Off to a Very Exciting Place

After the heat wave last weekend, autumn is finally here. The weather has been grey and rainy for days and days, and I’ve had little motivation to go outside this weekend. Which meant that I once again missed the mingling event at the Ambassador’s residence with the Swedish delegation to the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings, but it just wasn’t tempting enough to leave my warm and comfortable apartment!) I’ve been trying to hold on to this summer’s flavor by portioning out the jar of coffee from Café du Monde that I bought when I was with Jonas in New Orleans, but I think it’s time for me to face the fact and full embrace fall. Hence, apple muffin baking and tea shopping is on the agenda today. I should also get used to the cold since on Friday, I’m off to a much colder destination, namely Mongolia! The capital, Ulaanbaatar is allegedly one of the coldest capital in the world, so although it isn’t exactly winter yet, it’s already far below 0 Celsius at night. Fortunately, as I grew up in Sweden, at least I know how to pack for two weeks in cold climate. For some of my colleagues from the Southern hemisphere, this trip will definitely be more of a challenge in this regard. But immensely exciting, nevertheless – truly a once in a lifetime journey!

A Great Ad for an American Fast Food Chain

A friend of mine sent me this video the other day. It’s an add for Chipotle, a Mexican-style fast food chain here in the U.S. that serves food made from sustainably produced ingredients, including locally and organically produced meat and vegetables, etc. The ad is really good, though sadly enough, I think the first part on industrialized meat production provides a more accurate picture of the food industry than the second part with a small-scale farmer does of Chipotle’s supply chains. Nevertheless, kudos to anyone in the industry who tries to develop alternative, more sustainable models.

Malala

Malala was at the World Bank yesterday, discussing education for girls, her experience in Swat, and everything that happened to her over the past year. Admittedly, I could barely keep my tears back when listening to her talk – she is such an amazing person with so much commitment. A true inspiration and a good reminder of how lucky many of us are. I wish we were all more like her!

When Malala was shot about a year back, I posted part of the New York Times documentary about her and her father. If you haven’t watched it, I can really recommend it – it’s so touching and yet so inspiring. (There is a longer version available on YouTube.)

Shoes Off for an Evening

I got an e-mail from my dance studio this afternoon saying that it was closed for repairs this evening. So instead of sweating in my favorite ballet class tonight, I ended up having a relaxing evening at home in front of the tv. Quite nice, actually. Indian summer is definitely over now and it was cool outside when I left the office. So a perfect evening to stay in with a cup of tea. And there is always class tomorrow!

Indian Sunmer Weekend

We had Indian Summer in Washington DC this weekend and since I wasn’t entirely ready for fall, I enjoyed every minute of it. It wasn’t Indian Summer by definition (aparently, a frost should have struck prior to the heat wave for it to be real Indian Summer), but it was around 30 centigrades for three days and I wore my favorite summer dress for what was probably the last time this year. The DC:ites complained, of course, and turned up the air conditioning, but I stayed out as much as possible in the sun.

My time in the sun was, of course, in the company of a book and I can recommend this one. It’s called Expats, by Chris Pavone and I picked it up in a book store at Frankfurt Airport without ever having heard about it. Expats about an American couple (he a programmer, she former CIA) that moves from Washington DC to Luxembourg, where they meet another couple who aren’t who they say they are. And so the story takes off. The plot is quite captivating, but the best part is definitely the description of European capitals, today’s Europeans in the borderless EU, and the expat environment. It’s evident that Pavone is highly familiar with the environments that he depicts in the book. For me, who’s been moving around in these environments for the past 15 years, the book was very entertaining, but I think it would be a fun story for anyone to read. If nothing else, it gives a good insight into everyday life of international professionals on temporary work permits.

Sunday Shopping at the Farmers’ Market

As I wrote yesterday, I’m trying to get into some new routines. Or habits, rather. A good thing with habits is that they are kind of effortless, or at least less of an effort than random chores or tasks. Habits become things you just do without really thinking about it, which allows energy to focus on my interesting things. According to getting things done-guru David Allen, it takes about two years to really make something a habit, so I don’t expect things to fall into place immediately. However, I have established some basic weelend routines these past two and a half years that by now have become habits, and that certainly have made my life easier. So I thought it was time for a few new and one is to go to Dupont Circle’s Farmers’ Market on Sundays. I know it doesn’t seem to be much of a chore, and really, it isn’t. But just as with everything else, it takes time and it’s outside my regular Sunday route. I also used to have a dance class on Sunday mornings, and I never managed to get to the market and back before 10 am when I had to leave for the class. (I’m quite happy that I’ve managed to be dressed and had breakfast by 10 am on Sundays!) But after the summer, the class was moved to noon, so there is no excuse anymore. And, admittedly, it’s a very pleasant routine. It’s so much more inspiring to do grocery shopping at an open market and in direct contact with the producers! And even though our farmers’ market is supposedly the most expensive in the metropolitan area, I still pay less than at Whole Foods for most fruits and vegetables, and even my eggs today. This morning, I was up really early and I therefore also had time for breakfast at the cafe next to the market. Having done this for a few weeks now, I can conclude that Sunday breakfast at a cafe and shopping at the farmers’ market won’t be too difficult to make into a habit!

A Great Weekend Followed by An Ordinary Month

Sorry for not dedicating time to update my blog lately! It’s not because of lack of inspiration, nor because I don’t have anything to write about; I have just been very busy lately. As always after summer and vacation, I came back to work filled with energy and inspiration, and I decided to seize the moment and get into new routines. These included allocating time for writing and for additional dance classes in my weekly schedule, and with 10 hours a day in the office, I just haven’t gotten around to write blog posts these past weeks. I will try to do better!

Except for allocating more time for dancing and writing, one of my goals for this fall is to travel more during weekends. I already wrote about my lovely and very lazy weekend in Ocean City, which was a result of this idea. The weekend after was Labor Day weekend, which meant Monday off for everyone except today’s real laborer (i.e. those in retail, food service, and maintenance workers). So I got on a bus Friday afternoon and went up to New York for three days. It’s not exactly a secret how much I love New York, and I had a great stay as always. Since Ms. Jenny and Elisa have both left the city, I don’t have any really close friends in New York anymore, so in order to not test the patience of my remaining friends there (I already stayed at their place back in March) I got a room at an inn in Chelsea instead. Convenient for the price and perfectly located in the middle of Manhattan and by the L train out to Williamsburg, where I spent every evening doing dinners and going out with my friends (ate at Diner for the first time – can recommend it!). During the days, I did what I always do in New York: spent a lot of time just walking around, sitting in parks, browsing bookstores, and going museums (we spent an afternoon at the Metropolitan this time). In other words: nothing new, but never old!

After my weekend in New York, September just kind of passed by. Summer lingered for another week or so, but the air is chillier since a few weeks and the trees are to shifting colors. I cleaned out summer last weekend, which meant putting away sandals and summer dresses, making my bed with the duvet and putting the blanket on the sofa, bringing in seasonal flowers and stocking up with tea. And slowly, slowly, I am getting into autumn mood. My routines are settling in – it’s ordinary but not boring – and the next few weeks will probably remain the same. I have a very exciting trip coming up in less than three weeks and I don’t think I will go anywhere before then. So although I will try to post more frequently, I’m afraid there won’t much interesting going on in my life before late October.  In the meantime, here are some pics from my weekend in New York:

Williamsburg Bridge // The High Line // Wonderful Pianist in Washington Square Park // Sockerbit – Swedish Candy Store in Greenwich Village // My favorite hangout, Bryant Park

In Ocean City!

Our first day in Ocean City, MD! We arrived late yesterday evening and since we were all tired after a long work week and the drive, we just stayed in and watched a movie (Zero Dark Thirty – interesting but thought the real story was more fascinating). After breakfast on the balcony, we spent the day on the beach. The sky was completely blue, the water was perfect, there was not too much people, and I had a very good book with me. Life can be really good sometimes! Here are a few pics, the first two are of the view from our balcony:

All Packed for the Beach

I’m packing again, this time for a weekend at the beach. I’m going to our nearest beach resort, Ocean City, with Swedish Monika and her husband. We decided to make the most out of summer and not get into fall routine just yet. I asked Monika what to pack and she suggested a bikini and books. This will be a great weekend!!

Lazy Weekend in Washington DC

My first weekend in Washington after the summer is coming to an end. With all the traveling that I’ve done these past months, I’ve almost not been here all summer and it was actually quite nice to just have a weekend to catch up on chores and to prepare a bit for the fall. I had dinner with Swedish Monika on Friday and took ballet classes both Saturday and Sunday, but otherwise it was a really quiet weekend. Today, the weather was grey and rainy so I spent the afternoon watching Swedish crime series on Netflix (Henning Mankell’s Wallander) while having tea with salt water taffies from the Outer Banks and skyping with friends. A perfect Sunday in other words! To keep summer in the apartment, despite the dull weather, I bought a bouquet of amazing sunflowers: