Manatee kid. Source

I would like to tell my roomate that it’s not okay to have the whole apartment smelling like wonderful chocolate muffins when I get back from the gym. Although, I have to admit that she’s the kindest to have put all my disgusting dish in the dishwasher. Thanks, Steph!

I’m sure you all wonder why I haven’t written a word in the blog since Christmas Eve. Well, school shut down internet, my phone disappeared (and it’s not back yet), then there was New Years, and my sweetest friend Katarina from Sweden came to visit for a week, and then she left, and internet remained shut down until sometime yesterday afternoon I think.

Also, I’ve lived more through the characters of the books that I’ve read than I’ve lived my own life. I’ve really enjoyed the reading and relaxing though, I sense I needed it very much. Now, however, I can’t wait for the spring semester to start. My, oh my, it’s going to be the best spring ever! (It’s going to be heard to beat the last one though, with my first semester of the Physical Therapy program at the University of Lund, new friends, tons of costume parties and crazy fun, an ever so amazing dorm, the work with Wake-Up Call and the clothes swop… Man, whatever, that was then, now is now.)

These are the classes I’m going to take for the spring semester:

• Digital Photography (need I say more?)
• Publication Design (everything from layout of magzines and broschures to building websites)
• French (beginners French, finally, and I’m eccited! Je suis excité!)
• Personal Fitness Training (how to build training programs with specific goals, will prepare us for the personal training certification from American College of Sports Medicine)
• Women Mental Health (a Psychology class that I’m longing to take, but as by now I’m only on the reserve list)

Also, there’s a lot of hanging out with the other GRSP students to look forward to, as well as lots of travelling, hopefully.

I dream of going to the following placea, at least:

• New York (USA’s vintage city no. 1, sometime during the spring, just imagine!)
• Puerto Rico (for Spring Break, since we might get hotels for free, but an alternative is Panama City Beach, Florida, ”The Spring Break Capital Of The World”)
• San Fransisco, Las Vegas and San Diego (the Pacific Highway road trip, complete with Grand Canyon and everything, after school’s ended)

That was enough for now, wasn’t it? I mean, you must all be so unused to actually discover something to read here that you’re probably finding yourself overwhelmed by the mere effort, holding your heads in your hands, swaying from one side to the other on your chairs.

I’ll let you all, and my fingers for that matter, rest for a little bit, but I’d like to tell you that I’ll start to write in a new blog really soon. After I chose to invest in a domain with a .se-address, the new blog I created, BeyondVintage.se, was shortly after it’s birth threatened with some unidentified ”legal action” by a big American company, claiming its rights for the name. After some negotation I finally managed to get a little money from the company that demanded the termination of my little blog, so I’m going to invite you to yet another blog as soon as the technical stuff is arranged. It’s going to be called something as snazzy as ”A Vintage Love Affair”. But more about that later, I have to consult with my danish computer guy first.

Later, friends ♥

Photo: AnnHe.com

Mmmmmmmmmmm…! Swedish bulk candy. How I’ve missed it. Thanks mom, dad and brother!

After some gift exchange and lunch with my host mothers sister’s very nice family, I went on Skype to call my family back home. I got to talk to my aunt, wave to my cousins and see their little kids. That was great. After that I talked for a while with my brother and mom and opened the gifts that they had all send me. Unfortunately my aunt’s never reached me, so sad. :(

Have you seen this kind of necklace before? I got it from my cousins and their families. It’s from Edblad and not only pretty cool; with every sold necklace, four trees are planted in East Africa. It’s a great gift to someone who, unlike many people, already has lots.

It’s a Swedish NGO (non-governmental organization) called Vi-skogen, or Vi Agroforestry, that sells these ”tree necklaces” to fight poverty by helping small scale farmers in Lake Victoria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. They are the most affected by the climate change, and the most in need of fuel-wood, timber, and fruits, to improve their livelihood and the environment.

Now I’ve come back from church with my host parents. Me and their son are watching Swamp People on History; a documentary about real rednecks living in Louisiana, hunting aligators. Man, it’s fascinating, and haha… Well, it’s just a bit funny too. I hate to say it- I know it’s their reality, that they’re very good at doing what they do, and that I’d totally suck on it, but you know.  I can’t hear half of what they are saying. Actually, they’ve put subtitles on it. And they speek English. :)

Well, now I’m going to share som Swedish christmas music with my sweet host family (Jul i Folkton of course, christmas carols in folk music style), and help my host mom with the salad for dinner.

So, yesterday was lillejulafton, ”Little Christmas”, haha. That’s what we call the 23rd of December in Sweden, or at least in Skåne, in the southern part where I live. I spend Little Christmas eve with my two pairs of host parents at Ele, a great sushi restaurant out here on the islands.

I tried the Dragon Roll with tempura shrimp, and salmon on the top. Probably my favorite so far, actually. Had I been in Sweden, I’d have gone with mom, dad and brother to visit some of the family on dad’s side. We’d have some hot glögg (spicy wine – check out IKEA‘s blogpost), gingerbread with blue cheese and different kinds of sweets, followed by a delicious, uncristmassy dinner and dessert.

Are you homesick, you might wonder. Nah, is the answer. You know, I love christmas, and of course I’m sad to not be able to spend it with my family, the way it’s always been, but right now I wouldn’t want to be in another place.

I mean, the host family where I’m at is the nicest, and there’s a ton of christmas feeling in the air. And I know that it’s only this year; when I come home, everything will be the same. (I wan’t to bit my tounge sometimes when I say or write that. See, I know that’s not at all too sure, but right now that’s what keeps me rolling so let’s just pretend time stands still in Sweden. ;) )

Christmas Eve is tonight. Right now it’s about 11.30 am, however, and I’m going to see if my host mom would mind some help in the kitchen. We’re having her sister and her two teenage nieces over in a little while.

I’ll talk to you later, and to all you folks back home – God Jul!

I have also started to read a new book, Savannah; the first one in the ”Savannah quartet”, written by Eugenia Price. It’s a historic novel about a rootless, young man that begins his new life in the 1700′s Savannah, Georgia. It’s exiting to read about Broughton Street and Bay Street, Fort Pulaski and other places that I’ve actually been to, and to get the picture of what it looked like in the very birth of the city.

It’s also wonderful to finally feel like I have time to be completely absorbed in a book that is not Motor Control and Learning: Concepts and Applications or Communication Mosaics: An Introduction to the Field of Communication…

Today I was walking over to the post office, and on the way I saw a couple of squirrels chasing each other up and down a tree. Such love birds… There is an incredible amount of squirrels around here.

Sometimes when I’m running in the totally squirrel-invaded woods behind campus I picture myself in a comic book, with all these squirrels surrounding me in the trees and on the ground, running beside me, quickly taking a shortcut through my legs, dingling in the spanish moss above my head, peeking out from behind every tree stem intensively chewing on nuts that they hold between their tiny paws.

Speaking about spanish moss. Here you go, it’s the white-ish, weird thing that hangs from the branches of the trees. Our campus is actually rather pretty, when I’m thinking of it. Also, it is December but sunny and about 27 degrees.  Isn’t that neat?

Now, however, is bed time. Tomorrow I’m going to my primary host family to spend the weekend with them, and with relatives and friends of theirs. It’s going to be nice and relaxing, I hope.

And then, on Monday, I will be a very, very happy Maja. Why? My best friend from Sweden arrives at Savannah airport! Joy to the world!

Night ♥

Can you see that we’ve tried to make it a little christmassy? (I had to open the windows yesterday when I was going to cook chicken and rice; I turned on one of the bad plates on the stove so it started smelling and smoking like crazy.) There are more stuff in bags that we haven’t put up yet, I have to do it today…

I wrote about Habersham Antique Market in the last post. This beautiful, old tin for 6 dollars was the only thing that came home with me from there. After all, I was out christmas shopping for others…

And still, I just had to buy this really cool soap at Nourish, a pretty little boutique with natural and organic bath products at Broughton Street. It smells like vanilla and coffee- my two favorite scents in the world!

Other than that I found lots of material for christmas gifts to be… You’ll see.

The Goodwill thrift store at Sillie Mood Drive is much better than the picked out one on Broughton Street. I found some really neat stuff for my upcoming christmas workshop…

Yesterday after my last class for the semester my friend Maggie picked me up for some christmas shopping!

After a visit to the big Goodwill thrift store at Sallie Mood Drive, the Oglethorp Mall and some stores at Broughton Street we had some coffee at Foxy Loxy Cafe, next to this pretty house. (For all of you who’ve read Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking books- downtown is full of these adorable Villa Villekulla style buldings.)

At Foxy Loxy I was thrilled to spot a St. Lucia banana bread in the counter! (Tuesday was St. Lucia/St. Lucy’s Day in Sweden, and it’s my favourite tradition with lots of candles and beautiful singing- this is what it looks like.) Later we found out that the nice girl behind the counter had Swedish ancestors.

Foxy Loxy have the nicest back yard, but unfortunately it was closed. I just love the architecture downtown Savannah.

After the coffee Maggie took me to a totally mind-blowing place- Habersham Antique Market.

Habersham Antique Market is a huge, huge hall where a bunch of different vendors sell things that they have thrifted from pretty much everywhere. Every vendor’s got his or her own booth that they’ve decorated, so you feel like you’re just walking through different rooms.

I wanted to buy everything for no particular reason other than that they were so pretty. Look at this amazing camera, or the chair it sits on!

Cute, beaded handmade collars from India. I think collars are the next vintage trend…

A birdcage- another hyped vintage gem, and possibly a very old sewing machine (?) next to another unidentifiable item.

Maggie tried on these ancient pair of glasses. At least that’s what I think- when you looked into them the world went all blurry.

Another ”room” with fur-coats, hats and pretty hatboxes.

A Coca Cola bottle stand and an old can.

After an hour-long adventure at the antique market me and Maggie walked around the corner of the block, to check out Maggie’s and her husband’s house. There I found the coolest hair dryer ever.

And a pretty vintage tin containing the cards that they got on their wedding. I just love old, rusty tins. They are so beautiful.

I also found an adorably christmassy little dog named Franklin that were very fond of hands, and licking hands. :)

that was that day, a very good day. What I found I’ll show you in another post!

The assignment was to create a front cover for a piano competition directed towards young artists, using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, custom brushes, frames, layers and opacity…

I created an elegant guy with a bow tie playing a grand piano. ;) Although, I’m afraid that most people I’d show it to over here would think that he’s an old man- it seems like the majority on my school hasn’t really been exposed to the hipster trend a whole lot. (Well not all people, of course, I have spotted a bunch of stylish exceptions of the rule. ;) )

I downloaded the patterns at some real nifty, Royaltyfree webpages that accepted commercial use of their material. It’s got the vintage wallpaper and an old, torn look to it that I made with brushes looking like stains, dirt, and coffe cup marks. Everything is actually computer made. I was thinking of drawing some lines by hand- some contours of the guy and the piano- but in the end I didn’t want to overdo it.

The texts are pieces from two of my favourite poems, and a quote from Marilyn Monroe, whom I’ve always had a fascination for. The quote is just something I read somewhere and memorized- it struck me as a being really honest, yet comforting. I try to think of the words when I’m sad because relationships ended to early, or me and friends grew apart without any reason. Maybe it’s just part of life. Maybe it’s just meant to be. Here’s the quote:

”I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go.
Things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they go right.
You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself,
and sometimes good things fall apart, so that better things can fall together.”
- Marilyn Monroe

Speaking of Marilyn Monroe and wise words- I really have to get hold of the new book Fragments that contains some of her old notes and poems.

The poem covering the body of the piano is Roy Croft’s I Love You from 1952. The first time I read it was in one of my mom’s old poetry books in a shelf in our little library, and I remember thinking that it was terribly long. But I couldn’t stop read it. That was in Swedish. I still think that poetry makes more sense to me when being in Swedish, but now that I googled it and found it in English, it’s a really beautiful version. Actually, I think poetry is best in the language it was created. This is I Love You:

I love you
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.

I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;

I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can’t help
Dimly seeing there,

And for drawing out
Into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find

I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavern
But a temple.

Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.

I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good.
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.

You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.

You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.
- Roy Croft

Do you know one thing that I love with poems? -How the meaning keeps changing as I’m getting older, how I keep understanding more, and how I can reveal more nuances as time and relationships go by.

The second poem is Swedish- Karin Boye’s Ja, visst gör det ont from 1935. I found it too in my mothers book shelves, but it’s rather known so I’ve stumbled over it a couple of times since then. However, for this project I googled and found an English version that worked out pretty well. I’ll type it down for you here, but once again- poetry is really better in the language it was intended to be in. Yes, of course it hurts:

Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking.
Why else would the springtime falter?
Why would all our arbent longing
bind itself in frozen, bitter pallor?
After all, the bud was covered all the winter.
What new thing is it that bursts and wears?
Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking,
hurts for that which grows,
and that which bars.

Yes, it is hard when drops are falling.
Trembling with fear, and heavy hanging,
cleaving to the twig, and swelling, sliding-
weight draws them down, though they go on clinging
Hard to be uncertain, afraid and divided,
hard to feel the depths attract and call,
yet sit fast and merely tremble-
hard to want to stay,
and want to fall.

Then, when things are worst and nothing helps
the tree’s buds break as in rejoicing,
then, when no fear holds back any longer,
down in glitter go the twig’s drops plunging,
forget that thy were frightened by the new,
forget their fear before the flight unfurled-
feel for a second their greatest safety,
rest in that trust
that creates the world.
- Karin Boye

Okay, that was all poetry for a long time, I promise. ;) Now I’ll clean my room, which has been a total mess since before Thanksgiving when I fleed to Los Angeles, and came back again, and landed in the middles of the finals weeks.

It’s been mean, man, but now it’s as close as it can get to O-V-E-R!

♥

Today I’ve got loads of work to do in Photoshop. I have to print my last Computer in Art project tonight and, well, let’s put it this way- I’ve got pieces. And that’s me being very humble.

Mumford & Sons, that I haven’t listened to in ages, will make the perfect company today. Later!