Saturday, January 31, 2009

my girls


just another evening

This week passed very slowly. At least it felt like that compared to last week. But it is strange though, cause when I think about it, it should almost be the opposite. This due to the fact that I was at home for one and a half day which means that my first whole working day of the week was Wednesday. On Thursday a friend came over and we ate sushi and went to this singer-songwriter evening at Café Retro. It was nice and a really cool café/bar. And today just work and a slow day. So you would think the week would feel shorter since I did not work that much and did things.

Now it is finally weekend again and I am just enjoying Friday evening at home. A friend said that he cannot really sit at home on a Friday or Saturday just because it is Friday or Saturday. I have absolutely no problem with that. Coming home from work I just felt like having a relaxed evening doing nothing. But of course there are those evenings which is the opposite and end up sitting at home hoping to be somewhere else. I think today was a mix of both, it started out with a relaxing evening at home turning into just another evening at home. One of those half good/half bad evenings. But I guess you got to have those as well once in a while.

It is just bad that I do not have my girls in town just a few minutes away like in the good old day. Then just another evening at home could easily turn into just another nice evening with my girls.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

not sick again

I was hoping that the CNY would continue in a better way than it started on Sunday by me getting locked out. It did not.
I went to work on Monday as usual ready for another working week. However, I felt a little bit strange and thought it was just hunger or not enough sleep or similar. But there was something else. It was almost like I was a little bit dizzy, cannot really explain it. Unfortunately I was not allowed to keep my breakfast for that long and went home right away. With a cab. No chance I am on the metro with the risk of feeling sick again.

I feared it was the regular flu with stomach issues. But it stopped there and I just felt somewhat strange the rest of the day. Did not feel all too good at night so I decided to stay at home from work on Tuesday. However, waking up later on Tuesday I felt quite alright and probably could have gone to work. Luckily no sign of flu or any other sickness.
So tomorrow it is off to work again.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

happy new year

This time it is for the Chinese New Year.

So happy CNY!
Two years ago I was celebrating CNY for real in Singapore. Well, not really for real since it is more of a family holiday like Christmas for us. I just spent it with a few friends since most of the people already had left for recess week holiday. But two years ago it was on 18th of February so much later than this year. And just a few days after CNY I was off to Bangkok. Sweet memories.

The CNY two years ago I can definitely remember. But something tells me that this CNY will also be remembered but perhaps not in the best of ways. And not really in relation to CNY...

miss blue calling for mr smith

Not the best thing happened today.
I still cannot believe it. How can I be so stupid? I am usually the one who has everything under control and not up in the blue. Because today, for a few seconds, I was totally up in the blue.

I did not do much today at all, just chilling, and I decide to go to the store to buy something to eat. As soon as I go out of my door and take one step down the stairs I freeze.

I stepped out of my door. Closed it. Realized a split second after closing the door. I forgot my keys. I sat down and I was just blank. I even have a neighbor passing me while going down the stairs. I do not say a thing. I am thinking I have a friend living close by, but I have only been there once and not sure whether I can find my way there and I do not have my cellphone on me either. Also one reason that I do not want to leave the building since I of course does not have the key to the building door either.

Of course at this point, only a few minutes later, I realize I have to do something. I knock on my next door neighbor's door but it seems to be all quiet in there. But I am lucky and a few seconds later she enters the building. It is this older woman that barely understands my lame Swedish effort of sounding Danish. But she does most of the talking and I understand most of it.

She tries to call the landlord with no luck. Then the only thing to do is to call the locksmith. After 30 minutes he showed up and after a minute or two he opened the door. Home sweet home. For this I had to pay 850 DKK. Lovely. But what to do, I can only blame my self. I locked myself out.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

#500

500 posts in this blog so far. It has been going up and down with the writing but mostly up I have to admit. I have never lost my mojo for blogging for more than one week at a time usually. This blog came alive the 10th of May 2007.

But this was not the first blog, this one is number three in the order. My first blog saw the light already in 2006, 4th of June. At that point, I was not feeling so well and it helped a lot just to write and get all the worries and feelings out. I only had one week left until my second surgery and it had been a tough time leading up to it since it took nine months to get there.

The first one was a try out and I liked it so I started my second blog that I wrote in fall 2006 to spring 2007. A good time with the exchange semester in Singapore and all the traveling. Then I decided to switch blog once again and also start writing in English. So that is how I ended up here.

So actually, in total, this is blog post #949. Over three years. I am sure there will be many more to come.

one of those days

A nice day today I have to admit. No work. Well, I was at work but attended an induction day where Maersk Line was presented and all its different areas. Interesting to get to know what is actually going on. Then I left at four to go for my Danish class. While I am walking out of the building I notice a voice mail on my phone saying that the class have been canceled. Yeay! Great since I did not get an opportunity to do my homework yesterday and I really wanted to come home early for once and just chill.

Then I went to H&M and found out that they had 50% off on their sale prices. So I found quite many pieces of clothing that already had been on sale for 70% and then I got another 50% off on that. Score.



Then I picked up some lovely spring rolls and california roll sushi. A good day. Once of those days when you just enjoy all the small things happening making it a really good day.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

1 ½ bottle of wine. and some pie

A picture says more than words does it not? So this one should reflect a nice evening with some friends tonight. I made my famous broccoli pie that one of my friends got to experience in Helsinki and this tiny piece was all that was left.



And 1 ½ wine bottle since I had the other half of the bottle myself this weekend. The wine from the Christmas present, it was a good wine. On the other hand I am not a wine connoisseur so what would I know. A nice evening.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

helsinki hair

I love this photo. A good one from Helsinki exchange, brings back the good old memories. It also makes me thinking that I might let my hair grow a little. I am not talking about shoulder length or longer but something closer to what I had on the photo. I really liked the color as well, having darker hair with dark brown underneath.



On the other hand I know how annoyed I get when when it is growing out from a shorter cut. I realized I need to color my hair really soon since the my natural hair color is starting to show quite a lot. I dislike it a lot on others so have to get my grip together.

Monday, January 19, 2009

i like sport

Not to be a participant. But an observer.
Today there was a lot of sport on the schedule. The TV-schedule that is. Of course. Sweden continued their winning streak, this time against Spain, in the World Championship of handball. I love watching handball, there is always a lot happening and it is a fast game. Of course it makes it more fun to watch since Sweden have been so good at it. A downturn now for a couple of years after all the good ones left the sport, but they seem to be catching up now with new players.



As soon as the game was over it was just to change channel to another Swedish one to watch Idrottsgalan. The gala of sports is a bad translation, but one could call it the Academy Awards of sports isnstead. Which sounds much fancier. Reminicing the sports year of 2008 and all the great achievements of Swedish athletes.

So a night of sports. And I did not even have to take a shower after.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

revisit

I cooked tonight as well. However, I must admit that it was basically the same as yesterday. But that does not really matter. It was good. So while I was enjoying my delicious dinner I watched Sweden kick Korea's ass in the World Championship in handball. Good job guys. I hope it continues. Another good thing with having Swedish TV in Denmark.



My good dinner with pasta, spinach, broccoli, and lots of parmesan.

finger painting

Finger painting is not just fun for kids. It is all messy and sticky. And I love it.


Saturday, January 17, 2009

a good saturday

A girl gotta have some popcorn with her wine. So that is why I have some freshly popped popcorn with a lot of salt in my lap watching How I Met Your Mother. And a glass of white wine on the table. It is the Christmas present wine from work and it is quite alright.

It has been a nice Saturday. Had a good night sleep with no disturbances. I needed that. Waking up to no alarm just by myself early enough to be able to to a lot during the day. It started all quietly with some TV series and just relaxing. Then continued downtown with some shopping in one favorite second hand store and of course some H&M.

For dinner I actually felt like cooking so I wrapped up some pasta. I have not had that feeling in a while so it has been no dinner at all or some take out for the most of it. My creative side also appeared today so I started painting. Many things to be taken up today. My mojo for my hobbies seems to have found its way back. Hope it stays.

love my scrubs

Nice and quiet Friday evening. I needed that. After a week with restless nights I have been very tired at work. All thanks to my lovely neighbor who apparently loves to talk on Skype at night. Loudly. I was tired already after midnight and now it is after one and I am already in bed. Not often that happens on a weekend considering I am a night owl.

It was a good choice to stay at home and not going out to this birthday party at a bar my friend tried to convince me of. Would have been dead tired after only a couple of hours. Instead I enjoyed some great Indian takeout, a glass of red wine, some Friends, and the newest episodes of Scrubs. Scrubs is finally out with the eight season.

Now it is time to shut it all down. Hopefully I will get a good night sleep and feel all rested tomorrow. Maybe I will even manage to get up at a decent hour. Wonders can happen.

Friday, January 16, 2009

planless weekend

It was Thursday morning and only one day left of work. Then we had lunch and half of the day had already passed. Our weekly cake at 3 p.m. and only two hours left of work. But damn did those two hours pass ridiculously slow.

I had things to do, but the major things I have just kept pushing forward and just doing the smaller things. At this point in the afternoon I had stared myself blind on this reconciliation that did not match. I need to look at it with fresh eyes and that will be on Monday. So it was kind of a drag in the end. Just waiting for the clock to turn five.

Finally it did! And I was out of there.
No special plans so far, I will just have weekend. Relaxing. If I end up doing nothing special but being home. I will still be happy for the weekend.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

antique?

I am flipping through the channels and what TV show catches my attention well enough to lay down the remote? Antikrundan. Is that a sign of seniority? I certainly do not hope so. I do like auctions and second hand shopping so there I have my excuse. Or maybe I just wanted to hear some Swedish.

That reminds me, I should go second hand store hunting again. Last time I found some really nice things but I did not have much cash on me. I liked the second hand stores here in Copenhagen. I should take another tour, maybe this weekend actually. I will keep it in mind.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

work

Let me present to you: my desk at work. An office landscape not much from many other I can imagine. I am sitting in the middle with a colleague to right and my manager to my left, and facing three my three other colleagues.



Of course I also have my very own, fancy little name tag on my desk. However, some people are not able to read since someone once called me Carina. Sure, not much difference but still. It is not alright.



Economist. Remembering my first real paycheck. How great that felt, to actually have a lot of money left at the end of the month. Instead of the opposite, a lot of month left at the end of the money. There is actually something good that comes out of working.

loser or not a loser, that is the quesiton

So what happened to work today?
We got the weekly cake question which we all take very seriously. Last week Ole, the director of our group, asked a tricky math question which ended up being more tricky for him. What most of us answered was apparently way off from the figure Ole had (which was wrong) and he ended up buying cake for us himself.

Today we then got this weeks question which of course was another tricky question. How many bananas could the vessel Cornelia Maersk transport if loaded into 20ft containers. So we started to google and one after another seemed to find the answer. However it seemed to be very difficult for me. Moi, the master of googling. We did not have that much time and in the end I had some numbers and I tried to calculate a figure to email before the deadline ran out. But just a few minutes later when I heard what my collegue answered I realized I did not really think it all through. According to my guessed figure a 20ft container would hold 160 bananas...



So I started to search for a recipe being sure that I was the loser. Somehow there was one who guessed such a huge amount that he lost instead of me. Even better, there was one who guessed an even lower number than me. So I was totally safe and my winning streak continues.

So to make a long story short. We had the cake question today which I was so confident to have lost. But how wrong you ever seem to be, there always someone who will save you by being more off than you.

So that was what happened at work.
And yes, I was quite bored at work.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

rediscovering

A favorite song back in the days - Be The One. I really liked her first album.

danish class

I have started learning Danish.
I could never imagine that sentence coming out of me.
I have never been able to understand Danes. I remember sixth grade when we made a class trip to the island Bornholm that belongs to Denmark. The instructor for climbing-down-the-mountain thing of course talked Danish and I did not understand a thing. Very safe considering the situation.

Anyway, I feel like an question mark every time hearing Danish. And of course, living in another country I feel obligated to actually learn the language. That goes for any country, at least to learn some basic things. Since Danish is in fact so closely linked to Swedish it should be easier than learning a completely new language.

At least that is what I thought. Sometimes it can be tricky since you have the Swedish in the back of your mind all the time. Instead I should just focusing on learning a totally new language. But it can be damn hard with the pronunciation.

my lovely neighbor

It is lovely when you have finally fallen asleep after some effort and are waken up by your neighbor that decides to talk on Skype with speakers ater midnight and with these thick concrete walls I cannot knock to make her shut up and still hear here through some annoying ventilation system.

Monday, January 12, 2009

if i were a boy

It is the good version. From the girl who wrote it.

strange monday

Surprisingly this Monday at work went really fast. I do not really know why. Usually it flies by when you are busy. I was not busy. I had things to do. But I was not busy. I would like to have more of those days. Please.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

ten hour evening

This week at work was kind of busy. Book close of the administration costs on Friday and a few things that needed to be sorted out before that. I had my first Danish class on Thursday so I could not stay late and ended up coming in 6.20 a.m. to work on Friday. Not fun but needed. I managed to fix everything before the deadline. Not that many hours overtime as many others have to do so I am still happy.

After this a nice weekend was needed. As usual I had no plans but in the end it was quite busy since everything happens in the last minute. That is how I like it as well. Friday was spent at a friend of a friend's apartment having dinner, talking, listening to music and drinking wine. A nice evening apart from a little bit too much serious talk. Not what you want after having a 11 hour working day.

Saturday was spent having lunch out and in the evening we went to see Yes Man and I have to admit I really liked the movie. Usually I am not a fan of Jim Carrey but in this move he was not that exaggerated. After that we went to a two bars having a whole bunch of beers. Yes, I am getting more used to drinking beers. It ended up being a very late (or early?) night and I was in bed by 7 a.m. I realized the next day. Mamma mia.

I let home for a movie at 9 p.m. and was home again at 7 a.m. I guess that must qualify as a rather good evening.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

no holiday in sight

After doing so much during the holidays, it was nice with a weekend not doing anything. Friday I just popped open a bottle of red wine and had some of my imported cheez doodles. Watching How I Met Your Mother.

Saturday was planned to do nothing as well. But a co-worker managed to drag me out in the rain for lunch. Then he even managed to drag me out to a bar in the evening. Well, it was not like I was that hard to convince. It was not like I had any other good plans except from lying in my sofa.

The Sunday was spent watching TV but then I had to exchange my jammies for some real clothes since three friends was coming over for pancakes.

So the weekend was planned for spending time at home doing nothing, but I ended up having plans anyway. Although I did get some time for just chilling anyway.

Then it was time for work... A whole week of work. Have to wait until Easter, I think, for next holiday. Are we there yet?

happy new year

So the New Years came and went. It was cool. After the short visit in Stockholm I flew back to Copenhagen to join my visitors from Germany. In the beginning we were supposed to be nine people, but my dear friends invited five more. A dinner/party in my apartment with 14 people did not sound that appealing. So I told my friends that I am not cooking for 14 people. So they took care of it all. One cooked, one decorated and they both brought chairs and other stuff that was missing. Nice. I just had to look good and be a nice host. Fine by me.

It turned out to be a really nice evening. Good food. A three course meal. Drinks. Fireworks at city hall. Then back to my apartment again. I like my neighbors. Nobody complained or anything. We did play music until around six in the morning. But then I kicked out my friends and went to bed.

Friday, January 2, 2009

quote of the day

"Jag är ingen maskin! Jag är kvinna!"

Yrrol: An Enormously Well Thought Out Movie