish I could have stayed longer but with some company, I think I missed a part of the great thing about San Cristobal. Go out in the evening, talk with people, hang out... Who wants to go back with me? ;)

After San Cristobal, I went to the Canyon del Sumidero, the last thing on my list. It was a bit strange since I was the only foreigner there but that doesn't scare me away. Hop! On the boat, put some sunscreen (sun+ water = bad combination), sit tight and here we go! The scenery was impressive and I saw some cool animals. I saw some crocodiles! Ok they were sleeping but still, hehe!

On the following day, I sent my postcards (which took approximatively 2 months to arrive, I had given up upon and thought they were lost for ever...), flew back to Mexico city, had a great lunch with my friends, met Carlos & Alba for a last drink, back to the airport and back to Sweden via Paris. In economy this time. Trust me, the difference is big... Especially the room for the legs. But if they send me back to Mexico in economy tomorrow, will I go? Hell yes! Can't wait to go back...

Shades of pink

2011-04-27T12:00:00.001+02:00

Pink à la sping 2011.

I love spring!

2011-04-25T22:20:00.000+02:00

Don't you?

Shoes

2011-04-14T13:25:00.002+02:00

I love shoes. That's a fact. Think if I could design shoes some days. Well I can and I have. OK, I started with an easy model: Converse but still it's my design, my colours. They even have my name on it! Do you like them?

Do you want to design yours? Go there: www.converse.com. Unfortunately they deliver only in the US... So I'll have to wait until I can see and feel my masterpiece in real life...

The beginning of stardom?

2011-04-09T13:37:00.000+02:00

Does it start with honey in your own name? ;)

Woman and child

2011-04-03T14:30:00.000+02:00

There's a woman and a child in me. The woman likes fashion and magazines, the little girl remembers eating Dinausorus biscuits when she was younger. They both got to take something back from France. Everybody's happy!

I love pink!

2011-04-02T18:55:00.000+02:00

Drinking this tonight. :)

Competition

2011-03-27T19:57:00.001+02:00

As you know I am making a website/blog in my search for my new job and I need your help for my header. Here are some options, please let me know which one (or two) you like best. And if there is one you don't like at all.

I need as many answers as possible so please, vote, vote vote! Either in the comments or using the poll on the right. Thanks!

Option 1 - Bohuslän, Sweden

Option 2 - Pyrenees and garden, France

Option 3 - Pyrenees, France

Option 4 - Palenque, Mexico

Option 5 - Puerto Morelos, Mexico


Option 6 - Tulum, Mexico

Option 7 - Tulum, Mexico

All pictures are taken by me. In case you wondered.

Paris

2011-03-26T15:16:00.000+01:00

I was in Paris a month and a half ago. I was there to celebrate Xmas with my family. In the middle of February yes. I was in Mexico over Xmas and New Year so I didn't have the chance of celebrating with them at the "right" date. Furthermore, my sister Gratianne was leaving for Canada a couple of weeks later so we wanted to use this occasion to be all together since we didn't know when the next time will be.

Or so we thought at that time. And now, a month a half later, we're going to meet again. Gratianne and I are flying back for a couple of days. Unfortunately it's under sad circumstances. But I will use this time to see my family, hug them very strong and enjoy a couple of days in the springy Paris.

New blog

2011-03-26T15:01:00.002+01:00

I've started a new blog this week. Well actually 3 but two are different steps towards a "Looking for a job" website. Stay tuned.

In the same time, you can start reading: http://lorrainedaum.tumblr.com/ which is another one personal blog. I don't know exactly how I will do with these two blogs. For the moment, this one will be more about me,a bout my life, my travels and so on. And the other one, more like a dashboard for things I find on the internet, videos, website, what's happening on my twitter and so on. Blogspot for the IRL Lorraine, Tumblr for the Internet Lorraine.

That's idea so far, we'll see how it works.

Mars and Venus

2011-03-14T21:41:00.003+01:00

Last week I had some friends visiting from France, my dear Fanny and her friends/colleagues. When I opened my cupboard and Benoit saw that (see picture), he started to laugh.

He clearly doesn't know what it is:
- to be a girl
- addicted to chocolate
- who lives abroad
- where you can't buy Côte d'Or or Poulain
- And no Bonne Maman jam!!!!

Otherwise he would definitely not laugh... ;-)

Mexico: part III

2011-03-10T20:51:00.009+01:00

Yes, more Mexico! We're not done yet. As I told you I had four mini-trips during these three weeks and this part took place between December 30th and January 3rd. I flew from the East coast of Yucatan to the West coast (via Mexico City). We rented a house, Viviana & Maite and a couple of friends of them Paco and Carlos. It was situated a couple of km north of Ixtapa that you can see with a red star on the map below.

The house was on the beach, litterally on the beach. When you went out of the house, you had a small garden with some hammocks and in front of it, the beach and the Pacific Ocean. Just magic...

Our days looked like this:
- I wake up at 8 am (usually the first in the house)
- I go out, enjoy the light, the morning, the quietness, the magic of it...

- The other wake up (around 8.30-9) and we have breakfast: quesadillas or chilaquiles, some fresh fruits, corn flakes, ...
- We go for a walk on the beach or sunbathe for an hour or so
- Around 10.30-11 it's getting too warm so we go lie on some deckchairs in the shadows and we read, sleep, lie in the hammock, listen to music... and this until around 15 with a pause around 12 or 13 to open a couple of beers and chips or dips (and some vegetables I didn't know)

- around 15 we drive to the village that is around 10 km away and have lunch at one of the restaurants on the beach. Guacamole, pescadillas, fish, shrimps, piña colada, beers... REALLY good food and a lot! All this for like 8€. Nothing in other words. And coconut icecream. Very important! My oh my! The best coconut icecream in the world! So creamy and fresh and tasty. Paco and I become addicted in just 1 or 2 days... So when they didn't have it on the last day, it was like the end of the world...
- Around 17 we went back to the house, read some more, talk some more, have more beers, have a shower...
- no dinner since we were still full from the amazing lunch
- and usually go to bed around 22, read a bit and sleep

And here we go again on the day after. Like this for 5 days. Heaven on earth! Even more if you consider that I saw some dolphins and I saw some turtles when they were born. There was a turtle sanctuary just beside the garden. Turtles come in October-November and lay their eggs in some nests directly on the beach. But because they have so many predators (dogs, crabs, birds), some people take gently the eggs and put them in the corral you can see on the right on the picture here above. It's a great and really important job because only 1 or 10.000 turtles usually survive. It's a very threatened species. Poor them.

The eggs lie in the sand for 45 days and after E-XAC-TLY 45 days, the little turtles start to come out. And some came out during the days we were there. And once again, in order to protect them, the people take the baby turtles and release them around 4 or 5 meters from the water. Indeed the turtles need to walk at least 4 meters on the sand to kind of impress on their bodies the identity of the beach. And later when they are adults and it's time for them to go and lay eggs, they return to the exact same beach when they were born. Crazy uh? Nature truely is amazing. Look at this baby turtle, isn't it the cutest thing?

These five days were really amazing and on the 3rd none of us want to leave. We made lots of plans on buying a house, on renting this house again, and many more nice dreams. :)

Stripes

2011-03-03T22:11:00.001+01:00

An obsession for stripes? I don't know what you mean...

PS: all from H&M...

Russian Red

2011-02-25T21:51:00.002+01:00

I went out with red lipstick tonight. For the first time. Russian red from Mac. Not quite used to it but still I like it. :)

Do you?

Mexico: part II

2011-02-16T18:26:00.011+01:00

Before you read part II, you can have a look at part I again here, I have added a couple of pictures. :)

And now we're back to Christmas day and a flight from Mexico City to Cancún. I arrived at night and the only thing I could see was all the lights from the big hotels that defined the bay and the city. It was magical, a bit like in Harry Potter when he's flying over London by night... well magical and enchanted was the feeling. I was staying in Puerto Morelos, around 20 km south of Cancún in a hotel owned by a friend of a friend. Convenient since I was going to be alone these 4 days. Luis was very nice and he helped me a lot planning my days (I was doing it one day at a time, each day planning the day after).

The hotel and the garden: I was staying in the blue bungalow

On the first day I went to Playa del Carmen a city that is supposed to be more relaxed and more typical that Cancún. Gosh! Then I don't want to see Cancún! Playa was already very Americanised, lots of tourist shops, everybody trying to sell you stuff, talking to you in English, giving you prices in dollars, prices very expensive compared to what I had already seen the week before... But it was OK for a day, I bougt myself a hat, had lunch on the beach, had a massage, walked around, bought some jewels... a nice and relaxed day.

Lunch on the beach at Playa del Carmen

On the following day I went to Chichen Itza with a day tour. Although I didn't want to be in a bus full of Americans and Canadians, it seemed the best solution. In the bus there was a girl from Venezuela who was also there alone so I spent the day with her, she was really nice and I was happy to have some company. First we went to a Cenote, that's an opening in the ground, filled with water, you can read more about it here. People could jump and swim in this one but it was a bit chilly and windy so I didn't. After that lunch in some kind of cafeteria while watching some traditional dancers. And finally we got to the site itself. The group composed of Americans and Canadians went with our guide while the Venezuelian girl and I could join another group to have the visit in Spanish. 8 people instead of more than 40: much better! In 2007, there was a vote on the Internet to elect the new 7 wonders in the world and Chichen Itza is now the 4th. It is very impressive to see these huge Pyramids and buildings that were constructed by these Maya people who didn't know the wheel! And the mathematical and astronomical precision is all the more impressive. For instance the big pyramid has 4 sides and 91 steps on each side, 4 x 91 = 364 + the altar on top = 365, like the days in a year. Everything is like that! Very impressive and a very interesting day. I was very happy to have been there.

The Pyramid of Kukulkan (Sun) in Chichen Itza

On the following day, I had the opportunity to have an initiation in scuba diving, not snorkelling but the real thing with the bottles and everything. I have several people around me who have been diving for years: my brother, a good friend of mine, my cousin... but I was never really interested. I never really thought about it. But when I understood Yucatan was a very famous region for diving, I didn't want to miss the opportunity. And I am glad I didn't! OMG! It was really great! The weather was quite bad the day before so apparently the conditions were not optimal (poor visibility) but they seemed good enough for me. I was a lot of fished, many with vibrant colours, coral,... all sorts of things! It was like being in Finding Nemo! I was to do it again now!

Puerto Morelos

And then came my last day, way too soon since I really like that region... On that day I went to another place I really really wanted to see Tulum. That's what you saw on the sneek peak there last month. It's one of the most recent Maya cities, a more simple one since the civilization had already started its decadence (after that, the arrival of the Spanish in the 1520's only accelerated the process). Tulum means wall and that's because the city is closed by a wall on 3 sides, the see being the protection on the last side. Very different from Chichen Itza, much smaller, smaller constructions but kind of cozy and human-sized in a way. Also the premises are very well preserved with well defined waling alleys, green grass, big flower bushes. I feels like a park in a way. And then when you get close to the sea the view is just... breathtaking!!! With this white sand and turquoise water... quite unique! I loved it!

Tulum

After that I went back to the hotel to collect my luggage and say good buy to Luis and went straight to the airport, time for me to change coast. Direction Pacific coast to go and celebrate the new year...

Giff

2011-02-08T21:42:00.006+01:00

Before I continue with part II (and III and IV) of my Mexico trip, I have to tell you what I've been doing the last 10 or 12 days (and why I haven't been blogging more). Like last year (search in the archive for February 2010 on the right column), I have been to the Gothenburg International Film Festival or GIFF. It is actually ranked 16 in the world for film festivals, not too bad, uh? And it's bigger than the Stockholm film festival which makes me a little proud (normal friendly rivalry between Gothenburg and Stockholm). It last 11 days and more than 450 films and documentaries from all over the world are shown.

Looking at the movies I saw last year, I saw mainly French and English/American movies. This year I have been much more eclectic and I have taken more risks. A couple of time, it failed but most of the times I have been happy with my choices.

Here is a grading (out of 5) and ranking of the movies I have seen. 18 in 10 days, you understand why it was quiet here then! ;)

Black Swan (USA): 5
Jag saknar dig (SWE): 5
The King's speech (UK): 4,5
Kongen av Bastøy (NOR): 4,5
King's Road (ISL): 4,5
Exit through the gift shop (UK): 4
Juan (DEN): 4
Run if you can (GER): 4
Nannerl, Mozart's sister (FRA): 4
Limbo (NOR): 4
Carlos (FRA): 4
Lily Sometimes (FRA): 3,5
Abel (MEX): 3,5
Never Let me go (UK): 3
Hereafter (USA): 3
Rabbit Hole (USA): 2
The mill and the cross (POL): 2
CaraCremada (SPA): 1

Mexico: part I

2011-02-02T14:21:00.005+01:00

OK, I've been back for more than 3 weeks now. Time to start writing... So, as you read here, it took some time to get to Mexico but as it turned out, we were very lucky. We only lost one day. Out of three whole weeks, not too bad. My trip and three weeks were divided in 4 parts, like 4 mini-trips. So I will tell you about each one in different posts. The first mini trip was Mexico City and surroundings.

On the first days, we took it easy, like a slow start and tried to adjust to the new time: I woke up around 6 the first day and 7 the following days and was exhausted around 21.30-22 each night for a couple of days. We also wanted to take in the sun and the lovely weather: blue sky, sunny and around 25 degrees. Very nice and warm after leaving Sweden and minus temperatures!

The first day (20th Dec), we went to La Condesa, a neighbourhood in the center where my friends Viviana & Maite were living before they came to Sweden. Most of their friends still live there, it's a young and hip neighbourhood. We had lunch with their friends in a restaurant and ate a lot! But OMG that food was amazing!

The following day, we took the Turibus to visit the city centre. It's a two-floor red bus like in England but open upstairs. We drove through a couple of neighbourhoods and famous spots (La Condesa, La Zona Rosa, Avenida de la Reforma, etc.) until getting to the centre and El Zócalo. That's the main square, which is one of the biggest in the world. Around it you have El Palacio Nacional (where the Government is) and the Cathedral. That's where we dropped off the bus to walk and see the famous and fabulous Post Office, the Franz Mayer museum and the Palacio de Bellas Artes. We had a late lunch in an old restaurant (La Opera) with traditional food. The funny story about the restaurant is that Porfirio Diaz and other famous Mexicans that were involved in the 1910 Revolution used to come here and eat and one day Diaz was upset and he took out his gun and shot in the ceiling and you can still see the bullet hole in the ceiling. Very touristic-nice-little-story but there were no tourists in the restaurant, only Mexicans! And me then... ;)

Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City

On the 22nd, I went in the morning to the huge Museo de Antropología which, apart from being a cool 70's-style building, hosts a huge collection about the many cultures in Mexico: aztecs, olmecs, mayas, etc. You could spend the whole day in the museum and not see everything. But the problem is that the collection is so rich that after a couple of hours you get an overdose of information. But it was a great foretaste of things I was going to see during the following weeks. There my friend Carlos came and picked me up. Carlos and I studied together in Halmstad in 2005 and we've always been in contact since then. I was so nice to see him again after all this time and still feel like it was the week before. Anyway. Carlos also used to live in la Condesa until last summer when he moved south to San Ángel. So we headed south to Coyoacán (neighbourhood next to San Angel) for lunch but more than this for the famous blue house: Frida Kahlo's house. I had already been there in 2002 but who cares? The house where she lived with her husband Diego Rivera (also a very famous painter) was transformed in a museum so you can see how she lived, where she painted, etc. After that we went to pick up Carlos' girlfriend Alba who is half Mexican, half French and totally cool. And what did we do? Eat and drink. It seems that's all you do in Mexico, eat! Hehe!

Museo de Antropologia, Mexico City

On the 23rd, it was time for a thing that stood quite high on the list of things I wanted to do. Especially because I had wanted to go in 2002 and didn't because of wrong information. So this time I wasn't going to miss it! So we got up early and headed south of Mexico City to Taxco. Taxco is a small town quite high in the mountains and it's a mining town. What do they dig there? Silver! Yes, Taxco is the solver capital. Now you know why I desperately wanted to go there! Once a week you have a market with lots of sellers in the street and where you can bargain a lot. It was not market day when we were there but there is still silver everywhere in the city. As we discovered they were two kind of shops, some well established shops with the bigger and more expensive pieces. Probably the most adapted to our European taste. And some mini-markets, usually in the cellars, sometimes driven by cooperatives where you get to more simple pieces but at good prices. I could have spent millions there! But I was very reasonable and bought a necklace and 4-5 pairs of earrings since I now can wear some. Plus some presents but I won't tell what since I haven't given them yet, hehe!

Taxco

In the evening I stayed in Cuernavaca, 1h south of Mexico City and half way between Taxco and Mexico City. That's where Viviana's parents live. Cuernavaca is called the city of the eternal spring, it's around 27-28 degrees almost all year round. Amazing uh? But be careful, when it rains, it rains A LOT! Fortunately, the weather was great when I was there. The day after, on the 24th, when went to the city centre and visited Hernan Cortez house that he had let built in 1522 before we went to a hotel with a precious hidden garden with peacocks, parrots etc. There we had some margaritas and I learnt that there are at least 3 ways of doing margarita: frozen, on the rocks and another one but I can remember which. Since they have so many tequilas in Mexico, they also ask you which tequila you want in your margarita. The one on the rock is much stronger that the frozen one, let me tell you! Hehe! After that I headed back to Mexico City where Carlos picked me up and we went to his parents house for a traditional Christmas dinner. The food is different from what we have in Europe but the principle is the same: gather with your family, eat & drink and share presents. Being all together being the most important thing of course. It was a great experience and I wished I hadn't been so tired because of the jetlag.

On the 25th, Christmas day, Alba's family came over for lunch and we had more food! I also called France and talked to everyone in the family. It was nice but strange to imagine all of them without me... well, well, that was my choice, right? ;) In the afternoon, I headed to the airport because I was flying to Cancún and mini-trip number 2. I was flying with a local low cost company but let me tell you, nothing to do with the shitty RyanAir, the service and the quality was great! Like Air France or Lufthansa, only with cheaper prices. The flight left from an airport around 30km outside of Mexico City so I went there by bus. And I actually did my check-in at the bus station, I had already done the check-in online so I had my boarding pass but I dropped my luggage there and they took care of it at the airport. I thought that was great! Get off the bus and go directly to security, no need to worry about your luggage!

And there you are, 25th of December and I arrived in Cancún in the night so that's the beginning of Mexico: part II...

Sneak Peak

2011-01-18T23:45:00.002+01:00

Tulum, Yucatan.

More to come soon. ;)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-13T23:29:00.002+01:00

I'm back! Came back Sunday night without any problems. Nothing to do with the way to Mexico, neither in terms of delays nor in terms of comfort. Travelled in economy this time and let me tell you, the biggest difference is SPACE.

Anyway, when I came back I made the big mistake of not putting an alarm clock so I slept 13 hours! 13 hours! I slept until 13.30 which never happens to me nowadays, I never sleep later than 10 or 11 AM (unfortunately) even if I go to be very late. After that, my sleeping pattern has been a disaster. I don't feel jetlagged or tired, just insomniac. Although I go to bed around 23 or midnight I just can't sleep before 2 or 3 AM. Which means it takes 2 or 3 hours to fall asleep... and the one who know me, well you that's not usual!

I know we're already mid-January (OMG, is this year going as fast as last year, which just pffffiout disappeared) but in a way, it feels 2011 started on Monday morning for me so...

... but I made it!

2010-12-24T02:38:00.003+01:00

I'm in Mexico. Been here for a week now. Things turned out quite well in the end, but I was lucky, very lucky! Here is a quick sum up of how lucky I got.

Friday evening: packing, got a phone call from my friend Viviana (who was travelling with me together with Maite) "flights are cancelled". Calling KLM who tells me there are no availabilities before Monday... Deciding with V and M to go to the airport on Saturday morning with the luggage and see how things are going.

Saturday morning, 8 o'clock: after 4 hours of sleep (couldn't sleep the night before so I watch Entourage until 4AM), we're going to the airport and the KLM disk. All major airports are closed heathrow, Amsterdam, Frankfurt... It's a total chaos in Europe. But Paris is still open. The girls are flying business, me economy. The business line is muuuuch shorter so they ask the lady if she can help me as well. The lady says she can't because she has too much work and keeps processing Maite's file. After that she tells us to keep our voice low and that she's been processing mine as well. We are flying to Paris the same day and to Mexico the day after. In business all 3 of us: she gave me an upgrade!!! We renamed her "Sunshine".
After that, we go and check in our luggages, pass security and to the Business lounge. The clock is 11 something and we finally get some breakfast. Wait for a couple of hours since the flight is delayed and finally depart to Paris.
Get our luggages back and go and check in at the hotel we booked from the business lounge. Shower, TV, dinner and sleep. Tomorrow is another day.

Sunday: morning: Maite studies, Viviana reads her mail and plays on her iPhone, I watch TV. At 12.30 we leave the hotel and head towards the terminal 2E and check-in for us, lucky business travellers. Took around 2 hours. Umpf! Under that time, we learn that Gothenburg airport is closed and that there are no connections between Got and Paris... We made the good choice to leave on that Saturday! (Amsterdam was still closed...)
Our flight was initially planned at 16.15 but delayed at 18.15, when we checked-in the stewardess mentioned the possibility of a departure at 22.54, ouch! We decided to forget that possibility and went to the business lounge. There, they said they would announce the boarding time. So we start eating, reading and anything to try to kill time. After a couple of hours (we arrived there around 15), Viviana and I decide to go duty free shopping, on the way there we check the screen that shows 18.45 instead of 18.15. "At least things are happening" we think... When we get back to the lounge, it now says 19.15... eh, I hope we're not going to be delayed 30 more min every 5 minutes! Back at our seats with more food and more drink and more bore... Every once in a while during the whole afternoon I was checking the screens when suddenly our flight says boarding. So I go to the info disk and ask "yes, they started boarding, you should go there now". They never announced anything! Thank God I checked!
So we start going to the gate, and do the boarding. There's no queue. Mmmh... are we first? After that we arrive in those glass corridors but the doors to the plane are closed, we push the door anyway, get in the plane: empty! Dirty like after a flight! But not a single person! We take a couple of pics in the pilot cabin and then leave: this can't be our plane... That's when I spot a bus under the glass corridor with Mexico and our flight number on it. We go down and get in the bus together with another couple. "Is this the first bus?" we ask. "No, it's the third, you're the last passengers". Ooops! When we get in the plane, the crew greats us, closes the doors and says Let's go! They were really waiting for us!!!
The plane was half full only due to all the people that couldn't reach Paris for their connection... But anyway in business you don't notice such a big difference... What a service, what a level of comfort. AirFrance for long and short flights is really not the same. Oh my god the food! And the quality of the staff. Let's pray I get and update on the way back too! ;)

When we landed in Mexico City, the pilot announced us that after we left, it started snowing again in Paris and that they had closed the airport again. Lucky is the name for this trip for me.

After that, all has gone very well but that will be another post. Stay tuned! Pics to come as well...

Still far away...

2010-12-17T23:26:00.006+01:00

On the 30th of Dec, I'm supposed to arrive there...

Actually I will get there. And stay 5 days. But this afternoon it just got a bit further away. It's snowing all over Europe and particularly in the Netherlands. They have actually never seen that much snow. Good for them. Not so good for me. My flight tomorrow was cancelled. And all the flights on Sunday and fully booked. So it seems I won't be leaving before Monday. Just lost two days of my trip, just like that.

The positive part is that I will still have the beach and coronas and everything! Stay tuned!

Just sayin'

2010-12-10T17:31:00.006+01:00

Next Saturday, instead of flying to France and my family for Xmas, I'm going to Mexico. I went to Mexico in 2002 for 3 weeks and loved the country (and Guatemala too). If you've read this blog for a while you will know I have Mexican friends here in Sweden and I'm going with them, we'll be there for 3 whole weeks. Woooo, I can't wait! I'm going to travel quite a lot inside the country since there are so many places I want to see. It's actually going to be like 4 mini trips.

This little red star on the map is where I will stay for 4 days and the blue zone is where I'll be going. The place where I will stay is a small city called Puerto Morelios, a few kilometers south of Cancún. And I will stay in a small hotel owned by a friend of a friend.

It looks like that.

Not too bad, uh?

Miaou!

2010-12-09T17:17:00.000+01:00

L'amour

2010-11-26T11:31:00.004+01:00

Edit: Pas de message caché. A défaut d'avoir trouvé l'amour en chair et en os j'ai au moins un coussin à prendre dans mes bras. ;)

How to become a star style blogger

2010-11-23T11:29:00.003+01:00

Click on the picture to make it larger.

Source : http://www.onesocialmedia.com/blog/2010/11/how-to-become-a-star-style-blogger-infographic/

Liselotte Watkins

2010-11-03T12:34:00.010+01:00

The other day, while ready Metro in the morning I stumble upon this ad. And I immediately fell in love with it. It's so different from all the glasses ads I've seen before.
I recognized Liselotte's style directly and wanted to see if there were more ads. And I found this one.
Now the marketer in me is talking but I really like the fact that you really can see the product, the brand (both Lensway and Givenchy/Diesel) and the price. What else do you need in an ad? Perfect realisation!

And of course I love the fashion touch! ;)

I saw those ads last week and just a couple of days later, I saw this ad, for Absolut Vodka this time.
Do you recognize the style on the bottle? Yes, it's Liselotte Watkins again! She even got her own limited edition. Woaw! Impressive. It's with a coffee flavor apparently.

But who's Liselotte Watkins? are you thinking now. She's a Swedish fashion stylist and illustrator that now lives in Milan, Italy. And since she's Swedish we've see quite a lot of her work here in Sweden. But even if you don't live in Sweden, you may have already seen some of her work.

Remember the Marimekko collection that H&M did a couple of years ago? She did the illustrations.

She got famous internationally when Miucca Prada noticed her and asked her to design some print in 2008 for the Miu Miu brand. Here are some pics from the collection:

If you want to see more of her work: click here (her agency's website).
If you want to see some of her but also her inspiration and her life, check her blog.

Surprise

2010-10-28T17:19:00.004+02:00

Some of you have already seen it on FB but... Tadaa!

How cute is that?

2010-10-27T14:52:00.001+02:00

The red coat

2010-10-20T11:57:00.004+02:00

Yes or no? I've always wanted to have a red coat. Well to tell the truth, I'd like to have many coats with bold colours and patterns but let's start with a red one, you can wear it more often. I've already bought a winter coast last month, a bit more sporty and with fake sheep skin inside. Not super chic but oh so cosy! I love it! I told myself I wouldn't buy any other then for the season but then I saw this one. Red, a bit militar style, the big button, the stand-up collar... Ah!!!

What do you think, yes or no?

Tea for two

2010-10-11T17:40:00.003+02:00

I don't like coffee, don't like the taste, don't like the smell and certainly don't like people's loud slurp when they drink it although it's boiling hot.

Tea however I like. A lot. As you can see. There are unfortunately a couple of flavors on the pic that I don't like (my sister bought them when she was still living here) so I don't know what to do with them.

Will probably take them to the office some day. Have you already done that? Taken to the office some stuff you didn't want but couldn't bear to throw away?

Anyway, next time you come to my place for a cup of tea, you know you'll have the choice! :)

Shoes and Boots

2010-10-03T22:58:00.004+02:00

In case you don't know it yet, autumn in Gothenburg is a wet season. Yes, it unfortunately rains often. And a lot. And as much as I own quite a few pairs of shoes, I don't have any good pairs for the rain. Already last autumn I was looking for one but didn't find anything. I was looking in France first but I was there in July and it was too early, the autumn collection hadn't arrived yet. And in Sweden, there was nothing nice. Si I wore sneakers when the weather was bad. And got wet feet. Spent many days in socks in the office with the shoes drying on the heater.

This year, I started my search again. I was in France at the end of August-beginning of September and thought I would be more lucky. Mmmh, no no! I went one day through the entire city, went in every single shoe store (ask Gratianne, who kindly came along to support me in my quest although she hates shopping). Didn't find anything.

So I came back to Sweden. And this time I found a solution. Rubber boots for the days it's raining. I just need a pair of ballerinas in my handbag to switch when I arrive and the office. Et voilà! And while we're at it, I found these cool panther boots. I like the panter pattern and wanted to by some ballerina ones this summer. I saw some on H&M's webshop but missed them. In the end, I'm happy with those because I think I can wear them all year round.

What about you, how do you face rainy autumn days?

Miam Miam

2010-09-30T15:02:00.003+02:00

Louis Vuitton cupcakes. Sweet, no? ;)

Stereotypes?

2010-09-28T16:04:00.001+02:00

Want more stereotypes? Check this page. ;)

Top 10

2010-09-21T09:53:00.004+02:00

The search engine Ask Jeeves has listed the 'top 10 unanswerable questions' over the last 10 years. Which one is your favorite?

1 What is the meaning of life?

2 Is there a God?

3 Do blondes have more fun?

4 What is the best way to lose weight?

5 Is there anybody out there?

6 Who is the most famous person in the world?

7 What is love?

8 What is the secret to happiness?

9 Did Tony Soprano die?

10 How long will I live?

Do blondes have more fun? Haha, love this one!

Belle du monde

2010-09-20T10:59:00.003+02:00

Un post en francais, ca faisait longtemps...

Je viens de lire un article sur Helena Christensen, le mannequin des années 90 qui s'est reconverti en photographe. Elle est mi-Danoise, mi-Péruvienne et a justement fait un reportage photo sur le Pérou en association avec Oxfam (Oxfam France est une association de solidarité internationale qui a pour objectif de construire avec chaque citoyen un monde plus juste, où les droits humains fondamentaux sont respectés, voir leur site internet ici).

Vous pouvez lire l'article avec Helena ici.

Source: ParisMatch

Est-ce qu'elle n'est pas magnifique?

Elections and Google

2010-09-19T22:17:00.002+02:00

Today I've voted. For the second time in Sweden. Yes I can vote in Sweden although I don't have the Swedish nationality. Although I cannot vote to elect the Prime minister.

In France, I can vote for 5 level of jurisdiction: town (village in my case - Artigueloutan), "canton" = a part of the département - Pau-Est, département - Pyrénées Atlantique 64, région Aquitaine, nation - France. The mandates have different lenghts: mainly 5 of 6 years so there are elections nearly every year or every other year...

Here in Sweden there are only 3 levels, town - Göteborg, region - Västra Götaland and nation - Sweden. But the good thing is that all votes are at the same time since all the mandates are 4 years. Each level has a different colour: blue, yellow (yep, Swedish colours) and white. So I voted for two of these three levels: town and region. It took 3 minutes max! Smidigt as Swedes say or smoothly...

After that I went for a walk in the park with my friend Maite and we went and check the seals as usual. And here's what we saw there:

I knew about the Google car but I didn't know Google was using bikes too. We went and chatted with the guy who was really nice and told us that they did use bikes for parks and such.

And you, have you every seen the google car (or bike)?

I love H&M nr I don't know how many

2010-09-16T11:00:00.011+02:00

H&M generated a small revolution in the fashion industry back in 2004 when they announced that no other than Karl Lagerfel would design a collection for them. Here are the previous collaborations, always launched in November:

2004: Karl Lagerfeld
2005: Stella McCartney
2006: Viktor&Rolf (including a wedding gown!)
2007: Roberto Cavalli (and also Madonna or Kylie Minogue)
2008: Comme des Garcons (and also Marimekko, of which I bought some pieces)
2009: in the spring Matthew Williamson (I bought some pieces) and in the autumn Jimmy Choo (I bought some pieces)
2009-2010: Sonia Rykiel (Ibought some pieces)

As you can see they accelerated the tempo last year. And at the same time, some other fashion companies started with collaboration. Last spring, after Sonia Rykiel, I read about people getting tired of these collaborations and that H&M would wisely wait before launching a new one. Or create another revolution of the kind.

And then bam! They dropped the bomb: Lanvin. LANVIN people LANVIN!!! What will be next time, Dior? Ah I couldn't be happier, I love this brand, Alber Elbaz is a genius. So chic, so French, so timelessly modern, so... so unaffordable made affordable thanks to H&M. Thank you H&M!!!

(source: H&M)

The collection will be launched on the 23rd of November and I know this time I will get up veeeery early and queue. I don't know how the collection will look (we'll know on the 2nd of November) but it doesn't matter. Actually I would be happy even if I only got one of these blue boxes... I don't need anything else, 'cause I could watch the box everyday, put my jewels or my nail lacquers or any other girl stuff in it.

But if the boxes include some of these ballerinas for instance or a garment, I will for sure not say no. ;)

I've been shopping

2010-09-09T15:42:00.003+02:00

So I'm back.And I've been shopping a little during these three weeks...
1- two books, one in French, the latest by Marc Levy, the other one in English, also the latest but from Lauren Weisberger, the girl who wrote The devil wears Prada
2- A handbad, a smaller one than the ones I have. Inspired by my friend Mélanie, it will be good for travelling
3- Some cookies, macarons to be precise from Saint Jean de Luz
4- Another bag, from Moët & Chandon, works like a computer bag, a portfolio or a handbag: Perfect!
5- Some espadrillos from Saint Jean de Luz as well, I'm starting a tradition of buying a new pair every year (already have some pink and the turquoise pair I've lived in all summer)
6- Some more espadrillos but some real height, love them!
7- Cotton pads, yes there are cotton pads in Sweden but not that big and I find them convenient when I use a lot of make-up
8- Some cream samples I got when I got a facial
9- Chocolate, no explanation needed
10- French magazines, Elle and Vogue. As some of them are special fashion edition, they must have weighed 2-3 kilos all together. Heavy!
11- 3 great bracelets
12- Tea from le Palais des thés, mmmh!
13- Two Petit Bateau T-shirts. Love Petit Bateau, unfortunately I bought the wrong size and they are a bit to large but they will make great pyjamas (will go with nr 15)
14- Some Tees from Monoprix, loooove Monoprix
15- A pyjama short from Monoprix as well, looooove Monoprix!

When I left, my luggage weighed 19 kilos including some clothes for my sister. When I came back, it weighed 24... I blame it on the magazines, what do you think?

And you why did you buy this summer?