Night Walking

Mimmi (the dog) and I went for a nice and quiet Sunday night walk in Stockholm. No people around, just tall trees, snow and lamposts. A little bit like Narnia.

Cold vs. Warm

It was really cold today. I tried to take a picture of how red my cheeks and nose were after shopping outside for a couple hours. It isn't very good, but here ya go. It was clear and cold today, about 5 degrees.




In contrast, here are some pics of some warm, cozy threads I found at the second-hand shop.

Important Sayings

American: Don't get your panties in a wad.
English: Don't get your knickers in a twist.
Swedish: Easy in the storm.

Hmmmm.....

American: Don't count your chicken's before they hatch.
Swedish: Don't yell "hello" until you jump the stream.

American: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Swedish: The meanest fish swim in the shallowest waters.

American: Don't let the door hit you in the ass.
Swedish: It was nice when you arrived but nicer when you left.

Will be collecting more as the week goes on.

Living in a Rainbow

It would be amazing to spend a winter in this Stockholm apartment - to come in from the white world into your own personal rainbow. It was designed by tham & videgard hansson arkitekts, They used multicolored parquet floors to create the pattern. Check out the rest of the project and more pictures here.











images courtesy tham & videgard hansson arkitekts
all photos © åke e:son lindman

A Week Left

and I find these! I wish I'd know about them three months ago! Highly dorky traction devices that can be added to any shoes. They even come in GLOW IN THE DARK LIME GREEN! I'm feeling really cheated right now.

Successful Meeting + Awesome Weekend

There is nothing more rewarding after working super hard all week than going out of town for the weekend. Last week Tove and I burned the candle at both ends getting ready for our presentation to MTV on Friday, and it ended up going really well. Don't want to put a whammy on it, so I won't elaborate too much but there was some laughing and even some clapping.

Hard work behind us, we headed up to Idre, a small town about 4.5 hours north of Stockholm to do some snowboarding, snowmobiling and other rad activities.




Saturday I took my first snowboarding lesson from my friend Lina who also works at DDB. Lina is an amazing teacher! She use to give lessons professionally, spending 8 hours a day coaxing first timers down hills on boards. Her patience is limitless. She is optimistic even when you have just become a yard-sale in the middle of the hill. As for the snowboarding, I'm stoked! I got pretty good at traversing and even did a couple turns on my own. I don't see any extreme boarding career in my future, but I can imagine getting down the hill at some point without so many bruises. Just need some practice.

We stayed in the ultimate Swedish cabin while we were there. It was super cozy and had some authentic Swedish decor. I also found out that different parts of Sweden have their own milks. For instance, Milko is the main brand for Dalarna milk. I love the folk design they used for the packaging. It seems very at home in the cabin.









Outside the cabin was winter. The real winter, not all those faux winters I've experienced in Dallas and SF. I've never seen so much snow in my life. On Sunday we took the snowmobile across a huge frozen lake to small campsite where you can BBQ. Well, Swedes call it having a BBQ, I see it more of a campfire type situation. Tove, Lina and I took a walk along the lake to an old wooden bridge. We went across, took a break to lay in the snow. Seriously, if you have never done this, you should at some point in your life. You just plop yourself back in fresh soft snow and be quiet and look at the sky. It is a quality life experience that cannot be missed. Remember to put on your hat or hood first though.





View toward the town of Särna



Lina, Tove and me waiting for the hotdogs to cook. Lina is the one with the killer sword poking stick. Minutes before she was roasting a hotdog on it, but it fell off so she decided to fling it out onto the lake where some wild animal will probably eat it and become dependent on humans, ruining the ecosystem permanently.



Hot dog monitoring.



Everyone got a turn on the snowmobile, driving and riding in the sled. I liked driving much better than sled riding. The sled is like riding in the back of a pick-up truck, but with non-existent sides and snow flying in your face. It was tons of fun to drive on the big expanse of frozen lake (don't worry mom, I went slow-ish).

Bee-youtiful Snow Night & Day

Now I know why everyone kept saying, "Wait till the snow comes!"



Night

You can see where the ice breakers have been.



Erik & little Mimmi on a trek





Day

Monochromatic





Footsteps from people walking on the ice. Some people even cross country ski to work.

Olympic Sledding Material I am NOT

This ought to give everyone a good laugh. I'm uploading a video of my first sledding adventure. I use the term "sledding" loosely. We were actually going down on these small butt shaped pieces of plastic with a handle.



The Swedes call them stjärtlapp, which translates to something like "tail duplication". I know, the direct translations blow my mind. Anyway, the way that you stop is to either roll over, which I so elegantly demonstrate, or yank aforementioned pad out from under you.




You can hear my friend Lina yelling, "up with your feet!". Apparently I was applying the breaks too much.

I walked to work in 10 degree weather!

That's right. I can now officially tell my grandkids, "When I was your age, I walked to work in the snow, for 30 minutes, up hill and down, with my computer, barefoot." Okay, maybe not barefoot, but you get the idea.


Past the cool Piperska Garden (please note drastic difference from pic in November post):




Over the bridge (the big white area is FROZEN WATER!):




Here are some basic observations from my frigid trek:

1. The first 5 minutes outside induce a cold headache, a literal brain freeze, even if you have a hat on.

2. Hats reduce peripheral vision. So someone could be standing/walking next you you and you won't know it. This makes for uncomfortable moments when you stop and look both ways before you cross the street.

3. Snow is pretty on trees, bicycle seats, statues, ponds and benches. It is not pretty on trash bags, dog poop, construction equipment or the road.

4. Icicles can kill you.



5. If your face is numb you cannot feel your nose running.

6. Always carry a tissue.

Snowflake Mobile & Matching Blizzard

Here are the results of my Christmas decorating. They are doilies stiffened with sugar water and hung as a snowflake mobile in the living room. Quite cozy.







Quite cozy considering that this is what it is like outside these days...

It's beginning to look a lot more like Christmas than it did

I couldn't take it any more. It seems like every window in Sweden has decorations, so I ventured out at lunch, slipping and sliding my way to Myronas (a second-hand store) to find some festive stuff. I purchased a wooden Christmas star that lights up to hang in the window, and I found some small crafty looking doilies that might pose as snowflakes. Stay tuned for pictures of the resulting Christmas cheer.

Snow for Real

It's started snowing, and it's not stopping. I must perfect my "no-slip" shuffle.

Universal Truth: The Pitch

Sorry to be MIA on the blogging. We were in a pitch at work. I can now safely say that pitches are the same everywhere. Long, late hours, junk food, last minute freak outs and printer worries. And I can also safely say that you feel exactly the same after an all-nighter in Sweden that you do in San Francisco - freakin' tired. There are some serious pitch warriors here in the DDB Stockholm studio department. Thanks guys.

One fun difference about this pitch was that I got to help translate all of the Swedish copy to English. There were going to be some non-Swedes from the company in the meeting so most of the presentation was to be given in English. Translating Swedish to English is not always and easy task (but it is always funny), and sometimes there really isn't a direct translation or there are major differences in the way the words are used. For instance, the Swedish word skepparkrans means this certain type of beard that fishermen often have. When literally translated to English in pieces it means ship wreath. Hmmmm. Not exactly catchy ad copy. We ended up just saying fisherman's beard.

Also, we came up with a headline in English with the phrase "taking the scenic route" in it. And there was really no equally good way to translate it into Swedish. Apparently "taking the scenic route" is a pretty American concept? Maybe in Sweden taking the scenic route is an inefficient way to get from point A to point B in the cold or maybe they feel that every route is the scenic route? I'm not sure. Maybe I should ask if "stopping to smell the roses" translates.

Christmas Goes On and On

Christmas is a month long celebration here. Advent candles start showing up in windows, Christmas trees are lit in neighborhood parks, people start having glögg parties and saffron buns are everywhere.

Two weekends back we went to a Christmas market at Skansen an open air museum in Stockholm. Skansen is pretty impressive on it's own without the holiday flair. They have over 150 traditional homes, schools, buildings that they moved to the island from various parts of Sweden. Most of them date from the 18th and 19th centuries. There are traditional craftsmen who throw pottery and practice glass blowing. And it addition to all this they had a big Christmas market with traditional booths, dancing and, of course, LIGHTS! It was actually pretty cold and foggy, but the lights made eerily beautiful. I felt like I was in a Charles Dickens novel. In Sweden.

Pink Sunset 3pm

Save Saab

The tone toward recent events involving Saab is still positive here in Sweden.
I'm virtually crossing my fingers for the iconic brand and 4,000 Swedish jobs, by posting these amazing vintage photos.



















All photos are pulled from a gallery on The Local. I chose some of my faves. The colors are amazing! If you would like to see the full gallery from 1947 to present, check it out. But BEWARE, the good photography drought of the 80s and 90s seemed to be a worldwide phenomenon.