Happy birthday, sweethearts!

I can't believe my babies are growing up so fast! Two years old already - what's that in cat years? Like, fourteen? My gosh. They'll be going off to college before we know it.

Since they have a pretty great life already, it's actually hard to find a way to celebrate their second birthday. They're like, "yeah yeah, the sun is shining and we get to play outside all day, eat our favorite food and then have a complete cuddling frenzy tonight and fall asleep together in a real pile. Our mommy and daddy will hug us, kiss us, play with us and tell us they love us a trillion times. What else is new?!". So adorably spoiled. In this case, I really can't see how that's a bad thing.

Some things just can't wait.

It's past midnight, and I've officially made it through another year. No 27 Club for me. Pheeew! When I went to the grocery store earlier tonight - a three minute drive - I was sure a car would come crashing into me at any second, or that a meteor would fall on my head, or that I'd slip on some wet leaves and break my neck or something just as random and unnecessary. I could even see my mom yelling at the doctors at the hospital; "she can't be dead! It's her birthday, you can't let her die on her birthday!". Yeah, I know, I've been watching way too much Grey's Anatomy. Way, way, way too much. But still, would have been pretty ironic, don't you think?


Anyway, that didn't happen - big yay for that! It's now 1 a.m., and 28 years have passed since I was born. Happy Halloween to all of you, and Happy Birthday to me. Let's wish for 28 more!

Red Lobster and Boots to Match.

Red patent boots, Vagabond. Black leather jacket, Sofifi. Brown leather satchel, Vero Moda. Black velvet tights, Monki. Cropped black sweater, H&M. White lack socks, Lindex. Purple beret, Åhléns. Black high-waisted skirt, Asos.com. Glasses, Chanel. Lipstick, "Are you red-dy" by Maybelline.

(Photos by my baby sis Amanda - thanks, dear!)

On Friday, Ronnie and I drove up to Stockholm to celebrate the birthday of the most important woman in my life - my amazing mother, Liza.

You only turn 49 once, so my mom gathered the family to the feast of all feasts!

We had goat cheese salad...

...pink champagne...

...and lobster. Oh, plus shrimps, and then a ridiculous amount of ice-cream for dessert. All of my favorite things in one night! Can you believe it? Good Lord, I ate until I thought Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake was going to squirt out of my ears!

I hope you like my new red patent boots as much as I do - I'm trying not to shop that much at the moment, but I simply couldn't resist these shiny beauties. I mean, at least they're not high heeled, right? And you can't have too many pairs of comfortable shoes? Right right right? Hmm. Anyway. They're crazy pretty. And so red! And shiny! Did I say that already? I did. But they aaaare.

In six days, my little sister Amanda and I will be dressing up in flowy dresses and platform heels and I'm bringing her as my date to the annual VeckoRevyn Blog Awards gala. I've been nominated a couple of times before but I have yet to win - my Swedish blogs just haven't had enough readers, and on top of that, I feel so pathetic when I'm supposed to beg people to vote for me. I probably still don't have enough readers (this blog is not even four months old!), and I still feel pathetic asking you to vote for me; but, well, I'm also a terribly sore loser. So I am going to ask you to please please pleeeeease vote for me, here! It will only take you ten seconds - you scroll down to the bottom of the page, click "Annika Marklund" and press the big, pink button where it says "Rösta" ("vote" in Swedish).

On Thursday, this blog will be four months old, and we're going to celebrate this occasion with an AWESOME giveaway! I mean truly awesome! Don't miss it, I'm telling you.

Happy Birthday, Darling.

Today is the 26th birthday of my greatest love, my best friend, my soulmate; my darling, dearest Fanny. The most loving, vibrant, bright, beautiful, caring, funny, brilliant person I've ever known.

Or, it would have been.

The next time you have a couple of dollars you feel like you could live without, please use them to save lives. There are tons of cancer research foundations out there that will turn your money into opportunities for mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents, daughters, sons, friends and lovers to keep their most loved ones alive.

There is a fund in Fanny's name at Cancerfonden - I'm not sure if it's possible to donate to this specific one outside of Sweden, and I'm not asking anyone to give a single dime, just to remember that it does happen to us. It's not the kind of nightmare you wake up from. No matter how badly you pray, wish, or hope.

Nearly 8 million people die of cancer every year. World Health Organisation claims that "deaths from cancer worldwide are projected to continue to rise to over 11 million in 2030". Please, please, please, let's do whatever we can to prevent this from happening. When it's too late, it's too late - but there are still millions of lives that can be saved.  

In less than a month, it will be one year since Fanny passed away. I'm not even close to finding a way to live without her. I doubt I ever will. But all I know is that I will keep looking, because what else is there?

Happy birthday, darling. I hope that whever you are, someone will bring you breakfast in bed; a tray packed with wrapped gifts, rooibos tea and a huge piece of delicious cake. I'm so sorry I can't be there. So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry.

I love you endlessly.

(The video at the top of this post is a song that Fanny recorded with some of her dear friends six weeks before she lost the battle against her illness. I hope you'll listen to it. Because she was not only the best person to ever walk this Earth, she was also an amazing singer. And words cannot describe how unfair this life is.)

Celebration and The Perfect Birthday Present.

Last night, the whole family got together to celebrate the most adorable birthday girl ever!

We started by picking Amanda up at the airport - part of her present was to spend the weekend at a huge horse show in southern Sweden. When I started taking photos, of course she was complaining about not having been able to wash her hair or change her clothes before going to the restaurant. Ah, youth sure is wasted on the young! I could wash my hair ten thousand times and not get hair like hers.

We went to this great place right by the water.

I only brought my 50mm lens and couldn't take very good photos of the view, but you get the point - it was pretty!

So, well, this is what happens every time I try to get a decent photo of my family. What's wrong with the traditional stiff smiles and polite posing, huh? ;)

Hey, look! They're almost normal looking! Thanks, guys. Sorry, Mom and Axel - didn't mean to leave you out of focus... but the birthday girl was the most important, I promise you guys will be in focus next time and Amanda and Micke will be all blurry.

Cheers, Beautiful! My goodness, this girl is so stunning. It's an honor to share your dna, sis!

I let Amanda have my glass of Kir Royal, too (well deserved - you only turn 18 once!) - I was driving home later that night and my conscience wouldn't even let me have a celebratory sip. (Please promise me you'll never drink and drive. Or, rather, promise yourself. Please.)

We had a shellfish plateau, to a large part consisting of oysters - which is strange, since it was Amanda's birthday dinner and my stepfather Micke (Axel and Amanda's dad) is the only one in the family who likes them. And he was the one who ordered that particular plateau. Hmmm... I see a pattern here. Busted!

Then we went back to my family's house, to have my mom's delicious chocolate mint cake for dessert.

And mostly because it was time for Amanda's birthday present!

Her smile when she realized what was in the package: PRICELESS!

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOOOOOU!!!!!!!!!"

Yeah, my mom and stepdad were pretty popular at that very moment...

To be completely honest, I know absolutely nothing about bags (except if I think they're cute or not). But apparently this is a Mulberry Alexa and my sister has been dreaming about it for quite some time now. (I thought I recognized it, though, and on my way home I realized that it's because my sensational blogger colleague Sandra of Niotillfem has the same one, but in navy.) And I'll admit, it is absolutely incredibly beautiful.

The most beautiful thing of all, though, was how excited Amanda got! I'm sure she'll hate this photo, but I love it so much when you can see that someone has the biggest smile on her face - not because she wants to look pretty for the camera, but because she's genuinely happy.

Not only is she tall enough to reach what's on top of any shelf - she's old enough to vote!

My beloved baby sister Amanda turns 18 today (or, techinally, yesterday - why can't I ever think of doing date-related things before midnight?!), and I could never find the words to explain how proud I am of the woman she's becoming.

Finaste lillasyster, I hope you had an amazing birthday at the horse show! We'll celebrate when you get back, okay? I love you.