25.10.09

Divorce.

Los carriles bici en Suecia tienen signos tan curiosos como éste: Divorcio - padre por un lado, madre por el otro.
Irónicamente, retrata bastante bien mi patética existencia. Que es mucho más amarga que todo lo que hemos cocinado durante el finde, si alguien se lo pregunta. Porque hay muchas cosas que hieren cuando...

Cuando tu mente va por un lado y tu cuerpo, en la dirección contraria. Cuando no entiendes por qué. Te levantas cansada, desganada y tu día, se convierte en una lucha constante. Contra el frío, contra la falta de concentración, contra los malos entendidos, contra los millones de cosas que caen en tu olvido. Contra el aislamiento que deseas, contra la apatía que te acompaña allá donde vas, ésa que hace que todo te la pele.

Tu ropa ya no te sirve. Te sigues matando en el gym. Te siguen dando calambres al estirar. Te hinchas cada vez más. No lo entiendes, porque carece de sentido, verdad? Caminas temblorosa, con un nudo en la garganta, caminas desorientada, hasta ese palacio blanco con un príncipe al que ya no consigues amar como merece. No te aguantas ni tú, piensas desasosegada, porque no entiendes a qué viene tanto drama si tu puñetera vida, es de color de rosa.

Con esfuerzo, te quitas los japi socks para descubrir, entre asqueada y sorprendida, que se te ha caído la enésima uña del pie en lo que va de año. Cenar sin hambre, 90210 y poco más. Te acuestas hinchada como una pelota, para... Levantarte cincuenta veces cada noche, porque hay algo que no te deja dormir.

No lo entiendes. Y te culpas... Porque no hay derecho a ese morro tristón cuando tienes todo con lo que cualquiera podría soñar. No lo entiendes. Estás harta. Tomas la iniciativa en aquello que mejor se te da: investigar.

Recuerdas a Arantxa, la que iba contigo al gym hace unos 10 años, que tenía una enfermedad, tan hiperbólica como su nombre. Pero como lo tuyo es más de estar de bajón - física, emocional y térmicamente, pruebas con el antónimo.

Bingo.

Das con esa lista negra de síntomas. En la que marcas casi todos. Aterroriza... Tanto como alivia. El empezar a creer en que no estás loca, ni depresiva; que no eres una malcriada, ni una ignorante que no sabe apreciar lo que tiene; que no es esta ciudad, ni tu trabajo; que puede que simplemente... Estés enferma y seas una marioneta de tus desequilibrios hormonales.

Como en matemática, toda tesis se puede confirmar o desmentir. Por ello, te diriges al especialista, que por suerte, habla un idioma que dominas. Le cuentas lo que apesta tu día a día, el poco sentido que le encuentras a tu propia existencia, tus pensamientos y reacciones.

Una semana. Tarda el análisis. Una semana. Hasta recibir la llamada. Días que pasan. Un teléfono que no suena. Días eternos, esperando una respuesta. Qué fácil es clamar paciencia, desde fuera. Qué fácil es, cuando no tienes ni puta idea de cómo me siento. Llegar a la oficina es un drama, las horas pasan como minutos, no hay nada que me ilusione, lo veo todo negro y termino sollozando a escondidas, no sé qué ocurre, ni por qué. Es obvio que algo falla, pero no soy capaz de resolverlo. Al menos, no sola.

El que espera, desespera. Yo mientras, cruzo los dedos, por recibir mañana esa llamada, por abrir una puerta a la esperanza e intentar salir de ésta. No me reconozco en esa persona que no quiere seguir adelante, que no encuentra motivos para seguir luchando, que se quedaría bajo las sábanas y que no quiere escuchar, porque ya todo... Le da igual.
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25.10.09

Flan.




Artesanos reposteros. Lo que hay que currar para llevar algo homemade de calidad a la fika semanal... Menos mal que el niño se viene de paseo y lo quema ^_^


Con su minipista de esquí...

... sus edificios ultraecológicos, recubiertos de placas solares...

... las preciosas vistas a Söder y Liljeholmen...

Y la decoración kistch en los jardines.

Un ejemplo urbanístico. Un sueño donde vivir. Para el que lo quiera, porque no cambio nada por nuestro Palacio Blanco inundado de olor a caramelo - sí, lo he hecho casero.
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25.10.09

Sunday cupcakes.

One for you...

...one for me :P

After a great Girlz Dinner, an even better party @ White Room, some hangover and rainy dark weather, the best is to stay in. To bake some chocolate-chip cupcakes.
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25.10.09

SoFo. 6/5/4. Happy Socks.

Are you in the mood for Happy Socks?


Last Thursday morning, I dropped by Åsögatan 160, to get some blood analysis done. Stores and cafés closed, Södermalms charm had then moved back to the people, sipping coffee on their way to job or trying to get some film recorded - probably, another documentary about Millenium which, by the way, is recorded around here.

I recalled that early Saturday when, guarded by Vero & Ra, we were heading to Café String for some brunch when we bumped into Mikael Blomqvist (Michael Nyqvist) who walked his door in comfy apparel, paired with - I guess - his wife.

Back to Åsögatan, my stores and the real life, I spotted 6/5/4 right in front of AcneStudio - Cool Place! We should drop by on Saturday. So, having gotten an invitation to celebrate some new arrivals and the 9th number of Acne Paper in such store - a glass of champagne, some bubbles to cheer up our Saturday lunch:


As the autumn is getting darker and the weather colder, we would like to invite you to the warmth of our studio to say thank you for your support throughout the years. Have a look at the new arrivals, enjoy some live music and have a glass of champagne

Warm Regards, Acne SoFo

Saturday 24th of Oct
13:30-15.00

Acne Studio, Nytorgsgatan 36, Stockholm

Who could miss either of them?

No new Acne goodies for me, no magazine either - too big to be carried around - but a great time in 6/5/4 with some happy socksearching :P


Happy Socks are designed in Sweden - but made in Turkey.
Happy Socks are colorful, unisex and come in three sizes - S, M L.
Happy Socks are sold in groups of three by 150:- - while you gotta pay 69:- for each pair alone.
Happy Socks are fun to look for in the chest at 6/5/4's window!


But the feeling gets even better when, like in life, you actually find what you were searching for. The colors matching your personality in the size that suits your toes!


And the fun doesn't stop here as 6/5/4 has, in addition to lovely shop assistants, a built-in espresso bar where you get some coffee free whenever you buy more than one thing!


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17.10.09

Expectations.








As a kid, any unwrapping occasion was full of expectations. What did I always wanted to get? A Barbie Doll. Maybe because she was everything I wasn't. Pretty and blonde, admired, respected. She was the high-heeled professional, the pretty mind, the one able to do whatever she wanted. Astronaut, doctor, model, hairdresser, photographer or chef. She could get further than what was written in her box... Just if my imagination wanted to.

It's funny to recall this when unwrapping my stepmother's presents. Ironically full of goodwill, she proves wiser than many, by getting me an anti-stress cushion and a self-help book.

I didn't want anything for my Birthday. I dreamt with nothing. Or at least, nothing that can be bought. As sad as real, the one and only thing I want to come out of that box is some inner happiness achieved with what I happen to use 1/3 of my day. I just want to work with anything else that pays less and fulfills more my spirit.

I'm lucky. I have a job, a house, a boyfriend. I'm lucky. I have spare time, the chance to travel, the freedom to decide. I'm lucky. I have no pressure. I'm lucky. I have great feedback from those who work with me. But if I'm so lucky, why do I feel so disappointed? Why is the best moment of the day to see my article published in David Report? Why don't I find geek jokes funny at all? Why do I keep thinking about Brands?

Anxiety comes. I swallow melisa, valeriana and run until I can't breath. Just to feel exhausted. Just to get some sleep. I'm angry. I act as a stupid. I hate me. I'm scared. Because I can't see any exit around, I can't find that opportunity to jump to the other side. I don't really need it to happen in a couple of days, but really, I need something to walk to. The mål where I become something else where I can throw away that tech-jacket and start with the creative-one. I have all these courses nobody seems to consider, all these thoughts, all the potential but no opportunity to prove it.

None? False. I have one. The one that David gave me.

Design Boost was, among other things, a networking event. A place to meet people. To share Business Cards. To join a community. To - hopefully - start helping each other. So I'll keep going. Because my current achievements are fine, but I know I have far more potential to exploit in another direction.
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14.10.09

DesignBoost 09

Dear Claudia,

Please find attached a personal VIP invitation for DesignBoost 2009 - Design for Life, October 14-16 in Malmö Sweden.We offer you to be a full part participant of the event including BoostChat (workshops), BoostTalk (lectures) and a lot of networking opportunities through coffee breakes, lunches, dinners, cocktails and our big party. Everything mentioned is without any cost for you!

Please read the attached invitation and let us know what you think. We have also attached a more in-depth presentation of the theme "Design for Life". We would appreciate an answer within seven days if possible.

All the best

David Carlson and Peer Eriksson
Founders of Designboost


Any story has a beginning and, as many as you know, mine was approximately one year ago, when super kind David decided that my writings were good enough to appear in his AWESOME blog on design, culture and trends. The best moment of the day, the week, the month comes when I observe or figure out something worth to talk about, I rush to get it written, I take my pictures and... POW! It pops up published in David Report.

While I hesitated about getting there - one day vacation, quite a lot of money, my friends leaving that morning, traveling on Tuesday 13th - I finally made up my mind. Booked the cheapest flight, the cheapest room and landed in Malmö in the middle of the night.

Quite a good sit in which I mainly sleep...

...till getting to that frozen central station.

The iPhone app for the public transport in Skåne pointed the bus 7 as the one leaving me closest to the hotel. So I waited in the midst of a frozen twister watching how minutes turned longer and tougher, almost unable to keep my eyes open, more tired and frozen that anytime before.
But it finally came and hey! Left me just beside my crappy hotel.

No man in the lobby. No lobby, by the way. Just a crappy machine where you should insert your credit card, to get a code allowing you to come into both, the hotel and your room - 680553.

Not fancy but extremely warm ;) Actually, I was so tired that I could have slept in the floor!

6 hours later I was awake and ready for the Design Workshops! Guessing where the shower is? In the corridor!! Beside the WC :/

Anyway, I'm in Malmö. The sun shines and discovers to me a beautiful, rather windy city where the University sits a step from the Centralstation and the former David Design Headquarters - founded by the same David, by the way.

Breakfast with a biomimicry-inspired architect who kindly gave us her beautiful visit cards - all of them different with delicate drawings on the back... To support and distribute young designers' work - and someone from the Danish Fashion Industry.

10h of discussion. Fashion, outsourcing, sustainability, brand, media, web, technology, management, credible, cool, responsible, balance, the third, the first and the world we try to save, people, mind, body, society, organic, green-washed, conscious, consumption, habits, addictions, choices, time... Incredibly inspiring, a breeze of fresh air to my corporate days.

Mouth watering organic lunch.

Time for more workshops, until 18:00 when it was time to leave, by bus to Calatrava's A W E S O M E ...Turning Torso!


A long ride back to the city and the dinner at SMAK, a restaurant inside the Malmö Konsthall


Wine, champagne, cocktails, organics... Chat and cool ambient. Till 22:00 when Cinderella left back her F1 room. And here's when the real deal begins. Instead of the bus 7, I took the 6 because it was coming 20' before, what turned out to be a HUGE mistake...

No GPS functioning in my iPhone, picture myself in the middle of nowehere, crossing the roadway once and once again, completely lost, fingers frozen in the cold wind. Desperate, looking for the way, I spotted that McDonald's sign. Exactly the one I recalled to have seen from my window, some hours before. Bingo!! Run towards it... And roughly half an hour later, I was there, back in my warm bed, reporting the adventure ^_^

Fun will never happen unless you travel REALLY cheap :P and all the effort, the coming late and tired the morning after, straight to the office from the plane was more than worth!!
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13.10.09

Vero+Ra i Stan.

Tres años me ha costado que viniera mi hermana a verme. Tres años pensando en qué enseñarte, a dónde llevarte, de qué hablarte. Tres años esperando a cargarte de fuerzas, compartiendo brunch en Café String, justo antes de dirigirnos a patear esta ciudad que decidió adoptarme en '06.

No estoy segura de cómo lo pasasteis - que venir en Octubre siempre fue algo duro, por mucha suerte que tuviéramos con el solecito - pero certifico que para mí, calentasteis estos días mucho más que mi pequeña estufilla.

Aunque las ganas de hacer pipí nos llevaran a sitios turbios y poco recomendables como Muffin Bakery, siempre había algo que los convertía en inolvidables. Sí, vuestro constante parloteo que sacaba sonrisas de esta cara de salvapantallas que decís que se me ha quedado...


Hard choice?
Nja!! BananaChoklad!

Los dulces dieron paso al turismo típico en Drottningholm...


Y a visitas menos típicas, como el Stockholm Fashion Market.
Bar.
Club.

STHLM FashionMarket, sí. Un evento efímero en las afueras, donde un polígono industrial se llena de música, modelos en vinilo, copas baratas de vino y ropa vintage de saldo mezclada con joyas con nombre propio, como los chaneles que tuvimos en las manos... Recordais?

Imposible arruinarse, casi tanto como salir de vacío...

O aburrido!

Tiempo de salir, de descubrir el Berns, de tomar cocktails. Porque os dije que la sueca no era nada, que viniérais a la fuente de las bebidas cool.

Och Himlen Därtill. Berns. Vampire Lounge. Indigo... No ha faltado ninguno!
Hard choices...
...doubts...
...final delight!

Pero en la vida, como en los cocktails, todo se acaba. Siempre queda esa última gotita, la que no consigues despegar del vaso, igual que la sonrisa que me dejasteis, que todavía no se ha despegado de mi cara. Me gustaría saber que estáis bien, que seguís con la vida sana de estos días, tomando menos efferalganes pero caminando lo mismo. Esta película es muy corta como para no exprimirla y los rayos de sol que os abundan, otros los añoramos. Así que recordadlo y hasta la próxima.

Ya sabéis lo mucho que os adoro...
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6.10.09

Vive La Mode.

Lovely film festival on Fashion, during the last weekend in Kulturhuset.

Aunque no pudierais venir... Os dejo una lista que hará las delicias de los fashion lovers...

Lördag 3 oktober

13.00 Signé Chanel, del 1, 2005
15.00 Signé Chanel, del 2, 2005
Inblick i Chanels Maision de couture, från Karl Lagerfelds skisser till catwalken.

Signe Chanel @ Youtube.

17.00 In & out of fashion, 1995

Berömde fotografen William Kleins vision om modevärlden och dess trender.


Söndag 4 oktober

13.00 Yves Saint Laurent, le temps retrouvé, 2002

15.00 Yves Saint Laurent, 5 avenue Marceau 75116 Paris, 2002

Unik intervju med den legendariske Saint-Laurent och hans kreatörskap.

17.00 Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, 2007

Mannen bakom the super chic brand.


Altamente recomendable la caza y captura para descarga ilegal y visionado... They're worth the crime!

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6.10.09

New Life.

New jacket. New office. New York!
Too many good things... I just can't believe it ^_^
Old friends coming on Thursday and me, leaving to The Big Apple in one month - to stay chez Stina.
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