Gold again! This time it was rather unexpected and, since we were at a dinner, I actually didn't learn about it until it had already happened. It's great nonetheless. A huge congratulations to the quartet!

Image from Aftonbladet.

I'm happy to see that skiers Charlotte Kalla and Anna Haag have won Sweden's second silver medal (Anna Haag being the one who won the first silver medal as well). They did a terrific job in the women's team sprint, leading most of the competition, but were forced to see Germany getting ahead of them just before the finishing line. I look forward to seeing more of both Haag and Kalla in the future. Congratulations!

Image from Dagens Nyheter.

The weather was amazing yesterday and we decided to spend some time in the park near a castle in the vicinity. The sun was shining and it was actually pretty warm. It was very icy — and very slippery — on some of the slopes, but at the same time the snow and ice was melting, which also was clearly visible in the bay. The ice seemed to get thinner by the hour, and when we had walked around for a bit we even decided to eat some lunch outdoors for the first time this year.

Today brought some more snow, however, but the snow is wet and it really feels as if spring is not too far away. This feels great!

I'm not in Sweden at the moment, and busy doing a lot of other things, but I have nevertheless been amazed by the way Marcus Hellner, who won Sweden's gold medal number three, Johan Olsson, who won a bronze medal, and Anna Haag, who received a silver medal for her performance, have been skiing. It is truly wonderful to see the way these athletes work together to achieve their goal and to see them gain recognition for their hard work.

Images from Expressen.

T. gave me these beautiful white tulips on Monday and I have enjoyed seeing them spring out. Today I took a few photos since I know they won't look as beautiful when I get back here in about a week from now.

It's white everywhere else as well, and during the night it will get even more so. More snow. We know the heavy snowfall will continue tomorrow, but we have to drive through it nonetheless. I hope the children will be able to catch the train and that it will run without any major delays and that I will be able to drive the 470 kilometres that I have to drive without any problems. I'm looking forward to seeing T. again at some point tomorrow afternoon. Keeping my fingers crossed in the hope that everything will work out.

This must be one of the most spectacular bronze medals I have ever seen. Yesterday we were all devastated seeing Anja Pärson crash in the most terrible way in the downhill competition. Battered and bruised, not even Anja herself was sure whether she would be able to compete in today's super-combined downhill and slalom. Only five minutes before the downhill competition started, she decided to take part after all and was soon on her way down the same slope where she fell yesterday. After this (successful) first run she was 1.41 seconds behind the leader, Lindsey Vonn. Again Anja wasn't sure if she would be able to continue the competition because of the pain, but she decided to do so and managed to produce a more than decent second run in the slalom, which resulted in a bronze medal (her sixth Olympic medal).

Maria Riesch won the gold medal, Julia Mancuso finished second, whereas Lindsey Vonn unfortunately wasn't able to finish today. Congratulations, Anja!

Image from SvD.

Biathlon skier Björn Ferry has just won Sweden's second gold medal in the biathlon pursuit in the Olympics in Vancouver. He was more than a minute behind French Vincent Jay to begin with and then he, slowly but surely, advanced to leadership position after the third shooting as the sun began to shine. Amazing achievement! Congratulations to Björn Ferry!

Image found at Dagens Nyheter.

T. has just left to attend a couple of meetings at the end of this week, but before he left we treated my parents, who are visiting at the moment, to a couple of very tasty dinners. On Saturday I made lasagne and an orange salad dessert, on Sunday T. made one of his signature dishes, fresh pasta with chicken and mushrooms in a white wine and cream sauce, and yesterday we made what you can see above, a dish called "shooting stars." It's both cooked and fried fish, shrimps, black caviar, lemon, asparagus, lettuce, cucumber and some Thousand Island dressing mixed with some whipped cream on a piece of toasted bread, and it tastes wonderfully.

The Olympics have just begun and amazingly talented 22-year-old crosscountry skier Charlotte Kalla has just won her own first gold medal in her first Olympic start ever. Sweden cheers with her.

Her team colleague, Anna Haag, did an amazing job as well and finished fourth, and I hope we will see more of her as well. A big congratulations to Charlotte and good luck in the future to both of them!

Image from Svenska Dagbladet.

T. is coming home today. It makes me very happy.

Images found at shsaplit, Scraphuset, Louise P, and Declan McCullagh Photography.

When T. and I had first met we almost immediately began to talk about going to Paris together and that summer we indeed did. We stayed at a hotel close to the Moulin Rouge and had breakfast at a café in Montmartre every morning. It was amazing.

One evening we spent in the Marais district. We had a wonderful dinner sitting outside beneath the arches at restaurant La Guirlande de Julie on Place des Vosges and afterwards we strolled around just enjoying the setting and the moment. Only a block away we saw the most amazing building, a hotel, that I was immediately drawn to, Pavillon de la reine, the queen's pavillion, and I spontaneously said to T. that I'd really like to stay there some day. I didn't know it was a rather expensive boutique hotel, but looking it up on the Internet when we got back, I realised just that. But nevertheless, some day... at some point on a very special occasion... I'd really like to stay there.

Images found at JP Moser.

I have to admit that I'm not exactly a fan of Valentine's day, at least not if that involves buying presents or arranging dinners at "romantic" restaurants. I do love it when T. and I eat at nice restaurants — and yes, I do like presents ;) — and to go off on a weekend getaway, but what I like the most is probably when we do this because we feel like it there and then. I really want for it to be spontaneous... not something we do just because it's February 14.

In Sweden Valentine's day is called "all hearts' day" and this has sparked an alternative way of viewing this day. The focus is on heart disease research and in time for "all hearts' day" Hjärt-lungfonden (the heart and lung foundation) usually launches one of their big campaigns to encourage people to give whatever they can to help fund research in this area. Personally, I find this far more worthy and I think I will support them this year. For this blog post I'll let Pamela Love's human heart necklaces symbolize it all.

I believe I've written about the Ambient Nights project before and, since I find this type of music very relaxing, I browse through what they have once in a while and check for new things. This time I decided to download Continuous Harmonically Intriguing Laidback Lavishly Orchestrated Unique Tunes. I'm listening to it right now and I love it already.

If you like what you hear, please become a V.I.P. to support Alex Hephaestion's work.

A few days ago, on February 5th, they celebrated the "Runeberg day" in the honour of their most famous Swedish-speaking poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg. His favourite pastry was apparently this type of cake, and they have since then, been named after him: Runebergare. I've never tried them before, but I have to say that I agree with Runeberg and Lina K who has posted this Runebergare recipe on her blog. They are really tasty. Thanks, Lina!

I got in touch with an old friend of mine today (and no, it's not us in the picture). It's her birthday today, so I though I'd say hello, and we began to chat about all the things that have happened since we last spoke. What strikes me the most now, afterwards, is that I can see how the terrible situation at work has drained all my energy for such a long time. I haven't even had the energy to stay in contact with people I used to spend so much time with and who meant so much to me. I think it has to do with the fact that I've felt so boring... as if I don't have anything fun to tell her... I would only have been able to tell her about all the problems. So I just didn't. It's probably a good sign that I did contact her today. This must mean that things are indeed lightening up.

Image found at Butterfly Rocket.

Sunday morning. It's 9.30 am and I'm already almost done with four loads in the washing machine. I have also been at the store, since I realized I had almost run out of washing powder, so I guess I've been pretty productive. It's almost time for breakfast but I though I'd go down to the laundry room once again and before that I have to wake up my oldest son to see if he has some more laundry. I hope not. I need to be done with it all in an hour, so I'd better get going. Happy Sunday, everyone!

Image found at Stores Online Pro.

Yesterday, I decided that it was time to see to my windows. It looked so wintery and boring and it made me want to change everything. Firstly, I've bought two new orchids and I've moved all my orchids to the living room window. I now have a window full of orchids in various colours and I really love that. Secondly, I bought some daffodils for the kitchen table and put them in a white porcelain bowl. I need some more plant soil, but I think they look really nice. Thirdly, I also bought some white ranunculus for the vases on the bedroom window sill. Now it feels good!

It's certainly time for some spring cleaning, though. Hmmmm....

Architect Christian de Portzamparc has been trusted with a large number of prestigious builds and, having seen how Le Philharmonie in Luxemburg turned out, he seems to be amazingly talented. The rows of pillars that walls off the leaf-shaped building provide a versatile and ever-changing architectural performance, especially at night when light in all colours of the spectrum flows between them. The concert hall in the middle is equally beautiful and it is also extremely well suited to its purpose. An amazing build. I wish I can view it from the inside at some point.

Image from Wikipedia Commons.

This seems to be a really funny movie, at least from what I saw on the sneakpeak in The Guardian today. After his mother's death, a devout muslim finds out that he was adopted at the age of two weeks and that his birth family was Jewish, which leads to a major identity crisis as well as clashes between Jewish and Muslim culture. The main character is played by comedian Omid Djalili, his Jewish taxi driver co-worker is played by Richard Schiff (known from The West Wing), and the script has been written by Jewish atheist David Baddiel. All in all it seems to be a very entertaining, but also thought-provoking, movie and I really hope it will be possible to see it here in Scandinavia. Release date in the U.K.: April 9.

Image from The Infidel website.

I became familiar with the work of Rickard Ölander, former professional cyclist turned sales director and painter, already in 2005 when I bought the first painting painted by him. A row of very thin men in red and blue seem to watch me with solemn expressions.

Over the years I have followed his development as a painter and occasionally I have thought of buying more paintings by him. I haven't done so yet, but I know I will some day. The vivid colours and the feeling of a happy and, at the same time, naughty grin appeals to me. I really like his paintings. They can be found at Art Revolt.

Seeing some of the new things designer Jimmy Schönning has created for department store Åhléns, I realised they have a lot more to offer on their website. I really do love the simplicity of many of the things from MUJI, and I also like clean lines of some of their kitchen and bathroom series... and the books... and gift wrapping... I haven't been to Åhléns in a while, but it seems as if I should. :)

The book Sött, sweet, dulce by Anna and Fanny Bergenström, the oak tree fruit bowl, the wooden mortar from MUJI, the jewellery tree, the bamboo bathroom mat, the waste bin, the gift wrapping, the pens, the scented candle from MUJI, and the bed tray are all available, just as all these images, at Åhléns.

It has been, and it still is, snowing a lot in the rest of Sweden — and Denmark as well — but we have hardly had any snow at all where I live. It feels a bit weird to hear all the reports about accidents as I look out on the not even ten centimetres of snow we have here, but I do hope there won't be any big accidents in the rest of the country. My oldest son will be on his way home from a skiing trip tomorrow and I sincerely hope the weather will be okay by then.

Work-wise I have reached another milestone and it feels so good. I know in what direction I'm heading and it's in a direction I enjoy walking. Suddenly it feels easier to breathe. The air is clear.

It's grey today, but yesterday's sunrise definitely wasn't. It brought a day that was very cold initially, but turned more grey as the morning progressed. In the evening it was only just below freezing and it was snowing.

Yesterday was also a pretty full day for other reasons. Besides doing a massive heap of laundry, my youngest son, who misses his brother very much at the moment, wanted me to make Stroganoff — which he loves — and drive him to his tennis practice. We also managed to spend some time at the local hospital (which usually isn't something you'd wish, but it was okay).

Anyway, this weekend I had really wished for more photo opportunities than I got... but at least I managed to catch the glowing sunrise.