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Hello hello!

Last monday David and I went to Glasgow, Scotland to bring home my wedding dress.
My friend Jennie lives in Glasgow and since we got to know each other at a school where I studied theatre and she sewing I knew that she would be the right person for my not so traditional wedding dress.
She's working at a theatre so we were there a lot during the week for fittings and detail discussions and just goofing around with the play props laying around the room. David and I also had opportunity to walk around Glasgow and since we had some things we wanted to find for the wedding we spent a lot of time shopping. And eating.
Here's some snippets of our days in Glasgow.
Evening walk in Queen's park.
Say hi to Stand In Lotta.
Jennie made her last time I was in Glasgow, in may. I wore a t-shirt and Jennie covered me in duct tape so I could hardly breathe. Then she cut the duct tape in the back, stuffed me with left over fabric and taped me back together again.
Since last time Stand In Lotta had become a bit more wobbly and out of shape but she worked fine until I could be there instead. Then she was useless and stood there on her four legs and looked sort of left out.
Boxes for your everyday needs...
We found our wedding accessories...
Oh, how I regret that I didn't take this with me. Such a fabulous headpiece!
Awwwwww.
David and I spent a few hours roaming around West End with all it's vintage and charity shop heaven.
And we ate cauliflower and mustard soup. That was my favourite soup at a café in Midhurst, England, where I lived for a year with my dear friend Lisa (or Sambon as I usually call her). Such a nostalgic taste for me now!
Banana and blueberry cake and latte for me. One giant meringue with whipped cream and berries for David.
Jennie hiding behind a cloud of tulle.
David entertaining himself listening to podcasts in the background.
When we came home we spent a day sleeping and running around town searching for all those things we didn't find in Glasgow.

On saturday I thought I had theatre practice. Apparently I was fooled.
My friends threw me a bachelorette party! Such a great day with lots of nice things. I was so happy the entire day!

Today is a day of last minute packing. So many things to bring with us! Clothes, wedding surprises, makeup, and don't forget the wedding dress!
I have to get going now. FIVE DAYS LEFT, my friends and readers.
And for you with instagram I recommend you to follow me for more photos (lottalosten is my name there, as always) and check out the hashtag #lottvidwed to see photos from our wedding guests.

Wiiiiii! This is so exciting!

Tjingeling!
/Lotta
Hi, hello, hej, hallå!
I transfered a bunch of photos from my phone to my laptop and realised it was a while since I showed you the randomness that is my life through a phone camera.
We take it in chronological order with the first one from about a month ago. So here we go!
This is one of my all time favourite iphone photos. It's taken in the public bathroom at the City management office (Stadsledningskontoret, I have no idea if this is the right translation but google tells me so, so okay!)
It is a quite boring house with a grey/brown 70's office feel to it but when you step into the ladies room you get a flower power explosion out of this world. I almost forgot I had to pee, I was so overwhelmed. Forget me not flower tiles all over the place!
I showed one of my male colleagues who went straight to the mens room to see if they had the same flowery decor but he came out extremely disappointed. The mensroom had striped tiles. Boring stripes, not the happy joyful kind of stripes.
I feel sad for the men at the City management office.
A month ago the leaves apparently had yet to show their pretty faces. I looked like this in vintage skirt, spring jacket and newly washed hair (I never ever use a blowdryer. I'm lazy. And I don't know how to use it without getting extremely frizzy hair. And the one I have is inherited from my grandmother and I can probably blow harder with my mouth (yeah, yeah insert rude, sexy jokes here)).
I bought some vintage studio portraits that I have yet to show you.
Spring came and the summer came the day after. The flower stands at my neighbourhood market place Olskrokstorget looks pretty in the sunshine.
I found my summer skirts in the back of my wardrobe but since my thighs hate to meet each other I'm wearing tights all year round.
The cheeky smile is here to stay.
One day I realised my hair is as long as my arms.
I was in Scotland, as you probably know.
I tagged along when Jennie had sewing classes and here she is in her wonderful studio instructing one of her students.
Welcoming bathroom.
The toilet roll "holder" was even fancy at this place...
I went to Pollok Park and took lots of self portraits in this amazingly green parkway in the middle of the forrest. See my post from Pollok Park here.
Dancing by myself.
This beautiful path called on me but the ground was extremely muddy so I had to turn around.
Behind Jennie's studio there is a secret garden.
When I came home to Sweden again David had brought home our new coffee table. We found it at a fleamarket the saturday before I went to Scotland and we had to wait until the week after to bring it home. You can actually widen AND raise it into a kitchen table. Clever mid-century designers. It looks so good in our livingroom!
I found a dress on a fleamarket that makes me look like a naughty farmer's daughter. I love it and plan to go for this look the entire summer. Bring on the hay bales and flower crowns!
Went for a more sensible look the day after. Still the "naughty dress" but accompanied with, well, more clothes.
Had a friend over for fruit sallad and (three pots of) tea.
Relaxed on the balcony after my evening run. I am not good with flowers but I think that two surviving plants out of three is a quite okay result. Right?
The morning sun is just lovely in our kitchen window.
Summer is here and has turned our front yard into a jungle.
I keep overdressing because I refuse to acknowledge the warm weather. I tend to fill my bags with clothing during the day as I realise I don't need the jacket, or the cardigan, or the scarf...
Us in the elevator. Today it's 74 days until we get married, by the way.
My handsome David. This is from the day in the blog post beneath this one.
Hello there!
On sunday I woke up with hair like this. I'll tell you this is not the normal state of my hair straight out of bed. It's usually more troll than princess so I took it as a sign for a good day ahead.
We had a day of casting for David's short film Wallace. Four teenage girls came to audition for one of the roles and as I told you in my last post I got to play the class bully who gets slapped in the face. Each girl did the scene at least three times. So I got slapped in the face at least 12 times.
My face was all red and tingly!
In two weeks I get to do it all over again...

Tjingeling!
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Hallå!
Time for the last of my Scotland trip posts (well, there might be one more with my iphone photos later...).
We start this the moment I stepped out from Pollok Park on wednesday when I had the day all to myself.
I headed into Glasgow city for a much needed cup of coffee. But first I had to find a taxi to take me there because I had strong suspicions I had walked out of the map Jennie made me.
Add to my list of dream homes. An old brick house with huge trees infront of it, preferably clustered together into a tiny little park.
Found a taxi, found a cafe in the middle of St Enoch Square. I was only supposed to sit there for an hour or so but ended up in a comfy armchair for almost three hours. I realised I was super tired from my long walk and all the bright light in my eyes. When I take photos I squint with my eyes to focus and get really sore eyes from all the concentration. Yeah, I have the eyes of a true redhead- Crazily sensitive. So I sat in my corner of the café and sipped coffee, used their wifi, skyped with David and rested. When I was ready to go it had started raining. Well, I had a theatre show to attend, so out I went.
Walked along the beautiful river.
Love this photo so much. I like how it sort of looks like the two boys in the corner are kissing. I don't think they were a couple at all but the angle makes it look like that. Sweet, anyhow.
Stepped onto the bridge to see the view.
Love the reflections!
A Dalek under water! This mural is so cool!
Found the bridge I was heading for and it took me ages to cross it because I mean, just look at this view!
One more, just cause I can.
Looking the other way.
I just couldn't resist taking a photo of this really sad and ugly buildning. Glasgow is such a clash of old, beautiful houses and new, really ugly ones.
And then there's the abandoned ones that I really like the look of.
I was early to the theatre and walked around the block for a while. The glistening water on the ground makes for great photos, I think.
Blue door and brick wall.

The theatre was really pretty and the set was amazing but I was a little bit disapointed with the plays. It was two shorter plays by Caryl Churchill who I love. The first one, Far away, had an amazing set but it was actually too good if you get what I mean. The focus was entirely on the coolness of the set and when the acting wasn't up to the same standards the experience lost a lot of the excitement. The second play, Seagulls, had less cool gadgets but much better acting so I was glad I went anyway.
I was super tired when I came home. It had been a great day!
Thursday morning!
This was my last day in Scotland and we had many fun plans for the day. We started with breakfast at The Brooklyn Café and decided to really go all in with the breakfast choices.
Hello!
First: Very Berry Smoothie!
And then. French toasts with bacon. Oh my gosh. So tasty.
After our large breakfast we made our way to Glasgow city centre for some wedding gown fitting. We went to House of Frasier where we had an appointment. My wedding dress is NOT going to look at all like those Cinderella gowns but it was really fun to try them on, and make the lady working there feel awkward when she tried to ask me questions like "how did he propose" "what's the theme of your wedding" and I failed to answer satisfactory to every single question. I realised this is so not my world. I can't believe how many rules there seems to be around weddings. We are going to break most of them probably, and we'll love it!
I looked like a Disney princess and was actually quite surprised of how well they suited me. They didn't allow any photos taken in there, so sadly there is no evidence of my amazing looks but you'll just have to trust me when I say: I looked fantastic and very royal, indeed.
So when that was out of the way we went to the fabric store and chose the fabrics for my dress. Nothing white, no sparkling beads, nothing boring and traditional for me, thank you very much. No, my dress is going to be amazing in an entirely different way. And you'll just have to wait until august to see it.
In the evening it was time for one of Jennie's sewing classes and I tagged along. Gorgeous house!
After her class ended and we had measured me in every way possible we went to the cemetery Necropolis. Sadly it was closed and weird people lurked around in the dark so we stayed on the outside. We have to go there in august when we're back.
Like straight out of a horror movie.
This wall is all that's left of a really old house that is now protected by law and can't be torn down. The houses further down the street had to be built behind the wall. Such a cool way to handle a lone standing wall in the middle of the city!
At this point my camera battery decided to die so no more pictures of the evening. We went to a bar and had a few beers before we went home. Went to bed at 1.30 and set my alarm to 3.45 because at 4.15 a taxi took me to the airport. I left Scotland super tired but very happy.
It was such a great trip and it was lovely to see Jennie again after almost ten years. She is one amazing woman!
Today it's apparently Sweden's national day. We haven't really celebrated it here before but a few years ago they decided to make the day a holiday so now most people are off work today. Not me though. I'm on my way to work soon but I don't really see the point of celebrating anyway. Sweden is a great country but so are many others. It looks summery with all the flags blowing in the breeze againts a blue sky though.
Hope you have a lovely day however you spend it.
Hello, hello!
As promised, I'm back today with a huge post with photos from my two and a half hour walk in Pollok Park in Glasgow.
It was such amazing light everywhere in the park and the leaves were amazingly green. It's hard to understand when you look at theses photos that I havent enhanced the green colour in any of them. In some of them I have even lowered the saturation for a more dramatic effect, but you will understand soon why I feel I need to explain that I have NOT enhanced the green in any photo. It was like I had stepped into a world where green had exploded everywhere and made babies with the light so that everything bathed in a wonderful glowing greenness.
When I was a little girl I used to love to find hidden places, build forts and decide that a especially beautiful glade was my personal kingdom.
This place gave me that exact feeling. I just wanted to stay there forever.
I hope that this post can give you a little bit of that joy and freedom that I felt walking around in Pollok Park.
The entrance from afar. I didn't know at all what awaited me.
I stepped into a fairytale forest.
The forest ground was covered in blue flowers.
I reached an opening with a large pond.
The water was like a dark mirror.
This dog seemed to love this place almost as much as I did. And you see the mirror effect...
...the world is upside down!
Gosh, could the mood be more like a fairytale!? I don't think so. I could sit with my face in my hands staring for hours on end into this photo on my computer screen. I want to be able to zap myself there and just lay there where the light is hitting the ground and just breath and look up into the tree tops.
This large tree had a carpet of blue flowers surrounding it. It was impossible to capture the entire tree in one photo because I had to leave the path and climb a little hill to reach it and then you got too close to it. Doesn't it look like somebody sprinkled flowers at the base of the tree? Or maybe all these blue flowers just couldnt resist the power of the tree and flew across the forrest to gather around the tree?
Yeah, it makes my head spin with fairytale ideas.
A secret Rhododendron path. Love how the ground is covered with petals.
A rhododendron tree!
I have now added a rhododendron tree to my list of Flower trees i need to have in my garden when I grow up (other trees included on the list: magnolia, cherry, lilacs, jasmin...).
Some very large rhododendron bushes.
I might need one or two of these in my imaginary garden as well...
Walked past Pollok House.
Said hello to some cows.
A bundle of calf.
Every road should have trees on each side.
If I become President of the World that is one of the things I would make happen. It could be my slogan.
Vote for Lotta Losten. "Every road should have trees on each side."
I found a tree with weird and beautiful bark. Such amazing patterns!
I made a new friend who let me come really close before he took off.
A large uprooted tree. The swedish word for this is Rotvälta. I think it is my favourite swedish word at the moment. Sounds so folk tale-ish. Rotvälta. Rrrrrrotvälta. ROTVÄLTA!
Turned right on a small hidden path and saw this. Oh my gosh. That light!
Walked closer. The green light drew me in, it was impossible to resist.
Ah. Sigh.
I don't think I can describe the feeling this place gave me. I think this must be how religious people feel when they walk into an especially beautiful church and they feel peace and freedom and connection to something larger than yourself. Trees have always been really special for me. I cried when our landlord fell some trees in our garden when I was a kid. A few days ago I heard from my mother that they recently had to take down the two really old and huge trees that was left in their garden. They were completely empty inside. It felt like somebody I knew closely had died.
It's just that powerful to me.
And as sad as I can be to see a tree being taken down, I can be immensely happy to be surrounded with trees like these. They make me all bubbly with laughter.
Put the camera on the ground and turned on the timer and then I ran back and forth to take self portraits because I had to see myself from the outside in all this green light. It felt like I needed to see how small I was in comparison to the trees. I am very small.
Eventually I had to drag myself away from the green path. Spotted a clearing through the drapes of branches and leaves.
Put the camera on the ground again. Focused on a branch, apparently. Made a camera stand of sticks and stones for the next picture.
Lurking behind a tree.
Hugging a tree.
Running through the forrest like my life depended on it.
Haha, I love this effect! It really looks like I'm super fast. I tell you, I was not.
Drawn by the light, gazing into the future?
And I'm gone.


I left the park and it felt like I had traveled through time and space.
In august I will return to Scotland and I will bring David with me. I need to show him this place then. The trees will probably not be as spring green by then but I can't wait to be back!
Until then: I will stare at these photos for hours. Some of them might even look lovely as large prints, don't you think?

A weird feeling just hit me. I almost forgot I was in my apartment with the city just outside the window. Traveled through space and time to Pollok Park.
Soon I will need to switch my mind back to Gothenburg time again though, because I have theatre rehearsals in less than an hour!
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