Hi everybody!
I'm back in Sweden again, all jetlagged and with a post flight cold to top it all off.
I wanted to share some photos from when we went to Venice Beach over the day. It was really touristy and not as fun as we'd expected but we definitely found some nice spots. And I think I actually took some really great photos this day. Hope you think so too.

Who buys this stuff? I don't get it.

Muscle dad on Muscle beach.

It was a really foggy day at first. You could hardly even see the beach.

Oh, and if you like stupid, sexist t-shirts Venice Beach is the place for you!

I really liked this wall painting!

Hehe. See the sign? It says "Lazy dog" and the owner points it in the direction of the dog. We walked past them a while later and then the dog sat on the other side but the sign still pointed towards him.
Brilliant.

David looking all cool.

We left the beach to have a look at the streets further up. I liked this alley. So close to the beach but still secluded and silent.

The Super Mario Bros were up at the roof fixing something.

Don't really know why, but I really love this house. Think it's the colours and shapes. Yeah.

And this colourful house is nice too!

Saw this old man and his dog and took a gazillion photos of them. Looks so nice and peaceful.

Walked closer.

And found out that he was the owner of a vintage shop! It was very small and narrow and most of it actually took place in the staircase. Loved it!

Hej hej!

Before we said good bye I had to take some more photos of the little dog, now parked in the chair.

Walked back towards the beach again. This mural is amazing!

These last two photos are my favourites from this day. I couldn't decide which of them to choose so you'll get to see both of them. I like the lazy seagulls on the roof next to the painter. They look so incredibly rude and self absorbed.

So that was all from Venice Beach.
I will be back soon with a post about Santa Monica Main Street. I LOVE that street!

Until then: Tjingeling!

On sunday David and I drove forty minutes from San José and ended up in a little beach town called Capitola. We were going to meet up with Jillian, a friend of mine who I've met through Etsy. She lives close by and she had told us the day before that she knew a nice breakfast place we needed to visit.

This was the place. Zelda's!

I had coffee. Of sorts.
Also ate some lovely breakfast food but was way too hungry to have the time to photograph it.

The beach view through the window and through the big mirror covering one wall.

After we ate we went for a stroll down the beach.

Surfers were laying low in the glistening water. Not many waves to be seen.

Turned around and walked back towards the town.

I call this one "Little girl with blue bucket and seagull".

I really really REALLY want one of these colourful houses. Any one of them will do. But especially the aqua blue one. Or the peach colured. Or the bright yellow. Or any of them really.

Bay and bridge behind a bridge.
I told Jillian that we don't really have wooden bridges like this in Sweden but since we grow up with american movies we've seen lots of them on films. Kind of weird that we know so much about american culture without ever having experienced it first hand that when we're finally here it's like "Yeah, I know about that restaurant" and "Yes, I've seen this place before. On film."

So pretty! I could definitely see myself living here. Yep.

Cute house!
Another thing that's really different from Sweden is the size of the streets. Even in a small town like Capitola the streets are so much wider than they are in Sweden. To us it sort of looks like a miniature town with tiny toy houses along the large streets. Like the entire place is just a pretty movie set.
Americans should come and see the teeny tiny streets in some villages in Österlen, Skåne. Their big cars wouldn't even be able to squeeze in.

Like sand castles for humans!

We walked under the wooden bridge. Such a cool structure.

Isn't Blue Gum Avenue the best name for a street!?!

We found an antique shop!

It was a lovely shop with millions of things everywhere. The lady who owned the place talked non stop about old customers from all over the world, about the history of different items and the reasons people have for collecting things. She was really nice and she let me take photographs in there because I asked nicely before. Usually she doesn't allow it.

Then we had to walk back to the car and say goodbye to Jillian. It was a really great day and it's so sad that Capitola is such a long way from Sweden because I would have loved to have breakfast with Jillian at Zelda's every sunday.

Two of me in my two favourite vintage coats.
I bought the first one a year ago in a thrift store for almost no money at all. The old lady working there told me it was handmade by a tailor. I don't know what decade it might be from (anybody who knows?) but it's amazingly well done and it's so beautiful I just can't seem to stop smiling when I'm wearing it (or staring at it when I'm not wearing it).
The second coat is another gorgeous second hand find. It's so fancy and I love the colours and the collar and you should see the back! Yes, I might have to show you that some day, it's that pretty.

Two glimpses of my home.
The first one is of the living room and my favourite corner. The paintings are made by my grandfather. I love his work so much and think these two ships looks so nice there. And I like how the model ship made by my uncle casts its shadow over the sideboard, like it knows they belong together.

The second glimpse is of my messy desk. Kind of how it always looks. Lots of stuff cluttering the edges of the desk space while I'm working on editing photos of jewelry to be listed in the etsy shop and then, of course, the mandatory large tea cup never leaving my side.

Two Semlor.
A semla is a swedish traditional sweet roll. It's stuffed with almond paste and then under the little hat lots of whipped cream. We eat it every year at this time until easter. It's really tasty and every year swedish cities have competitions deciding where they make the best semla and then everybody goes there and stand in line to eat the best semla the city has to offer. It's all very cute.
The first picture is a miniature semla that I got at work a couple of weeks ago and the second semla is normal size. Semlor can be eaten as the are or in hot milk. Either way is delicious.

The other day I couldn't bare to see the mess in my window sill anymore.
As long time readers of this blog are well aware of, I collect pretty things and arrange them into even prettier still life displays in my work room's window sill. It's a hobby, a way to be creative, a drug (yeah, it's basically hoarding, I know).
Lately there haven't been any of the usual lovely well organized clusters of stuff, but a complete disarray of dusty things cluttering the space.
One thing I really love about dusting off and re-organizing my knick knacks is that I get to really look at them, remember where I found/bought/got the items and what they mean to me.

All cleaned and waiting to be re-organized.
See more of the teeny tiny dictionary here.

Dusty but pretty. I bought the brown brooch on Portobello road a year ago.

I found the beautiful pocket watch on a flea market in Nice and for a month it didn't work but then suddenly, on midsummer's eve, it started all by itself!
I wrote about that in this post.

The little brush is actually a Moustache brush in silver. My grandfather gave it to me for fun when I was a little girl. It has the words Minne af E.E (translates to In memory of E.E) engraved on top of it. I think E.E was an old relative of mine but I'm not sure.
Kind of interesting that people used to engrave a brush made to groom your moustache. Today's plastic grooming products just aren't the same...

I made the metal tin in school when I was 13, I think. It's where I put coins from the different countries I visit.

I love old cigarette cases in silver. As I don't smoke I use them as business card cases instead. Or just to look at. Here's a post from when I found these ones
The little aluminium pill tin is another gift from my grandfather. The aluminium creates dots on the pills if you use it for what it's actually for, so I use it for nothing instead. It's pretty, though.

Treasures from South Africa. I love seed pods so so so much!!
And the key is for the desk I'm sitting infront of right now. It keeps falling to the ground all the time so now I have included it in my window sill installation instead.

This is how to use an ashtray. There's no better way really.

And of course it needs to have boobs.

I love that little brooch with the sad and grim looking lady. I found her on a flea market and wrote a bit about her in this post.

I could have written about each and every item here but it would have gone on forever and ever so if there is something you're interested in knowing the story behind, just write in the comments and I will answer there.

And just so you know. I will collect knick knacks for as long as I live and I will most definitely blog about my finds for an equally long time so prepare for more posts like this in the future.