"You're in. You can leave the runway."

High-waisted grey pants, Johanna Vikman. Black sleeveless sheer blouse and white lace bra, Monki. Red zipper wedges, Nelly.

(Photos by me.)

I have about six hundred and eighty-three things to do today, before I go and pick up our friends David and Emma at the train station in... five and a half hours. So for once, I won't bore you with details about how much I like these pants but how I can never get them to look as good in photos as they do in real life, how ugly I think these wedges are but how they also somehow manage to be sort of awesome, or how - oh, right. Not bore you. 683 things to do. I should get to it.

So I'm just going to say: This is what I wore to work yesterday (and by work I mean I was hanging out in my beautiful office, trying to get things done - that reminds me, I should show you what the office looks like now that it's all furnished!). I was especially happy with the hair. Thought it looked a little catwalk-esque (you know what I mean, don't you?), and the bun actually stayed in place all day, even though it was only held up by a couple of bobby pins.

I hope you're all having a terrific Friday, and I'll talk to you again soon - we have another giveaway coming up...

PS. The title has nothing to do with the post, I know. I've just been watching way too much Project Runway lately. DS.

THE Coat.

Black dress from LOVE, grey and black ribbed over knee socks from Asos, dark brown wedges from Nelly and black coat from Monki.

(Photos by me.)

You've already seen this outfit, but I wanted to show you my favorite coat! I got in on sale at Monki last fall, paid practically nothing, and I'm very certain I'll be wearing this for years and years. It's the perfect length, and I adore the simplicity and elegance of the shape. Really, it's not very often that I find an item that just feels so much like me - if I had to choose one single piece of clothing that would represent my style, it definitely would not be an easy pick, but this coat is a very likely candidate.


Oh, and we do have a winner of the LOVE giveaway! I hope you know I wish you could all get the dress of your choice sent home, but random.org decided that the lucky lady this time should be Kat. Congratulations, dear - the LOVE Garden Print Maxi Dress is yours! And to the rest of you - the giveaways will just keep on coming...

My Favorite Girls.

Hmmm... I'm wondering if Amanda needs to borrow money or something. Why else would she flatter her big sister with this beautiful drawing? Huh?

(Well, baby, I don't really have a lot of money at the moment - what a surprise, right - but you can borrow all the clothes you want! And thank you for the portrait - it's amazing.)

You know, I'm one lucky girl. I don't just have one wonderful sister, but two. And it looks like I'll be celebrating Christmas this year with both of them! This might not sound like a big deal at all to you, but for me, it's huge. Wendi (who lives with our dad in Los Angeles) has only been to Sweden once before, last summer, and I can't wait to show her our dark, freezing cold and yet quite spectacular Swedish winter! Just the thought of spending the holidays with both my favorite girls... it's a pure blessing.

With Amanda, three years ago...

...and with Wendi, seven (!) years ago.

A Tuesday Update.

After driving for an hour with the most annoying period cramps, I'm now sitting in my parked car, waiting to see my psychologist. This will be our third appointment and today we're supposed to discuss how to move forward - what kind of therapy she thinks I would be best suited for (if any), I guess. Since I've only seen her twice so far, I don't feel like I've opened up yet - I've tried, but really, she's still a stranger. And sharing your most secret thoughts with a complete stranger is not a piece of cake for me. Seriously, if she would have read every post in this blog, she would know more about me than she does right now. I'm not saying this is bad, I'm just not sure how she could make a decision about our, ehmm, "future together" when her knowledge of me and my situation is still on such a basic level. But then again... I guess that's part of her job. And she definitely seems to know what she's doing.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and let you know that I'm alive and (somewhat) well. Nothing new. I hope you're all fine and excited for this last week of September. Not sure why you should be, but I do hope that you are!

Love,
Annika

"Warning: This movie can lead to severe headaches, caused by excessive crying."

Wow. I really need to start looking into what movies I watch before I press play.

While scrolling through our "video on demand"-list, I've noticed this Natalie Portman film that I've never heard about, thinking I'll watch it one of those grey days when getting up from the couch seems impossible. The title is "The Other Woman", and the short summary says: "On Manhattan, twenty-two year old Emilia Greenleaf - a lawyer and Harvard graduate - is in love with her boss Jack Woolf, and they're having an affair. Jack's marriage is a sham but his son, William, is his proud and joy. Emilia soon discovers she's pregnant, and Jack gets divorced... (press 'info' for more information.)"

I didn't press "info" for more information. I settled for this oh-so-captivating and well written description (har har har) and went for it, since today without question is one of those grey days I was saving this movie for. I figured, hey - Natalie Portman is one of my favorite actresses, I'll get to watch her prance around Manhattan being the other woman, she's going to get pregnant, what's not to like?

Sure, now that I've watched it, I did press "info" for more information and okay, it's all right there. Loud all clear. Not that it matters, it's too late now; I've already cried my eyes out for two hours straight, my head is pounding the way it does when you're all out of tears, and getting up from the couch seems even more impossible than it did before I started to watch this saddest of sad movies.

THEY SHOULD PUT A WARNING LABEL ON MOVIES AS SAD AS THIS ONE! You shouldn't have to press for more info! Honestly, I think it's disrespectful to people like me to just fill a movie with unbearable sadness and not warn us properly!

Like when I was on the plane to Los Angeles in October last year, only days after we buried my best friend. Exhausted and too terrified of flying to be able to get any sleep, I chose to watch a film that seemed to be exactly what I was looking for: Miley Cyrus playing a rebellious teenage girl who spends the summer at her father's beach house, meets her first love bla bla bla. No "press for more info". Let me tell you, not a word about the fact that the whole darn movie is going to be about how this girl has to watch her father die from cancer. Of course they didn't mention that part, of course not! It's a twist, a surprise, yay! Everyone loves surprises, right? I mean, I know I do! I just love me a cancer surprise!

Oh, I could have stopped watching? That's true. Except that no, I couldn't. Because a part of me was hoping, desperately, that her dad would fight the disease and that the ending scene would not take place at his funeral. Or maybe I'm simply an emotional masochist. That's actually very likely.

Separating facts from fiction is something I've never been particularly good at. Actually, I suck at it. Well, not intellectually - of course I know what's fiction and what's reality - but emotionally. One of my most vivid childhood memories is watching "My Girl" - Macaulay Culkin dies of a bee sting, it's devastating, I'll tell you - and then crying for hours and hours. I remember it so clearly because my mom finally sat down next to me on the bed and told me, very gently, that it was time to stop crying. That this reaction would be natural if, say, she would die - but not when the deceased is a character in a movie. And she didn't have to say it, I just felt it, I knew: she was worried about me, about how I would handle going through life with all of its hardships, when I was this upset about a stupid film. And honestly, I was, too. I still am. When my heart breaks from reading a book or a magazine article, watching a film or a tv-series, how am I supposed to survive the real tragedies in my life? I simply don't know.

Anyway. I am now warning you: "The Other Woman" with Natalie Portman is really, really good but really, really sad! Be prepared. Just saying.

Bedazzled.

Embellished low back dress, LOVE. Grey and black over knee socks, Asos.com. Brown wedges, Nelly.com.

(Photos by me.)

I usually prefer wearing dresses that leave a lot more to the imagination, but when I found this dress on the LOVE website, it was just obvious that I'm supposed to own it. I think the low-cut back is ridiculously pretty, and all the embellished details are perfect for someone like me, who isn't a big fan of accessories (to say the least). Now the dress is accessorizing for me!

Since I got the dress online, I was a bit worried that it might not fit me all that well - I find that these tight little numbers are very often too tight over the hips, and if they're not, they're too loose around the waist. But this time, I got lucky: the dress turned out to be a tiny bit too tight over the hips and a tiny bit too loose around the waist - I can most certainly live with that! (Oh, and when I say "hips", of course I mean "hips and ass". Bum, butt, bottom, booty! I do have one of those.)

Well, I be honest with you guys: I didn't wear this out last night, so noone got to see me in all my sassy bootyliciousness.  I mean, I would have worn it out, if I had gone out. But I didn't. I stayed home and overdosed on chocolate and old Project Runway episodes, tried to get rid of my (chocolate-induced?) headache and played with the pretty, pretty katz. Did I at least wear this fancy dress while doing this? Ummm... let's say I did. (Or maybe that's just sad. Either way.)

Anyway - sometimes I like trying on an outfit so that next time I'm actually going out, I know what to throw on and don't have to think about it.

This particular outfit looked especially smahing (if I may say so myself) with my favorite coat, but I didn't want you to have to look at a thousand photos in the same post, so we're saving those for later.

If you'd like to take on the night in this dress - or any other gorgeous dress from LOVE - there's still time to enter the LOVE giveaway!

Bye Bye Birdie?

Nature sure is cruel. This pretty birdie was given wings, it could fly anywhere in the world it wants to go - but it's also stuck a brain with so little sense of orientation that it can't even find its way out of a room with no less than two wide open doors.

Biianka doesn't think this is cruel at all. She thinks it's awesome. Because she happens to find the taste of birds deeee-lish, and she especially appreciates when dinner practically comes flying straight into her mouth.

(Luckily, this all ended well for our little friend the bird. Biianka chased it, making the poor thing bump into window after window, until it finally - thank goodness - came across one of the open doors and flew outside. And Bii might be able to jump really high, but as we all know: for birds, the sky is the limit.)

Well-behaved women rarely make history.

Cropped white t-shirt, "Well-behaved women rarely make history", Avanna. Black sequin pants, H&M. Burgundy beret, Åhléns. Black and white studded brogues, Nelly.com.

(Photos by me.)

I feel like there has been an awful lot of writing and not that many actual outfit posts on this blog lately. To be honest, that's more a fact than a feeling. The explanation is quite simple: I haven't been feeling so great. And I'd never, ever force myself to put on an outfit and take photos just for the sake of it - if I'm not in the mood, and feel like walking around in the same knitted sweater and chinos for five days straight, that has to be okay, too. Blog or no blog. (This spectacular five day outfit was captured in photos when my darling friend Anna was here - careful, I might show it to you!)

Another thing that makes outfit photos less likely when I'm sad, worried and stressed out is that my complexion seems weirdly connected to my well-being. Simply put: when my life sucks, my skin sucks. As soon as I start feeling really low, my face breaks out in something in between zits and flesh wounds. My face hurts constantly and the minute one sore starts to heal, I get ten more. Except for the constant throbbing pain in my skin, it's allright - I don't mind looking like I have the chicken pox, and my boyfriend claims he doesn't even notice it - but outfit photos, that's another thing. Call me superficial, but this condition isn't really something I'm excited to photograph and flaunt online.

But these last few days, I've done my very best to relaxe and be kind to myself, and the different is quite remarkable - inside and out. I do feel a lot better, and I even managed to drag out the old camera and tripod! The result, you can see above: the weirdest and most awesome pants I own, my favorite brogues and a cropped Avanna t-shirt with a message that we all need to be reminded of from time to time.

"Well-behaved women rarely make history". More often than not, I wish I was a lot less concerned with being, well, well-behaved. Not that manners are not important - but I do spend an awful lot of time an energy trying to behave and act the way people expect me to, instead of doing what I really want.

Though I think I'm getting gradually better at respecting my own true feelings and wishes, realizing that in the end, I'm the one who has to live with my choices and decisions. I might not ever come close to making any sort of history, but I am getting closer to creating the kind of life I wish to live.

Did you give the world some LOVE today, baby?

Did you love the dress I wore to the Blog Awards on Saturday? I know I do - and now it's time to spread the LOVE!

I'm happy to announce that the amazing brand LOVE is sponsoring this giveaway, where the lucky winner gets to pick out any dress of her choice at their website, www.inlovewithfashion.com!

To enter, all you have to do is this:


1) Make sure you're following According to Annika on either google friend connect or Bloglovin' (or both, if you're extra awesome!)...
2) ...like According to Annika on Facebook...
3) ...like LOVE on Facebook...
4) ...and let me know in the comments - with a link - which LOVE dress from their website is your absolute favorite!


Just like last time, you get extra entries when you tell your friends about this giveaway through Facebook, twitter or your blog.


(Be sure to submit your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you win!)


Let's do this!

The winner of this giveaway is Kat - congratulations! 

About Embracing Your Curves.

A new issue of the Swedish fashion magazine Sofis mode came out in stores yesterday. Nothing remarkable about that. Except that inside it, you can find my very last column. Well, my last column in this particular magazine, that is.

Three years have gone by since I wrote my first one in Sofis mode; it looked something like this:

For three years, these columns were such a big part of my life. I have written hundreds, about every subject you can think of. I will admit that it feels a little bit sad - the same kind of sadness that you can feel when graduating from high school, or ending a long relationship that you know you're ready to move away from. You know it's time to move on, forward, onto something new and different; yet you can't deny it hurts to let go.

But I'm so glad that the new columnist is no other than my blogger colleague and dear friend Sandra Beijer of the blog NioTillFem! Back in July, when I had finally decided it was time for me to leave Sofis mode, I was hanging out with Sandra in Brooklyn - and there and then, I just knew she was the perfect replacement. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that my boss agrees with me, and that Sandra is now hired to take over!

In this particular issue, you can also find my feature of one of the most admirable, talented and beautiful young women I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. There is no doubt in my mind that Rosalind Jana of Clothes, Cameras and Coffee will be a household name in ten years, and I can't wait to see what will become of her. Who knows - maybe the next J.K. Rowling?

Rosalind naturally wished to read a translation of her story before it was shipped off to print, so since I already have an English version of her feature, I figured I'd share it with you!



Rosalind Jana was fifteen years old and certainly had nothing to complain about. Her fashion- and photography blog was both popular and well respected, she was working as a model and dreamed of a career in fashion design.

Only one cloud on an otherwise so bright sky. And it was nothing to worry about, really. The doctor had told her she should live with her disease, and so she did - her long hair and carefully selected clothing were quite effective as camouflage, you could hardly tell anything was even wrong. Right?

But Rosalind Jana's parents couldn't help noticing what she herself refused to see. In October last year, they asked another consultant for a second opinion. With her spine now bent at an eighty degree angle, there was no more talk about "living with it". Rosalind Jana needed surgery for her severe scoliosis, and she needed it now. How did next week sound?

A year later, life is back to normal. Yet so different.

The modelling career and designer dreams have stepped back to give room to a new - or, rather, rediscovered - passion: the art of writing.

- Undergoing surgery turned out to be a catalyst for change, as it made me re-evaluate my aspirations for the future. I started writing extensively for myself about what I had been through, and came to the conclusion that writing was something that I was both passionate about and willing to work at. It reminded me how much I love words!

And the love was far from unrequited. Quite the opposite, actually. Rosalind Jana recently found out she's been selected as the winner of the UK Vogue annual talent contest for writers under 25 - one of the country's most preeminently prestigious writing awards.

- Through this whole experience, I have learnt to be as open as possible to changes, and let go of fixed ideas about outcomes. I couldn’t possibly have predicted how much I would come to love my scoliosis! It has taught me to be grateful for all sorts of tiny achievements, and it's made me feel even more that life is not for wasting. I’m not perfectly straight even now – I still have a twenty-two degree curvature and a slightly skewed shoulder – but hey, I’m doing what the magazines suggest: I'm embracing my curves!


Visit Rosalind's blog here.

...oh, and the Sofifi parka giveaway is now over - the winner is miss Mariel Torres! Congrats, Mariel - I hope you'll love yours as much as I do mine. To the rest of you: New giveaway will be announced tomorrow!