Everybody get's a second in the sun

The Kent concert this Saturday was awesome! I haven't seen them since 2008 when I saw them with my mother! The great thing about Kent is that there aren't a specific group of people listening to them, it becomes really apparent how big and widely loved they are when you are standing in queue for their concert. There's old grandmas, little kids, suits, indie kids, people wearing nothing but leather and spikes, girls with Chanel bags, in other words, a really diverse group of people, all loving the same band.
They have been said to be the band that captures the mind of a Swede, so I guess that's why.


Anyway! I got a surprise when I came to the entrance, the free ticket I had proved to be a VIP ticket! I didn't use "my priviledges" though, since as I understod it was just free champagne and standing in the VIP section, which was at the far back on a hill. But it still felt pretty sweet having the pass.

It'll be hanging looking smug in my room from now on.

And I finally went ahead and bought myself a t-shirt! I generally don't like band shirts because they are always made in that heavy cheap cotton with really tiny neckholes(and it's men sizes, but I have a hard time seeing a man get his head through that hole), but they were offering soft cotton shirts! Still men sizes though, so of course it turned out to be huge.

During the last song suddenly a combination of pyrotechnics, confetti and fireworks started!
The fireworks lasted long after the band had left the stage, and all in all it was all just so beautiful.

Kent concert!

Kent ("Swedens biggest rockband") is playing in Uppsala, and thanks to a sudden turn of events I can go! The tickets were really expensive so I didn't even bother, and planned to just sit outside and listen, since the concert is taking place outside Uppsala Castle.
But! Yesterday my faux Grandpa called, and told me he had put me on the list for Uppsala Castle employee + family! So I get to go, for free! But then again, I did work there for two weeks(as Warden of the Castle) when I was 14, so I guess it's all as it should be.

Anyway! Super excited!
(Never heard of Kent? Listen here, here and here(English))

 Outfit and "facelook"(is that a real expression? Swedish bloggers use it all the time but I think it sounds a bit off.). I'm back to wearing falsies again! And I have no idea why I chose to wear my rattiest tackiest harley davidson t-shirt with holes all over it from being old, but oh well! 

And on an unrelated note, here's my new sunnies! Found them in Gothenburg in some kind of 100yen-ish danish shop!

Good old platforms

Gwuahh! I was looking through my old stuff today, trying to sort things to donate/sell/throw away/keep, and I found my old platforms!
I bought them when I was 12-13ish I think, and I remember being so happy about them! I wore them everyday for about 3 years haha. It's a wonder they're still intact, but they've been on regular visits to the cobbler, I did my best to take care of them.

After I found them we we're going to town, so I decided to take some matching clothes. Unfortunatly I still suck at this whole outfit-picture-thingamajig (it was so much easier when I had other people to take them for me!), but the dress I'm wearing is the pink/black heart dress I posted about the other day~

Oh be still my heart!

My cold has finally ceased it's hold of me, but before it was even over I managed to wake up to a crick in the neck. Usually it goes away by itself in a couple of hours, but I've had it for 4 days now! I'm starting to fear I'll live my life like Kermit from now on.. You know, having to turn my entire torso, because I HAVE NO NECK.
Do anyone of you have any home remedies?
I've tried hot showers, massage, heatpacks, more massage, painkillers, even threats(!), but nothing seems to work :(

Picture time!

I'm not kidding when I say I don't do anything at all. I mean, obviously I do things like maybe watch the TV, read a magazine or something similar, but in reality I live a very isolated life in this village. Going grocery shopping or to the doctor is starting to feel as you know, winning a million at the lottery or something, haha. Ohgodi'msobored.

But I take pictures!

So this post will have some of that.

I actually watch my plants grow. Yeah.

I take pictures of the cats. You don't even wanna look into my phone, it's 95% pictures of the cats. This is Sixten.

I find stuff! Like this Swimmer watch that I had almost forgotten completely.

I tie bows on wedding invitations.

I photograph the shelf above my bed. The picture isn't crooked, my room is slanting. Yeah.

I take pictures of my things.

And I sit quietly for half an hour staring at does.

Amazing dress and new protection

I decided to try and be serious about you know, pictures and stuff, use the camera instead of the phone. But then I found out that I seem to have dropped my camera one too many times on the floor, because the quality wasn't really that much better! Which sucks, it used to be a really good camera..

Anyhow! I'm super psyched about this dress! It's from the swedish store Gina Tricot, and a while back they had this dress in pretty much every color there is, and I used to own it in lavender. Unfortunatly, due to it being my go-to dress during several years it had become so ratty I had to throw it away when I moved from Japan.. But fortunately there is loads of people who doesn't understand the greatness of this model of dresses, so theres bunches of them on auction sites! This became mine for 6SEK!(approx 100yen), + shipping! Can't argue with that, seeing how it's seemingly never been worn at all, haha. And you know, it being THE BEST DRESS MODEL OF ALL TIME. Of all time. That I tell you.

When we went to Strömsund, we also did the mandatory visit to tThe Dollarstore, which is exactly what it sounds like, a dollar store. I think it's exclusive to the north of Sweden, or atleast it used to be. It's basically the go to place if you want cheap anything.
Stumbled over this silicone case and I've been looking at similar ones online, but for more than double the price than this one was, haha.

Hopefully a silicone case will help protect my phone better, as mentioned above I have a tendency to drop electronics on the floor repeatedly, and after six months I just discovered the first crack in the screen..
It's amazing it's still intact though, seeing how I've dropped it multiple times a day since I got it..  Well, knock on wood that it wont fall apart on me.

Fought for parcel

Uhh, one of the things I dislike the most about my current place of living, is that due to it being in the middle of nowhere, parcels and stuff takes much longer to arrive. If the shop says 2-3days, it usually arrives within 5-10.. Even EMS, which I was really pissed about, I mean, I pay extra for speedy shipping, and then it takes almost a week longer than it's supposed to? And it isn't even delivered, we have to drive for half an hour to pick it up :(

Uhh, okay, enough ranting! Reason for the rant? I ordered from H&M!

As usual, the kitty&photo rule applies, if you try to take a picture of your cat, it runs away, if you try to take a picture of something else, suddenly: CAT!! (The cat in the picture is named Pentax, and it's because she loooves photobombing)

Nothing over the top whootiwhoot, but man! I'm so happy anyway!

The reason I ordered this (and the yumetenbo order, tho it was partly my birthday present to myself), is as a reward. For what? Weight loss. 
When I moved to Japan and started living with my roomie, he introduce me to his decadent eating habits, which of course resulted in a considerable weight gain for me, since I don't have the metabolism of a young man :( And all that white rice. Every day, white rice galore.
That's pretty much the reason why I suddenly stopped wearing light colors, and opted for dark shades. I just felt like the michelin man, and since I moved to Sweden I just didn't feel like dressing up at all, because everything was unflattering and impossible and after a while I just stopped trying.

So, in about January I decided to stop moping around being unhappy about myself, and just do it. Since then, I've lost almost 10kgs! I've actually only lost 9, but I hurried the reward for this time to combine it as a reward for doing two essays and being a total boss on two math tests, haha.
So, I get myself a reward for every lost 5kgs, just something, not running out buying a car or anything.

There's still quite a bit to go till I'm around my desired weight, and I can't really say I see any difference in the mirror(that's why progress pics are a godsend!), I still feel like dressing up more often. Of course I tend to ragequit in the midst of dressing because of reasons, but I still manage to put something together, put on some god damn full make up with lashes n all, style my hair and go out. Allthough my outfits are a mess right now, I'm torned between light colors and dark colors, and those parts of my wardrobe doesn't really match.. Oh well, I'll figure it out! 


Long entry about uninteresting things, but.. well.

New bag and pastel pumps

My birthday present to myself was a Yumetenbo order!
Finally I have my hands on a 3way bag, and two pairs of lovely pastel pumps!

Northern lights!

Thanks to the solar storm the other day, we had some Northern Lights!
I was surprised to be able to photograph it with my digicam! 
They did of course not turn out as great as the ones you usually see, but, anyway, I'm happy with them!

One of the few nice things about living in Sweden is the possibility to see this, haha.
Did you know that if you whistle during northern lights, it becomes more intense?
It's not scientifically proven though, pretty much nothing about it is, except for "Hey, they're like, moving and stuff".

Kitty kitty

Short nonsensical post about my totally awesome new t-shirt! Kitty face! Kitty kitty kitty!

 

Ps: I got a new header too! 

Shirokuma madness

Just went out and bought a bucket load of one of my favorite beauty products! Shirokuma eye plasters! But the majority isn't for me. My mom told her friend about these and how much I raved about them, and asked me to buy her a bunch!


I'll do a review about them, or well, post before and after pictures! I haven't used them for a few weeks to let my dark circles come back in order to properly show the effect..

Keeping my mood up... with kittens!

The departure date is getting closer everyday, and with it comes mixed feelings. I love Japan, this is where I want to be. Naturally, that means I'm plenty upset about leaving. And while I dislike Sweden in so many ways, there'll be good things about it too. Both Japan and Sweden have their pros and cons, so I guess it'll all be good in the end.
I'm trying my best to keep my spirits high about leaving, by thinking about all the bad things about Japan(cockroaches! humidity!), and things in Sweden I look forward to.

So here's a small list of what I'm longing for about Sweden!


1 Food
Of course, swedish food is something I've been craving ever since I left. While teriyaki, sushi, onigiri and ramen is all very delicious, there's just something about the food you've eaten since you were a child, right?  I'm preparing mentally for a weight gain of about 5-10kgs when I come to sweden.. (No, not really! Haha)

2 Friends and family
Allthough my friends are sparse but amazing, and my family small and complex, I miss them all, and it will be one of the best things about returning! Being the "runaway" on my "special adventure"(i.e omg I lived in Tokyo!), homesickness haven't been a top priority of mine, but I know how much my mother and father have missed me, so being able to see them again is going to be fantastic!

3 Fresh air and amazing tap water
When I lived in Uppsala(Swedens 4th biggest city), I complained a bit about the air, that was rather dirty compared to my hometowns. After living in Tokyo for 2 years, I'm thinking my lungs will burst by the clean air! Also, I hardly ever drink tap water in Japan(omg the chlorine taste!!), so being able to drink the tap water at my mums house, that goes from a spring in a neighbouring mountain(yes it's THAT village-y!), will be like drinking tears of angels, I believe.

4 Kitties
Cats are my favorite animal, hands down. I haven't had a cat for 4 years now! And although Japan is filled with cats, they are all very scared, and unlike japanese people, doesn't approach you for a snuggle. And the cats at the cat cafés I've visited are rather .. uninterested in humans.  My mom got a cat lady right after I left for Japan, and this spring she got kittens! Although I didn't get to actually be there, my mom uploaded pictures everyday for me to see their growth! Kittiekittie!

These are the two I'll get! I'll either take them both, or just one.. Or none, depending on what kind of apartment I get..

I might make a list of what I wont miss with Japan, for my own sake. It could be good looking at it when it feels too hard.

New notebooks and small towns.

Even though I don't go to school at the moment, I bought two new notebooks the other day! They're so pretty, and were just 100yen/each, so how could I resist?

Vintage labels and old maps!

And yesterday I somehow found myself at a concert. Upon arrival I found out that the bassist of the band we were there to see works at my konbini. The levels of embarrassment/surprise is through the roof! That man has seen me buy chocolate in the middle of the night, in my pajama, without makeup. Dancing, superdrunk, sick, dressed as a goth, etc etc. And now suddenly he was a real person, in a band that I was about to see. The situation was rather awkward, but he turned out to be a really cool guy, and his band really good!
Luckily for me, when people heard that he worked at "My konbini" at the after party, he was the one being bullied, not me.
Tokyo is indeed a small town, sometimes.

Fireworks and meat coma

Today has been great, but I'm in such a meat coma I can't think straight.
What I did was to go to the Sumida River Fireworks Show, and afterwards I ate Shabu Shabu.

Hoards of people waiting for their turn to watch the fireworks.

Kirin City in Ikebukuro!

First time I ate Shabu Shabu!

In total we ate 20 plates of meat. No kidding.

These legs are tired.

Exciting times! After a long time of social withdrawal, I actually went out and met some friends today!
Met up a friend who stopped by Tokyo for a day on her way home to Korea after a very eventfult eurotrip, and in lack of better wording, it was truly delightful to be out and about!
I can't really remember the last time I actually carried a conversation in Japanese, even though I live here. Terrible, I know.


Long time, no purikura!

First time I took purikura without the "bihaku"(beautiful white) setting, I didn't see which level they put it on so I was kind of afraid it would be the level that adds a fake tan, haha.

Fika at Madam Blå

A couple of times when we've gone on day trips to places like Disney or Aquariums, we've transfered at Tokyo station. Almost everytime we walk past this little café called "Madam Blå", but we never had time to find out what it really was, and why it had a swedish-sounding name.

When we went to Disney last week, for once we had time to go get some coffee there!
Turned out it was a Danish/Scandinavian café, with some classic Scandinavian meals!
We didn't have time to actually eat there, but saw in the menu that they had crisp bread, different scandinavian salmon dishes etc. And the coffee they used was Swedish!
On the pricey side though, so I guess I'll resist swedish food until I go back.

Scandinavian kitchen vibes.

Hallelulejah, blogger works again!

The guests left early this morning, and well, during their stay we watched 3 seasons of Friends. But we also went to Disney Sea, which is always awesome! No pictures from that since well, I've posted a bunch of that already since previous visists.


Instead, here's a few things I've bought recently.

Oh man I love these shoes. Shimamuras Sorridere shoes is the BEST. SO comfortable!

Corduroy shorts I've been oogling lately.

Although it's shorts, it's actually autumn shopping. I'm trying to buy some bits and pieces before my return to Sweden since I anticipate winter clothes to be in the stores when I get back. And also because it's easier to find good stuff here, haha.

Kind of messed up with the shorts though, just grabbed the corduroy shorts in what I thought was my ordinary size, but tried on the red ones and realised, I'm a size smaller than before! Of course I forgot to change the corduroy ones for a smaller size..  I like the baggier look on the corduroy ones, tho. 
Was really surprised, seeing how I haven't been dieting or anything. I guess it's because I'm not harrassing my psyche with the scale and the constant "I can't eat this! There's stuff in it!"


Showing just a little bit is my awesome Harry Potter t-shirt, that is awesome enough to get much more space on it's own, in a later post.

Oh my, is that the time?

For a very long time now, I've been on the hunt for a wristwatch. I've been very peculiar about what kind of watch I wanted, so it took it's sweet time.
But tonight I found it when going to the 100yen shop! (I have the habit to look into every shop that displays watches), and alas, it became mine for just 1050yen!
It's not exactly what I wanted, but it's the closest I've found so far! 

Coffee and Wifi

My roomie bought an iPad yesterday, and since we don't have a wireless router we went to a coffeeshop in the neighbour hood to mooch free wifi.
After seeing an iPad in all it's shiny glory I really want one myself! But I'd have a hard time to justify it to myself, maybe if I traveled more..

The outfit for the occassion

Spent the time taking pictures while the roomie pillaged the app store.

Shimamura, you beast.

Went to Takadanobaba today with my friend Malin, for Shimamura and the freshly opened Donki.
I finally got my hands om some collartops! (although the navy one is from a shop in Nakano, and is a dress), a nice airy chiffon skirt(with dots! and pleats! and width!) and the best of all, a flowerprint bag. Been eyeing these kinds of bags for quite a while now, and also wanted a bigger bag. I found one at Shimamura, where it hung high over my reach. Fortunatly Malin is taller than me and she managed to knock it down, along with some dust. How long had it been there?

Over at Donki I found the Diamond nose shadow-set that was released a couple of months ago, seriously, it's been sold out everywhere since! I've looked high and low for it, but finally I found it. Hopefully this long wait is gonna be worth it! 

If you want to see the pieces one by one, check out my pupe!

Scarfy scarves scarf

I have a profound fondness for scarves. However, I barely own any at all, which sucks.
But I had been eyeing one at a local shop for a couple of months, and while waiting for a friend in their cool airconditioned shop I saw it was still there, hidden behind a bunch of other scarves! Destiny I believed, and so I bought it!

Since it's brown, and that k ind of pattern is something that's always in style one way or another, I can't think of it as anything less than an awesome purchase.  (Oh and it's HUGE, so that's why there isn't a picture showing it off completly, I simply don't have room in my apartment to photograph it in all it's glory)