Uppsala i vintras

I really can't wait to be back here!

To Sweden!

Tomorrow I am leaving to spend a whole month in Sweden with my boyfriend and his family! So excited.  Weeks and weeks of kissing and laughing and relaxing and doing everything fun.  Plus I'm going to Edinburgh for a few days to meet some friends.  I can't wait I can't wait! The only terrible thing about flying so far is that I will leave tomorrow but it will be already fully Friday by the time I get to Stockholm, and already almost dark out! It's too long to wait!

I don't know how I do it

Oh future imaginary blog readers,


I'm drinking hot lemon water because - and I truly hope this isn't too much information - I have a canker sore, which I only get when I'm stressed.  I never seem to realise how stressed I am until, you know, I break down in the passenger seat of a car, need to sleep all day, my face breaks out in teenage-pizza spots and, well, I get a canker sore or a stye (ugh).

I'm really not sure that I want to be in school any longer.  But here I am.  I will return to write more on this when I don't feel so guilty for not writing a paper instead.

spots.

My skin and I are fighting again. What else is new.

Skin: ha ha! Another zit! and another! and a wierd reddish area! ha ha ha ha! You'll never stop me!

Me: give me a break.  Please.  Really, it's about time, isn't it?

Skin: Maybe if you took a little better care of me I'd be a little friendlier.

Me: Look, you're not a teenager, I shouldn't have coddle you any more with so many creams and potions.  Can't you just be normal?!*

Skin: Never!!!!!

*Foolishly using the exact line my parents gave me as a teenager which, if anything, made things worse.  I never learn.

Sleepy one

Today I was firmly reminded that despite all my efforts to the contrary, I am not, nor will I ever be, one of those people who don't need much sleep.

I slept about six and a half hours last night. The phone rang very early and woke me.  I'm sure that's plenty of sleep for a lot of people, but I was such a mess all day. I was a brat all morning and cried in the car the whole way home from the computer store, for no particular reason. Except that we were driving through a quiet neighbourhood by the lake with pretty country-side like houses that were all decorated for Christmas and I think this was making me upset somehow.  It might also be PMS.  Sigh. Anyway, I came home and napped for precisely two hours, without setting an alarm - i.e. the amount of sleep I missed last night - and now I feel fine! Oh, and I didn't get my new laptop yet. Shucks.

Time for sleep!

Why can't I convince myself to go to bed! After all, I have to get up early tomorrow so I can go and get a new laptop and run other errands before I settle back down to my paper again.

(My laptop died and the shop is going to replace it,  but they don't make the model I had, or anything like it, any longer - although it was only two years old - so I'm not really looking forward to choosing a new one.  It was such a good, good little laptop!)

the one where I get an andra adventsfika after all

I wanted so much to finish my paper today.  And I tried so hard, but it just wasn't working. So finally around five o'clock I gave up and made cookies, which I had been dreaming about doing all day.

I should probably rename this blog "Cookie Mountains." Or "Wierd iPhone Photos of Greedy Mounds of Baked Goods"

I used Underbara Clara's recipe here, the one I mentioned the other day, and they are so delicious.  I used a tiny bit more cardamom than the recipe calls for, on account of my cardamom addiction, and mine turned out a little rounder than hers - I forgot to flatten them out before baking. Ooops! I also made two batches because the first time around I was really not paying attention and accidently added an extra 100 ml flour.   Like all good recipes, this one can stand a little bit of screwing up by the chef and still give super tasty results.  I ate MANY of them.  Studying makes you hungry!

While eating many, many cookies I also finished the buttonholes for my pyjama top and sewed on the buttons.  I just need to get more thread and then I can finish sewing the pants.  Why do I always imagine that I can finish any project with just a single spool of thread?


The very important thing on my "to-do list" that I didn't get to today is finding my camera's charger! Meanwhile, you get a lot of instagrammyness.

Instagrammyness.  I told you I can't write today!

Projects in Process

I almost always sew and bake more the more I have to do at school.  It's the best way to procrastinate.  This weekend I've been working on a paper about blogs, which makes it much more difficult to unselfconsciously make a blog post.  But anyway, here we go, let me show you what I've been working on:


I've sewn lots of things to take my boyfriend when we see each other next week!  I love sewing and I love sewing men's clothes, especially.  They have all the nice sharp edges and neat details that I love to make but don't usually wear myself.

First I made a light blue dress shirt, something everybody should have.  I hand-worked the buttonholes because my machine, reliable as it is in other ways, makes terrible buttonholes, and anyway, it's a skill I wanted to pick up. This is, I think, the first one I made.  They got better as I went along.

I also made a pile of monogrammed handkerchiefs.

It might seem silly, but I've always wanted to monogram something.  I love things that are just a little too unnecessary, too detailed, too old-fashioned.

I took quite a few in-progress shots so that I can make a how-to post later.

Finally, I've been making pyjamas.  My pyjamas are starting to get a bit fall-aparty, and this super cute kitten fabric is just the thing to make new ones out of.  

And, finally, I made some jams for my partner, too.  We need to be able to have pyjama parties, after all! All the fabric I used was already in my stash: striped seersucker, soft white cotton, and some lilac cotton for trimming.

  Phew! That's all for tonight!