Wouldn't It Be Random

Hi again!

Last week I went to a concert called the 'MTV EMA Preparty' hosted by MTV Denmark in Copenhagen. It was fun, although the show was much better last year. Anyway, this post isn't about the concert but about a little gift every visitor received after the show: 

The Music Angel Friendz speaker. 

When my two friends and I left the main room, I noticed some people handing out little boxes so I went to check it out. I saw then that it was a speaker but it wasn't until I got home before I realized how cool it actually was. I took some pictures:

This is what the little box contained:

The speaker, a tiny booklet, a cable to connect your phone or other digital device, a USB charging cable and a little bag to carry the speaker around in (very cute and quite handy for parties!).

Taking it out of the box, I was immediately impressed by the high quality feel and look of the speaker. I first connected my phone and then tried my Mac - it's great. The sound is much louder than on the devices and it's very clear; doesn't have that 'tin can' sound you often notice in other small speakers. So I am really impressed by this product and can definitely recommend it! This speaker is called 'Friendz' because you can connect an unlimited number of these little bad boys for an even bigger and better sound.

They also come in different colors and the bottom lights up in different colors, too. Blue when it is turned on, red when it's turned off and charging and purple when it's charging while turned on. According to the user manual, the battery has a playback time of 15 to 120 hours. I have only had mine for a few days but that sounds very promising. 

So far I'm really happy and I'd like to thank MTV Denmark and Music Angel for this cool little gift!

Hey again!

Yesterday was an amazing day. In fact, it was so nice that I want to write about it. As I said before, I’m in the middle of a really busy semester (the last one before the big thesis!) at grad school and have been reading and working a lot lately. So, yesterday, I took a whole day off and went to my favorite city, the best city ever, my city, my love - Copenhagen.

My friend Kirstine had asked me to go to a NOAH concert - a fantastic Danish band we have seen together twice before, so I bought a ticket a few weeks ago and started looking forward to my CPH - day.

So, I got on the bus - which is a great alternative to the train. It takes a lot longer but you can get a ticket for less than half the price of the train ticket - and arrived in Copenhagen 1.5 hours later.

My first mission was to find the nearest Matas shop, a Danish drug store which, as of yesterday, exclusively started selling a new beauty product line by yours truly Medina! Since I’m completely obsessed with her, of course I had to check out the products. The shop inside the main station had them but apparently the perfume tester had been stolen and the shop assistant said he couldn’t open another one for me. So I had to go on. I love Medina and the products looked amazing but I did want to smell the perfume first. Luckily, the next shop had testers and everything and I took my time checking everything out. I did like the perfume, but wasn’t 100% sure if it fit me so I decided to think about it and wait to see how the scent would develop on my skin throughout the day. So I ended up buying a beautiful smokey eyes - eyeshadow set in brown and a gold nail polish.

I tried the stuff out today and can honestly say I’m really impressed by their quality. I will definitely buy more next time I’m in Copenhagen! And the perfume’s scent did grow on me, so maybe I will buy it, too.

The eyeshadow palette is called ‘Butterflies’ and comes in shades of grey and black as well. The nail polish is called ‘Keep Me Hangin’ and my shade is #001 - Glam. It comes in three other colors. The texture of both is amazing and I’m really happy with my choice of colors. The lines also has a perfume, a deodorant, a mascara, a duo eyeliner in black/white and brown/white and lipstick in 4 different shades. Find everything here (Denmark only).

I was so excited to buy these that I ended up having the clerk wrap them as a present and then went on my second mission of the day - Serenity Cupcakes. I had stumbled upon the owner’s Instagram account a few weeks ago and have been dying to check it out. So I made my way up Strøget and on to Grønnegade and stepped into a small piece of heaven. The design, the smell of freshly baked cupcakes, the warm, hearty smile I got from the owner - I immediately knew I had found a new favorite spot! I bought a ‘Chocolate O’Dream’ cupcake (chocolate dough with an Oreo cookie inside, finished off with the most delicious cream cheese topping) and a few cute postcards and sat down at one of the tiny, pretty tables. The cupcake was just as incredible as it looks and I can’t wait to go back! (you can also see my ‘gift’ in the picture hehe)

After that, I strolled around the city, went for a walk by the lakes - another favorite spot of mine - and waited to meet up with Kirstine.

When she came, we went to Rådhuspladsen (the City Hall Square) to listen to a few new songs by Nik & Jay. In their cooperation with Samsung Denmark, they had huge billboards put up, where you can listen to 4 songs from their upcoming album ‘United’. All you have to do is use your phone’s NFC function or - for us iPhone users - scan a QR code. We had a lot of fun with that and the new songs are really cool.

Then we made our way to Vesterbro to watch NOAH play at Vega and it was - once again - really great. They are such talented guys and their music comes straight from the heart. Happy times.

The show was a great finish to a beautiful day and I feel like I went on a mini-holiday in my home away from home. Godnat København <3 — Chloe

PS: I edited the picture with the “A Beautiful Mess” app (for iPhone) which Sanni recommended to me. You can get it here.

UPDATE

Hi friends and followers! We apologize for the long silence but we've been swamped with work (Sanni) and grad school (Chloe) and thus haven't had time to write a post in a while. Hopefully now we can get the blog up and running again. Wouldn't it be random has awakened from its beauty sleep :-)

Today I took a day off from studying and decided to bake. Since I'm going to a friend's housewarming party tonight, I thought it would be nice to bring cookies and I was sure my roommates would appreciate them, too.  The whole house smelled amazing and since my roommates said they tasted great, I decided to write a quick post and share my recipes with you.

I checked out a few recipes online and came up with two that seemed like a good combination of ingredients. 

I made regular chocolate chip cookies and chocolate oat cookies. 

For the chocolate chip cookies, you need:

250 g unsalted butter or margarine

200 g brown sugar

175 g white sugar

2 eggs

375 g all-purpose flour

200 g chocolate chips or chunks (I put a bar of baking chocolate into our blender and chopped it into chunks)

a pinch of cinnamon (optional)

Soften the butter and stir in the sugars. Add the eggs and mix until blended. Next, add flour bit by bit and keep mixing until you have an even mass. Last, fold in half of the chocolate chips. Pour batter onto a baking sheet with a table spoon and bake on 175° C for approximately 12-16 minutes. The longer you bake them, the crunchier the cookies. 

Some pictures of the process:

For the chocolate oat cookies you need:

60 g unsalted butter or margarine

150 g rolled oats

50 g white or brown sugar

1 egg

15 g all-purpose flour

Melt the butter, stir in the oats and let cool. Meanwhile, mix eggs and sugar and beat until fluffy. Once the oat mix has cooled, add the egg-sugar-mix and stir in. Add the flour and chocolate chips, mix until all is blended and pour onto baking sheet with a table spoon. Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes. 

This is how mine turned out:

Hello again! Today I'd like to share one of my favorite recipes with you. It's a really cheap and simple detox lemonade and I make it every couple weeks.  Here's what you need

A chunk of fresh ginger

A lemon

A grater 

A pot of water

Kitchen paper towels and a carafe or teapot 

                    Here's what you do

Peel and grate (or cut) your ginger. I like that grating gives a more intense flavor but try it out and decide for yourself. If you try it for the first time and maybe aren't sure if you'll like the taste, take only a little ginger and cut it. 

Pour about 1 liter of water into a pot and throw your ginger mush in. Bring the mixture to a boil and while you wait, cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into your carafe. When your water is bubbling, let it continue for about a minute and then remove from the heat.  Put a few paper towels on top of your carafe and slowly pour the water through them. This way, the small bits of grated ginger won't end up in you lemonade. They won't do any harm, I just personally prefer to keep them out ;-)

Once you've poured everything, you're all set. You can drink it while it's hot (best tea ever!) or you can wait until it's cooled down. In the summer, I like to cool it down and drink it over lots of ice. 

It's super refreshing, delicious and healthy! Ginger has powerful anti - inflammatory compounds and it also helps boost your metabolism and immune system. This is how I had mine today (it's a rainy, chilly summer day so I went for the hot version). When I drink it as a tea, I sometimes like to add a little bit of honey as well.

Hey guys! We love Instagram, so we decided to add both our feeds to the blog to show you our latest snapshots!   This is us on Instagram. Follow us if you like :-)

                                               Sanni -- @SanniUpNDown                                   

                                                Chloe -- @ChloeMilan101                                                                           

It's manicure time again!

This time, I decided to try out something I have been dreaming about for months - caviar nails. I think Ciaté were the first ones to sell the tiny pearls a couple of months ago (or maybe OPI, I'm not sure...) and by now, some cheaper brands have followed suit.  As I said in my last post, I'm currently in Germany so I bought them at the drugstore for 2 bucks. The brand is called 'essence' and I like it because it's cheap and the quality is usually quite good. Quick note: I would not recommend their 'Colour & Go' nailpolish. I bought it a while ago in a beautiful mint shade and wasn't happy at all. First of all because the polish didn't spread evenly, so I had lighter patches on my nails and needed almost 4 coats on some. And, without a top coat, I got tip wear within one day! But, as it is the case with many (makeup) brands, I like some of their other products all the more. Their top coats 'Gel Look Top Coat' and 'Studio Nails Better than Gel Top Sealer' are really long-lasting and give great shine. I use them a lot!

Anyway, I bought the 'Effect Nails 3D Pearls' in #07 'Multicolored' because I was in the mood for a bubble gum - ish summer mani. So I painted my nails pink (p2 'Volume Gloss Gel Look Polish' in #060 - 'Happy Bride') and left my ring finger nails blank. When the other nails had dried, I applied one generous coat of pink polish onto the first accent nail and then poured the tiny 3D pearls onto the nail. As instructed, I pushed them down a little with my finger to make a smooth pearl surface. Then I let it dry and did the same on the other ring finger.  The result was great, I loved the feel of the caviar manicure and the bright colors in combination with the pink polish gave my mani a fresh, ice-creamy look.  BUT: Unfortunately, my happiness only lasted for about an hour. No kidding, I went to do some grocery shopping (and I didn't dig my hands into anything, I was actually being careful) and by the time I got back, my right accent nail had no more pearls on it while the left one still had about 7 sad ones sitting at the bottom of the nail. I was really bummed...the tiny pearls did leave shiny little dots on my nails (see last pic) which wasn't too bad because it looked ok enough for me to leave it that way for a few days but really, that was not what I had bought the pearls for. 

Even though I was pretty disappointed, I will give it another shot. The instructions did say you should pour the pearls on top of two layers of polish, so maybe it was my mistake to think one thick coat would be enough. I will post an update if it works any better. To be honest though, I don't think it will....lucky it was cheap.  Do you have any experience with caviar manicure? Maybe a more expensive brand like Ciaté or OPI? I'd love to hear if they work better, maybe it's worth spending a little bit more on.  -- Chloe

Hello again! 

Summer is in full swing and I'm enjoying it back home in Germany. The weather is perfect (much nicer than in Sweden) and I'm loving all the time I get to spend with family and friends. Here are some of the pictures I've taken over the past few weeks. 

Enjoy the summer!!

Favorite airport breakfast at Kastrup - Tunacado Sandwich and Joe's AMG juice (apple, mint, ginger). 

I just love flying. 

Coffee, manicure, gossip magazine - awesome!

Tried paella for the first time. And I loved it!

Playground time with my niece. I can fly!!

Love street art.

H&M finally has knuckle rings! So happy.

Summer cocktail

Summer outfit

My current favorite spot

Oh yeah, this happened. Heaven in a bucket.

Favorite summer color combo: pink and mint.

Some of this summer's first highlights from my part of the world :)

Göteborg harbor - took a little weekend trip here a few weeks ago. Pretty city!

Slottsskogen in Göteborg

A beautfiful little cafe discovery in Göteborg - Le Petit Café

One of my favorite places: Västra Hamnen in Malmö. So peaceful.

New favorite piece of clothing - bought on sale at Bik Bok (for those chilly Scandinavian summer days)

Danish delight. My favorite - Joe & The Juice 'Stress Down': Apple, strawberry & ginger

I love wearing red lipstick. Always makes me feel like a badass ;)

Celebrated Swedish Midsummer on Friday. Great times with great people, great food and a lot of fun!

DIY knuckle rings. Old earrings and a pair of pliers - tada :)

Amazing strawberry tart at St Jakobs Stenugnsbageri in Lund. 

Hello! It's raining here in Sweden so I decided to make some cozy, delicious food. I was so amazed at how well my little idea turned out that I wanted to share it with you. A quick, cheap, easy snack recipe.

What you need - pizza dough (I used the store bought kind....not ideal but I tried to make my own yesterday and ended up with a trash bag full of goo and a kitchen smelling of yeast), some cheese (I used mozarella but any cheese will work as long as you can cut it into thin strips), olive oil, see salt, garlic powder.

Now, we both try to live and eat healthy but this recipe is one of life's delicious little exceptions ;-)

Roll out your pizza dough into a square about 2-3 mm thick. Slice your cheese into strips of about 1mm and line them up along the border of your dough. Unfortunately, I only took a picture of the final result but I think you can handle it. Make sure to leave about 1 mm of 'free dough' on both sides of your line of cheese and when you're done, fold the dough over the cheese and press it onto the other side. I used a fork to press the dough together, ending up with a cool pattern and a bread stick securely embracing my Mozarella. 

Now cut the first bread stick off of the rest of the dough and proceed until you run out of dough, cheese, time or patience. When done, place your cheese-pocket-sticks onto a baking sheet and brush a little layer of olive oil on them. Sprinkle with sea salt and garlic and bake for about 10 minutes at 200° C (ca. 392 F).

Take them out and have them as a snack, for dinner with a salad or as a side for any other dish you like. 

It's not the best picture but here's what mine look like:

Hey friends and followers!

As I have said before, I am on a mission to discover new parts and aspects of beautiful Copenhagen. Now that I have officially lost count of how many times I've been there, I decided it's time to expand my knowledge of the city and see/do something new every time I go. 

So, at the end of May I tried something I have been waiting to check out for two years now: Distortion - a street festival that is held in the Danish capital every spring and which is basically a huge 5-day party all over town. The timing was perfect; I had my big exam on May 30th and hopped on the train with some friends to celebrate the start of the summer with the lovely Danes. 

This year, the party was held in different parts of the city each day and on the day we went it was in Vesterbro. If you can't really imagine what I mean by street festival, just picture the main streets of this lovely grungy CPH neighborhood blocked for cars and owned by party people. Residents sitting in their windows, drinking, playing music. People on bikes with huge speakers attached to them, small stands selling ice cream and beer, housewives walking around with signs saying 'Shots - 10kr' (true story!) and tons of happy, relaxed people sitting in the streets, dancing in front of one of the big or small pop up stages, dancing, singing, having a great time. And it's all free! You can buy a bracelet (gadearmbånd) to support the festival but you can attend all the street parties for free as well.

The weather was perfect, too, it was sunny and warm and the fact that the sun doesn't set until about 11 pm this time of year in Scandinavia made everything even better. I had of course done my research and knew where I wanted us to go. We started out on Istedgade, one of the main streets in Vesterbro, and just hung out in the sun for a bit. Then I directed the group to Sønder Boulevard, where we first danced to some awesome hip hop beats at the Drop Dead Distortion party hosted by DDSteezin, where we watched one of my favorite Danish rappers, Young, perform. 

Since I had read that one of CPH's night clubs, Simons (we blogged about this place before), was also hosting a street party, we continued down Sønder Boulevard until we found their stage. DJ Rune RK was spinning and we danced some more. Then, as promised, the wonderful Medina performed! It was a short performance and people apparently went a bit too crazy but we were quite far in the back so we could just enjoy her music. And it was awesome to see & hear her play again - and for free!

Later that night we partied on all over the city, just living in the moment. It was a great experience and I'm excited to go back next year! Check out some of the pictures I took :)

If you want to be sure to have a seat - just bring your own!

Istedgade

Young performing at Sønder Boulevard - so good!

Definitely the coolest guy in Vesterbro!

Simons Stage - Rune RK & Medina <3

Had to buy this. Shoutout to the world’s most random person ;)

My fav – homemade granola with yogurt and blueberries. 

Love these new additions to my beauty routine.

On a great day in Hamburg. All or nothing!

I needed my new umbrella every single day for the rest of the month.

May 17th 2013 – Food Revolution Day

I bought the "A Beautiful Mess" app – LOVE it...

... obviously ... and I'm ...

... addicted to it :)

Princess Helena

Complimentary condoms ...

Bremen

I finally found my favorite ice cream in stores

Hello Randos!

If you haven't lived under a rock, you know it's the day of the days in European football. (Normally I'd say soccer, but it seems more appropriate this way!) And yes, that counts for people outside of Europe, too!

Even more importantly, the two clubs competing in the final are both German teams: FC Bayern Munich vs. BVB Dortmund.

So you can imagine people are forced to take sides, since Germany is ruled by football. Chloe and I are big sports fans, and even if I'm not the biggest soccer lover, we understand it as our obligation to chime into the craziness.

Chloe is relatively neutral going into the game; she just wants to see a good game. She is in Sweden, so it's not such a big deal that she cannot decide ;)

I on the other hand am the one who is usually neutral for most games in football...ehm soccer....oh whatever. But this time I'm actually leaning towards Dortmund. And since the people I'm going with are also mostly Dortmund fans (except Helena, sorry girl!) I'll probably be safer :D

Nevertheless, I would just love to see an incredibly intense game, which is decided in the last minutes or in a penalty drama.

I just <3 drama...

Who are you rooting for?

--

We're both huge hockey fans and it all started with the Swedish national team in the 2010 IIHF World Championship in Germany. We've been cheering for them every year since, and yesterday they finally won gold. Congratulations, Tre Kronor! Well deserved!

Hello hello! In the past year, ombre hair has become extremely popular and I always thought it's a really beautiful trend. I'd been wanting to get it, too but I wasn't sure if a hairdresser would be able to get the shade I want, I didn't know how light I should go having naturally dark brown hair and I was scared of DIYing it because, well, it could turn out awful. So I hesitated and waited and then two months ago, in a snap decision, I did it. L'Oréal has a line called 'Wild Ombres' and I went out, bought it and just gave it a shot.

And now I'd like to share my experience with you :-)

I bought the ombre kit in Germany and it cost about 6-7 € which I think is a really good price. The package contains a base, lightening powder, lightening cream, a special conditioner, a pair of gloves and a little plastic brush to apply the dye.

I followed the instructions and parted my (dry) hair down the middle and brushed the colorant into the ends. Since my hair is longer than shoulder length, I didn't want the ombre to start too high up so I started about 10-15 cm below my ears. I found it quite easy to brush in the hair dye, you just have to make sure it's at a fairly even height so you don't end up looking lopsided and weird. When I had all my ends covered, I waited about 5-7 minutes and just brushed through them again, this time going a bit higher than before, to make sure I had a gradient color change and not a straight line. 

You can watch your ends getting lighter and then just go rinse whenever you feel they are light enough. I think I left it in for a total of 25 minutes. I'm really happy with the result and was very surprised at how easy it was to do at home. So if you've been thinking about it, go on and try! Share your experience if you like, I'd love to hear about them!