Friday, 30 November 2007

PREPPY PREPPY


Shirt by RL, vest and skirt from H&M
earring by my friend Johanna (the one who also made the bows )

Yesterday was cute-and-preppy day. Got up early and went to the gym and then I did soem work in a clothing store I used to work at before, and where I still do some shifts about once or twice a month (so I can keep the personel-discount :)

In the evening I meet up with some old colleagues from the hard-working days for a little-christmas reunion. Those guys know how to party! I might have been more dressed for ska, but we went to an indie-electro night that this night played something more close good old 90's techno (and I got a lot of flashbacks from my late teen years, uh). And then we went all bananas.

Wednesday, 28 November 2007

MY STYLE DEFINED?


Some time ago my boyfriend said "When spring comes, we should take a photo of you by our car like in the cover of The Long Blondes album, just for the fun of it". I can't remember that one, I guess we have too many albums, so he has to remind me. "It's the one with the girl that has your style, leaning against an old car". I almost remember the cover, but find it more interesting to hear how he would define my style, its not like he goes around analyzing my appearance every day. "Well" he says, like it was obvious, "you look like your in France and it's autumn all the time".

The Long Blondes are worth checking out anyhow. They sound good (I wouldn't list them as my favourites though), have arty covers and look great - go google some pics of them, the singer Kate looks fab all the time.

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

DINNER AT A PLACE WITH COLOURFUL LIGHTS ON THE WALL


My friend and I were supposed to go out to this fancy sushi place to dine but it was fully booked, and so were all the other sushi places we tried. We ended up having something totally different but it was really nice anyway.

K. was wearing a nice patterned dress from Zara with super shiny Vagabond boots and I had one of the dresses I've made and a cardigan form Sisters that was once nice but now feels a bit worn out (so I regretted wearing it).

YOU CAN'T REALLY OVERDOSE ON SUSHI


My boyfriend picked me up from work with our car (which is worth mentioning because it's a museum-registered car so we don't drive around in it that much) and when we got home I found out he had made me sushi, which I love. I think we had almost 50 pieces toghether and even though you get very full, you can't really overdose on sushi, not even if you are schedguled to have it with your friend the next day. I could have sushi every day!
(But sometimes I feel a bit bad about eating fish - I've been a vegetarian for years, at some point a vegan too, but I started having fish about a year and a half ago. I really like tuna and that's almsot the worst one can have from an ecological point of view. But then again - I smoke cigarettes and drive an old car so that makes me an ecological monster anyway, tuna or no tuna...)

Sunday, 25 November 2007

TO THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN WHERE ALL HOPES SANK SEARCHING FOR YOU


I had been waiting for this. On Friday the film Control finally arrived here and I went to see it straight away. I thought it was great but I'm not sure if I would appreciate is as much if I wouldn't be a fan of Joy Division or like new wave in general. But then again, even if their music is present all along the movie it is not so much the story of that band but more the tragic tale of a young talent that just couldn't come to one with himself or handle the life around him. And if one is not in to any of that it's still worth seeing because the movie is beautifully filmed, all in black and white, and Sam Reily as Ian Curtis is really really good (and looks very stylish all the time).

The real Ian Curtis

Thursday, 22 November 2007

OH, I'M EATING OUT AGAIN



Dress: H&M, coat: S&M, cardigan and bag: vintage, shoes: Fabbri
gold shimmering Khmer-scarf: from Cambodia, and to add a litle kitsch: Vishnu pendant bought in Bali.

In the evening I made myself a nice hairdo by forcing my there's something about Mary fringe back with an armada of hairwax. (I used to pull my hair back all the time before when I had a fringe when my hair was dirty or so. But this time the fringe is a lot shorter so it's much harder to get it to stay. Enough said about the firnge now anyway). And then I find myself eating out with my sister at a place we go to quite often, ordering what I always have and a little red wine aswell just to celebreate the fact that, ehrm... it's wednesday and I've done some work... or something. (Next week I'll start cutting back on my expences and I'll just have vegetable soup at home. Or then I'll just stop thinking about this. Normally things always work out anyway :)

THE BAD HAIR DAY



Somteimes I just never learn. Or forget what I've learned. To mention one thing: never go to sleep with wet hair (to be more exact - with a wet fringe) unless you don't want to have a really really bad hair day the next day. Yesterday I woke up looking like a medieval village fool, with my fringe standing right up in three directions. And once its up, it wont come down. For a while at least. But I didn't really have anything special to do so I just pulled my beret on to cover my head when going to the store. But then my phone rang. It was one of my employers calling from his vacation in Thailand with a slight emergency - some cloth samples that were already late for the buyers had arrived from the factory and had to be sent forward right away. This is a small company so at the moment the only one who had the time to do it was me, and as I can't say no or didn't want to ruin anybodys vacation I promised to fix it.

Still looking like an idiot I dragged myself tout to the industry area where office is, hoping that I wouldn't run in to anybody . But its a office space with many companies and I had to ask around to find boxes and stuff so I flashed my nice hairdo around to a lot of people. (Not that it really matters weather I look stupid or not. But, of course, I'd rather look my best all the time and verywhere)

Being organized not my strongest side - when it comes to work, the visual work I do, I'm very concentrated and exact, but otherwise I guess I'm a bit more... relaxed (or as I use to defend myself to my boyfriend when he goes crazy and calls me lazy: Im just very bohemic). So now I had tens of samples with different order numbers and codes to be sent to the right buyers and matching lists and tables are really not my strongest feature. And I wanted to get the hell out of there as son as possible. But after some cigarettes, a little swearing and some more concentration I managed to get all the boxes and sample bags to the post office.

And then, to once again show to myself that I really never learn , I went and bought myself those expensive dates and a costy smoothie on my way home.

Wednesday, 21 November 2007

WORKS OF ART



A piece of cloth can be a breathtaking work of art. I admire the way some designers can turn fabric into form.

Somtimes I google around the internet for new designers and right now I am totally in love with these two; Helena Hörstedt and SokeriaKans (Matleena Hänninen). The black dress is by Helena Hörstedt (the picture is from her site) and the blue skirt by SokeriaKans (picture from her blog).

Does anyone of you know of some interesting designers worth checking out?

www.helenahorstedt.com
www.sokeriakans.com

Monday, 19 November 2007

NOT EASY TO LAY LOW

This is how I should be.

This week did not start well.
I got up too late. Still a bit groggy from the weekend.
Had a lot of things to take care of, but I've just kept pushing them for later.

Most of all, I feel bad beacuse I've spent to much money lately. The main problem being that I've actually eraned too much. Too much for my tax deducation card, that is. So now my tax percent is really really huge (and it is all my fault for not paying attention to it earlier; it's a freelance card so the only one checking up on it is me). I should just cut back on my expences for the rest of the year.

But I really suck on that. I eat out too often, and if I cook at home I always buy the extra good cheese, the really expesive juice (that really fruity one that only lasts for about a day beacuse its so damn fresh and healthy, mmmm) and small extra treats like fresh dates that costs as mucha box as a whole lunch. I also taxi around too much (I didn't notice until last weekend that I have a night bus stopping right oustide my door. I've lived around this neighborhood for three years now. But I still took a cab home that night hehe. I'm not broke yet). And even though I hate the fact that I do, I buy too much stuff otherwise - second hand or not, I still consume. So I should learn to just lay low, stay inside for a coulple of weeks with some cheap but healthy veggie sup and just work work work. But instead I go out with taxi from place to place and buy nice drinks and the next day, tired and hungover, I buy tasty snacks and some music from the internet.

Shame shame on me.

(The painting: In the corner, oil on wood, 2001)

THE LUCKY DRESS


If I would have the need (-or the opportunity, depends on how you see it :) to get lucky, I would have to wear this dress. Every time I've had it something nice happens and I get approeached by a lot more people than normally when I go out, girls and guys alike. Or then I get to appear on lots of photos. It's a bit strange, but nice. I made this dress last year and I propably don't wear it often enough.

Thursday, 15 November 2007

STRIPES AND THICK KNEESOCKS


The boyfriends clohtes are nice and cosy when its cold outside and when one has caught a bit of a cold. I gave him this light-knitted hoodide for his birthday and now I'm just borrowing it while he is away...

Tuesday, 13 November 2007

TEARS

If I write "tear" in the 'search' window in my iTunes this playlist is formed:

The main goal with this one was to listen to Jose Gonzales' fantastic version of "teardrop". (Uh, I feel a bit embarassed about that James Blunt song being there... but my boyfriend bought the album confusing Blunt with Cullum..)

LE NEW BOOT


Inspired by the worker boots I went and got myself a more feminine version for the coming winter. I've been wearing my mother's fabulous suede boots from the seventies since '99, but they're starting to get a bit too worn out by now (and they were brown so I was in a desparate need for warm black shoes). My new shoes are from Vagabond and they have a thick rubber sole that will have to keep me dry. The raw-rubber sole is ugly as hell though, but I painted it with a black shiny paint (that was left over form my bathroom renovation :) and now the boots are all-black and fabulous! WOhoo!

RAIN


At a day like this when the last thing one wants to do is leave the house I feel happy that atelast my feet were dry. It was all due to the boots. Worker boots. Most people get surprised when they hear that I have done a lot of heavy work, actually labour, in my life. Many are the days spent working outside for hours all year round, and one of the good things I have with from that job is a pair of good ol' worker boots (and we're talking the real shit here now, with steelcaps hard enought to wrestle elephants with without broken toes, a warm and furry lining to survuve an arctic cold and comfy enough to walk for days in). Not the kind of shoes me or anyone else would expect to see me wear (even thought one sees a lot of Dr.martens- style boots around otherwise) but oh, it feels amazing to have dry feet all day in spite of the weather. And it reminds me of my grunge years in the 90's... So I went kind of grunge all the way, from my regular working-at-home-leggings-and-t-shirt-and-a-big-cardigan I protected myself further from the wind with my boyfriends big sleevess hoodie under my jacket. Not that fancy, but comfy. And atleast right dressed for the weather for once! Or well, it would propably be better if I would actually wear jeans or pants instead of just leggings, I havent done that for months though. But thats another story.

(And later I learned what I propably shoul've learned by the time I was five: no boots in the world will keep you dry if you keep in walking through deep waterpools instead of just walking around them... but I couldn't help it, I just had to do it with my happy feet being dry and all and I wanted to see if the boots actually would stay dry forever - and now I have a cold).

BETWEEN AUTUMN AND WINTER


I did these quick pictures about two months ago, when the weather started to get slightly colder and autumn began to get its colours. I really do love autumn, somteimes maybe even most of all seasons, even though I in general prefer the summer. I love early spring too; I get euphoric when the sun starts to shine stronger again. And I also love the winter, if it is a white and not too cold one (as a kid it always pissed me off when the winter in Narnia ended, I loved the fact that that whole place was nothing but deep, always snowy woods). Sometimes there are days that I wish it could be autumn forever.


...and that soft nice autumn is so totally gone by now. I know that some cultures used to celebrate new year, or actually the end of the old year, in novemeber, and its quite clear why- nature really puts itself to sleep, or more likely dies. Here the nights are getting really dark by now, all colurs are in different shades of grey and brown and the last leaves have fallen from the trees in the hard wind. And heavy wind makes me angry. It searches its way under my beret, messes up my hear and screams in my ears. It gives me the worst migrane ever and most of all: it makes me really pissed of, not only because it actually hurts by mostly because there is nothing I really can do about it. This is the time of year when I sometimes wished I lived elsewhere on the globe, and not where being outside is a struggle:

Strangely enough, sometimes at days like this when the rain comes more from the front than from above and the wind is so heavy it hard to move forward I can suddenly get struck by how breathtakingly beautiful life still can be. It happened today and for a moment I didn't even mind the headache form the wind. Strange, but amazing.

Sunday, 11 November 2007

BUT SOMETIMES I DO WEAR COLOUR

Sunday bliss.

I love my hairclip with a superbig bow, got it from my friend's secondhand shop. She has lots of lovely bows there. The rose pattern is from my S&M shirt.

Thursday, 8 November 2007

THE LADYBIRD UMBRELLA


It started raining on my way downtown last night so I popped in to my friend's shop (one of the lovliest second-hand stores in town) and she lent me a brigt red childrens umberlla with ladybird dots on to brighten up the dark November night.

I have a new warm jacket from (from Saints&Mortals) and I love it; it has a wide bell-shaped hem and keeps me warm and dry. I don't like the idea of buiyng a new jacket every season if the wardrobe is full of old ones, but it is actually two years ago since I bought my wool sailor jacket (and it was never really good with dresses anyway) so I guess it's ok.

DINNER IN BLACK


I went for dinner with an old friend. It was great. Had a lot to eat and a little too much to drink. We always try our best to try out new places but we still end up at our favourite one. Then we sit for hours, there is so much to catch up with. We try to do dinner or lunch every now and then but he is as busy as me so we meet way too seldom, but when we do it still feels like yesterday. I wish I would have more time over for all of my lovely friends, there are too many that I see too rarely these days!
(And I drew myself again, this time wearing a shirt and dress from H&M, a second hand belt and shoes from Fabbri)

Wednesday, 7 November 2007

LA FRANGE


So, the fringe is back! After more than six months of growing it away (-I guess if I consider doing something more than three times I feel obliged to actually do it; it was he same thing when I coloured my hair a bit darker in the summer. I could't stop thinking about doing it so I had to do it even though I didn't really want it). Now I'll just colour it platinum and everything will be back to, eh, normal or something.

And now that the man of the house is away again I can listen to Rufus Wainwright without having him complain about how winy he thinks it sounds. I made a playlist with Rufus and Mustasch. It's kind of weird and somehow wrong to mix those two, sort of like eating vanilla custard with tabasco. But it gives me a strange satisfaction of mind. (The music, which is. I would never put tabasco on my dessert!)

T-SHIRT OF THE WEEK no2


Now this t-shirt I actually have. The print is originally form davidandgoliathtees.com, but I've printed the picture on textile paper and ironed it to my tee (those papers are pretty good, the result is very nice but it takes some time to learn to use it).
Ship ohoy!

Monday, 5 November 2007

MY GIRL WANTS TO PARTY ALL THE TIME


Last week was pertty heavy. Too much of going out for one week. Doing my best to recover now. Why do people organize so many parties? (And why do I absolutely have to go to all of them!?) Spent a couple of days out and about in Stockholm during the week, the weekend was all about gigs, halloweenparties, masquerades and then just out otherwise. Had a lot of fun but spent a lot of money and slept too little. But I didn't work. At all. Now I have sooo much to catch up with during next week.

(If you can tell what bandshirt I'm wearing you should take a listen to that record which cover is printed on the shirt.)

((Oh, and the original version of that stuid dance hit Party all the Time is actually pretty funny. It's Eddie Murphy that signs. It's so 80's!))

(((By the way, my nailpolish lasted from wednesday to sunday without as much as a crack. Nivea's Calcium Power. Finally some value for my money)

SELECTED BLACKS FROM LAST WEEK

I think 90% of my wardrobe is black. Or actually, maybe only about 70. But 90% of what I wear from my wardrobe is black. Sometimes I find it difficult to wear patterns or too many colours, mostly because of the tattoos (I'm afraid of giving people associations of a christmas three)


The dress to the left is by me, from some clothes I made under the theme 'black on white on black'. I have this thing for big buttons and pockets and want ot put them on everything that I make. (This dress is in cotton but I think I will remake it, it would be better in a thicker, warmer fabric. And maybe with white edges around the pockets. I had a fringe at the time when I made it, and somehow i could't draw myself in this dress without it. I'm thinking of cutting it back even thoug I've been growing it away for six months now).
I was planning to make myself wide 30's style pants like the ones in the middle, but never made the effort. Thank god for H&M (once again), where I found these. But I wish they would be just a tiny little bit longer.
The dress to the right is my mothers old and one of my favourites. Had it to a rockabilly gig on friday.