Hej!
Since I've been a very bad blogger lately I thought I'd give you a quick rundown of what's been going on in my life these last few weeks- in selfies and self portraits only! Ready?

I missed my fall hats in Sweden and decided I just couldn't live without one.
So I went to a hat shop and the first hat I saw made me stop in my tracks. The. Perfect. Hat in The. Perfect. Color.
At around this time Los Angeles also decided it was fall so me and my hat went everywhere together.

(This is two different days by the way. I look exactly the same.)

Hanna came to visit us! (Hanna is the creepy girl in the photo in Pictured, if you recognize her, he he.)
It was absolutely wonderful to have her here! We took selfies at interesting places such as Paramount, Venice Canals and Santa Monica Pier.

I also made her participate in jumping- and Outfit photos.
We jumped at Paramount Studios, and we dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner.

The sun was as golden as my hat, and love was all around.

I sat at cafés with my laptop almost every day. I was working on my photo book Alone in LA (I'll talk more about that next week probably!) and took self portraits in café restrooms.

Large mirrors in the wild beckoned me.

I took outfit photos outdoors...

...and indoors.

The morning sun fell in slivers on my face.

David and I went to Sweden! We arrived a few days before christmas and it was lovely to meet family and friends again after almost 9 months in LA.
The photo in the bottom right was taken three hours before David and I realized we had caught the Winter Vomiting Disease. We realized this because we both threw up in the parking garage the moment we arrived in Gothenburg after celebrating christmas in our home town.
That was fun. No it wasn't. It was fucking awful.
All then things we had planned to do for the next three days had to be cancelled.
And then it was time for David to go back to LA to do the last work on the movie (it's completely done now!!!) and I cried at the airport because two weeks without each other is a long time!

Our tiny old elevator got some selfie action too, of course!

I stayed two extra weeks in Sweden to sort out our apartment. Since we're staying in LA we can't really pay rent for two places at the same time. It was so much work to do but I took breaks to meet up with friends for coffee and baked goods. I ate So Many baked goods those two weeks.

Black and white selfies for a more Noir feeling.
I took the train to visit my parents and my hair looked all Rita Hayworth-y Good lighting at my parents kitchen table.

Self portrait at my parent's place to show off my favorite outfit in a long time. The skirt is vintage and has buttons from floor to waist. The crocheted sweater thingy is also vintage and I bought it in LA and immediately thought of this skirt that was left in Sweden. I thought they'd go together nicely, and they did not disappoint!

The cold (and the snow) came to Sweden and I didn't have anything to wear on my head (except for like a zillion hats but that won't do in those temperatures), so I bought myself a turban that must be my most unexpected purchase ever. I had no clue turbans were so flattering! Its something about that V shape that just does it for me. Love it so much! And that emerald green color! *insert heart eye emoji*

David and I talked on FaceTime every day. Here he is driving: something you do more often than not when in LA.
Technology really is amazing for this kind of thing. The distance doesn't feel half as bad when you can see each other like this every day. Thank you, technology.

One thing I really wanted to do before I went back to LA was to take photos with my cape on the cemetery. My vintage nurse cape just works so well in that environment, so I took a break from packing to make a little photo series.

This cemetery is one of those things I really miss when I'm in LA. It's so moody and beautiful and I haven't find anything close to it over here.

Yes, packing. There was so much packing going on.
Here you see me in our old work room. Yes, I'm there in the middle of all rubbish.
The last night in the apartment was so strange. Empty and dusty. It felt like the end of a chapter, sort of. This apartment is where everything started for this Hollywood adventure we're on. That's where we made Lights Out without any clues of how it would change our lives.
The Lights Out hallway will always have a fond place in my heart.

On the last day I had help from a wonderful friend. She drove me to the recycling station with all the trash that had accumulated over the week, and together we moved furniture and boxes all night long. I wouldn't have made it without her and I'm beyond thankful that I have her in my life. Friendship is a magical thing.
She even waited for me when I said I needed to take a self portrait with the discarded refrigerators at the recycling station... That is true friendship.

When I came back to LA it was to a new apartment. We found a place the same week we left for Sweden and it felt so exciting to know we had that to return to.
We don't have a lot of furniture yet but this place already feels like home. It's strange how that works. Some places just fits.
The light is wonderful and we even have a long narrow hallway perfect for horror movie making! This one is even longer and more narrow than the Lights Out hallway. Let's see what waits for us in this home.

Soon I'm off to meet up with David for a Friday afternoon Dining Table hunt. Cross your fingers (or Hold your thumbs, as we say in Sweden!) we find the One today!

Talk to you soon! (Yes. I'm trying this blogging thing for real again. Hold your thumbs for me that I can stick with it this time)

/Lotta

Hi!
These past few weeks have been running away from me so quickly, so yesterday I was looking through my phone photos to kind of remind myself of what I have been up to that I thought worth documenting.
Not very much, it seems. But that's not true; I've been keeping busy with stuff I'll show you soon (next week is the birthday of lottalosten.com for an example!) but let's take a little peek at my life lately, shall we? All seen through the lens of my iPhone.

Wildflowers from a patch of grass no bigger than 2 square metres. A sure sign of summer. From the looks of it you might think I walked through a field in the picturesque countryside, but to tell the thruth it was right next to a highly trafficked road in an area where they are building new and ugly houses quite close to where we live.
Isn't it nice that even though humans stubbornly put up these horrible buildings all over the place, nature keeps spreading its flowers in between the construction sites?

Being all matchy matchy on a walk into town. Probably on my way to eat sushi.

Our scary hallway from Lights Out looks absolutely magical in the evening sun, don't you think?

After work one evening when I missed the bus home I walked to see if the ferry was coming soon. I had missed that one too, of course, but took the opportunity to snap some photos when Gothenburg clearly wanted to show itself from its best side.

And every evening the view from our balcony is something extra. This one was a misty, sunny story.

Lunch at our neighbourhood indian restaurant. Spot the husband in my shades.

Theatre rehearsals with Teater Esther. Here is our director Frida directing away.

Lena, Lisa and Hanna working on a scene from our freshly written play.

I've been riding the Coolevator.

(Yes yes, I know. Calling it "Coolevator" takes all the Cool out of it, but I just couldn't resist.)

Some days Gothenburg is covered by milky white fog and I find it impossible to resist raising my phone camera to snap a photo on my way to work.

I had a stupid cold and spent a week like this.

When the evening sun hits our apartment shadow dancing is an absolute must.

Proof that I am part troll, part human being.

A mirrored self portrait.

Nothing is as quiet and calm as a Gothenburg tram at 8.54 on a sunday morning. Five minutes later it was packed with people.

When I see a rose like this I don't think, I just stick my hand in and grab it, thorns and all, just to angle it to get a nice photo.
Freckled hand of yours truly in lower left corner.

And you now the Rhododendron I can't shut up about? They are confetti on the ground now.

It's the week of midsummer already and I just can't get my head around it.
I have been working the past three midsummer eve's but this year I'm delightfully off work and I've felt totally unprepared for it. Yesterday David and I made some plans though, and now I can't wait for the weekend to arrive!

See you soon again, dear readers of this site. I hope you have at least two things to look forward to this week (something big, something simple, doesn't matter).
Until next time:

Tjingeling!
/Lotta

Hi!
Well, this turned into another unwanted blog pause because of a stupid cold. David gave me his (thanks, babe!) and together we've been partners in snot and coughing as well as matrimony.
Yesterday evening I was so frustrated with not doing anything but sleeping, watching movies and reading that I decided it was time to venture outside for the first time since forever (or wednesday, but same same...).
When I arrived at the cemetery (where else would I go?) I got the idea to take self portraits with my iPhone all over the park and use the surroundings as best as I could, so that's what I did.
I always get this extreme surge of creativity when I'm sick and I get crazy if I don't do something about it. So however small this might seem, it felt absolutely wonderful to walk around in the evening sun, look at statues, grave stones and flowers and try to come up with a nice picture with me in every single one of them.
I won't talk anymore, it's better to just show you, right?

I made some new friends, got some air in my lungs, smelled the flowers and when I got home, no more than an hour later, I was asbolutely knackered. I was back in the sofa again but feeling quite satisfied with having used my creativity for the first time in days.

And if you're curious about the technical aspects of this post I used the self timer app TimerCam to take the photos with my iPhone and then I edited them with the VSCOcam app.

I hope you enjoyed this little collection of self portraits sprung from the complete boredom of having a stupid cold.

Tjingeling!
/Lotta

Hej!

After work yesterday evening David and I went for a little walk in the warm summer evening. We took the route over the cemetery Östra Kyrkogården since it's close to where we live and beyond beautiful at this time of the year.

The rhododendron are on their last breath right now. Like last year I've been completely obsessed with this colorful flower and can't believe I haven't really noticed them before.
I think they are breathtakingly beautiful.

Huh!? What's that hanging from the arm of that statue lady?

A baby hat! Let's fix it.

There! That's much better.

Thombstones and Rhododendron. Such a great book title.

Just standing here all relaxed for a little while...

Here! Have a flower!

D'aaaaw! Isn't he the prettiest of them all? I sure think so.
I think my new favourite thing is to take photos of David with flowers behind his ear/in his beard.

Rust and peeled off paint; me and my camera can't resist it.

The Chief of Police seems to be crying.

Running! Jumping! Skipping merrily towards my love!

I'm all smiles.

This castle used to be a prison and is now a house for culture in all forms. Me and my friends in the theatre group Teater Esther are rehearsing there every week. Like tonight!

Greeeeeen! This is also where I go for my evening runs. It's the perfect place for running, in my opinion. Beatiful and calm.

On the way home I stopped for a couple of pretty flowers.

Soooo, I'm off to theatre rehearsals now.
See you soon again!

Tjingeling!
/Lotta