So she's back – attacking slowly across Stockholm

Nerd Girl is back after a year of re-adjusting herself to a new country, a new city and a new life. Thus now with a different battlefield to attack: the ever so perfect Stockholm.

Located in an amazing scenery of water and islands this city is special. It has a buzz that is completely unique and I feel privileged to live here right now. I was smitten with this city from the beginning - but especially in the summer time Stockholm aweakes like a sleeping beauty from a dark and very cold winter.

The first thing I want to share with you is this very old video of busses driving around Stockholm to the music of 'Sakta vi gå genom stan' song by beautiful Monica Zetterlund.



Imagine yourself walking home through the city one summer night. Up here in the northern Scandinavia we have very, very light summer night. Nights when the sun comes up at 2 in the morning - just when you are on your way home from a party.

Going over to the other side

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. but there's been some pretty big changes in my personal life lately: Nerd Girl is leaving her beloved Copenhagen. I leaving pretty much everyone I know and love and starting all over on the other side. The other side being Stockholm, Sweden.

Fate has decided that it's time for me to have some adventure and try out a new city, so that's why I've been a bit absent this last month.

So Nerd Girl will from now on be writing to you from the other cool Scandinavian capital and as I'm totally new in town I'm looking forward to exploring a new territory.

Finally Chanel

I finally got to see Coco avant Chanel. Denmark must be the last country on earth where this movie premiered and for that reason the expectations have been building up for far too long.
I thought it was a beautiful and stylish film, but the story didn’t really interest me. Apart from some amazing photography and beautiful colours the story was thin. I mean it was about Coco before the glamour life of her fashion empire, but all we saw was her love life and only a few glimpses of her actual fashion talent. The reason I wanted to learn about Coco Chanel was not to see a story of her failed love interests, but to understand how she became such an influence for fashion designer in the years to come.

Yes, we saw how she had an eye for original style and how she picked up inspiration from men’s wardrobe and working men’s materials. But where did her skills come from? I mean it seemed like she was just born with it and learned to sew a bit and suddenly puff she had her own shop and went on to stardom.

But I guess that’s what the movie business will show of her life – even though I had thought that as it was a French film it would have had more emphasis on her artistic features than on a love story.

Nerd Girl wishes you a happy new year

Resolutions for 2010:

Read more:

Poetry.  For some reason I tend to forget the amazing pleasure poetry can give you. I read novels and magazines, but the intensity and simplicity just isn’t there.  So 2010 will be a year of intense feelings and short sentences. So far on the shelf for 2010: Naja Maria Aidt: 'Alting blinker'. 

Wear more:

High heels.  Sneakers are still my preferred type of footwear, which is a shame as I love girls in heels and actually own quite a few lovely pairs of high heeled shoes. So Nerd Girl will do her best to walk and talk in heels in 2010.

Eat more:

Cake. Of course! You can never eat too much of really well-made, delicious cake. Small patisseries are popping up all over Copenhagen at the moment and I think 2010 is the year to visit them all.

See you in 2010!

Lets eat the tree

I love Christmas cookies and I love to bake them. This year I got some new cutters to add to my rather modest and very old collection of Christmas cookie cutters. The cookies I’ve baked this year are simple Danish butter cookies and I’ve baked them both for eating and to use on my Christmas tree as decorations.

I inherited my glass Christmas ornaments from my grand mothers. And I really love them and take extreme care that nothing happens to them. They are my most cherished items, I guess because they are so fragile, old and rare.

It is an old Danish tradition to put Danish flags on the Christmas tree - I think that there are paintings of some of the earliest Danish Christmas trees in about the1850s with Danish flags on and I have no idea why. – From my point of view there is absolutely no patriotism or nationalism involved. I guess it's the same with the way we use our flag for birthdays and other celebrations.

Hopenhagen: the place to be this December

Copenhagen is a crazy place to live at the moment. The trafic is totally changed and a lot of the large roads are blocked. All because of - of course - COP15. One of the most special places in the city right now is the City Hall Square where a whole new city has emerged for the climate summit. It's 'Hopenhagen live' a city within the city where the peoples climate activities are taking place. Lots of things are going on - concerts, small special events and you can read all

about it all here: Hopenhagen live.

In all the small green houses there are all sorts of things going on for example environmentally friendly x-mas decorations and you can buy the special Henrik Vibskov 'climate-fashion' scarf and hat to keep you warm in this cold winter.

Advent: to stay and to go

Christmas is my favorite time of year, especially because of the traditions and the candles. Advent is the four Sundays before the 24^th and the Advent wreath with four candles are very popular here as a way of counting down the dark days until the light returns to the sky. Originally it might have been a Christian thing, but for me it mostly a was of have some candles and light to fight the darkness.

This Sunday is the third Sunday before Christmas and so there are two candles lit. My Advent wreath is very old. It used to belong to my Grandmother and I guess it's from the 1940s or 50s. It is made of iron and has room for clementines decorated with cloves. It always makes my apartment smell like Christmas.

This year I found another type of Advent wreath. - A more modern version than mine. This is a ‘take-away’ Advent wreath in a handy little box, so you can put it in your purse and take it to your friends when you go visit.

So while your candles are burning and you're enjoying some delicious Christmas cake and tea what better time than to send your friends and family a vintage design Christmas card. I found these beautiful ones at End of the Day Crafting on Etsy.