Heatwave

Snapped a quick photo of the pink clouds the other evening before I headed out

The heatwave that has struck Sweden has left its population in awe. It has even made me feel like I'm not in Sweden at all. It has been around 30 degrees for the past two and a half weeks, and it's bloody sweltering. It makes me a little upset that I have to work during this glorious heatwave, but I am grateful that I finish in the early hours of the afternoon, so I am able to quickly head home and enjoy the sun for the rest of the day, and perhaps a quick catch-up with a friend in town.

Even though I enjoy the sun and heat, I have to run inside for refuge when my body is clammy with sweat and my head all dizzy from the scorching sun. I chug a glass or two of cold water to quench my thirst and then head down into the wine cellar for refuge in the blissful 15 degree A.C. After a few minutes inside recovering from my my minor heatstroke, I head back outside to read a chapter or two of The Great Gatsby and then a nap in the shade to recover from my early mornings. 

I spend my weekends hanging around the house and the garden, sketching, reading, listening to music and drinking cold iced tea. In the evenings I either opt for a chilled dinner with the family or a few drinks with a couple of friends at Satin until the early hours of the morning.

Music Monday #86

I found so much good music this past week, and it was a good mix of genres too - I love that! 

Also, here is my most recently updated playlist which I listen to when I want to relax: "Nap Time" Spotify playlist

Stenshyttan

On Friday morning my mum, dad and I left to go to our summer house. This is the place where Oskar and I (and mamma) spent most of our summers growing up. Every time I go back I feel very nostalgic and peaceful. It's very quiet out there which is extremely relaxing for someone who lives in a city. We got back a few hours ago, and I'm super tired for some reason. I slept almost the whole way home. I hope I'm not this tired tomorrow morning when I have work!

Sunny weekend

Tired and ready for work at 6.30am on Monday morning

My mother and I went out for a terrific dinner at the newly opened restaurant Makeriet on Friday evening. My mum recommended a sublime white Italian wine for my seabream and paella. For dessert I enjoyed a crème brûlée, which is probably the best one I have ever had in my life!

The weather this past weekend was excellent, so I decided I would lay out in the sun and read The Catcher in the Rye (this is my mothers book from the 70s!). I didn't like it. But at least I can tick this book off my book list, as it's on of 'the classics'. I started reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain today. My dad also recommended a few books by Hemingway and Steinbeck.

I spent Saturday evening with Natalie, Juno, Ronja, Ewelina and Jenny, driking wine and enjoying fresh fruits and crisps with dip. My mother let me have this bottle of white Chenin Blanc from South Africa, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Ronja and Jenny went out at about 11 or so, and Juno and Ewelina left a little while after that. At around midnight, after Oskar, Robin and Emil arrived, we headed out to Satin where we met up with Juno and Ewelina again and had a beer. We sat there until closing at 2.30am

Everyday photos

This was the view of the sunset the other day from one of my bedroom windows. The clouds were more pink in real life. It's a shame the camera couldn't capture it

I would like to think of myself as quite an avid photographer. The truth is, I hardly ever take photos on a daily basis, lest the sunset is nice as depicted in the photo above. However, I feel I should resurrect my habit of taking photos, to make these update-posts more interesting!

After Helen left to go to Spain after spending a week here in Sweden with me, I suddenly felt very lonely and bored. I usually feel this way when I have spent a lot of time with people, it's a slight separation anxiety I have. I especially get it after getting back from vacation/holiday! Post-holiday-blues, as they say..

But alas, life goes on and after a week of sleeping in until noon and watching Mad Men on Netflix, I started work. I normally work for 7-8 hours a day, starting either at 7 or 8 and finishing at 15.30 or 16.30, depending on what my duties are for the day.
Ideally I would be soaking up the D-vitamin in the sun after work but it has been chucking it down with rain for a fair few days now. It was sunny for the better part of today, before the torrential rain and thunder returned. Due to the ghastly weather conditions this past week, I haven't been able to go strawberry-picking, much to my dismay. But this'll have to wait until the sun decides to stick around for a little longer.

I don't have work tomorrow so I'm assuming I'll be sleeping in and taking it easy. I do have a pair of jeans that need altering, may haps I'll commence that project. If it rains, I'll probably be playing GTA 5 or watching some more Mad Men. I'm not liking the series as much as I thought I was. I find the characters quite odd and distant, and sometimes they get on my nerves. Oskar can't seem to understand why I keep watching it, but at the end of the day I want to know what happens to Don Draper, so I keep watching.
Here's some trivia for you that I learned from my brother: Aaron Staton, the actor who plays Kenneth (Ken) Cosgrove in Mad Men, did the facial and voice acting for the video game L.A. Noire, in which he portrays the protagonist Cole Phelps.