Day 333: Today Has Been Cancelled

"Your attention, your attention please: Due to sleet, snow and unpleasant windy weather, today has been cancelled. Please return to your homes, change back into your pj's and go back to bed until tomorrow."

Wouldn't that be a wonderful announcement? I personally would have loved to hear something along those lines earlier today. But since the day is already nearly over, I'll just move on with it. Just recently I boasted that I was ready for winter. I may have fibbed. It is darn cold today and with the icy rain-wind whipping me and my poor umbrella around, I feel rather beat up and ready for bed. However, once I get my winter coat and boots out and dress more appropriately tomorrow I'll get back to you with an update. It could possibly be okay after all. Just not with my fall coat and attire.

Believe it or not it was not difficult to find happy today. After all, I had the final slice of pumpkin bread for breakfast this morning and I am enjoying a cozy cup of herbal tea with the last tea bag from the box, right now as I type this. There could have easily been no pumpkin bread or tea left but luck was on my side today. A couple of simple pleasures to get me through the beginning of winter.

Simple pleasures are the most direct connection between me and my happy place. Of course, I'm also of the mentality that when in doubt, a cup of herbal tea and a quiet corner work wonders. I usually like to also enjoy a kanelbulle (Swedish cinnamon bun) with my cup of tea but since I've recently managed to shake off the extra pounds that crept up on me during the last few years, I'll skip that for now. (And thank goodness we finally ate the remaining pumpkin pie last night!) Ha! Who am I fooling? Kanelbulle? Slice of pie? Not a terribly huge difference but I justify it somehow and so far the scale is still in my favor. Sheer luck? I'm not completely sure but I'll take it and run.

And according to the quote on my yogi tea bag tab, one good word has warmth for the winter. Hmmm... I hope I can find that one good word. Tea? Maybe? It certainly warmed my soul. 

Day 278: [Three] Kanelbulle Day

Today is Kanelbullens Dag in Sweden, or Cinnamon Roll Day. This means that bakeries all over Sweden will be baking kanelbullar like crazy. I read online that one of the bakeries in a smaller towns outside of Stockholm will be baking around three thousand today. That means that the bakeries in the big cities, like Stockholm, will probably be baking easily triple that volume. Ah... If only I could eat that many! I would probably throw up if I ate more than, say five or six, but I would be willing to give it my all. Except that then my pants wouldn't fit and I would be in a bad mood. All things considered, one kanelbulle tonight will have to do. We'll just pretend I didn't eat that one yesterday,  okay? And then we can stay friends.

It's always nice to have an excuse to eat kanelbulle but I try to abstain on most days. Riding my bike to work these days helps too, as I am not enticed by the magic kanelbulle fumes that are piped out from the convenience stores onto unsuspecting saps like me, if you will recall my post from Day 133. Some days are two kanelbulle days. Some are probably even three kanelbulle days but we don't talk about those nor do we admit to them. Today will be a one kanelbulle day and I am happy with that. Really, I am. At lunch time today I headed out to buy some kanelbulle to enjoy tonight at home with my husband. I was on my way to a bakery called Vetekatten, which seriously has the best kanelbullar in the city. Last year I went after work and can you believe they were sold out of all kanelbullar? How is that even possible on Kanelbullens Dag?

Well, I was determined to have the best for tonight and so going after work and chancing that they would be sold out was not an option. Then I walked outside. It was raining and cold but I pressed on, armed with my umbrella. I got a couple of blocks away and suddenly it dawned on me that the fight to get to Vetekatten during my short lunch break was not worth it so I turned the corner and went to Rosendals Bageriet instead. It is a small bakery that is associated with Rosendals Trädgård, located on Djurgården where we like to go sometimes on weekends. They use all organic ingredients in their baked goods so I felt pretty good about forgoing Vetekatten today. We can always go there on another day. It's an excellent excuse to eat [more] kanelbulle. What can I say?