Dear Anna Wintour

Literally watched "September Issue" on my way home from work. Those are trees in the background. This is the real life of a real woman - we do things like this. Would you ever feature such an unreal thing? I think not.

Dear existential angst part 2.

Other ways to battle you: being around children, exercise and great food.
I hung out with Joel, then biked to Blå Porten for great food. This is how today looked in Stockholm. A waste to waste it on anxiety and stress. Me-You 1-1.


Bike helmet broken, wearing son's hockey one instead.

God I love this city.



Once I had a fight with a soon to-be ex over Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. The soon to-be my ex disappeared through this gate mid-argument. I didn't notice until several minutes later, I was so upset, trying to make my point.




The food at Blå Porten.


The garden at Blå Porten.

Dear existential angst

Dear existential angst, you show up and you're never welcome.

You've high fived me on the subway, patted my back in the bath house and grabbed my behind in the supermarket. You're rude, loud and inconsiderate, making me want to scream No No No. That doesn't help much.

And because I lack religious leanings, I've had to make up my own chant to make you go away. Seems these are the words you least want to hear:

"Glad to be here, we're all in the same boat". Repeated in absurdum.

Please stay away from me.

Dear Jenny, about the scarf

It's a blouse!

Dear Einstein

Dear Einstein, know how you once said "The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it's comprehensible".

I feel the opposite "The most comprehensible thing about the universe is that it's incomprehensible".

People will read this and come to the conclusion "She's no Einstein." and right they are.

Dear Havrefras

Thank you for saving my ass, day after day after day after day after day.

-the end consumer

Dear international cineasts 2

I bid on two things at the Ingmar Bergman auction.

His old dice set. They were modestly priced at a minimum of 500 SEK.



I also liked Ingmar's stopwatches. For the stop watches, I went in over my head with 500 SEK, though the minimum price was just 200 SEK.

The set of dice went for 75 000 SEK, the watches for 82 000 SEK.
My time is valuable, but not that valuable. At that price, I'd expect the watches to stop time itself.

Dear bike

Thanks for carrying me through such a beautiful city on my way home.


The bridge over to the island where we live

To the right, in pink, an island native. To the left - a visitor.

Dear Microsoft

This is the most horrible thing I have ever ever ever seen. I feel queasy. It's more uncomfortable to watch than even The Office. Or Curb your Enthusiasm. I understand you're going for a more personal touch here, but the whole thing feels so staged, so rehearsed, so awful.

Dear Donald Duckp

When I want to feel like you, I wear this and nothing else.

So far, that's been NEVER.

I'd much rather feel like Gladstone Gander.

But I love the shirt.

Dear international cineasts

I went to a showing of Bergmans stuff. There were some things I really wanted. Like this table with its important reminder "Saturday 7.20 pm."

Then Maja and I had dinner. Or rather, I had dinner, while she had crêpes, declaring they were the best thing she'd eaten, ever.

The thing I like most about my iPhone

A few times, I've managed to push the keys in a way that prompts my iPhone to tell me, in Swedish: "There's nothing to regret". Det finns inget att ångra.

I can not make it do this on purpose. I don't know how I make it happen. But I love this reply. It's like a prophecy about life already lived. A postecy?

Dear Anderssons skomakeri

You have made me such a happy happy happy person. Despite being doomed to a life with orthotics, I can now wear stylish shoes AGAIN! Björn-Erik simply built my shoe up from the inside, mimicking my orthotic sole. Am so grateful. No surgery. No pain. Just happiness.

Below: Close-up of beloved Bruno Maglis.

ps. Do your nylons always break or do you get runs in them? Go for the stirrup kind!

blogging with iPhone?

Which application should I use? My blogs are all Blogger blogs. Can a sentence get more 2009?

I mean, which application should I use to blog on my phone?

Dear blog readers

If you like Letters from the end consumer, you will love Lena Sjöbergs blog too. She's an illustrator who left the city for the countryside. There's something magic about both her own illustrations and the pictures she posts.

Dear cardigan lovers

Today, I'm wearing my favorite cardigan. With three hearts, anchors and a cashmere soft promise of "maybe".

Dear Jumperfabriken

Yes please!

Dear son

Know how the other day you asked

"When I grow up, do I have to be something human?"

That's a valid question. I have no answer to it.

I was thinking about the fruit of knowledge and the loss of Eden.

How paradise to me would be a place with no concept of time or space. In essence, childhood.

Just fruit, friends and family. This knowledge thing, I don't know if it's worth it.

Dear fleamarket goddess

Thanks for introducing me to this candle holder.

Dear international cineasts

Did you know Ingmar Bergmans possessions are now up for grabs? Not even that expensive, if you' just looking for a lamp or a desk from the home of a legend. His laterna magica is for sale too. The thing that started it all. Woody, are you reading?

Dear Oprah - I'm Eprah

What I know for sure or think I do

Today was a nice day. I met up with Maja and had coffee, then worked. Then picked up the kids and when Anders came back from his run, I went on mine. I thought about intuition. Intuition as the sum of your experiences. The mystique of female intuition is perhaps just male astonishment at realizing there's potential in another kind of attention. I've trusted my intuition so many times. But when I ran today, I thought intuition is just a word for summing up what you can't explain but know from personal experience. What you know for sure. You can call me Eprah.

Dear Jean O'Neil

I don't usually wish to be anyone but me. But you, I'd love to be you.

I start my mornings watching you. It puts me in a great mood. I love you.

Dear Jennifer Weisberg

I am forever grateful.

Dear writers

Dear writers, know how you say in every interview, that writing is such a lonely profession. Don't you have twitter, facebook, iChat?

It is a lonely profession. Especially for the overly social.

Going to the pharmacy, hoping to run into someone on the way.

On posting comments

Blogger has this weird thing that tells you it doesn't work when you try to post a comment. Insist. You will get through.

Dear shoe wearers

These are the kind of shoes I dream about. Top, Paul Smith, below, Vibram Five Fingers.

They might look different from each other but they have a lot in common: they appeal to the same woman.

Dear non-runners

I'm starting up a rookie runner blog. Come join me over here http://runwitherookie.blogspot.com/

Just follow the instructions.

love

-e

Dear Japanese people

The stuff you make is so pretty pretty kawaii.

I love this ice crushing machine. As you grind the ice, the eyes go back and forth.
Didn't buy it. It cost almost 200 dollars. Even love has its limits.

Dear foreign visitors

I don't know if you're used to this kind of iconography?
This combination means that this bathroom is uni-sex. Both women and men may use it. However, when it comes to diaper duty, Swedish authorities believe that men are better equipped for the job. Swedish women have kept mum on the subject.

Dear readers -how about some owls?

Because you took such an interest in my pants, let me share my love of this cardigan + matching skirt. They're both, together with the Helmut Lang shirt I'm wearing benath the cardi, treasures from clothes swaps. They're the best thing. Arrange one today!

• You get rid of clothes you never wear.
• You get bags of new clothes.
• It's free.
• It's fun.

Bonus pic:owl ass.

Dear NYT

I love this sad and caustic quote from your writer Alessandra Stanley, writing about network anchors Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric:

"As in other fields, women seem to break through the glass ceiling just as the air-conditioning is being turned off in the penthouse office suites."

Dear Filippa K

Dear Filippa K, the other day I was in yor store trying to find pants and asked the shopgirl for help. I jsut wanted nice pants that weren't jeans. I tried on 4 pairs, they all looked ridiculous.

In the end, the shopgirl even told me "There's nothing wrong with your body. You're completely normal." The sad thing is that someone tells you that, you immediately start to think the opposite. But they're not getting me, my body image is just fine after all the running.

Then, like a fool, I returned a few days later and bought these "Tulip" pants. When I wear them, I feel lke I'm an important art gallerist in, say, Basel or Zürich. But is that enough? Should I keep them? Yes or no? Help.

Stuff I've never told you

I once met Lemmy from Motörhead and had the pleasure of introducing myself with the line

"Hi Lemmy, I'm Emi".

Dear family

Thank you for the birthday gifts!

From Vanja: Precious jewellry.

From my parents: A fridge magnet with a picture of my favorite taxidermied (is this a word?) lion:

Anders is coming back home tonight. We've missed him. He'll bring Vibram five fingers, coffee and 60 dollars worth of gummy bears.

Dear Hackney Council

This is just like this:

Dear life - I am Odie

It's my birthday today. I celebrated by spending a fortune making my favorite shoes great again. Life is good. I never thought life could be like this: Easy and filled with happiness. I was unhappy and depressed for a long long time. There were eating disorders, sick friends, various body issues, heartbreaks and failed studies. But now, things are good. I just want to press pause. Let everything be.

I know I come off as overly optimistic. Of all fictional characters, I sometimes feel I can relate most easily to Garfields annoyingly perky friend Odie.

Perhaps Odie was born like that. Perhaps he's seen the other side, perhaps he received lots of love or even medication and can't believe his luck when things worked out for the better.

I don't believe in any God, higher being or any mysterious power. I'm constantly amazed by the weirdness of us being here and the miracle of us being here together.

I often feel that I'm the luckiest person in the world. Someone has to be, and I might be the one. I think there's room for many of us being the luckiest. I'm so grateful you can't believe it.

Feel free to smack me over the head. You still can't stop me from having this feeling.

I look so serious in that pic above. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm serious about being happy.

Dear Sarah Sheppard

Thank you for treating me to birthday lunch! Get Sarah's new book here!

Dear readers - a regular day at the office

Perhaps you wonder what my life is like, besides being with my kids?

Well let me tell you, today I'm having an ordinary day in the office.

I've forgotten about lunch again and need to get something to eat.

It's easy to forget about food when you're writing a folder on constipation and another on diarrhea, like I'm doing today. I'm also about to type an interview I did yesterday, with Hannah Graaf, familiar to all Swedish Readers.

Furthermore; I'm writing a little about a Swedish film production company and translating and proofreading an excellent article on Ruth Ansel.

I love my job. Even those folders. It's fun!

Between work, I will try to read a little in my new books: How to cook a wolf and How I became a famous novelist, both things I would like to be able to tell people myself one day.

Writer needs readers

Jenny? Natasha? Lisa Chong? Winona? Others? I need native Anglo proofreaders.

Meet the readers - Lisa Chong

Lisa Chong is one of those people who've gone to both Stanford AND Yale. First she studied English, then decided to become a violinist. Despite her obvious superhuman qualities, she's a humble, sweet person with an entertaining dry sense of humor.

She plays for the St. Louis symphony orchestra. She visited Sweden and told me tons of things I've never known about life as a musician. Like the fact that they play behind a curtain and walk on muting mats on their way to auditions so that the listeners won't know if someone tripping on high heels or more manly shoes are playing. That's really hiring people on a gender neutral basis.

I don't know if I've told you this before but Vanja is a delicate person. She's made of glass. She'll cry just touching something with her little legs. I don't know how it happened, I think she's just extremely sensitive. I raised her to be strong. She resisted. Joel, on the other hand doesn't cry even if blood is gushing. He doesn't cry from pain, only for emotional reasons. They cry about the same amount.

When Lisa came to visit, she had the best way of dealing with Vanja's complaints.

Showing a barely bruised knee to me and Lisa, Vanja was met with relevant, thoughtful questions from Lisa's Swedish phrasebook:

"Is it serious?"

"Will you need surgery?"

"Is it contagious?"

Even Vanja laughed and the pain was gone.

It was so nice having Lisa around. Now she's back in St Louis playing and eating Bissinger's delicious acai blueberries. They're so good we just ordered 60 bucks worth of the stuff.

want more lisa for yourself?

Here's her blog!

Dear dentist

Thanks for making me look a little bit more polished and a little less like the things that aren't so great about Amy Winehouse's mouth.

Dear Andreas Lind

I love your pictures of your children.