This is Sweden

This is at any rate a movie about Sweden that will be shown tomorrow in New York when Mikael Damberg, Swedish Minister of Industry and Trade, visits the stock market.  I love it, do you?

Art before dishes

Here's some excellent advice for everyone from brain pickings.  As I have a Start 2 Art class tonight it's one I am going to follow today!  Need to get crackin' :)

https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/01/18/advice-from-my-80-year-old-self-susan-omalley/

Formex concludes

Formex is a great place to pick up on new retail trends.  I've written about it before, here and here, it was such a wonderful thing to do many moons ago with my friend Christina that I've followed it ever since.  It appears that a blue and white boho look will be in full force in Scandinavia this spring. The exhibit which is held in Stockholm for three days every January and August just concluded today.

Emma Fällman

Emma Fällman was announced the winner of the award 'Formex Formidable 2015' which is a great honor.  The jury selected the designer of these lushly designed silk scarves which can be purchased online in Sweden because, to quote from the Formex website.

Emma Fällman’s Totem Tiger stands for strength, bravery and beauty. And her Cockatoo represents positive change. This is young Swedish design with an attitude.Imagery that exudes both urban tattoos and folk art in an exciting cavalcade of patterns. It awakens the tiger within us.

Really?  Not sure a scarf can do that, but they are as gorgeous than Hermes which makes them at 2250 Swedish Krones a relative bargain ($261).  Hermes on the other hand will set you back about $395.

La Marche de Zambeze scarf by Hermes 

And finally here's a link from the amazing Kurbitz.nu.  Frida went to Formex and came away with inspiring shots of beautiful textiles and designs.  Enjoy!  http://www.kurbits.nu/2016/01/24/formex-i-gor-det-sjalvets-tecken/

Beautiful torp (cottage)

Today's daydreams led me to Sköna Hem, a Swedish magazine with inspirational and aspirational home decor, perfect for soft house porn.  Check out this spread on the beautiful little cottage in the woods north of Stockholm.  It's tiny, only 40 square meters or 430 square feet, and it's off in the woods in Broby close to a lake called Yngaren.

Check out the dining room with its old fashioned charm

The living room is adorable yet hits on all the latest trendy colors (soft blue and rose, see Pantone's Rose Quartz and Serenity color of the year here).

Don't you love the oven? The kitchen is the only room without wallpaper.  Love it!

The whole place reminds me of some of my favorite Swedish illustrators, and the feeling of being hidden away in the woods which is a very acute longing in many Swedes.  Just being with nature in Sodermanland would be a dream.  It's for sale on svenskfast.se

The Danish Girl (not really she's Swedish)

Congratulations to Swede Alicia Vikander, nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Danish Girl"!  Did you see it? I haven't but this girl is everywhere! Here she is sharing glogg with Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon. She is lovely and talented.  Heja Alicia!

Interesting hotels around the world

Rovaniemi, Finland

I'm dying to go some place.  We love to travel, and I am used to a trip every now and then. A change of place in this bleak winter season would do me good but the budget prohibits. So instead of an actual trip I've been visited travel sites, and airplane booking sites (and wasted too much time bopping around thinking of all these wonderful places).

One of the things that most interests me now is the idea of going to a unique hotel. Here are some that have crossed my radar.  First this place in Tokyo which is a hostel with books galore in a cool part of town called Ikebukoro. http://bookandbedtokyo.com/en/

Then there's this interesting place.  Located in Finland it seems like the perfect place to see the aurora borealis, known as the Northern Lights.  http://mentalfloss.com/article/73305/gaze-northern-lights-one-these-glass-igloos

Finally another choice which would be fun is this tree-house hotel 30 minutes outside of Seattle, Washington near a raging river.  Children under the age of 13 are not allowed so this would make the perfect getaway for hubby and I.  Well, one can always dream!  http://www.treehousepoint.com/

Finally I'd love to go to Finland's Santa Land which is at the Northern Pole.  The hotel may not be unique but the setting in Rovaniemi is so cool and there are a lot of fun things to do.  When I saw an ad for an inexpensive trip to Helsinki on FinnAir I just about pulled the trigger.  (Good thing I didn't HH would have been mad.) :-)  Here's a link in case  you have a hankering to meet Santa and view the Northern Lights too! http://www.santaclausvillage.info/  Do you have any cool hotels you'd like to visit?  Please leave a comment and we'll compare notes.  Tack!

We're Vikings

Start 2 Art is starting!

Excited to be starting my art classes for kids 8+ this Monday, and a little nervous too! We have a little group, perfect for my inaugural class. We will have portraiture as our first theme.  I hope to get to know the children better that way and plan to share my portraits with them as well as famous artists such as Frida Kahlo's work.  In particular we're going to look at this painting -  "Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" (1940) and talk about the symbols she used in her work.  What does it mean?  What is the thorn necklace remind you of and the hummingbird?" Then they'll make their own portrait and because today's selfies have been compared to portraits, we'll make a phone case in which to display our selfie or portrait, adding personal symbols to it.  Should be fun!  What do you think?

proud to be from Skåne

I am proud to be from Skåne, a beautiful region in the south of Sweden.  This article picked up verbatim from the New York Times lists it as #9 on the top 52 Places to Go in 2016.  Heja Skåne!  

Of course there are many, many more great places to visit on this well-researched list but my heart beats for home.  

Skane

Sweden

Nordic cuisine’s next big thing.

Some of the Nordic region’s most interesting food is being cooked not in Copenhagen but across the Oresund Bridge, in the Swedish region of Skane. The capital, Malmo, is home to a handful of terrific casual places, like Bastard and Bord 13. But the real action is outside the city. Almost mythologically Swedish — all unadulterated coastline, mushroom-filled forests and red wooden houses — rural Skane has been attracting lots of creative types who come to farm (organically, of course), cook and even grow tobacco to make their own snus. In summer, Horte Brygga serves fresh, simply prepared seafood right on the shore, while Talldungen, a lovely country hotel and restaurant overseen by two young chefs who fled Stockholm, makes beautiful use of its on-site garden and bakery. But the real stunner is the 25-seat Daniel Berlin Krog. The namesake young chef hunts most of the game he serves and grows many of the vegetables; but his sophisticated, deeply layered cooking is more world-class than rustic. Though winter weather conditions have been rough, with flooding and icy roads, it’s definitely a place to watch in 2016.Lisa Abend

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• Share your 2016 travel ideas on Instagram with #52places

Fashion in Lapland

Love this picture!  Found in the January spread of the Vogue Netherland magazine model Milou van Grosen "goes camping" in Lapland.

The fashion is rocking as is the terrain.  Would love to go to Lapland someday, or "The Land of the Midnight Mosquitoes" as it's also known.  :-) If I went this might be the place, Rovaniemi in Finland is only 6 miles south of the Arctic Circle and the official home of Santa Claus.  Perhaps it's his second home, check it out here!

Here Milou is pulling her canoe and wearing stylish skinny jeans to do so.  The credits go to -
"Photographed by Paul Bellaart and styled by Jetteke van Lexmond for the January issue, the Dutch beauty seems prepared with every camper’s go to gear including a knapsack, tent and thermal, and keeping the glam throughout her woodsy trip. Beauty is courtesy by Irena Ruben. The fashion spread was photographed in Swedish Lapland. See more of Paul Bellaart on his biography or visit the photographer's website here. " 
My words exactly ;-)  Isn't this picture to die for?  Maybe Kebnekaise is in the background.

Princess Madeleine and Chris on TV

This is an interview on Skavlan with Princess Madeleine of Sweden and her husband Chris O'Neill.  They speak about their daughter Leonore who has a rabbit called "kaninen" who is so dear to her that it reminds me of Mo Willems's Knuffle Bunny books.  Adele is also on the show which was filmed in Sweden on December 11, 2015.  She and Jamie Oliver both actually who were very attentive and added some nice repartee.

It's a big love fest, and everyone comes off very well I have to say.  Even Chris who came across as very wooden previously was very charming in it. Take a look if you'd like, it's a half-hour long and it gives you an idea of who the youngest sister in the royal family really is and what her life is like.  It sounds pretty fantastic.  I wouldn't mind going to the zoo or local market with Madeleine and hang out with her someday.  And Chris could make us dinner.  Just sayin' ;-)  She says that she's shy but that's OK with me.  I am too!