missfrifri

Mummy Eva told me on Skype a couple of weeks before Christmas that my face had started to look a bit like a "Christmas Pig's". And look what me and My Man found in Maxi (the equivalent of Sainsbury's)- being a christmas pig isn't necessarily bad, you can be a "Gris med Möjligheter"- a "Pig with possibilities".

Yes, I know it's wrong and weird but in Sweden we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day. Here's the result of the cooking- efforts that were made for days: I give you the Swedish Christmas Buffé.

I'm trying to teach My Man how to ski, starting with cross- country skiing. He's doing incredibly well considering that it's his first time. However he's just as much a perfectionist as me so he turns into a grumpy 3- year old whenever he falls hehe loooove iiit! Emma keeps laping us in the tracks, even when she's skiing she's wearing some skin- tight lycra outfit. Paris takes her image very seriously.


Anyone who's in the Dahlqvist residence gets caught in Mummy Eva's regime. This is proven by her saying to My Man: "Alex, since you didn't work out yesterday I expect you to work at least twice as hard today." Mummy Eva shows no pardon.

Alex got to borrow his skiis from one of dad's friends who also happens to be a size 50 (!!!) in shoes. He said that he just got a new girlfriend so he has "better things to do than being out in the cold dragging myself around in the forest, if you know what I mean." You might think that we would have taken that as a hint that we should do the same. We didn't.


6,5 km skiing and 1,5 hr gym- it feels so great to have time to take care of myself and work out properly. Plus, it makes you more hungry so you can eat even more. Mmmmm hellooooo christmas sweets.

We're making meatballs out of 3 kg of mince. We'll probably be chilling here for a while.

I'm not really allowed to do any of the fun or difficult stuff since I suck at most things. So I have to peel, chop and fry, mostly. Hm. This is gonna be a loooooong daaaaay. Mummy Eva is running the project and there's no room for objections or changes of schedule. My Man seems a bit shocked by the Dahlqvist family's pace. If he only knew what lies ahead.....

MissFriFri goes up to the information desk at Gothenburg Landvetter Airport.

- Hi, we were wondering...
- Oh, sorry, this window is only half open. I can only take customers through the open window on the other side. [The other window is an arm's length away away.]
- Oh. Right. Maybe we can talk through this window anyway, since it's half open and we're already talking?
- I'm not really supposed to do that.
[...]
- Hm. Perhaps I can close the other window and open this fully.
- That would be great.
[The Helpdesk woman's colleague comes by]
- Oh. Are you taking customers through this window now?
- Yes, she started talking to me through the half- open window.
- But you can only deal with customers through the open window.
- I know. But I closed the other one and now this one is open instead.
[Colleague- woman leaves.]
- We need to get to Jönköping ASAP. What's the quickest way?
- Let me check for you.
[....]
- How strange... The computer isn't really working.
[.....]
- I think perhaps there's something wrong with the internet.
[....]
- Ojojoj.....
[.....]
- Oh ok. There's a bus leaving at 2.35. [Current time is 11.30 and me and My Man have been up for over 24 hours.]
- Are there any buses or trains going from Gothenburg? Perhaps it'd be quicker if we go from there?
- Well, there's a train leaving in 25 mins.
- Ok, can we get in to the station by then?
- Good point. No.
- Ok. Are there any other later trains?
- Yes, these two. (Shows screen.)
- It says that they're sold out?
- Oh... right... I guess that's not so good for you.
- Ok so in that case can I buy two tickets for the 2.35 bus please.
- Oh, you can't buy them from me.
- Ok, so should I buy them on the bus?
- You can, but it will be sold out by then. You should buy them online.
- But I'm here now?
- Mm I know. That's a shame.
- Perhaps you can book them for me since you have it on the screen right there?
- No.


Welcome to Sweden, the country of service minded people that move with the speed of light. OMFG, that was 15 mins of my life that I'm never EVER getting back. Oh, and when I wanted to sit down on a chair at the airport (to sleep since I was starting to go rather insane) the woman next to me just puts her hand on the seat, shakes her head and says "no." I try to explain to her that I need to sit there, but apparently she doesn't feel like sitting next to me. So she keeps holding her hand on the chair seat and staring at me. Why? WHY????

Oh, and by the way- I called my sister so that she could book the bus tickets online. But apparently they were sold out too. Luckily she threw on her leopard- print sweatpants and leopard- print top that match her leopard- print nail manicure (yes, seriously), drove all the way to Gothenburg and picked us up.

You know that you need some time off when:

* You've had spaghetti bolognese and Tacos for 2,5 weeks since there's only mince left in the freezer and there's NO money in your bank account.

* Your hair is flat and boring.

* The loose sweatpants feel like they're getting tighter.

* The last desperate attempts to get some work done before Christmas has resulted in you lying on the floor reading (since your back hurts too much plus you need some variation and "change of scenery").

* You almost fall asleep on said floor.

* Your Man calls and asks how you are. You say your fine. He says "I know you're panicking" and you have to admit to having had a quick cry in the pile of papers on the floor.

* You watch two seasons of The Apprentice UK. You consider changing path in life and perhaps going into the business sphere instead and apply to next year's The Apprentice since most of the contestants seem so lame that you might be able to win. Your Man reminds you that you're not interested in business at all. So you conclude that you have to continue reading the never- ending pile of legal articles.

The 21st of December at 12 I go on my Christmas break. THANK YOU. This hysterical woman needs to get her act together.

Yes. These are supposed to be pancakes. It's more like a..... pile? Oh well, at least "it" (whatever it is) tastes like pankakes.

Those of you who know me, know that I'm hypocondric and can't share waterglasses/ bottles with anyone, almost always have hand desinfectant with me and get VERY nervous if someone has a cold. Therefore, this weekend, I was definitely faced with a dilemma.

Ambitious as we are, me and Aida decided to go to Alison Diduck's inaugural lecture on family law a few days ago. An interesting lecture on a study that she had made on how judicial discourse has changed and developed in the past years in "big money" divorce cases, regarding how money is awarded when the husband has been the "breadwinner" while the wife has given up her job in the traditional work world and instead chosen (alone, together with her husband or perhaps not really chosen at all) to raise the children, take care of the house and not have an income herself. How is that work then valued on divorce? (And in general, you could add...) Alison Diduck is such a powerwoman, looooove it!

Tonight I'm just sort of chillin' and feeling smug. There are very, and then I mean VERY few days during the academic year that I actually feel that I've managed to do the work that I wanted to finish for the day. (Possibly since I seem to be cursed to a way of living where I always put up unreachable goals and am never entirely happy with anything, ever =P) But today, I feel like I did well. I really do. AND I went foodshopping, AND I cleaned my room. OMG. It's a miracle! And I'm writing this down now because I know that this is a very rare moment for me, so in two days I can go back, look at this and think, yes, this really happened.

I even finished the day with going for a powerwalk in Hackney Central. You see, it's almost Christmas which means that it's almost spring term. Which means that exam- prep starts (or well, is SUPPOSED to start) in the end of February/ beginning of March. In other words, that's when I'm gonna start stress- eating like a crazy biatch again. In other words, the plan is to lose some before I gain some, so that by the end of it on balance I'm gonna look like normal. Sounds like a plan? It's basically the same concept as the fight against the law ass that I wrote about a few days ago. And yes, I know that I'm neurotic. But I'm still refusing to accept defeat. What I'm saying is that there must be SOME way of getting through a law year without looking like a 103 year old lady afterwards. So, this year I'm starting my preparations early.

Now: hot chocolate, the Apprentice and VOGUE. I've got completely hooked on The Apprentice by the way. It feels so good to see someone else stress around and taking absolutely HORRIBLE decisions while you relax, shake your head and are completely sure that you'd definitely done a better job. Sort of like watching the HILLS; no one makes me feel as smart as Audrina Patridge. ("I mean, I think that like... If you're together... like... the people should like be, you know... together... like... do you know what I mean?") She pretty much helped me through third year. I really do love her. And Whitney. And Lauren. And all the others.

The girly weekend continued with a Christmas party in Covent Garden at Bettina's, I have to say I quite enjoyed being Sissel's plus 1 ;) A great evening with mulled wine, champagne, christmas food and canapés. And the flat was absolutely amaaazing, very Charlotte York in Sex and the City.

Debs' birthday party on Friday was absolutely fab. Well, Debs texted me during the day and asked whether two bottles of bubbly, three bottles of red and three bottles of white would be enough. (For six people.) I said yes. She then let me know later on that Charles had gone to get two more, just in case. I mean, how could a party like that possibly be bad?

The theme was death by chocolate, a murder mystery, and we were all very serious about our roles. In fact, I'd say that we got better and better the more wine bottles that were opened. As Dame Barbara Carthorse I felt very happy to find a reason to wear a nice dress. (I even let the leopard fake fur jacket come out to play! That's when you know there's a party. More is more, as I always say...) During the evening and as more facts were revealed it turned out that my character, who on a first glance seemed as a posh dame and novelist, wasn't quite so innocent and had had some very suspect affair with the chocolatier who had now been found murdered on some cruise. Very Sunset Beach, I like it.

As usual Debs was a great hostess and had made a three course meal. If it'd been my dinner I'd probably have taken up microwave food orders beforehand. Must get better. There's also supposed to be a picture of the amazing the amazing cupcakes that we had for dessert. But we got excited and ate them all. 

My small laptop is my little baby. And now it's started shutting down suddenly, showing a blue screen that says error and lots of other things that I can't read before it restarts again. I asked My Man if he knew what this was. He said "ooooh, you mean the blue screen of death." Right. "Is that bad?" "Well. I mean... yeah."

I've now started the process of backing up. Which really shouldn't be too bad because I backed all my work up on an external harddrive at the beginning of the summer. After feeling smug for about 3 seconds I realized that I can't actually remember where I put the harddrive. Only MissFriFri can lose her backup. Sometimes I get amazed by my own incompetence. And hate myself with a passion.

Today's goals:
1. FIND the backup.
2. Stop being a complete disorganized idiot.

Today I'm skipping class for some very very hardcore studying from home instead. There'll be no mercy. I WILL get in control of the reading lists from hell. (Not that anyone ever has, or ever will. But you have to try to perhaps get half way? And I guess that's about as close as anyone will get...)

I'm listening to Spice Girls to get energy. Yes, I do that sometimes. I also sing to Britney Spears' Hit me baby one more time.