Home

It’s definitely a luxury problem to be busy day and night seeing friends and family who truly appreciate you for who you are!  

    
    
    
    
 

Sweden

I was worried the snowstorm was gonna stop me from flying home to Stockholm, but luckily it didn’t! Haven’t seen my friends and family for six months and now the tickets were really cheap. Hot tip: go to Sweden in January / February, maybe even March, with Norwegian. Cheap and fast since no one wants to go here during the season of snow and eternal darkness.

Anyway for us natives it doesn’t matter, as long as I get to see my gorgy hometown! I spent the day being jet lagged, watching my mom playing Sim City (her latest obsession), eating food and watching the first episode of the X-files with mom, bro and youngest sis (who had made homemade peanut butter cups! Delish)
  

Snow day

So this is where all the people in Brooklyn went!   

Crazy neighborhood encounters

When you find two people digging in the snow by a burnt out car and it turns out they lost a ring and more people stop to help. I love how weather chaos brings people together! 

 

General chaos

The snowstorm hit NYC today and the governor declared a travel ban. Even the grocery store and subway are closed! I went for brunch with Lisa, luckily the place was open. It still hasn’t stopped snowing. What’s pretty cool to see is how people come together and show their solidarity and compassion with each other – Ever and I ran over to help a man and a city employee with a plow that tried to help a woman get her car out. Everyone I met on the streets smiled and said hi. When does that ever happen in NY??

 
 

Yummy in my tummy

I’ve been such a housewife lately but this homemade granola turned out super delicious!

Take rolled oats, chopped walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds and coconut flakes and mix together with some honey and water. Roast at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (stirring after 10) then let cool, mix in raisins and dried apricots. Eat with natural Greek or Turkish yogurt with a swirl of raspberry preserves and a topping of flaxseeds and fresh blueberries. More like dessert than breakfast!​

  

To Work in This Country…

This is so typical America. I work – for free, in my spare time – with the Swedish web TV channel Access New York. We make funny, short videos with tips about NYC for Swedes. So clearly no mega business and we all do it in evenings or weekends and no one gets paid. But still the American embassy in Stockholm has contacted my colleague and questioned whether the people he works with are doing it legally. I have a green card so it’s cool. But I don’t understand how it can be an issue when you do something fun in your spare time and then post it online. Apparently it’s illegal to blog in USA if you’re a foreigner and don’t have a green card?! I feel almost like it’s an attack on the free speech (and free media)?

Anyway, that means only he and I can produce videos in the future. Doesn’t feel great when you have a great group of people that have fun together and film bloopers. This kind of thing – same as when we have to pay a bunch of extra fees because we’re filing our taxes together because we’re married (which we have to do because – we’re married), or when I wasn’t allowed to leave the country because of the ongoing green card process, but wasn’t allowed to stay either because I overstayed my visa (how do you solve that?!) – makes me so tired of this country and all the bureaucracy. It’s like they want to make it more complicated for everyone. I miss Sweden.

Alltså det här är så typiskt USA. Jag jobbar – gratis och på fritiden – med en svensk webb-TV-kanal som heter Access New York. Vi gör roliga, korta videos med tips på vad man kan göra i New York för svenskar. Alltså ingen megabusiness direkt och alla gör det kvälls- eller helgtid och ingen får betalt. Ändå hade nu den amerikanska ambassaden i Stockholm hört av sig till min kollega som är producent och ifrågasatt om de som jobbar för honom är lagliga. Jag har ju grönt kort så det är lugnt. Men förstår inte hur det kan vara ett problem när man gör en kul grej på fritiden men väljer att lägga upp det online. Tydligen är det olagligt att blogga från USA om man är utlänning och inte har green card?! Det känns ju nästan som en attack mot yttrandefriheten (och fri media)?

Hursom, det betyder att bara han och jag kan producera videos i fortsättningen. Inte så himla kul när vi har ett roligt gäng som har kul ihop och filmar bloopers. Alla såna här händelser – samma sak som när vi måste betala en massa extra avgifter för att vi deklarerar tillsammans för att vi är gifta (man MÅSTE deklarera tillsammans då), eller när jag inte fick lämna landet p.g.a. pågående green card-process, men inte heller fick stanna för att jag överstannade mitt visum (hur löser man det liksom?!) – gör mig sååå trött på det här landet och alla regler som säger emot sig själva. Det är som att de vill göra det svårt och komplicerat för både andra och sig själva så att de får nåt att göra. Nu saknar jag Sverige. Punkt slut. 

Weekend of Labor

This weekend I assisted our friend’s girlfriend who’s a stylist and helped out at a photoshoot for Gap. We dressed and undressed mannequins in the S16 collection for 10 hours. Got free pastries, coffee, lunch and more pastries, and during lunch everyone talked about how guys in New York are such douchebags. Fun day but how do people manage to stand up for 10 hours?!

On Sunday (yesterday) we made a mega brunch at home with eggs on toast, bacon, pancakes and lots of coffee. Then we spent around 5 hours scraping 20 layers of old paints off the doors of the house. Our landlord asked us to do it and we can deduct it from rent. Worth it! But! I’m very naive and tend to forget I’m in Brooklyn, so when I was upstairs to make tea and Ever had his back to the door, some dude went into the house and was about to steal our bikes from the hallway. Right under Ever’s nose! Luckily he turned around and saw him, but it’s just so rude.

I helgen assisterade jag vår kompis flickvän som är stylist och hjälpte till på en photoshoot för Gap. Höll på i 10 timmar och klädde på och av skyltdockor med kollektionen för S16. Vi fick gratis fika, kaffe, mackor och mer fika, och på lunchen snackade alla tjejer om hur killar i New York är såna douchebags. Kul dag men hur orkar folk stå upp 10 timmar i sträck?!

På söndagen lagade vi en megabrunch hemma med eggs on toast, bacon, pannkakor och maaaassor av kaffe. Sen ägnade vi typ 5 timmar åt att skrapa av 20 lager gammal färg från ytterdörrarna. Vår hyresvärd gav oss uppdraget mot att vi kan dra av arbetstiden från hyran. Värt! OBS! Jag är väldigt naiv och glömmer att jag är i Brooklyn, men när jag var uppe för att göra te i lägenheten och Ever hade ryggen mot porten stack en kille in och tänkte sno våra cyklar som står i hallen. Mitt framför näsan på den som bor där! Som tur var vände sig Ever om och såg honom, men fräck stil.

Beautiful Bovina

Being back in the traffic jams of Brooklyn I just have to post some photos from beautiful Bovina, it was so peaceful and quiet and so well needed in the summertime! But it made me miss my own country house in Sweden. It’s always different if it’s not your own place.

Had a great meeting with Access New York last night, I gave some journalistic feedback on their videos and will start brainstorming of a feature video segment that I can make! Friday is Midsummer, meaning we will have to film something in Battery Park where they have the huge annual celebration which is co-hosted by the Consulate General of Sweden in New York. Let’s hope the rain will stay away!

Sky blue and florals

More on the theme affordable fashion – this dress is actually from HM, from their dressier section a few years ago. The flower headband is American Eagle.

Yesterday we finally installed the AC, our apartment was like a sauna because of all the windows and skylights. Ever started making a shelf for under the TV and I worked a little bit. Access New York had asked me to look over the language and format of their videos to see what we can do better when we reload after summer.

Also apparently Ever got the chance to go upstate for the summer to work on renovating a house for our friend Mike in Poughkeepsie. Fun for him, less fun for me. Most of my friends have gone home to Sweden and I seem to be getting less and less work since my babysitting families go to their summer houses. I’m going to Sweden in July but until then I don’t really have much to do!