Fanny’s sister literally run the biggest burlesque club in Sweden, the Fraulein Frauke presents club. We don’t go to many of them (Fanny hung out and worked at every club for the first 13 years in business), but this time we wanted to be there for the Botanical Spring Ball.
The shirt we ordered for Aaron didn’t arrive in time, but he looked FABULOUS in one of my lace, see-through tops (with a shirt on top, of course). SO handsome 😍😜
Before the club, we had Chinese buffet at one of our favourite restaurants in Stockholm: Mandarin City. It was delicious 🤤
Then there was a pre-party with my oldest sister, and my brother + girlfriend. Two bottles of bubbly went down FAST. Then a simple walk to the club from her flat, so, perfect!
The evening started with my sister’s debut as a pop star (yup!). She played the music video for her first single, and then sang and performed her second song live. They were actually awesome (better live than even on YT)!
Proud mother on first row every club without fail 💙
And, of course, in the beginning of every burlesque club is the “house band”, Janne Sjöblom Trio, with my dad on piano. 💚
We absolutely LOVED the host, John Celestus, what a star (and what a voice)! 🤩 (right picture below taken by talented JP Bichard)
There were also some incredible burlesque acts, of course!
There is always a prize for the best dressed guests. Here were the finalists (the giant bugs won in the end):
Such a beautiful venue, Nalen. After all the acts were over (and literally everyone else went home), Aaron and I danced the night away 🥰
In my new and fancy project leader job, I works from home, but “some traveling” is included in the job description. Not too long ago, I was summoned on a business trip down to the city of Jönköping, south of Sweden and 260 km away from where I live.
First train departed at 6.15am, and after three (!) switches to other trains and buses, I arrived in Jönköping after 4 and a half hours. It rained…
I sat for half an hour and perfected the Powerpoint presentation about myself (yup, I had a Powerpoint. The ONLY one that had prepared that…). Then I went passed my hotel and dropped off my bag, then straight for the lunch with my colleagues.
Found this in my book on the train 😍😍😍💖💖💖
After lunch, a day of introducing ourselves to each other, lectures and workshops, we went to check in to the hotel, Elite Hotel – Stora hotellet. Such a lovely hotel on the outside, and this is the inside 🤣:
My room was lovely though, and Aaron 100% would have fit in the bed 😅 Next time, he can come with me ❤
After some freshening up and unpacking, we went to Ciro, a fancy Italian restaurant, for dinner.
If it hadn’t been raining, it would have been amazingly beautiful (well, it was anyway, but even more).
The food was fantastic. First a charcuterie board with some nice delicacies, and then I took a pasta Piemontese (beef, cream, garlic, red wine, rosemary, mushroom, parmesan and parsley). YUM-MIE.
After dinner, I stayed long after everyone else had left with two of the girls, and we had dessert and talked for a long time, super fun! Then the three of us went for a walk around Jönköping (to try and find a shop to buy soda and sweets, admittedly).
After a documentary about the Palme murder (when Sweden’s prime minister was killed in 1986), I went to bed EARLY.
The next morning, I met my two new besties at 7am at the hotel buffet. MAN, it was one of the greatest ones I’ve had! Sooo much food, and a WAFFLE station. I ate way too much, and for way too long.
I was eating for so long that I barely made it for the first seminar (also had to pack up and check out before that, but still). Let’s just say I was not hungry at 10.00am for the “fika” (pastries and coffee) OR the lovely lunch at 11.30.
When the official work was over and everybody had said their goodbye, I still had 2 hours before my train left. So I decided to do as much sightseeing of the city as I could:
You can tell it’s a very old city. It was actually founded in 1284, given city priveleges from Magnus Ladulås, the king of Sweden 1275 – 1290 (and the son of Birger Jarl, the founder of Stockholm). Unfortunately, most of the city burned down in 1612, so the oldest buildings are “only” from that time, but according to Wikipedia, the oldest preserved part of the city is the “Hovrättstorget” (Court square), where my company’s office actually is situated (all the pictures above). So, that’s cool (to a history nerd like myself)! 😋
I walked the same path like during the restaurant night, when it was raining. It was as beautiful as suspected in sunlight.
Then, I stumbled upon Jönköpings Museum, and I decided to spend my last hour in there.
What a great idea! It was marvelous, and SO mixed and diverse. It had everything from history and vikings, to technology, science, eSports and gaming, the women’s movement, the jews situation during WWII and the holocaust, paintings and photographs. Phew!
You needed muuch more than an hour in there, I only scratched the surface now. But I can definitely recommend it, if you are ever in Jönköping.
After the museum, I had to make it to my train, to go home. It was a lovely trip, and I work with some amazing people. Can’t wait to do it again soon ☺️
We recently found out that a restaurant only five minutes from our house has not only opened up with new owners, but also that it has amazing food, is open past 2pm (which it was not with the previous owners, one of the reasons we have had never gone there), and serves alcohol!
We went there a super sunny and warm day, when we wanted to celebrate something anyway (more about that if it happens!), and just went bananas. Starters, drinks, shots, and a fantastic main course. We were the ONLY customers sitting outside. It was soo great ❤
The beautiful view (and funnily enough, the reastaurant is called “The View”):
It’s a bit pricey, but we will DEFINITELY go there again this Summer 🤩
We’ve had som lovely days in Sweden lately, sunny and up to 18-19 degrees. We took advantage of one of those days and inaugurated the grill for the year, and sat out on the porch and ate.
I also took the opportunity to put our two new sun chairs up. Aaron joined me on one of them, they are super comfortable.
I’m so happy we bought a proper BBQ last weekend, so I don’t have to sit on the deck anymore xD
Food was (as always) DELICIOUS ❤
Next BBQ on Thursday, bonfire night (or “Valborg”) in Sweden 😀
We have been talking about it FOREVER. That I should get a PC. We could play so many more games together then, since he is only on his PC now, and his Xbox One S is in the bedroom. Finally, I found a great deal at Webhallen a few weeks ago and got a PC (man, was that heavy to just carry home from Stockholm)!
Same week, we also picked up a really good gaming monitor second hand in Ropsten. Also great for my work, of course, to have two screens. Double the efficiency! Before:
It’s so pretty I loooove it 😇 Now, my setup looks a bit better:
And the plan is for me to start playing Gears on the PC, and co-STREAM with Aaron. Woooop woooop. Here is my baby. It’s working really well so far, super fast and quiet.
And even nicer did it feel when I put up this IKEA shelf we’ve had for a while in a box:
Aaron and I decided to go to my parents’ for Easter. Unfortunately, we were all a bit under the weather, so we only stayed the Saturday and Sunday, but it was still nice.
Easter buffet with lots of nice traditional food and bubbly, YUM!
After food, we looked for our Easter egg (in Sweden, you get one egg filled with candy, we don’t run around looking for multiple eggs, and we don’t do chocolate eggs). Mum and dad got the first clue to my annual Easter hunt. They are STILL stuck… (I have to start making them easier, it’s the same every year). Currently, they are trying to figure out this riddle (where they will find the next puzzle):
I eat without teeth
and breathe without lungs.
I have no voice,
but I can still hear you.
I sleep during the warm months.
I send out what the wind never wants,
but still people want to come close.
We also had time for some card games Saturday night ❤ Dad won, as usual…
On the Easter Sunday, we had a chicken roast, nom nom. It was a nice and chill Easter ❤
We had a lovely day on Aaron’s birthday, in March. I woke him up with heart-shaped grilled sandwiches, then we went to Stockholm for a day of ADVENTURE. Such a handsome birthday boy ❤
We went to the docks by the royal castle and went out in the archipelago on the boat Dalarö.
Sorry for being disgustingly cute, but we had a lot of time to kill before we could embark, and we took some greeat pictures.
The boat is kind of a commuter boat, but we were just there for the view and adventure! We got some beer and wine from the café (and sandwiches).
It was a bit windy, but still very warm in the sun, we were very fortunate with the weather.
We got off on the island Vaxholm, and had three hours before the next boat arrived. Across from that island is the famous old Vaxholm Castle, an old (decommissioned) fortress from 1548. The fortress today houses The Vaxholm Fortress Museum with exhibitions on, among other things, Sweden’s coastal defense over 500 years, life in the fortress in the past, the dungeons, and the preparedness in the archipelago during World War II. They also have bed and breakfast, events and a super nice restaurant. I was there with work at a conference and team building day, and I can’t wait to take Aaron as well (some other time, though).
We were going to eat at the large Waxholms hotel, but then decided on a smaller place, with excellent food. AND, there was a pub quiz we didn’t know about!
I had the chicken club sandwich with chips, and he had the sizzling fajitas. And there were drinks. Lots of drinks.
I also brought a couple of presents for him to open ❤
We had a great time! ❤ Then it was time to go home again on the boat.
We played some cards on the way home.
We kept celebrating when we got home. Presents, cake and GEARS xD
He liked his new viking cup! And his coasters (yes, it was kind of a theme this year).
It was a lovely day, and Aaron was happy with it ❤
We had reason to celebrate at the end of February. Firstly, I have just landed myself my DREAM job. I’m gonna be a project leader for at least a year of creating all the SFI (Swedish for immigrants) courses at our school and sister school, digitalized and done templates. This is what my baby Aaron did for me when I came home after learning about it <3:
We had already planned a celebration cruise because of another reason, it was just perfect timing that it came right before I started my new job (first day on March 1). You see, on February 27, WE PICKED UP OUR KEYS AND MOVED INTO OUR HOUSE. So, we felt it was definitely something to celebrate ❤ We met up after my last day at work, then we had tacos and margaritas, then we took a Finland cruise.
There was a magician onboard. Daniel Kane. His show was good, we especially liked his parrott xD
If you are smart, you bring an HDMI cable and hook up your laptop with movies downloaded, and then you can cuddle with a movie before sleepy time ❤
Breakfast the next day.
On the way home, we had the dinner buffet. Then it was exactly a year ago we moved in, so it seemed fitting. As much food and drink you can devour in 2 hours (beer, wine or cider).
It was amazing (albeit cold) to stand out on deck and look at the sea.
This cruise’s harvest from Tax free (it’s soo much cheaper on the boat than on land) xD
We had a wonderful time, can’t wait for the next one when we can sit out on deck in the sun ❤
We celebrated Valentine’s Day by going up to Stockholm to celebrate my mum’s birthday by going to a restaurant with her and dad.
There was a protest march against the Iranian government right outside our window, and it went on for aaages, like 40 minutes or something, thousands of people. It made the dinner interesting and a bit more political than usual xD
After dinner, we went just one block away to the beautiful old cinema “Scandia“, where my sister was hosting a Burlesque evening and Moulin Rouge singalong. My idea of a PERFECT Valentine’s day activity!
First, we mingled and drank bubbly in the lobby (and admired the architechture).
Then we went and got our seats and drank bubbly inside (no seat numbers, so first come first serve).
Also a very beautiful venue! ❤
The burlesque numbers were great, and the movie was OF COURSE amazing. I’ve seen it about 30 times, and suffice to say, I think I sang the loudest in the room.
