San Lorenzo, Wimbledon

The number of dinners from M&S...

Old favourites

Foretaste of New Year's Eve

"Slippered" over to Beautiful J last night, loaded with two giant pizzas and a bottle of wine.

We have spent a number of New Year's Eves together, including the millennium. When celebrating in a smaller party we have gone through our respective chronicle including the aspirations for next year.

Yesterday we jumped the gun and had a foretaste as we are not going to be together on New Year's Eve.

We are both into starting the new year clean. Clean meaning many different things:

• Organised wardrobe free from "some day may be" and "had no idea I still had this" clothes.
  
• Complete photoalbums with highlights from the year. The albums provide the paradigm for a specific year and are to be blamed (or blessed) when we think the summers were better in the old days.
• Clean hopes, free from dilutions caused by a harsh reality.

Our aspirations stretch from happiness and being in harmony to the more materialistic ones in the form of a new computer or a piano.

It's fascinating how a new year gives you new hope and energy and how you can wrap up one year to fully embrace a new year coming.

Christmas break part 2

A Chrismas full of all the ingredients you would hope for: more food than you can eat, more drinks than you need, tempting sweets in every corner and a family in harmony. And on top of that the most beautiful Christmas Eve I can ever remember with soft, cottonlike snow transforming the landscape into a light fairytale of goodness.

There is an end to everything and last night I decided I had made enough snowmen and beadwork and returned to the city.

Now there is a long TO DO list in front of me - dry cleaner, gym, jewellry shop, buying present, prepare for coaching... Two days free of choice! And there is always the possibility of postponing everything in favour of the couch, the books and the matinées.

Happy white Christmas

Dolphin rolemodel

If you had the perfect zoo, not the crowded, horrible kind of zoo that we are used to seeing, but a zoo where the animals would be happier than anywhere else, what animal would you have in your zoo? You have to pick one.

That was the question on the table.

I thought for a while and out of the three animals giraffe, orangutan and dolphin I went for dolphin.

Next question.

What are the dolphin's qualities and features that you value the most?

Playful in a smart manner, quick in mind and body and of course beautiful...

Now what?

Well, apparently in this little game, that is how your friends see you.

True? I don't know, I didn't make up the rules of the game. Blissful thinking and something to wish for.

Preparing for Christmas

Sushi, sweets, Sex and the City and brilliant company in the shape of Adorable.

We sent a thought to all those stressed mums running around the kitchen to get ready for Christmas and for the relatives to arrive. Seven different kinds of herring, Christmas ham and Jansson's "temptation" (you have to be Swedish to understand this). All happening while we are wedging on the couch watching some of our favourite episodes with Carrie and co.

You can't have it all and tonight I think we are in the winning camp.

Everyday philosophy

One text message to my past and one to the future. No answers. May be a sign to stay present and not worry too much about what could be or what has been but rather what is. My philosophy lesson on a quiet, ordinary Monday evening.

Weekend of celebrations, family and friends

Woke up with a hangover and a smile.

Yesterday evening was a mosaic of friends from various parts of my life. Roads have crossed before and friends have made friends with each other. Well, may be not all of them, but enough to create a festive atmosphere when in a room together (and supported by drinks). I love my friends!

Someone said you are the product of your five closest friends. I should be so lucky to pick
sense of style and fashion from...
humour from...
witty and sharp comments from...
general knowledge from...
body control from...
and the list could continue.

No, I'm not playing favourites with my friends and I can't pick five. I need all my friends for different reasons and at different times.

Amuse-bouches

Celebrations

Thought for today

My coach recommended a subscription to Thought for today. Every day you get an email with a a thoughtful message. And this one is so true.

"The biggest disease of the mind is over-thinking, especially too much thinking about others. Thinking too much is like eating too much. The heaviness makes it impossible to remain light and flexible."

I think I know what the most effective treatment is.

Yoga. Being present to gain the power of now.

Christmas dinner conversation

Christmas dinner with the girls – Adorable, Little B, Sweetest M and her friend. After three hours of non-stop chatting we concluded that there was one recurring topic throughout the evening.

It wasn’t work.
High performing women in the middle of our careers you would have thought that work would be a natural conversation topic. If we were men this is definitely where the focus would have been, but no.

It wasn’t men.
Finding Mr Right or if you have Mr Right, bragging (or complaining) about him. Interesting dates, miserable dates, or no dates. We hardly talked about them at all.

It was waxing.
The fascination we all have when it comes to hair and no hair. What should “it” look like and how frequently should you wax. And if we don’t have a partner, we still do it. And why is this? The engaged discussions we had on this quite mundane topic…we would do a great talk show on telly!

Our wax lady knows more about us than we remember telling her. We all agreed that in pain we talk talk talk and she remembers remembers remembers.

So if I don’t know what Adorable and Little B have been up to, I can always book an appointment with wax lady and she will give me their highlights.

12 of us in a room together ....

I received an email this morning that I was supposed to forward to 12 very special girlfriends. I'm not a big fan of chain letters, but I couldn't agree more with the content. So here you go - read it on a voluntary basis and I trust that if you are reading this you are also one of my very special girlfriends. For obvious reasons!

I am supposed to pick 12 women (who have touched my life) and who I think might participate. I think that if this group of women were ever to be in a room together (with a lot of wine) there is nothing that would be impossible. I hope I chose the right twelve. May my hugs, love, gestures and communications remind you how special you are. Please send this back to me.

Remember to make a wish before you read the quotation below. That's all you have to do. There is nothing attached. Just send this to twelve women and let me know what happens on the fourth day. Try not to break this, please. Did you make a wish yet? If you don't make a wish, it won't come true.

This is your last chance to make a wish!

Quotation: 'May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.'

The winter has arrived

What would I do without slipper friends?

I did a real cartoon fall on the way to work this morning. It resulted in me limping around the office all day with a knee twice as big as usual.

Convalescent and slightly worried, I called Beautiful J when I got home to ask for some advice (how do you know if your knee is REALLY bad kind of advice). She happened to be just around the corner - big advantage of slipper friends - and three glasses of wine later my knee is feeling so much better. Or may be I'm just numb. Anyway, the loving company and support definitely helped.

Christmas fetich

Today's ration of Lucia Cats - the saffron buns that I'm addicted to: 2.5.

That is 0.5 more Lucia Cats than yesterday and 1.5 more than the day before yesterday.

If I continue at the same speed I will have 10 Lucia Cats on Christmas eve. No wonder my jeans are tight(er). The gingerbread biscuits are not helping.

Mirror mirror on the wall

On Monday around noon I will know whether this will be sitting on my wall in the near future.

Saturday hour by hour

This is the plan:
10-11:30 IKEA - stocking up on cocktail glasses, candles and napkins to drinks party next Saturday

11:30-12 Birkagott, Stockholm's by far most delicious sweet shop - stocking up for the same reason as above

13-14 Bukowski, viewing mirrors up for auction next week, hoping to find the one mirror that nobody else likes and to get it for a reasonable price

14-17 Afternoon tea at the Grand with Lovely L - very sophisticated and gives me flashbacks to my London days when we used to go to Brown's hotel to gorge on ridiculous cucumber sandwiches, scones with raisins that I had to remove and litres of tea (leading to at least two visits to the luxurious bathrooms with Molton Brown products)

17-19 Christmas Cocktails at one of my colleagues in anonymous yet so right city

19 and onward - home sweet home (am I boring?)

Christmas lights in the archipelago

Guess who continued

Two year's ago I went on my first yoga retreat. The other day I was talking about it with two of my colleagues and I went to the website to show them what the venue looked like. Got a big surprise when I found myself in the middle of deep (?) meditation. I took it as a sign that it is time to go again. And that's how I got my Thailand trip to look forward to!

Guess who??

Project Glamourise Gothenburg airport

Prawn sandwich and non-alcoholic beer at Gothenburg airport in an attempt to immitate the Seafood bar at Heathrow.

Travelling out of Heathrow I used to make sure I always had time for a plate of fresh salmon and a glass of white wine. Chablis of course.

Gothenburg airport is not really getting me in the same luxurious mood. To be fair the poor prawns are not to be held responsible but rather the surroundings. It's sooo slow and boring!!

Glamorous work trips?

It doesn't happen very often anymore, but this week I have two days of travelling: day 1 to Gothenburg and day 2 to Sandhamn far out in Stockholm's archipelago.

Gone are the days with destination Paris, New York and Hong Kong. Gone is also BAs privileged executive membership of a certain colour. The upside of the less glamorous destinations is being able to make it back to my home sweet home in the evening, but still...

I wouldn't mind switching a day in Gothenburg for two days in New York. I miss parts of my old life...

Beautiful J

Had one of those rare evenings out with Beautiful J. Started with drinks in backslick city and moved on to noodle soup and beer in more anonymous yet so right city.

There is something very special with a friend who has stood by you through some of life's milestones like the first excessive alcohol experience and the first real love (including the close to death experience when it didn't last). It's been a while now and I'm so lucky that she is one of my slipper friends.

From business to pleasure

I have been spotted in cyber space by previous business contact from 1.5 years ago. Weird and unexpected, but still welcome, right?! I mean it's not the first time in world history that people working together go out for a drink together. To be continued (I think).

8 o'clock on a Wednesday morning

We are living in a constant darkness, meaning there must be people elsewhere with sunshine overflow. I'm going to join them. Thailand, here I come! Have to wait for a couple of months, but at least I know it's there.

New insights to the Millenial Generation

Today was the seminar that I was hoping would give some answers to the much talked about generation Y.

The key note speaker was from New York and he shared some unbelievable examples from Merrill Lynch, Ernst & Young and other big players in the financial industry. Apparently it's not uncommon that parents call HR to complain about their son's/daughter's annual performance appraisal. And Merrill Lynch even organise "parents days" where they invite the parents to the office to present the company and the work environment their children are in. Yes, one of the characteristics of the Millenial Generation is that they are very close to and dependent of their parents...

Many trends tend to come from the US so I better be prepared. I have had som practice already when an upset husband to an upset employee wrote to me.

May be I should suggest an open house invite to all parents and partners of employees in our Group. Something to add to the meeting agenda with my boss 9 o'clock tomorrow morning!

Out of practice

Finally I can control the cough from my second cold in 4 weeks and I managed 50% of an ashtanga class. Progress! Slowly waking up the body again and reminding it that there are muscles somewhere and convincing them that it's OK to stretch without demanding the impossible.

Just listening to the soft, soothing, English voice from the teacher makes it worth coming to the studio even if it would just be for sitting. She has such a calming impact and still somehow energising.

So with this soft and rewarding class I will continue my getting-back-to-where-I-was-shape (wherever that was) tomorrow.

UGG - nice, huh?

This is what I need to embrace Swedish winter. When it arrives...

Lucia cats alias saffron buns

Serious cooking inspired by Cool P

Fricadelles of veal in a spicy tomato sauce served with whole wheat and a green salad.

What's in your box?

An empty box made of corrugated fiberboard

An elaborate wooden box

Box (plural boxes) describes a variety of containers and receptacles for permanent use as storage, or for temporary use often for transporting contents.

That's the official Wikipedia definition.

What's of more interest is of course what you put in the box.

"Bag in Box"; great innovation really. Makes it so much less controversial to have a glass of wine on a Monday night when you don't have to make a big deal out of popping a cork. Very discrete.

"Box Experience" as the fall back birthday present for the friend who has everything (or when your fantasy has drained... I'm not convinced.)

Or why not "Man in Box"?

Best birthday present ever if it works. Adorable had three single men in a box from posh girlpower friends. Fantastic! Three pictures of goodlooking and tested bachelors promising to take Adorable out for a spectacular date. At least that's how I interpreted the content in the box.

The best is that being pro-recycling I know Adorable will pass on the hit and miss guys in the sequence of organisms. So get those dates going!

Friday night in

Exquisite team dinner

Shrimps, crab, salmon, lobster, moules and more... We abandoned the traditional Christmas dinner for the luxuary seafood alternative. Seafood offers a certain freshness that is impossible to achieve with the heavy Swedish Christmas buffet. And wine is so much better than snaps! Although we didn't have Chablis, but Chardonnay...

Yoga for the lazy

Also called Thai massage. 2 hours of bliss and now I have to wait until March when my massage therapist is back from two months in Thailand. She got it right.

Ready for Desperate Housewives

Got home to a clean flat - I love my cleaners. They know me very well considering we never really meet. Two years' ago I got a small glass shoe for Christmas so they obviously picked up my interest in shoes somehow...

Now parked on the couch with a glass of wine next to me, waiting for Desperate Housewives. I'm blaming a second cold for this (I thought one per season was the rule) as I'm missing out on my favourite yoga class of the week... Hence the wine to cheer me up!

Leadership for the Millennium Kids

What kind of leadership does generation Y, or people born in the eighties, want? Well, soon I'll know all about it as I just signed up for the seminar.

I'm still surprised when I see CVs from candidates born in the eighties - somehow they are still 13 in my mind. Which makes me 23...

Advent Sunday

Taking stock from last night

Someone must have heard my complaints about rather staying in. Date one cancelled. Ended up with date two for the full evening.

It wasn't too bad. He scored some points when he bought me a drink (and then some more), asked questions (sounds basic, but seems to be difficult for most men), excused himself when he answered his mobile phone (his son calling).

Then he lost a few when he asked the wrong questions ("Do you live in a big flat?" Why? Is he planning on moving in??) and then... yes, big minus...he went for my hair. I guess he didn't see the signpost "very private, don't touch unless you are family, close girlfriend or real boyfriend". Bad.

Christmas shopping

This is what I see: my 6 year old niece and I sitting in the kitchen at our country house, drinking hot chocolate, eating ginger biscuits, chatting away and making pretty pearl and glitter jewellery.

Christmas shopping at Panduro, shop of idyllic dreams.

Glorious dating?

Two dates in one evening.

I feel like Charlotte in Sex and the City when she leaves one date claiming she is not feeling very well to make it in time for her next date. And of course she ends up meeting her first date when she is making out with her second date and it all goes pear shaped.

The difference is I'm not feeling too well, so my excuse will be real. And there will definitely not be any making out happening.

To be perfectly honest, all I want to do is to have a quiet evening in. But having potential future husbands calling at your door to find out that there is a an amazing woman inside just waiting for them (ha ha) is still unheard of as far as I know, so again, it's all about putting yourself out there...

Courage and perhaps a glass (bottle?) of wine.

One of those rare, crisp November mornings

It's all about attraction

How to make the real estate industry a more attractive and competitive industry in search of future talents.

That is the question of today's three hours meeting with participants from some major players in the industry. We had a polite meeting some weeks' ago and this time we need to get into real action and debate. It's my turn to host the event.

Make a reality show or a soap opera featuring the dramas of the real estate world with attractive actors profiling the different professions? An idea that apparenty has been seriously discussed in the past. Considering the number of reality shows with far less substance and still so popular (read "Färjan" - or direct translation "The life on the ferry between Sweden and Finland"), may be not a bad idea.

Or how about profiling really competent, succesful, attractive, "wanna-be-like you" people in real media rather than self indulge in industry press for the already committed. That is my conviction! Generation Y is looking for people they can look up to, authentic leaders with courage who shares their values. And that is my speech of today.

Little B (recently promoted, shooting off to a different part of the world and now famous in Swedish business press) - you are doing a great job and I'm very proud of you!

Take the right turns and hep, there is actually some colour in Stockholm too

Putting myself out there

Why PAM Chablis? It started as the working title when I worked out how to set up a blog.

But then I thought I'd keep it. It's not all nonsense as it says something about me without exposing too much or letting go of all anonymity.

This is how it goes in the uncensored version of today's email exchange with my coach:

Me: When you have nothing better to do : ) or when you want to know what I’m writing about ”my coach”. http://pamchablis.blogspot.com/

My coach: By the way - where does Pam Chablis come from?

Me: Ha ha, I thought you would ask!It's half serious and half joke - PAM is Pxx Axx Mxx (my full name) and Chablis comes from endless jokes with xx (read Adorable) about 1) what my first baby girl would be called which probably started when Chardonnay became a popular name in "Footballers wives" linked to 2) the fact that I always order Chablis when I order white wine claiming Chardonnay is undrinkable (and the surprise I had some years ago when I learned that Chablis is Chardonnay...)

My coach: Ha ha - that is very funny! By they way: By putting yourself out there you have now really...And the email continues!

And that's all there is folks.

Short summary of a Tuesday in November

Talked to caterer to plan for December birthday party - there is no escape so might as well celebrate with style!

Invited family for dinner (to celebrate birthday once more).

Booked flight to London to spend New Year's Eve with my oldest god daughter, yeeees! Soon she will be too old to want to be seen out with her god mother so this may be my only chance...

Bought my first Christmas present (to the amentioned god daughter)

Got asked out on a blinddate and try to figure out whether I'm excited about it or not. Better decide that I am.

And now off to my yoga class to calm the mind and to stretch those stiff backside thighs...

I did do some work too, but my energy and focus has clearly been elsewhere.

Dream on

Dreams are goals without a deadline. Or goals are dreams with a deadline. The second sentence is a quote by somebody famous I think.

In dreams anything is possible, whereas I see goals as scrutinised versions of dreams. "Goalising" a dream involves a process of restrictions and adaptations to the reality of today rather than what could be the future.

It's what I have loaded the words "dream" and "goal" with. Just like the word "risk" for me has a negative flavour to it. May be it's a heritage from my auditing days where risks needed to be addressed and taken care of, similar to a game of tetris.

So when my coach launched the idea of a dreamboard I welcomed it as a very appealing method to allow a free flow and an open mind for anything you want to happen in life.

My task for the next couple of weeks is to create a dreamboard for 2010. Not meaning the dreams will be restricted to the year 2010! With an open mind, an open heart and an open will. And with support and challenge from my coach.

Home sweet home

Chaotic check in at disorganised airport croweded predominantly by Russians, followed by 22 games of UNO, overcooked chicken and unconvincing, slightly disappointing paperback.

Left the plane with four bottles of duty free ready to meet a very wet Stockholm.

Coming home is always a treat, no matter where I've been. Now everything is unpacked, first load of washing is done and I'm tucked up on the couch watching the news for the first time in a week.

I'm slowly leaving my oblivious mode and adjusting back to less oblivious mode. It's quiet without the rest of the family and no children, but ah... it's so nice to be home.

As opposed to the black and white (or grey) scenery awaiting in Stockholm

Family holiday wrap up

Finished my book, worn out my bikini on the waterslide, topped up my niece and newphew account and very rested from long nights' sleep and a lot of sun. Time to go back.

The family holiday has exceeded everybody's expectation I think. The set up was perfect for both children and grown ups but in the end it's what you make out of it that makes the difference.

Now ready to meet the cold and dark Stockholm again. But first a final culinary experience, tonight's special: the Chinese buffet.

32 points and Egyptian small talk

Waiting to tee off on the first hole:

Starter: "How old are you?"
Me: "That's rude to ask a lady!"
Starter: "Ah, no, I would never ask an old lady the same question."

Is this the standard Egyptian chat-up line? I already knew we have some cultural differences, but this...

Starter tries again: "What's your handicap?"
He is still after a number, but at least we are into more comfortable small talk!

Snoopy needs to meet ABBA

Children's disco in Snoopy Club. Two Russian animateurs singing and dancing to "head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes...". My niece and nephew looked like two question marks. Disco? I couldn't really push them to join the party as I agreed with them. What's wrong with ABBA?

Holiday routine between 4pm-7pm

The hours between pool time and dinner time:
Hotel gym for 40 minutes, sweating on the treadmill, followed by yoga (in my room) or massage (in the spa) for an hour. Shower.
SQUIRT* on my balcony enjoying warm evening and something from the minibar.
Then ready for big family dinner.
It's OK, really.

*Silent Quiet Uninterrupted Reading Time

Mini-drama by the pool

Good looking dad with 1 year old:
"Is this yours?" holding up multicolour plastic toy that we have held hostage for two days.
Me (baby sitting youngest nephew):
"Well... ah.... he found it somewhere..." instantly blaming the baby.

What I wanted to say was:
"Yes, that's his. He found it and he will be most unhappy if you take it away from him."
Afraid that nephew would start screaming in my care when multicolour plastic toy disappeared off to another buggy.

Good looking dad:
"Hmm... we lost a similar toy..."
Me: "Well... then it's probably yours." Big smile.

Interesting insights to my behaviour at the playground.

Imagine a similar conversation on the golf course.
"Is this ball yours....?" Etc. etc.

Not sure how the blaming part would work:
"Yes, Adorable (my golf partner in crime) found it and she will be most unhappy if you take it away from her".

May be not.

Lunch on the sea terrace

Having some "me-time" away from the swimmingpool

Woken up by the sun shining through the palm trees...

Flight experience with a splash of self reflection

This is the set up: a plane full of families full of expectations going south to seek the sun. Next to me a grandmother on holiday with her daughter and somewhere further back the daughters' three unspecified, close to teenage children.

Being stuck in a tin can for five hours, nowhere to escape, you are bound to get annoyed with your fellow passengers.

I didn't (actually) mind the babies screaming or the children running up and down the aisle, but the ladies next to me did...The only thing was that they were talking about my youngest nephew.

After a 4am start, a couple of "happy-bunny-I'm-a-globetrotter-baby" hours on the plane, just in time for the flight catering, he had a dip. Loud and clear voice (his parents are very good singers), he let us know. And it wasn't for very long, bless him. But long enough for the ladies next to me to start complaining about the baby, why was he screaming and the unspoken "why don't the parents do anything."

I felt a strong impulse to defend my brave nephew and his parents who of course did everything they could to comfort him. Which parents don't?

Then I remembered that I haven't always been so understanding myself. The number of times when I have seriously wondered why they don't have flights between Stockholm and London with age limits.

So I'm not a fairy. But my god daughter still calls me her Fairy God Mother.

Adorable

Adorable cermic made by Adorable.

She is just that. Adorable. And she spends a lot of her time in the cermic studio being creative. Had it not been for nasty crazy woman who attends the same ceramic studio, we would have seen at least two more of the heart cups. I think she broke Adorable's cups on purpose out of pure jealousy!

Not even the ceramic studio is free from conflicts.

Giant biscuits!

This is what we do when we want to feel Bohemian chic in a cosmo city: we meet up on Söder!

The feeling of complete anonymity meaning it's OK not to have showered or wear any make up. We wear our comfy jeans rather than skinny jeans and heals are replaced by wellies. Freedom!

My fetish for small biscuits was exaggeratedly satisfied by these seemingly gene manipulated giant biscuits (not! everything on Söder is organic à la Bohemian style).

Lovely setting for a cosy tête-à-tête with Adorable and Little B.

Different perspectives

If you don’t have any children, are you childfree or childless?

The choice of word expresses your entry level even if your true desire is something else.

When my nephew was talking about his friend’s parents the other day, he said they were undivorced.

It’s all about your personal perspective.

Use of language is an interesting way of noticing the development of society. So many ways of conveying a message and revealing some of your underlying values and attitudes, which changes over time and are coloured by society.

However, I doubt that the word freemale as in women chosing their freedom over a family, will survive.

Swine flue hysteria

The supply of vaccin is limited and people fight over it. The worst behaviours are displayed in the waiting rooms at the local GP where everybody is waiting for hours to get their dose.

Filling the body with something quite controversial where the longterm effect is unknown, but you still feel pleased that you got it. Now you can relax when you read about the continuous spread of the "new flue" (sounds like a new fashion) and yet another death incidence.

There is something surreal about the whole situation.

Working the muscles

Here's a challenge from today's yoga class:

Stand close to the wall and do virabhadrasana 2/warrior 2 without falling over.

Bum too big? Sway-back? Nah... poor excuses I tried to use as it's apparently all about the thigh muscles working in one direction and the calf muscels in another.

I'm not quite there yet, but my yoga teacher says, as with everything, give it a couple of years... It's all about the journey!

Conflict resolution or conflict survival?

Dealing with conflicts. A given topic in any leadership training even though (at least in Sweden) we do everything we can to avoid them. We still think we should spend time knowing about them and how we should behave if they occur.

Well, now I'm in the middle of one, meaning in my role that I'm a facilitator (but in this case also a part of the conflict, which makes it more challenging).

I'm feeling drained on energy, but still trying to learn something about myself in the situation...

• I'm realising it's almost impossible to fully put yourself in somebody else's shoes and leave your own values and beliefs aside. This impacts the way you understand the situation as you still see the situation through your personal filter.
  
• You can be empathic to an extent but there can also be an additional (internal) conflict in the feeling of empathy if you sympathise with different sides for different reasons

I'm sure there is much more to be learnt, but that's it for today. Need to focus my mind on something else!

A Sunday full of energy top ups

The perfect weekend continued with a family brunch chez moi to celebrate father's day. The whole family feasted on freshly baked pastry from my neighbour (Le Gateau that is) and my fruit juice extractor came to good use.

More of my lovely friends: after brunch I rushed to meet charming J to have a quick catch up and get up to speed with everything that has happened in the last year. Our lifes have taken different turns, but some of my great London moments I had with charming J.

After the exchange of recent news we took a walk down memory lane which is always a treat; also to realise that there is a time for everything. We both agreed that queing outside Pitcher and Piano on Fulham Road a Sunday afternoon to finish the weekend with excessive drinking and afternoon dancing is a past moment we don't need to relive. But that's where we first met so it's definitely a precious memory.

Next stop was a birthday celebration for lovely L. A proper coffee and cake afternoon where everything was homemade and I had to pace my intake of small biscuits (a favourite of mine) in front of all the children. My sweet god daughter (the younger of the two I'm blessed with) was in good form and I remembered I have promised her an afternoon out since her birthday in July. Bad god mother - I still haven't delivered.

And finally back with little B in the yoga studio for some meditative yin yoga with a fantastic teacher who has taught me a lot about yoga at various levels. The class was flavoured with quotations of wise words from female goddesses. Now filled with yin; female energy.

My lovely friends

I'm so lucky, I have the loveliest friends.

Started the day with a yoga class with little B. We don't just have the yoga in common, but she also convinced me that the real estate industry is a really fun industry to be in because of all the great people. Who would have guessed? You need to be on the inside to understand this. And I thought that if people are like little B, then it must be really good! Important aspect when I accepted my job offer 1.5 years ago.

Then we joined Adorable and cool P for late brunch. There is a neverending flow of interesting discussions and I think cool P summarised it in a one sentence when she shared her own observation of the various books and magazines she has on her bedside table. We all agreed that our bedside tables look very similar. Some of the examples that we could all relate to:
- The 7 habits of highly effective people (yes, we are quite serious about our jobs),
- Residence (all these great houses with inspiring design and decoration),
- Hello (why can't Posh get pregnant again?)
- The Secret (one of these keys to finding the perfect relationship)

A splash of insight to the conversations we may be having!

A walk that ends up being a small shopping trip ("let's just have a quick look in this very special outlet shop...") and we all walk home with a smile and a shopping bag...

And now meeting up with beautiful J for dinner, wine and catch up. She is another friend on slipper distance, but we still seem to meet far to rarely.

...one more...

Some more food for thought from Einstein:
"Human beings, vegetables or comic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player.
- go with the flow, don’t fight it or control it"

But Einstein didn's explain how to find the flow if you are out of it... I think that's the real challenge.

Cool Einstein

My coach and also co-instructor in the leadership programme we are currently running, is smitten by Einstein : ). Some of the quotes he recently shared with me which allow for interesting discussions:

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new"

and

"You can never solve a problem on the level of consciousness which it was created"

Trip of my dreams (one of them)

In today's mail I received next season's catalogue from the travel agent organisning adventures, trekking and nature experiences.

They have it. The trip. To Borneo. I've looked into it before and I'm so tempted. What am I waiting for? The right timing, travel company and may be something else.

But I'm going, that's for sure.

The advantage of having a cold

Completely blocked up, sneezing and sniffling and the unmistakable pain in the body. If it's true that a proper cold protects you from the swine flu, then I'm so grateful and embrace every moment of it!

Hunting a lovely autumn morning. So far animals' victory.

Yellow treasure from Sörmland

Me, my books and I

Having the day off

My slipper distance friend

Sweetest M stopped by for a cup of tea and a chat.

We always have very interesting discussions. Development, whether it's personal, professional or spiritual. We are both intrigued by understanding human psychology in the wider aspect. And life in general I guess! Very energising.

Reminder to myself: this is one of the biggest advantages of living in Stockholm, i.e. having friends on "slipper distance".

It's pink...

My Elegant friend N had a baby the other day. Text message begins: "It's pink..." I smiled thinking about a pink baby screaming it's way into life as we know it. Message continues and it becomes clear it's a little girl. Couldn't help thinking: would message have read "it's blue" if it was a baby boy? Sorry Elegant N, this is not about your text message really, but about who decided pink is for girls and blue is for boys? No judgement, just curiosity. There must be some some history here, which has had a huge impact on the toy industry. And the same history may explain why yellow is neutral. Because it is, isn't it?

What happened to the library?

Walking past the city library today I realised I haven't visited a library since I was a student. I miss the library! I remember going to the library as a child, leaving with a big pile of books fully prepared for the holidays in case of rainy summer days. Today the library has been replaced by paperbacks and audio books. I'm wondering, what does the library look like these days? And do you have to be a student or accompanied by a child to feel you belong?

Options

In today's coaching session I was reminded of the three available options you have in any unacceptable situation:
1. Remove yourself from the situation
2. Change the situation
3. Completely and fully accept the situation
Anything in between will just lead to frustration.

Quite simple really, but worth repeating more than once...

Shoes

Being the target audience for Sex and the City, I love some of the lines. One of my top 10 quotes when it comes to defending extravagant shopping:

"Sometimes it's hard to walk in a single girl's shoes. That's why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun!"

My other excuse is that I can't help it; I have it in my genes as my grandfather was a shoe merchant.

Where I'd rather be...

Going to yoga class in Stockholm isn't exactly the same...but it will do. Trusting my muscle memory to take me back to the beach!

Courage!

Day one of new blog. Purpose: don't just think it; put it out there so that the universe knows :)!