And finally...

...

Ready for first course

Delayed hen do

Breakfast at the Grand.

Monopoly

Now you get two millions when passing Go. When were the three extra zeros added? Not even Monopoly is resistant to inflation and modernisation.

A very soft winter

Plus ten degrees and sun. The consequences of global warming. Short term I admit I don't mind.

Almost hundred percent predictable

I would say typical Boxing Day activities include a long walk in the forest/park/city, possibly with a dog if there is one; Christmas ham left over on Swedish crisp bread covered in mustard; finish reading one of many books (from the stocking if there was one); falling a sleep in front of a reasonably good but not too exciting film.

This plus more Christmas sweets and biscuits pretty much sums up quite a few people's day I would have thought. Including mine.

In addition to the predictable Boxing Day traditions, I added an extracurricular activity. There is now an almost finished strawman to a party that took some time to convince myself to organise. Now I wonder what took me so long. Hep! Sometimes I can even surprise myself.

The Jamie Oliver turkey

I have a clear memory of my mum cooking turkey for Christmas Day. That was my inspiration for inviting the whole family to continue a tradition that has been sleeping for the last couple of years. Six kilo bird spent all morning in the oven together with stuffing à la Jamie Oliver. Roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips, sprouts, gravy and mashed apples. I think I did Mr Oliver proud. To make sure nobody left the table hungry, there were blueberries, cream and Swedish pastry for dessert.

Somewhere halfthrough the lunch my mum revealed that she has never cooked a whole turkey before. My childhood memory got skewed somewhere along the line. Possibly during my years in London.

Well well. I think a new tradition has been born.

Christmas shopping

I'm not alone...

Twelve people in a room

Five hours of management meeting. Twelve times five times an hourly rate of £xxx. Quite expensive and I really doubt this is the way forward. There must be more effective ways of running a business where meetings are shaped in a different format from what still seems to be the norm. Gah!

Anyway, this was my last meeting in this role as I'm now handing over to my successor. Hopefully she will be more patient than I am when it comes to spending days in meeting rooms...

Wonderful family and friends

The celebrations continued after Berlin with champagne and dinner at lovely sister's house, luxury breakfast with Adorable and Cool P, nice lunch with colleagues, delicious home cooked dinner with Beautiful J and the biggest bouquet of champagne coloured roses. A birthday to remember and a heart filled with warmth and appreciation.

Berlin by night

Gingerbread version of Adlon

Hotel Adlon

Drinking with style.

Berlin, we are coming!

The beginning of a first:
Weekend away with Lovely L
Visit to Berlin
Day in a new decade starting with a four

Stay connected

The number of tools to stay connected today... mail, email, text messages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs etc.etc.

Not to forget live meetings and smoke signals (I'm sure they are still used somewhere).

But there is mainly one way to stay connected to the self. Through breath. Our constant life companion, from the day we are born until the moment of our last inhalation. Yet there is so little focus on breathing.

Imagine if everybody spent as much time caring about their breath as they do updating their status on Facebook...

Bits and bobs from 2011

The year I resigned from being employed to becoming my own, sacrificing employee safety for self employed freedom. In the end of the day I believe safety and freedom come from another place than the contractual arrangements around your work. Still, the feeling is different.

Also the year I started teaching yoga. I never intended to. One thing led to another and eventually it seemed like the only right thing to do to continue my learning. And to give something back as a sign of gratefulness to all of the teachers who have given me so much (and who still do).

On the materialistic side, it has been a settling year. I cut my spendings more than I thought I was willing to and without painful compromises.

I gave up a more than ten-year old membership in the hardly ever used wine cellar. Yes, it was one of my less worthy spendings that went on for far too long. Q: Was it a difficult-to-kill lifestyle illusion?

I found those missing pieces of furniture to supplement my home (OK, admittedly that was before I cut my spendings in half). Why it took years I don't know. Q: Was there something in me that somehow was going somewhere else, not wanting to invest in the here and now?

Friendships, relationships and circumstances have been scrutinised, decisions have been made. The platform is solid. As 2012 is said to be moving faster than ever, I think a stable platform to stay grounded may be necessary.

There is something extra with Chanel

Timeless. Elegant. It's a feeling. That's why you happily pay three times more for a Chanel nailpolish than for a similar colour from L'Oreal. I'm not the only one...

Morning walk

9 am and almost light!

Did the sun come out today I wonder?

The last couple of weeks have been unusually dark. The disadvantage of the absence of snow, which I otherwise don't mind. But thirty minutes per day of sunlight would be nice... Now the only way to keep the energy up is to 1) sleep more (yes, I think we are really meant to), 2) eat properly (lots of dark-green vegetables and fish), 3) some sort of daily physical activity (but even that seems harder as the days are so short, and who can really get their act together and leave the house once you get home after work?).

Candle lights, hot tea and DVD is my treat for tonight. Unless I fall asleep first.

Tea, talk, token

She dropped by late morning with her two children, before heading back to the city she once left the capital for. She placed the children in front of the telly with the two films she had brought and explained to them that they were going to watch a film, have a snack and mummy was going to have a cup of tea and talk to her friend. Me. Loving kindness. There was no discussion. The children happily entertained themselves and we had a long chat that lasted for hours.

We haven't seen each other for more than a year. Twenty-five years or so ago we got to know each other through being part of the same gang of girls. May be our mutual interest in riding and horses made us a little bit closer, but there were differences that also held us apart. Then we found each other again. After years abroad (me), children (her), moving and new friends (me and her) we started talking again at a funeral... An authentic vintage friendship was crystalised.

Had we lived closer I think we would see each other every week. Our lives may appear very different but we find our connection through our mutual interest in yoga. Not just the practice, but the approach to life.

She was talking about opening her studio, expanding her business. She was talking about months abroad, escaping the winter but more importantly deepening her practice and allowing the family a different perspective of life.

When she left with her two lovely children (who did join us after a couple of hours), I was warm inside and filled with our vintage friendship.

In between meetings

Catching up on reflection and reading, christmas music in the background and big career perspective in my hand.

Necessary protection

One thing leads to another. That's just how the law of shopping works. You buy one thing to then realise you need one more. iPod case? Of course.

Chutney and Vogue

The latest on Kate seems to be that she is making chutney for Christmas presents to friends and family. Of some more interest is the fact that she covers Vogue Paris in December. For anyone who hasn't already noticed.

Vintage or old

Sometimes new is it. There is no charm in vintage underwear or vintage food (with the exception of matured cheese). But for many things vintage is really the thing. There is vintage wine, there is vintage fashion and accessories and there is definitely vintage furniture and household items. It's always possible to make bargains, but often the price rather indicates that we are willing to pay a fair price for the patina that comes with a vintage bag.

So how about vintage friendships? Or vintage relationships? Can you dust off an old friendship that was left years ago to find a new, may be different friendship than you used to have? Can you find something new and different in a relationship that ended years ago for good reasons?

You hear about people getting married to the same person for the third time and you hear about other people who find their best friend from toddler age and how the friendship starts a new. May be the years apart creates the necessary patina that we are drawn to, just like the vintage chandeliers. Or may be we just happen to be back on the same road in life after a well needed detour where other friendships and relationships developed.

Anyway, there is something much more appealing with the word "vintage" than with the word "old".

Yoga detox!

"Yoga stretches and compresses the collagen network of the body, which lengthens fibers and frees toxic particles - just like we do to that old, gnarly sponge we all have hiding under our kitchen sink."
From Yinsights by Bernie Clark

Yoga is a detoxifying practice! Reading more about the anatomy and functions of the body I can't help wonder why not everybody practices yoga. Imagnine what the world would be like then?

Things you can do before 9:30 am on a Saturday

Buy a new dress. Click.

Hanna by Greta

The working day of a self-employed

On today's TO DO list:

• Buy an iPad
• Exhange portable modem to iPad-friendly version
  
• Figure out what to use the iPad for; I'm convinced that I need it! May be it has something to do with spending the last day reading about Mr Jobs...
• Catch up on my reading; the list is long and includes Harvard Business Review, Boston Consulting Group's latest HR survey report, YinSights - the practice of yin yoga to prep for course starting in January
• Attend a yoga class at favourite studio
• A long awaited dinner with Mix and Beautiful J

I know already that the list will carry forward to Saturday and may be even Sunday. And it's OK. Time to light a fire in the fireplace, make a cup of tea and start reading! One of the advantages of working from home.

On-off switch resistance

It took until the end of the book, but finally some light is shred over Steve Job's resistance to on-off switches:

"It's strange to think that you accumulate all this experience, and may be a little wisdom, and it just goes away... 'But on the other hand, perhaps it's like an on-off switch. CLICK and you're gone. May be that's why I never liked to put on-off switches on Apple devices."
From "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson

A book worth reading. A man who is now part of history. A man who created history.

December 1

Christmas is approaching, the snow is not. I'm happy as long as I don't have to bring out the big and ugly winter boots.