New name!

I’ve gotten my new surname! :)

My fancy official letter from The Swedish Patent and Registration Office arrived last Wednesday. :)

I’d been thinking, just the day before, about the fact that the notification period had come and gone…when was it going to be official?? And, now it is!

I’m sooo smitten with my new name…! ;) I love writing it (been practising my new signature all summer) and every time I log on to facebook and see it there I get this warm fussy feeling inside and cannot but smiiile. Saying it out loud is, of course, fab too! Love it!

I am the same E as before the name change but yet, somehow I feel brand new... :)

Love&Light,

New Princess!

Early this morning Sweden welcomed a new Princess, daughter to Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel. Tomorrow we'll find out her name! I'm guessing (rooting for!) Alice or Ulrika - maybe both as per tradition she'll have 4 names. Welcome earthside little one! :)

Edited to add:
Here name is H.R.H Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary, Dutchess of Östergötland. An non-traditional name choice... not anywhere near what 'all' of us were guessing! ;) I love that Victoria and Daniel dared to be different, even if I don't necessarily love the name. ;)

Making new acquaintances...

So... my 'old' (imo nothing from -09 should/could be classed as old!) fancy phone is...gone. It's been unwell for a looong time now but I've been holding on, learn new tricks to keep using it, keeping it alive. But today, finally, I decided enough was enough...I'd been holding on for too long, it was time to let go and face my fears about these clever smartphones or freaky hybrid phoneputerstereo thingies! ;p They're little cyborgs who'll end up taking over the world! ;p :D

Before work I headed into scary mobile phone store, openly admitting to not knowing anything about these clever smartphones. I could have been conned into buying anything but wasn't. :) After much needed help I got a new phone(y?) to take home.

So, here begins the story of me and 'Ray'... We're just getting to know each other but in him lingers my dreams of facebook check-ins, funny tweets and possibly even in-action blog posts! ;) He's managed to tick me off some by loosing a good third of my contact list, which my house troll thinks he might be able to recover from old phones memory (?!). :) Ray's got a fab camera and lots of funny/scary/intriguing apps sooo I might be able to forgive him the mishap with my contact list...

Here he is, my Sony Ericsson Ray. Ain't he purdy?! ;)

Norway.

About a week ago the horror of the bomb in Olso and following massacre at the youth camp at Utøya were becoming heartachingly clear... Tears streamed down my face most of the weekend, tears have continued to fall during the week when names and pictures were released of the victims, most of them young kids who had the brightest of the future ahead of them and it was all snatched away by...by... :/

Well I'll not be adding to his own sense of being glorified by writing his name here, I want to call him a Monster, Pure Evil but I honestly just feel this huge sense of grief and sadness when I see pictures of him... not concerning him but all the lives he took. 

To hate there must have been love (someone said, can't remember who right now) and I only feel sadness for/about him. No hate, no anger, nothing... For his victims though, for those left behind with the unimaginable task of having to pick themselves up and try, as best as they can, to put their lives back together... For the whole nation of Norway, I feel Love, Light, Hope... You will be strong again, we stand with you.

NORWEGIAN LYRICS:
Mitt lille land
Et lite sted, en håndfull fred
slengt ut blant vidder og fjord

Mitt lille land
Der høye fjell står plantet
mellom hus og mennesker og ord
Og der stillhet og drømmer gror
Som et ekko i karrig jord

Mitt lille land
Der havet stryker mildt og mykt
som kjærtegn fra kyst til kyst

Mitt lille land
Der stjerner glir forbi
og blir et landskap når det blir lyst
mens natten står blek og tyst


ENGLISH TRANSLATION/LYRICS:
My little country
A little place, a handful of peace
thrown out among mountain plateau and fjords

My little country
Where high mountains are planted
among houses, people and words
Where silence and dreams grow
Like an echo in barren earth

My little country
Where the sea pats mild and soft
like it's caressing from coast to coast

My little country
Where stars glide by
and becomes landscapes when it gets lighter
while the night stands there -- bleak and silent.

Good News!

I'm not big on subscribing to magazines. I don't even get a newspaper any more - I still manage to get the news! :) I like me the odd bit of Royal gossip now and again but I'm not that keen knowing who a certain celebrity might, or might not, be sleeping with at the moment so cheezy gossip mags are quite quickly flicked through...

Most stuff deemed newsworthy, in the regular 'proprer' new now just isn't... There's too much doom and gloom, sadness, sickness, greed and agony in my opinion. Sure, we need to hear that too but not just that! There's very few sunshine stories to inspire us towards positive change, towards thinking, feeling, knowing that this place might not be The Best, but together we CAN make it/take it there! :)

I'd like to hear more of those kinds of news! News of compassion and kindness, of hope and inspiration, of light in the darkness... Things I'd not be afraid to share with my young children (who are too young to be allowed to watch the news broadcast with me) and guess what!? :) I've found it! :D In Good News Magazine, a reasonably new Swedish magazine that just happened ;) to fall into my lap last weekend on my lunch break when I was hunting for something readworthy at work. Chance? ;) I think not and as soon as I got home I ordered a subscription for myself.

The magazine is thick as a book and filled to the brim with inspiration! Joy, Light, Hope, Positive Progress, Health and Smiles. This particular no. had articles on Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontier, TED.com and hope in Afghanistan and much more!! :) My kind of magazine! :D :D :D

Yesterday I got my first very own issue of the GNM and this one is titled With The Help of Techology and I'm still ploughing my way through it! :) I want to read every single word of it! Even the ads (that are surprisingly few!) are interesting!! :D :D :D

GNM's facebook page shares positive stories/articles, most of them in English. Like them and start feeling postitive about the world we live in! :)

Love&Light,

Egypt is free!

This is History people! Mubarak has stepped down.
I hope and pray for a continued successful/peaceful progress towards democracy for the people of Egypt.
♥

In Sweden, the Men Can Have It All

I always find it interesting to read about Sweden and "Swedish phenomena" from other parts of the world. Here's an interesting article from the New York Times - In Sweden, the Men Can Have It All, about the Swedish model of parental leave and its benefits and possible disadvantages.

It is a subject of much debate here... How much should the government have to say about our parental leave...? What right have they got to meddle about the equality in our own homes...?? etc. and so on.

I can see both advantages and the hindrance that governmental meddling can have and I realise too that there isn't an easy 'fix' or answer for these kinds of things... Generally though, I feel that change isn't anything that can or should be forced upon people and that change, especially in terms of equality, in society should initially start from 'the top'. Changing the mindset/attitude about women's influence/place/value/etc. in board rooms and other places of power rather than how ordinary people on "grass root"-level decide to manage their lives in accordance to the narrow-mindedness of the people 'on top'...

We do our best with what we have been given and forcing equality in the home to change the attitudes 'above' is harsh and unfair, for the most part. Yes, there will be certain benefits from people having no choice but to stand up to old worldly traditions but... The fact that men, in 'men trades' generally have full time employment whilst women, in 'female trades', only have part time work or even just temporary employment... To force the man in this "stereotypical" couple to stay at home whilst the woman scrambles to get more hours of work or even work at all will not change the mentality in stiff all male board rooms! ...it'll only means an earlier start at nursery for the child, I feel 12 months is already too early, and parental days gone unused at this early, most essential time for both parents and child...

Well, I'm not going to delve any deeper, than I already have ;), into this specific subject. It's an interesting read and please feel free to give me tips of other articles you may find on "Swedish-ness"! :)