Same, same but three completely different ladies.

We're so different from each other. They're so young – Grandma's so old. Iron likes to plan things in detail – Grandma goes with the flow. Tattarn is into fashion – Grandma couldn't care less about clothing. Iron is afraid of the kitchen – Grandma loves to bake. Tattarn is an early bird – Grandma snoozes for an hour. If each one of us would be given a room to decorate, the three outcomes would look nothing like each other.

But I guess we share some core values. We're all interested in the fields of journalism and PR (PR especially!). All three of us have somewhat of an abnormal relationship with our respective Macs. We all share a passion for life in general and certain things in particular; Mad Men (and hot men), writing, travelling, food and (thank God, considering the latter) working out.

After a year of being tighter than tights, basically 24/7, we also share DC.

However, when you're being tossed together in a situation like ours, you don't really know if you are friends for real before you are separated and then reunited – it's a fact! Now, let me tell you, that the 305 girls were reunited a week ago and we are definitely friends for real.

Such a blessing. Let's keep on jumping all around the world.

JUMP – you're in Böppa!

JUMP – you're in Snickersville! (Photo creds. to our beloved BOB, we've missed you lately.)

When life is painfully beautiful.

In the middle of life, as beautiful as it could ever be. Torn between the feeling of belonging elsewhere and knowing where home will always be. Thinking about the choices and decisions. Dreaming big and having visions.

How do you deal with all those feelings?

Travelling makes you so much richer, but somehow, for a sensitive person like me, it leaves you with an empty heart. I think about DC and how much I would love to walk those streets again. I hear a song. I remember a moment. I wonder if I did the right thing, if I really did all I could.

But when in doubt, I am so incredibly happy that I have all this. The most beautiful place on earth. 11:00pm. 64°F in water. 185°F in sauna. How could it ever be wrong to be so close to all this? Sometimes, life is just so painfully beautiful. Both here and there. We can't have it all. But we can appreciate what we have in front of us right here. Right now.

Grandma says...

I've closed the 305 door one last time. At this very moment, I'm surfing on Starbucks' free AT&T wifi, waiting to board a plane to Sweden. The awkward feelings have reached their climax and left to do is nothing but to accept and keep my head up high. Crying my eyes out at the airport restroom just didn't get me anywhere. I almost impulsively bought all of the souvenirs from one of the ridiculously expensive shops just to be able to keep DC alive in my heart wherever I go, but soon realized that was not necessary.

I don't need no miniature monuments to keep DC alive. I've got it all easily accessible if I just close my eyes. And before boarding that cross Atlantic flight, I would like to send a message to the wonderful women who have been dancing by my side during this absolutely amazing year in the US. When we said goodbye on Saturday, none of us could talk, yet all of us knew. But sweethearts, let me remind you:

This is not the end. This is only the beginning of a lovely lifelong friendship and that's what's best of this year. Härligt!

So long from 305, but the 305 girls spirit will live on for a long time!

The sun keeps shining. The planes keep flying.

The Super Shuttle will be here any minute and my bags and I are ready to go. Well, as ready as one can be, leaving a place that has become a little bit too much like a home (too quiet and not enough board games). But you know what, that plane will take me to another home. To other loved ones. The sun keeps shining and there is always a silver lining to be discovered. Oftentimes right in front of you.

So long. See you later.

Turn the down side up when it's all upside down.

I sense a big change in the air. My world is turning upside down and I don't really know how to deal with it. I actually don't think I've grasped it yet – I might do tomorrow. Streets will change, views will be different, people will disappear. And that last part hurts my heart from the inside out. But then again, it's only a sign of absolute affection and those kind of feelings are never bad – in the end.

When these things happen, I do what I do best; I stay positive and turn every single bit around to try to find the good that can and will come out of the situation. When I start counting, it adds up to quite a lot and I won't stop until the good things have outnumbered the bad ones.

Because change is not bad. Upside down is not only negative. It's simply different. It's a change of perspective and if you just keep your eyes open, you will see all the fun it will bring.

I dance my dance. I choose my choice.

I was sitting with the White House in one direction, Washington Monument in another, Lincoln Memorial in a third and with a gigant cupcake in my hand. With a successful internship behind me, I saw the many opportunities now ahead of me. I smiled for no reason, then it occurred to me that the reason was me.

I did it. I can do it. Whatever it may be. I know how to find the silver lining and I can dance outside of my comfort zone. When life lets me down and love hurts too much, I still have myself to hold on to and to have fun with.

I choose my choice. I make my life. I decide what I want to do and how I want to be. I will never travel without my heart and I'm so happy to find out that that's appreciated and accepted.

I am madly in love with life and that's what makes me smile.

Would it be easier if I started hating you?

Sometimes I believe that it would be easier if we could just pick up a fight. If I could find all the wrongs and be annoyed by them. But then again, why would I? We have nothing to fight about. In fact, we have been having an absolutely amazing relationship since day one. I don't hate you, DC – I love you!

Of course, even when you're in the capitol of the US for an awesome year of studying and working, life catches you. Hearts break here too. Headaches come when you are stressed over exams or when you just don't have time to sleep. Rain and icy winds are not more enjoyable just because you are in the 7th most fun city in the US. Mondays are mondays. Bills are boring to pay. Emptying the dishwasher is still my no.1 hate thing to do first thing in the morning.

Life is life wherever you go. But as my time here is soon coming to an end, I can sum it up by saying that I'm hopelessly and madly in love with DC. It is certainly odd that I will pack my bags and leave these streets behind me in a very near future, but I refuse to let that take me down.

Why would I walk around, thinking about how sad it is to leave, when I could run around and smile over the fact that I am actually still here?

No, hating you would not make it better in any way, shape or form. Because I love you. And when you think about it, how could it ever be a bad thing to love, even though you know it will soon come to an end?

The White House, we know that.

Pennsylvania Avenue and the Capitol, another familiar building.

But have you been to the fish market, South West?

Do you know that DC's best falafel is served in Adams Morgan?

Did you visit Eastern Market to soothe your flea market cravings?

What are you reading, dear reader?

Today, April 23, was World Book and Copyright Day. Did you celebrate? Did you read a book? Do you read books, dear reader? And if so, what and when?

I mostly read on the metro, on my way home from work; on my way to work, I'm usually busy catching up with the news. I find it hard being by myself on public transportation without something to read. It's just such a waste of time just sitting and being transported from point A to point B. I prefer escaping into someone else's story while being rocked back and forth by the train.

I just finished an amazing story that I highly recommend – Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. It took me from laughing out loud on the train to pain to insight to nausea to complete heartbreak and a melancholic yet warm ache deep into my very soul. Read it!

It's never a fair game, being "The Book After" such a pleasant reading experience, therefore I moved on to something in a completely different genre and I'm now going through a story of a teetotal, former alcoholic sharing her experience giving up booze. I haven't really experienced the gripping, inspiring, entertaining and enlightening as the cover suggests, but it's okay. Every now and then it shines and it makes me smile.

That's what reading is about – pushing buttons, provoking emotions and sparking thoughts. Grab a book, folks!

Look. Listen. Feel. Believe.

Do you believe in the power of thoughts? Do you believe we can communicate with our souls?

I do. So much I would actually say that I know that we can. There has got to be something more than what we see with our eyes. I see proof of it all the time. Things happen, that cannot be explained. And it makes me dream and always believe.

I believe in the good in life. I believe in the good in you. You should too.

Look at what you've got. Listen to what your heart is trying to say. Feel it. And believe it. Stay positive, and everything will fall into place. Let your thoughts lead the way and let your soul be swept away.

Reflections on the sun deck.

I'm schizophrenic! Over the last couple of months, there has been an ongoing conflict, mostly in my heart. One voice is telling me "You're doing the right thing" while the other can't stop shouting "You're stupid, you're stupid, you're stupid!"

I never seem to know who wins, really. Because they never stop screaming.

However, Friday afternoon, after a day that just disappeared into the organizing of the future, I joined my roommate up on our sun deck and we started reflecting over the past nine months. The outcome of our contemplations were a little bit like the battle inside my heart.

What have we done? Has time been moving fast or slowly? Are we the same people we were a year ago or have we dramatically changed? On the one hand, I feel like a totally different person, with so much new luggage in my backpack, but on the other – how much can a person change? And how much is ten months for someone who has been doing the same race for 25 years?

None of the questions above have a complete answer. But what I do know, is that whatever battles are being fought, I can still always seen the sun shining somewhere. For instance, up on that sun deck, an ordinary Friday afternoon. With the Pentagon on one side and the US Capitol on the other. And a new found friend, whom I never would have met, had I not taken that crazy decision to move here a year ago.

Situations do not come to and end. Situations simply change every now and then. I doesn't necessarily mean bad. And it doesn't necessarily mean a definite end. So maybe I am a bit stupid, but what I do will still never be the wrong thing.

The Pentagon.

The Capitol.

My Big Book of Brilliance.

There was a time when shopping made me feel better. That happens very rarely nowadays. But a few weeks ago, I felt like I needed something in order to stay on top. Yes, I actually needed it. So I got it. A new notebook. Blank pages, all for me. It is My Big Book of Brilliance.

There, I write whatever I want. However I want. Like the me I am. I am not about artsy expressions or heavy intellectual references. Nor am I specifically strategic or dry and business oriented. Unless I have to and do make an honest effort.

I am a woman with emotions. I am a woman of emotions. I feel things. I speak from my heart. I learn with my soul. I look and listen and create with instinct. I react with intuition and make decisions based of the feeling in my guts.

To you it might be confusing and disorganized. To me it is all right in place. Right there. In My Big Book of Brilliance.

Make the happy feelings feel welcome.

There has been a lot going on lately. In my heart, my head, my life. But I'm no special. I'm no different than anybody else. We all have our days, weeks, months when everything is a mess and we struggle to make it through. But we also all have our days, weeks, months when things are good and we smile for no apparent reason.

This being said, it just occurred to me that we are (at least I am) so much better at pointing out the sooner rather than the later. "Oh, what a horrible day." "Miserable week, please end." That's stupid.

Therefore, today, when a sudden rush of happiness struck me as I was having coffee with my dear roommate, I just had to notify her that I was in a good mood. "I feel happy right now." Because I did. Over the simplicity of a coffee with a very good friend.

And they come and go. Those happy feelings. But don't you think that they would be more willing to come back if every time they did visit, they were recognized and acknowledged? Everybody wants to feel welcome, right? And most of us want to be happy.

Let the good feelings know you like them. Say it. Life is good. And if it's not, try to make it better.

Growing up and settling down. How could that be?

I have had the luck and honor to be invited to two weddings this upcoming summer. Friends from way back when are getting married. One of them, I attacked with kisses when we were four years old (obviously, that was not the way to go, since I am not the bride) and the other one, well, there are few things we haven't done together. Our "Skrållan" dolls followed us wherever we went and now she is getting married. What happened to the dolls?

Yes, I am of that age when loved ones around me are getting married. And it's so much fun!

But something struck me the other day. Isn't it odd that growing up often includes settling down? I mean, as a lingust, what I see are the two antonyms: up and down. How could they belong to the same idea?

We grow and grow and grow and grow. From crawling babies, dependent on our parents, to upright adults, supposedly independent. But really, nobody wants to be up there alone. In the end, most of us still want to come down to earth. With love. I guess that could make perfect sense after all (my linguistic nerdy me stepping aside).

All my Love to my friends who are all grown up, ready to settle down. I am immensely happy for you. Let us celebrate!

When everything is not enough.

Hey,

This is the letter I'm not going to send. And I don't even know if I have to write it. Not much left to let out. Just need time to let it all sink in. I am thankful for love, loyalty, honesty and respect. What more can one ask for, when it just is what it is...

Do you know her?

Do you know anybody with a heart so big you wonder when it is going to explode? Do you know anybody who might seem a bit all over the place, yet still has the ability to calm everybody down? Do you know anybody who can get a kid seemingly on hunger strike to eat a big portion of spagetti bolognese and still ask for more? Do you know anybody who forgets her own shoes when going skiing, but remembers to pack everything else for the whole family? Do you know anybody who can take care of four children, three in-laws and four grandchildren and always bring her husband his favorite chocolate?

Do you know my mom? I am so sorry for you if you don't, because she truly is an amazing woman, whom I admire and love and wish all the best for her 60th birthday that is today! 

Happy Birthday Mom! We all love you and here is a little hello from the Team.

The chances. The choices. The inner voices.

Sometimes we do wrong
Sometimes we do right
Sometimes we have no idea what we are doing
Sometimes every day becomes a huge fight

Chances can fall down on you
Chances can pass by
But what can one person alone do?
I guess, the least I can do is try

Take one step to the left
Only to realize you should have stayed right
Oh, what do we know?
The solution does not simply appear over one night

The chances brings us to the inevitable situation of choices
The choices immediately awakens the inner voices

What do they say?
Hush! Listen carefully. 

Working out or simply working?

I just read an article on The Society Pages, showing how a typical CEO spend his or her 55 hour working week. Out of those hours, 20 are devoted to "miscellaneous" projects, including working out for example.

The writer of the article discusses the issue of a CEO getting the benefit of counting working out as working, while this probably wouldn't be the case for a low wage employee. Good point, that is an issue. But instead of focusing on the inequalities here, I would like to view this report from a different angle. I would like to encourage more CEOs to actually do count working out as working (obviously for everybody!).

Have you ever read about how physical activity also improves your mental health? Yes? That's what I thought. Then think about how well that could fit into the workplace. Just as this article on BusinessNewsDaily suggests, employees who work out regularly have a better mental health which, in turn, makes them better workers. Thus, offering employees the benefit of going to the gym or attending a zumba class during office hours could actually be beneficial for the company in the long run.

Yes, CEOs, mid-level workers, associates, interns, what have you – let's all pack that gym bag, get comfortable in a tracksuit, put on those joggers and run our way to our career goals.

No plus one, but two pearls.

Who needs a Plus One when you know you'll always have two? Two Pearls.

I made sure two grab these two pearls on the red carpet, lining up to the big premier that was my sister and her husband's wedding, when it was picture time. Who wants to attend a wedding all alone?

I wish they were here now. I could need some of their wisdom and cool way of looking at life. The younger one always teaches me something new about Star Wars and the older one constantly challenges my intellect with curious questions. They are two absolutely brilliant boys. I miss you, my beloved Pearls.

When the gray zone playing doesn't apply.

Most of my time, I play my game in a gray zone. Not saying that my life is gray and boring, no, that's not what I mean. Quite the opposite actually. I believe in gray; let me explain. Most situations we encounter are more complex than being right or wrong. There are often more than two options and there can be several players with different input and different points of view.

I believe that within the gray area, if we accept its complexity, we can build a platform for creativity and all the world's colors. That's where it happens and where we can explore and learn.

However. There is one exception to my rule. When it comes to matters of the heart, love and affection, I only have two sides. Black or white. I either love with all my heart, beyond what could ever be described as common sense; or I don't feel at all and I don't put any trust in any kind of emotion.

No need to analyze that kind of mindset. The alert reader will understand its consequences. But let me just tell you, that even if I could change it and be more gray and feel a little more when I should or feel a little less when I shouldn't, I wouldn't. There is something about love that makes it impossible to play it gray.

Creativity – inside my head.

What does your creativity process look like? Mine is a mess. A complete mess. Words. Colors. Question marks and exclamation points. Circles and arrows and conclusions that seem completely out of place for an inexperienced eye, but make total sense to the brain behind them, i.e. me.

It's important to learn how to let your ideas grow; accept what works for you. A teacher once told me that creativity is nothing we can ever run out of, but that we get more of it, the more we use it. Thus, when it comes to me – as it sometimes does unexpectedly and sometimes by forcing it – I just let it flow and I don't care about the mess.

 It looks a little bit like this.