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.

Loser in Love.

Photo by our lovely new friend Johan Hermansson

On Saturday, I went into Stockholm to attend the annual Blog Awards, prepared to lose.

And I did. Of course. It's not rocket science - I have a tiny blog and noone has a clue who I am, which means that they don't vote for me. But that doesn't make losing any less annoying. Nope.

To make up for the fact that I'm a loooooooooooser, I made sure to have a really, really good time! Amanda and I probably had more fun than everyone else at the party combined, we met terrific people and danced until our feet were so sore and full of blisters we couldn't stand up for another second. (Okay, mine were. Amanda apprently has magic feet and can run around in litas all night without complaining once.)

The dress code was "gala", so I put on a dress that made me feel like I was on my way to one of the Gossip Girl masquerade balls!

Asymmetrical black maxi dress, Love (inlovewithfashion.com). Black belt, Gina Tricot. Black Everest platform boots, Jeffrey Campbell. Lipstick: "Red Revolution" by Maybelline.

(Photos by my sister Amanda.)

Ah, this dress! I will definitely take better photos of it some time when I'm not late for an award show, because the pure awesomeness of it gets a little bit lost in these. I got it from the brand Love and it's one of the most classy yet interesting dresses I've ever owned.

I don't think the photographers at the Blog Awards agreed, though: Amanda and I were the only people who weren't asked to do the (supposedly) mandatory "red carpet" shoot. Since that's one of my least favorite situations ever, I was more than grateful - but it was a weird feeling to realize what a complete nobody I am to these people.

Do I usually consider myself a "somebody"? I do, the way every person should. I do feel like a person who is loved and appreciated for who she is, and I live my life being as caring and decent as I can manage. That should be enough to be a somebody, don't you think?

It's actually quite funny how much my life differs from the sort of lifestyle we got a taste of this Saturday. I work, I take walks, I spend time with Ronnie and the cats, I fix stuff around the house and garden; I do not worry about if my legs look pale or if I'm on the list or if people "know who I am". Events like this one bring back those kinds of thoughts, and I'm not the slightest bit interested in regressing to my awkward, self-conscious teens and early twenties. God, that version of me pretty much sucked. You would not have liked her.

My gorgeous sister Amanda wore a dress from H&M and her JC litas. When I arrived to her (parents) house, the first thing she said was "I'm thinking of cutting off the bottom layer of the skirt to make it sheer, the winner of Project Runway wore a dress like that, do you think I should?".

"Sure", I said, "but please don't cut unintended holes in it five minutes before we're supposed to leave."

As you can see, she didn't, and I really like the see-through result! I love experimenting with clothes and scissors as well, but I usually end up throwing everything away after cutting the poor items into tiny pieces - let's put it like this: you'll never, ever, ever see me on Project Runway.

(Yes, we did want to match eachother. Come on, matching is fun fun fun fun!)

Before entering the club where the after party was held, Amanda and I were actually asked to be in the photos. Only because we happened to arrive with the absolutely fabulous Filippa Berg and Parisa Amiri, but still. We're cool by association! Woohoo! (Photos by Stureplan.se.)

Now I'm off to my second appointment with my new psychologist. Last time we got through not even half of the basic key points of my life story; hopefully we'll get a little bit closer to my current lack of well-being this time. I'm trying not to be too impatient, to really give her a chance to help me. It's just hard.

Hope you're week is splendid so far and that you're much less stressed out than I am. And thank you so much to everyone who voted for me in the Blog Awards - I probably was the runner up, right? ;) Let's pretend!

Because life has been insane, but... today has been okay.

I got to spend this beautiful weekend hanging out with my darling sister Amanda! She's starting art school tomorrow and is terribly nervous - so, I decided that two days in the countryside with long walks, thai food, kitty cuddling and a billion episodes of Freaks and Geeks was exactly what she needed.

We brought the camera with us on our walk this afternoon, and ended up taking an insane amount of photos.

Ripped black jeans, Hudson Jeans. White t-shirt, Lindex. My new, aaaaamaaaazing leather jacket, Sofifi. Black boots, Nilson. Lipstick, "Are you red-dy" by Maybelline.

(Photos by Amanda.)

Believe me - I will be wearing this leather jacket over and over and over 'til you beg me to take it off and wear something else for a change! I've actually never owned a quality leather jacket before, only 50 dollar leather imitation ones from H&M and other budget chains.

The feeling of putting this on is so different from any other, and I can't wrap my head around how warm it is! It reminds me of being a kid, shivering in the cold, having your dad put his jacket over your shoulders and feeling the heat spreading throughout your body. (Not that I know if that ever happened to me. It might only have been in my imagination. Either way, that's what this jacket reminds me of.)

When Amanda came to my house yesterday, she was wearing a silk shirt and a pair of satin shorts - very pretty, but maybe not perfect for long walks in crisp autumn air with the occasional showers. I quickly dressed her up in one of my many ridiculously comfortable outfits - baggy navy pants and black blazer from Monki and a striped sweater from Lindex (the Converse sneakers are her own). Oh, and one of my boyfriend Ronnie's news boy caps to top it off.

(When I told Ronnie I was trying to make Amanda look like someone who lives out in the countryside, he looked at me with eyes brimful of scepticism and asked "have you seen anyone out here wearing an outfit like that?". Uhm, well, at least this is what people out in the country are wearing in my head.)

We befriended two pretty horses and seven million flies.

And the cutest kitten, but he/she ran away when I took out my camera. How could someone so adorable be camera shy? You can't even see how lovely the face is; white, with a big, dark grey nose.

Told you we took a whole bunch of photos! Hopefully you didn't get too bored... We sure had a good time taking all those pictures, it felt almost like you guys were there with us on our walk!

Big Sister Bragging.

Oh wow - one whole day without a single blog post! That's so not like me. In my defence, I just got home after having a pretty great time! And maybe I did enough writing yesterday... phew, that was one long post.

Speaking of that, I can't thank you enough for all of the comments and e-mail I've received concerning The Best Revenge is a Good Life. I was extremely hesitant about uploading it, but all of your support and the fact that so many of you have shared your own experiences with me makes me 100% certain I was right to work up the courage to press that "publish" button.

I simply had to see my sister Amanda today - the whole family (well, except me) are going to Florida tomorrow, and there was no way I'd let her leave without admiring her brand new, bold hairstyle in person. And I must say it looks, if possible, even better in real life that in photos! Amanda asked me to give all of you a gigantic thank you-hug from her for all your wonderful comments - I don't think she's even able to get it into that platinum blonde little head that those incredibly kind words are meant for her.

We walked around looking at the new fall coats and jackets which have started to pop up everywhere, I bought a couple of novels at the book store, and then we sat down at a café to chat about nothing and everything.

I had a shrimp sandwhich. (If you've never tried Scandinavian shrimps, my fondness of eating them on bread with mayo might seem somewhat insane. But the shrimps here are so different from anywhere else in the world, and these sandwhiches are the most delicious things! True story.)

I know, taking photos (and posting them online!) of people eating is rude and mean - but come on, I'm sooo nice to my sister I should be allowed to post a thousand photos of her making awkward faces! Right, Amanda? Right?! Yeah, I thought so.

Here you can take a closer look at my orange juice, my glasses and my scalp. I know you've be yearning for the day when my scalp would be in close-up. Well, here you go! (And since some of you have asked: no, I don't color my hair. I used to, but that's all cut off by now. It's darker on top since that hair has not yet been exposed to as much sun and heat - it gets a little lighter and more red with time.)

Photos of this outfit will be posted, of course - I'm just way too tired to go through them at the moment. It's almost 3am and I have a loooong day ahead of me tomorrow. Actually, a lot of long days.

Oh, and I guess I should tell you: my sister will only be in Florida (where my brother Axel is studying, at University of Tampa) for five days. Then she'll be back here in Stockholm, just in time for her first class. Yes - she nailed her interview and in a little more than a week she'll be going to art school!

I'm not sure what I'm most excited about; the fact that she was accepted at the school of her choice (and was considered skilled enough to skip the basic first year and go straight to the second) as the youngest student in her class, or that she will finally be living in Stockholm again. My family moved to Spain when Amanda was twelve (she's now 18) and I can't stop smiling when I think of having her only an hour away! It's one of the greatest gifts a big sister could ask for.

Sorry if I'm bragging too much about my baby girl, I'm just so darn proud of her! It's not like she would ever brag about herself, and someone's got to tell the world how amazing this little lady is.

SHE DID IT!!! or The New and Improved Miss Amanda.

After seeing the absolutely sensational WILDFOX Swimwear campaign shoot by the Cobrasnake (above, click on the link to see all the awesome photos) last week, and falling in love with the hairstyle of stuuunning Anja Konstantinova, my little sister Amanda decided it was time for a change. A pretty dramatic change, I might add, for a girl who's had the same long, un-dyed locks her enitre life.

She's been obsessing about how much she'd love to cut and bleach her hair for six days straight - it might not sound like a long time, but when I say she's been obsessed I truly mean she been O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D! - and today, she just went and had it done!

When she called me and said "check your Facebook!", I couldn't stop screaming. Seriously! I screamed and screamed for ten minutes straight!

Before:

After:

These are just crappy webcam photos (as you can see), but there was no way I could wait until I see Amanda on Thursday to show you guys the transformation. I mean, how incredibly amazing does this look?! I'm so proud that she actually went through with it, and I just know it's going to do a lot for her confidence and self-esteem. Oh, you think confidence and self-esteem does not come with a hairstyle? Well, my own experiences say that you're mistaken! Of course it doesn't change who you are, but it sure can go a long way.

And just in time, too - my dear sister has an interview for an art school tomorrow, and she really could use a confidence boost. Feeling like a new, improved version of yourself when you go into that room to see the people who will determine your future is not such a bad start!