This week

My life abroad is pretty relaxed right now, and the fun has been gaining a nice momentum with the new friends I recently made. However, sometimes I slip back to my life in Arizona and just inquired about renting a cottage at my friend's ranch when I return home in November. This may seem a little exaggerated, but my stomach is literally aching from enthusiasm. As you have already know, I dream and write about horses like a young girl and I'm a huge natural horsemanship fan, and so this is an opportunity to grow myself further in a free-spirited lifestyle. Keep your fingers crossed for me that her and I can work something out...

Back to Stockholm: I had fika with Anna. Fika is both a Swedish verb and noun that basically implies "drinking coffee" usually accompanied by something sweet. Walking down the middle of Drottninggatan on a slope we decided to try Kafé Esaisa (would have been easy to miss). And it was one of those hallelujah moments! The guy making the coffee put so much effort and love into our cups. My latté looked fantastic, it tasted fantastic and I fell in love with the place. They also had a nice selection of sweets, which I tried a cannelet, a very tiny French pastry with a tender sponge-like dough center and a dark, thick caramelized crust! and a soft boiled egg. Patrons at the outside tables had light lunches that looked like they are made with the same love.

Anna went on an errand and I continued to walk around window shopping, then finally stopping in at a Myrorna, a chain of second hand stores with clothes, dishes, housewares, you name it. Down the street, I met another gal in a design shop that her and her husband owned, and we chatted for about an hour (Swedes are so friendly) before having lunch at The Grand India, which is a great place for vegetarians, vegans and even meat eaters. The place smelled unbelievably good and that sold me. I had a simple, economic Cesar salad which had large pieces of curry chicken and the best dressing. Before getting back on the metro for home, I went to an up-scale gourmet market, Cajsa Warg, where I bought some carefully selected groceries, which included tonkabönor,(a forbidden vanilla bean) and muskotblomma (orange dried flower blooms from nutmeg), both are for the raw spa treats I'm been making in my kitchen.

Backing up a little bit: This past weekend I went to an event called, Konst Ringen, which consisted of artists and craftsmen on exhibition around the Mälaren Islands, an area which stretches to the west and slightly south of Bromma. I picked up a brochure that had a little map in it showing 21 different artist locations, all with ties to the islands. I only made it by bike to two of the stops which had cermanics (Raku), silver smithing & beaded jewelry and at the last one more Raku along with gorgeous knitted accessories. Then on Tuesday I went back by bike to the "royal" island Lovö to visit Drottningholms Palace and Kina Palace with more of a focus on the building details and wonderful box ivy gardens and took a good handful of pictures.

Sweet dreams, everyone, as the time follows I hope a beam of sun in the right location relaxes you too.

Love, Sharon