YES!

I think I finally found it.....my new MOJO! My drum, my rythm, my way forward!!

Nothing fancy, no rocket science, no poetry - just words put together in such a sequence that they really manage to get to me!!

These words will be printed and I will try to keep them with me at all times.....reminding me of the importance of marching forward and being consistent and true when it comes to matters that are messing with your core-values.

You see.... I am a master in over-analysing things and dwelling upon them for ages before feeling completely reconciled with my choices and decisions sometimes! Well, I say no more!

This, my dear blog-readers, is my new motto:

Some lessons learned, going on 31:

Stay true to yourself....don't compromise on things that may cause you to look back thinking "what the H was I thinking!"!

Don't be too rigid either and stick to your principles just because (been there, done that....and will probably do it again....but less!)!!

Who knows? Maybe stepping out of your world or comfort-zone will be one of the biggest lessons you'll ever learn in life and MAYBE, just maybe you'll even enjoy it? Or AT LEAST it can be added to your list of life-experience.....

....if you make mistakes, learn from them instead of dwelling on them and use that new-found knowledge to avoid them in the future! You will make more, that is certain and when you do - read the note above ;)

I also found this quote that I really loved and wanted to share with you:

"It is ok to loose your pride over someone you love....just don't loose someone you love over your pride"

Unfortunately, the name of who wrote this was nowhere to be found.....

I am BACK and it feels great!!!

xox

Linda - (Less) Lost in Switzerland (at the moment... ;))

Top 10: Vanity must-haves

OK.....this may sound a little odd and ridiculous to some of you, but I actually do have a list of products that I would go into complete and utter panic if they had run-out! Trust me..... I have even tried to go for a couple of weeks without some of them with proven, significantly unwanted side-effects such as blemished skin, dry elbows, hair that looks like a Persian-cat on a rainy day, hair that looks like it has been left to dry in the Mojave-desert for a week or two and a sense of just feeling.....dull........
Now we can't have that, can we?! .....please don't take my exaggerations in a bad way ;))

Anyways! Here is my top 10 list of these life-(read vanity)savers of which my top-5 are the absolute musts:

1. Dermalogica - Ultra Calming Cleanser

The friendliest way to clean the skin! This is my winner and I will go to great lenghts to never ever run out of this again!

I simply LOVE this facial cleanser!!

2. Johson's Baby Oil

Ha! I knew there was a secret (beyond the simple age-factor) as to why baby skin is so soft ;))

This is actually a new found favourite that I don't know how I could have lived without knowing about all these years (thank you Aryan!!)!! Who says this can only be used for babies?! PLUS it costs a quarter of any of my normal body moisurizers!! Wow!

3. Sebastian Potion 9

I blow-dry my hair ever morning......this would be far from possible, considering my Nordic-origined-blonde-hair if it wasn't for this little tube of wonder!! ...and you just need a little!

4. Dermalogica - Daily Microfoliant

Bye bye to over-sized pores! Yep, using this for a few weeks in a row is the only thing so far that has helped this very common "problem". I tried for a while to do without it, which turned out to be the biggest beauty mistake made during 2009! I will not repeat it!

5. Elisabeth Arden - Eight hour cream

Just put a teeny-tiny little drop on your lips, dried elbows or wherever else you think nothing but the magic of Dumbledoor or photoshop could fix and voilaa!! A minus for the smell, but even so - a fantastic product!!

6. Clarins - Beauty Flash Balm

Lack of sleep, hang-over, a good cry - you name it! This is another tube of miracle that will make you look like you had nothing but beauty-sleep since you were born! (Thank you Tanja! You gave me this little pointer ;))

7. Dermalogica - Super Rich Repair

The PERFECT night-cream! A little pricy in all honesty, but you don't need much, so it lasts long...

8. Smith's Rosebud Salve

An oldie, but a goldie!! A simply fantastic lip-balm that works in all kinds of weather....and can always be found in my hand-bag (somewhere.......).

9. Redken - Pure Moisture

When I found this hair-care series I was amazed!! Never before had my hair felt so revived in no time!! Eeehhmmm, this was also after one of those experimenting periods where I said to myself that I really don't need all those fancy hair-care products. Well, as it turns out, I do!

10. L'Occitane - Grape Shower Oil

Especially in summer and winter.....

It's not that I can't do without this one, but I sure do better with AND it smells better than most oil body-cleansers ;)

If I missed any life-savers or if you have any better ones - please DO share!!!

xox

Linda - Lost in Switzerland....fully stocked ;)

The slippery road to remember how to ice-skate

Coucouuuuuu!!

Hope you all had a fantastic new-years eve and that you are all enjoying your year so far ;)

Did you make any new-year resolutions?? Do tell! =p

I am blissfully happy right now because we decided to go for ice-skating today.......something I have been really longing for but haven't really done in 10 years or so!!

Quick report of the outcome:

* Started out like Bambi on ice.....do blame the ice-skates for the worst slippery-sliding though ;)

* One fall! Not too bad -just got a little cold!

* Need more practise to skate back-wards! In all honestly, I felt a little embarrassed to practice as there were soooo many people on the ice....and there is something about 7 year-olds mastering something that I can barely take on as a beginner that makes me blush! I know....pathetic (and the same reason I never learned how to ski downhill ;))

* Proud to say that I still manage the over-stepping in rather high-speed! Hihihi!

*To conclude: Ice-skating is still a blast at the age of 30!!! Will definately go again!!

Now rewarding myself with hot-chocolate in the sofa....getting ready to watch "Where the wild things are" that I've been looking forward to for MONTHS!!!

Only worry at the moment: Going back to work tomorrow and would lie if I said I feel excited about it.......oh well!!

I wish you all a wonderful week!!

xox

Linda - Survivor of the first attempt at ice-skating in 10 years!!!

Movie recommendation - Under the Tuscan sun

Under the Tuscan sun (2003)

4/5

Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is a 35-year-old San Francisco writer whose perfect life has just taken an unexpected detour. Her recent divorce has left her with terminal writer's block and extremely depressed, and her best friend, Patti (Sandra Oh), is beginning to think she might never recover.

Frances decides to take a break and she buys a villa in the beautiful Tuscan countryside and decides to begin anew.

Restoring her new home, she eventually finds the fulfillment she was searching for, including love.

Some may call this movie cheesy.... I call it "the perfect-movie-for-a-rainy-day-and-an-instant-feel-good-trigger"!

Yes, it is a light-weighted story - but it is so utterly charming it will leave you with a smile from ear to ear... Diane Lane is simply wonderful!

If you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend you to run to the nearest movie-rental shop and pick this one...

Watch the trailer:

....or read more about it here:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/under_the_tuscan_sun/

Let me know what you thought? Enjoy ;))

xox

Linda - Lost in Switzerland

Happy New Year!

“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.” William Allen White

I believe it is only natural to reflect on the year that's passed just as a brand new one is about to begin... I've been thinking of all kinds of creative, potentially innovative ways to present the highlights of mine, but in the end I thought "Why bother spending so much time on the past when what I really should be doing is looking into the future?".

Having that said, I decided on a kind of compromise and thought I'd list the highlights of 2009 but also the things I hope to do 2010.

Here goes ;))

Feeling

2009 Going home again after 8 months! ...all I can say is WOW!

2010 2 things.... The first one I'm hoping for is the one I get when friends/family come to visit. The second one I'm hoping for is a sense of feeling calm (which is unfortunately quite unusual for me)!

Holiday

2009 Italy for sure!!! Como, Venice, Tuscany & Cinque terre was truly AMAZING!

2010 Planning to go to a tropical island (yet to be decided which one...and shared ;)) with one of my best friends....bliss!

Shopping

2009 Oohh....this is tricky, but I think I'll choose my latest Betsey Johnson dress!

2010 Hoping to find the perfect knee-high boots for next fall/winter....as this was mission impossible this year!

Meeting

2009 Joshua Radin!!

2010 My favourite author and one of my greatest sources of inspiration....will keep you posted!

Professional achievement

2009 Hmm.....well I guess getting "accidentally" promoted in November can count??

2010 Mainly aiming to stay afloat, but I guess passing the APICS exams could be a goal ;)

Music

2009 Ingrid Michaelson entered my musical world and all I can say is WOW!

2010 Really really looking forward to hearing Regina Spektors newest!!

Project

2009 Well.... I guess that would be this blog!

2010 I am really hoping to start writing a book, or at least outlining the idea I have ;))

Movie

2009 Slumdog Millionaire ties with Grave of the fireflies!

2010 Tim Burtons "Alice in Wonderland" and of course "Harry Potter and the deathly hallows Part 1"!! Exciting movie year ahead!

(

Mistake

2009 Postponing the import of my car because of silly indecisiveness....have a very unpleasant bill coming my way =((

2010 I could say NONE, but who would believe me?? Let's not forecast this!

Resolution

2009 To make 2009 a better year than 2008...succesful?? Uhmm yes!

2010 Take better care of myself!! (less stress and not worry too much)

That's all for now but want to leave you with this brilliant quote:

“When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened.”

John M. Richardson, Jr.

Now which one would you like to be??

Thank you so much for all your support during 2009! Hope to see you here also during 2010 ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! May all your wishes and hopes come true....

xox

Linda - Still lost in Switzerland....but let's see what 2010 has in store!

A very merry Christmas!

Hoo Hooo Hooooo everyone!

It's christmas time and Sweden is certainly showing itself from its best wintery-side!

Sorry for the silence lately.... I've been deliberately occupied with other things, such as spending time with my friends, shopping for christmas-gifts and eating cupcakes - in other words, relaxing and having fun ;)

I just arrived in my home-town an hour ago to spend Christmas with my family.... This christmas is one of the whitest I've seen in years!!! It's been snowing like MAD and I'm enjoying every second of it (with the exception of driving here ;)).

I wish you all a merry and magical Christmas!!
May all your wishes come true...

xox

Linda - Celebrating Christmas in snowy-white Sweden

Life is like a road....

Maybe you have a diffrent metaphor to describe it that suits you better, but this one has always been the one on my mind....

Sometimes life is uphill (the kind of uphill while on your bicycle), sometimes it is downhill, thrilling and exciting!

Sometimes it takes an unexpected turn while at other times, it all feels like the same old road that you've been driving for years to go to work, school or to soccer-practise...

There is the occasional short-cut or detour! Sometimes you'll find yourself at a cross-road and at times you'll even find a dead-end, but one thing is for certain - there is no such thing as a GPS in life to guide you (just intuition and good advice), but your road will always lead you somewhere so you'd better just move with it ;)

This past week has surely reminded me of this and to paint you the picture, here is my past weeks route:

Beginning of the week was surely uphill! Not only because it starts with going to work on a Monday, but because someone that I thought I knew has deeply disappointed me and shown a side to me that I never even knew existed. How to not feel so utterly disappointed and upset by something like this is a lesson I have yet to learn...

Funny enough, it almost instantly went downhill again in that "happy-eyes-closed-wind-in-your-hair-kind-of-way! A wonderful Christmas-party with work with a 1930's Mafia-scene theme..... (if you happen to know me, you'll know that I LOVE THEME-PARTIES)!

During the evening, I also experienced some unexpected turns of the good kind...

My week took another unexpected turn when I recieved a message from someone I truly

admire - completely unexpected turn in the "too-good-to-be-true-kind-of-way".

Won't mention any details here, but if it is too good to be true or not, only time will tell!!

I have decided to go wherever my road takes me and if it takes me to disappointment - well, so be it ;) I will get over that and learn from it. What I won't do is let fear of disappointment replace my curiosity in life!

Friday was absolutely wonderful and still very much downhill! Spent the evening with two of my friends and I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful and brilliant people in my life... This is a kind of fuel to really keep one going!

Saturday was more like a traffic-jam ;) Went to Zurich for Christmas-shopping and couldn't believe the number of people in such a small space... Found the most brilliant English book-store and will surely become a regular customer! Especially after the Christmas-frenzy has blown over.... I was completely exhausted when I came home and spent the rest of this weekend recovering and relaxing.

In 17 hours I'm going home! Now this is as much down-hill as it gets these days ;)))

I feel so lucky to be spending the next 15 days with my friends and family! Such an instant happiness-trigger!

Hope you are all enjoying your roads.....hope you feel that you are headed in the right direction and if not, just remember that life has a funny way of turning when you least expect it and also remember that YOU and no one else is the driver!

xox

Linda - Off to be a little less lost than usual in Sweden for 15 days ;)

I have been Schmap'ped!!!

Just have to share this!

Some exciting news were waiting in my Flickr inbox the other day.....

Two of my photos have been chosen by Schmap.com for their upcoming travel-guide editions for "Venice" and "Milan"!!!

They will be published in December!

www.schmap.com/milan/sights_water/p=132622/i=132622_131.jpg

www.schmap.com/venice/activities_burano/p=314840/i=314840_172.jpg

xox

Linda - The amateur photographer (?!), Lost in Switzerland

In my comfort zone?

Yesterday we had a kind of "event" at work where we (among other things) watched a truly inspiring and motivational video-clip.

This clip was about a man with big dreams, who went blind in his early twenties and realises that he can no longer fulfill his dreams and that this is probably the worst imaginable thing that could have happened to him! Or at least that was what people were telling him.

It took him a looooong time to get out of his state of mind of self-pity and realise he had to stop thinking about his physical boundries and state and just do it the other way around... To start thinking about what he wanted out of life and what his dreams really were and then start thinking of ways to get there! It's about stepping out of your comfort-zone!

It is about opening your mind to new things and let go of fears and insecurities.....

Seriously.... Have a look at what this man has now achieved!

http://www.mileshilton-barber.com/adventurer.html

Well, you might say that this kind of thinking is no rocket-science and I agree! Really! ...but how

many of us really function like this in every-day life? Certainly not me!

I think it would do most of us some good if we started to apply this mind-set even if it takes us YEARS to get there...

The funny thing is that right now, right this minute - I am soooo much in my comfort-zone, and I'm loving it!! But here I am talking literally in my comfort-zone. In my sofa, drinking a cup of hot chocolate in my brand new cashmere leggings (highly recommended...wow! ;)), a warm hoodie and cosy-socks, enjoying some peace and quiet...

I think this is OK too and I do need this! Most of my time is spent out of my comfort-zone these days!

I still can't stop wondering though..........am I limiting myself? Am I really all I can be?

Are you?? ...and how long will we wait before we go after our dreams? Let's not wait twenty years ;)

xox

Linda - Lost in her comfort-zone (?) in Switzerland

Linda - Lost in Poland....and an award!

Finally arrived at my hotel-room in Katowice, Poland. The flight here was NOT pleasant! All I can say is T U R B U L E N C E and during 5 awful minutes, I managed to go from "HEEEEEEELP! I am going to diiiieeeeee" to "Oh well.....can't really do much to influence it anyway. If this is it - then this is just.......it.....really!"...

.......as you can see - that was not IT! I am very much alive, allthough ridiculously tired - just feeling a little lost.....in Poland.

Now off to be lost in the land of dreams, hopefully without any turbulence ;)

Just stopping by to say hello.... What are you up to this week?

Ooooohhhh!!! Dear Sweet Wonderful Emma from the Swedish blog "Om en tjej" has given me an award! YAY!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

I will pass this award on to "Daisy Pink Cupcake", "From Lina" and "Wonderlander".

xox

Linda - Lost in Poland for 2 days