Last week flew by! Important to start the week strong though, so began with hitting the gym…
On Tuesday I had some more fat injected into my face. Best part was the laughing gas 🙂 It looks like I have ‘something’ coming out of my mouth in the last 2 pics and had to double check myself. But it was just the markings where she was going to inject LOL…
Jennifer Dark was visiting Vegas, so had some playtime with her and Angel Dark hehehee… It was like the United Nations with all of our different accents…
I also gave them some style tips, since I’m such a fashionista myslef 🙂 Angel gave me this amazing onsie that I pretty much have been living in since then! Extra points that I wear stylish Puma socks!
On Friday it was time to drive back to LA. This time Waze directed me through some back roads I’d never taken before. Had to check a couple of times to make sure I was still headed to the address I put in hahhaaaa… It was pretty cool as it was deserted out there and caught a beautiful sunset…
On Saturday it was time for Xbiz. It has been ages since I was at a show and I had a blast. Best part was that I was signing with Sandy so I already knew I was going to have a great time 🙂 Lot of fans, old friends, and in the end, sore feet 🙂
Sandy and I hit Arden after for a late night dinner… Almost considered hitting a club after until we realized that we were totally beat and should sleep! A few years back I would’ve asked ‘What’s sleep’? Guess i got smarter (read older!)
This week AVN starts on Wednesday. I’m signing for 3 days and Sandy is coming here to do make-up, so I’m obviously excited that I get to see and hang with her again! Here is one of her dogs, Snoopy and Simba the giant cat!
Been exhausted after the LA trip, but there’s always energy for pickleball 🙂
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Need to do some more work, but here’s some pics I’ve gotten from shoots I’ve done…
And last, but not least, Hunter! King of the castle!
OK, back to work! Got some fun plans for this week?
This post took longer to write than I expected. It was supposed to be ready on New Years Eve, but I got sidetracked hahhaaa… But here is a little recap of 2024 🙂
Overall it was a great year with travel, moving, and feels like I got a good dose of adventure and experiences…
In January I went to Tepoztlán with some friends. It’s a small town about an hour from Mexico City. I love that place and they believe aliens made a visit there at some point. Never spotted any even though I wanted to 🙁
In February I visited La Paz which is the capital of Baja California Sur. A cute town and best part was snorkeling with whale sharks. And my giant Margarita 🙂
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Also got to go to the big yearly art show Zonamaco in Mexico City with my Swedish friend Sanna. I love art shows…
Apparently I became a carrothead too. Not a huge success if I look back at it hahhaaaa….
Changed back to blond pretty fast 🙂
In March I found a photography school and started taking lessons. So much fun and it’s rewarding practicing a semi new skill 🙂
Traveled to Japan for a wedding. I met Nick & Annie when living in Puerto Rico. It was one of the fanciest weddings I’ve been to 🙂
Stayed after the wedding in Japan visiting Kyoto and Hakone. Too crowded in Kyoto for my liking, but I can see the charm if you would visit when there are less tourists…
Really enjoyed Hakone. The hot spring spa and nature there…
I also booked a room at a love hotel in Tokyo and did a shoot, had some of the best sushi, a fun night at the Muscle girl bar and visited a pig cafe 🙂
One of the highlights this year was going back to Mycelia Retreat in Jamaica. Invited my writer/journalist friend Cyril from Sweden. It was my most powerful mushroom trip to this day and I went through every kind of emotion, but what a reset! I hope to revisit 2025…
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In June I decided 3 years in Mexico was amazing but it’s time to go back to the US. Having a bit of a hoarder mentality it took some time to get rid of almost everything and it was hard to say goodbye to friends… Also spent the last 2 nights sleeping on the floor since I got rid of all the furniture hahahahaa… But I see a visit back in 2025 to visit them all again 🙂
Hunter got prepped with his papers and practiced going outside in his carrier and then his flight carrier. He was such a champ handling the whole trip from Mexico to Utah!
July was spent in Utah. I missed the nature and clean air while in Mexico so took full advantage of Utah…
Utah is where I first encountered pickleball and now I’m hooked!
Flew to Vegas and got my hands full with Tyler Faith. Maybe that’s when the idea of living in Vegas was born?
Also flew to Sweden for my yearly hike with my sister. Longest hike we’ve done so far, 7 days, 6 nights AND we made it up Kebnekaise. Definitely top 3 of 2024!!!
2 of my best friends had their 50th birthdays too which got celebrated!
In August I packed the car and moved to Vegas…
September was spent exploring what Vegas has to offer. Reunited with friends from back in the day, found great hikes, celebrated my birthday and a gym with pickleball! I’m loving it here and Hunter is very happy too as long as the neighbors cat Ocean keeps a paws distance 🙂
Finished off October with Halloween…
In November I had a looooot of shoots with fun people 🙂 Even made it out to LA, Nelson’s Ghost Town twice and got taped for the first time which was really cool…
Tried new hikes. Happy I have friends who enjoy hiking as much as I do 🙂
My sister came to visit and we did Vegas and LA. I love that I’m so close to my extended family and wifey Sandy now that I love in Vegas 🙂
And Masha from Russia paid a short visit too. Met her when I lived in Puerto Rico 🙂
Finally December and there was some christmas prepping to be done as yo can see in the previous posts so I’m not going to bore you with those pics again 🙂 My holidays were great. I got some relaxation in, I guess I’ve been pretty good since I got a lot of presents hehheeee… Hunter got presents too obviously and he is spoiled year around whether he behaves or. not hahhaaaa…
Everyone here recommended the show ‘Absinthe’ and I finally got to see it. Wow, it was so good! Funny, incredible acts and now I’m looking into taking lessons in roller skating because this couple looked so cool doing their act with roller skates. It was so fast paced and that they manages to stay on stage without just impressed the shit out of me! If you get the chance, see the show!
Did a mushroom trip and it was great 🙂
Didn’t have any plans for New Years Eve other than wanting some outdoor access. Went hiking with Angel and it was an easy hike and I always feel so good after being in nature!
Ordered lobster & crab nachos for dinner and watched the movie Small Engine Repair. It was pretty good 🙂
How were your Holidays? Any goals/plans for 2025? I’ still figuring mine out and fine tuning them. But some things I’ve been thinking about and on my bucket list are:
-visit Vietnam and Iceland
-try a new experience every month, like rollerblading, shows in Vegas, rage room, grow shrooms, race car driving, new recipes and the list goes on.
-having eyelid surgery
-yearly hike with my sister
-add more mindfulness into my life like yoga and meditation… So far I’ve done short meditations every day, but it’s haaaaard with my brain being all over the place hahhaaaa…
I’ll probably be adding to the list, but this is some of it 🙂
I hope your year has been off to a fabulous start! I’m off to LA next week for work and see to see my wifey Sandy 🙂
Last Sunday I thought I might as well go get that Xmas tree. Said and done!
Do you have a tree up yet? I just need some presents under mine now… Lmk if you need my address to send me some 🙂
On Monday I went to the gym with Kayla. So much fun going with a friend. She did so good that she deserved a spanking after hahahhaaa…
After she took me to a thrift store and showed me a cool pirate bar 🙂
Dropped her off at her house and had to say hi to her cats. Look at the little T Rex legs on the dark one. Sooo cute!!!!
Shot some ‘stuff’ LOL…
On Tuesday I went to get some fat and Botox injected. Angel was nice to come with me since I really don’t like needles. As we say in Swedish “vill man vara fin får man lida pin“. Kind of translating to ‘if you want to look nice, you have to suffer a bit…’. I never had laughing gas and when they offered it to me I quickly accepted. Didn’t make me laugh so much, but felt a bit light headed and the needles didn’t feel so bad!
On Wednesday we took one of Angel’s dogs to the veterinarian because she wasn’t herself. Turns out she probably just pulled a muscle or something, so thankfully nothing serious. They are spoiled at the same level as Hunter 🙂
We tried a new coffee shop, Savor Coffee, and it was good!
Had a pickleball lesson outdoors. I love it, but get so frustrated when I miss or hit bad. I want 1 lesson, OK make it 2 max, and then I want to be a full blown pro!
Very important – Finland’s Independence Day was on Friday!!!
On Friday night it was time to catch up with Ava Devine. I’ve known her for a very long time and I love her! There are some crazy fun stories about our shenanigans in my book too. She had made tacos and the only picture I got was us being us hahahaaaa…
I had a shoot booked for yesterday. Got a text in the morning that the other girl had to cancel. Luckily Kayla could replace her. It was a cat fight video. I shot a cat fight with Kayla many years ago and she’s not messing around! We had a blast and I was exhausted after wrestling her around hahahaaa…
We went to a shop after without cleaning our faces and people took a detour around hahahaaa… I also stopped at Petco to get Hunter some treats and a store worker asked if I was OK? I said I got beat up, but then had to tell the truth that it was all make up…
And Hunter? He is keeping a watchful eye on what decorations the neighbours are putting up and I think he approves of this snowman 🙂
Other than that he mostly likes to cosy it up. He might be hibernating part time…
Tomorrow I’m going working out with Ava. Also plan to practice more pickleball! Have a couple of fun shoots next week and then we’ll just have to see what else comes along 🙂
Monday is a great day, because if you fuck it up, you still have 6 days to try to make the week better! There you go, some Puma wisdom for you! Now go and have a great week 🙂
Started the week by decorating Angel’s Xmas tree. I love Christmas and all the decorations and lights!
I tried decorating one of her dogs too, but she wasn’t as enthusiastic as I was 🙁
On Wednesday I had an interview with a Swedish radio channel. Because of the time difference, it was at 05.45 in the morning! I was barely awake until it was over hahahaaa… It was about me and Cyril’s experiences with mushrooms in Jamaica. Needless to say, I went back to bed after…
A lot of shooting and catching up with custom requests…
How was your Thanksgiving? On Wednesday I was invited to a Swedish guy’s house, Mattias, and his girlfriend Shay. Very nice couple and met some more Swede’s there and other fun people. In Sweden we drink ‘snaps’, but we substituted that for some Tequila shots 🙂
On actual Thanksgiving I went to Angel’s house. Had to pop by Costco for some stuff for my Swedish dessert I made and it was pretty loco there… I kind of got stuck in the candy section for too long!
We had fried turkey. First time trying that and it was delicious. Another super nice evening with great company 🙂 Left looking like I was 4 months preggo!
On Friday Angel and I shot with the great photographer Dean Capture. He shot me in like 2010 and he was as great now as back then! The shoot was Christmas themed and the video is hilarious! Some BTS pics. I have a tendency to insert myself in almost every shot hahhaaa…
We looked like 2 clowns after with our red lipstick covering half our faces! I believe that if you have naughty fun, it should show!
Hunter is not too impressed with the colder weather and spends most of his time on his heated blanket 🙂 He loves when I make little blanket covers for him that he can sleep under…
Here are some more pics from last weekend when we shot with Tyler in the ghost Town and at the party…
Been skipping the gym and going to go now. Way too many treats and I like the feeling of being drained of energy after. Next week I’m getting some fat injections in my face and hopefully I won’t bruise too much since I have a couple of shoots! Plan to get a Christmas tree too and decorate it. I already have Hunters sock ready 🙂
That’s about it…. Glad Första Advent to all the Scandinavians here and to the rest of you, Happy Dec 1st!
So much fun stuff happened so didn’t have time to check in here 🙂 A couple of weeks ago the Swedish girl Catherine took me hiking. We went to a trail called the Late Night Trailhead. Easy hike and great views. Got great Vegas tips from her and hopefully we’ll go bowling next 🙂
Put in some work hours before my sister arrived here in Vegas 🙂
Finally it was time for my sister Jaana to arrive! But Angel arrived earlier from a trip so I picked her up first. I have an ex who was so disappointed that I didn’t meet him inside the airport with a welcome sign (he’d been gone for a week) and only pulled up with the car outside. I made more effort this time and texted Angel that her driver was here, WITH a sign, to collect her…
We had time to take her dogs to the park before my sister landed…
My sister arrived in one piece and I’m not sure if she was more excited to meet Hunter or me. She used to have 2 cats. Hunter seemed happy the next morning to have a new person to get attention from 🙂
Showed her around the town the first day and we did some shopping. Had to break for some food at one point. She got me this awesome Fjällräven shirt 🙂
Had a pickleball lesson at night so I put her in one of the massage chairs and showed her where the sauna is so she could chill while I worked on my ball skills…
We drove out to the Valley Of Fire one day and took Angel with us. It’s about an 1h and 20 min drive out there and so worth it! Beautiful rock formations and in parts it’s like walking on a soft sandy beach.
I found this rock and I don’t know anyone sees what I see? If you do it just proves that great (or dirty) minds think alike hahahaa…
One night we hit the strip. There are full preparations going on for the F1 races coming up… Will stay as far away as possible from the area next week as it will be loco!
Catherine the Swedish girl recommended this speakeasy bar called the Ski Lodge. Such a cool bar. All decorated in the theme and great cocktails! Mine was called Noche Buena with Don Julio tequila, gajillo, abuelita hot chocolate, peanut, allspice, cinnamon, milk and topped with marshmallows. Sounded too weird not to try and it was sooo good! And then we made smores at the bar. The bar is inside Cosmopolitan and I totally recommend a visit there! Thanks for the tip Catherine 🙂
Stopped by Bellagio and they are prepping their Xmas decorations. They had this amazing Xmas store and if someone feels like sending me muchosdeniro, I will go back and buy half the store!
We both like shiny things, but ended up with matching sweaters 🙂
Angel also treated to us what I now think is the greatest pizza place in Vegas – Settebello. I had a pizza with housemade jalapeno pear marmalade, spicy salami, red basil, mozzarella and parmigiano. Wow, wow, wow! My mouth is watering just writing this. And for dessert we had a Nutella pizza. We pretty much rolled out there!
Jaana smothered Hunter one last time and then we jumped in the car and drove to LA.
Checked in to our hotel and met up Sandy with the kids at The Grove. I used to go there all the time when I lived in LA…
Sandy then took us for dinner at Arden. It’s a pretty new restaurant with a cool vibe and great food. I finished my pizza with truffles before I had time to take a picture of it! The truffle pasta was also delicious! Oh, and the waiter told us that Jennifer Lopez sat at our table a couple weeks ago. Wonder if they will tell Jennifer, that Puma Swede sat at her table if she comes back? Hahhaaa…
They also have a speakeasy called Society Club where a magician performs magic tricks. I didn’t want to f*ck up his tricks by flashing a pic of him so I flashed the bartender instead hahahaa…
In the front there’s a coffee shop that serves Sightglass Coffee. I appreciate when you get proper coffee and not some stale machine coffee 🙂
Ran around town the next day and popped by one of my favorite coffee shops, Adante Coffee. At night we watched the Jake vs Tyson fight at Sandy’s house. Did you guys watch it? I was mostly impressed by Jake’s million dollar shorts!
Yesterday we checked out of the hotel and went to Sandy’s. I had promised her kids a bake off contest. We went shopping for ingredients and then the contest started. The kids had found a recipe on TikTok and made chocolate souffles. 2 ingredients only, eggs and Nutella. They were so good and I’m impressed that they pulled them off! Me and Jaana made what I think is a Swedish dessert called Gino. You mix bananas, blueberries, kiwi, strawberries and raspberries (which we forgot) in an oven safe form. Then put white chocolate on top that melts in the oven. Throw on some mint leaves and voila… Oh, serve it with vanilla ice cream too. So easy and I always eat it in Sweden if the restaurant has it. I think the kids won. Maybe…
The kids also made up this game for us that we played and I won! The game was obviously right up my alley with the ‘poop’ pieces you played with hahhaaa…
After we went for a little hike. I could’ve used a nap but kids have unlimited amount of energy I’ve learned…
After that it was time to say by to my LA family and drop my sister off at LAX. Always a bit sad and feels so empty when you been hanging 24/7 🙁 I decided to hit the road after and drive back to Vegas. I love driving at night when there’s barely any other people on the road.
Left overs…
Been catching up today and went for a quick walk in the Red Rocks. Shooting some kind of commercial tomorrow all day. On Tuesday I get to practice my shooting skills and shooting some friends with a photographer 🙂 Got a shoot on Friday and Saturday and also my friend ‘Masha from Russia’ is popping by Vegas, I met her in Puerto Rico and haven’t seen her in ages. Going to be so much fun!!!! Now Hunter and I are going to watch some TV before bed 🙂
Me & Angel went out to buy some Halloween decorations. When we parked in the parking lot a lady pulls up in her car and says there is a man with a knife running around and we should get back in the car. Then all of a sudden cop cars come and people point to the back of the parking lot where the guy supposedly was. The guy threw the knife away and people were filming. A cop walked by us after a couple of minutes and we asked if they caught the guy and they had. OK, safe to go shopping 🙂
Hit Costco too to buy some candy for the kids and looked at Christmas trees. I’m thinking these 2… My mom & dad are cringing in heaven, because we would never have a fake tree in our house when I was a kid. That’s just not Christmas-sy they said! Sorry….
Me and Kayla had a Live Show online together. I love her cats. I didn’t get the full pic of ths darker one, but he has T-Rex legs. They are short stumps and it’s so cute!
My Halloween costume was Deadpool. Had to go back to Costco because I realized I needed more than candy, but while there, I got more candy hahhaaa….
I sat outside on the lawn at night handing out candy. Hunter was very happy to greet the kids and he was a bigger success than the candy… The neighbor across the street had an amazing set up in his garage and upstair window that projected horror images and sounds.
Tried a new hairdresser and I guess I’m a brunette now 🙂 It’s just a toner so I’ll be back to blond in a bit. Or maybe not. I’m kind of liking it for a change…
For some reason I’ve been feeling pretty tired and lethargic this week. Hunter likes it because there was a lot of relaxing and napping together 🙂
I also found this heated blanket at Costco and Hunter loves it!
Got the pictures from my and Angel’s shoot with Greg. There are so many great ones. He is such a fantastic photographer and made us look fabulous. A couple of favorites are these BTS pics he took of me when I was creeping on Angel. Will show more when I’ve picked out a few 🙂
Had to get some stuff for the house so dragged Angel along yesterday, She has 4 dogs and they are so funny and looooove attention as much as Hunter. They are just as spoiled too!
Came in contact with a Swedish girl here in Vegas through this blog. Today we went hiking at the Late Night Trailhead. An easy hike and nice scenery. She also gave me great tips on shows, bars and more here in Vegas. Bowling is next on our list 🙂 Pics to come…
At the end of next week my sister is coming to visit and I plan to work a lot before she comes so we can make the most of our time together when she’s here 🙂 We’re also popping by LA.
Leave you with a filtered selfie and a pic of Hunter in his stroller for one of his walks.
I ate way too many spring rolls on the way home and my stomach is complaining. Going to grab Hunter and stretch my belly out on the couch and watch Terriers or something. Hope you had a great weekend and wishing you a fabulous upcoming week!
Yesterday I went hiking with a friend and then wrote this post. We attempted this 11.5 mile/18.5 km loop hike in the Red Rocks. The first part was among the rocks and it’s so beautiful. Even found Petroglyphs (incised, pecked, or scratched images). I only know they are called this because there was a sign LOL…
A snack break in the shade of the rocks…
Left too late and thought we could handle the heat, but realized we had to make a shortcut. The shortcut wasn’t much better because it was straight under the sun with no shade. I still enjoyed it, but think I’ll do the whole loop next month when it cools down 🙂
The heat took it out of me and I wasn’t able to accomplish much after that. Now I’m sitting with my morning coffee, writing, and ready to take on this week 🙂 Hunter is in position too…
First some BTS pics from last weekends shoot with Tyler Faith, Kayla Paige, Veronica Avluv and Angel Dark. It was such a fun day because they are all super fun and cool!
My favorite photo being of Angel showing me what’s she eats. Just meat!
I really like the gym. My favorite is hitting the relaxation section after and now I found these massage chairs. They are always taken and I finally found one that was free when I was done with my workout. You can choose which area you want massaged, time, pressure etc. I went straight for the maximum and the chair gets heated too. Took about 5 minutes until everything was itching from the heat and blood flow. Had to turn it down to half the power and then it was a bit more relaxing hahhaaaa….
I seriously love going to Costco! I can’t believe that they already have a whole section with Christmas decorations. And of course since it’s America, it’s got to be BIG! There was a fake 4 meter tall Xmas tree. Or this huge lit up teddy bear. I love all of this and could cover my whole place with stuff like this, but I’m too lazy to then take it down. For those who read my blog for a while you know that I had a Xmas tree in Puerto Rico that was up year around for 2 years because I just couldn’t be bothered taking it down hahahaaa….
I am planning to get one of those Advent Calendars above though! Can’t buy it yet because I’d eat it within a week!
Also found Swedish meatballs. Don’t like store bought ‘balls’ because homemade ones are just so much better. But I did buy chanterelles and made this delicious sauce of cream, onion, parsley and chanterelles. Yummy!
Tried a new hairdresser. I think I will try another one for next time. Not much of a difference…
Got some birthday presents and flowers sent to me 🙂 Someone obviously knows how much I love Hunter and got him this stroller 🙂 Planning on putting it together today and test-strolling 🙂
Shot the usual stuff…
Finished reading Count of Monte Cristo and The Plea: A Novel (Eddie Flynn Book 2). Both very good books and would recommend them.
Hunter? Well, he’s living life with no complaints. He does look a bit chunky in the last pic, but let’s say it’s the angle…
Other than that, visited the farmers market, took a walk.
Today I’m joining a beginners class in pickleball, wohoooo! I’m also shooting with Brittany Andrews on Friday which I’m very excited about. Other than that I will just have to see what the week brings along 🙂 How about you?
OK, I’ve been working on this post for days, but stuff just kept coming up. Time flies when you’re having fun 🙂 2 weeks and a couple days in Vegas now and loving it! Met friends from back in the day, found the perfect gym and great coffee places, turned a year older, did a photography meetup, and visited the Red Rocks…
Usually when I move the priorities are to find a gym and great coffee… I tried out a gym called Smash Fitness for a week and it was great. Pointing out my crotch sweat after a workout hahhaaa…
In the end I signed up at LifeTime Fitness. It’s a 3 story gym and they have an indoor and outdoor pool, pickleball, squash, basketball courts, sauna and a multitude of classes. There is a whole relaxation area with massage chairs and the air-leg-things that you can use for free. Oh, they also have a beauty salon, co-working space and a food bar.
As for coffee my favorite places so far is Vesta for working, Mothership at the Summerlin Mall and Yaw. At Yaw I look forward to trying a 4 espresso shot coffee drink and saving up money to buy their “Gesha Clouds” roast – 100gr, $32…
Even though I want to keep running around exploring my new hood, some work needs to be accomplished 🙂
Everyone knows that it’s good to have some balance in your life, so after work comes fiesta 🙂 My birthday was on Friday the 13th. On Thursday I got together with Kayla Paige and Veronica Avluv at Durango Casino & Resort. Later Angel Dark and others joined us. So fun, I’ve known them all since when I lived in LA. They are all cool, fun, and with a great sense of humor. I don’t get along with people who have no humor… Or that don’t understand mine which sometimes is a bit weird hahahaa…
It all started well behaved, but some of us couldn’t keep it together for too long hahhaaaa….
On my actual birthday I didn’t do too much. Chilled with Hunter, ordered French Toast for breakfast, went to the gym and then just watched a bunch of episodes of ‘The Bear’. Hunters favorite spot is close and under my butt!
Hunter actually prefers movies with hot chicks!
On Sunday a friend took me to Red Rocks. WOW! It’s so cool there and it’s a bit outer space-y. There are a lot of different trails out there so will definitely explore the area more!
Every 1st Friday of the month, they have an event in Downtown Vegas with food trucks, street vendors and art stuff. There was a photography meetup happening there at the same time, so I signed up. Met some fun people and the event was pretty cool too…
Here’s you dose of Hunter. The funniest thing is he discovered that in the house across the street, there lives another orange cat. They’ve been eyeballing each other from across the street almost daily. Today, they approached closer to each other. They even sat under the same car, but they haven’t like bumped noses or whatever it is cats do. I hope Ocean (the neighbor cats’ name) and Hunter are going to be buddies 🙂
And here’s a mixed bag of everything else. By the way, I love having a bathtub again!
For my Swedish readers, here are links to a couple of Podcasts and a car interview I did while I was in Sweden 🙂
That’s it for now. I have so much more fun stuff coming up. Also I did such a fun shoot on Sunday and it was so hot that I’m still recovering from it hahahaa… Tell you about it on my next post 🙂
OK, go out there and be fabulous because why would you do anything else?
OK, here is the post about our hike. Writing this and going through the photos again brings back so many fun memories from along the trail. This time we trekked the most northern part of the King’s Trail or Kungsleden as it’s called in Swedish.
We flew up to Kiruna at 8.25 am and it was a short flight.
From the airport we took a taxi to the Abisko Tourist Station where the trail starts. You can obviously hike it the other way around too, but we chose to start in Abisko. We had planned to eat lunch at the Tourist Station, but it was so packed and crowded with people finishing up the weeklong Fjällräven Classic. We bought a couple of sandwiches in the shop and took off…
You start by passing the Canyons which had this super clear turquoise water.
All along the trail there are meditation spots, and this one had a stone with a quote by Dag Hammarskjöld.
The sun came out and we took a short snack break. Our favorite – knäckebröd (crisp bread) with smoked reindeer spread and some salami.
Seeing the mountain cabin after a days hike is always rewarding. Even though it usually looks pretty close, it’s almost always at least an hours hike away.
This cabin had a store and even though they sold a lot of other stuff, they had a whole refrigerator dedicated to beer hahahaaa…
This mountain cabin is called Abiskojaure and us being Finns, we obviously appreciated them having a sauna! Usually the first hour is a mixed hour with men and women, then women, and lastly men. Almost everyone is naked and you chat about your day on the trail and where people are from. A lot of foreigners… They had a sandy beach and it’s perfect to cool off in between! Not a bad backdrop either…
After the sauna and dinner we pretty much crashed in bed. Great first day. First day’s stage Abisko – Abiskojaure, 15km.
Usually my sister and I are the first ones up. We usually awoke between 05.30 and 06.00. We prefer to just have a cup of coffee and then head out.
We usually hiked about 1,5 – 2 hours and then picked a spot to have breakfast at. I usually ate a porridge. You just need to boil water, pour it in the bag, let it sit for 8 min and then enjoy 🙂 It was pretty windy and sometimes a bit of a drizzle so this big boulder offered some shelter.
It was a long stretch in the valley next to this lake. The wind increased so I had to use my scarf as cover.
On this stage there is an option to take a boat on the final stretch. It cuts your hiking 4km shorter. When we reached the boat dock, it started raining pretty hard and about 6 people sat in the boat house waiting to take the boat. We decided that we’re here to hike, so that’s what we’ll do! We did question our decision a couple of times when it poured down and the wind was almost blowing us off the trail.
Here the rain and wind quieted down and we could snap a couple of beach pics hahhaaa…
Finally reached Alesjaure mountain cabin pretty soaked. But all the rooms usually have a furnace so we lit it and warmed up. Also great for drying your clothes.
This place also had a sauna by the lake- yeayyyyy! They had stairs going down to the stream below so you could go take a dip. Here we met a Japanese woman who never took a sauna before. Us Finn’s obviously gave her the run down and I took her skinny dipping in the stream too 🙂
The 2nd day’s stage was between Abiskojaure – Alesjaure, 21km. Pretty beat and hoped for better weather for the next day!
3rd day Alesjaure – Tjäktja – Sälka, 26km, We decided to do 2 stretches on our 3rd day and skip a night stay at Tjäktja. But first, quality coffee from Verve with a candle light 🙂
Beautiful morning to start our 3rd day…
It was a loooong day. We took breaks, snacked and drank coffee and hot chocolate. Finally saw some reindeers too 🙂
We passed the highest spot on Kungsleden – Tjäktjapasset, 1150 meter above sea level. It was a long stretch of stones and rocks and then a climb to get up there. We took a break at a small hut up on the top (if you look closely you can see a tiny hut in the ‘dip’ between the mountains) before hiking down to this valley that was so much prettier and greener…
I’m not going to lie, we were pretty exhausted and very happy when we finally spotted the Sälka mountain cabin!
To our surprise they had a sauna here too so we just threw in our backpacks and hit the sauna. Felt amazing after the long day.
Normally we book a room with 2 bunk beds. It was busy here so we had a bunk bed in a room with 6 bunk beds. Pretty tight, but everyone is respectful of the space, so it wasn’t a problem…
Per usual we enjoyed our coffee in the empty kitchen/common room by ourselves…
Luckily our 4th day was a shorter hike. From Sälka to Singi, 12km.
Beautiful morning and we found a great spot by the water to enjoy our breakfast at.
Even found some Cloudberries. I think I wrote about them before too. They only grow up in the north and are called ‘skogens guld’, the gold of the forest. They are so tasty and the jam made of these is expensive. Later we also found a spot with a lot of blueberries 🙂
Made it to Singi. No sauna here, but a lot of nice people that we met along the trail, so we spent the evening chatting while eating dinner and snacking,
The 5th day was also an easier day from Singi to Kebnekaise, 15km. Started our day with spotting some reindeers. Otherwise it was a pretty cold and foggy day.
We finally came down to a valley and the weather cleared up some. We found a spot and took a snack break. Pretty much had to throw our stuff back in the backpacks because 5 min after the picture was taken it rained. The weather changes fast up there…
The last stretched was mixed with some rain, wind and finally when reaching the Kebnekaise mountain cabin the sun decided to make an appearance.
Kebnekaise mountain cabin is a big place. Understandably since a lot of people come here to climb Kebnekaise. We booked dinner at the restaurant and had some wine and beer. It was a nice treat after eating freeze-dried food for five days 🙂 The risotto was delicious and I think I ate about half of a loaf of bread too hahahaa…
Checked the forecast for the next day. Some days you can’t go to the top of Kebnekaise since the weather is not permitting it. But luckily on that Tuesday when we planned to go up it looked good!
So finally on our 6th day it was time to do Kebnekaise, Sweden’s highest mountain. We were ready to head out at 6am. Wanted to have plenty of time. A few others headed out too. Beautiful morning! We opted for the southern peak via the western trail. If you do the northern peak, you needed to do it with a guide.
We had to start taking clothes off and soon as the climb started. It’s “only” 8 km to the top, but it’s almost all uphill you climb on loose rocks and boulders which makes it feel a lot longer.
Up, up and up. A lot of short breaks and pauses. After this mountain there was a steep descent down to ‘Kaffedalen’.
The weather rapidly changed and a thick fog came in. From ‘Kaffedalen’ it started to climb again. This is actually from where you start climbing Kebnekaise. The first mountain and climb is just a taste of what’s to come 🙂 We were so focused on climbing and making it up so we forgot to take pics going up here until we reached the old ‘topp stugan’ or the old safety/summit cabin. You can see how dense the fog was. We decided to pop our Champagne here 🙂
A Finnish lady entered the cabin so we got to chat some Finnish. She said it was another 20-30 min to the top, then another 50m with snow where you needed spikes for your shoes to be able to go. It was foggy up there too and no view she said. We decided this was high enough and started our descend. This was what we saw when we started our return.
But as we got further down it cleared up a bit. This here is ‘Kaffedalen’ and you’re officially down from Kebnekaise. From there you go uphill and it was pretty slow going at this point hahahaa…
But we were in good spirits and took one last break with apple crumble pie and hot chocolate to have energy for the last stretch.
It took us 5h to climb up and 7h to come down and back. It was a hard day and we’re happy we did it! We hit the sauna and showers after and then had dinner before crashing in bed. A tip might be to start the trail the other way around than we did, and be more rested before climbing Kebnekaise.
7th and last day. Hiking to Nikkaluokta, 19km. There was also an option to take a boat on this stretch too that would shorten your hike by 6km. We wanted to enjoy our last day outdoors so we hiked.
Guess how happy we wore when we found out that there was a cafe where the boat picked up and dropped off hikers? We went inside and I had a waffle with whipped cream and cloudberry jam. SOOOOO GOOOOD! The place is called Enoks and they also have reindeer and elk burgers which looked super tasty too.
The last part of the trail was super easy walking. It felt like fall was coming up in the north. It was beautiful and we finally arrived to Nikkaluokta.
From there we took the bus back to Kiruna airport and then a short flight back to Stockholm. I guess I was pretty tired hahahaaa…
A total of 128 km hikes with Kebnekaise included. My backpack weighted 10kg when we started. Most of it was food. The stores at the mountain cabins sell food, but I’m picky and want to eat good, so I brought all my food with me. I will remember this adventure with my sister forever. Thanks for the company and memories sis!
OK, that was that about the hike. And now to Vegas 🙂 I have been here for a week and one day today. Love it here so far. Hopefully I can get a post up during the week about the past week here. Hunter is very happy too 🙂 Met some friendly neighbors and signing up at a gym next week. Tomorrow I’m having coffee with a friend I knew in LA long time ago, but she also lives in Vegas now. Oh, and my birthday is on Friday too wohooo! Oh, I’ve been a week without smoking too 🙂
How was your week? Or/and got something fun happening this upcoming week?
Sorry for not being on here for 3 weeks, but Sweden got busy and I thought I’d write it each week, but then 3 weeks flew by…
OK, the biggest thing that happened during that time was the yearly hike up north in Sweden with my sister. We made it up Kebnekaise which is Sweden’s highest mountain. So cool and a bit impressed by us! A separate post about the hike and climb is coming too.
I had to take a look in my calendar to remember everything I did. I landed in Stockholm on a Friday and didn’t get my luggage when I got to Stockholm. No worries, went home and had friends over for dinner and drinks 3h later 🙂 No time to waste…
On Saturday I didn’t hear anything about my lost luggage and had a dinner and party planned so had to head out to look for an outfit. Like always when you ‘just-have-to’ find something, you find nada! I scrambled an outfit together from my sister’s closet and out we went! These people are no amateur party goers so it was a great (and late) night out 🙂
Got my bag on Sunday and jet lagged some…
During the week I met more friends, family, and recorded some more stuff for an upcoming podcast that me and Cyril recorded while we were shrooming in Jamaica. For some obvious reasons some stuff we recorded in Jamaica was a bit ‘not clear’ hahhaaaa…
Met with one of Sweden’s most beloved people – Mark Levengood. He always wears great jewelry and bling so we blinged up together. These pieces come from Pearl Octopuss.y and they have such cool pieces!
Also bought all we needed for our hike. Mostly food but also got a mosquito net for my head. Not this one as it felt a bit overkill…
After a week in Stockholm we flew up to Kiruna and hiked for a week. But like I said, more about that in the next post.
No time to rest after the hike. Had lunch with these gorgeous people and talked about maybe doing something fun together in the future. I love meeting creative people and Anna is an amazing photographer and Patricia a casting agent among other things…
Straight from there to record another podcast. After I called a friend and dragged her to one of my favorite cafes in Stockholm – Älskade Traditioner, to finally eat some meatballs. I actually ate meatballs there the next day too because you can’t get enough ‘balls”… On a side note, when my mom was alive, she always made meatballs for me as soon as I got to Sweden.
Also did a health exam in Stockholm at a place called Neko Health Center. It’s some high tech machinery that scans your whole body, other scanners for other parts, measuring different things and a blood test. Long story short, I had ‘optimal’ and ‘great’ values mostly, but obviously was told that I should quit smoking. No shit! (today is my 2nd day without cigarettes).
One of my best friends in Sweden, Linda, decided to put together a delayed 50th birthday celebration. It was held in a double decker where previously some hippies had lived. Such an amazing bus and I could totally see myself drive around in it like the Merry Pranksters in case you are familiar with them 🙂 I even have the acid! It was a 70’s themed party…
The location is a bit on the countryside so one of the guests had pigs in the woods that we went to see…
And Jorgen proudly showed off some creepy faces he bought. Things got weird hahhaaaaa….
Next day it was another of my great friends who threw a 50th birthday celebration. I’ve known Karina for over 30 years and we share a lot of fun and crazy memories together. I hope we will have another 30 years at least to make new memories even though I hope they are a bit more of a mature nature hahahaaa…
I slept over and the next day we had lunch at Elfviks Gård. Such a cool place. Like a farm with some cute stores, animals and a cafe.
From there it was a short drive to Ellery Beach House where we checked in. We did the same thing last year. Heated outdoor pools, saunas, swimming in the ocean and finishing off with a 3-course dinner. There might of been a couple of cocktails and wine too…. And my favorite, breakfast buffet in the morning!
The room was a bit tight and we joked that one could get stuck between the bed and the wall. I shot a little video clip and when I’m going to wiggle myself out of there I somehow fall sideways on the floor. And would’ve been stuck unless Karina hadn’t pulled me up while laughing her ass off! This could’ve resulted in a lawsuit in the US LOL 😉
After checking out we drove to her horse to check on him. Karina and I met when we were hanging at the stables as youngsters. I really love being around horses…
From there we headed into town where I had to find an outfit for the next days’ party which was a restaurant opening for a friend. The theme was pink party. Luckily I have a friend who designs great outfits for events, artists, etc. and he helped me. I like the purple one and had to try it on even though it’s not pink. I ended up with the first dress but asked them to make it shorter and less ladylike hahahaaa…
Got my hair washed and blown out the day of the party.
In Mexico I became friends with a Swedish artist, Sanna Fried and she has moved out of Mexico too and back to Sweden. Took her to my go to cafe in Stockholm – Lisas Grabb. Always get some fat & carbs in you before a party!
The party the next day was so much fun! If you are in Stockholm and need a great place to eat, try Restaurang Art. Cool artsy interior design, great food and drinks.
I had to give-up early since I had an Uber booked for 03.45am the next morning. This was because I decided spontaneously I should live in Las Vegas. Lease signed, virtual tour, and as of yesterday I live in Vegas 🙂 Viva Las Vegas! A friend drove and Hunter was a bit stressed at first, but then chilled the rest of the trip 🙂
I really like our new place. My goal was to find a furnished place with outdoor access for Hunter. Will show some pics later when I manage to put some stuff away 🙂
Now heading to get groceries, then probably a nap and maaaaybe I can unpack 1 suitcase. Just maybe though… Here’s some leftovers from Sweden and a couple of days in Utah before Vegas…
Happy Labor Day tomorrow to all the gringos, and to the rest, enjoy your Monday 🙂
