Grasping at straws

There is something about autumn that makes you want to wear warm tones in clothes. Your mustards and burgundies, dark forest greens and earthy browns. That makes sense in autumn when the world turns colourful and the leaves shine in a million radiant colours, but autumn is well over where I live. The trees are bare and the ground looks naked. The warm colours have all disappeared and there is nothing but gloom left. The days turn dark in the early afternoon, and there is no snow to make the grounds a little brighter. Still I want to wear the autumn colours. Maybe I'm just grasping at straws, trying to keep autumn a little while longer when I know that it is over.

Dress: Mod Dolly (here)

This dress is an attempt at keeping autumn for a little while longer. I have been smitten with this dress from Mod Dolly for ages, and only recently did they release it and in an instant I bought it. I've been after a mustard corduroy dress for a while, and this has the comfortable shape and pretty sleeves to boot. I couldn't be happier with this dress, it's warm and nice, and enables me to hold on to my favourite season a little bit longer.

Much love!

Etsy Love

I adore Etsy. I think the idea of Etsy is brilliant and I love the many incredible things you can find there.

In this post I wanted to share with you two of my favourite Etsy shops. These are not my only favourites, but just two of the shops that I love. I have previously mentioned two other Etsy shops that I adore, Frostbeard Studios (mentioned here) and Sara R Rocha's shop (mentioned here). Today I'll share with you one shop that belongs to an amazingly talented illustrator and another shop that belongs to a very skilled crafter.

The first shop is the illustrator Morgane Carlier's Etsy shop, that you can find here. The new banner to my blog is made by Morgane and I got it through Etsy, and I could not be happier with it. It captures me in one image and in my mind it is perfect!

Morgane's art is quirky, happy and girly! Just the things that I like! She's got a unique style that brightens the surroundings! Apart from the beautiful blog banner, I have also got a Mary Poppins print in my home from Morgane and a tote bag with the most yummy-looking sweets illustrated on it.

Morgane is a total professional. She is sweet and works efficiently and quickly. I have only ever been way beyond happy when I have purchased from Morgane. And I have even developed a relationship with the exquisite Morgane, and I can now call her one of my darling friends. You can find Morgane's shop right here. Morgane's website is here and Morgane's instagram is @morganeca.

The second shop I want to introduce you to is The Mad Girl Shop belonging to the lovely Madison Steward. Everything from delicate cross stitching to brooches and scarves can be found in The Mad Girl Shop. Madison is such an expert knitter, and makes the most beautiful scarves and ascots, one of which I had to get as it has wonderful leaves knitted in it and it is in my favourite colour, mustard yellow. It is the most perfect autumn ascot, I want one in every colour.

The ascot is incredibly well-made and I am astonished by the handiwork that has gone into it. The beautiful dainty leaves are astounding, and it's warm and comfy too. I also have my eyes on these incredible Hogwarts scarves that Madison knits, that look so nice and pretty. The HP fan within me has a beating heart for anything to do with her house and Madison's Ravenclaw scarf is flawless. You can find Madison's shop, The Mad Girl Shop, right here and her instagram is @madisonsteward.

Dress: River Island (old, similar from Mod Dolly here)

Ascot: The Mad Girl Shop

Have a lovely Halloween weekend!
Much love.

Understanding Cancer - The Cancer Series part 3

In the latest part of the Cancer series we learned which traits that makes a cell a cancer cell. Today I thought we'd discuss the question: Is there a cure for cancer?

The quick answer is unfortunately "No", but lets try to understand why there is no real cure for cancer yet.

Cancer has been around for ages and about 1/3 of the population will develop a cancer at some point in their life, so it's something that affects lots of us and the motivation for a cure is strong. Considering how much progress we make in medical science and how much research that is done on cancer you'd think there'd be a cure. Many treatments and drugs exist against cancer, but not all patients respond in the same way to these treatments. One patient can take a drug and get better while another patient with the same type of cancer will not get any better.

The thing is, there is no one cure for cancer. It is impossible to find THE cure for cancer because all cancers are so very different. Cancer is complicated, not only can it originate in almost any type of tissue in the body (e.g. skin, breast, lung and so on), but each tumour that forms develops in its own way and differently from another tumour. Breaking it down further: Two patients that both have breast cancer can have tumours that have developed in totally different ways. So the tumours may look alike on the outside, but they will most probably act and react very differently to drugs.

So the easy answer is that we haven't found a cure for cancer because it is not one single disease.
It's a question wrongly asked; There is no one cancer to cure, but lots of cancers that we need to cure. And because each individual patient has its unique cancer, you need as many cures for cancers as you have cancer patients. However this is something that we are getting closer to achieving, and I will come back to this later on in the Cancer Series because it is very exciting and interesting, but we need to understand a bit more genetics to really understand it, so this will be the topic of the next part of the Cancer Series.

As always, if there are any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments section.
On to the outfit...

Turtleneck: H&M (old)

Pinafore: Mod Dolly (here)

Tights: Primark (old)

This lovely pinafore from Mod Dolly is a fantastic autumn dress. It has endless outfit opportunities, and I believe that you will see much more of it on the blog during this season. In fact, you might even recognise it because I'm not the person to exclude tartan from my spring and summer wardrobe. I've worn this pinafore in the middle of the summer with a short sleeved blouse, see it here. However, there is something especially "right" about tartan in the autumn!

Much love!

Dark Summer Nights

August is here. The Summer is coming to an end. The nights are darker, as the sun now sets in the late evening hours. This is the last warm month of the year, gradually the bare legs will be covered in thick tights, and the fluttery dresses will be substituted by layers of knitted clothes.

It is important to really take advantage of the last month of Summer. Enjoy the warm breezes and wear the wispy dresses, as I've done. This lovely and delicate dress from Mod Dolly stole my heart from the get-go with its dainty Peter Pan-collar and sheer sleeves. It is the perfect dress for the cooler late Summer evenings.

What do you like to do when Summer is nearing its end?

Dress: Mod Dolly

Flower crown: H&M

Princess of the Highlands

I sometimes wear tartan and pretend I'm a Scottish princess with locks like Merida from Pixar's Brave (only instead of the ginger curls, I have dark curls).

My hair draws (to my misery) a lot of attention, and I think it's because there's lots of it and it's long. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely flattered at the attention it gets and I wouldn't change it for the world. What bothers me is when people try to touch it. But that's a story for another time.

Pinafore: Mod Dolly

Blouse: Old from H&M

Shoes: New Look via Asos

What I wanted to talk about today is my hair routine, or lack of a hair routine. I get this question a lot, especially from other curlies, and I understand that because curly hair is incredibly tricky. So I thought, I'd once and for all let you know what I do with my hair.

I want to start by saying that I like frizz. Many curlies want to avoid frizz and use anti-frizz products. I feel like anti-frizz products weighs down the hair, while I like my hair to be fluffy! So I embrace the frizz! The halo of frizz gives the hair a natural look, in my opinion. Second, I haven't always been this accepting of my hair. I've struggled with it for years, and have gone through my fair share of "curl controlling" products, before I decided I wasn't going to "control" it anymore, but let it roam free.

I cut my hair myself. Mostly because I haven't found a stylist that "understands" my hair. So although it is time consuming, I go curl by curl and cut a little bit off of it. I wash and condition my hair with a fragrance free mild shampoo and conditioner I get from the pharmacy here in Sweden (for the Swedes: Apolivas schampoo och balsam för normalt hår). And basically that's it. At times, especially in the winter when the air and also my hair gets drier, I use the LuxeOil from Wella in my hair when it is still wet. I try to let my hair air dry, or if I dry it I use a dryer with a diffuser attached to it. And that's all I do. What I don't do is what I think matters more. I try not to touch my hair too much, so that it doesn't get dry and tangled. I use elastics without the metal thingy, so it doesn't pull on my hair. And most importantly I don't try to make my hair something it isn't. I don't straighten it, I don't colour it, I don't bleach it. I try to keep it as healthy as I can, and that's all there is to my "routine".

So now I'm interested, what are some of your tricks or routines for your hair?

Much love,
Mona