To concentrate

For years, I thought concentrating meant closing your eyes and waiting to exhale.

Recipe for happiness

I'm a happy person. We've been through this before. But it's true and I often get asked why I'm so happy. I TELL YOU HOW TO BE HAPPY

Surround yourself with great people

Love your job

If you don't love your job, leave your job

If you can't leave your job, find life beyond job

Dance, daily

Sing daily, especially if you believe you can't sing

Eat chocolate

Run

Take every opportunity to laugh

Limit shopping. Shopping doesn't bring the happiness. Am serious.

Have children in your life. They don't need to be your own.

MAKE SURE THE CHANNEL TO YOUR OWN INNER CHILD REMAINS WIDE OPEN! THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS OF ALL since it means you will never cease to marvel at both small and big things you see, around you, every day. Also, staying in touch with your inner child gives you permission to be ridiculous which is a great way to achieve happiness.

Find art that works for you.

Wear shoes that lets you be a person. A person who can actually walk, even run, freely.

When possible, climb trees.

Make peace with yourself.

That's all.

A message for Stockholm fashion week

I already have what I need. Music, running gear, happiness and what you would probably call MY TRADEMARK STYLE.

I'm posting this video because my mind tells me this is not what a woman of my age and profession should be sharing and that's why it's essential to share it.

best foundation?

I'm asking you! I have very thin skin. You can see the veins under my skin like violet and red highways. My skin gets red and blotchy. I need some magic foundation that takes away the highways and blotchiness but steers clear from the "I'm introducing BEIGE as new KABUKI"-color crisis.

What body part IS THAT? IS IT MY NECK?

I've never seen such an image on the internets.

you're welcome!

ps. Yes, putting needles where they belong is EASY.

Happy ghost in our kitchen

Hello!

THANK YOU CHRISTER

We should all be this generous. Or I guess women do this ALL THE TIME, this kind of posing, but men, you should join! Cuddly and cute wild beast appeal.

Pause Facebook

Engage your brain in something worthwhile. 3 X Toni interviewed by Charlie Rose.

On running

I don't currently have an office, so I work from home. It's nice but lonely. To break the monotony of such a workday, I go running, so I can come back home, refreshed and happy. I run in the snow, I don't mind, it kind of makes me feel heroic.

I love coming back home from a run, even love the running itself, at least after I've ran the first km of each run. But like most people, I don't often find myself yearning to work out. Lately, I've started to say to myself "you've got to walk the dog". That's my mind's view of my body. A demanding dog that needs to be walked, fed, petted, washed. All the time.

It works though. When you don't want to work out, remind yourself, you have to. What kind of horribly lazy dog owner would you be otherwise. Walk that animal. It needs it.

Ni är galna

Om ni inte springer till detta. Mariah! Jag vet ej vad som händer på bilden nedan. Jag kan inte sluta titta på den.

Missing: staff, blondes.

Egocentric Megalomaniac Take on World

Confession: Whenever I see a satellite pic of our planet, my initial thought is: "I wonder what I'm doing in this picture. If you could close this pic up, real good."

Admit it, you do it too. Or will, from now on.

Ps. I don't often see individuals I'd like to look like besides Marion Cotillard, Sade, Lisa Bonet, Salma Hayek, Scarlett Johansson, Bianca Jagger, Niki de Saint Phalle, Rosario Dawson, Eva Mendes, Ashwariya Ray, Freida Pinto, Georgia O'Keefe, Maggie Cheung, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Giselle, Diana Agron, Rosalind Russel, Claudia Cardinale, Toni Morrison

<--INSERT MORE OR LESS ANY NAME HERE-->, but damn,how cute is this fox?

Proof of time travel

My favorite daydream is time travel. My favorite superhero ability is also being able to travel through time. I keep looking for ways, signs, methods of doing the impossible.

So far, the most convincing proof of time travel I've found is Jan van Eyck's painting. How could he do this? Don't you think he traveled from a different place in time, sneaking in a camera? Zoom in on those slippers, on everything. How did he do this?

Every time I see a van Eyck, I think to myself "I love you Jan".

Ps. The same applies to Holbein, just switch Jan for Hans. Janne och Hasse, ni äger.

Ps 2. Yes, the Madonna at the fountain in post below is also by JvE. JAN VAN EYCK.

I like to think that he painted it outdoors, with the beautiful textile background mounted just so. Perhaps not supported by angels though. But who knows.

Niki says

that what she loves most about me is my neck. Seeing this painting for real, in NYC, I broke down in tears because of the love loaded impact it had in real life.

I think this illustrates why Niki loves my neck. Why any child loves a parent's neck above all. It is a remnant of that early baby closeness, before there are words. We don't have that anymore, yet we kind of do. When I put her to bed, when we turn out the lights, when we lie next to each other, waiting for sleep to sail away with her, there are a few moments when the feeling is exactly this, and her little arm is slung around my neck.

To be a mother. I love it so.

OH NO!

SEAL AND HEIDI SEPARATING? NO MORE OF THIS?!?! THE SADNESS!!!

Dear NATASHA

I WANTED TO GO TO LONDON SO BAD.

Especially to the Leonardo with you.

But it seemed like there was no way of even making sure we'd even get to see it together?

I tried to buy tickets over eBay, but found out in time they'd be invalid.

To travel to another country for an exhibition I wasn't even sure I'd get into, it was too bleak a project.

I'll come to Paris to see you, with no kids in tow. Just have to make some money first. But I will.

Life, lately

Went to Moderna Museet yesterday, with my brother and various children.

We saw this work of art:

It was called:

To which I would like to reply:

"Watching a 2-year old approach a work of art containing hundreds of loose glass bottles without interfering IS the highest form of art"

Not a day goes by

Not a day goes by without me thinking of ways I could simply get on a plane and go to NYC to see this exhibition. I've seen many of the paintings before, in museums around Europe and the US, but to see them like this...it hurts not being able to! Must figure out a way to afford it. Or at least buy the catalogue. But it's not the same. The impact of the real painting, the layers of paint, the knowledge that this was the very canvas touched by the artist, the very painting observed and treasured for centuries can not be compared to looking at a page in a book or viewing it on your computer screen.

I'm often overwhelmed by paintings. I never know in advance when it will happen or why. And it's only sometimes that I comprehend exactly why I'm suddenly crying or laughing. My favorite experience is that of FLYING THROUGH TIME with the help of a painting, the sense of seeing what the painter saw, not necessarily with his or her eyes, but with her soul/intellect/core/insert what you think the painter is working with here. It's that experience I'm always looking for, the one that's now urging me to go to NYC.

I wrote a museum blog last year. I once wrote a post on a painting which is considered to possibly portray the young Lucrezia Borgia. This painting intrigued me so that I got all worked up about the Borgias series that turned out to be a huge disappointment to me. Why is it that historical dramas so often portray individuals who're only able to host a single emotion or ambition at any given time? And why is that one ambition/drive so often either power or carnal desire? It makes everything so flat. Where is the mockery, the everyday chitchat, the friendly banter, the self deprecating funny remarks that make up regular daily life for people all around the world now and historically?

I missed all of that in The Borgias. It didn't do anything for me beyond admiring the skills of the costume department.

I'd dreamed of seeing a portrait of the Lucrezia I see in the portrait; enigmatic, thoughtful, unattainable. What I got was a renaissance cupcake, which is not at all the actress fault, but what we've come to expect of female characters in too many series. No thanks. Perhaps I stopped viewing too early, please inform me if the portrayal of the highly intelligent, intriguing, interesting and vital Lucrezia changed over the episodes?

Yesterday I watched Hanna with Anders. I loved Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice and am so looking forward to his Anna Karenina. Hanna was ok. but more than anything - there was my Lucrezia! So please Joe, make a Lucrezia movie, with Saoirse Ronan as the lead. It would be SO SO SO great. That's Saoirse as teenage assassin Hanna above, next to a Lucrezia fresco. And are any of you in NYC? have you been to the Renaissance Portrait Exhibition? Should I let go of everything and just go or should I simply buy the book?

curious greetings

-e

Things I can't get enough of

Stockholm. I LOVE THIS TOWN. LOVE IT. EVEN AT IT'S BLEAKEST.

Having these people in my life on a DAILY BASIS.

Har också skrattat mycket åt grispaniken och risottokollapsen

TACK MALIN!!!

Roligaste klippen, direkt från Malins blogg.

och!

Blev så nyfiken på Mitch, var tvungen att googla honom. så tråkigt, då var han redan död.

Rolig, med bra hår.

Ska ta med den här bilden nästa gång jag går och klipper mig. Vill se ut så här. Kanske utan mustasch, men vad gör man? Närmar mig ändå mustaschålder.

Run with me and Stevie. For once in your life.

Get playlist here. 34 minutes for a perfect 5k + cool off or just post-run dance.

Or just a great moment in time.

Looking for a hotel in Rome

Came across this pic and I love it. Rome, you're already bringing it. Stare on, bossy cat.

What's important

Build animated gif

Trees are really really really important to me. I crave trees. I need to have them close by.

Advice to young people

Every now and then, young people ask me for sagely advice.

HAHAHA. No they don't, but if they did, I would tell them: PICK YOUR PARTNER WELL; so that in 15 years from now, he or she will still make you laugh.

I can't believe my luck in living such a life in luxury myself. The other day when I asked Anders how he could look exactly the way he did now as he did back in '99 when we met, he looked at me and said, in perfect a perfect Scottish accent "I am Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. I was born in 1518 in the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel. And I am immortal."

I guess what I'm trying to say here is, pick a funny partner. Or at least someone who's immortal.

Ps. Or just a Scotsman.

THANK YOU JENNY

For posting this on your facebook-wall.

If you want to protect your head while skydiving

You can now buy a Guner Bonehead.

greetings, Guner by birth, have never understood the appeal of skydiving. More interested in Batsuit flying.

Dear Google

Answer: No, I did not mean immoral women.

Ps. How come you didn't ask that when I googled "immortal men"? Your double standards infuriate me. ETERNALLY!

Ps 2. Specify immoral.

I love this gallery

via hjärtasmärta: really old babies and their hidden moms

Ingen annan blogg

gör sådana nerdykningar som Nuskadetbliandrabullar. Ni som älskar Fisher Price, här är Helenas present till er. Ni som inte älskar Fisher Price, varför gör ni inte det? Är det något litet fel med er? Det kanske inte är för sent att åtgärdas!

Suddenly

Entertaining thoughts about last minute trips.

Your new bag?

I love monkeys.

how do you like your wine?

- Mrs Guner, how do you like your wine?

-Winehouse, please.

I LOVE THIS SONG. Not only do we get Amy, but we get NAS too!!!!

The stuff I don't buy on Etsy, but you could.

Buy my favorites, so someone gets to wear these wonderful things!

Glöm inte

DU HAR FORTFARANDE CHANSEN!!!!

What celebrity do you look like?

This question comes up a lot:

"What celebrity do you look like?"

I've given it a lot of thought.

In the end can come up only with one answer: one without makeup.

What we in Sweden call sist på bollen.

Lisa Lucas posted this:

Had to try it myself. Didn't do as well as four year old.

And here you go, if you've never heard of the original:

Move it

2011 - looking back

So 2011 was a shitty year. I look back on it like a terrible relationship. But just like you would after ending a crap romance, I find myself going "but we had some great times too".

Highlights of 2011

Going to Florence and Rome to see an amazing exhibition.

Then went to Tenerife with the family and it was warm and I've never seen the kids happier. They still talk about it.

Annika's 40th birthday party!

Lisas 40th birthday party!

Brita & Kalle's wedding!

Sarah & Jonas wedding!

Gotland!

Christina's 40th birthday party!

Mark & Karina's wedding!

Sofia singing at said wedding. In church, one of my own life's most perfect moments and I imagine it was even more blissful for the wedding couple!

Researching and writing an article for Swedish Elle. Finding Pilates through that article.

My friends hosting a surprise dinner for me because of 40th b-day!

Celebrating 10 years as a mother of world's best kids by going to Paris with the oldest one!

Lisa & Calle's halloween party!

Getting Sara and family back!

Having Petra visit us in Sweden!

Every run I've taken even when I didn't feel like it that made me feel so great afterwards.

Meeting up with my old band!

One of the best nights out with Anders we've ever had. December 16th!

Watching Elf with Anders and the kids. Such a small thing, still remembered as one of the best things of 2011.

ps. why is reading about people's happy moments so boring? These were my best times, still even I feel like yawning when reading through them. I don't understand the weirdness about happiness.

Honestly, from one end consumer

I hated 2011 and in the midst of misery, did what many women (and some men) do when down - I thought perhaps luxury could help lift me out of the pain.

I'd aged rapidly from all the sorrow and thought this was the one time in life when La Mer could be justified.

So bought the expensive cream and used it and liked it.

But now, when I'm using Revitalift for a fraction of the cost, I honestly couldn't say La Mer was any better, for me.

I'd be interested to read a little pamphlet called "why I bought La Mer". Am pretty sure it would contain many many a sad story. There are many ways to find solace, if an expensive facial cream works for you, go for it. But if you can't afford it, don't cry, use a cheap alternative.

More reliable counter grief aid was found in running, pilates, friends and family. La Mer/Elizabeth Arden perhaps we'll meet again, but hope there will be no reason to.

Ps. Isn't the jar really ugly too, considering it should be such a premium product?

Ps 2. Think perhaps bought the jar because my dyslexic subconscious read it phonetically as MOMMY.

January

I hear that this organization is what they in Glee call "amazeballs".

Quiz

I watched a quiz show with Anders and realized how very little I know about Brussels and Belgium. It was appalling.

Also knew very little about New Delhi.

So sat down to make my own quiz, about stuff I know about.

1. What is the Swedish title of the book in which Harriet Vane returns to her old skool?

2. My youngest child refuses to wear anything but?

3. How long does it take to commute from IKEA Barkarby to Lidingö?

4. What computer do I wish would just drop down in my lap?

5. How far should I run later today?

Honeybee -about the house

This is our house. The second from right. See how two out of four walls are adjacent to a neighbor? Means heat doesn't spill out into the open air. The house is very well insulated so yes, it's warm. We have a fireplace, but never make a fire, since it's so warm anyhow. But recently, a beloved friend who lives in LA came to visit and she didn't think our house was warm at all.

So to answer your question: I think both. We're warm and the house is warm. Outside, it's currently -6° Celsius. Or as we call it: PERFECT RUNNING CONDITIONS.

Young logic

Me: sure you want to go ice-skating now? After all you just went to a 3-hour workout at that kids camp thing.

Joel: mom, working out makes you stronger, not weaker! Let's go skating!

Different temperatures

Love

My love for this person could easily melt the ice he's skating on. Had to remove myself.

And as I did, ran into this nice fellow.

Working out with Christina

Today went running with this. I tell you, do this. Go running with dirrty. Ladies. Gentlemen. Just let it happen to you. Let it carry you. Give it a try. If it doesn't work for you, you can take the bus home.

Personally, I'm going to repeat the experience tomorrow.

Working out with Bob

Just made a playlist that's perfect for your next 5k run. Get inspired by a legend and his athletic stance. I dressed just like bottom picture for my run last night.

Here's the playlist, for those of you who don't have Spotify.

Bob Marley & The Wailers – Three Little Birds
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Jamming
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Is This Love
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Could You Be Loved
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Waiting In Vain
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Stir It Up - Original Album Version
Bob Marley & The Wailers – Satisfy My Soul

But Fame costs...

At what point of celebrity does posing like this seem like no big deal?

I'm going to try it now.

Looking sexy/serious/successful was the hardest part.

ps. For a minute, I thought cropping might be the clue to the other pic looking fairly ok. So I tried cropping too. Now you know what I'd look like...if I had bangs made out of real fingers!