Happy New Year!

Christmas gifts!

Some of the nice things Santa left for me this year. I must have been a good girl :)
A lovely heart pendant from Tiffany's, cute flats from the Missoni/Lindex collection, a signed book about soccer star Patrik Rosengren, a small brown leather wallet from Acne, scented angel pouch and figurine, a black Marc Jacobs scarf and the "spoket Laban" blanket is a gift for my son from his aunt. What did You get?

Back home again

Sweden treated me to a white Christmas ❤

Here I am in my very own bed, tucked in with a cozy pj and with my laptop, listening to the heavy rain outside the bedroom window. We returned to LA late yesterday evening after a long and tough flight. I'm back from my Christmas celebration with the family in Sweden. Hope all of you have had a lovely holiday season and haven't missed me too much. We all need to pull the plug sometimes and going over seas and leave both the mac and iphone at home is a relaxing thing for me to do. It was so wonderful being with my loved ones again but unfortunately this trip was filled with a lot of illness too. I was sick even before jumping on the plane on Lucia Day and it turned into "the cold from hell" before we reached Sweden. With us all being sick in the flu with fever and coughs and everything in between, including little guy:( it wasn't fair I then got sick again the day before returning home yesterday. Throwing up the entire evening, I didn't think I would be able to go on the plane yesterday morning but I bounced back pretty quickly and managed to land on LAX last night in one piece. I've never been as glad to come home as right then I think.

Wednesday 12/12 yumminess

I really didn't have the time for it but you should know my motto by now: an apple pie highlights about every week night, so even this Wednesday. I was so stressed though, I forgot to peel the apples.. Ps. No one has missed the fact that today was 12-12-12, right? Pretty cool.

Mama is sick

My morning cure.

It really is getting chillier even in LA. Maybe fall finally has come then? The season for a lot of runny little noses.

I've gotten a pretty bad cold :( Probably a little gift from my baby who got it first. I fell asleep late last night and would have needed a bit more rest so when a certain someone woke me at 7.30 this morning I didn't feel ready to go out of bed at all. But the way he did it...aww, a little voice who said "mama" and when i turned around, there he was looking up at me with a big smile. Suddenly I didn't feel as tired or sick anymore. ❤

And the Best..

I didn't mention the absolute Best part of the weekend: a husband who made pancakes for breakfast and a son who said "mama" for the first time ❤❤❤

December Weekend

Friday night take away sushi.

And Saturday night birthday celebration for a friend at a bar in Santa Monica.

Some Christmas shopping at the Beverly Center.

2nd Advent

Another busy weekend has come to an end. I don't think there ever exists one, where I don't know what to do. They always seem to be so filled with both fun happenings and things that just need to get done. Especially so now at Christmas time of course.

Clarisonic

I've been wanting to try this brush forever and now I finally ordered one online and just got it home the other day. I mean, it's supposed to be amazing for your skin and especially clean it so thoroughly it will help with breakouts but also skin tone, texture and firmness. It feels really good using it and the skin sure feels clean but so far it's to early to tell if it's really working on me or not. A "fun" thing is that I actually went to the audition for these ads before the product was launched and it was the most high paying job ever so whenever I see one of the ads I'm always feeling a bit bummed it's not me on there..

Little things..

...make you feel a whole lot of love.

Good luck charms

A little silver angel with the word "hope" was decorating a gift wrapping I got once and it has been in my handbag ever since. The card is a guardian angel card that I got in a Mexican store. The "Good Luck" token in silver is from my husband and the little tree ladybug has one of my nieces made for me.

I cleaned out one of my handbags today and found these good luck charms and little tokens among all my other stuff. I usually try to have at least one in each handbag but now they had all ended up in the same one. Wow, one could think I would be super lucky..

Me

A shot from the no makeup shoot I did in Santa Monica a while back.

Juletide

Happy 1st Advent!

My batch of Saffron buns. After my baby was put to bed I sneaked into the kitchen and finished them late in the evening.

Gifts to be opened every day until Christmas Eve..I wonder what's there for me tomorrow? :) Today I received a mistletoe.

We got December this weekend and the first of Advent today... and only four weeks till Christmas! I've already started the celebrations a bit. Friday I went to a nice Holiday Party and today I've been making lussekatter and decorating my home. I feel the entire month of December is part of the Christmas joy. In some ways the time leading up to the main event is the most fun. All the preparations and expectations.

Target + Nieman Marcus = ❤

Silver and gold studded.

Target and Nieman Marcus teamed up with a number of high end designers like Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta and Jason Wu for an exclusive collection sold only at these two stores, starting today. Great pieces for great prices. Look at the photo frame from NY based jewelry designer Philip Crangi that made it into my home. Amazing!

Neat and pretty

The set also includes bigger boxes for watches, bracelets etc

Don't you too love my new jewelry compartment? I think it not only keeps the pieces separated (no tangled necklaces anymore) but the overview is great! Otherwise it's usually "out of sight out of mind" way too often with my gems.

Here we go again

On my way home from"Din Sko"

The week started with my baby waking me with a smile, alert and ready to take on a new day, as it usually does. And then I went to a callback for "Din Sko", a commercial for a Swedish shoe chain, in the afternoon and met three guys from Stockholm and received a fun filled package in the mail from mom when I got home and now - I'm almost ready for bed after a day of juggling two jobs. I don't know if it's also because the long nice holiday weekend is over but I feel extra tired today. Hope you all had a great start of the new week. I can't believe November is coming to an end this week and we'll have December soon...

Almost Monday

Jumbo marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate and sprinkles

Ending the long weekend with cozening up in the sofa with another 80's soap opera classic - "Falcon Crest" and some home made goodies.

Good bye ❤

At Southfork Ranch, outside of Dallas, Texas

My childhood idol JR Ewing (Larry Hagman) past away over the holidays. This made me really sad. I think there even came a tear or two. It felt that I knew him and to me Larry Hagman and JR Ewing was the same person. And that was my absolute favorite TV character of all times. So entertainingly evil and so endearing at the same time. He made me want to see Texas and the mighty Dallas in particular of course. And so I did. As if I were still the little kid being glued to the TV screen back home, I ran around amongst the Dallas city skyscrapers and on the land on Southfork on last summer's road trip, happier than most. If there was one person I wanted to meet, it was actually him. Being there, I kind of feel I got to in a way.
Rest in peace cowboy.

Beauties from Alessi

I love the Alessi classic kettle and accompanying creamer and sugar bowl that just moved into my kitchen. Might make those early (mommy) mornings a bit more fun.. :)

Generous turkey

Before ending up on dinner tables across the country, Mr Turkey left some goodies for me at home - a cozy new pair of pj:s and candy from Dylan's Candy Bar. Kind of like the Easter Bunny. I like ;)

Happy thanksgiving!

Like most of my fellow Americans I'm spending the day eating lots of turkey with the family and giving thanks. This year I'm feeling very thankful having my son by my side. ❤

Why this was a good day

* I skyped with my parents & chatted with my sister
* I got on hold for a print shoot for a magazine
* I started watching a great new TV series
* A friend sent me a sweet text message
* And another one a nice email
* I strolled around cozy Larchmont Village with my baby
* I bought a new pretty blouse
* My two guys came home with an enormous cupcake for Mommy for doing a good job :)

Hmm :)

Family portraits and apple cakes

Little apple desserts with apple slices and honey and sprinkled cinnamon and brown sugar on top with a spritz of whipped cream.

I started this last day of the weekend with a photo shoot with the little family. It's so easy to capture nice random images of a smiley, happy baby but having him smile or interact on demand at the very same time as Mommy and Daddy isn't the easiest. I know from before, having worked with babies at previous photo shoots and one time even a dog by my side. I think we got some really nice ones though and I can't wait to see them. I like the ones the most that capture natural moments. After the shoot we had coffee and enjoyed little mini apple cakes I baked for the photographer. The tiniest model though fell asleep in his stroller right away. Poor little guy was beat.

Parents get hungry...

Classic American brunch at a diner. Thick pancakes, hash browns, eggs and sausages..

Kidsland

Hi Mr Robot.

A book bus!

Such cute photo frames.

And toys on wheels.

 "Kidsland" on Western Avenue here in LA has everything for little babies and toddlers. And the personnel is so friendly and knowledgeable. I love that store. I didn't know beforehand I would think it's so much fun strolling around in baby shops! We bought little guy's stroller and car seat there so now when getting him a new car seat we went back. And came home with not only a brand new great car seat but also this robot toy and got some Christmas ideas to maybe put on his wishlist. I can already tell he will be one very spoiled little one. He got so excited at the look of this colorful fun robot, his eyes got as big as saucers and he couldn't wait to start touching it, so daddy's heart melted and $16 later it was hanging in his stroller :)

.....for dinner!

A warming and filling sausage casserole. (Korv Stroganoff for you Swedes out there;) )

Beverly Hills evening

Coffee for two.

And even a stop at Sprinkles cupcakes...that now has a cupcake ATM if the shop is closed and the cravings are serious!

A visit to my dermatologist in the late afternoon resulted in a stroll and coffee at Rodeo Drive and its side streets. It's extra nice at this time of the year, I think. All the lights shine so clearly in the dark evening and the Christmas cheer adds a special touch. Wearing a cardigan and boots and feeling a few rain drops on my shoulder it really felt like winter is on its way too. (Finally!) Then I went home and made this...

My Thursday look

Sweater - Joie, Bag - Moschino, Jeans - Acne, Boots - DKNY

Hansens Cupcakes

Yummy? Well, of course. But nothing special actually...I definitely prefer Sprinkles.

I've been wanting to try them forever. I keep driving by and always get curious about this very modest looking bakery in the heart of little Ethiopia. There it is, right next to the native restaurants and thrift shops and it just looks pretty out of place. But I know it's a very famous one, the obvious choice for lots of celebrities for their birthday - and wedding cakes and the walls inside are packed with photographs and head shots of famous people praising them. So today I decided to finally come home with some freshly baked cupcakes. I bought four but actually only three made it home, one jumped in my belly the second I left the bakery...hehe.

Survivor

One last beautiful rose left!