It’s 7:11 PM and I’m super bored. I’m having one of these days when I feel like doing something different than what I usually do. I want to start some kind of project but I lack inspiration. I want to go out and do something but there’s nothing to do. Too cold and dark for a walk and too late for shopping and things like that. So I’m sitting here in front of my computer. Enough with this! I’m going to try to find something to do. If all else fails there’s always cleaning. Yes, I clean my apartment not only when it’s needed but also when I’m bored.

Speaking of contests. Deadline to enter my contest is today! Info here!

By the way, is it just me or does the thought cross your mind that someone might have died if you can’t find them anywhere on the internet? When you try Google, Facebook, online phone books and no result whatsoever. If I can’t find someone who is my age and therefore certainly much be using the internet I do wonder if the person maybe died.

Tonight I spent an hour reading about Sharia laws and women wrongly accused of crimes and stoned to death. My first thought was that I wanted to change the world so such things wouldn’t happen and my second thought was “thank god it’s not me. thank god I don’t live in a culture which condones such things”.

It’s easy to only compare yourself to people who are better off than you are but try doing the other way around. I can whine about not having enough money but I don’t ever let it bring me down for real. If I’m about to let that happen I just take a look around my apartment and when I see the beautiful things I’m surrounded by I instantly feel better. How can I not when I know that millions of people live in shacks while I own things to a value higher than the money those people will make in their entire life.

It’s not just about money. Like I started this entry with, it’s about the people in your life too. And the things you do. Everything you see. I do my best to take in all the beauty of the world rather than just passing it by on my way somewhere. I don’t just walk by the blooming trees in spring. I stop to smell the flowers. I admire the view from my balcony and photograph sunsets. I find the beauty in every day.

I’m not always happy. Of course I’m not. And I have a very bleak view of the world and mankind. Perhaps that’s why I so easily find joy in the small things. Because I know the world is full of suffering and evil but that I have been spared from it.

Like Bono sings in Do They Know It’s Christmas “Tonight thank god it’s them instead of you”. Some have called that line cynical but I call it realistic. Do thank god or whatever you believe in for the things you have. Stop and take it all in because you’re probably better off than most people are.

I didn’t miss things in that way when I lived in Hultsfred because it was a completely different place where my teenage years in Västerås felt very distans. Now I’m all of a sudden back at the crime scene, so to speak, and being here I remember all the good times so much more vividly. It’s one thing to think of what you did in high school when you’re sitting in a town 400 Kilometres away and another thing completely when you walk by your old school.

Perhaps I wouldn’t be as melancholic as I am about the past if I had never left Västerås. Now the end of everything that was my life back then came abruptly. I didn’t lose my friends one by one, I lost them all at the same time when I moved. Life as I knew it didn’t slowly change into something else, suddenly I just lived in a small town in Småland where I had never even set foot before.

Now I make it sound like my life is 2011 is shit and my teenage life was the shit. That’s not the case. My life in 2011 is good and I certainly don’t want to be a teenager again. Except for maybe that feeling of having my whole life ahead of me that I had back then, I do miss that. Still, what I do wish is that I could merge my old life with this life. Take the best from both. At least I have reconnected with a few people from before and that’s wonderful. A small piece of my old life in Västerås is part of my new life here too.

November 2001.
It doesn’t feel like ten years ago.

Still open for Christmas card exchange btw.

And not just one contest but two! One for all readers, Swedes as well as international and one for Swedes only.

This is what international readers can win. A gorgeous black chocker necklace adding elegance to whatever outfit you’re wearing!

The prize Swedes only can win is a gift card for a Swedish webshop.

CONTEST RULES:

Blog about this contest, linking to my blog and this entry.
Then comment this entry with the link to your blog post and tell me which contest you’re participating in.

Remember, the one for the gift card is for Swedes only!

Deadline to enter is December 25!

I’m really glad some of my readers have stayed with me and still read my blog even after all my time away from the blogosphere. Most of you who still stops by and comment I’ve known for years now as we’ve followed each others lives through blog entries and online communities. The fact that I have friends all over the world is really cool. I just wish the world wasn’t so big. Having you all nearby would be amazing.

Speaking of online friends, Christmas is almost here and I’d love to exchange Christmas cards with as many of you as possible. Anyone up for it?

I love getting Christmas cards. I love everything about Christmas! Buying gifts, wrapping them, decorating the tree, the Christmas music (Absolute Christmas FTW! (Swedish Christmas CD)), the decorations everywhere, the food, the drinks, the candles, the Christmas movies, everything!

I’ve bought a white Christmas tree and a few sets of ornaments. I’ll probably go with a little more pink than I originally had planned since I can’t find many black and white ornaments. The colour theme will be black, white, pink and silver. Won’t that look awesome? I think so. I bought five of the cupcake ornaments I blogged about a couple of days ago. I’ll probably buy more of them but five was all I could afford at the moment since they were quite pricy. Well at least I think 30 SEK (€3 $4) a piece is pricy.

Man I hope my cats won’t ruin the tree, tip it over, break the ornaments, eat it or whatever. I’ve never had a full sized tree standing on the floor so I’m not sure how they’ll react to it. They’ve been curious of the small trees I’ve had before but I’ve managed to put those in positions not easily reached by the cats, like on top of a book case. Fingers crossed there won’t be a cat vs Christmas tree accident.

Anyway, it’s really late, or early, depending on how you see it. I’m going to continue organizing some stuff while watching Freaky Friday. Yes, that’s the kind of things I do at 5 AM. For some reason I tend to get terribly inspired to do all kinds of things in the middle of the night. Cleaning, organizing, baking, painting and blogging, obviously.

This is a book to read if you’re feeling down, if you feel that your life isn’t what you want it to be. Whenever I need a reminder of how blessed I am just to be here, to have my health, to be loved, to have my whole life ahead of me, I read the last chapter of the book. It doesn’t just leave me sobbing because it’s heartbreakingly sad but also reminded of how thankful I should be of being alive. Because life is the greatest gift you will ever receive and in the end, it’s what you make of it. If Tessa can find happiness while dying what fools are we not to not find joy while living?

I love Västerås. I can go on and on about the advantages of city life. Moving back here is truly the best thing I’ve done in a very long time. I’m so much happier here than I was in Hultsfred. It’s not just the city in itself but also the new life I’m living, the people I’ve met, the things I’ve done and do.

Vanilla muffins with strawberry frosting.

Strawberry cream and marzipan roses. I kept the muffins in a freezer bag for a day before I decorated them, hence the baking cups almost coming off.

The artist in me loved decorating the cupcakes so today I bought a bunch of pretty baking cups for future cupcake adventures in the kitchen. I’ve got so many ideas for future decorations! Gothic cupcakes, cute cupcakes, elegant cupcakes, Christmas cucakes. I think I’ve found a new hobby. Too bad it’s such a unhealthy one. Anyway, here’s the baking cups I bought from this E-bay seller.