unique

Oh, I just love to spoil myself, whether it’s with an expensive bottle of wine, a home spa kit, or with a massage at a the nearest salon. Do I also need to tell you that shopping is my ultimate way of relaxing? I could do it for hours which I usually end up doing

Right about now, or a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have mind attending the countless fashion shows around the world; New York, London, Paris, and Milan. Take your pick. What I wouldn’t give to be there, just watching the amazing pieces walking up and down the runway. One of my goals in life is to not only attend one of these but to be a regular onthe front row. What do you think? Will that happen for me one day?

The latest news and most popular thing that everyone is discussing at Paris Fashion Week is the Hamman Pacha, the new, fab turkish baths, just a jump from the Louvre, which have become the place to go to between show to get pep-ups, mint scrubs, and rose facials. Everyting is offered in a space that includes floor-to-ceiling mosaics and marble floors. This is allegedly the key to looking fresch, well rested, and dewy. Doesn’t it sound amaing? The Hamman Patch Baths are located at 17 rue Mayet, 75006 Paris.
All I can say is; when do we go?

Why can’t there be a place like that here in NYC. I’m sure there are places that resembles these turkish baths, but do we really have this? I doubt it. If we do, please let me know and I’ll go there, take a lot of pics, and then report back to you.

 Okay so my mom left. Sad? Very. I’m sad to the bones and I already miss her a lot. What’s going to get me through this fall though is maintaining my everyday life with everything that includes. It’s balancing school, friends, boyfriend, and working out. I know I’m not the first one with a lot on my plate so I know it can be done, it’s jus the first time for me. And not to forget my new apartment. There’s no more work to be done here but just keeping it clean takes some time.

What I do want to focus on is working out. That’s the one thing people tend to cut out of their schedules and the one thing they really need. I know I’ve said this before, but if you work out you’re not only going to look better but you’re going to feel better too and all of the other stuff you need to deal with moght not seem so difficult anymore.

My gym is New York Sports Club and I’ve been a member ever since I moved to NY. I love this gym as they offer everything I look for in a gym. They have spinning which I have a love-hate relationship with, a wide selection of classes with aerobics and dancing, that have all one might need to lift weights, and they have yoga/pilates classes if that’s what you’re in to. The lockerooms are always clean and nice as well as the actual gym. I love that there’s almost one tv per machine which means that I can just plug in and listen to music even if I’ve forgotten my Ipod. I’m sure many other gyms look and operates like NYSC but what attracted me the most was the number of locations around the city. My home gym is now at 23rd and Park Ave but I could go to any of the locations in Mnahattan. There’s even a 24 hour open one at Grand Central. One of these days I’ll go there at 3 in the morning just to see what crazy people work out at that time.

So with my normal life back on track I’ll definately take up exercising again, not that I ever did quit. I just took a small break whil my mom was here. That’s ok, right?

All summer long (and all winter too for that matter) I’ve been directing my excersise to Central Park and the many roads within it, and it’s been great. I love to be outside as much as possible and do everything I can for as long as the weather allows it. Today, it’s raining so I’ll be going to the gym, but it sure is nice to have the option to be outside.

As I’ve run/waled/crawled aroung the park, I’ve passed the Met (Metropolitan museum of Art) countless times but never actually gone in. I’ve seen many Gossip Girl episodes being shot at the stairs outside and I’ve read about many cool, inspiring shows at the museum, but never had the thought about actually going myself. That is until yesterday. Since it was raining, me and mom decided to be a bit cultural and go se the show, and boy, am I glad we did. It was an amazing experience that I, from now on, will recommend to all of my friends. Not only is the Museum of the largest I’ve ever been to, but the variety of art and sculptures makes it easier for everyone to find something they might like. I particularily liked the Greek-Roman Sculptures as well as the modern art with Picasso and Pollack, two of my favourites.

The Museum changes some shows as often as every 3 months but I wouldn’t wory about that. I can almost promise that you’ll find something that you’ll love. The buliding itself is enormous and so grand that, if nothing else, that will blow your head off. If you’re in New York you have to visit this Museum. But be prepared to spend a couple of hours there as it’s gigantic, inspiring, and it sucks you in. I was instantly hooked!

I have many pictures that I would like to show you but the ‘insert-picture’ function is not working at the moment so I’ll upload them later. For now you’ll just have to enjoy y writing

 Now, let’s hit the gym people!

Yes, we’ve done even more shopping. Can you believe it? I guess not since I’ve told you that we are masters of shopping. Well, we’ve gotten almost every thing checked off our lists and feel really good about what we’ve bought. I do have one more thing that I want to buy that I haven’t jey found; Minetonkas Shoes. They are really cute suade shoes that have fringes as a mark out. You can tell if someone is wearing a Minetonka shoe. It looks something like this:

They come in many different colors like dark brown-chocolate, light suave suade, and black. The ones that I want are black and high-legged. The fringes are placed in three different layers and cover the entire leg. I don’t know if that sounds like it looks good or not but I couldn’t find a good picture of them so you’ll have to wait until I get my very own pair.

Today, it’s raining lightly and is a bit colder so I don’t know yet what we have planned to do, but I can imagine that we’ll end up doing some more shopping as this is mom’s last day here. She leaves tomorrow so everything that’s she wants to get she has to get today. Otherwise I’ll have to send it to her. I’m probably going to be a big mess tomorrow when dropping her off at the airport so expect a sad, sobby post. But for now, everything is happy and smileyfaces and I want to keep that so I think we’re heading out soon.

If anyone knows where I could maybe get a pair of minetonkas here in New York please tell me before I go crazy from looking. Thanks!

 Over and out!

Since the weather God has desided to work with us for once and is actually cooperating, me and mom desided to go down to Soho and spend the day walking between stores and indulge in a full-body, old fashion shopping sprea. And what a day it’s been. I think we were down there for about 7 hours and didn’t even realize it until one of us felt hunger. That the two of us in our shopping nutshell. When we really get going nothing can stop us, nothing can disturb us, and nothing can make us stop. We don’t hear anything and we don’t see anything but the clothes/shoes in the store. And once we’re out on the street again, all we see is what store to go to next. Might sound a bit crazy but that’s really what it’s like. We do make short pitstops along the way to refill our enery, today we enjoyed lattes in the sun at my favourite West Village café; Café Angelique (Bleecker St/Grove St).

These are some of the stores we visited and spend the most time in:
 
Bought everything from bras, panties, and perfumes. Lovely boutique for the ladies in the middle of Soho at Prince St and Broadway.

Guess bags, Guess jeans, and Guess shirts. We practically cleaned out the store.

Marc Jacobs discount store on Bleecker where it once again felt like we bought everything they had. Bracelets, keychains, bags, and necklaces.

 Sephora, where we spent the most time and the most money.
Both of us just love to try everything in the mineral makeup department. Would by the entire store if my budget allowed it. But I’m not sad as we got a lot of stuff, and I mean a lot. So you can imagine that I’ll go to bed tonight with the biggest smile. It’s been the most wonderful day and one I’ll remember for along time. We have so much fun together and I’ll be so miserable when she leaves so I’m not going to focus on that right now, but will only think about all the fun we have and how much I love having her here.

Think I’ve told you before how much I love Ikea. Being Swedish and all, it might be inevidable, but I don’t care. I just love it. For those if you who don’t know what Ikea is I’d lite to first say, shame on you. But I’ll tell you that Ikea is a Swedish furniture store imperium created and owned by Ingvar Kamprad (the world’s third richest man). The Ikea idea and why it’s so incredible popular world wide is the cheap put-together-the furniture-yourself kind of mentality. You get everything you need to put it together yourself and that’s why they can afford to be so cheap. Isn’t it the greatest business idea ever? I so admire small, regular, normal people with great ideas that they actually put into a successful plan. Ingvar Kamprad was a fairly poor country boy who grew up on a small Swedish farm och took his idea and made it into one of the biggest imperium in the world. The only continent where Ikea doesn’t exist is Africa but that is quite understandable, don’t you think?

Getting my new plae, I’ve visited and spent more time at Ikea that one might like but it’s all coming together perfectly and we’re almost done. It’s so nice and I love living here. The hardest thing about the entire process is to actually put everythign together but lucky me that I have my roommate and my boyfriend to do that for me. This is what it can look like:

There are 4 Ikea stores around and in New York: Brooklyn, Long Island, Elisabeth (New Jersey), and Paramus (Upstate New York). I’ve been to each and everyone and I love tham all since they look the same! 

What are some of your Ikea experiences? Please tell me!!!

Since my mom arrived I’ve been floating on air, literarly. I’m just so happy that she’s here, I just don’t care about anything else. All I want to do for the rest of the week is to spend time with her, decorate my apartment, and go shoe shopping. Sounds good? It’s going to be wonderful I tell you.

Today we’ve spend all of the day in Financial District downtown. I know it sounds crazy since that area isn’t know for it’s wildness when it comes to anything besides financial stuff, but we were happily surprised to find that the area holds more that just bankbuildings and men in suits. We started the wonderful day with a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. Did not make quite all the way across to the Brooklyn Side but we came as far as tower #2.

After that, we headed down to the South street Seaport and pier 17. We walked along the fish market, the boat taxis, and the boardwalk. We had lunch by the water and enjoyde the midday sun together with the hundreds of tourists who visited the place. I can’t believe the polititans are talking about tearing down the pier and build apartment buildings there istead. What do you guys thing about that? Do we want to get rid of the tourist attractions in order to make room for the locals?

Atfer the lunch we headed to ground zero, Century 21, the Staten Island Ferry, and then back home. I’m sure you can imagine how tired we are now and how much our feet hurt. It’s been a beautiful day in the sun but it sure feels nice to be home. We are cooking pasta, drikning red wine, and saving Ben&Jerry for desert. Great way to end a great day!

Sorry for keeping the blog updated for a couple of days. Have been so busy with final exams and moving to the new apartment that I’ve barely had time to sleep. That’s how crazt it’s been, but now it’s over and I’m free. Well not entirely free as the new quarter starts in about 2 weeks but I sure am off for now and it feels great. All of my enegry are from now on going to be targeted toward the new apartment. I can’t believe I’ve finally moved.

We went to Ikea yesterday to buy everything we need (did not get all that we needed but we sure got a lot). We rented a big ass SUV to make sure we would get everything back home. Being Swedish, I love Ikea. It truly is like going home as everything looks exactly the same and everything is fimiliar. Walking around Ikea, we didn’t keep track of time so by the time we were done furniture shopping, we’d spent over 5 hour at the store. Can you believe that? 5 hour at Ikea and we weren’t packed into the car yet. Looking at all that we had bought I would have never, in my life, thought that we would get everything to fit in the car. I was sure that we would have to make two or even three trips. We had bought 2 beds with matresses, a couch, bartable, barchairs, bathroom stuff, kitchen supplies, carpets, shelves, and more. I think we had 4 or 5 carts going to the car. I mean, it was a lot of stuff. I do want to thank my hero, the ikea- packing- guy who helped us pack our car. Believe it or not but he actually got everything in to out car, including us. We did not leave a single thing behind. It was tight, don’t get me wrong but we did it and got back to the apartment in one piece, all thanks to the packing guy. Don’t know his name but my biggest appreciation to him!

Back at the apartment we did not want to wait with the fun that is unpacking, so by 10 pm we started and weren’t finished until 2 am. We stopped for dinner aroung midnight but besides that the entire night went to putting beds together, building the couch and decorating the apartment with what we had. Thank God I was with two guys who did all the carrying and building because I sure as hell wouldn’t have been able to. The left the decorating and getting the food to me as they worked their asses off. They were great, great warriors and actually managed to put everythign together without a single mistake. I apload and thank them!

      This is kind of what our car looked like yesterday.

But imagine the packing on the inside and us in the outside. Vitually every inch of that SUV were being used. You should have seen us, it must have looked hilarious.

 Tonight I finally get to go out and drink my troubles away. Haven’t done that in a long time and it’s about bloody time. Am not one to promot heavy drinking every weekend even if I often end up there myself, I’m just saying that it can somethimes be good to just go out, let loose, and stop thinking about everything. Take your mind of if you will, and that’s what’s happening tonight. It’s saturdaynight (or will be) and I’m so ready. With school being so busy for all my finals I haven’t even thought about going out, but now that I am, it feels great. I know what I’m going to wear and that’s all I need at this point.

We are going to a new place on Union Square called Coffee Shop. It’s not new as in just opened, it’s just new to me. I’ve never been there but have heard a lot about it. It’s aparently a great spot for young, cool people. Perfect match? I think it can be! We’re going there pretty late but it’s one of those places that promotes late night dinners  as well as accepts bigger parties. Good to know!

After Coffee Shop I think the plan is to go across the street to Hihgline Ballroon, which also is a new place to me. I really like going to new places and meet new people so this is perfect. From what I know, HB is a hiphop place that hosts a lot of shows, gigs, and private parties. Interesting to see what it is tonight. A show would’ve been very nice, haven’t been to one in a long time. Will probably go see my friend play next week, if there’s time. Will tell you more about that show later… Now, got to get ready…
See ya bright and early tomorrow morning. I have a lot of packing and moving to do (hopefully without a too heavy head.)

With everything good comes something bad, isn’t that right? I love New York and always will. There’s no place like this and I truly believe this is the center of the world. It is now my home and a part of me will probably always consider this my home. There’s not one part of this city that isn’t lively, fun, and exciting. There are always new things for you to discover and you will whether you like it or not. It’s inevitable. And what I also love and could not see NYC without is the diversity. I doubt that there’s another place in the world that tops New York when it come to mixing all kinds of people. You find one of every kind and there are places for every type. I think that might be one of the reasons to why New York attracts so many people from all over the world. ANd let me tell you, once you’re here, you never want to leave.

As I mentioned before, there’s a negative aspect of every positve thing and for NYC that would be the lack of nature. Being from Sweden where we have nature and forests practically everywhere, I’m not use to this isolation. I was of course totally aware of this when I moved here, and I know that you can’t get it all, but it sure would be nice.  The price we pay to live in NYC is not being close to nature but that’s okay. I just miss it, that’s all.

Take a look at these pictures my cousin has taken of our country house in the north of Sweden. She’s there now, just relaxing and spending time with her dad. Is this paradise or what? Idyllic, quiet, and beautiful. Oh how I miss it!