Obsessions to survive the winter....

I love winter...I do....but now I've had enough and can't wait for spring to arrive! Until then, here is my winter survival kit.

1. I can NOT stop playing this amazing song by Florence + The Machine on repeat!!!! Certainly making this exceptionally cold winter more pleasant ;)

2. H.O.T   C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E

Must be made from real chocolate (no sugar packed powders) and preferably with a pinch of chili added ;)

3. My Abercrombie hoodie with lots of artificial fur to stay warm.

I have literally moved into mine.....and I intend to stay inside it until this winter is over! Today it even came with me to the office, despite the dress code.

4. Winter running

Such an incredibly refreshing feeling and running on the soft snow feels good for the legs and joints!!

....still some snow on the hat ;)

5. How does anyones lips survive the winter cold without a jar of Smith's Rosebud salve? A classic and I probably use mine 5-6 times per day in winter....

5. Keratin complex from Coppola to spare the hair through all the blow drying!

....oh and the light coconut smell doesn't exactly hurt either ;)

6. My leather gloves!! Wouldn't leave home without them.....

7. Gadi hand care set! 

Bought mine in London and I love it!!! It's like magic for the nails and hands.

8. Ingrid Michaelson's new album "Human again"! 

It's absolutely FABULOUS!!! Favorite track varies from day today, but right now my favorites are "Palm of your hand", "End of the world", "Blood brothers" and "Ghost".

9. Bubble baths with Philosophy as my faithful companion ;)

10. Making all kinds of warming soups!!!

My Jerusalem Artichoke soup with Parmesan crackers

What do your winter survival kits contain?

xox

Snow storm running - A true story

Tonight I was home from work pretty early, so I wanted to go running as it was still light. ....and well....yes....it seems that I sliiiiiightly underestimated the weather. On the top of the hill, after about 1.5 km's of running uphill, the thermometer showed -14 degrees and as you might be able to spot in the video, I am barely moving forward while trying to run, as the wind was simply pushing me backwards =)) Call me a freak for filming this, but I thought this is a kind of "one off"...and honestly, I thought my fingers would fall off due to the cold, which is why the video is quite short! ....and another funny thing is that here I am still blissfully unaware of the challenges to come, namely, snowdrifts up to the thighs that there was no way to avoid besides going back again....and well.....that was simply not an option......so I went through them! Ha ha haaaa! No way of filming those unfortunately ;) What an evening......
In the end, I managed .......
- to survive
- 5.5km's 
- with one slightly twisted ankle
- some back pain while avoiding to fall flat on my face, thinking that one of the smaller snowdrifts was hard while instead, I sank right through it while running downhill 
- and with gloves that need to be seriously disinfected or thrown away (I will spare you the details....but I will say this, -14 degrees in these conditions is C.O.L.D) ;))


Now I'm sitting in the sofa, enjoying the fact that it's Friday, feeling some kind of light adrenalin kick from this experience while enjoying a glass of wine.... TGIF!


What are your weekend plans?
xox

In my corner of the world....

Left to right: Sweat pants and Hoodie from Abercrombie.
Black ankle boots from ASOS.com
French manicure.
Fluffy, fury home boots from H&M.
Jeans "Stella" from True Religion.
Beige boots from Diesel.

Currently, I'm:

Happy about: Having weekend and especially happy that this very Saturday is without plans! Am also very happy that I went for a 10km run on Tuesday =)) It was certainly not a fast run (1:04:51), but it was pitch black and there are also a lot of hills here..... On top of this it was really spontaneous. I just wanted to go for a run that was a little longer than my standard 5km's and it just felt so great that I just wanted to continue and once I had reached 7km, there seemed like no point in stopping until I had managed 10km.
I also recently did quite some shopping (see top right picture).... I bought a pair of jeans, two pairs of boots and some new cosy clothes recently that I just LOVE....and did a new French manicure. Yep, this makes me happy! 

Disappointed about: You know....I love living here in Switzerland, but must say, I get easily fed up of all the paper work it requires. Nothing ever seems easy or straight forward and everything is managed by paper with signatures. I wish they would move forward and adjust to other means of managing this (such as e-mails, SMS approvals etc.). It's like it's never really possible to just relax, because there is always a letter to write and post to someone, somewhere. I guess if you never had it differently, you don't think about it, but it has made me realize how lucky I was in this sense, living in Sweden.

Looking forward to: Hopefully having visits of some of my amazing friends in both March and April! Am also looking forward to go home to Sweden for a long weekend at the end of February (my dad is getting married AND turns 60!). I will finally see my little niece again and I can't wait =)))))

Listening to: Red Face by Lucy Rose, over and over again..... She is so talented!! This live session could just as well be the actual recording, it's so well performed.

Also have the new single from Owlmother, You can not be touched, playing in my head (and on my Spotify).

Hoping: To confront my fear of the chair lift again tomorrow when we go skiing....well, of course as I'm scared, parts of me simply doesn't want to try it again ;))

Wondering: If I should sign up to run the 10km in the upcoming race in Lausanne and if yes, what a realistic goal would be in terms of time. It is a lot more uphill than the 10km's I did during the Lausanne Marathon....hmm....
Thinking about: What questions to ask my next Interview "victim" ;p 

Planning: A lot of things actually....the details about our trip to Sweden in August and also checking out some details of another trip idea that is soooo exciting. Will share more if the idea turns into something concrete....

Smiling about: The same idea as I'm mentioning above...again.....more to come...maybe! 

Wishing: That companies would give up on dress codes. Honestly, I have no idea what to wear anymore now that I'm not allowed to wear jeans. Jeans look fab! ...and besides, half of my wardrobe consists of jeans, just sayin' ;) Yes yes, I know......a modern world problem.

Sad about: Chris has a VERY important exam on the exact date of my birthday, so I will be spending it alone....and yes, I know I know, it's just a birthday, but I've never ever been alone on my birthday before and I STILL LOVE BIRTHDAYS =))

Wanting: Can't decide on the color, but I am head over heels in love with these watches above on the right from Marc Jacobs!

Feeling: Great and happy, but really really tired in my body from all the sports I've done this week.... Am even wondering if my legs will be able to properly carry me on skis tomorrow =) Anyway! It's all worth it! I feel as if I'm in great shape again after all those years of just sporadic training and a back that was constantly giving me troubles....like another life. Grateful! Yes, that's it! I feel grateful!

xox

The run and the power of music

Last Sunday, we took a"break" from all of the moving and went running during the Lausanne Marathon. Well, we didn't run the marathon, but I did the 10km race and Chris and his sister did the 21km race. A couple of months ago, I would have never even imagined running 10km's. I know for some of you, 10km's is a piece of cake, but I was never ever a long distance runner.......I prefer instant results or team sports. Anyway, last Sunday was the first time that I have ever been running longer than 7km's.....and those 7km's, btw, only happened once ;)) I was soooooooo nervous!! In the end, I managed and it was such an amazing feeling crossing that finishing line, knowing I had reached my goal and on top of that, I managed in 58 min's and 33 seconds vs my target to finish under 1 hour and 15 min's. 
Here's the video of me crossing the finishing line.....can you spot me? I'm a few seconds into the clip on the right side of the screen, in a ponytail, wearing a red running shirt: http://www.migros-finisherclip.ch/de/previews/index/1010/13081

So how did I manage to run 10km's without being trained for it? Well......I'm pretty stubborn, that's for sure, so that was surely helping me to finish, but it was also all the people around, cheering and applauding, contributing to a fantastic atmosphere and the amazing power music in my ears. Really good music gives me the feeling that I can move mountains!! Do you get the same energy from music?  Here some examples of my favorite power songs....songs that could make me run for hours =)))

Which are your power songs??
xox