Who can resist this face?

I know I said that I would only post once a week but who can resist this cutie?  Madeleine's and Chris' baby is officially named.... Leonore Lilian Maria.  I like it, do you?  And of course the king and quenn are thrilled with the newest addition to the familiy who is fifth in line to the throne. A 21 gun salute for the baby  HRH Princess Leonore Lilian Maria of Sweden, Duchess of Gotland!

Here's something else to look forward to - a retrospective of Anders Zorn opens tomorrow at New York's National Academy Museum tomorrow.  Called "Review and Preview:  The Master Painter" this beautiful show will be up until May 18th at 1083 Fifth Avenue in NY.  With nearly 100 pieces by Zorn this is something I can't wait to see.

Anders Zorn (1860-1920), L-R: Reveil, 1892, watercolor; Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1894, oil; Une Premiere, 1888, gouache (76x56cm). Used by permission of the exhibit, “Anders Zorn: Sweden’s Master Painter."

Closing Ceremonies

Hej!  Of course the 2014 Olympic closing ceremonies are tonight.  We are so proud of the Swedes who garnered 15 medals (2 gold, 7 silver, and 6 bronze) as of now with three events yet to happen.  Check out the complete medal count at the Bleacher Report.

Also Madeleine had a baby daughter on February 20th at 10:41 PM.  It is "an incredible feeling to hold her", says the happy dad, Chris O'Neill.  I tried the automatic name generator and got "Karen Magdalena Louise Natasha".  Try it yourself and see what you get,  http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/madeleines-babylycka/. Click "slumpa fram namn".  There will be four first names, and one last name and Chris says that he can pronounce them all.  (We can't because we don't know them... yet.) ;-)  Princess Madeleine's full name is Madeleine Therese Amelie Josephine, Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Halsingland and Gastrikland.  She's a mom now, amazing.  

Actually our little boy turns 12 tomorrow.  Personally it was such a momentous day when he was born on 2/24. It turned our world upside down, for the better, and in many unexpected ways.  One way was that I went from being a fully employed bank marketing professional to being mother, jack-of-all trades, artist, wanna-be entrepreneur, and part-time employee in teaching, marketing, sales, retail and more.  Basically anything that let me stay a little longer with our amazing boy and later our little girl, who are the lights of our lives.  But now the pendulum has swung again and I have accepted another job, and although this is another part-time gig, it feels real.  It has real hours, it's five days a week, and uses skills that I haven't brushed off in a while but am proud to say that I still have.  Well, I think I do!  We shall see about that. New work clothes were also in order so I won't be living in my jeans for the next four months!  That's a big deal too.  :-)

So although this isn't my closing ceremony it does mean that I am going to have to pare down on "living la vida lagom" posts for a while.  I won't go away for good because I enjoy blogging too much but I won't have as much time for it.  I'm good at juggling (especially after 12 years of being a little bit of everything for everybody) but now I think some focus is in order.  Focus on work, financials, and of course the family.  Those are my Olympic events right now!  I will miss you.  (Just a vanity but I like to think of you readers out there so please comment.)  I hope that you have a very happy week, and I will write again next weekend. God natt!

Olympics Sochi Style

 

Heja Sverige!  So the cross-country rivalry between Sweden and Norway in just cross-country is continuing to entertain, and this year in Sochi, to exacerbate the Norwegians.  Sweden has been able to clinch more medals for the sport, even winning the gold in both women's and men's team relays! Charlotte Kalla with three Olympic medals is now the darling of Sweden.  Read more here, Sweden wins Olympic gold


As the New York Time's states:

"But a strange thing has been taking place here the last 10 days: Sweden has been beating Norway, sometimes badly, including this weekend at the all-important team relays — a kind of Super Bowl of cross-country skiing — in which Sweden won both golds and Norway was shut out of the medals.

With four cross-country events left, Sweden has won nine medals to Norway’s seven. (Every other nation combined has eight.) Norwegian news outlets have used words like “catastrophe” and “disaster.” Social media in the country are abuzz with calls for answers."   See link below*

 

The answer the Norwegians have been pointing to it appears is the wax, the answer the Swedes suggest is hard work.  ;-)  Well, I am not much of a cross-country skier although I did explore my inner Skade (the Nordic goddess of skiing) by hitting the snow-covered links yesterday.  I spent about three hours skiing around admiring the weather, the blue sky, the hills, and the birds.  I'm not due to join any teams, Olympic or other, in the near future but I did like the sport a lot. 

 

 

* http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/19/sports/olympics/swedens-cross-country-skiing-success-rattles-norway.html?_r=0

Acne Studios Spring 2014

So, as you may know it's Fashion Week in New York City when fashion divas, reporters and bloggers from around the world, including Stockholm-based Isabel Adrian from Expressen, wander around the windy streets of the Fashion District and SOHO soaking up the ambiance and attending the shows.  This designer I thought was interesting from an artistic point of view, and he's Swedish (natch). Jonny Johansson of the fashion line Acne, see Acne Studios here (who actually showed in Paris) was inspired by Hilma af Klint - last year's hit art show at "Moderna Museet" that I blogged about here!

Here's her work :

Here's his work :

Here's what Jonny says:  "She was before Mondrian, she was before Kandinsky," he was marveling as he flipped through the exhibition catalog. He might just as well have gestured up at his clothes. He'd adapted her pieces into the collection's prints. "When I saw her color palette, I thought this is my color palette," he said, pointing to her milky pinks, yellows, and blues. "I relate to this. Everyone thinks of Sweden as gray. I don't relate to that." from Style

So yeah, I can see how he was inspired by her colors and her cutting edge approach to art.  Not saying I'd want Handsome Hubby to go around dressed like this necessarily but for the fashion darling it could be cool.

Place for a princess and a party

I know I should be watching the Olympics right now and cheering on the old "gul och blå" (yellow and blue) and the "red, white and blue" team but instead I'm surfing through the ether looking at amazing homes and dreaming myself away from this dreary February weather.  Wouldn't it be fun for example to own a castle?

Click over to check out these noble places fit for a princess in Sweden: 23 castles in Sweden.  Here's a peak if you're too lazy to click (I don't blame you, I find that the chilly evening air complete with a massive dinner like the one we just had will do that to me too.)  This pretty yellow house called "Sviestad gård" reminds me is quintessentially Swedish.  It costs 4 200 000 which is $647,258.

Here's one in Bergslagen for 7 500 000 krones totaling $1,155,817 give or take:

And here's a beautiful one in the baroque style called "ållanö" in Norrköping I believe that costs 39 000 000 SEK which is $6,010,251 at today's rate.  Well worth it don't you think?  Based on a quick search I think it traces back to 1344 - now that's history for you!

Yes, well a woman can dream.  Enjoy the pretty pictures, and if you buy one of these babies you will let me know won't you?  ;-)

S'more fires

Hello!  The time for toasty fires and keeping warm is here.... so we amped it up a bit by taking the kids to a fire-making workshop in the woods.  I thought my wee Vikings would like the chance to play "Prometheus" and they did.  We learned how to create fire from sticks and using magnesium.  Master Luke didn't even set his pants on fire like he did on the beach last summer at our family cookout.  (See picture below.)  To celebrate I made this yummy cake that I found on "A Beautiful Mess" smores-campfire-cake.  Just couldn't resist it!  We ate s'mores with the other participants, and our wonderful teachers Lowell and Lydia of Fun Way Learning in the frosty, smokey air and they were delicious.  At home we started a fire in our fireplace now much more confident of our fire building abilities.  Thanks L+L!  It was a fun class.

The foil wrapped S'mores are keeping warm

Yum! S'mores!

Last summer he burned himself, not this time though!

Snow Day!

Do you still wake up giddy and excited when the forecast is for snow?  I do!  Oh, and the 5:00 AM call from school worked too.  So excited to do arts and crafts with the kiddos, scroll my favorite blogs, make a yummy (gluten free) quiche, watch a movie, make a snow fort, scrap-book .... so I guess I have to prioritize... wait, I know, blog about everything I want to do! ;-)  Funny how that works.  So putting it off for a bit.  I will have to share some photos later.

In the meantime here's some lovely shots I saved for a chilly day from a new Swedish company called "Heart of Lovvika", http://www.heartoflovikka.se/.  You may remember I posted about my Lovvika vantar (Lovvika mittens) here, now I found this really cool company which makes beautiful knitted clothing items, the photos are to die for, and the pieces are all well made and lovely.

 To Buy visit http://www.heartoflovikka.se/ps/shop/

Hej Sofia, I am loving your company!  Good luck with your business and your mission of supporting the Lovvika knitters.

Also love these shoes in the Lovvika motive!  Check 'em out, how cool are they?  Not sure who came up with this idea but it is so fun.  Too pretty to wear on mushy snowy streets.

Lovvika Converse are available in SneakersandStuff in Malmö and Stockholm for a limited time. Have a fun, creative snowy day!