an american girl in stockholm

anyone still there??

2008-08-08T01:38:00.005+02:00

i've had an eventful week since i've been back in the USA! it's been crazy busy, but very good at the same time. i wish i could detail everything i've done, but it's all easily wrapped up by just saying that i've spent my time doing the things that were most important - seeing my family and friends, eating GREAT food that i dearly missed, getting a job and finding a place to live, and just enjoying being in America.

so, if you're still reading this blog and you'd like to follow along on my new journey to Northern Wisconsin, i've started a new place over at http://www.loveinthecountry.blogspot.com/. i'm making The Big Move to Brad's hometown, so it'll be all about my adventures in adjusting to small town life. i'm super excited to live there, so hopefully i'll have lots of things to write about!

to those of you that read this blog this past year while i was in Sweden, thanks for keeping up with me. i hope you'll stay up with Love in the Country!

all-american girl

2008-07-31T21:07:00.002+02:00

i'm back in the U.S. of A...and it couldn't feel better.

saying goodbye

2008-07-30T20:16:00.002+02:00

i'm saying goodbye to the kids tonight because we're leaving before they wake up in the morning for the airport. and i've - stupidly - been thinking all week that i wouldn't have a hard time with it at all. but here i am, bawling like a baby at the thought of going to say goodbye to them.

these three children were my reason for coming to Sweden, and while there were many times that they drove me crazy, i could never escape the fact that they are the sweetest, brightest, most fun children i've ever met. i realized tonight that i've seen them almost every single day this year, and spent so many days getting them ready for bed, making their breakfast, their dinners, driving them to school and to activities, holding them when they're hurt or crying, jumping with them on the trampoline, reading to them, cooking with them, drawing endless imaginative pictures, and just being their friend. i know the curve of Sixten's head, the softness of Klara's skin and the smallness of Kasper's hand. i know the foods they love (not too many) and the foods they hate (the list is ridiculous). i know that Klara hates lots of toothpaste on her toothbrush, and Sixten loves being tickled. Kasper has an imagination that's greater than mine will ever be.

love is such a crazy thing - it grabs you in unlikely places, and it's almost painful to experience the fullness of it...but yet, it leaves you wanting more.

all i can think of, as i get ready to head into their house and tell them goodnight for the very last time, is that i love these children. i love them fiercely, deeply and protectively. and thinking about how much i will miss them breaks my very heart.

is this legal?

2008-07-29T17:17:00.002+02:00

went to pay my credit card this morning and saw a charge for $7.06. any guesses to what it was for? there's a lot of things you can get for 7 dollars...a Chipotle burrito, 2 small lattes from Caribou (two of the first purchases i will make this Friday).

but nope. i paid $7.06 for a BOTTLE OF COKE IN FRANCE. the price was around 5 Euros, which was astronomical, but i didn't so much care at that point cause i was about on the floor out of breath. but still - SEVEN dollars. for a bottle of Coke. ridiculous.

home in two days!

'a coke is always better with a view!'

2008-07-28T22:02:00.007+02:00

that's what the waiter at the mountain-top restaurant said happily to me as i collapsed on his patio and ordered a Coke while gasping for breath after climbing UP the mountain for 30 minutes. and once i had drank half of the bottle, i was able to agree. the scenery in Chamonix, France - home of Mont Blanc, Europe's tallest mountain - is breathtakingly gorgeous.

here's some photos from the trip - all done in black and white. we all went rock climbing the last day, and the kids were outfitted for it in tiny little climbing shoes and harnesses. might have been the cutest darn thing i've seen all year.

and, on that note, my final trip with the family has come and gone. it was tons of fun, and reminded me yet again how blessed i am to be with such wonderful people. HOWEVER - i'm ready for home! just 3 more days :)

impatient

2008-07-26T23:39:00.004+02:00

okay, ya'll...i'm about to DIE from the anticipation of going home! it's getting so bad...i actually have to keep asking the Lord to help me feel some sadness over leaving, cause i'm just so dang excited to get back. i'm sure i will be sad about a week after i get home.

today was one of those days where i was low on patience with the kids...Klara refused to sit by me at lunch cause my salad was 'stinky' - apparently the balsamic vinaigrette didn't agree with her. that was directly after - when making her lunch - she told me that she didn't like hot dogs anymore. i asked her when she stopped liking them, and her response? 'yesterday.' but, not to worry, it's only French hot dogs that she doesn't like. oh, of course.

(French food does have an interesting taste to it...not bad, just different. ketchup is different, their yogurt tastes different. and evidently, so do their hot dogs).

tomorrow is our last full day in France, and it should be a busy one. we're starting out the day by doing a High-Ropes course in the mountains, which will be followed by lunch, which will be followed by rock climbing, on actual rocks. no, i am not kidding. they really are this active...sometimes i wonder how i got in this family??

here's some recent photos i took of the tigers at the zoo in Sweden a few weeks ago...

all day long

2008-07-26T10:36:00.002+02:00

as promised, here are a couple pictures of the french cows that graze in the field behind the house (it's actually the ski slope in the winter, funny, right?). they're pretty small, all black, and they wear these bells around their necks, as you can see in the first picture, that jangle all.day.long. i really enjoyed it at first, found it to be authentic and endearing. now it's more of a nuisance, actually. it reminds me of this video game that Kasper played over and over again in Bali that would have a 'whistle blowing' sound, and he played it so much that i swear i started hearing it in my sleep. that's how it is with these cows, i swear i've started to hear the bells in my sleep.

and speaking of sleep, the beds here have got to be the most comfortable beds i've ever slept in. like, ever. my bed is huge, has a big, thick feather bed on the mattress, and a big, giant down comforter with big, soft pillows. i practically get euphoric chills just laying in it at night.

anyway. my kiddos need a snack and i need some more french bread with brie....ah, the life. i will miss it :)

the final countdown

2008-07-25T10:46:00.003+02:00

that's right....T-7 days. this is my final week in Europe...my final Friday, my final weekend, everything. and while i know i will miss my family here like crazy, i can't help but be THRILLED to be going home!

the plan, as of now, is to get in next Thursday into Minneapolis at 10:45pm, where i'll be picked up by Bobbie, my MPLS bff, and be whisked away to Applebees for a Perfect Margarita! yes, seriously, that is the first thing i want upon touching down in the United States. a margarita from Applebees. low class, perhaps. do i care? not at all. besides, my first choice would be a Chipotle burrito, but they close at 10pm. unfortunately. oh, and let's not forget the American-sized appetizer nachos from Applebees. those were a staple in college, and i love them to this day.

Friday i'm hoping to get something done with this mop of mine that barely passes as 'hair' right now...on the wishlist, a good cut and color from the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon. expensive and definitely more $$ than i would want to spend, but it's worth it. they do a great job. i just may not be eating for the next month. that night, my wonderful, amazing, sweet, handsome, manly boyfriend is taking me to dinner at Maggiano's, a fabulous Italian restaurant, and then taking me back to Hayward, Wisconsin, his hometown, which is soon to be my new residence!

alright, klara's taken over my lap and demanded we have a picnic outside...next to the French cows. cute, right? the bells were nice the first day, now they're just borderline annoying.

hope everyone has a great weekend!

min familj

2008-07-22T21:20:00.003+02:00

'my family'...in Swedish.

i spent the day with the family at Grona Lund, an amusement park here in Stockholm. it's actually in a very beautiful location - right on the Baltic Sea. all of the rides have these amazing views of the sea, and the Old Town, Sodermalm, and Djurgarden...all the prettiest parts of Stockholm. anyway, it was pretty fun, we took the kids this afternoon and rode all of the kiddy rides, and me and Joakim and Annelie took turns going on the 'big' rides, like the Free Fall ride, and the Broomstick roller coaster. i love amusement parks, but Annelie and Joakim kept telling me, 'this isn't much compared to America's amusement parks!' and they were right...the US has some ridiculous roller coasters. but it was still a ton of fun.

after being at Grona Lund (i think it means Green Forest), we went to dinner at Pontus by the Sea, which is one of the nicest restaurants in Stockholm. it's situated right on the sea side, and today was a gorgeous day, so we spent the meal watching the boats come in and out of the harbor, and it was fabulous. the family - from the kids, of course - got me a necklace that's called 'Kisses' and it has 2 little silver 'X's that dangle off a big 'X', and it's supposed to signify a kiss from each kid. it's beautiful and delicate, and i love it.

let me just say, i will miss these days of having champagne BEFORE the meal, having a starter, a huge meal, followed by dessert and a latte. in 9 days it will be back to the world of 2 for 1 appetizers at Applebees...

i have to get packing for my trip to France tomorrow (the taxi is coming at 6AM - ugh), but here's a couple pictures from the night -

help me, Jesus! help me, Tom Cruise!

2008-07-21T13:18:00.003+02:00

'help me, Oprah!'

those are one of my favorite lines in the Southern Classic movie, Talladega Nights. Will Ferrell, he's a funny man.

anyway, i'm at my new home, Wayne's Coffee, in Stockholm, and i'm tying to work on my resume. for some reason, i have absolutely no motivation to do so (even though this girl is very unemployed once i get home, and am going to need a job, STAT)...i decided that, after a year of working with 3 children - and those said children having a low level of English comprehension, thus making my communication with them extremely simple and basic - i have forgotten how to write professionally and intelligently. seriously. i have been working on my resume for TWO WEEKS and i'm still struggling.

for the countdown - NINE DAYS til i'm home! i only have three full days left in Stockholm...tomorrow, and then the two days after we get home from France before i fly back. it's so crazy to think about...my weekends in Sweden are all up. speaking of which, a few people have asked me what's going to happen to the blog here once i get home - i've been thinking it over...do i keep it up, shut it down...and i'm leaning towards keeping it up. i've really gotten into this whole thing! but the 'angle' will be a surprise, how about that? it'll be fun one, probably similar to this particular 'american girl in a new country' theme.

anyway. i need to work on the resume/CV...but i'll leave you with a few pictures i took at the summer house.

i could do this

2008-07-17T15:26:00.002+02:00

this morning we went to the golf course to hit some balls at the driving range and then have lunch (cause we all hate cooking). this was our second time this week going, and maybe my....i don't know, 5th or 6th time going to the driving range? and while i never really seem to improve, i am finally managing to hit the ball every time, which puts me right on par with klara's abilities. but anyway.

so here we are, at the golf course, and i'm whacking balls about 50 feet away with the driver (that's bad, right?), and everyone around me is wearing khaki shorts, or pants, tennis shoes, sensible polos and nylon jackets. ew. not like what i'm wearing is much better: white shorts, navy-and-white striped shirt, flip flops (i'm not even sure these are allowed), and my standard big dangly earrings and big sunglasses. it was cute, if not completely impractical.

i'm really getting into the whole golfing thing, minus the over-60 'golf uniform', when we go to eat lunch at the clubhouse and i see her. the young golfer girl who has redeemed the fashion of the golf world.... she's wearing long, skinny black shorts, a bright pink tank top, a gray and bright pink argyle sweater, and black and pink Puma golf shoes. And, in a nod to N.M.B (i thought of you today!), giant pearl earrings. she topped the whole outfit off with a skinny pink headband.

i was sold, and decided then and there that, when i get home, i'm picking up golf. AND a cute argyle sweater.

the summer house

2008-07-16T10:17:00.006+02:00

here's a few pictures from the last few days here at the sommarhuset (summer house). i love taking pictures of klara because, to me, she is everything that a little girl just IS. and the other two pictures are of the lake behind the house, and some of the brightly colored boats that dot the shoreline. i wish we had one of those belonged to us...across the lake is an old castle that, while you can't see it, the landscape of it looks absolutely beautiful...pastures, big trees, and old servant houses are visible from our side of the lake.

it actually looks a lot like the state of Wisconsin out here...which is where i'll be moving home to in just two weeks. more about that adventure later :)

the middle of nowhere

2008-07-15T21:07:00.002+02:00

that's where i am right now - in the middle of Nowhere, Sweden. we spent 2 days at the big Zoo here, Kolmorden, and then have spent the remaining week at Farmor's (Joakim's mom's) summer house out in the boonies. it's been interesting, being in this farm country-rolling meadows-lakes-and-more-lakes area. it's actually very beautiful, and probably everything i imagine when i think of rural Sweden. only drawback is, there's very limited entertainment. my days consist of playing with the kids, laying out at the lake and reading, eating, and running in the evenings. it's been slightly bittersweet, cause every sweet word or goofy thing that the kids do that would normally go un-noticed has been that much sweeter and sillier cause i know that i'm leaving them in just two weeks.

we're here for two more days, and then back to Stockholm for one week, and next Thursday we'll take off for France for five days. that should be really cool, i hear that the ski slopes next to their French chalet turn into cow pastures in the summer with authentic French cows donning cowbells grazing in the Alps. Is that a photo op, or what??

beautiful bali

2008-07-10T23:47:00.007+02:00

here's some pictures from my recent trip to Bali, Indonesia. they were taken in various locations, but these should give you a good idea of the culture. they're very into hinduism (check out the picture of the palm-leaf offerings, complete with a Ritz cracker), art (see the scary statue that was posted outside of our villa, and the two men playing those pipe things), and nature (i love the rice paddy and the volcano photos, but my favorite is of the mama monkey and her baby...i'm not an animal person so much, but you gotta admit, it's a sweet picture).

i think she'll need a band-aid...

2008-07-09T15:25:00.002+02:00

this little booger here?

...gave me the SCARE of my life yesterday. like, horrible, bad, shook-me-up-for-hours scare.

so, i'm watching the kids while annelie is out playing golf, and i'm up in the kitchen emptying the dishwasher. the kids were all downstairs in the family's lower basement playing in the theater room. typical.

all of a sudden, i hear a bloodcurdling, 'SEANNA!!!!'

well. if you're a mom, or ever watched children, when you hear a kid scream like that...it's like your blood freezes and suddenly you're in overdrive; on a one-track mind to GET TO THE KIDS. i race down to find them, practically falling down the stairs, and Kasper meets me in the hallway, his eyes as big as pies. i start frantically asking, 'What?? What? What's wrong?'

he tries to tell me what is wrong, but he's so shook up that the poor thing couldn't even get it out in English, but all i heard him say was 'Klara, Klara...'

i'm still on my trek to the basement (it's actually a good distance from the kitchen) and i can hear klara screaming and crying. my heart is absolutely pounding at this point. i bust into the room and my heart drops -

my sweet little 5 year old is sitting on the floor crying, and her whole entire face is covered in blood. her hair is matted with it, it's on her clothes, it's everywhere. i scoop her up and am trying to find out what happened as i run her upstairs, blood just dripping all over the place.

getting her up to the kitchen, i locate the wound - on the corner of her forehead, and it is gushing blood. i'm trying to get her to tell me what happened, but she said she didn't know what it was 'in English'. how thoughtful of her...although at this point i think i probably would have understood in Swedish. she stops crying and actually settles down, and i'm putting on wads of paper towels on her head to try and slow the bleeding, but it isn't working.

call Annelie, can't get ahold of her. the bleeding isn't stopping, so i do the only thing i can think of...run over to the neighbors. they've got 3 kids themselves, and actually had a similar crisis about a month ago. the dad sees me running up the yard, also covered in blood and holding a crying child, and immediately runs over and takes klara from me.

klara's settled down (i think she was actually in shock) and is telling them what happened, and it turns out that this family's 5 year old daughter was playing with klara in the basement and pushed her as she was standing on the couch. klara then fell off and hit her head on the corner of the table.

these wonderful parents end up taking klara to the emergency room and i had finally gotten ahold of annelie at this point, so she was going to meet them. in the end, it turned out that they only had to glue her wound together (did anyone else know they did that?!?) and put a Band Aid on it.

so, klara came home from the doctor with a band aid and a popsicle, and she was just fine, thank God.

my favorite white shirt i was wearing? notsomuch.

a travesty

2008-07-08T11:42:00.002+02:00

it should be absolutely illegal to be wearing jeans, a long sleeved shirt, rain boots AND a trench coat anytime in the month of JULY.

geez...no wonder the whole city is dead right now. everyone has to leave Stockholm to get to some warm weather. it's been raining for the past few days, and we're on our way to the summer house in a few days here...did i mention there's no internet, no phone and it's in the middle of nowhere? another reason why i'm counting down the days - 23 - until i come home.

you'll be in my heart

2008-07-07T20:17:00.005+02:00

when i came to Sweden back in September, i remember praying all the time that i would make just one friend. just one. that was all i knew i would need to survive the year. because the Lord loves to answer our prayers, i was blessed with many great friends who i know that i'll be in touch with long after i've left Sweden.

however, there's two girls that i've spent hours upon hours with, and i've had some of the funnest and craziest times of my life with these two:

meet Philly and Nikki.

Nikki is from Texas and is very much a southern girl - loves partying, sports, looking pretty, and boys. Philly (Philippa, actually - how beautiful is that?!?) comes from New York City and is as much a city girl as you'll ever meet. She's smart as a whip, can talk to anybody with an ease i could only hope to have, and is one of the classiest and naturally beautiful girls i've ever met.

i can't even begin to imagine what this year would have been like without the two of them...i have laughed with them, cried with them, traveled with them, experienced life in a brand new city, country and continent, and most importantly, made two really, really great friends.

so, girls - here's to us, and this amazing year! i love you both, and can't wait for our reunion!

this is pitiful.

2008-07-06T09:58:00.002+02:00

as i write this, i'm sitting in the terminal pictured above, which is actually Stockholm's main train station. no, i'm not going anywhere...I'M JUST USING THE INTERNET. cause we don't have it at our house right now. that includes a working telephone line.

(sounds like i live in the ghetto, or the boondocks. however, i live just 5km from Stockholm...but because the area that we live in is slightly rural in that it's on a lake and a dirt road, apparently the internet and the phone service has a tendency to get interrupted. don't even get me started on the service providers complete lack of service. another thing i hate, hate about Europe).

see, i've noticed that, the more and more my time winds down here, the more and more i could care less to be here. this reflects nothing of my life here, or my family, or anything, and has everything to do with the fact that i've got a case of 'senioritis', or 'au-pair-itis'. i'm absolutely itching to get home. so what do i do? spend all my time on the internet looking at jobs, places to live when i get home, making plans to meet up with friends, etc.

the fact that i'm having to use the Internet at the train station this morning has put me in an I HATE STOCKHOLM mood. i cannot even express how freaking annoying it is that coffee shops - coffee shops, for the love of God - don't open until 11am here. please just imagine my disbelief when i took the train and walked through town at 8AM to find one. i ended up at McDonalds, the only place open. i ordered a bagel and coffee and prayed that the Internet would work. nope...so then i walked, and walked, and walked and finally someone recommended that i try the train station.

good thing i have church in 45 minutes, cause i NEED an attitude adjustment....

lazy saturday

2008-07-05T12:24:00.005+02:00

made it back to Stockholm safely this morning after a looong flight - as i said below, it was a 10 hour flight, but it left Bangkok at 1am (you can only imagine the bright, cheerful kiddos we were hauling through 8 concourses at 12:55am...my family here tends to wait til the last minute), so once they served our meals, which took about an hour and a half, they shut the lights off for the rest of the flight. sounds ideal, right? but seriously, i have such a hard time sleeping on airplanes, especially when the random man behind me is snoring loud enough for the entire plane to hear him. add to that about 3 straight hours of steady turbulence - no matter how much i fly, i still think the plane is crashing when it starts to shake - and sleeping is just not an easy thing.

but i suffered through, and here i am, sitting at a coffee shop in downtown Stockholm and charging the internet to my cell phone. which i don't pay for. but the internet is again broken at the house, so that leaves me few options.

anyway, let's see...here's a few pictures from Bali -

the villa - everything was outdoors, except the bedrooms

this is me being really, really excited at the great big bathtub that awaits me :)

there really were palm trees growing out of the ceiling in our bathroom

sixten in his swimming goggles

me and my Swedes. i love them. even klara, when she refuses to smile, or even look at the camera.

this is at the monkey forest - the humidity was ridiculous...which leads me to the question, why am i wearing my hair down??

me with the little men - sixten would not quit making kung fu moves during this picture

annelie with klara. she's a great mom.

these men were playing for a group of young Balinese dancers

a woman carrying her daily offering to the Hindu god through the market

i have more pictures, but these are the ones on my computer. all in all, it was a great trip, but i think i liked Thailand a lot more. i'm a beach girl to the core, and the beaches in Bali were nowhere near as beautiful as those in Thailand.

well, i need to wrap it up here. my hair is seriously about to commit a mutiny on my head if i don't get the ends trimmed, so that's my goal for the weekend. and to get my resume/cover letter/transcripts/references together...ugh. i hate doing stuff like that.

hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

independence day...in bangkok?

2008-07-04T19:04:00.002+02:00

i'm sitting here in the bangkok airport, checking my email and waiting to get on my flight back to Stockholm. i can't say i'm looking forward to it, except for the fact that this job does afford me the luxury of flying business class, which i can't even begin to express the wonders of it...at least on these long, long flights.

my mind is jumbled up with thoughts and words, and i've got an antsy little 5 year old sitting on my lap (not sure what she's waiting for...probably to play Barbies or do her sticker book for the eight millionth time. in the last hour), but i just need you all to know -

i miss home. home, as in, America. i can safely say after spending a year abroad that lots of people hate the US, but without fail, time and time again, i am constantly hearing how people are interested in America, want to live there, think it's great, etc, etc.

i have been to a good number of countries this past year, and all i can say is, (in my mind) -

America is the best dang place in the world. the land of the free, and the home of the brave, it truly is. hallelujah and amen.

2008-07-01T02:30:00.002+02:00

this will be me today - i have my first surfing lesson here in Bali! it's something i've always wanted to try, so me and Nikki (the other au pair along with me) are giving it a shot. the school we're going with guarantees that you'll be standing up on the board by the end of your first lesson or your next lesson is free, so i have very high hopes. Brad - bless his heart - keeps saying, 'it's hard, but just keep with it' and other sentiments that are meant to encourage me from quitting after the first knock off. cause i have tendencies to do that....i hate getting hurt.

Bali has been great. had a short bout with a stomach flu yesterday that i'm still fighting a bit today, but it's much better. we had some Balinese masseuses come to the house yesterday evening, and since i was the last one to go, i got a glorious one hour massage on the rooftop under the stars. it was fantastic.

by the way, it's July 1st. and that means i'm home in T-30 days! i absolutely, totally, completely cannot WAIT!

nothin' but chaos

2008-06-23T15:14:00.004+02:00

did i mention that there's 8 children present on this particular holiday? my guess is that everyone's suddenly realizing that this job definitely has its 'uh, no thanks' moments...i actually can have those in abundance, depending on how you view wiping poopy butts, hauling dirty laundry, watching 3 children under the age of 7 by yourself for 72 straight hours with no breaks, going on holiday and not planning any of your own activities, being told you can't take your car further than a 10 mile radius.......but i digress :)

anyway, i love my job, fully and completely, so that's not really the issue. however, do i love having 8 children - all under the age of 8, actually - on my beach vacation? notsomuch. everything is all fine and dandy until dinnertime rolls around and then suddenly it's as if every single child was given a triple dose of energy and feistiness the moment before they sat down in their chairs. i've never been so weary about feeding a group of children as i have in the last day and a half! these kids pick and moan and groan and whine and cry and complain at the prospect of having to eat just one small, tiny piece of fish. and if i were the kind of girl who blared all her inner thoughts out onto her blog, believe me - you'd be hearing my thoughts on this one. but as my ever-wise stepmom Queenie says, 'who asked me?'

so we sit down at dinner in the nice, quiet dining room and within moments each child is yelling something at their parents while banging on the chairs, table, plates, etc, all the while having a conversation with whatever child is sitting next to them at the time. seriously. it's like this the entire time they're eating. they bang and holler their way through dinner (and how can they help it?? when i'm with 7 of my best girlfriends i'm all loud and excited, too) and by the time they get up to go play outside - ironically in very calm, controlled manners, of course - my nerves are practically jumping through my skin and i've drank all my dinner wine.

so. that's been my vacation, thus far. went for a walk on the beach today and came to the conclusion that any beach where i have to wear my shoes in the sand cause i'm fearful of broken glass is really just not a beach i care to go to. ever. thank God for the pool here, cause otherwise my sunbathing attempts would be miserable...

6000 miles later...

2008-06-22T11:07:00.002+02:00

...i've finally arrived in Bali, Indonesia! it was a long, 17 hour process to get from Stockholm to Denpasar, but we made it without a hitch and surprisingly, the flights went by much more quickly than i thought they would, considering we had 3 small children. we loaded up at 11am yesterday morning and took off at 2pm for a 10 hour flight to Bangkok, where we had a 3 hour layover, and then a 4 hour flight from Bangkok to Denpasar, Indonesia. Needless to say, it gets long and tiresome, but this girl's learning how to travel! i bring pajamas to wear on the plane and an outfit to change into the following morning, my makeup to refresh myself, and definitely deoderant and toothpaste/toothbrush. it helps the following morning not feel so icky, cause it's really not morning to your body's timeclock, it's more like midnight. and believe me, wrangling 3 children and bags for everyone through an airport when it feels like midnight and you've been sitting for 10 hours...well, let's just say a little bit of makeup and toothpaste can go a long way.

at any rate, the villa we're staying in is GORGEOUS. completely open-air, swimming pool right smack dab in the middle, we have an open-air bathroom with palm trees in it, robes, slippers, down bedding, flat screens...it's deluxe.

i'll try to post pictures as soon as i can, but i had to share that i had made it here okay!

annoyed.

2008-06-19T11:38:00.002+02:00

okay, i love my family here, this job is GREAT, better than i ever could have dreamed of and they're really wonderful people on top of it...but no kidding - you would think i lived in a developing country, with the way the INTERNET AND PHONE NEVER WORKS. seriously, i have never seen anything like it! pretty much since February, it's been breaking down and then working, and then breaking down, and then working again. and for a girl who is Internet-crazy and uses it as her source of connection to home, it's pretty much torturous.

so here i sit, at Wayne's Coffee, trying to write this but losing it cause they only connect you for 20 minutes...seriously, if you're at a coffee shop using the wireless internet, you're PROBABLY planning to stay more than 20 minutes. geez.

by the way, i found the bag i was looking for - my gigantic slouchy handbag! it's soft leather, cream colored and should be able to fit 3 weeks of clothing and a small child into it. i'm happy :) my only frustration with it is that the leather gets a bit of a wrinkled look, and i'm not sure how to get that out. any ideas?

alright...i need to get home soon here, and taking the train is always such an ordeal. at least it is in my mind - reason number 2 for why i will be so happy to be back in America. no 1 being CHIPOTLE BURRITOS.

i'm off

2008-06-18T17:56:00.003+02:00

to go watch the Sweden vs. ?? football game. yeah, that's right. i don't even know who in the world they're playing. all i know is, all of Stockholm is going to be watching this game outside of the TGI Fridays and i will be there (btw - TGI FRIDAYS. i paid 32 dollars for 3 fajitas there back in December - that's how incredibly expensive everything is here). i figure it's the least i can do to show my halfhearted, could-care-less support for my temp country. everyone's saying they'll lose this game, anyway.

buuut...before i go watch the game i'm going to prowl the city (okay, H&M) for a giant oversized hobo slouchy bag. everytime we travel it ends up that i carry half of the stuff for the kids, plus everything that i'm taking for a carry-on, and you wouldn't believe the trunkload of stuff these kids take on the plane...PSP's (each have their own), DVD players, books, markers, puzzles, dolls, misc toys, bananas, crackers, meatballs (they don't eat plane food, duh)...the list goes on. i'm sick of throwing everything in my small-sized big purses and somehow, my Vera Bradley duffel bag just doesn't feel so cute in Europe, where everything is black, brown or white.

oh. and summer SUCKS here right now. it's been cloudy everyday for the last week and a half, and the high temp today? 59 degrees. that is a CRIME in the month of june.

thank the Lord i'll be on the beach in just 4 days...

i am so domestic

2008-06-17T18:16:00.002+02:00

....uh, that's a joke. although, i do have to say - i'm getting GOOD at managing 47 loads of laundry per day.

my domesticated, married-with-kids life has obviously yet to appear (although i keep telling brad i REFUSE to be older than 30 to have my first child, sooo...just 4 more years, haha), and while i certainly have mastered the art of helping to run someone else's household, running my own is a far-off thing. hopefully not too far, right, brad? :) anyway, every now and then i get this deep urge to iron my linens and cook really good food, and today was one of those days.

now, here's the thing - if i were graced with a super high metabolism, i would be visiting the Paula Deen website every freakin' day. i grew up eating that kind of food, and believe me, i would much rather eat something fried and dripping with butter than ice cream or sweets. but since i don't, and since i value my size 6 jeans, i am resigned to cook things like fish and vegetables, veggie burgers, chicken fajitas sans rice/tortilla, and other boring, healthy foods. but every now and then i come along little gems of recipes that are really, really good and really pretty healthy.

and with all that said, here's the one i discovered this morning -

COLD CUCUMBER SOUP

2 Large cucumbers, grated or thinly cut
1 finely minced garlic clove
half a palmful of fresh dill, minced (i used a whole palmful, i like dill)
2/3 Cup of light sour cream (i would usually use FF, but needs to be a bit thicker)
2/3 Cup of light Greek yoghurt (recipe calls for full fat, i did half fat free & half full fat)
1/2 liter of organic, boxed chicken broth
salt and white pepper to taste

mix everything together, and blend in a food processor or blender to liquify cucumbers. you can garnish with chopped avocados or tomatoes, or a spoonful of sour cream.

and that's it! it's SUPER easy - it took me a little bit to make it cause you can't buy boxed chicken broth here, so i had to actually make some from cubes. but otherwise, i would say the most time consuming part of this recipe is grating the cucumbers. it's perfect for summer, and tastes even better when you let it chill in the fridge for a while.

my next recipe i'm attempting is Lettuce Wraps from the Martha Stewart website. they look super good, and make me think of the Lettuce Wrap appetizers at Big Bowl in Minneapolis. yet another thing that makes me antsy for home....

ramblings

2008-06-16T22:37:00.003+02:00

today there's been about two thoughts consistently on my head - no. 1, the BF. he's been gone for a little over 24 hours and everything feels empty and boring. it's incredible how much you can be in love and yet know that he's your very best friend in the whole world. i told him the other day, 'it's so great that your my best friend and i get to kiss you!' not sure there's anything better. but anyway, i miss him. feels like a part of me is gone.

the other thought is uh...slightly connected to the first (okay, largely connected) but due to the fact that this doesn't actually quite apply to me yet, i have to be extremely vague about it. so - thought no. 2 - anybody know where i can get 2000 dollars? see, there's something i am dying to purchase. like, dying, dying. i've got it in my head and i can't get it out, no matter how much i try to. so, if anybody has any idea of how i can acquire an extra, unnecessary-for-bills 2000 dollars by oh, say...December, then i'd be much obliged.

hmm...this week is fairly uneventful. the kids are at camp this week, and Friday is Midsommar, which is THE biggest holiday in Sweden. it's the longest day of the year, and that's when everyone dances around the Maypole and eats crayfish and drinks til the cows come home. i, however, will not be partaking of the celebrations to their full extent cause i'll be on a flight on Saturday afternoon to the South Pacific. can't say i'm too disappointed :)

living darfur

2008-06-16T00:31:00.002+02:00

because i love Africa and have a huge place in my heart for its people, i wanted to post this music video by Mattafix called 'Living Darfur' - it's a beautiful portrayal of the lives of the Sudanese people who are being murdered on a daily basis. if you know anything about the Darfur crisis, you should check this out.

beach, boyfriend and baby boy

2008-06-15T22:56:00.006+02:00

i'm a little behind in posting pictures and even blogs, i think! life has been really busy lately - a week in Spain, a week with the man, and my time is all filled up. however, vacation's over (at least for uh, now....don't hate me, i'm on my way to Indonesia on Saturday) and the BF just jetted out of the country tonight (i seriously miss him already), so i'm a free woman with lots of pictures to share :)

my shimmery legs, courtesy of Hawaiian Tropic AKA the BEST smelling sunscreen ever

brad discovered this beer in Spain called Desperado - it had tequila in it, and was SO good

he gets brown as a berry in the summer. ridiculous. he took me out for paella one night, we weren't expecting the shrimp heads to still be on our shrimp.

one of my most very favorite things? big earrings. the bigger, the better. i think it's funny how these are casting a shine ON MY FACE. btw, this is how i look after 5 straight days of beachin', drinkin' and smoochin'

this was Paella Night - not a huge fan of this picture, but this is the shirt from my Carrie Underwood outfit! i wore the white shorts with it :)

two of my favorite boys - brad was sixten's FAVORITE

sixten's losing his baby face...and brad's smile is as great as ever ;)

we took this at the Texas Longhorn Restaurant in Stockholm. brad says the have some of the best ribs he's ever tasted...? we tend to avoid the Swedish food when he's here.

okay, i know this picture is super blurry, but it was also taken at 10.45 AT NIGHT. welcome to Sweden.

playing football with the littlest peanut. football's HUGE right now in Europe, by the way. Euro2008 is coming up.

love this picture :) brad is great, great, great with kids. aaaand...i love that hand. he has big, beautiful, construction-man hands and I LOVE THEM

have i mentioned how much i love these two?

sixten is 100% ALL BOY

too, too sweet.

SO. i think we're all caught up now, right? it's after midnight here and i need to get to bed, but i'll get back on track with posting. brad told me i tend to post more updates, rather than talking about topics, so maybe i'll work on blogging about things, or stuff....i don't know, we'll see.

and can i just say...i'm back in the BEST COUNTRY ON EARTH in just a month and a half. tell ya what, you never know how much you love America til you don't live there. Europe has many great things, but it doesn't come close to the good 'ol US of A :) but maybe i'm a bit biased?

back to reality...

2008-06-09T10:22:00.003+02:00

my bags are packed, i'm in my ripped jeans and white t-shirt, the tan is bangin'....and i'm heading back to Stockholm. with the boyfriend, of course :) it's been a great trip - lots of laying out on the beach, walking around, eating ice cream and the BEST pizza in the world, and drinking ridiculous quantities of authentic Sangria. it's been a fairly uneventful vacation - last night, we (one of the guys on Brad's bike tour is here with us) tried to go to a bull fight and tickets were 65€. that is the equivalent of over $100. NO, THANK YOU. so we walked back, and me and Brad took a walk on the beach and realized that we've done quite a bit of traveling together. since we've been dating, we've been to Florida, Michigan, Georgia, Sweden, Sicily and now Spain together.

one thing i will tell you, though - i have seen MORE BOOBS on this trip than i've seen in my entire life. the beaches here are not 'nudie beaches'...they're just 'bikini tops optional'. that's definitely a weird thing to be around when you're with your boyfriend.

here's a picture of me and brad (please notice how STINKING tan he is - you oughta see the tan line on his back) -

oh, and on a completely un-related note: home in less than 2 months!! can't wait :)

made it to Spain!

2008-06-03T23:55:00.002+02:00

yep, i'm here....me and all 25 kilos of my suitcase. just so you know, whenever you're traveling in Europe, it should be LAW that you can't bring more than, oh, i don't know...5 KILOS in your luggage.

seriously. i am not sure i have ever felt so ridiculous in my LIFE, hauling my big 'ol deluxo, king-sized suitcase through the train station and out to the airport. what makes it all so crazy is that i'm meeting up with 5 guys while i'm here (my boyfriend and his entourage of bikers, they've been biking through Europe)....can't wait to hear the beating i'll get for that.

anyway - my time is running out on the computer, but for my family and friends, i'm here, i'm safe....and i can't wait to stake my place on the sea tomorrow. it's across the street!

a fellow american in stockholm!

2008-05-29T14:06:00.002+02:00

random story:

last night i was out with my friend, jordana, having wonderful, warm cups of hot chocolate in Gamla Stan (Stockholm's Old Town - best part of the city), and after we left the area we started walking towards the middle of the city. as we're walking, jordana gets a text from a friend of ours asking sarcastically, 'so does Condoleezza Rice really need to shut down Sankt Eriksplan? Cause i can't catch my bus now.' apparently, Condi's in town, and her arrival required that all of a plaza be shut down, thus keeping our friend from getting his bus out.

so we're laughing about it, and continue walking until i notice...there's a helicopter hovering over us. weird, haven't seen a helicopter since i've been here. we walk some more and start noticing police everywhere. again, haven't hardly seen police officers since i've been here (which is a shame cause i now have no concept of a speed limit...). we walk up to one officer and ask him what's going on, and he responds, 'i'm sorry, but i can't say.'

well, whatever. we cross the street and go up a block towards the train station. helicopter #1 is still hovering, except now, TWO helicopters have joined and they're all just hovering over us. we go to cross the street, and a police officer tells us we can't go that way. okay....so we go the other direction. nope, can't go that way, either. so we turn around to walk in the opposite direction, and we're halted there, also.

at this point, we're just standing about 100 feet from the entrance to the Sheraton hotel, and we're waiting with a group of about 15 bewildered, confused pedestrians. so we're all standing there, waiting...not sure WHY we're waiting, and the helicopters are hovering, and the police are standing guard - definitely an odd experience.

and then all of a sudden, from around the corner come four police officers on motorcycle, and behind them is two black cars (and a bus that looked like it was coming from a local nursing home outing...but that's not really relevant) and they all pull up in front of the hotel. and DUH, it all made sense then...it was Condi and her Secret Service entourage!

sure enough, we're standing there watching and a petite woman with short dark hair and a red wheeling briefcase gets out of the car and goes into the hotel. and that was it. helicopters flew off, police retreated their posts....and i got on my train and went home humming 'Proud to Be An American' :)

cause they're rock stars

2008-05-25T00:13:00.005+02:00

for your viewing pleasure...the two little boogers that i spend many a days and nights with made a video with me. sometimes i can't get over how funny these two are.

please note -

- i cannot sing, and never have professed to

- klara LOVES herself. and i'm not quite sure where her clothes were, at this point.

- sixten's yelling 'yeah!' 'yeah!' when me and her are singing her song...i feel like he could hear the words in his little swedish head but couldn't get them out in english and could only show his excitement by yelling, 'yeah!'

i love this girl

2008-05-24T14:59:00.002+02:00

klara and sixten (my 5 and 4 year olds) have been planning for the last week to 'have a sleepover' with me tonight cause their parents are having a big party and obviously would prefer it be child-free. they have been SO excited about spending the night with me - we're having chips and popcorn, their favorites - that everyday when i pick klara up from daycare she asks me, 'seann-i, are you 'cited for lördag?' (translate: 'seanna, are you excited for saturday?' we're working on her english, haha)

so today i have to run an errand for annelie to pick some stuff up for the party. i take klara with me to the store, and as i'm backing out of the driveway she asks to hear their new favorite song - 'summer of 69' by bryan adams. we turn it on, and the line, 'those were the best days of my life...' comes on and from the back seat i hear her sigh and say in her broken, halting English, 'Seann-i....this is MY best day of MY life.'

i about ate her up then....nothing makes your heart swell like a sweet 5 year old :)

come quickly

2008-05-20T22:47:00.002+02:00

in one month from today i'll be on my way here -

Sanur Beach, Bali, Indonesia

to stay here -

That's an outdoor shot of the villa my family has rented with two other families. it has six bedrooms, a giant pool, a little pond in the middle of the house (not sure how safe that will be for 8 kids - yes, that's how many children will be there...), staff of 10 ranging from housekeepers, personal concierge and chef, and countless other amenities. and while we're not directly on the beach, we're about 200 meters away from one. not far.

yeah, i'm excited. and did i mention that we fly business class?? (let me just say, i only mention these things because God knows i will never live this way on my own.)

needless to say, my butt's been in the gym for the past couple weeks and i've already started my 'bali playlist' on my iPod...my beach vacation playlists always include Bob Marley and Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes'. don't ask me why, but when i hear that song, i don't picture whats-his-face standing with the boom box over his head. i think of the ocean, and being on the beach. every.single.time.

short.

2008-05-19T19:32:00.002+02:00

i'm on my way to my spin class - LOVE these, everyone should try them - but i had to share this recipe for a mango salad that i love to make, and the best part of it? it's healthy.

mango salad

- 2 mangoes
- 2 avocados
- ½ or 1 red onion (depends how much you like these, i only use ½)
- 1 carton of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 'plant' of cilantro (or stalk, or however it comes in the US. i forget.)
- ½ jar of basic salsa

chop up the mangoes, avocados, onion, cilantro and tomatoes. mix in a bowl. add ½ the jar of the salsa (more or less, also depends on how you like it).

and that's it! it's so simple, so fresh, and a perfect side to fish or grilled chicken. and i promise you - it sounds gross, but it is good.

i made goat cheese and spinach lasagna this weekend, too. can you believe it?? i've been a cookin' fool. my stepmama would be proud. oh - and i also ate TWO candybars yesterday. it was my cheat day and i don't care.

oh - there's a rainbow outside right now, and it is the most BRILLIANT one i've ever seen in my life! absolutely neon colors....amazing.

anyway. off to spin.

bucky covington has it figured out

2008-05-16T23:28:00.006+02:00

'if money grew on trees, the branches on mine wouldn't have no leaves'

-from 'it's good to be us', bucky covington

SUPER cute song, by the way. but anyway - this is very true, because tonight i blew my budgeted 200kr/week (which just came out of my check TODAY) on white shorts at H&M and a cup of tea. so, expect lots of blogs cause my butt will be doing a lot of hangin' around this next week :)

anyway, remember me talking about the Carrie Underwood-inspired outfit i was going for? i think i've got it. here's the picture i was referring to -

do you ever just see something and think, 'i HAVE to have that'? i don't know what it was about this outfit, maybe the simplicity of it, but i looooved it. so i'm at H&M last week (yes, i buy nearly all my clothes over here at that store. it's cheap and usually has great basic pieces) and i find this black tank top that of COURSE is not on their website, but it looks very similar to carrie's tank top in this video. it's black, and drapes kind of like hers - a little less scandalously, however :) and the back has a really cute hang to it with a keyhole-type gathering. hard to explain, but it's the same idea as hers.

and for the bottoms, instead of wearing the long shorts (love 'em, but i have them in black already and not sure i'd wear them too often) i bought these white shorts, also from H&M. they're simple, rolled-cuff (that is HUGE here this summer, you can't find shorts without them...a little too 8th grade for me, but whatever), and have 3 cute buttons down the pockets.

and of course, the best accessory for this outfit? A TAN.

speaking of carrie underwood, do ya'll think she's too skinny? i look at her and think, 'gosh, she looks great'....she's slim, but she's definitely got muscle tone. but i've heard some people say that she looks too skinny. i don't know. that sentence just made me think of Skinny Cows. love those, too. they're not in Europe.

OH - and if you have access to a Lush store, you seriously need to go and buy some of their products. i have been using my Honey I Washed the Kids soap -

and i LOVE it. the lather is thick and smells soooo good, and your skin really does smell good and feel really soft afterwards. this particular one smells like vanilla and honey and CLEAN.

still in bed...

2008-05-16T10:16:00.004+02:00

and it's 10.15am. oh my goodness, am i in for a rude awakening come a few months when i actually have to get a real job. it is the nice thing about fridays, though - i typically don't have to work, so i can sleep in and totally do my own thing on these days. i know you're probably thinking, 'that girl doesn't do anything!' but seriously, when was the last time you were responsible for picking up after and maintaining the lives of 5 people? cause that's really what i do on a Mon - Thur basis. i love them, but it gets tiresome.

so. i've ate my morning grapefruit and i'm absolutely ITCHING to get into my new car here - a Lexus - and drive it all over town. but the only place i really need to go to is the grocery store.

3 weeks until my trip to Spain! i'm so excited to have my beach vacation, i've now purchased 2 ½ swimsuits and 2 tank tops for the occasion...and i say ½ swimsuit cause i found some bikini bottoms that i absolutely loved - black with a thick white belt - that will match my black-and-white striped bikini top. my next (and probably last, cause i'm super budgeted) purchase will be a pair of white shorts. those look amazing with tan legs...and i got a boyfriend coming to meet me - dress to impress, right??

i have to do a little braggin' on my oldest, Kasper - how cool is he?? their momma knows how to dress them :) he's actually wearing the button down with a tie cause it was 'British Week' at school, so all the kids wore oxfords and ties. cute, right? i love the bright pink with his blonde hair!

T-I-R-E-D

2008-05-10T21:06:00.002+02:00

this girl is not used to dragging herself out of bed before, oh, 9.30am...and i've been up before 7am for the last 3 days in a row. needless to say, it's killing me.

i've got the kids this weekend while the parents are out of town, and it's a ton of fun, i swear. this morning we woke up, had my morning coffee outside (have i mentioned it's gorgeous here? their landscaping is in.cred.ible), and then me and Sixten sat on the dock fishing while Klara's little stubborn butt stayed inside and played.

so, i've always been the kind of person that's thought, 'when i become a mom, i will have it NAILED DOWN...it'll be a piece of cake!' and just never thought it would be difficult, and of course always thought i would be on top of everything - every detail and then some. i knew that 'WHEN I HAVE KIDS...' i would do things certain ways, and by God, that's how it would be. kids that misbehave, talk back, disobey, never have brushed hair? never. never, ever, ever.

but now i'm not so sure. i took klara and sixten last night to go pick up some friends at the train station and i didn't make sixten wear shoes. i went out this morning after getting up at the buttcrack of dawn to take sixten to gymnastics, and i looked HIT. didn't brush my hair, no makeup...i was lucky i threw some earrings on before i walked out the door. and today we went to The Butterfly House in Stockholm (a greenhouse where they keep butterflies, in case you were wondering) and then met up with my friends after that for the rest of the afternoon, and no kidding, i let the kids eat PANCAKES and COOKIES for dinner. now, please keep in mind that pancakes and meatballs are the two most commonly offered meals on children's menus here. but still.

okay - finishing this up the next day (i was so tired last night i couldn't even finish writing this post) and the kids are upstairs playing. the weather is gorgeous, they've had their breakfast, and i've gotta get them outside!

pictures from the weekend coming up - i've got some great ones. oh, and Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! my hat is off to you all after this weekend ;)

the weekend recap

2008-05-08T09:33:00.006+02:00

i'm referring to LAST weekend...not the weekend coming up. which just goes to show how on top of things i am.

but i'd first like to say that, at the moment, i'm listening to George Strait (okay, i know he's like, 'mom country'...but i LOVE him, he always puts me in a good mood), drinking a cup of coffee and just finished my egg white omelette with mushrooms, spinach and a pinch of cheese. this weekend will be somewhat hectic as i have all 3 kids until sunday after midnight (parents are on a weekend holiday with friends, how fun is THAT? they actually go on them about once every two months...). that's all to say that i'm enjoying this serene, peaceful moment right now cause it's surely not going to last once the kids come home this afternoon.

anyway - Legoland. so, anytime i go to a theme park, i get so EXCITED cause i love roller coasters, i love the feel of them...the food, the themed areas, all the people. but...Legoland was different. we arrived at the tiny airport in Billund, Denmark and drove (literally) 5 minutes to Hotel Legoland. Nikki and i checked into our Princess Room with Klara, who was practically spastic with excitement, and then spent the evening watching the kids while the parents all went to dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was the ONLY one in the area. no kidding.

saturday and sunday were spent at the park with the kids, and it was definitely fun for them, and them only. the park is designed for small children, so every roller coaster there could easily be ridden by 4 year olds and 70 year olds alike. but it's fun to just see the kids have fun - even if it means going on the Dragen roller coaster 8 times, and i'm not exaggerating - and like i've said before, my whole family really is fun to be around.

it's funny - my favorite part of these trips is the way we have coffee breaks every two hours! we would go on some rides with the kids, then us and the other family would meet back up, have a latte, the kids would get ice cream, and then a couple hours later, do it all over again. i don't know about you guys, but i DEFINITELY did not grow up actually eating the food at amusement parks. i was lucky to get a drink cause everything was so dang expensive!

oh, and biggest complaint about Europe? i'm so FREAKING sick of sausage, liverwurst and cheese being offered for breakfast everywhere. normally that's a meal i go to bed excited for the next day, but here, i've just not felt that same excitement.

here's my pictures from the weekend -

as you can see, lots of Lego action and fun ;) alright, i'm heading into town to pick up the wallet i lost at a bar a few weeks ago (classy) and buy my suuuper cute swimsuit!! i'll post some pictures soon, cause i also want to tell you all about my 'carrie underwood-inspired-outfit' i recently bought!! the rate i'm going, someone had better have put some money in that wallet of mine...

you know you travel too much when -

2008-05-01T21:02:00.003+02:00

you're going to a foreign country tomorrow and you keep forgetting....

yep, we're off to Legoland in Denmark tomorrow. while i'm not super thrilled, i know it should at least be a good time with the family. that's the bonus in having young, fun parents as your bosses. they know how to have a good time, even with children running around ;)

anyway, i'm having a grouchy day as i went swimsuit shopping (ugh, ugh, ugh) and then got back to my car to find a parking ticket on it. sweet. not a damn car in the ENTIRE lot...it was a sea of open parking spots. but they evidently felt the need to ticket me for not paying the outrageous parking fee. yes, i have a problem with paying for parking spots, and yes, i am well aware of it. you'd think i had learned my lesson by now. they charge for everything in Sweden - your grocery bags, to use the toilet, to park anywhere....so freaking annoying.

actually found a super cute swimsuit at a store called Twilfit - wish i could put a picture of it here, but their website is under construction. anyway, it's just your basic black-and-white striped halter top with black boy shorts...super cute and totally my style. i just hate trying swimsuits on this time of year, though. pasty thighs and post-lunch stomach definitely don't do much to sell the product.

yesterday was Valborg in Sweden. it's a big holiday that celebrates the beginning of Spring, and they do so by having big, giant bonfires in each town in the country. i went to a friend's house for dinner last night and then we made our way over to the bonfire, which, unfortunately was burning embers by the time we got there. didn't matter to me cause i had a REALLY good våfflor med syltt och grädde (how you like that Swedish there? a waffle with jam and cream).

alright...i suppose i should go pack the suitcase that never seems to leave my room. have a great weekend!

let me just say -

2008-04-29T21:35:00.002+02:00

i have some things that are really annoying me these days and i feel the need to (publicly) share them. if any of them apply to you, sorry.

1. people who love their dogs so much that they take them everywhere. the store, to dinner, on the train, to your home even though there's children present that are terrified of it, and pretty much anywhere that doesn't have a 'no dogs allowed' sign. they are ANIMALS, people.

2. women with mouths like truckers. be a lady.

3. clubs in Stockholm. you literally have to be on a list to get into them during 'payday weekend', which is once a month. i'm not much for clubs, and this just confirms why. i stood outside of the new hip one, Village, this past Saturday night for almost an hour. and we didn't even get in.

4. bagging MY OWN GROCERIES. Grocery Store Managers of Stockholm, this is highly unintelligent of you as it creates chaos and cluster whenever someone has more than 2 bags of groceries (which isn't often as everyone goes to the store, like, once a day. but still). and it's highly, highly rude and disrespectful to the elderly.

5. private blogs. whatever, if people want them, then fine. but seriously. it annoys me still.

aaaand to balance that off, here's a few things i'm loving these days -

1. strawberry banana smoothies w/low fat, low sugar vanilla yogurt
2. bracelets - i just bought my first two today! a package of skinny gold bangles and a chunky round brushed gold and blue one. both at H&M, duh
3. curling my hair with a wide barrel curling iron
4. this ring....yes, i am looking. a girl should know what she wants, right?
5. roasted apple chips and Pink Lady apples (can you tell my favorite fruit...)

speaking of food, i had a veggie burger tonight that was surprisingly really good. so good i checked the box to make sure it really was made of soy...you can never be too sure when you don't speak the language.

oh, and by the way, tomorrow is a big holiday in Sweden, apparently - they burn wood from trees and have a big bonfire and cookout. two things i love...perfect.

all is clear...

2008-04-28T20:18:00.003+02:00

...on my front, these days. in other words, there's not a whole heck of a lot going on in my life right now. my daily routine is (typically) to get up in the mornings around 9 or 9.30am - yes, i am slightly ashamed of this so you need not get uppity about it - do my stuff in the house (you know, my Housewife-in-Training things...laundry, dishes, making beds, etc), eat some lunch, and then head to my new hangout, the Princess Konditori. AKA the Princess Bakery. i go there every day, take my you-will-be-glared-at-and-hated-out-of-this-place-if-you-don't-take-one number, get my latte-in-a-glass (that's how they serve them here, weird), and sit and journal and read my bible. then i go pick up the kids, play with them for a million hours outside cause seriously, they've just now gotten to where they love me and want to play with me all.the.time. i love it, and yet i cannot express how sick i am of jumping on the trampoline...although i suppose it justifies my new minimal cardio circuit training workout i'm doing?

after lots of searching and deliberation and discussion, i finally booked my flight and and hotel for my trip to Malaga, Spain/Tangier, Morocco. should be an interesting trip, as i'll be BY MYSELF for the first 3 days...i'm actually really looking forward to spending the time with just me, myself and i. it was a huge relief to get at least the first portion of the trip taken care of - my hotel in Malaga is definitely not the Hilton, but it met my two requirements of being 1) on the beach and 2) close to the airport. all the really good hotels were like, 100kilometers away from the airport! paying for that in Euros would've been, oh, i don't know, my food budget for the week? while we're talking money, though, i managed to book my flight and hotel for 3 nights - which includes breakfast and dinner - for $542 USD. by the way, when i came to Sweden, $1 was equal to almost 7SEK...now it's $1 for 5.9SEK. only good thing i can see there is that i'll be sittin' good when i come home, if i can manage to save a few dollars...

welcome to the world!

2008-04-21T10:45:00.004+02:00

two sisters

two baby girls

two months apart

introducing

Isabella Amaya
March 7th, 2008
8lbs 12 oz

Makenna Nichole
April 13, 2008
8lbs 4oz

congrats, Brooke and Heather! auntie seanna can't wait to hold her girls!

it's about time

2008-04-21T10:26:00.002+02:00

yesterday in Stockholm it was 57 degrees and sunny...definitely unprecedented! i went to church in the morning and then spent the afternoon walking around the city (in the single-handed most uncomfortable shoes ever created, by the way...i'm hurtin' today) and seriously, it was like people were coming out the woodwork. everybody in the city decided to get out and sit in the sun and walk around, and might i add, some people here are WEIRD. i'm walking around in a 3/4 length sleeve cardigan and jeans, and i was pretty warm in the sun - there were people still walking around in wool coats, scarves and gloves. no kidding. this is definitely one of the things that annoy me here; people way overdress for the weather. the children have been in their snowpants up until a couple weeks ago, and we've not even had any snow on the ground.

i'm doing laundry at the moment...it's a never-ending job with a family of 5. did i mention that the washer takes about one hour to do a load, and the dryer takes almost 3 hours? something to do with water and energy conservation, or something like that. all i know is that its annoying.

nikki and i found the place we're staying at in Bali! it's called Villa Casis, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. can't wait for that trip.

alright...there's laundry that needs to be folded and a hungry girl that needs some food. hope everyone had a great weekend!

3 months, 12 days

2008-04-19T14:46:00.002+02:00

that's how long until i come home...yes, you can be assured that i have a countdown going. someone told me recently that it seems like all i do is travel, go on these great adventures, have all this international, ridiculous, non-working fun, and i would agree. but i want everyone to know, being thousands of miles away from home, having a 6 or 7 hour time difference to the people you're used to talking to on a daily basis, and naming fewer friends than i could count on one hand, definitely makes life a lot lonelier than i think people realize. i can't express how many days and hours i sit in my cottage, wondering what on earth to do...and just WISHING it would be 8pm, cause that's when i can usually reach people on their lunch hour at home.

don't get me wrong, i get out and see and do things...but still, nothing is like being home, and lately it feels like all i do is miss it.

well, i'm going to have a 'wine and cheese' night with a couple of my girlfriends here...problem right now is that we have 1 bottle of wine between the three of us because the liquor stores close at 3pm here and i couldn't get over there cause my car was being cleaned. so, we'll see how that goes :) oh, and here's something pretty crazy - the girl's house that we're meeting at? the parents have a private jet. yeah, that's how these families roll...

THIS is why i came to Europe

2008-04-18T14:20:00.003+02:00

my friend, Nikki, told me this weekend that you know you're a chronic traveler when you come home from one vacation and immediately begin planning the next. that is definitely me! i've always loved going places and seeing new things, but ever since i've been living in Europe and seeing all different parts of the world, it's like i can't get enough...i am always thinking about where i want to go next.

the next trip i'm planning is the first week of June, to Malaga, Spain. all i can say is, TAKE ME TO THE BEACH, BABY. i'm actually planning to go alone for the first part of the week and over the weekend, Brad is going to meet me with some of his buddies, cause they'll just be finishing up a bike tour through Europe. After we all meet up we're going to hop the ferry over to Tangier, Morocco, cause it's only a 1.5 hour ride from Algeciras, Spain, which isn't far from Malaga.

anyway, i've been looking up flights and hotels for the first part of the week, and i've figured that i can fly to Spain and stay at a beachside hotel for 4 nights for around $600. AND the hotel includes 3 meals - apparently this is called 'Full Board'. i'm stoked for this trip - a week on the beach, all by myself...Lordy, bring on the books and trashy magazines!

SIDE NOTE - um, did everyone hear about the earthquake in Illinois?? random. actually, the state is situated on a huge fault line...but it's evidently not supposed to shift often. glad everyone's okay!

Adoro Barcelona!

2008-04-15T09:55:00.006+02:00

i guess that means, 'i love Barcelona!'...and I DO. seriously, i have already began making plans to move back there and ride bikes on the beach and drink Sangria everyday. out of the handful of European cities i've visited this year, Barcelona easily trumps them all. everywhere you look there's a beautiful building, or a statue, or a giant sculpture/artwork...the food is amazing, there's palm trees everywhere, the shopping was great, the nightlife was great. there's not many places i would say that i would go back to so soon, but i'm not kidding, i would go back there TOMORROW.

so, can you tell i had a great time? :) the three of us - me, nikki and philly - got in on friday evening, had a huge fiasco at the airport that entailed going to the wrong baggage claim terminal, and then having to exit the ENTIRE airport and go back through security just to get to the correct one, but once we (finally) got our bags and made our way outside into the warm weather, the trip was uphill from there.

nikki, philly and me at Rosa Negra, where i had margaritas, fresh guac and burritos! i was in calorie heaven

in front of Sagrada Familia...i hate standing alone in front of landmarks, feels goofy. brad calls that my '80's Euro vest' - it was CUTE

these guys operate a company that runs these bicycles all over Barcelona - we grabbed some sangria and took a ride up and down the beach

nikki and me in front of the Colom statue - Christopher Columbus. i always forget he was Spanish. please note my high-waisted jeans that i rocked with a skinny silver belt and tucked in white shirt. i am so fashionable.

so - Barcelona was incredible, and it quickly became my favorite European city. i would definitely recommend visiting it...it's one of those cities that you can just walk around in all day and experience the culture and the atmosphere - you don't have to pay to go into places or go to all the typical landmarks.

next up - Legoland in Denmark. strangely, i am so much less excited for that trip...

unbelievable

2008-04-10T12:01:00.004+02:00

last year at this time, i had not ever stepped foot out of the US, except to go to Mexico (which i'm not sure counts cause it was only about 40 miles from California) and to spend one night in the Bahamas on a 4 day cruise.

but in the last 11 months, i have gone to:

*London, England
*Nairobi, Kenya
*Mbale, Uganda
*Mt.Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (climbed to the top of that sucker, too)
*Stockholm, Sweden
*Paris, France
*Phuket, Thailand
*Sicily, Italy
*Chamonix, France

and tomorrow afternoon i leave for Barcelona, Spain. it was my Christmas present from my family, so they booked me and my friend, Nikki (who works for the family that my family travels with a lot) on a flight and got us a hotel right in the middle of the city. Our other American friend, Philly, is also coming along, so it should be a ton of fun. all i know is, i'm ready for some WARM WEATHER!!

in a couple short days, i'll be seeing this amazing church - the Sagrada Familia:

talk to y'all when i get back!

i've gotta get these dance moves down

2008-04-09T08:58:00.002+02:00

let me just say, New Kids on the Block were my reason for LIVING when i was about 10 (or so...4th grade, i think). i owned a VHS copy of their documentary (i use this term very loosely), i think it was called Step by Step. i watched it over and over and over again, and even to this very day, i can't get enough of the above music video...how cute is Joey when he's dancing in his tuxedo??

oh, and i'm well aware of their 'reunion'...i've heard the new song over at Mr.Paparazzi, and while it isn't bad, i'll still take the good 'ol vintage NKOTB over the new group anyday :)

he's my wild frontier

2008-04-08T18:45:00.008+02:00

today is a day of gratitude, as God has so incredibly answered some fervent prayers of mine...i won't go into details cause they're not necessary, but all i can say is, i have never, ever, ever been more thankful to be a part of this man's life -

i'm sure you've guessed it, but this is brad. this boy has my HEART like you wouldn't believe, and i just wanted to make sure that he knew this for sure today...and let the rest of you guys know :)

he is truly, completely my best friend in the whole world

he's my wild adventurer who isn't afraid to tell me when i'm being ridiculous...or tell me

he loves me

he makes me feel like the prettiest girl in the entire world. seriously. he notices things like new clothes, new haircuts, and has a knack for making me feel beautiful when i feel like trash

one of my best memories with him is the night we decided to buy Coronas, limes, chips and salsa, and build a campfire...we talked all night out in the woods with our drinks and warm fire

he always buys me the BEST gifts...my Tiffany's bracelet i had to have, my fantastic DKNY silver mesh watch, Philosophy perfume, my red Wellies, and most recently...Adobe Lightroom, the photo editing software he knew i was dying to have

he is adventurous and outgoing where i'm hesitant and reserved, thoughtful and kind where i'm grouchy and snappy, generous where i'm selfish, and he always knows how to make me laugh when i'm in a bad mood

baby, i love you more and more every moment...and again, i can't wait for our life together.

the week of redemption!

2008-04-06T17:23:00.005+02:00

maybe that's being a bit dramatic, but seriously, after all these visitors i was SO READY to get to France and spend some time skiing and seeing a change of scenery. mainly seeing a change of scenery, cause as i said before, i'm not so much a skiier.

we left for France on a Thursday morning and flew into Geneva, Switzerland and then made the one hour drive to Chamonix, the resort town that the family has a house in. at night we couldn't see anything, so i was a little disappointed to get there and have no idea of what it looked like. however, the next morning, this is what i woke up to:

the view from my room

down the little road that the house was on

beautiful, gorgeous mountains everywhere

see the two little people skiing down the hill? the farthest is Kasper, the nearest Sixten - note his wide-legged snowplow stance...his legs always hurt cause of it :)

kasper, the speed demon. he was always the first one down on the black slopes

this was actually IN Chamonix...i only saw it once, unfortunately

the family's chalet. it was BEAUTIFUL inside

a view of the valley below

these kids get so much attention wherever they go, seriously. they're too cute, i think

sixten, the youngest skiier in the family to ski the black piste

klara having a Klara Moment - she freaks out when she can't help herself...in this situation, apparently couldn't get up cause she fell

a picture of klara trying to 'wear' her backpack. i don't know, it was funny...

So, that's the extent of my pictures. there's more, but in all honesty, we really didn't do much but ski and eat/sleep. i didn't leave the house much, only to go for occasional walks...it was a very low key trip. we're actually going back in July, so it should be interesting to see it with no snow. they got around 100cm of snow when we were there! it was crazy. made the skiing great, though.

i'm all caught up now on my pictures, FINALLY...but i'll have more coming up cause this Friday i leave for BARCELONA!! it's my Christmas present from the family and i'm going with my two American girls, Philly and Nikki. it should be crazy fun...and a wonderful escape from the 40's-50's-ish weather we've been having here. believe me, i can't WAIT!

the final two

2008-04-06T16:47:00.005+02:00

as i had mentioned, my life had been pretty crazy since, well, February 9th, when Brad came to visit. i had four visitors from the February 9th to March 19th, and while i loved seeing every single one of them, it was a little hectic. the final two was my stepdad, who i just refer to as my dad, and my little sister.

it was interesting having them here cause it's just a funny thing to entertain people in someone else's home. my little cottage isn't big at all, so having the three of us squeezed in there every night for dinner got to be a little much, but it's a good thing we all love each other SO MUCH. right, jeff? :)

out of all my visitors, i'm pretty sure i saw more of stockholm with them than anyone else. my dad wanted to see all there was - every museum, old historical building, palace, etc. so that's what we did - we took a boat tour of Stockholm, went to a couple different history museums, went to the Old Town, went to the Vasa Museum, which is the home of the recovered Vasa warship from the 14th or 15th Century (i'm so bad with dates...). needless to say, i have seen enough of Stockholm in the last month to last me for the REST of my life.

here's some (unedited, grrr) pictures of their trip:

this is jeff, my dad. his midlife crisis purchase was dark-rimmed glasses, and i love to tease him :)

this is Victoria, AKA Tori. she's 14 and a sassy pants. i love her.

this is at Skansen, an outdoor museum

also at Skansen - the sky was AMAZING that day

me and my peanut - i looked a lot like her at her age

again, at Skansen

the Changing of the Guards at the Royal Palace

a view of Stockholm from the boat tour

they were very patient with me and my need to take pictures of EVERYTHING

a tower in the middle of the city - a landmark, of sorts

i took a lot more pictures, but these are just a few of their visit. THANKS for coming, guys!

grudgingly posting...

2008-04-01T10:29:00.008+02:00

all these un-edited pictures! i've been using the free trial (over and over again) of Adobe Lightroom, and it's once again ran out on me. so, these pictures will unfortunately be un-edited...i was telling brad last night that putting a photo on my website that's not edited is comparable to me going outside naked. seriously. and he said, 'what's wrong with THAT?'

KIDDING! he didn't say that. he's always completely respectful, and never makes dirty, wrong jokes EVER. right, brad? ;) (okay, i'll quit. he really is not like that. he is the greatest.)

anyway. i have about a bajillion pictures to post, and i'll try to get them in order here of how things occurred. i'm not joking, my life has been so ridiculously crazy for the last month and a half. it's finally slowing down and i'm so, so thankful for that. oh, and i forgot to mention, i am coming home in FOUR months from yesterday! yes, i love it here. but that doesn't mean i don't miss home. quite the contrary.

SO. first order of business, a few weeks ago my Texas chica in Paris, Connie, came to visit me. to her i owe my decision to purchase my amazing Canon dSLR camera, and to spend lots and lots of time taking photo after photo after photo....this is what we do when we're together. take lots and lots of pictures. let me illustrate -

meet connie -

this is her Ralph Lauren shot - i told her she looks like an ad model here

this is Steninge Slött - you know Marie Antoinette? if you recall from the movie, she had an affair with a Swedish man. this is his home that we visited -

a statue of a woman in the facade of the house

from the entryway. i love shots like these...notice the star on the urn/vase and in the top of the house? that was the family crest.

this 'palace' was ridiculously old...i believe from the 1700's. connie's better with the history :)

we had a 'photo shoot' in front of this great old barn

one of my better manual shots - this is connie's expertise. she tutors me.

she's a pretty girl :)

this post literally took almost an hour and a half! i swear, sometimes posting these pictures can take way too long. due to that, i'm wiped. but i do have more pictures coming of my visit with my dad and my sister, AND France. hopefully those will come sooner than later ;)

the song i can't get out of my head

2008-03-29T16:55:00.001+01:00

if i was as internet-savvy as all my friends think i am, maybe i'd be able to actually post the video directly on here?

anyway - this video is of the song 'Hero' by Charlotte Perrelli, and it was entered by Sweden into the Eurovision 2008 contest. basically, all the countries in Europe have this music contest in their respective countries - maybe a little comparable to American Idol, except the singers are typically already talented and the SONG is trying to win, rather than the singer - and then it's on TV, and people in the country can vote on what songs they like. does that make sense? sorry if it doesn't. at any rate, Sweden had a number of songs for their 'national' contest, and this below is the song that won, and will go on to be in the Eurovision Contest, at an international level.

that's all to say that it's a darned catchy song, even if it is totally Swedish/Euro in its cheesiness. when we were in France last week, just about every morning around 8am i would wake up with this blaring from the iPod dock in the kitchen, cause the kids love it. this contest was a really big deal here in Sweden, so i figured it was share-worthy ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6jz2Gc3VYM

a reminder to myself

2008-03-28T22:10:00.002+01:00

i once heard a good friend of mine say that, 'God cares more about our character than our comfort.'

this is so very true, and i think it's a good reminder for all of us.

it's official -

2008-03-27T15:15:00.002+01:00

I AM A SKIIER!

i will be very honest and say that, while i was looking forward to coming to France, i was NOT looking forward to skiing. at all, really. i haven't skiied in over 10 years, but did some snowboarding a few years ago - badly, i might add - which took place in Duluth, Minnesota, which has no mountains of any sort, and just a really big hill that you can ski down in 3 minutes. we arrived in Geneva, Switzerland last Thursday night, and let me tell you - these mountains are freaking HUGE. the next day we went and rented my skis and i kept wondering...how are we going to get to the chair lift from the house? cause here's what i'm thinking - i haven't skiied in at least 10 years. we won't all fit in the Land Cruiser to go down to park and THEN get on the lift. the lift is downhill from the house.

do you see where this is going? my first day on skiis in a long, long time i had to ski all the way down the mountain to the chair lift. i think i fell about 53 times in a 1 mile stretch.

but, it got easier, and i took private lessons with Pascall - yes, he was French, and i kept wanting to call him Gaston - and there is currently a CAT in this hotel lobby, umm... - but i took the lessons, and six days later, my friends -

i was on the black slopes! you can bet i have been BRAGGING. thing is, though, they're not that hard. they're just a bit steeper and longer. in fact, my three kids have been going down them, including Sixten, the 4 year old. he snowplows the whole way down, it's so adorable to watch his little body go careening past adults on these slopes :)

i guess you could say that's been the good part of the trip - i've gotten to see a different part of France, rediscover skiing, and see some incredibly gorgeous scenery. but on the downside, it's also been one of the MOST boring weeks of my life. no kidding. the family's house - which is like something out of a magazine, the decorating is beautifully rustic and cabin-like - was supposed to have the Internet, but it turns out it wasn't turned on yet. i finished the ONE book i brought by Tuesday, and i've also read every.single.magazine in the whole place. the TV is constantly occupied by Kasper and Joakim, who have been playing Need for Speed nonstop. so, that really doesn't leave much...

i discovered a really gorgeous lodge down the street from the house that has wireless internet, though, so i've been coming here to sit in their lobby and drink vin chauds (hot wine) and check my email. it's actually pretty relaxing, despite the fact that i have to walk 2 miles uphill to get back home.

i've taken lots of pictures, so i should have those up by next week. i hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

hittin' the slopes!

2008-03-19T10:15:00.003+01:00

tomorrow i'll be getting on a plane with my (Swedish) family and flying to Geneva, Switzerland and then driving an hour south to Chamonix, France, to go on my first ever ski vacation. they have a cabin located right at the base of the Mont Blanc, which is Europe's tallest mountain. i think i'm excited...i'm definitely looking forward to seeing a different part of France and doing some skiing, but after the last month of visitor after visitor, i'm really just ready to relax. and i'm not so sure that being in a cabin with 10 other people (we're going with another family) will be all that relaxing :)

here's some pictures of Chamonix, and the Mont Blanc valley. again, i'm reminded just how much i LOVE THIS JOB...

my favorite part of stockholm

2008-03-17T19:21:00.002+01:00

i would love to post more, but i'm currently in the middle of entertaining my dad and sister for the week - i just wanted to post a picture of Gamla Stan, which is Stockholm's Old Town. i've decided it's my favorite place to hang out in, and definitely the best place to take visitors. the streets are narrow, cobblestone and make you feel as though you're walking in ancient Europe. i've found a great pub that i like to go to, Wirström's, where every single time i've gone i end up meeting English-speaking people. the stores are obviously of the tourist variety, but i've found a random few shops that sell some of the cutest little Anthropologie-like items.

alright, they're waiting on me to get out the door - more later....

yes, we really did this

2008-03-13T11:13:00.006+01:00

my best friend, Bobbie, came to visit me last week while my family was in France skiing, and let me just say, we had fun. so much fun, in fact, that we had to take some pictures to document all the fun we were having!

okay, so basically we just wanted to take pictures of us doing all the 'rich stuff' in my amazing house here. we're silly. but anyway, we really did have lots of fun - made tons of good food, drank tons of wine, and watched tons of 'Gilmore Girls'. it was a Girls Week, definitely.

i also had a visitor this last weekend, Connie - she's an au pair in Paris. we took some great pictures. i'll get those up pretty soon...but for now, i have to get to workin' cause my FOURTH set of visitors in FOUR weeks are coming today! that's right...my dad and sister are coming today and staying through next week. it's going to be their first trip to Europe, so that's exciting. lots of pressure there :)

some comments about these pictures -

1 - my family has a Golf Room in their house. it's basically a driving range...there's a computer that's hooked up to the big screen on the wall and when you hit your ball into, it tells you how many feet you drove the ball, and all sorts of other technical stuff that i don't understand. they use it often, for those who are wondering :)
2 - how about bobbie's glass of wine in the cupholder? we didn't realize that til after we were looking at the pictures.
3 - the hot tub. it's my lifeline some days when all i want to do is take a bath, as there's NO bathtubs in this house.
4- bobbie in the steam sauna. sometimes it feels sooo good to sit in there, especially when it's cold out.
5 - watching a movie in the Theater Room. the screen comes down from the ceiling, as do the window shades, with the touch of a remote button. also note the extremely IKEA-like bed that comes down from the wall.
6- my hand at golfing. not such a good one. by the way, the room looks really small, but it's actually a pretty good size. big enough to annoy me when i'm picking up golf balls every day :)

more than halfway

2008-03-04T10:20:00.002+01:00

today marks my 6 month anniversary of being in Stockholm, leaving me 5 months left in this country. i'm not sure i have any great wisdom to share about what i've learned in these 6 months - it's probably not much different than what i had learned on my 5 month anniversary. but i do know that, after being away from home for 6 months - while it has gone by faster than i thought it would - it is so, so wonderful to have your friends come and visit you. it's like having home come to you.

to brad and bobbie, THANK YOU from the very depths of my heart for coming to see me. i wish that the weather was warmer and it wasn't so rainy and that there were more interesting tourist-y things to do in Stockholm besides the Palace and the Big Ship, but it's comforting to have heard from both of you that you didn't so much come to see Stockholm, but to see me. i'm always overwhelmed by the goodness of my friends.

hopefully tomorrow i'll be able to get some pictures up of bobbie's visit; i definitely have some good ones.

i'm home today with klara and sixten, they both seem to have gotten a touch of the flu when they were in france, so they're recovering. i don't mind a bit, i missed my little monkeys. one thing i can say about being more than halfway done - i will miss these kids like nothing else. they are in my heart more than i thought they ever would be.

on that note, i think i'll go watch 'Bambi' with them.

are you ready for this?

2008-02-28T02:04:00.007+01:00

cause i have LOTS of pictures! i'm really sleepy right now (wine, fajitas, dessert and Gilmore Girls will def take it out of you), but i've been wanting to get these up, so here they are...

1. Brad & Sicily

we met this man in our hotel one morning, and apparently he had nothing to do cause he took us on the city bus to the car rental shop. i think he got sick of hearing us try to communicate in English with all the non-English speaking employees.

this is a view of one of the many towns we drove through on our 3 day trip in Sicily. the Mediterranean is breathtaking.

we found some absolutely beautiful locations along the way. this one just happened to be the coldest spot in all of Southern Europe.

see, he's freezing. that's why is jaw is all clenched. but it was pretty.

oops, not Sicily! but this is an uber-cute picture of me and the BF. AND my new red Hunter Wellies! he buys the best Valentine's Day gifts.

one of the many dilapidated buildings we saw.

i loooove lamp posts. i think Paris got me hooked on them.

a street. in a town. i have yet to find an American city that is this beautiful.

here's Brad in a little shop that sold pastries and lunch foods. they had amazing calzones.

cacti in italy. who would've thought?

a harbor. this was definitely the Land of Boats.

the countryside was full of rocky, jagged cliffs right up next to the Mediterranean.

a Sicilian sunset

an old door on an old church in an old town. in an old country...

2.) Bobbie & Stockholm

so, i love to take photos of my friends. these two shots, while showcasing the fact that my Minneapolis best friend is visiting me for a week, are also my displays for photos using new lenses. this one was taken with an ultra-zoom. good thing her skin is so darn beautiful :)

this shot was taken using a wide angle lens. they can do incredible things with capturing the sky. who wants to watch 'Little House on the Prairie' now? hm..makes me miss Laura. Laura and Manny.

so, there you have it. hope everyone enjoyed these as much as i loved taking them.

who would've thought

2008-02-24T23:24:00.002+01:00

i swear, if there was anything about coming to live in stockholm that i wasn't excited for, it was definitely the weather. granted, i had been living in weather hell - AKA minneapolis - for the last six years, but i was certain that sweden was going to trump minneapolis in frigid temperatures and arctic snowfalls. and i was also certain that i was going to die in this weather, cause if there's anything i hate more than the cold, it's having to BE in the cold and especially having to service a car in the cold. i have (honestly) contemplated quitting various jobs at 7.30am when i am outside in sub-zero temps, scraping ice an inch thick from my windshield with a CD case. yes, i have done this, and so have you.

seriously, can life get any worse in those moments? i get anxious just thinking about it...ugh.

but anyway, the point of this whole post is only to brag about the fact that, since i've been here, it's pretty much stayed between 35 and 48 degrees. we've had snow about 3 times, and it's melted the next day. back home, in minneapolis and illinois, i hear it's been one of those awful winters that you'll look back and remember for years to come.

hm. sorry.

citizen cope...is dope

2008-02-22T11:45:00.003+01:00

okay. this man is Citizen Cope. he's a musician that Brad randomly discovered a couple years ago, and we spent many summer days driving in his Jeep with the windows down cranking Citizen Cope. he's got this funky, summery music that sticks with you and makes you want to throw your ice scraper in the trash can, find an old pickup truck and drive out West to California and spend your days surfing and proclaiming social justice. check out 'Bullet and a Target'.

and...i may or may not have a slight crush on him.

my crazy life

2008-02-21T09:22:00.002+01:00

so, is anybody still reading this?? i've been awful about updating lately, mainly because i had a friend (BOYfriend...) visiting and then was gone this last weekend in Sicily. and to further make blogging a pain in the butt rather than something i enjoy, my computer has completely quit working and is currently at Joakim's office getting fixed.

but, in good news, i am now the proud and happy owner of a pair of...

my red Wellies! Brad surprised me with them when he came, and let me tell you - i was THRILLED. pictures to come at a later time...

we spent the weekend in Sicily, took a cheap flight on RyanAir - our tickets cost less than $100 US dollars combined - to Trapani, which is on the West Coast of Sicily. we rented a car and drove where the road led and decided that Sicily definitely did not disappoint. The landscape was gorgeous - rugged hills and cliffs overlooking the bright blue and aqua Mediterranean sea, little bed and breakfast's tucked into hillsides, ancient ruins right next to the coast...it was a photo opp everytime we turned a corner. and, the most surprising thing, the people were SO incredibly friendly. we had 3 different people drive us in their own personal cars where we needed to go when we were simply asking for directions...i'm sure it was just easier for them to do this rather than try to awkwardly tell us in Italian that they didn't speak English (because NOBODY does, believe me) and have us stare back and laugh uncomfortably. so - go visit Sicily! but i would recommend doing it in the summer cause the off-season, while being cheaper, is very uneventful.

let's see - coming up i have Bobbie, my best friend in Minneapolis, visiting this next week while the family is skiing in France (don't worry, i'm only missing out cause we're all going back next month). after Bobbie is Connie in France for the weekend, then my Dad and sister, and then it will be my turn to go to Chamonix...the French Alps. April brings a trip to Barcelona (my Christmas present from the family) with Nikki and Philly, and another trip at the end of the month to LegoLand in Copenhagen. In May we'll be going to Gothenburg for a marathon that Annelie is running, and the kids also have a camp of some sort during that month. In June we'll be going to Bali, and July will also be full of traveling to northern Sweden, the coast of Sweden to the summer houses and then back to France. and then i come home! i figured it out last night that i have only FIVE weekends left in this country where i don't have anything planned (not working, traveling or on vacation). hard to believe.

anyway, that's all i've got. hopefully i'll get my computer back soon cause i've got some great pictures of the kids, Brad and Sicily.

have a great weekend!

it must be all those smoochies

2008-02-07T21:33:00.000+01:00

...cause i have one heck of a cold comin' on, and i'm pretty sure it can be traced back to this little Swedish butterfly -

i was planning to do a post about all the travels i have coming up - literally going to a different country every month for the next 6 months (Sicily is this next weekend) - but i don't have the energy to wait on blogger to post the pictures.

let's all say a prayer today that my kiddos are healthy and well and sent to school tomorrow, cause i have a million things to do [in prep for a special visitor...] and i really can't spend another day sitting in the house eating chocolate and listening to Dora the Explorer playing in the background. and lest you think i don't play with my kids....please. i made a MEAN drawing of a dinosaur* and a prince and a princess yesterday, and even drew my best Yoda for Sixten. and we made pankcakes today, which is the food that makes their little worlds go 'round.

alright, i'm off to find the NyQuil...

*when i was drawing Klara's dragon, she wrinkled up her little nose and said in her girly voice, 'seanni (she calls me sean-ni), that is not a dragon, that is a cow!'

to pass the time...

2008-02-06T09:41:00.000+01:00

i think i have mentioned that all three of my kids love Star Wars? well, they do. even klara, my little girly-girl. i got a call from annelie this morning at 7:45 (after getting to bed around...oh, 3:30am) letting me know that klara would need to stay home today cause she's been coughing, and could i please come in at 8:30? so here it is, 9:40am, sixten and klara are absolutely entranced by Star Wars III, and i'm on my second latte of the day (yep, i'm officially spoiled at this job...plain 'ol morning coffee will never appeal to me again...).

so, having said all that, i thought i'd write a little bit about my Pilates experience last night, and post a few pictures...you know, just to entertain myself until 10am. at that point, i could be going on latte no. 3.

for those of you that have done Pilates, you'd agree that it requires a bit of technique, right? i took some classes in Minneapolis and really enjoyed them, but always struggled to make sure i was breathing at the right time and the right way, contracting the right stomach muscles, etc. so i get to my first Pilates class last night, and it's in Swedish. obviously. i've done a variety of classes since i've been here, some aerobics and spinning classes. the language barrier didn't really keep me from following along, so i figured that Pilates couldn't be that much different.

i was wrong. i spent that WHOLE dang class - which had around 40 to 50 women in it - squeezed into a corner and craning my neck to see up to the little stage where the teacher was. she spoke for about 15 minutes just on the importance of breathing and contracting the right stomach muscles, and i only know this cause she kept making every breathe in and out while holding her stomach. i thought it would be better once she got through the instructions and into the actual workout, but nope - i couldn't see her well, couldn't understand her, and so the whole class was a bit frustrating. i was lifting my leg when everyone else was putting theirs down, lowering my butt from the 'shoulder raise' when everyone else was bringing theirs up. living in a foreign country has given me a very real compassion for foreigners in America...it's definitely not easy to live in a place where you don't understand anything.

there you have it, my Pilates experience. i know your life was enriched by it.

okay, so i LOOOOVE j.crew. like, love them, love them, love them. if you're a fan, you should go check out their new arrivals, cause they have some CUTE stuff. and then be glad that you're in America and can easily go buy whatever you want. or at least have the option to. which is more than i can say :) here's a few of my favorite pieces -

picture no. 1 - love that shirt. the color, the soft material, and the fact that the sleeves have ribbed hems
picture no. 2 - love those pants, they look classy and yet, comfortable
picture no. 3 - at first i just liked the trouser cut of the jeans, but then decided that i LOVE that little yellow sweater...i hear yellow's the IN color for spring?

in other happenings, i went to the Absolut Vodka Ice Bar here in Stockholm, and while being a really cool concept - it's made completely of ice, even down to your glass - it's really not worth it for how much it cost. anyway...

this is me with the Dugick's, my friend (and fellow au pair) Nikki's family. they are WONDERFUL.

and this is to show you that, even in the middle of winter-y December, Stockholm can have some gorgeous sunsets...i took this in the backyard one evening overlooking the lake -

and lastly, here's my favorite pictures of my littlest peanut -

alright, hope you guys enjoyed my randomness :)

the sixth month

2008-02-04T10:27:00.000+01:00

so, can anyone else believe i've been here five full months now? i find it hard to believe. sometimes it feels like i got off the plane just yesterday, and other days it feels like it's been ages since i've been home.

when i first started doing these "month marker" posts, i wanted them to be about the things that i've learned since i've been here, and my goals going forward, or things that i want to remind myself of. a lot of this is for my own benefit; an online diary, of sorts, for me to look back at when the year is done to see where i was at during each marker.

LESSONS LEARNED (tangible):

i hate riding the train. i've noticed that since i've been living here i get these slight anxiety attacks when i'm surrounded by people. i cannot even begin to tell you the annoyance that rises up in me when someone sits down directly across from me on the train, their knees touching mine, when there's plenty of open seats around us. it is a constant reminder that i'm not as easygoing as i like to think i am.
i am not a TV-watcher. i have watched maybe about 10 hours of TV since i've been here...i just could care less to turn it on, most of them. Why, when there's millions of blogs that you could be reading?? i would much rather learn about the every day details of peoples' REAL lives.
i miss stores like Target with an unhealthy, deep-rooted passion.
i am starting to fall in love with accessories - hats, purses, long necklaces, etc.

LESSONS LEARNED (on life):

it's okay to miss home...everyday.
you find out who your friends are when you move away for a year. try it.
life doesn't slow down for the good parts...or speed up for the bad ones, and everything that we go through is shaping who we are.

okay, enough inspirational talk. but seriously, those things are all so, so true. since i've been here, i've had some low points where i was ready to get on a plane back to Illinois ASAP. and then there's times, like when sixten is warm and sleepy and curled in my lap in the morning, or when i'm on the beach in Thailand, that i think, 'how can i leave this??'

i've been noticing in myself lately this EXTREME urge to get everything figured out...to eliminate all the unknowns in every area of my life: relationships, future job, where i'll be living when i get back to the States, to name a few. but i really feel like God's been reminding me to just live in the moment and not wish so much for the future or for things i can't change. i was listening to the new Kenny Chesney CD the other day and one of his songs is called "Don't Blink" and it's written from the perspective of a 100-year-old man who's being asked about what's he's learned over the years, and he says "Don't blink" (among other things...it's a good song, even if it is kenny chesney). and then my best friend, Steph, wrote a blog about a patient of hers that could be potentially dying of cancer, and how much its reminded her to live life every day.

i think it's not so much about living life to its fullest, but to simply live in the moment wherever you are, whether you're loving your life or hating your life.

anyway, that's what i've been thinking about. on a side note, i got tired of blending in with all the Swedish blondes and decided to go dark. here's a couple pictures of me and Sixten...or Luke Skywalker, as he'd prefer to be called:

dear peter and amy,

2008-01-30T14:41:00.000+01:00

lately i've been in a slightly gripey mood regarding Stockholm, so i will just take the blame for the fact that i have just now received your gift. rather than blaming it on the post office for failing to notify me.

anyway.

1.) i REALLY miss you guys.

2.) can you come visit me? with your new baby? i'll talk to my family about flying you over. they can afford it.

3.) you two are genuinely some of the greatest people God ever created, and i am so, so thankful to have friends like you in my life.

thank you, thank you, thank you for my gift! i was beyond thrilled to get those Kashi pumpkin flax granola bars. and Coca-Cola :) you must've remembered how much i loved them...could it have been that i drank 12 of them after coming down from Kili?

all my love,
seanna

ps - i LOVE my slippers!

give me a Valium and Super Wal-Mart

2008-01-29T14:57:00.000+01:00

i think that if you ask any American housewife what her least favorite errand to run is, i am almost certain that she would say going to the grocery store. and since i am currently working as An-American-Housewife-In-Training (oh, you thought i was an au pair? that just takes care of children? silly you), i have decided that i also HATE going to the grocery store.

back when God was creating the heavens and the earth and the days of the week, He decided that Mondays should be a universally hated day. He succeeded in this, and now, even on the other side of the world in a job that i don't have to put on heels or makeup for, drive to work in a panic or sit at a computer all day, i still hate Mondays. read my previous blog to get a rundown of what an average day looks like for me. now, add taking the kids to school, going to the grocery store AND the dry cleaners in there...somewhere. that is my Monday.

so, every Monday Annelie gives me a grocery list, and every Monday i make the trek to the Lidingö Centrum to purchase said groceries. and all i can say is....America DEFINITELY has a leg up on Sweden in the food shopping industry.

i'm guessing that everybody in our town waits until Monday mornings to go grocery shopping, because every Monday morning when i arrive at the Centrum, there is a line of about 8 cars all trying to get into the parking lot. the Centrum is not THE grocery store, it's the center that holds the grocery store, along with the ever-present H&M, post office, liquor store, etc. the grocery store is one very small, tiny part of the Centrum. emphasis on small and tiny.

i think i've decided that most Swedish families (possibly all Europeans, cause i've seen this in Paris...right, Connie? and evidently in my mind Swedes and Frenchies constitute all of Europe) go to the grocery store on a daily basis to buy their food, rather than making two trips a month, like most people in America. when you walk into the grocery store here (the name of it is Vi...weird, right?), the carts are tucked away in a back corner next to the registers, so you have to enter into the exit of the store in order to get a cart. they only put the little baskets next to the entrance. since i am shopping for a family of FIVE, i need more than a tiny basket.

so i get my cart and off i go...and here's my random observations:

* the bread is at the BEGINNING of the store, so that when you throw your loaves into your
cart they inevitably are smushed and cold from having the frozen hamburgers and milk thrown on them
* every Monday i purchase around 6 or 7 cartons of milk because, for some unknown reason, they come in little cartons here rather than the gallon jugs. and since there's 5 people in the family, and these 5 people require 3 different varieties, that equals lots of milk
* there are only 2 aisles of the "freezer section", and a HUGE (okay, comparatively huge) produce section
* there's only about 4 aisles of dry/canned goods. take an average aisle at the grocery store in America, cut in half and put them back-to-back, and that would be the size of one aisle here
* there's about 3 aisles dedicated solely to candy

so, after i've done all my shopping i get to the check out lanes, which i think is the part that everyone around the world hates. but believe me, if anybody has reason to hate it, it's ME. people in America, here is my advice for you: BE THANKFUL FOR 18 CHECKOUT LANES. because here in Sweden, there is five. FIVE checkout lanes. this isn't usually a bad thing cause, like i said, most people here are buying their groceries for the night's dinner, rather than a week's supply of food for five people, like me.

i haul my cart that's packed to the top full of food into the shortest lane, and then proceed to unload all the groceries onto the belt, which is about 10 centimeters long. i pick up about 7 bags because YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR THEM HERE and then run down to the other end to bag them all as they're being scanned. this is by FAR my least favorite part of shopping - paying and bagging the groceries. i always have an insane amount of groceries, and people are always staring at me cause i look like i've just bought out the store's entire supply of milk and bread. but i bag my groceries and go, and here's my second least-favorite part of grocery shopping:

THE EVIL CARTS. someone thought it would be a great idea to make the carts have wheels that turn a full circle, but really, this just makes me want to steer my cart into the nearest parked car. there is no sense of control at all with them, and yet, i appear to be the only person in Sweden who is unable to maneuver them. i see 85 year old women easily pushing their carts along. why do i have such a hard time?? i don't know.

do you now see why i hate grocery shopping? it is the bane of my existence these days. so, to make us all feel better over my misfortune, here's some pretty pictures for your enjoyment:

the top photo was taken at the Opera House (operahuset)
the bottom photo was taken in Stockholm overlooking the Baltic Sea

this could be embarrassing

2008-01-24T14:41:00.000+01:00

i've been thinking lately that i wanted to do a post on here, but these days my life is pretty boring now that all the holidays and traveling is over with. in that case, i decided to share my life with you, from the moment i wake up til the moment i go to bed. sorta like a "day in the life"...of me. so, here it goes:

08:30 - alarm goes off. wake up to room FREEZING cold cause i open the window at night due to stuffiness. become momentarily annoyed at being woken up AND being cold. pull the covers up to my neck and go back to sleep. with the window still open.

11:30 - wake up for real this time. annoyed that i went back to sleep and only have 3.5 hours til i have to get kids. crawl out of bed, throw on the nearest articles of clothing, stuff my feet in nearest pair of shoes and trudge over to the Big House.

11:32 - walk into kitchen. per usual, it's a Disaster. unrecognizable. fall on the floor and cry for 10 minutes while asking myself why i took this job.

11:42 - spend 30 minutes unloading dishwasher. load dishwasher with last night's AND this morning's dishes. step on squishy macaroni from last night's dinner. take a deep breath. wipe down counters, put away butter and yogurt left out from the morning's breakfast. hope nobody gets sick.

12:15 - go around house and pick up Star Wars light sabers, mini Lego men, and various items from Klara's closet. head upstairs.

12:30 - make beds in all three rooms. pick up clothes from the night before (yes, ALL clothes for ALL family members, sometimes this grosses me out). sort laundry from clean and put in respective places. almost die when climbing up into the miniature loft that Klara sleeps in.

13:15 - go to the basement and start laundry, which i refer to as the Never Ending Pit of Despair. i HATE laundry. load washer. fold clothes. sort clothes. trudge BACK upstairs to put away clothes.

14:00 - walk back through the house to make sure everything's done. sigh when the dishwasher beeps (over and over and over) to tell me it's done. roll my eyes and think "i never get a break" and then think, "i'm definitely going to have a housekeeper one day" and THEN i am reminded that this is my JOB and at least some of it has to be work.

14:15 - sit down at table to surf the Internet. think about getting dressed. stare out the window at all the people walking by who always stop and stare at OUR house. eat an apple. or chocolate.

15:00 - frantically get dressed (finally). go pick up klara and sixten at daycare.

15:05 - ask klara and sixten to get their snowpants on.

15:10 - tell klara and sixten to get their snowpants on.

15:15 - threaten to leave them at daycare if they don't put their snowpants on NOW.

15:20 - walk outside without kids. forget to take plastic shoe booties off. klara and sixten watch me from inside and laugh.

15:30 - wrangle kids into their fleeces, snowpants, hats and mittens. finally get them out the door. remember to take booties off.

15:35 - listen to the SAME Sheryl Crow song from the Car's Soundtrack that we listen to every.single.day. go pick up kasper.

15:45 - collect kasper from school, who never wants to come home, and load everyone back into my Flintstones (read: MINIATURE. TOY-LIKE) car where putting seatbelts on is entirely too stressful. least favorite part of my day. briefly consider not making children wear seatbelts.

16:00 - arrive back home. go through reverse process of getting everyone out of winter gear. fold more laundry. load washer with load no. 3948573.

17:00 - make dinner for kids. this switches between meatballs and macaroni, hot dogs and macaroni, falukorv (a type of swedish sausage) and macaroni. occasionally throw in potatoes when the kids are feeling adventurous.

17:30 - annelie comes home. hallelujah thank you JESUS.

18:00 - head back to my cottage. sit on the bed for an hour. send emails. check facebook for the 24th time in 3 hours.

19:00 - drag myself out the door to the gym. arrive at gym and ask myself if i REALLY want to go inside.

19:15 - go inside. work out. cuss in my head the whole time.

20:15 - get back home. make dinner, usually fish and vegetables or low-fat meatballs. eat dinner on my bed. check facebook, hotmail, and perez hilton. maybe turn on the TV. call brad/steph/queenie/sherri/jeff.

22:00 - get ready for bed. become annoyed at messiness of my cottage. never feel like cleaning my own place.

22:30 - check facebook.

23:00 - read in bed. wonder if anyone emailed me.

00:00 - pass out and dream of laundry, meatballs and...facebook.

1 august 2008

2008-01-22T11:27:00.000+01:00

yep, that's when i'm heading back to the good 'ol US of A! you never realize how much you LOVE it til you're not living there...

but anyway, i will be leaving Stockholm on 31 august (i'm so Euro, i know, what with the number first and all) and arriving in....

NEW YORK CITY!!

i'm going to spend a few days there with Nikki and (hopefully) Philly, and am planning to meet up with another friend and spend his birthday there.

after that, i'll most likely head back to IL for a little while and then down to the Deep South (Georgia, specifically). sooo...that's what's going on with me.

6 months and 2 weeks til i'm back!

back to reality

2008-01-15T21:14:00.000+01:00

we finally made it back to sweden this past weekend after a looong flight (overnight, thankfully) and while it's nice to come back, the weather is definitely nothing to be thankful for. it's cold, gray and icky. the funniest thing is, there's not even been any snow yet! i think they had some while we were gone, but it all melted. it's been around 5 degrees Celsius the past few days, which is in the low 40's (F). i actually think it's supposed to get colder these next few days, but still...how odd. everyone thought i was practically moving to Antarctica before i came here. hard to believe that Minneapolis is colder right now than it is here. i'm not complaining, though :)

i have LOTS of pictures from Thailand that i want to post, but i think the easiest thing to do is to post the link to my Picasa album where you can see them all HERE. but if you're not into linking, here's a few to tickle your fancy...

to b.p.h -

2008-01-14T13:14:00.000+01:00

you know me well, from the stripes to the brand (j.crew)...makes me miss you all the more.

thanks :)

money can't buy it all

2008-01-09T18:02:00.000+01:00

for the past two weeks i've been staying at a gorgeous Sheraton resort, complete with a 300 meter pool, six restaurants, beautiful rooms, endless staff members, and their own trio of elephants. i've had elaborate meals ranging from foie gras to authentic paad thai, the best wine the hotel has to offer (sometimes TWO glasses, one red and one white to complement whatever we're eating), and have literally no limit to what i choose to purchase for food or drinks or room service when i'm on my own (which is really special, because who has ever longingly looked at the drinks and snacks in the minibar and known you can't have them cause they're too expensive?? i know i'm not the only one).

but tonight was probably the best night i've had the whole time i've been in thailand and it only cost me 60 baht, which is roughly $2 USD.

nikki and i borrowed the bikes from our families' villa and rode about 4 miles away to a beautiful beach tucked in the corner of a big cove, where fishing boats and tailboats floated offshore and small little bars happily played Bob Marley. we got there around 4pm and spent an hour or two just dozing on the beach while listening to our iPods, and then watched the sunset - one of the prettiest i've ever seen - while drinking iced mochas and agreeing that God really does orchestrate everything in nature to be beautiful. afterwards we rode our bikes - on a gorgeous beach front road - back to the hotel and went to have dinner at a nearby italian restaurant.

so, money can buy lots and lots and lots, but i would take evenings like these - just a bike, a friend, some good music, and a beach - over five course meals anyday.

we're heading back home on friday night, so there's only 2 days left here. tomorrow the plans are to play tennis in the morning and maybe kayak afterwards, and then get one last massage on the beach. they're ridiculously cheap and so wonderful...

i think i want to move here.

phuket - it's not the way it sounds

2008-01-06T04:38:00.001+01:00

poo-ket. not the other way that i'm sure most of you are thinking, cause it's what i thought at one point in my life before i was introduced to the greatness that is Chino Latino, a really cool restaurant in minneapolis. i distinctly recall going there my freshman year of college (Bible college, no less) and being horrified at the t-shirts that the bus boys were wearing that all had different phrases using the word "phuket"...

so - THAILAND! it's amazing. gorgeous. JUST like my pictures below. seriously, i can't say enough about the beauty and just plain romanticism of this place. there's so much i could talk about but i hate spending my time inside while the sun is brightly shining outside and there's snow waiting for me back in Stockholm. basically, here's the rundown -

we left last saturday afternoon, and to my surprise, i found out at the airport that we were flying Premium Economy on Thai Airways, which essentially is business class. i think it's one of the most wonderful, luxurious things i have ever done in my life and i'm sure to be a spoiled brat by the end of this year. but for now, i will take my wine-in-a-GLASS-glass and glass utensils for dinner and big, comfy seats. we had a 10 hour flight from Stockholm to Bangkok and connected to Phuket from there. the resort that we're staying at is huge and beautiful and has all the great amenities that i have come to love on someone else's budget, such as robes and slippers in the rooms and down comforters and endless staff members to assist your every need. nikki and i are staying in a regular room, and our families are renting a big villa on the golf course.

as far as seeing Thailand, in all honesty, it's hard to do. i've gone on a bike ride out to some more of the rural areas, which was actually really, really neat. me and nikki went on a boat tour and snorkeling out to Phi Phi Island, which is where they filmed the movie "The Beach". THAT was the most.beautiful.place.ever. no kidding - the water is about 4 shades of green...it changes between that electric, neon turquoise all the way to deep, emerald green. snorkeling was incredible...i've never seen such beauty in my life: each one was a different design with bright, tropical colors. there was even lots of coral reef to check out.

i've spent some time in Patong Beach, which is a beach area in Phuket that's well-known for shopping, bars and prostitutes. it's really sad, actually...nikki and i have done some shopping there (where i scored with a CUTE black Chanel handbag and a black Louis Vuitton small duffel) and literally almost everywhere you look is a young Thai woman (or man) prostituting themselves. you're constantly being stopped on the street by men and women asking you if you want to go to sex shows, basically. it's an area of town that we've tried our hardest to stay away from.

my days here are mainly spent either watching the kids in the morning while the parents are golfing and then having evenings free, or hanging out at the beach during the morning/early afternoon and then watching the kids while all the parents work out and then going to dinner with everyone. some nights we have the kids after dinner, too, while the parents are out and about. and, we're scheduled every single day. so...lest you think i'm laying on the beach all day, please know that i AM working ;) in the lightest sense of the word, of course.

so, that's my trip so far. it's crazy to think that we've been here for over a week, and we still have five full days left here. i'm doing pretty good with the tan and have only burned myself one time on the whole trip, and even then it wasn't bad. that's an accomplishment for me, unfortunately...

we get home this weekend and i'll definitely be sure to post lots of pictures, and i'll try and get some from christmas on here.

Happy Belated New Year!

6am.

2007-12-17T06:23:00.000+01:00

i've been up since 4am...i don't know, ever since i've been here i've had this hard time sleeping. i think my body temperature gets all screwed up - i go from hot to cold, cold to hot, and am never comfortable, but can't seem to regulate the temperature to a comfortable one in my little cottage. so i often wake up at odd times and can't fall back asleep, and end up turning on Mtv and checking my email. or writing blogs.

anyway, not too much to report this week. i am going to the opera on thursday with nikki's family, who will be in town for christmas. i'm actually really excited, i've never been to the opera, and am really looking forward to it. i'll have the kids on thursday and friday cause annelie wants to make sure they don't get sick right before we leave for thailand, which is next thursday. speaking of, here's a couple pictures for you guys!

both of these photos are of phuket, the area we're staying

this is the hotel we're staying at - soooo huge!

i'm seriously getting SO excited for this trip! you know, i have to be honest, i'm not even so excited for christmas. i may have said that already, but it's interesting - when you don't have the typical things of christmastime to distract you, i think you do think about the heart of it a little bit more. like, not having my family and friends and the idea of tons of presents awaiting me makes me think more about how this holiday is to celebrate the arrival of Jesus, and the pure beauty and gift in that alone. but believe me, i do miss all of the distractions of friends and family and presents, no matter how philosophical i may get :)

i have the WORST crick in my neck! i don't know what happened, i think it's from watching my tv from my bed. it's at an odd angle, so i usually twist my neck to the right to watch it. i can't even turn it to the right without wincing in pain. i have to turn my whole torso, which makes me feel like a victim of whiplash.

well, i should maybe try and get a little bit of sleep before i have to get up in a couple hours and take the little ones to dagis - their daycare. hope everyone's weeks start off great!

i keep thinking...

2007-12-13T12:08:00.000+01:00

...about prosciutto tortellini. seriously, it sounds SO good to me right now. i think i'm going to eat it for lunch.

so, i'm slightly bored today and don't have much to write about, but i'm trying to stay up with blogging for all of my family and friends that check this website once a month ;) there's not been too much going on this week. it's actually probably been my crappiest week i've had since i've gotten here - one of those "can i do anything right??" weeks.

don't get me wrong - i do my work here that's required of me. but i think they expected more from me, and i wasn't aware of it. i had a really good talk with a frieeeend of mine, brad, who seriously has the best work ethic of anyone i've ever met, and he challenged me with the idea of being a good employee vs. a great employee, despite my expectations of the job. it's the great employees who will go above and beyond and do the things that aren't asked of them. i definitely want to be a great employee to this family, especially since they treat me so well. so it's been a bit of a rough week, but it's always good to be reminded of where we can improve.

what else can i tell you about? i got my winter boots (finally!) it's not been snowing here so there's not been much need for them, although i do think that investing in the red rain boots i wanted would have ended up being a good purchase, considering the amount of rain we've had lately. the boots are cute; they're made by Esprit and are pretty simple - sand colored with the top of the boot lined in fur. and the best part is that the insides are lined with fleece. we'll have to see how they hold up in the waterproof department cause they're protected by something called Gartex...yeah, NOT Gortex.

i bought a couple new items for my trip to thailand, which is 2 weeks from today! i bought a new swimsuit from Victoria's Secret, cause i've been wanting a black one for as long as i can remember. here's a picture of it -

it should look exactly like that on me, right? :) but speaking of, i have been on a protein-only diet for the last week, and am going to continue it up until we leave. the idea was to cut out most of my carbs (i still have some every now and then, hence the tortellini that i just ate) since i'm going to be spending every day for two weeks probably in a swimsuit at the pool with the kids. cutting bread/pasta is definitely not my favorite thing to do cause i LOVE pasta, but you really do feel better when you eat lighter foods.

i also purchased this dress for New Years Eve at Charlotte Russe - i thought it was way too cute to pass up, and it was only $26.

kind of different, but i really like it. i bought it online, so hopefully it'll look the same in person.

and finally, i just have to say that i have a new favorite song - it's called "bleeding love" and it's by leona lewis, who was on a show called X-Factor that i think was on in the UK. i don't think she's in the US yet, but you should go listen to this song on her my space. believe me, it'll be huge in the States.

it's almost friday! hope everyone is having a great week ;)

2 weeks to go!

2007-12-11T14:27:00.000+01:00

i just checked the calender, and christmas is 2 weeks from today! so hard to believe. in all honesty, i'm not so much looking forward to christmas for the sake of christmas, but for the sake of leaving for phuket, thailand two days afterwards. it's hard to get into christmas when you know you're not going to be with the ones you love.

i had an interesting thing happen the other day that's been circling in my head. this past weekend klara had a dance recital on the WAY other side of Stockholm, and it was just a long, long day for all of the kids. it took a long time to get there, and then after her first show at 1pm, i had to take the little boys back to the house while klara stayed with her grandma (her farmor, it's her father's mother) to perform for the 3pm show. well, it was such a process getting home. on the way there, we all took a taxi and it was fine. on the way back, though, i had to take the boys on the train. i didn't think it would be a problem, but it ended up being planes-trains-and-automobiles ordeal. we took the pendeltag (the trains in the outer parts of town) to T-Centralen, which is the main subway station. From there, we took the tunnelbana (the subway) to our train station on the island here. From THERE we took the bus to our stop near the house. and finally, from there, we walked back to the house. needless to say, my boys were wiped out.
anyway, i was sitting on the bus and kasper, my oldest (7 yrs) was sitting next to me, and throughout the whole ride he kept scooting over closer and closer to me. finally, he just collapsed and tucked his head under my chin and was gripping my hands. i rested my head on his, and at once, i was hit with this overwhelming feeling of love for this little boy. which made me realize that this was the first physical affection of love that i had felt in three months. to most of us, that's not such a big deal because you probably experience it a lot, whether with a boyfriend/husband/friend/sister, etc. but i hadn't felt that way in my heart for months, and when i did, it was intoxicating. this all might sound silly, but i know it will be a moment that i will always remember about being here.

thought i would post a couple pictures of the weekend -

klara and farmor making cookies

these are the gingerbread cookies that Swedes LOVE to eat at christmastime - can't remember the name of them...

her dance recital had a "space" theme to it; she was supposed to be an astronaut, which is her current career choice, coming only before rock star ;)

my peanuts. they really do love each other, i think.

the most wonderful time of the year

2007-12-06T23:09:00.000+01:00

while my bout with laziness and sleeping in til 1pm (or kl13, as the Swedes would write - meaning klocken 13...the clocks at 1. i guess that's what it translates to?) is still in full-force - my excuse is the weather, the sun is rising at 8:30am and setting around 2:45pm - i finally dragged my butt into the city last night to do a little bit of shopping and meet up with some friends of mine. it was a GOOD idea - i definitely needed some fresh air and a bit of a city adventure. here on the island it's easy to forget that i actually live in a bustling, metropolitan city cause we're completely in the woods. and it reminded me just how happy i am to be here and just how much i do love stockholm.

i was only in two main parts of the city last night, Sergelstorg and Gamla Stan. There's a big square where the Tunnelbana's (subway train) main station is located, so i jumped out there and got some shots of the square and the surrounding buildings. all the tents set up in the middle are not typically there; it's a Christmas Market, of sorts. they're selling kind of random things, though, like socks, deli meat, purses, alpaca wool sweaters, blankets...kind of reminded me of a market in a third world country.

sergelstorg

i went and met up with nikki and another au pair that we're friends with, susanna. susanna is from poland, and has the prettiest skin i've ever seen. i'm jealous. here's some pictures from NK (Nordiska Kompaniet), which is the nicest department store in Stockholm. they're well-known for having a great christmas display in their front store windows.

red noses! me, susanna and nikki

one of the main shopping streets in stockholm - it stretches in both directions from sergelstorg

after seeing the windows and doing some more shopping we headed over to Gamla Stan, which means Old Town. it's the oldest part of Stockholm and is right on the Baltic Sea, which means that it's usually the most photographed area of Stockholm. chances are, if you google Stockholm for images you will Gamla Stan from the water, cause it's beautifully picturesque and old. but anyway, nikki, susanna and i wandered the streets for a bit trying to find a good place to go have a drink, and we came across this whole-in-the-wall pub that was so unique and old. you had to go downstairs to find more seating, and it was basically a hollowed-out cave that had twisting, narrow hallways and seats in every nook and cranny of the place. somehow we ended up sitting next to the of Dungeons and Dragons Game Night table. Odd.

see all those little lights in the windows? those are little candle-like lights, and EVERYONE has them.

this is the dungeons and dragons weekly meeting.

overall, it was a really fun night, and one that i definitely needed. it's easy to forget that i live in this great city, and there's places like this everywhere at my fingertips. i hope that over the next 9 months i can get some better shots of the city, ones that are actually in the daylight. unfortunately, that won't be so easy to accomplish with the sun going down around 2pm...no wonder this country travels so much to warm, sunny places.

oh! speaking of, Thailand is in three weeks from today. and i just found that we're booked to holiday in Bali, Indonesia in June for three weeks. these are the times that i THANK THE LORD for this job ;)

well, i should get to bed. i have the kids all weekend while the parents are in France, and i have to get over there at 6am to get the day going. but for those that are interested, here's a couple pictures of my little Christmas trimmings around my cottage. nothing fancy, but it's cozy.

here's my little star in the window - another traditional Swedish 'jul' decoration.

yes, that is my christmas wreath for the door sitting in the corner.

happy friday!

tre månaden

2007-12-04T17:36:00.000+01:00

today signaled my three-month mark here in Stockholm. when i first started this blog, my intention was to look back at each month-mark and share a little bit about what i've been learning since i've been here. well, i could write a blog every day about all the different things i learn about myself, stockholm, the world, and God. making the decision to come here was the second-best one i've ever made, after choosing to leave home to go to college in a different state (not cause i hated home, just cause i think it's always good to move away from what's comfortable). much of what i'm learning about myself these days isn't anything new; i'm just going deeper into who i am and the things in my heart. i know that sounds like a cheesy book, but it's true. something about being outside of your regular, everyday life causes you to see who you are more clearly. and for me, seeing who i am more clearly has given me a new insight into who God is. as much as i loved attending a christian university, there's just some things you can't learn there about your faith. so much if it has to be learned in the real world.

anyway, i'm rambling. i'll tell you one thing i'm learning - my clothes are always dirty. whether it's from getting sticky fingers on my shirt to sixten's pleas for me to carry him from the car to the door every day, thus getting his dirty, muddy boots all over my jeans, my clothes are usually filthy at the end of the day.

and i wouldn't trade it for an office job any day ;)

camera hogs

2007-12-03T10:44:00.001+01:00

these kids love a camera. these were taken last weekend after they had a nice, long swim in the hot tub and i had the idea to comb their hair. not too sure that's something that happens too often for them, judging by the way they pranced in their mirror afterwards ;)

please pardon kasper's boogery nose. i swear i'm a good au pair.

the charmer.

my boys ;)

there's not too much going on this week, either at work or personally...i do have the kids again this weekend while the parents are skiing in France. oh! i also decorated for Christmas, i'll post those pictures later this week. i've also got ambitions of getting out into the city and taking some photos of the city, since they've got all their Christmas decorations up. i'm looking forward to visiting the Christmas Markets, which i think are a more traditional European thing.

i also had my hair highlighted this last week, and trimmed. it was my first experience doing so in stockholm, and i have to say, it makes me miss home ;) they just do things differently here...for instance, my hair was a little too blonde for my taste. in the States i could go back to the salon the next day and have it corrected, usually for no charge. however, they don't do that here. so, i'm stuck with this hair color until the roots start showing, which i can't STAND. here's a picture of it -

if i get any paler, i'm going to blend in with the wall...but only for a few more weeks!

hope everyone has a great monday!

reaching that point

2007-12-01T23:38:00.000+01:00

okay, i love it here. i really do. i love these kids, i love the family, i LOVE stockholm - it's a much cooler city than most people are aware of - but i think i'm at THAT POINT. where i'm thinking that the great perks of this job really are wonderful - hello, thailand in 26 days? - but yet, being someone that absolutely loves working with children and connecting with them, i'm beginning to feel the strain of the language barrier. my kids speak english, understand it pretty well, but it's not their first language, and being that they're only 3, 5 and 7, they're still learning swedish, for crying out loud. the parents went out tonight with a big group of families, and before they all went out they had a "pre-party" at our house. one family brought their swedish nanny, and once the parents all left, my own kids were picking her over me to sit with, talk to, play with, etc. that's a hard pill to swallow, especially when you know that you're doing everything you can to connect with them. and i usually do, it's not typically an issue. i think they just liked the idea of having a swedish person around to talk to and play with, cause it's less work for them. sometimes getting these kids to use their english is like pulling teeth, so i know they don't like to speak it if they don't have to. it's all just wearisome to me.

plus, i've been missing home a LOT lately. i think it's the holidays; those are always the hardest time of the year to be away from family and friends. so, combining my homesickness with the frustration of tonight just makes me want to crawl under my ridiculously thick and warm IKEA down comforter and just go to bed.

which i think i'll do.

new favorite

2007-11-29T02:21:00.000+01:00

www.thepioneerwoman.com

she's a photographer. lives in the country. married to a cowboy. and she's so, so funny.

go check out her site - her photos are amazing, and her blog highly entertaining.

quite the weekend

2007-11-24T13:24:00.000+01:00

As mentioned before, I kept the barn (swedish for 'children') for the weekend while the parents were having a weekend vacation in London. It definitely wasn't a bad weekend, although it did get a little long after having them nearly every day the past week. Since they had stayed home sick so often I thought it would be best for us to all take it easy, so we spent most of the time watching movies, playing video games, doing puzzles...basically things that require low physical activity. On Saturday, though, Annelie recommended that I take the kids to a small cafe just through the woods for lunch, which I thought was a great idea. We got all bundled up and braved the cold Swedish morning to walk a mile to this small cafe nestled in the forest. It was a beautiful morning - the kind that makes me kick myself for not bringing my camera along - and when we got to the restaurant, I had to smile, cause, see - the Lord knows. I firmly believe that, yes, I serve a great big God who did and does hugely miraculous things, created the universe, and put me here on Earth. But I also believe that the Lord knows even the smallest things about our hearts.

Case in point - I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE shabby chic decor style. I could search through antique shops for old quilts, milk bottles, chipped and whitewashed furniture pieces, wrought iron accents spray painted pastel colors, faded floral fabrics in muted, soft shades...I get excited and happy just thinking about it. Well, here I come, off to Sweden, where I've never been and really don't know much about. So how funny is it that there's pretty much two decor styles in Sweden, one being really modern and streamlined and the other being...shabby chic. They definitely have their own version of it and I wouldn't say that it's extremely similar to say, the Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic line, but it's definitely, definitely my style. I had to smile in this little cafe because all the walls were whitewashed a grayish color, the tables were old farmhouse styles that had been painted white, the chairs were all mismatched, straight-back chairs with floral seat cushions tied on, there was an old white fireplace in the corner with little antique knickknacks on the mantel, and all of the furniture pieces, such as the buffet and dessert tables, were mismatched and chipped. It was adorable, and not to mention the food was amazing. See? I think stuff like this just further confirms that there was a Hand in my coming to this country :)

Anyway, on Saturday night I had a few of my friends over for an American Thanksgiving, and it was a lot of fun! There were 3 Americans, 1 Swede and 1 Dutch. We had all the typical Thanksgiving foods - turkey (which is ridiculously expensive in this country and has to be bought at a turkey butcher), potatoes, mac and cheese, stuffing, broccoli cheese casserole, biscuits, and threw in some salmon stuffed with goat cheese. For dessert we had a Swedish "princess cake," which apparently is The Cake of Sweden. Every bakery sells them. It's good, not sure where they get the "princess cake" name, but I suppose it doesn't matter. After we stuffed ourselves with food, wine and cake we watched what I believe to be the new American classic Christmas movie, "Elf." Me, Nikki and Philly were DYING during it, Robert and Alfie (the Swede and the Dutch), not so much :)

That about sums up my weekend. It was pretty un-eventful, but definitely a good one. Here's some pictures -

these beautiful swedish children with their bright blue eyes...

he's a thinker, a dreamer, an imaginer...

i love how sixten is resting his hand on klara's head. these two are my troublemakers :)

i think children have become my favorite subjects to photograph.

see? they love me. most of the time.

nikki was *stoked* for the stuffing

philly loved it that her and klara have "the same haircut"

this is all of us at our thanksgiving dinner. and i'm confused as to why everyone except for me looks bored.

here's robert holding the infamous princess cake. the outside is all sugary fondant, but the inside is heavenly...layers of cake and whipped cream.

that's all i've got for you. this week is looking pretty un-eventful, except for the big haircut on Thursday! nope, not getting it all cut off, just getting it trimmed and maybe some new bangs? i am more than ready for it.

28 days til Christmas! and....
1 month til Thailand!

documentaries, sick kids and...labor laws?

2007-11-22T14:30:00.000+01:00

Lest you all think my job is one full of easy days spent gallivanting around Stockholm, free trips to exotic destinations and complimentary Pilates classes at an exclusive studio in town...please. Think again.

I'm now spending the FIFTH day (almost in a row) home with the kids. I've had them every weekday, save for Thursday, since this past Friday. And at least once a week before that, for the past three weeks. Between the past five days, I've worked 40 hours, where I normally don't work more than 25. And, on top of it all, I have the kids all weekend while the parents are vacationing in London. Don't get me wrong, I love these kids and they're pretty well entertained on their own, so it's not like staying home is some horrible part of the job where I spend the day screaming at the kids to quit climbing on the walls.

But still. I haven't seen my friends all week and am beginning to feel strangely like what a mother probably feels like...and I'm not sure it's a feeling I love. I guess "they" (meaning, moms) say it's different when it's your own kids, but I don't know, maybe I'm re-thinking that whole plan of being a stay-at-home-mom? (okay, maybe not. but still. no wonder so many moms join scrapbooking groups, something I vow to never do. never.)

Speaking of being a mom, I have learned over the past couple months that it's craziness to have three kids and two adults in one home! The food that they go through is ridiculous, and there's constant noise coming from every corner of the house. I think of some of my friends who are one member of a family of 10, and I suddenly feel very, very tired. And it makes me want to go on a jcrew.com spending frenzy, since I won't be able to afford anything from there once I have all the multiple children I've always dreamed of. I suppose I had better find that rich man everyone kept telling me I was going to meet while I was in Stockholm :)

To get a little bit somber on you, I wanted to share about a movie that I saw this past week - I was given the opportunity to go see the Stockholm screening of the movie "The Devil Came on Horseback," a film about the the Darfur genocide crisis. There's so many things that I want to write about...but I'm still taking it all in, to be honest. All I can say is, there's a horrible, awful thing going on in Sudan right now, and it deserves an immediate response...one that it's not getting. This film showed pictures of the genocide, which are actually pretty rare as journalists aren't allowed in the region, and they are heartbreaking. These mass killings are indiscriminate; children and women are being killed just as brutally as men. I could write down all the things that we could do as Americans (or just as compassionate humans) to make a difference in the situation, but I'm pretty certain you all wouldn't sit down and write a letter to your senator just at my advice. Instead, go check out www.savedarfur.org and at least learn what's causing the crisis and what's been done in the region to assist those who have been affected by the genocide. Here's some pictures from the movie (disclaimer: some are graphic) -

I ask this not rhetorically, but honestly: how is it that we can see these things and not be moved to action?

it's been a while

2007-11-19T21:05:00.000+01:00

Yes, it has been a while since I've blogged, as I was reminded not once, but twice, by my Dad, who felt the need to inform me in his email that he sent me yesterday and then when he called me today. So, here you go, Jeff, here's your blog :)

Life has been pretty busy lately. It's funny, I had a conversation with a good friend from back home and he was saying that it seems like I'm busier here in Stockholm than I was in Minneapolis. That is so, so true. It's a good thing, though - it would be really difficult to be living in a foreign country away from your family and friends and not have much of a social life. I often find myself craving my "nights in" where I can surf the 'Net, read books, call people, and do a facial mask. So, what has been keeping me so busy lately??

I had a fun night with Nikki and Philly, the two other American au pairs that I do lots of stuff with, last weekend. We all went to Nikki's house for the weekend since her family was out of town and had a birthday dinner with the three of us. We had stuffed salmon (laxfile in Swedish) that was SO good, and mashed potatoes, and a sweet potato (or was it a squash? cause that's a lot of potatoes that we ate, which I just now realized). Philly baked me a confetti cake, and we drank some really great wine...all in all, a fun night.

me and nikki...trying to make a '26'

The past few weeks the three of us have developed a week night jaunt in the city with us girls where we'll meet up for a drink at a low-key pub. I really look forward to them, we'll usually randomly pick a night to get together and then meet up in Philly's neighborhood and walk until we find a random, cozy pub. I usually always order a pear cider, which is my favorite. Very sweet, almost like drinking a soda. But we'll spend a couple hours talking and catching up on each others lives, and a lot of times have these deep, meaningful conversations while sitting at the bar :) On a side note, Stockholm is extremely 'warm' and cozy in the winter! Much more than I thought it would be. It's usually pretty cold at night, but lots of places will light candles outside of their establishments, and the window fronts always look so inviting with their low lighting and candles everywhere. There's one pub that we like to go to that's really small and has lots of woodwork inside, and I swear, just going there gives me warm fuzzies cause it's so inviting and intimate and warm.

This last weekend I went to a conference at my church on the arts, it was called Synergy. I helped out on Saturday morning with random things so I missed the opening service, but I was able to attend some workshops on the arts and being a Christian artist. It was really good - I'm not an artistic person, per se, but I do love photography, so that's what I applied everything to. The main speaker was a man named Ellis Potter, who, in my opinion, was an absolute genius. I'm pretty sure he could be classified as an apologist - I attended a workshop where he just talked for an hour about how he converted from Buddhism - he was a Buddhist priest - to Christianity because he said that for him, following Jesus Christ required less faith than Buddhism. Now, to hear him explain it, it's brilliant and I feel like anybody would suddenly decide to follow Jesus just based on his explanations, but that's why he's an apologist and I'm not :) So I won't attempt to explain why he believed what he did, but I was struck by two things while listening to him speak - 1.) he said something so profound that I've never realized. He said, "Relationship precedes identity". He went on to explain that Adam only realized who he really was as a man once Eve was created, and that in the New Testament, Jesus teaches us to pray "OUR Father," rather than "MY Father." I love the idea that we're completed only in our relationships with others - specifically with knowing Jesus - but beyond that, we were created to be in relationship with one another. What a controversial idea in our society of individualists. And, 2.) I was amazed when I was listening to him speak so intellectually and on a level so far above my own, and it made me realize that the beauty of the Kingdom of God - of the good news of Jesus - is that He really is able to meet the needs of such a wide scope of people. This man was so smart and brilliant and such a thinker, and obviously found fulfillment in searching the Scriptures, and thinking about the deep, intellectual concepts of Christianity. But to compare him to a child, or a person that is mentally handicapped and yet has such a simple, basic faith and understanding of God's love, and for both of them - they're satisfied and have exactly what they need. Does that make sense? I doubt that the same could be true in other religions, but that just goes to show the personal nature of the God we serve.

So, that was my weekend. Sunday was a lazy day - I didn't make it to church. I've been on such a WEIRD sleeping schedule lately. On Saturday morning I woke up at 3:30am and couldn't fall back asleep. I came home from the conference on Saturday night around 9pm, crashed in bed and then woke up around 2am, and couldn't fall back asleep until early, early morning. So, Sunday morning I slept right through my alarm. Spent most of Sunday hanging out with Nikki and our friend, Robert.

This week is pretty busy - tomorrow night I'm going to a showing of a documentary about the Darfur crisis that Philly's au pair mom produced. Wednesday night is my first session of Pilates at the Stockholm Pilates Center and then all this weekend I have the kids while the parents are in London. Should be eventful and crazy, as usual :) However, me and the American girls are celebrating Thanksgiving here on Saturday night, so I'm really looking forward to that. We're saving the box of Stove Top Stuffing that my best friend Steph sent me, just for the occasion! I'm also going to attempt to find a turkey, but I'm not sure that whole turkeys would be purchased by these minimalist, eat-like-the-European-Swedes that they are. So, if worst comes to worst, we decided to do fish. Definitely not the same, but hey - you do what you gotta do, right?

two months - are you ready for this?

2007-11-04T17:56:00.000+01:00

Cause I have LOTS to write about today. I should probably break this all down into three separate posts, but I think I'm going to try and break out the "outline" format. I haven't done an outline since college...we'll see how it goes. Before I do so, let me keep you posted on the daily happenings of my life - this past weekend was pretty good. Laid back, mainly. I had dinner with the family on Friday night for Joakim's birthday, and that was fun - me and Annelie decorated for Halloween, and they ordered in deer meat (I asked if it was venison, and she said, "Nooo...it's baby deer." So, like...Bambi? I think it was venison, they just don't have a name for that) and these really good mashed potatoes and mushroom soup, and we had the Swedish version of cheesecake for dessert. Saturday I lazed around until the evening when I met up with Philly, my au pair friend from New York, and we met up with a Dutch girl from her church and went to an international film festival...that was Finnish. We thought it was Swedish, and it's not like it'd make a big difference to us, language-wise, but we were still surprised when we found out at the end of the night it was brought in from Finland. It was interesting. We saw a Finnish band play. Then we went to a bar in Stockholm that's out on the water front. Also interesting, had an eclectic group of people. I didn't stay so long...this Sunday morning was church, and then lunch with Philly. Tonight I'm going out for pizza with Anna, the au pair across the street. It's our Sunday-evening ritual.
So - now that that's out of the way...on to the outline.

PART ONE - my current faves

Since I've been in Sweden, I've been discovering products that I didn't know about in the US, and I LOVE them! So I'm going to share them with you.

A.) Dr. Stuart's Tea - Skin Purify

I purchased this tea at Le Grande Epicerie in Paris, and it's just amazing. See, I'm not really a tea drinker; I would much rather drink 4 cups of coffee rather than one cup of tea. But lately I've discovered honey and I can't get enough of either thing - tea OR honey. So I bought this tea cause I thought the packaging was pretty, and I'm a sucker for anything that promises to purify my skin. It needs it, I think. Most teas I've drank have had a bitter taste to them that even the milk and honey can't neutralize, but this tea is incredibly good with just a little bit of honey. And on top of it tasting good, I think it actually works, cause my skin has been pretty glowing and soft lately. But I could also attribute that to my next favorite thing...

B.) LUSH Angels On Bare Skin facial cleanser

No, this is not some kind of weird sushi...this is my new favorite cleanser. I discovered the store this past week, and let me say, it's the perfect place for me to blow my my measly salary. The store sells bath and beauty products that are all-natural, and their stuff seems to live up to their name. They have a huge selection of soaps that smell so sweet - I bought Honey I Shrunk the Kids, a honey and coconut scented soap - and facial products, and hair products, and bath bombs, massage bars...the list is endless. Anyway, I've been looking for a new facial wash, but wasn't sure what to buy, so stumbling onto this product was perfect. The cleanser is for normal skin, and it has rose essence, ground almonds and lavender oil in it. Here's the thing about it that I love - it's a cleanser and an exfoliator, which usually leaves your skin feeling dry and sensitive after using it a couple of times. But this stuff has a thick, almost oily, texture to it that rinses really clean and, after using it for a week, my skin definitely, definitely looks brighter and feels a lot smoother.

C.) Swedish honey, AKA honung

I LOVE THIS STUFF. I never used to like honey in the US, for some reason, but the honey here is so good, I could eat it right out of the jar...just like Winnie the Pooh? I put it in my tea and on my toast, and I think it's responsible for converting me from having my morning coffee to having my morning tea. I asked someone why it's in a jar, and has a different texture than the honey in the US, and they said it's cause it's so fresh. This stuff you literally spoon out of the jar, and it's thick and tastes just like it came off the honeycomb.

So, there you have it...my current 3 Favorite Things. I think you can purchase the tea at GNC in the States, and there are Lush's in the US, but probably only in the big cities. The honey...can't help you with that one.

PART TWO - Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

I spent this past Friday with the kids, since they had just returned from the States and didn't have school this past week. I got a few pictures of our day - not many, just a couple of Sixten and Kasper rough-housing, which is a universal display of love between brothers, I think. We also got a couple shots out on the lake that I took using the timer...some turned out, some didn't.

Kasper's got him in a headlock...

Sixten's going for the stomach...

This kid has COOL written all over him. I mean, what 3-year-old wears jeans that have guitars on them?

Klara and I out on the dock, trying for the 13th time to take a picture.

Our one (and only) attempt at a timed group shot...Klara is obviously sick of them at this point

I also realized I hadn't posted any pictures of my cottage...at least, I don't think I have. I've done some decorating of my own since moving in. It's a small, little place, but it's really cozy and warm, especially when I light the candles and dim the lights...so nice and romantic for me, myself and I.

This is the view from the window in my kitchen, taken just the other day around 2:3o. The sun has been setting here around 4pm, and will just get earlier and earlier...

This is my kitchen...

This is my little bedroom, which is parallel to the kitchen, just up a step.

Last room of the house, the bathroom. Those glass doors resting on each other? That's my shower...they open up to form a box.

So, that's where I've been living for the last two months. Which leads me to...

PART THREE - THE TWO MONTH MARK

I've been here 61 days now...hard to believe, although it doesn't necessarily feel like it's gone by quickly. In many ways it feels like I just arrived, and yet it seems as though a lot has happened since I've been here. I've celebrated my 26th birthday, been to northern Sweden and France, ate moose meat and caviar for the first time, celebrated 3 birthdays with the family already, went to a Finnish film festival, drank Swedish beer and British cider, and so much more...made more friends than I can count on two hands (pretty good for only two months in a completely foreign country), found a great church to attend where I'm already part of a Bible study and helping out at events, regularly going to Swedish spinning classes at my gym(I'm the dork in the class straining "up the hill" with my head up cause I don't want to miss the next instructions). The best part about all of this is that I love working for this family - the kids move into my heart a little more every day, and the parents are so thoughtful, kind and generous that I can't help but be overwhelmed at how BLESSED I am. Some would say lucky...I say blessed. Only God could give me such good things.
There's so much that I've been learning about myself since I've been here. The things that I used to pride myself on are being brought down...I am constantly being humbled by the Lord. And it's so good for me. I'm developing this new excitement for my future; a new excitement to the idea that life is WIDE OPEN to me, and that my dreams don't require the prerequisites I once thought I needed to see them fulfilled, like a certain education, or a husband, or being in the ideal location. There's a lot of things that still scare me, and lots of rough spots that I know God is preparing me to make smooth, which is often a hard process. But I'm ready for it, I think.
I will say, every young person should try their hardest to live abroad...it is a life changing experience.

I'm a sleepy head tonight, so I think I'm going to get my pajamas on and hit the sack...read for a while, maybe? I recently discovered the library and there's TWO whole shelves of English books. I was so happy when I left there with my pile of books...that I'm sure I'll return late and have a fee to pay along with my parking ticket :)
Have a great week!

paris and pumpkins

2007-10-31T21:39:00.001+01:00

in honor of my 26th birthday, I was given probably one of the biggest birthday presents I have EVER gotten - a trip to Paris! My family here that I work for was going to be out of the country on my birthday and weren't planning to take me with me, so because they felt so badly for leaving me alone they paid for me to spend the weekend in Paris...awesome, right? I have a great job.
I left on Friday, October 26th, and flew from Stockholm to Paris on a direct flight and, after much effort that involved dragging my suitcase into a Parisian post office and cell phone store, I finally met up with Connie, my friend over at Paris Au Pair, and we started our weekend of walking and pain au chocolats.
I spent Friday evening doing a little bit of walking on my own while Connie worked for a couple hours, and then on Saturday her and I walked around for most of the day, and I was able to see everything from Montmartre, Sacre Couer, Notre Dame, and Chateau de Vincennes. On Sunday we did some more walking and went to visit Notre Dame (this time in the daylight) and the Eiffel Tower, where we got some amazing pictures. Later that evening we trudged through the little streets to find a cafe that we let us have dessert and a glass of wine for my birthday - a much, much harder feat than you'd think. We were finally "allowed" to sit at one of the cafes that, initially, we had left cause they told us we'd have to sit in the crappy section (read: outside, NO HEAT LAMPS). After returning to the cafe and grudgingly asking for a table outside in the freezing cold, they graciously allowed us to sit under the heat lamps, and even brought out my chocolate mousse with a candle. And THEN when I knocked off my glass of champagne and it shattered on the ground, they brought me another one! They were very nice.
Monday was spent sleeping in a bit and then heading out into the rain to do some shopping. I made some great purchases, including some french soaps, four beautiful serviette napkins, a pair of jeans, and some small magnets from an old map of Paris. I also got to see the Arc d'Triomphe on Monday, which was great. The highlight from Monday, though, was probably sitting in McDonald's across from the Louis Vuitton flagship store and having coffee. Felt like a million bucks right then :)
I have to say, most of this would have been impossible if it weren't for Connie! If you haven't checked out her blog, do it. She's far more faithful at blogging than I am, and is a great photographer. Most importantly, she's a wonderful host and great girl, and I'm so glad to call her my friend :) (My real-life friend, now!)
Here's some pictures of Paris...

Here's one of me and Connie -

Also, I thought I'd post some pictures of the kids. Klara's been getting over a nasty cough and since they were traveling to the States on Friday (same day I left for Paris), she stayed home with Sixten to catch up on some rest. We spent Thursday carving pumpkins and running errands, so here's some sweet pictures of the two little ones:

the princess and the dragon

2007-10-18T14:54:00.000+02:00

today's a sick day for klara, and sixten gets the pleasure of staying home, as well. i get the pleasure of staying home with both of them and finding entertaining things for them to do that don't include the "Lego Star Wars" video game on PS2.

klara watched "pocahontas"...in her princess dress

and sixten put on his dragon costume and ran around the house

and i downloaded a trial of Photoshop Lightroom...hence the cool colors in the pictures. Not a bad day for any of us, i think. we'll see how the weekend goes - i'm on my own from tonight til sunday. say a prayer for me!

the week is almost over...

2007-10-17T13:39:00.000+02:00

Today is Wednesday, which for me is a rather boring but productive day. I usually spend my Wednesdays doing the IronMan (those of you with dirty minds...shame on you.) The IronMan is, well, a blow-up man, essentially, that I put all of Joakim's workshirts on to get them perfectly smooth with no creases. It's an amazing invention, really, but time-consuming. Each shirt takes about 20 minutes, so that means that I usually can't go anywhere on Wednesdays cause I'm running back and forth to switch the shirts. But on Wednesdays I usually run my errands into town to go to the bank, or the market. Then I sit in the house and switch shirts and loads of laundry all day. The amount of clothing that five people go through is incredible.

Last night I had my first Bible study with the girls from my church here in Stockholm, New Life. It was really cool, as there were two Americans, a South African, a Malaysian, a Swede and a Russian girl that has a Nigerian father. How multi-cultural is that?? But they are all great women and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them. It was also in a really cool part of town that I hadn't been to yet, so it's always nice to find new places to explore. Although I really haven't done much of that yet. I guess I'm waiting for winter to come.

I have the kids all this weekend while the parents are in Lithuania for a weekend vacation with some friends of theirs. It should be interesting, since each child is involved in different activities, and I'll be the one running them around from place to place. I'm terrified I'm going to take Kasper to ski school when really, he was supposed to be at track and field. However, their grandparents are going to be here for a couple days, so that should make things a bit easier for me.

Hmmm...not much other news. Next Friday I go to Paris! I'm so, so excited to see the city, but also to meet my great new friend, Connie. And a week from this Sunday is my 26th birthday. I think that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, spending your birthday in Paris. I am so, so blessed.

I'm going to try and post pictures with my blogs from now on, but I can't guarantee that they'll always be relative to the post! In keeping with that, here's a couple pictures of Sixten -

the poor little thing had passed out in the living room right before dinner - strangely, they don't take naps at school here

this is his favorite food - spaghetti noodles with ketchup. these kids put ketchup on everything

Hope everyone is having a great week!

these oatmeal raisin cookies are SWEDISH

2007-10-14T22:33:00.000+02:00

This weekend was pretty laid back for me. Friday held some drama, as the coat I was wearing out got stolen at a bar, which had my cell phone and brand new lip gloss in it. Definitely a bummer...I keep wondering how it happened cause we were in the nicest part of town! On Saturday, I watched Sixten and Klara while the rest of the family was out for Kasper's birthday party - they were going go-karting, which is a little much for a 3 and 5 year old. So the three of us stayed home, and after they had lost half their brain cells while playing PS2 I decided that it was time to do something productive....

Make cookies! I was in need of some comfort food, so I found a recipe on the Internet for oatmeal cookies that didn't require baking soda (I'm not sure you can even find that here...at least, not at the grocery store I went to).
Here's the recipes...and if you can read the labels, can you see why it's so confusing?

socker - sugar
bakpulver - baking powder
vanillensocker - vanilla sugar (I think they use this in place of extract? we did)
vetemjol - baking flour

I got the recipe online and rounded everything up, and then me and the kids went to town throwing this and and that in. I (stupidly) let the 3-year-old put the egg in. Here's the result of me picking out all the eggshells from the batter:

After we had mixed everything I let the kids dig their hands into the batter and roll little balls of cookies to put on the baking sheet...they loved that part, obviously.

Sixten is so silly. But anyway, after they dug their hands in the mix for a while and blobbed all the cookies together on the sheet, we put it in the oven at 200 degrees celsius, which might have been a little warm cause I left the room and came back 10 minutes later and those cookies were brown. After they cooled I let them have a couple, which surprisingly, they liked! I thought that since it had oatmeal and raisins in it that they wouldn't eat them...but they did.

That was the cookie-baking adventure of the day...it was fun. In other news, here's a picture of me with my new camera - I LOVE IT!

I've only tonight discovered the powers of editing your photos. The camera came with an editing software that is probably not that great by professional standards, but by my ridiculously amateur standards, it's amazing. That's another thing I've learned - always edit your photos! The difference is incredible.

Lastly, those of you that know me know that I love, love, love a book called Strong Women Soft Hearts by an author named Paula Rinehart. Since I love her book so much - it is life changing, ladies, I highly recommend it - I signed up to be on her email list. Just yesterday I got an email from her saying that she was having a new book coming out called "Better Than My Dreams: Finding What You Long For Where You Might Not Think to Look"

Well, if that title didn't speak to me about where I am in my life right now, I don't know what does. I hotfooted over to amazon.com and have ordered my copy! It should be here in 6-22 days. I hate international shipping.
The week looks pretty low-key for me...I start my new Bible study on Tuesday with the girls from my church, and then Thursday-Sunday I've got all the kiddos cause the parents are going to Lithuania or somewhere for the weekend. Should be interesting, four days is a long time for kids to go without their parents. But it should be alright, cause I think they're used to it. Hopefully I will still have hair left in my head come Sunday.

the (3) reasons i'm constantly fighting a cold

2007-10-10T21:42:00.000+02:00

I haven't "formally" introduced the kids yet, so I thought that since I've been here a month, now would be a good time to tell you a little about each of them...and you can see for yourself why I'm so crazy about them...cause they're so ridiculously cute!

Starting with the oldest:

KASPER

Kasper is the oldest one; currently 6 but turning 7 this Saturday. He's definitely got the "oldest child" role nailed down...the one that always listens, nurtures the younger kids, and somehow always seems to me to be the age of 14. Why, I don't know...but I'm always having to remind myself that he's only 6, and then I'm bewildered for a moment cause he seems so much older! He's a very smart child, can read better than some of my own friends, and at the moment is in LOVE with the PS2 game "Lego Star Wars". His favorite color is blue, he knows all the names of all the dinosaurs (no, really), and won't eat potatoes but will eat potatis bullar, which are hashbrowns. Surprisingly, he doesn't talk very often in English to me, but when he does it's too cute. Like, he tells me to "wait leetle" (wait little) when he wants me to "wait a minute". I have a hard time not waiting leetle when he says it. And I think his favorite song is Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape".

KLARA

The 5-year-old princess of the family, she's adorable and affectionate and playful and sweet...and she knows it. Klara is most definitely the girl that's going to grow up and have all the guys wanting her, all the girls wanting to be like her, and probably putting premature gray hair on her mother's head. Her favorite color is (obviously) pink, but also loves purple and red. She can't get enough princess/girly/frilly stuff, and lately has been having me put water in the milk she drinks at dinner. I've realized within the last week that out of the three kids, she's absolutely the instigator of any mischief they get into, and she'll be the first one to get them riled up at bedtime. She LOVES boys - we'll pick Kasper up from school and she'll go around hugging all his male classmates while we all wait for her - and her favorite song is "Man-eater" by Nelly Furtado. I fear that this is somewhat prophetic...

SIXTEN - AKA CIGE

The baby! I definitely do not have favorites here, but Sixten is the one that probably lets me closest to him, which is probably cause he's the youngest. He's 3 years old and is the most boyish boy I've ever met. His nickname is Cige (like, see-gay...um, french for cigarette. that's what his mom said to me when i asked about it), so you're more likely to hear us yelling for Cige rather than Sixten. Of all the kids, he speaks the least amount of English, but he's getting little words in there, such as substituting "good" for "bra" (the Swedish word for "fine" or "good"). He loves to run and jump and yell, and really gets into fishing off of the dock with his little Mickey Mouse fishing pole. I think my favorite story to date with Sixten is when, one morning his mom was telling me that she woke up in the middle of the night to discover that Sixten had wet the bed (he sleeps with his parents sometimes). She got him and changed him, and the next day her and her husband were talking to him and asking him if he remembered wetting the bed the previous night. Sixten said - with all seriousness - that he hadn't wet the bed, that he rolled over and the bed was just wet. Too cute :)

It's amazing how quickly you can fall in love with children...I've been here almost 6 weeks and already am finding myself attached to them. And yes, I have been fighting a cold since I got here. It kicked in around the 3rd week, and has yet to leave me. Unfortunately it's manifesting itself in a nasty cough right now, which doesn't make for easy sleeping.

In other news, I got my camera!! Very exciting, and VERY glad to finally have it. However, I also discovered that the disc drive on my computer isn't working, so I can't really edit any of the photos into black and white or anything. A bit of a bummer. Hopefully I can get that fixed soon.

Alright...the kids are all asleep and the hot tub is calling my name....

country music, Texas, and margaritas...in Stockholm?

2007-10-07T16:34:00.000+02:00

I met up with Philly and Nikki (my two American friends here, also au pairs) on Friday night for dinner, and we ended up walking around Stockholm trying to find a restaurant to eat at for about an hour and a half. It was such a surreal thing, to be walking around and trying to find a place to eat...to not know where to go. Back home, there was always tons of choices and it usually wasn't difficult to get into the place. But here we came across a number of different restaurants that all required reservations or had a two hour wait. We kept going from place to place and were starting to get a little tired of walking around - to the point where we we were considering just heading back to Philly's place and eating at the deserted-on-a-Friday-night Thai restaurant - when we came across.....

Texas Longhorn Steakhouse.

No, really! It was a tiny little restaurant, only about 15 tables in the place, a little itty bitty bar, and all the Texas paraphernalia you've ever seen. While it might have been a little un-cultured of us to eat a Texas steakhouse while in Sweden, we were totally up for it (especially Nikki, who's from Dallas and sports a necklace of the state of TX with a heart in the middle). We got inside and, to my extreme delight, they were playing country music! We each got a margarita and waited until a table opened up about 45 minutes later. I didn't eat anything too extremely Texan, I contemplated getting a steak but ended up getting loaded nachos. They were pretty good...nothing to write home about, but definitely a small taste of home :)

1 month down

2007-10-04T21:12:00.000+02:00

i was driving in the car the other day and i realized i was coming up on my 1-month mark - WOW, hard to believe it's already here. i've been listening (repeatedly) to this song by brad paisley called "find yourself" and it's the kind of song that gets you thinking about your life, and where it's going. it made me look back to the things i've learned within this last month, and also the things i'm looking forward to learning about myself in the future.
it's amazing how much your life can make sense and fit in a box when you're in a place that you're totally comfortable in. or, on the other hand, it's amazing how much your life can be so frustrating, so mis-guided (in your own mind), and at a dead end when you're completely comfortable. maybe this is why we should always be seeking out ways to get outside of our comfort zone? i don't know...another blog for another day. basically, in this last month, these are a couple of things i have learned:

life is the moment you're living in - not some far off dream/vision/plan

now, some people might think that's not right; that we have to look to the future, plan for things, live for our dreams, etc....i agree with all those things. but for the past couple years i've been living my life thinking that it all really started once i got married and had kids. i mean, to be completely vulnerable with you, i don't even know what i want for a career cause i think i've always banked on the idea that i'd be more settled down than i am at this point.
but the bottom line is this - my life is MY life, and it's passing me by, as i write this. believe me, i want to get married, want to have kids. but i'm learning that i have to grab the life that God has given me in this moment, and not just grab it, but love it and really live it.

there really is some good in the rough seasons of life

about a year ago, i began to enter into a very, very difficult time in my life...and it was all for no apparent reason. yes, the relationships in my life were in a rough place - had broken up with my boyfriend, my two best friends were thousands of miles away, all my friends seemed to be getting married....but none of those things were cause for the deep loneliness i went through for about five or six months. i mean, it was bad, bad loneliness. deep in my heart, never-wanted-to-be-alone loneliness that caused me to be horribly discontent with my life. eventually i came out of it, but the good news in all of it was that my discontentment led me to look for this job. i got so tired of my life and the way that it was that i had to do something different with myself. this job opportunity came along at the right time, and it's been one of the biggest blessings of my life. why i went through all of that, i don't know...i believe there's reasons for those times in our lives. i'm still learning why, but i can't overlook the fact that no matter how awful it was, it led me here.

as for the things i'm looking forward to learning about myself, the big one is -

find my purpose in life - or a career

i'd really like to find my purpose in life, but i'll settle for the career :) i've decided that this year is probably going to be a huge growing year emotionally for me, but in all other ways, this year will probably be pretty stagnant. i can't get a real job, i'm not really garnering any lifelong and coveted career skills....i do laundry and wipe butts everyday. but as i mentioned above, i really have absolutely no idea what i want to do with my life. it all sounds good...photographer, graphic designer, social worker, whale trainer at sea world...(no, really - my life dream was to swim with orcas. slightly goofy). but being almost 26, and nearly 27 when i return home, i'm pretty sure that it will be time to start working a real job, one that i love and want to stick with for a while. but at this point, i have no idea at all what that will be. i'm really looking forward to being led in that area.

being completely assured in who i am apart from my relationships, career, travels, etc.

obviously, the goal here is to grow in my relationship with Jesus, and focus more on finding my identity in the way he sees me, and not in the way i see myself. here's the thing i've learned over the years - you can regress from a place you once were. i would definitely say that i used to be very self-assured and very confident in who i was apart from guys, friends, achievements...but that is not so much the case any more. believe me when i say it's a hard place to be. maybe one of the hardest places to be, cause we're not meant at all to find our value and assurance in the things outside of God. i am so not perfect, never will be...and i also am coming to recognize (again) that i'm not enough on my own. and that no marriage, no children, no job, no overseas experience, no amount of j.crew clothing will fulfill me.

so, those are the few things i've been thinking about over the last month. the great news is that i've made friends here and have a social life (thank God), but being in a place like this - completely away from all that's comfortable and familiar - really causes you to think about the things that matter in life.
in fact, i'll probably spend the rest of my life encouraging young people to go live abroad, for any period of time...it does change you.
as for this brad paisley song i mentioned, i recommend you check it out, cause i guarantee that we've all been in the place that the song talks about. it's a sweet reminder that sometimes the places that we think are all wrong for us- the places where we feel lost - are really the places where we find out who we are.
i miss you all, with all of my heart.

early birthday present?

2007-10-03T11:36:00.000+02:00

oh, how i want these original wellies boots. when i first arrived in stockholm i was amazed at how much it rained, and decided i was sick of having wet pants all the time. one afternoon i was strolling through the city, all by my lonesome, thinking in my head how much i'd love to have a pair of red rain boots....and all of a sudden to my left was a storefront full of rain boots in all sorts of colors! and there was my red pair...
i went back to the store three times before i caught it on a day that it was open (store hours here are ridiculous), but sadly, and unknown to me, the rain boots i had been pining for were the original Wellies, made by the Hunter boot company. They cost 1100 kronors. That's half of my monthly salary.
i left without them.
so, i do have a birthday coming up in 25 days! plenty of time to ship them overseas....

this "country girl" ain't so country

2007-09-30T15:40:00.000+02:00

I feel the need to inform you all that today is a beautiful day in Stockholm - the sun is shining, and it's 16 degrees Celsius outside (about 61F). Not bad for almost October, I think. One of the Stockholm guidebooks I read said that light is the characteristic of the city - when the sun is shining the city is so beautiful, mainly because anywhere you look you can see strips of the Baltic Sea, and we all know how gorgeous the sun is when it catches onto the trees when they're changing colors. Everything has that reddish, golden glow to it right now. It literally pains my heart that I don't have a camera yet to document these things...but don't worry, one is on the way. A good one, I might add. I bought a Canon digital SLR, which I'm ridiculously excited about. It will never take the place of my last one, which was honestly probably the nicest, most generous gift I've ever gotten from anybody.
SO - speaking of beautiful, the Norrlands were AMAZING! Again, not having a camera is a tragedy, but I'll do my best to describe it for you. Wherever you live, picture the countryside in the fall, with the big, open fields of hay and green grass, maybe you have some rolling hills here and there...quaint red barns and charming farmhouses...and picture the bluest sky you've ever seen atop it all. Lastly, put this beautiful, rural countryside right on the coastline of the ocean. This is the best description of the Norrlands I can give you - the town I went to is called Skelleftea (Sha-lef-tee-a), and it was this rural little village right on the coastline of the Baltic. Klara's grandma picked me up at the tiny airport, and I spent the day with Klara and her grandparents, visiting friends, going for walks up the road to see the neighbor's sheep, cows and horses, and eating waffles with heavy whip cream and blueberries, and having thick slices of gourmet cheese on homemade Swedish bread...it was all very picturesque.
However - nobody told me that Skelleftea was a small country town and that I'd be taking walks to visit farm animals. When I got dressed in the morning, the first thing I put on was a simple button down shirt, and a cardigan to go over it. Had my sensible, brown J.Crew boots on. But at the last minute I changed my mind and decided that I didn't want to be so casual, so I changed and put on some dressier jeans, a black shirt and black cardigan, and zipped myself into my new, dressy Euro black boots, grabbed my nice black jacket, and ran out to catch the taxi to the airport. I knew I had scored with the outfit - it was one of the few times I've gone anywhere in this country and didn't feel like my outfit screamed Old Navy.
Do you see where I'm going with this story? I showed up in this little country village and spent the day taking walks down a dirt road to pet cows and sheep, raked leaves with Klara, and visited their friends in the village, all the while looking like I'm going shopping in Stockholm. Or to a wine bar. Needless to say, I felt ridiculous all day.
I went to a couple different places this weekend here in the city -

the soap bar - yes, that was the name of it. Kind of an odd name, but definitely one of the coolest places I've been here. It was a bar, but it had a very low-key, classy feel to it. The people were all very trendy and older.
the dubliner - an Irish pub where I had my first beer in Europe! I don't remember the name of it...all I know is that it was a dark one, and I didn't love it. They had a live band that played old 90's songs, and occasionally played an Irish jig.
chokladfabriken - this means The Chocolate Factory in Swedish. A ridiculously cute chocolate cafe that served all sorts of truffles (they called them 'creams' - chocolate creams), and other chocolate desserts. I had a brownie, although it wasn't really a brownie at all. It was more like a piece of flourless chocolate cake. It was heavenly.

So that's been the extent of my weekend. I went to church this morning and had a great time there - the people are wonderful and welcoming, and I met some really nice Swedish girls today. It's nice to know that you have a place to go, and that you feel welcome there. And, on a sidenote, this coming Thursday marks my 1-month anniversary. Hard to believe...looking back it has gone by FAST, but while the time was passing it didn't feel like it was going very quickly. If every month can be as good as this one has been, then I'll be just fine.

to the norrlands

2007-09-27T20:05:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow morning I have the extreme pleasure of catching a taxi to the airport at 6:30am to pick up the little peanut, Klara, from her grandparents house in northern Sweden, which is also known as "Norrlands." I have literally no idea where I'm going tomorrow, just that it's, well, North. Klara has been spending the week up there with them, and she's too young to fly alone (just turned 5) and so they're sending me up there for the day to pick her up and bring her home. My flight leaves at 10am from Stockholm, and departs from the norrlands at 5pm. Or 17.00h, as the Swedes would say. Most people know northern Sweden for that famous ice hotel, and for the northern lights, and the all-day sunshine in the summer and all-day darkness in the winter. Apparently it's gotten cold up there already, so I guess I need to bring a winter coat. It'll be nice to see a different part of the country, cause I really doubt otherwise that I'd make much effort to go any farther North (read: COLDER) than I already am.
I also would like to complain about the banks here, which I've probably already done before. But seriously, how can something be THAT inefficient and nobody cares?!? One thing to point out is that the banks here are not like the banks in the states - you don't wait in a teller line to make a deposit, or cash a check. You don't sit at the banker's desk to open an account, or sign up for Internet banking. Nope, you walk into the bank and take a number. Number 79, not bad. You hold your breath as you walk around the corner, praying that the flashing number being serviced right now isn't lower than 75. Inwardly you groan in annoyance when the number is (of course) 71. You take a seat in the already-full lobby (probably next to a lady with a dog...in the bank), and wait as person after person goes up to the counter to conduct their business, whether it be cashing a check or opening up an IRA fund, with one of the two people working.
I've noticed here in Stockholm that customer service is definitely not a priority for companies. It is not their job to serve you. It's their job to stock merchandise and get the store discount. Sales associates are usually not dying to help you out, or be in detail with any question you ask them. Except of course, at the bank. The bankers-tellers-managers love to sit and talk, and explain this product, and that policy, and what you need to do when this happens, or that happens...all the while you're waiting next to the lady with the dog as the numbers sloooowly creep up to 79.
The sad thing about all of this? I only went to get the balance in my account. Needless to say, I signed up for Internet banking today...

new favorite

2007-09-26T12:24:00.000+02:00

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I can tend to get overwhelmed by things - namely, large quantities in which I have to make a selection. I guess I shouldn't use the words "have to" cause typically those "selections" I'm making are along the lines of jewelry, clothes, or ice cream. But stores like TJMaxx, Marshalls, Ross, etc, all tend to overwhelm me a bit because there's no order to anything in their store. You're simply broken down by size, and maybe style. You'd think that would be enough for me, but it usually just frustrates me cause I feel like finding one great shirt in a giant row of 200 shirts is like finding a needle in a haystack. This is also how I justify not buying clothes that are on sale; the sale racks are usually disastrous and overran with women who want to add just one more $8 shirt to a pile of shirts they already have, that they probably don't even wear. I ALWAYS wear my expensive clothes*.
Also, recently I've been looking at all my clothes/shoes and thinking that I like my clothes, but sometimes I wonder if I'm getting the full potential out of them. Meaning, am I missing combinations that I could be putting together? Or adding the right accessories? Lord have mercy, where are Christina Strot and Claire Yeager (WHAT is her new last name??) when you need them...
So anyway, shopping can usually overwhelm me, but yet I love an outfit that's really complete. And you know who always has a complete outfit? CELEBRITIES. I love looking at the clothes they wear, cause I either really like them or really hate them. To get to my point, I've discovered a blog - frugal fashionista - that takes outfits that celebrities wear, usually on a day-to-day basis, and breaks it down for you in a cheap way. Like the shirt that Cameron Diaz had on that probably cost $400? Here's one from urban outfitters that cost $29.99! She does this with the entire outfit, including accessories, and her "cheap" finds are usually nearly identical to what the celebrity is wearing.
This, my friends, is genius. In my mind, at least. I've already picked out a couple of outfits that I know I can put together with clothes I already have, but I never would've thought to wear on my own. And it helps that most of the stores are located in the US, so buying the clothes isn't really an issue for me :) I would also like to add that many of the outfits these celebrities are wearing are very European-inspired. This country does something to your mind...makes it want to suddenly care about your hat matching your boots. I didn't even wear hats back home. And yes - I'm eating my words. I said before I came that I'd never get into Euro-fashion, and here I am...Boot-crazed and searching for the perfect handbag to go with my new scarf.

*In my defense, I DO buy clothes on sale. Sometimes.