Guess what?

We're going to make a music video as a group. And it's going to be one long coordinated shot. YES. Watch out.

Road trip of dreams and such: Part IV

I want this book

http://uk.phaidon.com/store/food-cook/faviken-9780714864709/

We went to a Swedish bookstore the other day, and I spent most of the time in the cookbook section. Gaaaah they're so beautiful.

Roadt trippin: Part III

Okej, next day.

Wake up, eat a most healthy and delicious continental breakfast (waaaay better than in the States), and then hit the road. We drove the the Dala Horse factory! Here's how they make them:

And here's what we did:

And then we went to Anders Zorn's museum and house:

And then hit ICA (grocery store) for some food. Here's my lunch:

Pear flavor is the best.

And then back in the car for a few more hours. There was giant tofu block and marshmallow spottings:

And then to the viking graves. Instead of putting up stones or anything, they piled up huge mounds of dirt, which then became hills and part of the landscape. It's a pretty cool idea. Not to mention WAY old.

Photo by Heather Hackney.

Photo by Heather Hackney.

Photo by Heather Hackney.

Journey of dreams (aka road trip), part II

We left for Dalarna Thursday morning at 8 am. We rented two cars, and then 9 of us piled in and started driving. Our car was full of ardent viking fans, so out car was christened "Sleipner"—the name of the 8-legged horse that Loki birthed. Boom. Some creativity with a viking stencil helped create a lovely mascot.

It was a pretty new volvo that we were driving, and it had a sick bluetooth hookup.  We were able to stream music from 7 different Apple devices without even having to plug in. The miracles of modern technology are sweet and glorious.

This was our car group. Yeaaah. Photo by Heather Hackney.

We stopped at an old church, whose name I can't remember, but was significant because of the ornate medieval decor that did not get painted over during the reformation.

Our group of viking warriors by a viking rune. Photo by Heather Hackney.

A few hours later we had all had a healthy dose of Muse and Robyn, we made it to Carl Larsson's house! It was so beautiful. Oh, stunning. I really loved a lot of things about it.

Thrifting in Dalarna. We didn't find anything good.

An outdoor peice (with typography) at the Dalarna Museum.

After Carl Larsson and the Dalarna Museum, we skipped around the corner to Top Hat where we had a really nice dinner together as a class. I got a burger with pesto sauce and a side of "fries."

On the drive to the hotel, we stopped by the copper mines in Stora Kopparberg. It's a world heritage site! I think Sweden has quite a few. Drottningholm Palace was another one... The mines were pretty intense. They are so massive, and what you see if only the surface. The tunnels go so deep; it's hard to fathom.

And then after the mines we drove to our hotel, but stopped by a lake to tromp around a golden field... Because it was so beautiful. I love the sunsets that last forever here.

Our group! Photo by Heather Hackney.

Notice the backpack thrust into the frame. Lovely.

And then, after all of these things packed into one day, we somehow mustered enough energy to go jump in the lake. Which was freezing cold, but super stunning. The sun was still setting, so the sky was full of pinks and purples, and the water just reflected it. It was a neat experience to swim in a swirling lake of color. Oh also, the lake was formed by a meteor impact a million years ago. Not every day that you swim in meteor lakes. In Sweden. With good friends. At sunset. Gaaaahhh. I love it here.

The road trip of Scandi-dreams and viking warriors; Part I

Okej, this is our roadtrip:

If that's not working, try this.

Sweden is just the stunning. And fantastisk. To be continued.

Trail Running

New favorite run. And that's a big deal. It's pretty hard to beat mountain sunrises, beach sandy trails, knee-deep snow, running all over red rocks, and drinking cold water from mountain rivers. But they were just topped. By Sweden. GAH!

This is what it looked like for most of the time. 

I had run on the trails in the forest next to where we live a few times before, and was impressed with the sights to see. But it wasn't until this time around that I decided to follow the yellow trail markers. I think there was a race held here recently, because the markers aren't permanent. Anyway, it was an extremely well-crafted run. A perfect balance of beautiful vistas, dense forest, a good smattering of uphill, downhill and flat, and just the most fun terrain: baby pinecones, rocks, dirt, branches and fallen trees to jump over. Just thinking about it makes me want to be running. So many mossy rocks! Two lakes! Tall, scandinavian spindly pine trees! The cleanest air you'll ever breathe! 

And to top it off, throw in perfect weather! It was the perfect temperature for running in shorts and a t-shirt; not too hot, not too chilly, with a slight breeze to keep you from overheating. I started my run at 9:00 pm (yay for Sweden!) and the sun was setting (it takes a while to set). So I ended up running in a really beautiful sunset and dusk for the next hour. Oh, it melted my soul. 

Real Swan Lake.

Just happened to find a dock along the trail.

Flowers, huge mossy boulders, lakes, swans, butterflies, fields, forests: it's almost too idyllic. But that's Sweden. 

Hallwylska Museet

This was July 19. Okej so I'm falling a bit behind on the blogging thing. Meh. I'm in Sweden.

This was an interesting place, though a far cry from  being one of my favorites. Pretty much a somewhat peculiar, super rich woman named Wilhelmina Hallwyl (mouthful of a name) built this lovely mansion in the middle of downtown Stockholm, bought and collected a whole lot of stuff, and pretty much planned on turning her house into a museum after she died. It's kind of bizarre. You feel like you're stuck in a Downton Abbey episode. It's a pretty poorly designed house (in my opinion) because things just aren't thought our very well. The bowling alley is placed above the bedrooms, and an adjacent room to the dining hall has no windows for the orchestra that was supposed to play in there, so people passed out. Little things like that: superfluous fluffy crap. But hey, I don't have to live there. 

Oh just a 1914 Mercedes. No big. It's like in perfect condition.

The windows.

This is what it looked like, pretty much throughout the whole house. I'm not a fan. At all. It's like Baroque-barf. Some people don't know what to do with their money, so they spend twice as much as the steinway piano costs to deck it in gilded, dripping decor. 

Waldemarsudde

This is Waldemarsudde. Just a beautiful mansion built by Prince Eugen at the turn of the century.

Prince Eugen was a pretty talented artist (and painted the above landscape)

He also painted a lot of clouds. That are incredibly beautiful and thought-provoking.

This is his monogram on his stationary! Woot! Sans-serif "E" in the late 1800s? Impressive.

More interesting typography.