San Francisco!

Last night it was time to head for San Francisco to see Marisa and Aidan! Tacos + margaritas was on the menu when we arrived! Sweetness!

Later we went to the really great "45Club" at a place called ”The Knockout” where they played good old soul music all night long. We danced and had a lot of fun before we crawled back home to get some sleep.

The girl crew!

We recovered, having brunch at ”All You Knead” in Haight Ashbury this morning/lunch. GOOD food!

Love Haight

Occidental

Yesterday I woke up to beautiful sunshine and birdsong and enjoyed the morning, watching pretty flowers from the cottage porch.

Sunshine+flower garden+Yogi tea= Morning success

Garden beauty

Later we went for lunch at ”Howards Café” in Occidental, a nice little bohemian place where a lot of bikers and artists hang out.

Howards Station Café

Viva la vie boheme!

Lots of vineyards along the way. The best wine is from Sonoma County!

Graduation day!!!

Yesterday it was time to experience a true American graduation ceremony. It was extremely hot and crowded and we waited for hours to hear Ali's name getting called. It was followed by a fantastic party at the Levie residence. A band was playing and let me sing a few songs with them.

Ali and her friend Alicia on their way to graduation! Congrats!!

I made Swedish meringue cakes!

Barn party

Dancing with Grandpa Levie. Old guys rule!

Aris, Gina and I ended the day in a super charming cottage on Cherry Ridge Road outside Sebastopol. We went into the hot tub and could hear coyotes howling out in the woods! Pretty amazing.

Bodega Bay and San Rafael

Today, my American big little sister Gina finally arrived with her husband Aris. It was family time in the evening and we all went to the amazing restaurant "The Tides Wharf" (where they shot one of the scenes for Hitchcock movie "The Birds") in Bodega Bay that have the best clam chowder on this planet. They also give you salt water taffy before you leave. Can it get any better?

Bodega Bay view

Ali, Aris and Gina ready to eat!

Pretty view

Later in the evening we went to San Rafael for some karaoke at "The Mayflower" before going for a booty shake session at Nickel Rose".

Gina, kicking ass with her karaoke singing

Dancing days

Yesterday was a day devoted to dance! I spent the afternoon going with my American little sister Ali to the dance studio for some tap dance training. Ali is the current Miss Sonoma County and is preparing a tap routine for the Miss California pageant in July. Here's a recent article about her: Miss Sonoma County

The building

The staff

Ali in action

Later at night we went out dancing at the Yacht Club in Cotati, celebrating Ali's final college exam! We're feeling a little sore today...

Critta yeeeell!!!

Watch this clip and you'll know what the headline stands for. It's what happened to me yesterday. I ended up with sparkling rhinestones, painted flowers and super white French tips on my toe nails yesterday. I usually don't really like the look of salon nails and I came home with the whole package! How did it happen? What have I become?

Nail Salon - Anjelah Johnson

Must have been the poisonous chemicals in the crystal gel that got to my head.

Apparently I am now the sparkly flower girl. Suits me like a glove. Hah!

West Coast!

So time for some adventures on the west coast of this crazy huge country! Yesterday I saw the airports of Springfield, Denver and LA before finally ending up in my old favorite San Francisco!

The L.A weather looked nice from the airport window

The San Francisco weather, on the other hand, wasn't too exciting... Fortunately, it's getting better.

Blurry but happy! My California parents Cheryl and Jim picked me up and we went to the fantastic "Squat and Gobble" restaurant for some lunch before going home to Sebastopol.

My temporary Sebastopol crib!

Sun Worship

It's been HOT in Missouri these last few days. Miss Parkman and I spent one last day by the pool together before I leave to San Francisco and she goes back to Sweden for a while.

Sunshine is my drug

Marta, working on her tan to make all the Swedish people jealous!

Happy feet (to be reunited soon again!)

Moonshine beach

We had a wonderful evening at Moonshine beach yesterday! We managed to gather quite a few friends and family members (we have a bunch of Swedish visitors here at the moment) for some good times! The weather was nice and warm with around 35 degrees celsius. Bliss!

Thomas and Dean + BoBo's niece Mika to the right

Ladies in the lake! Mika, Darcy, Lana and I

BBQ!

Lovely sunset

Come on let's Gimp again!

I would doubt that the combination Club 57 + The Gimps + a Saturday night could ever leave you in a bad mood. The guys in the band just keep impressing us week after week. I wish them world success, kingdoms and princesses.

Enjoy this video clip of them playing a shaking tune in a horizontal (!) position...

Here's Lana doing her excellent job with the tip bucket for the band!

Freaky Foods part 10

So, apparently I found the red light district shelf at Walmart......

Eat this!

You know you want to!

This is what I'm having for breakfast... :)

The secret is out!

....and it wasn't very mysterious or dramatic from the start. We're making a Swedish pastry cookbook!!! We had a photoshoot yesterday taking vintage style pics posing with the loads of Swedish pastry that we have been making these last couple of days. Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and I are going to be best friends/worst enemies the next couple of weeks...

Here's a sneak peek!

Sticky mess

Miss Parkman and I have been planning a secret project for a couple of weeks and yesterday we were preparing for its progress. It has to do with pastry and it has to do with us making it edible. You can say that we've had our share of baking. Most of it went well but we had some difficulties when it came to mastering the recipe for Swedish drömtårta. It's a sponge roll cake filled with butter cream and can get quite tricky to make if you don't put your heart into it. This is what our first try looked like....

As you can see we weren't too impressed by our work

Basically a sticky mess... Minus points on the housewife scale!

Freaky Foods part 9

Americans seem to have problems with little people. I've posted proof before (cocktail midgets...) Now they want to encourage their dogs to EAT them! "People Pleasers" PEOPLE SHAPED TREATS FOR DOGS is now on the plate of American canines. I guess this is a dog's version of animal crackers.

Birthday BoBoBoy

This evening we had a little birthday celebration for JEERK member BoBo at our BBQ spot in Turtle Creek. Nice food, home baked cake, and great company made a good night.

Birthday boy posing with imaginary mustache and balloon

Chocolate goodness made by Marta

BoBo opening presents

Springfield adventures

The very charming Mrs Lana Zeligman took us to Springfield for a little guide tour yesterday. We walked around trying to find some clothes and inspiration for our vintage photoshoot that we will be doing later this week. We didn't really find what we were looking for but luckily, Lana had a lot of nice vintage style outfits at home that we could borrow. Thanks for helping out!

Check out Lanas pretty pictures and add her on her facebook alter ego page "Miss Lana VaLone"

We found a nice café to have lunch at. Here's Marta and Lana at "The Mud House"

US Sports

I can't even come up with a comment for this... Found it on a nightclub door in Eureka Springs.

Happy birthday!

Today is the birthday of the greatest mama in the world! Unfortunately I won't be able to celebrate with her in person this year but I'm making up for it by posing awkwardly with a Walmart (ridiculously big) chocolate chip cookie.

Grattis på födelsedagen mamma!