First, as a preparation for Milka's birthday brunch, I made her a little CD compilation:
1. Sparks - Happy Hunting Ground 2. Saint Etienne - Hug My Soul 3. Dusty Springfield - I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore 4. Rod Stewart - Maggie May 5. Soft Cell - Say Hello Wave Goodbye '91 6. Suede - My Insatible One 7. Beck - Rental Car 8. The Stone Roses - Elephant Stone 9. The Jam - Batman Theme 10. Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth - The Line Begins To Blur 11. Donnie Hathaway - You've Got A Friend [live] 12. Franz Ferdinand - Darts Of Pleasure 13. Death In Vegas - Rocco (Dave Clarke Remix) 14. Queen - Don't Stop Me Now 15. Forss - Soulhack 16. The Tears - Refugees 17. Happy Mondays - Hallelujah (Club Mix) 18. Thee Michelle Gun Elephant - The Redhead Kelly 19. Morrissey - Lost 20. Graeme Revell - Finale
I went into town and perused Pet Sounds, where I found a copy of Thirty-three and a third's book on The Smiths' "Meat Is Murder", and a copy of the second edition of AMG's "The Definitive Guide To Electronic Music". I also picked a voodoo doll box for Mikaela, complete with manual, which was wrapped up for her.
One minute before I was due at the scene I popped up at the rendez-vous, a restaurant serving cràªpes; as no-one was there, I left and quickly jumped in at Cocktail, where I bought some ape-printed plasters for Milka, which she was glad for but hoped she won't get a chance to use.
Frederic, Mikaela and I agreed that the food at the cràªpes-place wasn't very good at all; it just consisted of their cooks making a pancake and then pouring everyday house-hold items onto it, wrapping it shut, serving it and letting us buy it at ten times the price of the ingredients together. Not a very good deal at any cost. And the cappuccino was done in a totally wrong way. gah. The place wasn't very nice. No air-conditioning, even. We gladly left the place and first went to Star People Design, a wacky and expensive little clothes-and-bags-store on Skånegatan, where I for christmas had bought a McDonalds-Satan-tee for my sister's older daughter, Emelie. While there, I spotted a lady who was carrying a bag off her right shoulder. The upper short-end of the bag was opened - with a chihuahua sticking out of it. I asked the lady if I could take a picture of it, and yes, so I did. The lady was from the USA, and told me she'd love to find a t-shirt for her dog. Scary. We left for Sneakersnstuff, where I almost bought a 2005 Reggie Miller Indiana Pacers jersey; it's nice, but I like the type of jersey sporting the lighter yellow-white-blue Indiana colours better. I've gotta get one of those before Reggie retires. Mikaela bought something, at least, a couple of very nice sand-coloured (light-beige-ish) Converse plain basketball shoes. Very nice, indeed!
We went on to åhléns, where we got very caught-up in the cosmetics-race. I got myself a third Paul Smith deodorant, "London", while Mikaela exchanged a broken Kenzo deodorant she'd given me previously, for a new one.
She then bought a concealer and a glitter pen, both Givenchy, if my memory serves me correct. The sales-person was extremely professional, helpful and consequently made damn sure I will recommend the Givenchy-part of the make-up department at åhléns to everybody I know who are shopping for those stuffs, in Stockholm.
We then got a few parts for our old vacuum-cleaner (ooh, exciting! this is what blogs are all about, people, excitement!) and then left for home together with Frederic. Mikaela made a lovely dinner for us all, a pasta puttanesca which sadly wasn't captured on film due to my being so hungry I didn't waste time on graphically capturing the event, but I must tell you it was full of taste, lovely chili which hottened the dish and, of course, full-wheat pasta, lovely and obligatory. Mikaela and Frederic drank a nice, white wine that Mikaela's mom bought while recently staying in Austria. I drank water and Lagavulin, my favourite whisky. I have, however, managed to take pictures during the last days. Here you'll find a barrage of photos from the very tasty chicken/salad dinner Mikaela made the other day, purchases from today and also, of new shelves that Mikaela and Frederic installed today. Finally, shelves in the living-room so we can stack our stuff! The shelves themselves have to be painted first, and Mikaela will do that tomorrow. Loovely. I'll be there to assist.
Frederic stayed here for the evening and we first sang a few SingStar tracks and then just watched telly. "The Strongest Man in The World" was aired on TV, so we watched human blocks of muscle pull 18-ton-trucks and lift cars. Quite entertaining, mixed with "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome", the intro off "Glorious", a very nice Eddie Izzard stand-up-show (although I must repeat I like his "Dress To Kill" and "Definite Article" most of all of his performances so far) and the Finnish version of "Top Model", very entertaining, especially as we made up lines for the models, as we didn't have a clue what they were saying.
Now it's definitely bed-time. Tomorrow I'll try hard to finish a podcast about Sparks, an amazing, melodic, stunning group that everybody should love. Ciao.