vivi torontali

Not caught up? Read Episodes 1-16 here.

It seems like everything we’ve been wishing for in the past year is coming true: we’re all together, we’re safe, happy, stable and thriving, and we’re all pursuing exciting career opportunities. On the morning of September 27th, my sister arrived at the Copenhagen Airport. After travelling to several different airports back in the day, I’ve concluded that there is no airport more confusing than Boston’s Logan International. I’ve never had a harder time getting around and finding my way than at Logan. So while my parents and I struggled to locate my sister when she arrived, I thanked my lucky stars that at least we weren’t picking her up in Boston. I feel I must also explain the title for this post: as a dachshund, Nudli is a herding dog. Whenever one of us leaves the apartment, he gets sad and waits by the door for us to come back. He needs us all together and is unsatisfied when we’re scattered about. My mom has been looking forward to me writing the episode in which my sister moves in because that means our herd is all together, so due to our running joke and her specific request, here is my favorite family picture to date.

As a way to celebrate her arrival, we were treated to a free brunch at my café. When I got hired I was told that I could invite my family to one brunch, on the house. So we made sure to get our money’s worth. We ordered four massive brunch plates, the famous cheesecake I’m normally not allowed to eat, large coffees, waffles, and even got Nudli some carrots. I felt like royalty eating out of the same dishes I washed a minimum of three times a day for the past month. We ate everything, and saved about $200 in the process. I was very proud of Nudli for also eating all of his carrots!

Because Lilla is a newcomer to the country, she now has to go through the same bureaucratic process the rest of us did in June. The only difference is that she came here with a job, so she doesn’t have to prove sufficient funds like we did. Additionally, she now has to learn which of the six different categories to sort her trash into, which of the ten options to choose on our washer/dryer, and how to use our stove. It’s a bit like starting a new job, where the organization and flow of things gets disrupted as the new hire learns their way around. Maybe some knives get misplaced or we find a milk carton in the regular trash instead of plastic waste, but we’re quite familiar with the steep learning curve involved with orienting ourselves into Danish life.

I thought I was done with paperwork and visits to the town hall, but unfortunately I have recently fallen into mourning. I’ve been in the process of rewriting my American driver’s license to a Danish one. The first step was to go to the doctor, where under 15 minutes they tested my vision and asked me if I drink while driving. Then I paid them 600kr (~$93). After that they sent me to the kommune, or town hall, where I paid an extra 460kr (~$72) for a temporary driver’s license, which is nothing more than a 4”x6” piece of paper. Then came the devastating part– I had to leave my American license card there. My shiny, new, horizontal driver’s license that I received in April is now a hostage to the Ballerup Kommune, and I won’t get it back for the forseeable future.

As you have read in every single prior blog post, my mom remains unemployed, though hopefully not for much longer. Because she’s been rejected by every grocery store, clothing boutique, dentist’s office, etc., she decided to learn a new trade and become a nail technician. This past week she has been shadowing a lady who runs a nail salon in Amager, which is about an hour and 15 minutes away. As an introduction to the procedures, she got a free pedicure. Soon she will begin a three-day course that the boss is offering, and if she passes she’ll be a certified nail tech and will work there until she gains enough experience to move to a salon closer to where we live. The boss is Romanian but her ex-husband is Hungarian, so once again our Hungarianness has proven useful when seeking employment. Nothing is set in stone yet, but it’s very promising. My mom will be able to sit and socialize with clients in this family-oriented, hyggelig environment. She’s very good at painting nails– I should know as her long-time test subject.

Not long ago, we befriended our upstairs neighbors who have the most adorable whippet puppy named Benji. He’s been growing like crazy– we first met him when he was eight weeks old, and he has since grown twice in size. Because my mom is both gifted and experienced in sewing sweaters and jackets for dogs, she offered to sew a coat for Benji as it’s getting colder and the little fella is quite slim. Benji has been coming over from time to time for a fitting, and we’ve been using it as a way for Nudli to get more comfortable around other dogs, especially dogs that are bigger than him (which is every dog, actually). Benji is very mellow, but his legs are as long as Nudli’s body, so Nudli tends to retreat to a corner whenever he’s around. The jacket is turtleneck-style made for Benji’s long neck, and it can be folded backward to become a stylish, collared puffer jacket. He’s become a very elegant young man since receiving his new coat. Good job, mom.

My dad has been hard at work mass-producing small skulls out of plaster since the company is taking advantage of spooky season. I myself am a big fan of spooky season/Noah Kahan season/Stick Season, whatever you want to call it, so I asked my dad to bring me home one of these skulls if he could spare one. It now lives in front of my desktop, under my two displayed cross-stitch projects of skulls. One of my cross-stitch pieces is Van Gogh’s painting Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette (1885-1886) that I finished stitching in 2023. The other is Garden of Skulls by Yannick Bouchard that I finished stitching this past April (see more on my Visual Design page). When it comes to embroidery, I’m drawn to the trope of memento mori, though I can’t explain exactly why. It’s a hobby, so I don’t need to explain these creative decisions.

I will need to defend the creative decisions behind my mountain illustrations, though. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, “No hygge for the wicked,” I have been in the process of applying for a gallery exhibition. The application requires finished work that’s ready to hang, so now I need to transition from experimenting and brainstorming to making executive decisions. As you may imagine, I’m overthinking the whole thing. I need to consider whether the color palette should have more significance than the linework or vice versa. I also need to choose the color palettes wisely and which illustrations I should include in the first place. I’ve landed on four illustrations: Tongariro Alpine Crossing, New Zealand (2024), Milford Sound, New Zealand (2025), Mt. Mansfield, Vermont, USA (2024), and my latest work, Mt. Taranaki, New Zealand (2025). The next steps are to include information about each mountain and write up artist statements and resumés and such.

Along with all the drawing and coloring, I am looking forward to starting the café’s mosaic project. The mosaic pieces arrived in the mail recently, and I will start with some planter boxes outside the café later this week. After the planters are decorated, I’ll be more acquainted with the methods and processes involved in this project and will then be able to start working on our iconic Princess Leia poster. 20 Grams is also in the process of opening a second location soon, so I look forward to being involved in setting that up and decorating. I will likely be assigned some art projects in the new location if the Princess Leia project goes well. Wish me luck!

Though being so busy has left me less time to write my blogs, I thank you for sticking with me and reading this far. Things have been both stabilizing and getting really exciting for me, and I can’t wait to write about all these new opportunities and events going forward. Some of my friends from New Zealand are visiting me in two weeks, so I’ve been preparing an itinerary of things for us to do. I can’t wait to write all about that, though it might take me some time to get around to it amidst all the craziness. Until you next hear from me, please carve some pumpkins and eat some apple cider donuts in my honor if you can, as I’ve been missing the New England fall traditions and the lovely foliage this time of year.