Hallway theme: Nature

I wanted lots of mixed hooks by the entrance to hang coats and handbags on. So while looking around at some online shops and bookmarking the ones I liked I noticed a theme. And suddenly it all became so clear. I want a fairy taleish nature theme! I was thinking about making the really long wall in the hallway green.
And put these wall stickers from supernice on the wall:

Then put some random hooks all over the place. These are the ones I found that I want to get:

Birdie hooks from Rocket St George

Deer hook from Caravan Style:

Mushrooms from dotcomgiftshop

spotify playlist - March

I make a spotify playlist every month with music i listen too a lot during that time and I thought id share them here. It's a little bit late but better late than never right?
So here it is.

Tandoori masala chicken and how i lose weight

I've just had a mouth orgasm. Last night we put some chicken fillets in a tandoori masala yoghurt mix to let it marinate over night. I can't believe the difference in taste when something gets to swim around in pure yummines for hours and hours.

This portion: only 180 calories

The marinade was made of:

- tandoori masala spixe mix
- ginger
- chopped garlic cloves
- yohgurt
- water
- bit of salt

And I then had it with a mixed salad. I would have had it with rice but since Andrews father is making dinner for us tonight I wanted to save in some calories since I won't be able to count them.

Here it comes ... This is how I lose weight without losing my mind:

The story behind my weight gain is simple and probably similar to other stories.
Girl loses father to cancer, girl gets depressed and stay in bed for a year living on food that gets delivered to the door, girl wakes up a year later looking like a blob.  Girl has a hard time fighting the depression and blobs up a bit more.

When I started feeling better I tried lots of different things to lose the extra weight. Lots of different diets, bought a crosstrainer, diet pills, living on soups etc etc. Nothing felt right and nothing would really work in the long run. (except maybe having a crosstrainer, but only if you actually use it)
I even thought about having surgery, but I love food, I don't want to get full by eating a grape and I don't want a restricted diet for the rest of my life.

I just woke up one morning and felt like "enough is enough! I want to wear cute dresses too!". And I think that is important, you need to wake up one morning really really wanting it and really be ready to work for it. If youre not in the right place it wont work.

So here it is:

I count calories.
If I eat over x calories I will gain weight.
If I eat x calories I will keep the current weight.
If I eat under x calories I will lose weight and depending on how few I eat I'll lose less or more.

It's all about simple maths.

I'm no doctor tho so I'm not going to put out any directions on how many calories you should eat. If you want to lose weight you need to find out how much you need because everyone is different. go to a personal trainer at a gym and get advise, also go to your doctor who can help you or refer you to a dietitian. This way they can give you an amount that suits you, I for example eat 1794 calories per day at the most. That's a lot!

If I want to have a little extra one day it's ok, but if I feel like I want to lose weight faster or if I've had way too much one day there is a simple solution. Just do some working out! (I never do tho cus I'm lazy, a walk now and then is ok for me) And then you can take away the calories you have burnt from the exercise from the equation.

After a while you learn to check what you eat, think about not drowning the food in fats etc etc. I use a cooking spray for example. Food still taste the same!
And I never deny myself anything I crave. I absolutely love wotsits and I have to have it, so I eat it. Often.

Before I post there are two important things I want to say:

1. Don't ever starve yourself! If you eat under 1300 calories per day you will starve.

2. I want to lose weight to be healthy and feel good about myself. I absolutely do not approve of the skeleton ideals of this society. Every woman is beautiful in her own way, and it shows mostly in her confidence, not the weight.


My weight loss so far: 10 kilos (1.6 stone) in10 weeks

Soundtrack: Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Finally a full nights sleep! I'm celebrating that with music that makes me feel cosy. Enjoy!

Happy easter

I come from a wannabe catholic family. They are Catholics but they sure don't act like it. Maybe my grandma but absolutely not my mother. She does like to use it as an excuse to have me coming over for holidays like Easter that doesn't really mean much to me. I used to do it for my grandma, but now I live in England and also I've had about enough of my mother and I'm keeping my distance for the sake of my health and sanity.

I don't cook anything special and I don't decorate any differently. I'm pretty much just annoyed that the shops are closed and no one at school answers e-mails.

This is about as much Easter as it gets in my house.

Happy Easter!

(And I really wish that bass player at the Georgian Theatre would stop playing "Don't stop believin' " over and over because they are ruining the song for me!)

Changing beddings on a king size bed is a workout

The first Christmas me and Andrew spent together he was living in a house with two eco-warriors who would rather freeze to death than put the heating on.
The first night I spent there I slept in sweats, dressing gown and a knitted hat. It was cold! I come from Sweden and I'm used to the cold, but the Swedish people are also so aware of the cold that they build houses that will withstand the icing cold too. Here in England the houses are built in a more optimistic way. But thats not what I wanted to talk about.

I wanted to talk about changing the beddings on a king size bed. What I was getting at was that the day after the really cold night we went to buy a new duvet, and we got the largest one I've ever seen so that I could roll myself in it like a French hotdog.
The only problem was that its so much work for the arms to change the duvet cover on it but Andrew showed me how he does it. He climbs into the duvet cover and pulls the duvet up from inside. It works, and it's more fun! I gave in today and tried it too.

What to do with insane neighbours

A few days ago we finally got internet again. Finally, life is so much easier now.

On Friday night, or more like Saturday morning at 3.30 I flew out of bed because the whole house was shaking. The upstairs neighbours had brought some guys home with them and decided it was a good idea to have a party. Since it was impossible to fall back asleep with them jumping around, screaming and playing music we decided to just get up and wait it out.
They never stopped!
Or eventually they did but its hard to say when because around 9 the sounds of the streets and the environment around us blended in with the rest of the noise. I really hope this is an isolated incident. I haven't met the girls upstairs yet but so far it annoys me that they have absolutely no respect for their neighbours by partying loud and late, removing their fake nails in the stairs, leaving beer cans outside our door and leaning out their windows yelling at the people outside.

Bad neighbours can make the best home feel like a prison where you don't have a saying in when to sleep or being able to relax. Since we have a years lease on this place and we are determined to make a home of it and probably stay here for 18 months we are going to deal with this and not just let it be. We intend to talk to the girls before we do anything though because we don't want to surprise them with a warning from the landlord. That might just make things worse.
Maybe they are just clueless. Me myself is not going to talk to them though, I'm not English and polite as my boyfriend. So he will have to talk to them. I come from the land of angry notes and revenge.

What is the best way to deal with bad neighbours?

One week until broadband

It's been a real hassle getting broadband here. I'm using a 3 dongle with mobile broadband for studying and email but its pretty unstable because there is not much coverage in this area. That's really awesome since we both use 3 mobile haha.
Anyway, in waiting I thought I'd just put two pictures up to show the difference between our old hallway and the new one. I have plans for it, now its pretty much a white (magnolia) canvas like the rest of the house. First one is the old one, and the second one is the new place. I have a fireplace in the hallway!

Problems with moving house

So apparently no house is perfect. We moved in on Tuesday and these are the problems we encountered so far:

- Virgin media was supposed to install cable, phone and broadband on Wednesday but about the same day they figured out that our house wasn't in their system so they couldn't provide any services. Sky can do it instead but it will take some time because the house is listed.

-We have two boilers. none of them seem to be able to provide hot water tho. the plumber has been on his way for a few days now and is probably going to show up today between 11 and 13. The time when it is the most inconvenient for me ofc!

-The fridge has still not arrived. We paid our booking fee over a month ago ad thats how long it takes to provide a fridge?? Wow I did not know they were bringing it too us here by foot from china, but I guess it's better for the environment.

There are more tiny stuff that are possible to live with and not really worth mentioning. So I'm sitting here with greasy hair, hungry with nothing to eat and I cant really go out because I'm waiting for the plumber plus I look like a homeless person.

BUT: the flat is so nice, we really like it here and it already feels like home to us. I dont even mind the drunks outside our bedroom window at night.

Moving day!

Finally the day is here!
We are pretty much packed and I'm just sitting here surrounded by boxes waiting for the movers to come and do all the heavy lifting. The biggest problem for me with the packing has been wrapping glass in newspapers and handling cardboard boxes. The material of the paper and cardboard against my palms makes my skin crawl. I hate it. And the sound of the boxes when I close them, it's gonna give me nightmares. At the start I was labelling boxes, but after a few I just got bored with it. I know I will regret it in a few hours when we arrive at the new flat.

I just want to sleep now. ZZZzzzZZZ

Double curtain pole

The only place in the UK atm where I can find double curtain poles is at IKEA and the closest one is an hour away. I really want them double because it makes all the difference to me. My favourite summer curtains are the extremely cheap "sarita" ones from IKEA. They are not that great as singles but works great with another pair in another color or with any other kind of curtains. I have them in purple and turquoise and I like them together. They worked great in my old plum colored living room.

That will be my next mission I guess. Double double double! Need to find them.

The soundtrack of my house

A good soundtrack for different occasions is important to me. I like having a list for cleaning, a list for chilling out etc. One song that will always have a place on any of my lists is M83's "We own the sky". It makes me feel like I can do anything.

It is my soundtrack atm

The mystery of the vanishing chopping board

The man of the house wanted to make a late night sandwich. He came into the living room with this look on his face and said that he couldnt find the chopping board. Like always in situations like this I sigh and get up to work my magic. But I couldnt find it either. I mean it has its place in the kitchen, same place as always. If its not there it's usually in the sink.
We searched the kitchen, even in the washing machine and the freezer! Then we just moved on, maybe it had grown legs to try and run away from all the knifing. Maybe it was seeking it's revenge. It wasn't in the bath tub either.  Since we are moving house on tuesday I thought for a second I had packed it in a box or something, doesn't sound like something I would do tho. Packing when its a whole four days left I mean.

So we just stood there in the kitchen staring at each other, started to think about ghosts and alternate universes. Then I saw a spider in the corner of my eye and threw myself in the big comfortable arms of my guy. (For a while he thought the chopping board was attacking me) He came to my rescue and "removed" the spider from the wall. And then he held me for a while, and while he did that I saw the chopping board. Hiding against the white tile ... right next to where the spider was.

Camouflage!
And who put it there?

And yes we need more than one chopping board, and yes we are getting the granite one from argos. And yes we have been saying that for 6 months now.

Freecycle

There is a network called freecycle where you can find things and give away things for free. Sounds good right?
We just gave away a 28" TV and a dining table + chairs. They were not in the most amazing condition but the TV is working fine and the table and chairs are complete just not very good looking. My plan was to alter them in some way but then I decided i didn't even like the shapes of them. Fold out tables just annoy me for some reason.

The freecycle mission statement:

"Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."

Just register at the website and join groups in your area. It's as easy as that. Just click here to go there right now.  And then spread the word!

I'm all for recycling and using things until there is no possible use left of it, usually your trash can be someone elses treasure.

Btw I'm working on getting a better camera since I accidentally drowned my old one in apple juice a little while ago. Since I love photography it has to be done! And very very soon. (Like next week)

Is there any hope for this stuff? Not for me, but maybe for the guy who is picking it up tonight.

My love of wallpaper

As i said in the previous post there are not a lot of fun "wall-action" going on around here. It made me miss my swedish kitchen. I still have my flat in Sweden, I have a tenant living there atm until I finish school so I officially can move to England. When I moved in there I changed everything from the kitchen cabinets to wallpaper and floors.

I love doing that, just rip everything out!

Out with the old, in with the new!

The magnolia England

Everywhere I go I see the color "magnolia", a bright beige/white color. It has gone so far it's making me sick actually. I am not exaggerating at all now when I say that every landlord in at least this area paint the interiors of the houses in magnolia.

The place we live in now is in .... magnolia. Every room!

The place we are moving to .... magnolia.

I will get rid of it. As god is my witness I will never live in a magnolia house again! At least one wall here and there will be another color or I will go into a magnolia coma. Why even sell other colors when every single person buy the same color?

This is the old fireplace at the current house, it is the wall closest to me and i felt like writing about this without having to move from my seat because I'm lazy. (And I should be packing)

The difficulty of choosing the perfect tea pot

For a few months now my very english boyfriend have been wanting a tea pot. One that he will never clean, because that is how you make really great tea. I did not know that, but then I'm not English either.
We have seen tea pots, lots of tea pots. But he is very picky and we still don't have one because of this. So the other day I was doing some "window shopping" on various web shops and stumbled over it ... the perfect tea pot. And for a very reasonable price too!

It has to be mine!

My precious!

You can find it on Artbox, just dont make them sell out before I get my hands on one!

What to do with mold and condensation on windows?

There is one problem i just cant solve. And its the one with condensation on the windows and the mold that sometimes come with it.
Every morning there is condensation on all of our windows. Sometimes just a little and sometimes so much it almost looks like someone actually threw a bucket of water at the windows. We have a big ass dehumidifier (supposed to be big enough for a whole house and we have a flat of 3 rooms) and we keep it on 24/7. We also have one of those boxes with a kind of sand in them that is supposed to collect water. It does, but it makes no difference.

So I need a solution. What to do, what to do?

One week countdown until the move - 7 days

In 7 days we need to be out of this flat and into another.

Have I started packing? .... No

Do I have time to pack?..... Naaaaah

But there is no time as the present. I better start NOW. But where do I start? Anyone? What do I leave to the very last minute? Kitchenware? What can I live without for a week?

There is nothing I hate more than moving. A new home is always exciting but the move itself, that's hell pretty much.
I know how it's gonna end up, last day I will throw everything in black bags. I did actually ban the black bags this time, but I doubt that is going to make a difference. And then when the move is done 7 glasses is going to be broken, 18 random items will be missing and I will not finish unpacking until christmas.

A home without a pet

For me a home without a pet is not a complete home. Ive had pets pretty much my whole life except for the last 3 years. It has almost always been cats, but also: fishes, rabbits and birds. I prefer cats tho. I am one of those girls who are very likely to turn out as "the crazy old cat lady".
The problems now is first of all that we rent and most landlords wont allow pets in the flats so we might have to wait until its time to buy. Another reason is that we dont know where we will end up. I'm swedish, he is english. We live in England but he wants to live in Sweden, I'm perfectly happy staying here in England, at least atm. But we can end up in france for all I know.

But I'm dying here!

I need fluff! Furry and fluffy fluff! 

That is why I will try and find a cat shelter to volunteer at. I would advice anyone who is looking for a pet to look at the shelters first. That is where i have found most of my previous kitties. And they have all been amazing. This white fluff here is Agnes, I found her at a cat shelter in the north of Sweden about 5 years ago. She lives with my ex now tho.

If you live in the UK this could be a good place to start.

Putting together bookcases

Since I'm from Sweden aka IKEA-land I'd consider myself a wizard when it comes to putting together furniture you buy in a billion pieces. That is, until a few weeks ago.
Me and my boyfriend bought a bookcase to put all our course litterature in. Just the cheap £11 kind. It took us ages to put it together because we were so careful and wanted to do it the "right" way with limited amount of damages to the bookcase or us. I don't know how it happened, but we screwed up. I can't believe I didn't notice it while we were doing it, I know I noticed at least 3 other stuff that almost went wrong.
This is just silly!
I will get back to how I'm going to fix this after I figured out a fun way.

First Post

I guess this is where I talk about what my visions and plans are for this blog. It will be a way for me to see the progress im making in making a home for me and my boyfriend. How I will go from being uncomfortable in my own home and skin to the opposite. Since I moved away from home when was 19 years old I have lived in a lot of places with a lot of people. It was never a time for nesting, settle down and make a home for different reasons. Now is the time.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people out there who are on the same journey and who can find inspiration and/or a good read from this blog.

The things i will talk about here will mainly be:

+ nesting and making a home - mostly in a indie, kitsch, shabby chic and just odd way.
+ cooking and weight loss - since ive been trying to lose weight ive started cooking more and think more about what i eat, but i am a food lover so there wont be boring food at all.
+ crafting - this is something i will try and get better at, i love it ... in theory. Let's see how it works out in practice
+ socialising - im odd and awkward and socially handicapped. That is something i have to change and i promise i will at least try. This will hopefully be a way for me to get out there and talk to people.

All this is for me subjects that fit in the same category - home. Home isnt just where you live. It is where you feel comfortable too, that is why i feel like i cant feel at home unless im happy about where i am in myself. Oh wow, that sounded so soppy. But i guess it is true in a way. Ive had a difficult couple of years and now i am finally ready to get back on my feet and start living.