Friday, November 30, 2012

new favorite store

I guess you can guess what kind of store I went to today. Sure, if you're Swedish it gives you an edge. As all the products are things you can find in a normal grocery store in Sweden.

This is all from the store Totally Swedish in London, luckily not far away from where I live at all, I think it took me about 15 min to get there. Very convenient indeed.

You know how it is. You start missing everything so much more when you don't have easy access to it. I do miss my 'filmjölk' in the mornings with the cereal. And the 'knäckebröd' with some butter and cheese. And for first advent on Sunday I've got two lovely saffron buns that I can eat with my 'glögg'.

How Swedish am I. I almost feel more Swedish now than I do at home in Sweden. Of course it becomes more evident when you move abroad.

how i missed you

There are no words to described how much you have been missed.

And I've only been in London two months... Not sure if that bodes well.

yes!

You remember this?

Well today I got redemption! Because this morning I became the happy owner of two tickets to Robbie Williams on the 29th of June in Wembley Stadium in London. I could not be more excited!

Last time (that time we don't talk about) I signed up for the pre-sale which also means I will in the future also be contacted for any pre-sales. Luckily. Because otherwise I might actually have missed that he would do another tour next year. Luckily I saw the email a few days ago and hanged on the door at 9am to buy a ticket. Wiser from the previous time and no mistakes where made.

Awooohoooo! I will finnaly get a chance to see Robbie live.
Now I just need to find out who wants to go with me. (And willing to pay for the other ticket...)


Thursday, November 29, 2012

sick in so many ways

The last two days have not been too good. I woke up on Wednesday feeling quite well expect from the fact that it's starting to get cold and hence cold in my room. I so wanted to just stay under the covers in the warmth. I also had a slight feeling on something in my throat. I chose to disregard it and continued on with my day after I finally managed to venture out of bed.

In spite of my disregard that tiny something in my throat extended into my head and made my brains stop working. Everything became a bit fuzzy and when the clock hit two I left the building.

That tiny something in the throat is usually not wrong. I also stayed home from work today. Lying in bed the whole day. Also because of the fact that the heating in our house is turned off during the day so it's freezing. Which kind of sucks. But I haven't really checked it out if you can do something about it either. So I just stayed in bed hitting a Friends marathon. Again. It would be impossible for me to guess how many times I've watched Friends by now, but surely I must have passed thirty by now.

I even know the bloopers by heart. So much so that when I see a regular episode I think about the outtakes connected to that scene. Hi, my name is Carin and I'm a Friends addict.

Monday, November 26, 2012

some tribal manicure

I enjoy doing some freehand nail art once in while, even though I wish I did it more often. This time it ended up with a tribal or aztec or what to call it, manicure. Love those patterns. The left hand more than the right, the left hand still needs some practice.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

down south in clapham

Saturday night I ventured down to south London, to Clapham. First time on the south side. Well, I had an interview in Croydon but that doesn't really count. Or that I've been at Gatwick airport.

Had a night out with two of my house mates and some of their friends. It was a really nice night. We started out with a couple of beers at a bar called The Belle Vue. Then we ventured to another bar for some dancing and shaking, called Venn Street Records. A lot of fun and lots of dancing. Which continued on at Café Sol before eventually heading back home late night/early morning. Think we were at home at 4 am. Hence the evening should definitely be categorized as a great night.

So my first trip down to south London was definitely a good experience and I might even dare to go again.

Friday, November 23, 2012

after work

Went for an after work today with some co-workers. I've been quite tired at the end of this week and after only two glasses of red wine it didn't really get better. Had a good time but left quite soon, like 2 hours after we got there.

I left the after work at 5.30 pm. It felt quite weird to leave the after work at that time. But when you finish at 3.30 pm on Fridays (hell yeah!) that's kind of what will happen.

But it's dangerous though. If you go for some beers with your co-workers, by the time your friends finish work and you want to meet up with them you can basically be drunk. So either you're drunk and way ahead of your friends or dead tired and already on your way home when they finish work.

Life is hard.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

the search for the hair dresser

I'm at the hair dresser. Second time in one week actually. I went last week to get a hair cut. It was a disaster. I'm the one who has to go home and get a feeling for it and look at it from different angels. I really tried to explain how I wanted it, I thought I did. Maybe I didn't, or she interpreted it in the total opposite way. I never seen myself as fussy, but now I guess I know exactly how I want it. Sure, nobody else could even tell I got a haircut, but that doesn't matter. Cause I would be annoyed every
I was thinking to call back and ask for a new cut and give her a second chance. But at the same time, do you really want to go back?
I went for no. I had even thought about trying another place as well. That's where I'm at now. At least it really looks like my kind of place, interior wise.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

swamped

Well, not really swamped at work at all. Have bits and pieces to do but not really busy. And my manager is quite busy and we haven't even gone through everything I'm supposed to do yet. I think it's the plan to do it in December and I'll start dealing with those things in January. So I guess I still have it a bit chilled for the rest of the year.

What swamped was actually referring to is my gorgeous nail polish I'm wearing at the moment. It's the indie polish from Happy Hands called The Swamp. Got quite many comments for this one.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

please give me my own job

Came to work yesterday, thought it was a realatively good Monday morning.
Then me and my co-worker had a quick catch up meeting with our manager and we were both quite stunned after that.

We both signed a six month contract with the promise of a permanent contract after that. Today we found out that the procedure for permanent positions is to have them published internally so that anyone can apply. This also means that I actually have to contact HR and tell them I'm interested in the position.
"Hi HR, I'm interested in my job."
"Hi HR, I wish to apply for the job I currently hold."
"Hi HR, please give me my own job."

My boss said that its' the procedure and if someone applies they have to set up an interview process. He couldn't tell me if we had to go through another interview process. How redicilous would that be.
"I would be great at this job as it is my job." I would honestly refuse.

I'm fine with the procedure, if that's how it is in the company then there's nothing to argue about. I just wish they could have told us sooner. And not make it sound like we basically have secured our permanent positions by just getting employed by this six moth contract.

Sure, I don't take anything for granted until the papers are signed. But when hearing this I feel like I should actually call that recruiter I was contacted by last week and tell her that I'm actually interested in what she may have to offer.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

go sweden, go

Did some arts and crafts this morning when I arrived at the office. A very interesting soccer game last night between Sweden and England which of course resulted in a win for us. 4-2 to Sweden with a brilliant last goal from Zlatan.
Wanted a flag to wave at my coworkers and my friend came up with the brilliant idea to just print one. So that's what I did and now have a Swedish flag waving at my desk.
Well, not so much waving perhaps since it's made out of paper. But still nice.
Unfortunately the office is basically empty since all is gone for sales conferences, so there's not many British here to tease... Dammit...

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

knackered

I'm totally knackered. (I'm learning British words!..)
After a full seven day working week, I was back at work on Monday morning. For a six day working week. I was really tired sitting on the tube Sunday afternoon at 4 pm. Sitting down and started to relax I yawned the whole way home. I had to struggle to keep myself awake to be able to fall asleep later for the night.

Waking up on Monday morning with the lack of weekend was definitely felt in the entire body. Same thing today. I'm just beat. Not at all as efficient as after a proper weekend off. (Hush, don't tell my manager...) At least I will have the upcoming Sunday off. Looking forward to that one.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

waking up early is great

It's great to wake up at 7 am on a Saturday morning. It's even greater to end up going to bed late and only get around six hours of sleep. Even better is that you're waking up this early because you have to be at work. The whole day. And be there for a dinner.
A long, long day.

Can you tell I'm looking forward to it?

Friday, November 9, 2012

what a beautiful morning

That's the song I started humming this morning when I looked out the window and saw a little bit of sunshine.

Now I'm at work and it's gray, gray, gray as far as the eye can see...


Thursday, November 8, 2012

blocked

Well this is good news, at least I can access Blogger at work. (Now I have it as a bookmark so perhaps I can remember to post more regularly again.) Because they have blocked social sites like Facebook as well as video sites like Youtube. Even radio and Spotify because the internet apparently can't handle it. But with a big company like this, what kind of crappy connection do they have if you can't watch videos and stream music?

I thought I had fooled the system as the Swedish radio was working which I miss listening too. However, one week later it was blocked. I could guess they have some surveillance and noticed I listened to some radio that wasn't on their blocked list.

But you know, there are always ways to come around it. I mean, these days basically everybody has smartphones...

Annoying company that blocks everything fun. Come on, they actually expect us to work when we're at work. Who has heard of something so silly....

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

stomp

Sometimes all these networks we're part of truly are great in connecting people. This time it was LinkedIn that made me connect with an acquaintance from Copenhagen that now lives in London as well. We met up on Saturday and another friend of hers. Went for a stroll to Tower of London and then along the water and London Bridge. It was a really nice evening that we ended with watching the show Stomp.

I really love Stomp. I actually watched it about 10-12 years ago in Stockholm. Just as great this time. After that you just feel like being the long lost member of Stomp and hitting anything and everything. In my mind it would sound great and musical, but if I actually tried making music out of drumming on things it would probably just come out as weird noises.

STOMP in London

























So one show and many more to go. I want to go through them all! Well, at least try to. At least all the musicals. Me love musicals.