design disruption

I'm not a big fan of templates, but I'm trying my best to make some seasonal changes with the help of them anyway. It's slightly frustrating, to say the least. Still of lot of things that needs tweaking, as you may or may not notice (I guess if you're not in my head, which I certainly hope you're not, you won't know what it is that I want to accomplish), but at the moment I'm too tired to keep moving things around so I'll leave it as it is. Apologies.

Meanwhile, check these pretty flowers out and have a nice week. Oh, and if you have any tips or tricks about blog design, please don't be scared to share!

proving the point of a principle

I usually stick to my principles, for better or for worse, and I haven't caved in to temptation and bought the gorgeous but seriously pricey dresses I posted the other day. Instead I went out during lunch last Wednesday and bought 3 vintage dresses at Humana, for the price of not even half a new dress (159 kronor each to be exact)!



The "problem", apart from being a shopoholic, is that the Humana store (on S:t Paulsgatan) just keeps getting bigger everytime I go there, and obviously gets filled with more clothes! My knees got weak when I realised how much more clothes were there this time, and I knew deep down I wasn't gonna be able to leave without something, and that for my own good I SHOULD NOT look at everything. Which is way easier said than done ... Even though I was only browsing really quickly, being out during my lunch break and everything, apparently I still had time to try on 3 dresses and buy them.



This dark turquoise dress with black diagonal stripes and puff sleeves is very 80's, but matched with the right accessories I'm gonna make it look awesome! I just love the colour and the neckline and the little round black buttons on the sides. I'm sure it'll look great with a black cardigan on top, which is pretty essential this time of year.



A little black polyester dress with a chinese collar didn't stay unnoticed for long, it's just a perfect everyday dress that can look very different depending on how and with what you wear it. I've already got big plans for it! Being sleeveless of course it'll be good for summer too, but I'll make good use of it before that, since summer is about 8 1/2 months away ...



I really like the white print, which looks like percentage signs. Not sure when it's from, maybe late 60's, early 70's, but could also be later. It doesn't have any tags whatsoever, so might be homesewn, by someone pretty skilled because the details around the neck and shoulders are impeckable. I think I'm gonna wear this with a white cardigan to work tomorrow, it'll be a good way to start the week.



Dress no. 3 is this lovely grey, red and pink piece, a Danish design from the 70's, by the look of the collar. It looks a bit dull just hanging like this, but has got a great fit and is so comfortable. Not sure about the material, it's like a woolish polyester, but not that thick. Excellent for autumn/winter though.



I love this checkered pattern, and I think it's great to combine grey with red and pink, classic and fun at the same time. I've also got both red and pink cardigans and tights, so a lot of good combinations will be made with them. Today I started with pink tights, and going out for grocery shopping earlier I wore a red coat and felt nice and colourful. I do think it's important to wear as much colour as possible during this dark season, to sort of cheer yourself up, but somehow I still end up wearing so much of black.



I don't hate 70's collars actually, but I know a lot of people despise them. Sometimes I think they look really good on the right things. I didn't think this dress needed that much of wings though, so I fixed it last night and thought it came out pretty nice.

In the last week I got 4 dresses, so I'm gonna make a serious effort not to get anymore for a while now. Wish me luck, I'll sure need it!

Maybe I should have a giveaway of an old dress I don't wear anymore, I've got quite a few of those too ... Lemme know if that would be interesting. Now it's time to make some pancakes!

dreamy dresses

I'm in love. Seriously. Just look at this amazing piece of clothing! I love love love it! It's a Bettie Page Clothing dress and I truly believe it was made for me. The colours, the cut, the collar, the buttons. Thank you very much. The only downside is that they didn't just give it to me, and I don't pay this much for a single piece, as a principle. Maybe it's a silly principle, I don't know, cos it's not that I couldn't afford it if I really wanted to. I just don't like paying a lot for anything, I like bargains and getting many things rather than just the one item. I've always been like that, and can't just change. In case you're wondering what I won't pay for the perfect dress, it's $137.



While on the subject of lovely new dresses, I also found this dreamy thing at Sivletto. It's from Fever and costs £74.99. I do love the cut and the colour and the pattern a lot, but mostly I love that it's called Calligraphy dress, even though I don't know why. As far as I can see it's got a rose pattern, and roses are not calligraphic. But I find that intruiging, has it by any chance got a calligraphic lining that doesn't show in the picture? Will my calligraphic skills improve when I wear it? Did a calligrapher design it? Either way I love roses almost as much as calligraphy, but this is also above my principle price so I guess I'll just keep dreaming of finding it in a vintage store eventually, when some crazy girl with my size has gotten bored with it. It could happen you know!

10.10.10

... aaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back! Seems like it's been ages, but maybe that's just my perception. I finally feel back to normal when it comes to the never ending flu, even though I'm scared to jinx it. Another thing that's back to normal is that I'm finally rejoined with my husband, he landed in Stockholm a week ago. So in celebration of that, my recent birthday and getting well again, I went and got myself a new vintage dress the other day, from Emmaus by Slussen.



For some reason all the pictures I took of it came out blurry, it's the weirdest thing! It's never happened before, I probably took about 10 pictures. It must be something with the fabric, which is polyester of course. I believe it's from the 60's, and I love the colour and the versatility of it being rather plain, so it'll look great with a turtleneck underneath or cardigan on top. I am thinking of sprucing it up a little, with some buttons or a ribbon, but at the same time it's really good with a non busy surface for adding brooches and necklaces and such. Anyways, I paid 120 kronor for it, and it's in mint condition, so well worth the money.



I got a pink dinosaur for my birthday from a friend! So cute! It's from the great store Stockhome, that recently opened a branch just a block from my house, a kitsch heaven. Although I do my best not to add that much more to all the kitsch I've already got, it's obviously much appreciated when friends help me out instead!



My husband got me a new Kimmidoll, so now my little Japanese doll collection grew to four. It was the perfect size to fit the rest and it's so adorable I almost wanna carry it around the whole day to look at it. But I won't, because that would be crazy. Being crazy in my own home is one thing, but hey come on, there are limits!



Taking care of that dilemma was getting another great gift from my husband though: a Kimmidoll purse! Obviously purses are made for carrying around, so that's what I'm doing now. When I leave the house that is, I don't carry it around in the apartment so much.



If you saw my reaction opening these gifts, I bet it would be kind of hard to guess my real age, but I don't really care. I'll be happy as long as I get to show my ID card when I buy wine (in Sweden you have to be 20 to buy alcoholic beverages in the stores, and let's just say I've been legal for quite some time).



After buying that lovely dress the other day, I was also in the mood for some jewellery, and went across the street to Fröken Söt's little shop. They've got some nice clothes there too, but most things are either too small or too expensive for my taste, and the shop is packed with stuff, so it's a bit difficult to browse. After looking at almost every piece of jewellery I finally got this peacock brooch for 60 kronor. It's kinda tacky, I know, but I like it anyway. Paired with the right things, I'm pretty sure I'll pull it off. It's not like I'm known to be Ms. Sophistication either, so what does it matter if a part of me is slightly tacky? I'm cool with that.



From about 10 different owl design necklaces, this is the one I choose in the end, for 199 kronor. It's not vintage, but I do believe it's molded from a 60's design, because I've seen a similar design on this website for vintage owl necklaces. If you're at all into vintage jewellery, and owls in particular, you have to visit this place, it's quite overwelming! I haven't checked everything out by far yet, it just never stops. And it's a little bit frustrating seeing all these lovely design, and knowing they're not for sale too.

In other news autumn is well under way now, and I'm loving it still. But it's a matter of weeks until all that loveliness of crispy air and flaming leaves might turn into a grey, soggy, miserable existence instead. So I'm gonna do my best to appreciate it while it lasts, and when it changes, I'll just stay indoors with tea and blankets and socks and the best tv series I can find.

What is your best recipe for surviving winter?

fever dreams

I got really sick during the book fair, and still haven't recovered, hence the lack of posts. Nothing serious really, just a typical autumn flu with fever, it's just that the fever refuses to budge, and I'm getting very annoyed by it cos I've got no strength to do anything! As much as I like being lazy and just sit in front of the telly for hours, or read blogs and stuff for a full weekend, it's not as much fun when it's the only thing I can do without getting exhausted after 10 minutes. But enough of feeling sorry for myself now!

What I have been doing a lot while lying on the couch is dreaming about places I wanna go, at the moment North American cities seem to be where I wanna go the most: Seattle, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Vancouver, Austin, Montreal, New Orleans. I still haven't been anywhere out west, so it's a giant white canvas for me. Or whatever. Either way I hope I get to visit at least a few of those cities eventually, and that they live up to my giant expectations.

I also want to go to quite a few places out east of course, Hanoi, Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kyoto, Bangkok. And I always want to go to my other home, South Africa, where there are so many more places to discover. Being a complete creature of habits though (and having married another one), I would be quite happy just going back to The Estuary down the South Coast in KwaZulu Natal, where we spent a wonderful weekend last August. The picture is from that magical place.

I'm not very adventurous at all, when I find some thing or some place I like, I go back there, over and over again. But with dreams you can come a long way just the same. It got me all the way to the other side of the world for one. And in just a few short days my favorite part of that part of the world (well in all the world actually) is coming up north to join me for winter. There's nothing like hibernating together.

animal prints and books

So tomorrow I'm off to the book fair in Gothenburg, and it still feels a bit surreal. The last few weeks really flew by. The outcome of the election on Sunday was dismal, but for now and the next days I need to put my feelings aside and just focus on work. My packing is just about done, although as usual I'm considering putting in another dress, just to be safe. I'll sleep on it. (Well not the dress, just the thought of it.) As you can see I've got my fair share of books already, but being completely surrounded by new books at the fair will be a temptation anyway.



I've got a handful of places I always go to at the fair, and try to get there on the first day. Well the first day is pretty much the only time I might have to walk around on my own, we've got a packed schedule. It would truly be a luxurious thing to be able to see everything, and to go listen to seminars as well, but there will be no time for that unfortunately. Those pleasures are for others.



This shelf with (mostly) Swedish comic books doesn't have any space left, so I will have to continue on the one below, because Swedish new comic books is one of my first investments on the fair. I already know two books I need to get my hands on, but will probably find some others I haven't had the time to find out about yet. I love that.



This is part of my children's picture book collection, which might grow a bit too. Although I don't get nearly as many nowadays as when I worked with children's books. Which is a shame.



There's not really any room left on this shelf for my soft cover books as well, and too many of them are still unread, so I'm gonna try and stay away from getting more of those for the time being.



As the publishing house I work for is called Leopard, I think every year that maybe I should get something leopard print for the book fair, just for the fun of it. It's just that I'm not really a huge fan of animal print. At the moment though, the stores are just packed with leopard prints in all sorts of shapes and sizes and colours, and doing a quick search today I surprised myself with getting four leopard print items! First a cute scarf with both leopard print and lovely blue and purple flowers from H&M. It comes in three different colours for 99 kronor, all of them looking very nice, but I liked the purple most.



Also from H&M is this little leopard print hairclip or pin, for 29 kronor. Not really sure how I'm gonna use it, but I thought it was pretty and cheap enough not to have to decide that before I got it.



I got a blouse as well, from Åhléns. I love this gypsy style, and it's actually almost pink, or maybe more powder, which I really like. I also had a skirt and a vest in mind that I would wear it with, and when I tried it on when I came home it looked really good. So I'm feeling quite happy with this buy! As it seems to be extremely trendy with the leopard print right now, I'm guessing I won't be the only one wearing it at the fair, but I've got more reason than most, right? Just the fact that I'll be wearing a name tag saying Leopard, I mean come on!? It can't match more than that.



Finally I also couldn't resist this tote bag from H&M, for only 29 kronor too. AND the proceedings of it goes to Unicef, so good cause shopping at the same time. Me like.

Anyways, I need to do some final packing now, and get my beauty sleep. Enjoy the rest of the week and the weekend, and I'll get back with some serious author gossip next week!

drumroll please: giveaway winner!

With the help of random.org I'm very happy to announce the winner of the Daniela Sigurd postcard necklace: Lauren! Congratulations! Please email me your postal address so I can send it to you. Because I do believe the postcard itself is a little bit too small for me to write on. Thanks to everybody for entering, there will be more little treats coming along in the future for sure!

Five things that made my week:
1. Listening to Säkert's new album "Facit", Swedish music at it's very best
2. Realising that all my friends share my political views.
3. Seeing a lovely small exhibition with genius comic book writer Sara Granér.
4. Designing a book cover and feeling very happy about it.
5. Cooking great food with one of my best friends.

Have a nice evening! I'll be anxiously awaiting the outcome of the Swedish election, which is pretty nerve wrecking to be honest. I can't stand another four years of these right wing clowns! Let solidarity be the winner, please.