Central European Time

Säfsen

2012-02-02T20:34:00.009+01:00

Two weeks ago we went on a small weekend trip to Säfsen, which is 5 hours north of Göteborg. It was a really nice weekend of skiing (not for me), snowboard (also not for me), drinking (also not for me), cooking and baking (both for me!). We went with a couple, Ileana and Joel and our good friend Lina. Us girls all know each other from a previous job. I am so lucky I met them and still have them as good friends!

Me, Lina, Joel and Ileana being ''tourists''.

2 snowboarders and 1 skiier.

15 trails but only 7 were open.

Swedish Christmas ''bok''. This thing was huge and really neat!

Our very Swedish looking cabin. It's my dream to own a typical Swedish red house. They are just so cute!

It looks so surreal! I loved walking out in the cold, fresh, snowy air with Ileana, just taking and laughingAnd of course, playing out ''who am I?'' game. We love this game because somebody always comes up with really funny people and things. PS, this man is so amazing and is really getting and deserving of more and more of my love every day. I am so lucky! PPS, his paper says ''the zombie cat'', which is a stupid inside joke!

So enough of all these trip pictures! Next post, we get back to food!

For now, I can tell you a little about my new job. I am starting whole new classroom with 2 others teachers. Right now it is only me and one of my colleagues and we ordered all new furniture, rugs, toys, office supplies, art supplies, etc, etc, etc. We got them this week and it was so funny unloading it all and seeing it all! We have a whole new room with big huge, low windows with lots of space! This week and last week was a lot of paper work, organizing, sending stuff to the parents, etc. Next week starts the organizing of the room, the fun part! Then February 15th, 5 cute little ''babies'' come. 18 months old! Then 2 weeks later, 5 more! Then two weeks later 5 more! 15 new babies! It's really been a lot of fun (with a touch of stress here and there), but I am so excited and happy to finally have a classroom to call my ''own'' (even though I am sharing with 2 others). The colleague I am working with now I get along with really well and it has been fun working with her and getting to know her. Hopefully this is the job I have been hoping to have since I arrived in Sweden!

Hope everybody had a great first month of 2012! Now we are in the month of birthdays!

Keeping with tradition.

2012-01-29T11:16:00.023+01:00

Updating ridiculously late when it comes to too many pictures and too many pictures to wrap my head around. So here is a simple picture story of my wonderful 2 weeks in Kansas.

I got to share my sisters first legal drink with her on her 21st birthday.

Spend time with creepy face santa in my mom's beautifully decorated house full of love, laughs, food and people I love.

Spend ''quality time'' with my ridiculous best friend, Teryl.

Spend time with my daddy.

Meet Jayme's baby boy, Rowan.

Throw a bridal shower for my best friend, Ashley and spend time with my girlfriends.

Watch Tanner be a crazy 3 year old boy.

Eat with my mom, sisters and niece at Ruths house.

Dress up like a present and act ridiculous with my girlfriends

Celebrate Christmas with my girlfriends at our annual Christmas party for the first time in 2 years.

Share laughs, smiles, drinks and good times with these beautiful women.

Be in amazement at this young lady. She is spectacular and I love her so much!

Watch the joy on a 7 year olds face while she opened her first Easy Bake.

Watch my mother be an amazing ''yaya''.

See my nephew wear a Swedish cartoon shirt :)

Watch my sister with her fiance and feel so excited that they found each other and will have a life with each other.

Spend time with my brothers and sisters and create new inside jokes ''Jesus Christ hoodies''.

Celebrate my niece's 7th birthday with her and providing a Swedish touch with Pippi Longstocking decorations.

Spend time with my big brother, who I am so amazed by and proud of.

Joy.

Love.

Those 2 weeks were so full of amazing things, times, memories, food, drinks, and I could go on! I am so thankful I have such a home to visit and so many people to see.

Now in 2012 we are enjoying our time together! I love living in Sweden and I love being with Fredrik. My heart is so full and I really feel like a lucky person!

Thanksgiving (a bit later)

2011-12-09T12:47:00.013+01:00

I know it has been 2 weeks since my big party, but I was waiting on my dear friend, Crystal to get the pictures to me. As many hostess' know, it's not easy hosting and taking pictures! So Crystal was in charge of the pictures! And she always does a great job!
My glögg station. This was at the front door! First things first, alcohol!

The only down side to not taking your own pictures, you end up in a couple. Haha. Notice the food lined up and ready to be eaten!
Crock pot creamed corn, mashed potatoes, honey glazed ham, turkey and gravy being made!

Yammy Yams!These were in the rolls. Each roll at a different thing to say. This one was funny because there was actually a very small out break of ecoli at the school my friends work for (which I used to work for) and we had discussed it earlier in the evening and how awful it was. My friend's son got this and said 'I am thankful that I don't have...ecoli'. Priceless!A plate full of food!The guests! This is fewer people than expected, but I have winter cold and flu season to thank for that! Still a great turn out and lots of fun!My lovely photographer, Crystal, and her husband Thomas!Have to say thank you to my wonderful husband who helped with SO much! He dealt with extra tables, chairs, decorating and a wife who had 1 or 2 close nervous breakdowns! I am such a lucky person to have this man by my side.Time for dessert! Homemade apple cider made an appearance and it was delish!
Pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cream cheese bread and apple pie!
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cream cheese dip with ginger cookies and some chocolate covered pretzels.
And it's definitely not a party if you don't have the children jumping on all the coats on your bed!
And a minor above the eyebrow head injury!
Even made them take home a ball of pumpkin spice popcorn! Keep em' fed!

This truly was a pleasure to have and I felt so loved and happy that I have so many people, after only 1 year in Sweden, to invite to my home, share an amazing tradition with, and call my friends. It felt like a real family, traditional Thanksgiving!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I have Christmas to look forward to! And holy cow, what a Christmas I have! In less than 5 days I will be headed to Kansas for a 2 week, much needed, Christmas with the family! It has been 2 years since I celebrated Christmas in Kansas and it will be a sure welcome feeling. I will miss Mr. Josefsson like crazy, but this is the life we, and I, have chose. Luckily, I get the best of both worlds. I wouldn't trade this life for anything else! It's so full of excitement! I feel like everyday is some sort of adventure. Not only do exciting things happen to me, on a regular basis, but embarrassing things, too. And that is just funny!

So hopefully I will have time to update while I am in Kansas, but I hope I am so busy I won't have time! No offense dear readers. Plus, most of you who read are Kansans! No need to update, I'll be there!

it's never too early

2011-11-22T14:08:00.020+01:00

In the words of one of my dear friends 'Don't you dare mock me for being early or I'm liable to bite your head off'. I feel the same way. Christmas has always been a time in my family to relax, spend time together, enjoy and be jolly! So if I wait until AFTER Thanksgiving to put up my decorations, I have what...a few weeks to enjoy? I'm sorry, but I want to enjoy and feel this warm, cozy, loving, holiday feeling 2 months out of the year. Plus, I was chomping at the bit to start decorating. This is mine and Mr.Josefsson's first Christmas in our own apartment together! Decorating is not a burden to me. Mr. Josefsson is more than willing to help! So it's a wonderful time for us to spend together sharing ideas and enjoying each other's company!

I know Christmas and the holidays are not about the decorations or the presents, but it feels so warm, cozy, and lovely with lights up and nice smelling candles and with a fresh look to our apartment. We love change. I guess, I love change. It's fun to redecorate, especially if you have a certain goal. So thank you, Sarah, for those words! Her blog is http://http://farthingboys.blogspot.com/ and she has some wonderful words to say about Christmas and this time of year. Plus, she has cute videos and quotes from her darling twin boys!

Here is a glimpse of my decorations....

This tree looks quite ugly, but it was our first Christmas tree we had together while we were staying at his parents house when I first moved back to Sweden. The decorations are keychains for every country we have been to together. The silly santas were made by Mr. Josefsson when he was a child. Some of the ugliest or least stylish decorations are the most important and hold the best memories. I love this silly little tree.

A special shout out to Mr. Josefsson for taking this lovely picture of me! Thanks, babe! Haha! I especially love the candy wrappers spread all over the table and the dirty clothes draped over the chair. Wonderful housekeeping! Can't be perfect all the time, right!?

Last weekend we had a really relaxing wonderful weekend together and I whipped up an amazing batch of garlic breaksticks and creamy chicken piccata. The chicken, luckily for us, was actually grilled! Mr. Josefsson was cleaning out our outside shed and found an open bag of almost useless coal. He asked if I had anything I wanted to grill and I immediately thought about this recipe! Check it out.

Chicken

Juice of 1 lemon (3 Tbsp)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1\4 tsp. black pepper
1\2 tsp. oregano and basil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Pasta

2 cups dried penne pasta

2 Tbsp butter

Juice of 2 lemons (6 Tbsp)

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/2 cup half and half (or heavy cream)

2 tsp dried basil

2 Tbps capers

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Chicken

Combine first 6 ingredients and mix well. Place chicken in a ziplock bag and pour marinade over chicken. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator. When ready, grill until done. Allow chicken to rest for a few minutes and then slice into strips to serve over pasta.

Pasta

While chicken is grilling. Cook pasta according to directions (10-12 minutes). Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain. In same sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in garlic and lemon juice. Pour in half and half and whisk until hot. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Add the parmesan cheese, basil and capers, and heat until cheese is melted. Check the consistency of the sauce and add some of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary. Toss in pasta.

Garlic Bread

Turn oven onto low heat such as 50 degree. When it is preheated turn it off and close the door.

1\2 c. luke warm water

1 pkg. rapid rise yeast

1\2 c. luke warm milk

1\3 c. sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. salt

1\3 c. melted butter

4 c. flour

Let yeast dissolve in luke warm water for 1 minute. Add milk, sugar, egg, salt, melted butter and 2 c. flour. Mix until smooth. Add the rest of the flour and knead or mix for 3-4 minutes. Scrape out of bowl into new, greased bowl. Place a towel over bowl and place in proofed oven. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch down and roll into long, breadstick shapes. Keep in mind they will double in size again, so don't make them too big! Let them rise another 30 minutes. Once risen, poured melted butter over them and sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake at 300 for about 10-15 minutes depending on how doughy you want them. Once you take them out pour a small amount of olive oil over them. This makes them really soft and gives that extra punch of flavor!

I also had extra dough, since I was only baking for 2. So I used the extra to make mini monkey bread. Same recipe up until you form the dough. I rolled them into 3 smalls balls, rolled them in melted butter, then in cinnamon, brown sugar and pumpkin spice. There is also 2 chocolate chips in each ball. Just a little surprise for the mouth! These also take a little longer to bake. So give them an extra 5 or so minutes.

In other news. I am really pumping up for my Thanksgiving party! I have my menu and grocery list. Mr. Josefsson is going to take me on a huge shopping trip tomorrow and our fridge will be packed full with ingredients ready to be whipped up into a delicious meal! I took Friday off work so I can spend the whole day baking, cleaning and of course, tasting the food!

Menu:

Turkey

Green bean casserole

Creamed corn

Stuffing

Sweet potato casserole

Mashed potatoes

Sweet yeast rolls

Cranberry sauce

Gravy

Desserts and appetizers:

Pumpkin cheesecake (sorry, I don't get down on pumpkin pie)

Apple pie

Chocolate covered pretzels

Pumpkin popcorn

Gingersnaps with pumpkin dip

Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

I know this seems like a ridiculously long dessert menu, but honestly, that is the part I am most looking forward to! I hoarded all the pupmkin my mom sent me just for Thanksgiving! I want to bake and bake! The food is going to be delicious, also, but the baking is what is filling my mind wiht ideas and excitement!

I will also have hot chocolate and apple cider and for the adults some glögg, which you might know as mulled red wine. It's so delicious! That is actually what one of the pictures above is, my glögg station. It's a small jug to fill with glögg which is heated by a small candle. Here, we drink glögg with chopped up almonds and raisins and of course...ginger cookies!

I hope everybody is enjoying the beginning of the season as much as I am! I just love this time of year! I have always been a fan of the holidays and as an adult it hasn't gone away.

ALSO in 22 days I will be on an airplane headed home! The amount of joy and excitement I have cannot be explained. Going home is always a wondeful thing, but to go home after 2 years away during the holidays feels really wonderful. My mother is the queen of decorating and the queen of Christmas. It feels so homey and wonderful. I absolutely cannot wait to spend time with my friends and family and enjoy every second I have home!

Hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving, as I probably won't have time to post before. I will take loads of pictures and give you a huge update ASAP!

Love to all!

Birthday

2011-11-08T14:26:00.013+01:00

Even though it was over a week ago, I thought I'd brag about my amazing birthday. Haha. Sorry, but it was really great.

It started Thursday night. I made these amazing cream cheese stuffed pumpkin cupcakes. Holy cow, people went crazy over these! Which puts a huge smile on my face! The best part is these make so much batter you can do so much with them. I made 12 cupcakes, 3 heart shaped cupcakes and a whole loaf of uh...cake bread. Perfect if you want to make one time for many occassions!

Now I usually just make stuff up as I go along, but these I followed precisely by this recipe-http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/10/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins.html

These are amazing! Thank you, girl who ate everything!

btw, I made regular muffins are pictured first, the other one is a heart shaped muffin. I had just enough batter left for 3 adorable heart shaped muffins for my colleagues in my classroom. They are a little bigger! ;)

Then Friday the muffins went to work and were raviously eaten. I had my early day that day, so my weekend started at 1 in the afternoon! Nice way to start!

Fred and I had a cozy Friday night, which are always my favorite way to start the week!

Saturday morning we made yummy fried egg sandwiches and he told me, pack, we are going to a spa for the day and night! WHAT?! How exciting! I'd never been to a spa! What a great surprise. We went to Tylösand, which is about an hour drive. It's a lovely spa right next to the ocean with a beach sand beach. It would be the most amazing summer vacation as well.

We got there at 3 and went to the spa right away! Wonderful view from the spa, lovely hot tub, steam room, sauna, everything! I loved it! We then went to the room showered and shared a really yummy panchetta, sun dried tomato, mozzarella and lettuce bagel sandwich. Good stuff. Then we took a walk around the beach and took some nice pictures. (I feel obliged to tell you, we drank a lot of wine that night! But hey, why not!? We weren't driving anywhere! ;)

I love this guy, a lot.

We then had an amazing wine tasting followed by a 3 course meal. Oh man. Since this is a food blog, I must describe the main course. It was a rose fried duck breast, cooked perfectly. A shot of pear cream, a spring roll stuffed with wild rice and mushrooms and a fried edamame ball in an amazing soy sauce sauce. I ate as slow as possible, because it was so delicious. I want to cook like that every night!

Then we had a great time at a piano bar, followed by champagne at the night club in the hotel at midnight!

The breakfast buffe the next morning was also amazing. I love hotel breakfast! Haha. Guess it's a childhood memory thing. Or having everything you could ask for and not worry about dishes!

After that we went back to the spa for 2 hours and then I had a massage and then we went home.

I wasn't said though because I took Monday off work! We went to Ullared! Please wikiepdia Ullared. You will be amazed. It's a huge, Swedish version of Wal mart and people flock there. Yes, flock. It was amazing crowded the day we went. But I managed to buy some really cute baby clothes for all my nieces and nephews, loads of Christmas stuff and clothes! Go me.

Then the weekend was over, but it was amazing! Thanks to my wonderful husband for making me feel so special!

Now I'm off to make my never fail lasagne. I use spinach noodles that don't need to be cooked and layer on top of them browned ground beef with spagetti sauce, cottage cheese, mozz cheese. Followed by another layer. I make it the night before, usually. It just tastes better and has a better consistancy. Great for those nights you have so much to do! Love it!

I love board walks!

I also need to share with you, dear readers, that I have decided to have a Thanksgiving party. This party went for a couple girls baking and cooking together to now, what it seems to be, at least 24 people. Holy cow! It will be so amazing because there will be men, women and children for all parts of the world. America, England, Phillipines, Sweden, Croatia, Poland, etc. It nearly brings me to tears thinking of how amazing this Thanksgiving will be. Updates coming. Plus pictures of our DECORATED apartment! That's right, my Christmas tree is UP!

pumpkin eller pumpa

2011-10-27T16:13:00.011+02:00

Pumpkin is on my mind. It's on my mind...a lot. I went on a wild goose chase the other weekend for canned pumpkin. Yea, that ended up as a nervous breakdown thinking ''how can I celebrate fall without pumpkin!?''. But as luck would have it, I have one of the best moms in the whole world. She is my pumpkin savor. Thank you, mom!

So I got off work early on Tuesday and decided to go all out. I boiled up some cider vinegar and plums, started on a pumpkin yeast dough, and started a pot of coffee. How did all of this end up...

Plum Pork Tenderloin

1 lb. pork tenderloin

1\2 c. apple cider vinegar

1\2 c. brown sugar

1\2 tsp. cinnamon

1\4 tsp. salt

1\4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1\8 tsp each ground cloves, cardamom and allspice

1 pork tenderloin (1 pound)

1\2 tsp. pepper

In a sauce pan bring pitted and halved plums and cider to a boil. Let simmer of medium heat for 10 minutes.

Take away from heat and let cool. Pour into a blender and pulse until smooth. Now you can either strain or leave it a bit chunky. Depends on how you like your sauce.

Place back into the pan and add brown sugar and all spices (except pepper). Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes occassionally stirring.

Place pork tenderloin in a crock pot or a pan and pour half of the sauce over and then sprinkle with pepper.

In a crock pot cook on low for about 2 hours occassionally basting. If in an oven bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Serve over rice with saved sauce.

Tastes just like fall!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

1\3 c. milk

2 Tbsp. butter

1\2 c. canned pumpkin

2 Tbsp. sugar

1\4 tsp nutmeg

1 1\2 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

1\2 tsp. salt

1 beaten egg

1 package dry yeast

2 c. flour

1\2 c. packed brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. melted butter

In a small bowl, microwave milk and butter until luke warm.

In a large bowl combine, pumpkin, sugar, nutmet, pumpkin pie spice and salt.

Add milk mixture, then beat in egg and yeast.

Add half the flour and mix for 4-5 minutes. Add the rest of the flour.

Place sticky dough in a lightly greased bow and let rise until doubled. (What I do, because I don't have a large microwave, I pre heat the oven at about 100 degrees while I am preparing the dough, then turn it off and put the bowl in).

Once doubled, place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out in a 10x12 in. square.

Brush with melted butter and then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top.

Roll from the long side.

I used fishing line to cut roll into 12 equal rolls. Super easy.

Place in a prepared 11x17 in. pan. and let almost double in size.

Once doubled bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

OMG, these are good. I love the orangey color and holy moly, they smell good from beginning to end!

Pumpkin spice coffee

I started with an entire mix of ''pumpkin milk''.

1. c milk

1\4 c. canned pumpkin

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. all spice

2 tsp. pumpkin spice

3 Tbsp. sugar

1. tsp. vanilla

I brewed a very strong pot of pumpkin flavored coffee with cinnamon sprinkled ontop of the coffee grounds.

Poured into a glass and added about 3 Tbsp. pumpkin milk and topped off with whipped cream and a little sprinkle of nutmeg. Yea, I almost cried it tasted so good.

Last weekend we celebrated Fredrik's birthday and my birthday with Fred's family. What a wonderful family he has, and now, I have. They are fantastic, kind, fun, loving and just plain amazing. We received some really nice presents and had a really cozy time with them!

In Sweden it is very typical to make your own cake for your birthday. So I made my never fail vanilla cake with butter cream\cream cheese\whipped cream frosting. Yea, it's so good. Unfortunately my decorating skills aren't up to par at 7 am (when I woke up Saturday morning to decorate it). So it's a little bit pathetic, but hey, it tasted fantastic.

We also got to spend some time with Lukas and Agnes, which always make me happy!

I'm a sucker for their big blue eyes!

I also took pictures of logs. Swedish logs are everywhere right now, and they smell good!

This weekend I have no idea what Fred has planned for my birthday. But I am not allowed to make plans for Saturday night. So we will see! Turning 25 feels like a big deal and I don't know why. I guess because in Sweden it is sort of a ''big birthday''. They haven't had a ''big birthday'' since the 20th birthday (the drinking age here). So maybe that is why. But as one of my friends put it I will be ''a quarter of a century old''. Yikes!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

baby apple pies

2011-10-16T17:09:00.008+02:00

This past Tuesday my sister-in-law, Hanna, her husband, Andreas and their adorable daughter Agnes came over for dinner. Agnes turned 6 months old last week. I cannot understand how time is going by so quickly! I felt like it was just yesterday Hanna told us she was pregnant!

I love that worried face she has!

Her cheeks are amazingly soft and adorable!

The day they came over was my 'early day'. Which means I had to be at work at 6 am, but I got to leave at 1:30 pm. I really love these days. 6 is very early but it honestly feels like I have a day off when I go home so early! So I had lots of time to make a delicious dinner! I made some cumin bread, crock pot chili, apple ginger punch and baby apple pies. Now this is another thing that is different in Sweden. They have apple pie, but it's not like the American apple pie we think of. An apple pie here has the same fillings but not the same crust. It's simply butter, flour and a bit of sugar sprinkled on top. Still delicious with a lot less work!

I got this apple pealer, slicer and corer (?) from a student at the last school I worked at. This is one of my favorite student gifts ever. What a cute and sweet idea! I use it so much, especially with the season!

Look at how beautiful that is! Takes out so much work!

Baby apple pies

4 apples, if I were in Kansas I'd be using some red delicious! Unfortunately we don't have those here!

1 Tbsp. sugar, depending on the tartness of the apples you are using. You can adjust to your liking!

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. all spice

1 tsp. nutmeg

Peal, core and slice apples according to however big your like your apples to be in a pie. I like them quite small so I cut the sliced apple in sections of 4.

Mix in sugar, cinnamon, all spice and nutmeg and distribute amongst 4 individual baking ramikins.

For the topping

4 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. flour

2 Tbsp. oats (optional)

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut butter into dry ingredients. Distribute into ramikins on to apple mixture.

Bake at 400 for about 25 minutes. The goal is for the topping to be brown, crustry, buttery deliciousness.

PS. Sorry I didn't take a picture of the end product! But I can guarantee I topped it with 2 heaping scoops of vanilla ice cream!

I also wanted to add on that...

Apple Ginger Punch

1 c. sugar

1 galon apple cider

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. all spice

1 can frozen orange juice concentrate

1 liter ginger ale

In a pan mix sugar, 1 cup apple cider, cinnamon and all spice. Simmer on medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Take from heat and add orange juice and remaining apple cider. Chill in the fridge over night. Add ginger ale immediately before serving.

I also think it's fun to make either some ice cubes with tiny orange bits or an ice ring with a bundt pan and a few slices of orange if you are serving in a large punch bowl!

This drink is also really good served warm!

Happy fall!

baby shower

2011-10-10T14:02:00.014+02:00

This Saturday I put on my hostess shoes and held a baby shower here in our little apartment for my friend Sofia, who will be having a baby girl in November.

Grattis means Congratulations in Swedish.

Diaper cake. It's a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of body wash (for baby) with rolled up diapers to form the cake. Then I bought a very sweet etsy blanket and draped it over. Then adorned it with an etsy hat and etsy booties. Very easy but a cute way to present gifts!

Cupcakes, honey roasted peanuts and chocolate, cinnamon and sugar popcorn. Super easy but delicious!

I personally do not use paper plates when I have a party. This is one of my favorite things. I have a cabinet full of antique plates, all mixed and matched. For this party I got out the flowery, girly, pinkish plates. I also found the pink candle holders at our second hand store for 3 kr a piece! That's 45 cents!

This is one of my favorite things to do and it's really easy. If I'm having a themed party I always buy a package of paper that I want to use as the decorations, invites, etc. I made the invites with this cute pink themed paper, made the congrats sign, made the cupcake flags, these glass flags, and even switched out all my pictures in the living room with the paper. It's so easy and you can always save the paper and use it for other stuff later!

All I had to do was switched it out and it added a lot to the room!

These were for the lovely guests. Bought these cute 35 cent travel soaps from etsy. They made the room smell great, and added a nice decoration! The *tack* stamp was also bought from etsy! Buy handmade! It's the best!

Sofia opening all the lovely gifts every body brought her!

Now who wants the recipe to these gorgeous little cupcakes! This is my go to, never fail, always tastes delicious cupcake recipe. It's from http://www.joythebaker.com/. This is one of my favorite food blogs!

Vanilla Cake (or cupcakes)

preheat oven to 350

2 sticks softened butter

1 3\4 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 c. milk

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 vanilla pod

2 3\4 c. flour

1 1\2 tsp. baking powder

1\2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes.

Add eggs one at a time beating for one minute after you add each one. This seems ridiculous but it really makes the cupcakes fluffy and light.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl.

Combine milk, vanilla and vanilla beans in a separate bowl.

One low, start by adding 1\3 flour and incorporate. Add half the milk and incorporate. Add another 1\3 of the flour and incorporate. Add the rest of the milk and incorporate. And yup, you guess, add the rest of the flour and incorporate!

Divide into 24 cupcakes tins or into two 10 inch cake pans.

For cupcakes bake for 25-30 minutes. For cakes 35-40 and let them cool for 15 minutes in the pan before taking them out. Cupcakes can just jump right out into your mouth straight from the oven.

You can use whatever frosting you like. For the cupcakes above I used about 1\2 c. butter, 8 oz. cream cheese and uhm...some powdered sugar. I don't really measure when it comes to frostings. Just a lot of tasting!

For the cakes I think it's light, fluffy and delicious to simply use whipping cream for the middle layer and top and add fresh fruit.

This recipe is so great because you can add whatever you'd like. Chocolate, cinnamon, berries, the sky is the limit! :)

let's talk about pizza, fall and a baby.

2011-10-01T19:53:00.009+02:00

This is an almost typical Swedish pizza. This is actually a "family size" but a completely normal pizza would look much the same. Thin, minimal cheese and sauce. Maximum grease. It doesn't look that appetizing, but oh man, it's delicious. I do miss our deep dish, super cheesey, monster pizza's, which are pre-sliced. Yes, in Sweden you have to pay extra to get your pizza sliced. What? Yea, I duno.

Swedish pizza shops have more toppings and options than any American pizza parlor. They have some weird combo's too. Kebab pizza. Lamb meat, salad, cucumbers, tomatoes and garlic sauce. Sometimes you can put french fries on it too. Yea...

My personal favorite is mozarella, parmesan ham and pesto. Yum.

Now this is a super easy pizza that I made myself. Puff pastry with spagetti sauce, cheese, oregano and basil. I usually just put whatever I find in my fridge that suits my fancy. Super easy recipe today! Try it, you won't be sad!

Onto cuter things. How adorable is this bundle of fall goodness. Spent the day with my 2 and a half month old nephew today. Lukas. I love him.

Mr. Josefsson loves him too.

And we love walks in the fall with our fancy Nikon camera.

I love updating my blog from our new fancy computer, too. So easy and goes much faster! Thanks Mr. Josefsson for letting me steal the computer for a few minutes every few days!

Also, today one of my friends from childhood is getting married! Laura and Jake have been together since high shcool, through a long army stay in Germany and now they are going to be happily married! I love them both and they deserve an absolutely perfect, beautiful wedding day!

fine and dandy mushrooms

2011-09-26T14:30:00.014+02:00

When I first moved to Sweden I said to my husband, I don't like mushrooms. I said to my husband's family, I don't like mushrooms. Then one day I was invited to eat mushrooms. I said, I don't like mushrooms. After that dinner, I liked mushrooms. But not just any mushrooms. Kantarell or chanterelle mushrooms. These are amazing, soft, rich, woody, golden pieces of sunshine hiding in the wonderful Swedish forest. Usually in a shaded area with lots of moss and flowers around it.

This is the time of year when these mushrooms are at their prime growth. It's cold, but not too cold and it's raining (a lot). We go out into the forest for a few hours and come back with liters of gold. When I say gold, that isn't exaggerating too much. These babies sell for quite a pretty penny (or krona if you are in Sweden). They are on the same culinary list as truffles and morels.

Not only are these delicious, but they are a joy to pick. What is better than heading out into the beautiful Swedish forest with your husband, his mom and dad and any other member of the family who might go along. It's lovely.

Yes, it is quite normal to go out looking like you just woke up. This is my father-in-law, Håkan. He can actually smell chanterelle. He's really good.

Can you see Fredrik? Ann, his mom, didn't hide quite as well.

Just some of the gorgeousness we see on the walk to the mushrooms. Which reminds me, it's quite a hike, up hill, both ways, to get to the best mushrooms hunting grounds. So it's a work out too!

The end result. How happy I was to find these huge chunks of deliciousness under a tree.

The best way to eat kantarell is to clean them very well, they usually have moss, dirt and spiders on them. Yes, gross, but that's what you are cleaning them. Boil them if you are going to freeze them, above are boiled kantarell ready for the freezer. If not freezing, you fry them in a pan until all the water is evaporated. Then you add butter, salt and pepper, garlic if you please and eat on a piece of bread. So simple, yet soooo delicious.

Now for my favorite.

Kantarell sås (chanterelle sauce)

1\2 liter chanterelle's

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups heavy cream

2 table spoons soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Make sure mushrooms are clean and chopped to the same size. Fry in a pan with butter until water is evaportated. Over medium heat sprinkle flour over mushrooms and stir for a minute or so. This takes away the floury taste. Add cream slowly and stir. Add soy, salt and pepper and stir until slightly thickened. This doesn't take very long, but keep stirring. This helps it from sticking and you get a better feel for how fast it is thickening and how thick it actually is.

We usually eat this with pasta or in the later part of summer when the first mushrooms are popping out we eat them with grilled food such as chicken and oven potatoes. But really, it's delicious with almost everything!

If we ever come across these babies, buy them and try them out. You won't be disappointed!

Nanners

2011-09-22T18:19:00.001+02:00

When your husband brings home 15 black bananas you might ask that next time he bring a dozen red roses. But if you are me, you get to work on 72 muffins, of 3 different types. I whipped (yes whipped) bananas into cream cheese brown sugar muffins, peanut butter and banana, and banana chocolate chip.

I hate when I'm actually baking the food and think if a great idea when its too late. Like a before and after of the black bananas into 72 muffins. I'll get better at the pictures while baking thing, I hope.

This is Mr.Josefsson's batch to take to work.

Cream cheese with brown sugar cinnamon banana muffins. (suggestions for a better name are welcome)

1 (8 oz.) cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c butter (softened)
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. Whipped bananas
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Topping
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400.

Whip banana and cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla.

Add flour, baking soda and baking powder and beat until smooth. (easy!)

Pour into buttered and floured muffin tins and top with topping (repetitive). Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Makes 24

In non-food related news, one of my best friends was proposed to on Sunday. Ashley Farley will become Ashley Landis. I have the honor to be a bridesmaid. My first time and what an honor. I am so happy to be a part of her day. Two of my other friends are getting married in October and November. How happy I am that my wonderful friends are finding such happiness!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A few months later

2011-09-20T21:59:00.001+02:00

After a few months here in Sweden with no computer to call my own and only an iPhone, I've finally remembered (or got unlazy enough) to figure the iPhone/blog thing out.

We are officially a food blog.

To start off, our 2pm Sunday breakfast. 2 liters of orange juice were consumed and quite possibly a whole package of bacon. And when I say quite possibly, I mean most definitely.

This is Mr.Josefsson's birthday cake love.

Swedish sokerkaka (sugar cake)

6-8 people.

75 grams butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 cup milk or cream
2 ½ cups sugar
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 cup flour

Grease and flour a sockerkaksform of about two liters. (which is a basic cake pan. I obviously used heart shaped cupcake tins.)

Whisk sugar and eggs until fluffy, preferably with electric mixer or food processor.

Melt the butter and stir in the milk in butter.

Mix the flour, cardamom, and baking powder thoroughly in a bowl.

Stir together egg and sugar mixture with butter and milk mixture.

Add the dry goods and stir smooth.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake at 400 degrees about 30 minutes. Feel with a stick if the cake is firm in middle.

Sprinkle with sugar immediately when you take it out of the oven and let it "melt" before you turn it out.

Turn out and let the cake cool on a rack.

Don't forget to eat it with a strong cup of coffee, a fantastic Swedish man (or whatever nationality you tend to love) and remember to call it "fika". Cake and coffee always deserve a special name.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Fyrkgången,Göteborg,Sweden

no more snow!

2011-03-16T19:01:00.002+01:00

Now, since I wrote this, it's definitely going to snow tomorrow. ;) But finally our snow has almost completely melted! It's SO great! Spring is definitely in the air (sometimes) and I can't get enough of it! It's already day light by 6am and getting dark at 7pm. We spring forward the last Saturday\Sunday night this week, and then we will get a lot of light at night. I can't wait for the Swedish summer and sun.

Not A LOT has been going on. Had our house warming party on Saturday and that was fun. Thank god for Fredrik. I had a terrible fever and sore throat on Friday night, and he helped me so much on Saturday to get everything done. But the sore throat ended up in a terrible cold\ear infection. I stayed home from work today and am definitely feeling better.

Although staying home from work because of illness isn't the best thing, I did get to spend some much needed time with Freddie boy. He worked late last week and is working late this week. When we don't see each other at night I feel really sad and disconnected. I miss him! So we got to lounge around all morning untill he went to work, and that is something I really needed.

Now it's onto getting into this baby shower. I have a lot going on with it. Sent the invites out and everybody RSVP'd, 17 people! In our little apartment! Haha! I have the decorations all thought out, the gifts for the mom's to be, the menu, the games. Now It's time to go shopping and getting going on all it! Whew!

The Swedish word of the day is 'kalas' which means 'party'. This is more of a birthday party or a baby shower. The word for a regular party would be 'fest'.

bazinga!

2011-03-01T08:25:00.002+01:00

I have been the worst blogger ever. I wonder how many times I've said that on my blog. Without my own computer though, and always using my iPhone, I forget so easily to update! I'm sorry all!

Things are just things here. Working, making food, getting paid, spending money. :) The job is going well still, can be difficult at times, But I'm a grown up, so I'm working through them.

Our apartment is still wonderful and slowly being filled up with things I love! It's so exciting how it's all coming together! We take lots of trips to IKEA!

Right now I have 2 visitors from Kansas. It's fantastic! They have only been here about 20 hours, but I never want them to leave! Or at least when they leave some more visitors come! It's so fun to be informative about a place that is so new and exciting! Makes me feel kind of....well, cool! ;)

Last night we ate 'halv special' with them and my American friend Ellen and her fiance Anders. It was a blast! Halv special is hot dogs with mashed potatoes on top with some fried onions and grill spice. YUM! It's not really even a Swedish thing, it a Göteborg thing! Tonight we are all gonna eat at a Swedish restaurant called Karlsson's Garage. I've heard great things about it!

Speaking of Ellen. I met her at my work place about a week and a half ago and now we have become inseparable! She is from Georgia and met a Swede while she was living in Hungary about 3 years ago. She moved to Sweden, they are engaged, and in 4 weeks, unfortunately, they are both moving to the US. It's just so cool to meet other Americans who are doing cool things with their life and have a lot in common with. I think Ellen is one of the most interesting people I have met, and it's so cool because she thinks that about me! :) I really do not want her to go!

Well I better start attempting to make some Swedish pancakes for my visitors! Yikes!

The Swedish word of the day is 'gäst' which means 'guest' and is pronounced 'ge-ehst'. 'gäster' is 'guests'.

oooh yeaaa

2011-02-12T07:45:00.008+01:00

our new apartment is fantastic! I love it SO much!

We moved in last Saturday, and it has been a great week. Everything is in it's right spot and we have a few things left to get. I love it.

Our first house warming flowers! Thanks to our dear friends Anton and Sofia.
Our lovely kitchen table, with map of the world included. The clock on the wall is the shape of Sweden, Fredrik's grandpa made it. We love it! ;)The dining room table, holds 10 people!
First time baking!Yum chocolate chip cookies. Everybody at work NEEDED this recipe! I brought 15 and they were gone by 1!
We are really getting setttled in and into a routine. It's different when it's just the two of you. We have all our own stuff and all our own responsibilities. We really depend on one another. Fred is making dinning almost every night! He is so great!

The Swedish word of the day is 'kärlek' which means 'love' and is pronounced 'sharlek'. You can also use the word 'älskar' which is pronoucned 'elskar'. What a great language, two words for love. Jag älskar min man. I love my husband.

on the way

2011-02-01T08:36:00.005+01:00

haha, not what you are thinking! PICTURES, though! I promise I will put pictures up of our new place as soon as we are all moved in and everything looks nice! It´s not that interesting to see pictures of boxes and bare walls!

We got the keys Saturday and moved boxes and bags and unpacked quite a bit of that stuff. This Saturday is when we take the bed, couch, dressers, pictures, etc etc! Then Sunday is decorating day!

Yesterday and today Fredrik stayed home sick with a fever, now today I am home sick with a fever! 39 C! But that was my fever when I woke up, it has gone down to 38 C now. 39 C is about 102 F and 38 is about 100. So it will break any minute. It´s not nice being sick and staying home, but it´s better than being sick this weekend! And in Sweden it is MORE than ok to stay home when you are sick. You lose one day pay, then the second and third day you get 80% of your pay. So we will see how I feel tomorrow.

The job is going well. Going on my 4th week, and had my first staff meeting last night. That´s a long day! Getting to work at 8:30 and leaving at 7:30! But it feels good to have a job and go to meeting and get paid! ;)

Other good news! My good friend Molly and her husband Jon are coming for a 4 day visit on Feb. 28th! I am so excited! It´s official, too. They sent me their flight info. Sunday! They are visiting Jons sister in Spain and decided to make a little trip to us! I am so excited to FINALLY have some visitors from the U.S! It will be so fun to show somebody where I live and all that! Can´t wait for MORE people to come!

Sunday night I spent making 21 birthday cards! February is the month of birthdays among my family and friends and it was a good month to start my new ´thing´. I have decided to make all my cards due to the fact that cards and postage in Sweden is REALLY expensive. So I save over half the price of the cards if I make them! And it´s really fun! I only have a few stamps and such, so the cards look the same, but by the time next year rolls around I´m sure I´ll have news stamps and new ideas!

The Swedish word of the day is ´sjuk' which means ´sick´ and is pronoucned ´whuk´. Fredrik och jag är sjuk och har feber! :(

wheweee

2011-01-25T07:17:00.002+01:00

It has been a BUSY past week! Let me tell ya!

Last Tuesday I checked out the apartment. It is so great! I love it!

So Saturday we signed a contract! It's ours! Wooohooo!

Fredrik's mom and I went out and bought a 10 place setting set of dishes. Includes big plate, small plate, bowl and coffee mug. It was all less than 50 dollars! Whaaat! ;)

Saturday we bought TWO dining tables with 12 chair, a huge mirror almost as tall as me and a half dresser for all less than 2000 SEK. Which is less than 300 bucks! Sheesh!

Then Sunday we went to IKEA and bought a TON of kitchen stuff. Bowls, spatulas, canisters, strainers, wine glasses, beer mugs, water glasses, etc etc ETC! It was so fun!

We have been waiting to do this forever! Buy all the things to create a house TOGETHER! We love every second of it!

The furniture is being delivered to our house today! Can't wait to take pics and show you all!

We get the keys either today or tomorrow then we can move in whenever we want! We probably have to wait a week and a half because we are borrowing a big truck...thing from Fredrik's sisters boyfriend. He is getting it from work, so we have to wait! ;( But it's nice to get some help! Since we helped them!

Work is good! Right now I'm so excited about the apartment it's hard to get through the day! I want to be moving stuff and buying stuff! ;)

The Swedish word of the day is 'trött' which means 'tired' and is pronoucned 'truhtt'.

i know jag vet

2011-01-18T18:40:00.003+01:00

I haven't written in TOO long! It's just been a BUSY week! Starting work really took a lot of time out of me! I am so dedicated to it, I think about it like...90% of the time right now! I love it! It's going really great. Getting a good start on what I expect from myself, the other teachers and the kids. It can be frustrating being a new teacher in the middle of the year, but all in all, I am making really good head way. I can see where I am going and it feels good! More to come on some of the exciting stuff we are doing in the classroom! It's a lot different than teaching Montessori, but, I am getting used to it. ;)

In OTHER good news! I just got back from looking at THE apartment and it's great! SOOO we are going to sign a contract and we have a place to live for at least a year! YAY! It's not 100% official, but it's darn near close! It's so exciting! It's a lot bigger than we need, which is funny, because we have like...uhh...NO FURNITURE! Haha! One couch, a bed and a TV! Gonna be faaaannncyyy! So more to come on that as well!

Fredrik has been working late this week, which totally sucks. We see each other when he gets home from work at 11:30 pm and when I leave for work at 7 am. Yuck! But it's one week of that, then one week of early. He is currently searhing new jobs, hope he finds something more normal and closer to home. He has to travel over an hour to get to work! Yuck! Makes this wife nervous when it's snowing really hard! So more to come on THAT!

Man we are busy over here. Working hard, getting things done. Now on to the fun stuff...decorating an apartment! Now if only we could win the lottery next! :)

The Swedish word of the day is "äntligen" which means "finally" and is pronounced "entligen".

no word

2011-01-08T13:11:00.002+01:00

on the apartment yet. Sheesh. It makes me anxious too! Fredrik insists I calm down, but man o man, I want that apartment! So we will see! We are still looking at other options. We shall see!

This is my LAST WEEKEND totally free of work. I start Monday! Yikes! I'm very anxious, excited and nervous!

Not much else is going on in our lives. Just getting down to real like business. It's just a normal life we are about to start and man, it feels good!

I have been doing a lot of cooking because Fredrik and I have had a lot of time alone. I love it! I made homemade biscotti, homemade pizza, chili, mozarella biscuits, cookies! Not all I make it really good for...weight loss, but hey, a happy person is better than a skinny person! Right!? ;)

Hope you all are having a good first week of the new year!

The Swedish word of the day is 'mat' which means 'food' and is pronounced 'mot'.

2011 post!

2011-01-03T18:04:00.003+01:00

The first post of 2011! I hope everybody had a great one! We sure did! We spent it with friends and fireworks. So much fun!

I have one week left of 'vacation' and then I start work! I am so excited to start! It's hard to believe my life is shaping up and becoming a 'real' life! Haha!

Now the apartment. We are kind on a list for an apartment that is only a 5 minute walk from where we live now! We are just waiting to go see it and hear the final word if it is ours. I think about it ALL THE TIME! I want it so bad! It's just a simple 2 room apartment, but it's really perfect for us right now! I want it! Dear readers, hold your thumbs! I sure do keep you busy!

We'll not much else! Happy to have spent 5 days solid with my honey! He is working nights this week though, and we hate that! He leaves at 1pm and gets home at 11pm! Boo! But he does have Thursday off because it is some Swedish holiday. ;)

The Swedish word of the day is 'lägenhet' which means 'apartment' and is pronounced 'legeenheet'

mellandagarna

2010-12-27T09:22:00.002+01:00

the middle days. In Sweden, there are HUGE sales this time of year. The days in the middle of Christmas and New Years. So Fredrik did some research and we went out and bought ourselves a new LED suuuuper flatscreen TV! We love it! We put it in the living room for now, so everybody can enjoy it! Fredrik's dad says we can leave it behind once we find an apartment, though!

Speaking of apartments, Saturday Fredrik and I did some research and found some nice places, emailed the people, and I was feeling really good about it. One of them is already given to somebody else and the other one we haven't heard from. It's REALLY frustrating! We just want our own place to live! But here in Göteborg there just aren't enough places to live compared to the amount of people who need places. It really sucks, when we can afford to live on our own and DEFINITELY want to live on our own. Oh well, just have to be patient and maybe something great is headed our way.

Christmas was great. We celebrated Julafton at Maria and Pontus house, Christmas day at our house and Annandag at our house. Yesterday I made a turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, cornbread and Kansas dirt cake. It was delicious! I love making that food! I know the Swedes usually aren't too impressed and usually like to stick to their traditional food, but it sure does make me happy to eat it!

We don't really know what we are doing for New Years yet. Last year we went to Anton and Sofias, and I think we might do that again! I hope! It's really fun!

Hope you all have a great New Year! 2011, hopefully, has great things in store for you and me! I know 2010 was wonderful! ;)

The Swedish words of the day are 'gott nytt år' which means 'happy new year' and is pronounced 'gott nytt ohr'.

a person again!

2010-12-22T09:32:00.003+01:00

with a person number! I have been waiting on my Swedish person number and it finally came yesterday! This is basically Sweden's version of a social security number, but it's WAY MORE IMPORTANT! You have to have this number to...breathe!! It really is quite an important number and now that I have it, it opens a lot of doors for me. I opened a bank account last night, and I will be able to get my contract from work, etc. So I was quite relieved to get it!

Not much is going on around here. Just anticipating Christmas! I have been working out HARDCORE because I know there are at least 3 days in a row I won't work out. It will most likely take away all the work I have done in the past week! I have lost 4 kilos! Which is about 8 pounds! I can hardly believe it! I hope it continally goes down and isn't just some first week water weight thing. ;)

I'm getting very excited for Christmas. It's so fun because we actually get to celebrate 3 days! Julafton, Christmas Day and Annandag (boxing day). Annandag is my day! We get to make turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and all that good Thanksgivingy stuff! I think Swedish Christmas food is...ok. But it isn't Christmas food to me! I need my turkey!

The Swedish word of the day is 'kalkon' which means 'turkey'.

Mer jul ge mig

2010-12-19T19:11:00.003+01:00

give me more Christmas! Cause I love it! Mer Jul, is one of my favorite Swedish Christmas songs. It's a little creepy sounding, but it's so good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23gu1Oxw6gA

Give it a listen!

Today we decorated our fat Christmas tree! I've only had a real Christmas tree a few times in my life, and I really like having one. It's so fun to have a different shaped tree every year! Last year we had a pretty skinny tree, this year it's nice and fat!

Things are starting to get really Christmasy around here. The snow is falling, it's REALLY cold and the shortest day of the year is a few days away! The sun will go up around 9;30 and go down around 3 and the sun only goes a little bit above the horizon the whole day. It makes for a very short day!

This week we will celebrate Julafton (Christmas eve day) with Fredrik's family at his sister's new house. In Sweden, you celebrate on Julafton not Christmas day! It's weird, but just means we get to celebrate 2 days! And we get to eat a Julbord (Swedish Christmas table) and traditional American Christmas Day food! Of course, I always make Fredrik watch The Grinch on Christmas eve and A Christmas Story on Christmas day!

AND Friday at work went great! I got to know some of my fellow teachers and get to know the school a little bit better. We did a lot of lesson planning and I learned about some of the things they do in the school. There are so many interesting people working there! People from all over the world! Poland, China, England, Mexico, another American, a lot of Swedes and a lot of Swedes who have lived abroad. It's so interesting to met people who have experienced life aboard, as well! Hearing other peoples opinions about America is also an interesting thing. Most of the time it's pretty postive! Which is nice to hear, because as an American, we often hear a lot of crappy crap about our country!

I want to wish all my readers a HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEK! This is one of the best weeks of the year! Leading up to Christmas is almost better than Christmas itself. It's such a great time to smile a little extra, hug your hubby a little more, appreciate what you have and be excited for what you might get! It also is a time for me to REALLY appreciate my home and my family. I miss them so much, so so very much!

The Swedish word of the day is 'familj' which means 'family' and is almost like we pronounce it! Faimly is universal. :)

you know you're out of shape

2010-12-16T13:14:00.003+01:00

when you are REALLY sore after 2 workouts! I used to work out everyday and go about my day like nothing happened. These past 2 days, yikes! I'm really really sore! Holy cow. But, it feels good! It's that good kind of sore. I know my body is shaping back up!

Tomorrow is the teacher work day, so I'll be working out at night. We will see how that goes. I usually get to the gym about 10am and it's very empty and around 12 is when it starts picking up, and that's when I leave. So tomorrow, we will see how the gym looks at 6pm!

Last night I made some snickerdoodles (not very smart when you are trying to get into shape)! Tonight we are going to just relax, eat cookies, and watching The Santa Clause and Home Alone. I'm excited! Tomorrow night is Fredagsmys, so we will have another cozy night. Fredrik is REALLY tired at the end of the week, getting up at 4:30am can do that to ya! So we will watch Home Alone 2 and Christmas Vacation! I am excited to watch all my movies! Still waiting on A Christmas Story, but I don't need that until Christmas day! ;)

The Swedish word of the day is 'muskel' which means 'muscle'.

healthy and sweaty

2010-12-15T08:55:00.003+01:00

that's the name of my new gym! My wonderful husband bought me a year membership there! In Swedish it's actually Friskis & Svettis. It's ridiculous for a woman to WANT a gym membership, but I do! I look back at pictures of myself from 2 and a half years ago and I was in the best shape of my life, and I owe it to my gym! It was a place I could go and be inspired to run, walk, work out and listen to some good music. Everybody else is doing the same thing in a gym, so I find it really inspiring! And when you are paying for it, you better go! I'm not necessarily out to lose a whole bunch of weight, I just want to feel better about myself. I want to put an outfit on and FEEL rockin' in it! So today will be my first work out day, and hopefully it will just be more and more after that!

Friday I will go to the school and partake in a teacher study day. It will be a good day to talk to the other 2 teachers in the classroom and get a lot of info on the kids and the way our classroom will run. I'm really excited! A little detail about what I'll be doing. I'll be working at a school that is about a 45 minute bus ride from our house. It's a bilingual school, so my job is to only speak English. The other 2 teachers are Swedish speaking. The kids speak both languages, and it is my job to get them to speak English more and more. My group will only consist of 4-5 year olds. So it's right up my alley! From the sound of it, my job in the classroom will be in charge of the academics. The other 2 teachers are more interested in craft and art projects. So I will be making sure the kids are learning math, language and science. Whew! That's a big responsibility! But, I am so excited! I haven't really taught or been in a classroom for almost a year and a half, so I AM READY!

I also forgot to mention some big news! The 'adventsmys' we went to on Saturday at Hanna and Andreas' house was actually a wedding party! They got married earlier on Saturday and surprised us all! To be honest, here at our house, we were expecting it! But, it was still fun to be 'surprised'. In Sweden, marriage is much different than in the US. It's very normal for a couple to 'elope' and then tell their family later. I'm not sure why Swedes don't make SUCH a huge deal out of marriage as we do.

Also speaking of Hanna, she is expecting a baby in April, so I have taken it apon myself to throw her a babyshower! They don't have them in Sweden! I was like ¨so how do you get lots of presents!?¨ So there are a few things I think I need to introduce to my new family! Thanksgiving and babyshowers! So Fredrik's other sister, Maria, and I will be in charge of a babyshower, probably in early March. What are some of your favorite babyshower games? I want it to be fun and a very typical babyshower.

The Swedish word of the day is 'gift' which means 'married' and is pronounced 'yift'. Unfortunately, this word also means 'poison', I'm not even kidding.

hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog

2010-12-13T13:48:00.002+01:00

I'm feeling so good! I got the job! I start working January 10th! I work from 8:30 to 5 everyday. So a full time job! Yea!

I'm also happy because I found the " ' " on this crazy Swedish keyboard! I've been using the " ´ " which is actually what you put over an " a "! Gosh, it's been a great day! ;)

See what I mean, I need a job, I'm slowing losing my mind!

The Swedish word of the day is 'arbete' which means 'work'.

sweetie pie

2010-12-10T14:03:00.002+01:00

that´s what my husband is! He read my blog and fixed his computer so it isn´t so difficult to type on! He bought a new laptop less than a year ago and it was already on the fritz! The keyboard was typing letters it wasn´t supposed to and the charger wouldn´t charge! She he ordered new parts and fixed it all up! What a great guy! So I guess I´ll be expected to update a lot more! ;)

I don´t have REALLY exciting things to write about at this moment! I did adopt Fridays as my clean the house day! That´s pretty...fun. I guess! Incluedes recycling, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, dishes and opening the door to our bedroom, no matter how cold it is. I get all creeped out thinking about the element being on and no fresh air ever getting in! Haha! Although it feels great to have a clean house, for some reason, it makes me miss my mom and sister! Friday´s were our day to do stuff, since Emily had work off. I really miss having a glass (or bottle) of wine with my mom and sister.

Fredrik has been working 3 to 10 pm, he is here untill 1 in the afternoon. It has actually been really great. We get to spend alone time together and get a lot of stuff done! He´s such an amazing husband and helps me out so much! The only problem is he comes home at 11:30 pm, and neither of us are a big fan of that! But who knows, his schedule changes every week! Sometimes mixing it up is kind of interesting! But once I start working (hopefully REALLY soon), the night working won´t be so nice, we will never see each other!

Tomorrow we have ´adventmys´with Fredrik´s family, at his sister, Hanna´s, house. (that´s a crazy sentence). Everybody in Sweden celebrates advent. It´s not really a religious thing. It´s more about counting down until Christmas and lighting some pretty candles! It will be a lot of us in their apartment having lots of yummy food and coffee!

Also! 3 of my Christmas movies arrived! I watched Elf today with Fredrik as we ate breakfast (fried egg sandwiches with bacon! YUM!) I have to carefully spread out my viewing, I could very well watch all my movies in one day! I love Christmas movies! It takes me back to childhood and just makes me happy! The Grinch and A Christmas Story, of course, will be saved for Christmas eve and Christmas day! Right now I am listening to my Christmas playlist which includes some Manheim Steamroller, Santa Baby, and all those great songs that get me in the spirit! Good cleaning music, too! (did anybody notice I used an exclimation mark at the end of every sentence in that paragraph? jeeze).

The Swedish word of the day is ´älskling´which means ´honey´and is pronounced ´elskling´. This word is funny because sometimes it sounds like my name! So if somebody calls their spouse this to get their attention, sometimes I accidently answer!

Yeaa!

2010-12-08T09:59:00.002+01:00

Just got a call from the school and I am going to meet them Monday at 9;30 am! That has to be a great sign! I´m really excited about it! Once I have a job contract it will be much easier for us to find an apartment! Hold your thumbs!

Yesterday I went to Ullared with Fredrik´s sister Hanna and Andreas. Hanna had just came from her ultrasound! The baby looks great! It never fails to amaze me to see an ultrasound picture! It´s just incredible there is a baby in there!

Anywho, Ullared is a huge version of Wal-mart. Only in Sweden, they only have one! So people come from all over the country to go there! It was really crowded yesterday! We were there for 4 hours! I got a lot of Christmas shopping done and got a few extra things for myself and Fredrik. My big buy of the day was picture frames! I bought 13 of them! Picture frames are really expensive here, unless you go to Ullared, you get them for a fourth of the price! I had a lot of frame! Including my lovely Montessori birds pictures from my dear friend! :)

Today I will finish the rest of our Christmas shopping with my friend Sofia, that should be fun! Spending some time with a girlfriend! Fredrik has been working the 3-10pm shift, so I like to fill my nights with something fun!

The Swedish word of the day is ´handla´which means ´shopping´ and is pronounced ´hahndlah´

chillaxin'

2010-12-03T10:25:00.002+01:00

Yup, that's what I have been doing!

My interview went really well last week. They invited me back to obsere the next day, now I am waiting a few days for them to get their January staff all worked out, and they are inviting me back to meet with them again. So that feels like a good sign. It's hard to wait so much while my hubby is going to work at 4:30 am everyday! He's amazing!'

So I've been baking, cooking, cleaning, being a house wife! Ha!

We are busy starting this weekend. We are helping his sister and her boyfriend move into their new house. This should be interesting, as it is negative 10 degrees celcius and there is a lot of snow on the ground! We'll see how it goes. Then every weekend till Christmas and even after, we are busy! I like it that way! Especially this time of year!

Although I miss home like crazy, it feels good to be back!

Blogs will be few and far between till I get my new laptop. And who knows when that will be! Without a job, it's certainly hard to save money! And Fredrik's computer is a pain in the butt to write on! So I'm sorry, hopefully I can keep you entertained with what I got!

The Swedish word of the day is 'väntar' which means 'waiting' and is pronounced 'ventar'.

Good bye and hello!

2010-11-22T21:24:00.001+01:00

In 4 hours I will be headed back to Central European Time!

I have a job interview on Thanksgiving day, so when you all wake up, give me a little thought and a wish of good luck! :)

See you guys in a day or two!

One Week!

2010-11-16T04:34:00.004+01:00

...left until I am on my way back to Sweden! I cannot believe at this time, I will be waiting in the Chicago airport to make my 7th trip across the Atlantic!

This week has already been off to a great start! Shopping with mom, lunch with friends and a basketball game! Rock Chalk!

The rest of the week is full of similar activities. Lots of lunch dates, coffee dates, errands and best of all, Thanksgiving on Saturday. Mom and I are going to start cooking Wednesday! It will be so nice to be with friends and family, celebrating my favorite holiday, one last time. Fredrik and I have already decided to take on the task of having an annual Thanksgiving day feast for his family. It will ease the pain of missing my own family. What a great husband, to agree to this! :) I love him.

Although incredibly excited, I am terrified to land in Sweden and it will be around 6:30pm, pitch dark and probably snowing and or raining! Yuck! This is not the most wonderful weather time of year in Sweden, that is for sure. The shortest day of the year is only a few weeks away from when I arrive. Double yuck! But, Christmas in Sweden is very magical. Lots of snow, lights and chilly walks outside with my hunny.

In Sweden, they definitely put off putting up Christmas decorations. It's kind of their way of avoiding cold weather! As a dear friend stated in her blog, putting up Christmas early isn't about waiting for Santa, it's about looking forward to the season! I personally love early Christmas decorations!

This is a picture taken the first few days I was back in Kansas. I realized I put a lot of pictures of family on my blog, but these girls definitely deserve a big mention. They are all my high school friends and the best friends I could ever ask for. And a special shout out to my faithful readers! I love getting comments, makes me feel happy to write! :) So thank you!

Right here, right now

2010-11-10T17:26:00.004+01:00

Just did: an hour work out and burnt off 1000 ugly calories!

In my tummy: Water with cranberry and lemon, and a Special K bar

Waiting for: My mom to get home so I can go grocery shopping for hot dogs, hamburger buns and potatoes!

Listening to: I Am Not a Robot by Marina and the Diamonds

Looking Forward to: November 20th, early Thanksgiving. November 22nd, moving to Sweden.

Thinking about: How much it's going to cost me to send ANOTHER box to Sweden. My life in the past 2 years has involved paying a lot of money to post offices to ship all my goodies across the Atlantic.

What I'm feeling: Sweat dripping down my back, time to shower ASAP!

What I am making tonight: Jamin and Justin (brother and his brother-in-law) are coming over to unpack Christmas decorations for my mom, so I will make them a Gothenburg speciality! Halv Special. Hot dogs with mashed potatoes on top and grill seasoning! SOOO delicious. I'll also make some white chocolate popcorn for Emma and Tanner!

Wanting: To lay eyes on my husband at the airport! I cannot wait to start a life with him, officially. We get to start worrying about regular married couple stuff, not when the next time we will talk or when we will even see each other! Can't wait to steal the covers from him while sleeping and him to make coffee for me in the morning. :)

In Sweden, couples share a bed, but use twin comforters. Even with that, I still steal the covers from him sometimes!

Just thought you should see this. We call him the Tannerburger!

So bad!

2010-11-08T22:27:00.002+01:00

I have just been so bad. Excuses excuses! I know! But I do have to update my 3 loyal bloggers ;)

Had a great time in Copenhagen for my birthday with my hubby! So wonderful! But right before I left the U.S. I got an email from the Swedish embassy and my work permit and resident permit had been approved! After 5 weeks! I couldn't even believe it! So we spent a nice weekend with each other making plans!

I fly to Sweden November 22nd. 2 weeks from today. Could I be any happier? Probably not. And luckily, for the sake of my blog, I will have interesting things to write about again!

See you all soon! I promise, from now on...I'm back!

In Sweden, they end day light savings one week before us.

Millenium Triology

2010-09-25T03:49:00.003+02:00

I JUST closed the last page of the Millenium triology.

Wow, I read "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" out of curiousity, because while I lived in Sweden, these were very popular movies.

That book was good, the movie was good, so I moved onto "The Girl Who Played with Fire". THAT was great, and the movie was great.

So accordingly I went to Hastings and bought "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest". Also, excellent.

That movie isn't available in the US yet, so I either have order a version (and struggle without subtitles) or wait until I move back to Sweden. Either way, I cannot wait!

These books and movies are really great, and the movies are great as well, so long as you don't hate reading subtitles. But hey, you get to listen to Swedish, and it's beautiful. ;) And Swedish people do it all the time when shows are American or from another country.

Fact: On Swedish television and movies, they never dub voices, unless it's meant for children who cannot read. As a matter of fact, I really miss the Swedish subtitles at the bottom of the screen!

a mighty return

2010-09-21T05:25:00.002+02:00

...or not so mighty.

But simply, I have been waiting on something exciting to blog about. My life was in shambles for awhile and everything was turned upside down. But now, it's back on track and I feel like I can do this blog thing, without making everybody want to weep.

Today I finally mailed in my Swedish visa application.

Most of you know what happened at the...bum bum bum...Detroit airport, which was the turning point in my sweetie pie husands life and mine. We decided to ship some American goods back to Sweden, so here I go, new adventure.

Here's hoping this visa takes very little time to process and I'm back with my husband once again.

And here's to a return of Central European Time, only we are in Central American Time...for now!

Fact: Instead of "crossing your fingers" for luck, in Sweden, you "hold your thumbs".

My Swedish is bad and I'm not learning a thing right now, so I'll just throw some random facts out there for ya, until I get back to the learnin'!

Midsommar and regular summer

2010-06-29T11:36:00.014+02:00

Midsommar!
One of our bunches of flowers!
Dancing around the Maypole. Notice the dog, he was not happy with us doing this. He barked the whole time.Akvavit! Helan går! Famous Swedish drinking song, translated "the whole goes down!"
Dinner (served around 2pm).
One of the drinking songs. Lasted about 5 minutes and throughout the song you put the hat one, then the ears, then the teeth. It's so funny and hard to sing with those teeth in!
Cousin Caroline. Could she be any more beautiful and Swedish looking!? :) I love her to death! She's such a great person to be related to!

My husband, who just happens to be the most handsome man on the earth! Even when he's wearing a crown of wildflowers!
The boys posing with our May pole. Johan on the left is Caroline's boyfriend and Pontus on the right is Maria's (Fredrik's sister) fiance.

Midsommar is now my favorite holiday. Well, Christmas and Midsommar are a close tie. Midsommar is like Christmas, minus gifts (which as you get older isn't a big deal), and minus the cold weather. We had beautiful sunshine, great food, family, songs, flowers. It's the perfect holiday.

We picked a lot of flowers. A LOT of flowers. Everybody who came brought a huge pail of flowers with them. We made a "Midsommarstång", which is the maypole. We covered it with birch wood and leaves, we made crowns made of birch and wildflowers, we set 13 places, for the 13 people. It was great.

We ate sill, fresh potatoes with dill, meat balls, boiled eggs, caviar, I made enchiladas :), small sausages, shrimp, all sorts of bread. Doesn't sound appetizing, but it is! There was a game at dinner that made dinner so funny. Everybody had a secret "assignment" from Fredrik's mom. Mine was to say "back home in Kansas..." as often as possible. Fredrik was singing all the time, Maria was asking everybody to pass everything all the time, Hanna was insisting we sing songs every 2 minutes, Pontus was talking about how great Abba Sill is, the whole time, Nina was taking things from Johan's plate the whole time, Caroline asked everybody if they wanted more food all the time. It was hilarious!

We drank "Akvavit" which is Swedish Snaps. We sang songs. We laughed. We talked. It was one of my favorites days here.

After we ate, we actually danced and sang around the Maypole. That...was...hilarious. To watch grown men dance and hold hands and sing silly songs with silly hand motions. I laughed the whole time.

After about 10 minutes of singing, laughing and dancing we had dessert. Yum. If you don't think Swedish food sounds good, Swedish desserts make up for it! We had "sockerkaka" made my Fredrik, a delicious red velvet cake with lime frosting and fresh strawberries, strawberries and cream, cookies, coffee, more Akvavit! We were stuffed!

The rest of the day we spend talking and singing more songs, drinking a lot of beer, wine, cider and snaps. What a great day.

Regular Summer!
The day after, luckily with no hangover, we spend the day outside. It was warm and very sunny. This is us taking a break with a small hike around Ljungskile, which is a smallish town about 15 miles from the cabin. It's beautiful with lots of boats and ocean.

Now that Midsommar is over, we go back to regular summer. We spend our time taking walks, going to new places. Just enjoying our time together. Soon we go to Germany, and that is a WHOLE NEW kind of adventure for us. We will both be foreigners! How exciting and a little bit scary.

Hope everybody has a great 4th of July! This is my 2nd 4th of July I've spent in Sweden. The first one wasn't so pleasant. A lot of people protesting against the U.S., but that was only about 2 and a half years after 9/11. So hopefully we can have our own quiet celebration, and I don't have to deal with *ahem* assholes. I'm going to make a fresh raspberry, blueberry and strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting! Yum!

The Swedish thing of the day is Abba Sill. This is very, very, very popular in Sweden. I think 13 of us went through like...20 jars in one day. The first is mustard sill, then onion sill, original sill. They eat this for Christmas, Easter, Midsommar, and other special occasions.

The Swedish word of the day is "härligt" which means "awesome" or "nice" and is pronounced "haerligt".

cake #1

2010-06-20T17:19:00.007+02:00

I think it's a little flower heavy. What do you think? I also think smaller in diameter. This made a ton of cake! Too much to be one on each table. This needs to be a lot whiter and I think the chocolate frosting would be better in the middle.

It was nice to decorate the cake while I watched Princess Victoria marry her prince! What a romantic and beautiful wedding this was! They are truly in love and watching them marry one another was like a real fairytale! And how gorgeous is she! Her little sister and brother are very attractive too! Typical Swedes. ;)

Of course, Happy Father's day to all the fathers. Especially my dad and step-dad. Two men that I could never truly thank for all they have done for me. They are really amazing guys and I am so glad they are both in my life.

The Swedish thing of the day is Sweden's (Sverige) carbon footprint. This is impressive. I am aware that Bangladesh and Columbia are not provided with the ammenities many of us want, but Sweden is, and their footprint is nearly half our size. Yikes. I think, when we live in town, we are going to try and walk to a lot of places I would have driven to before I lived in Sweden.

The Swedish word of the day is 'fader' 'far' and 'papa', which are all ways to say 'dad'.

10:30pm

2010-06-14T11:44:00.003+02:00

Previously, I posted a picture taken at 10:30 at night. This now is 10:30 at night here (about a week ago), taken from the balcony from Fredrik and I's bedroom to our "backyard". June 26th is the longest day of the year and that is still more than 10 days away! Imagine how light it will be then! And the sun goes up around 3:30 now. It's amazing the amount of light. Fredrik told me we get something like 10 hours more light than we got on the shortest day of the year. It's incredible!

This weekend we took the Express Stena line boat to Denmark. We went to Frederikshavn, which is on the opposite side of Copenhagen. We drove to a place called Skagen, which is where two ocean's meet. It was incredible. Pictures to come!

Tomorrow is my last day with my family. Mixed emotions, bitter sweet. I sketched some pictures when I first came and I have framed those and will give them to the girls. One is a woman's sillouette for Caitlin and the other is Tara's violin for Tara. I think they really fit the personalities of the girls. Hopefully they like them as much as I do! :) And tomorrow I will make a really big Greek meal for them. Yum!

Speaking of food, I have been contenplating what to do with my blog once I have moved back home. The only people who read are people who are interested in my life here. But it's still fun to write. I think it might turn into a food blog. Although there are countless amounts of food blogs, it might be fun to document my cooking and recipes, since I love it so much. What do you think? Would anybody who reads this be interested in continuing to read that type of blog? And I would still do my Swedish thing and word of the day, because I intend to keep speaking Swedish and loving Sweden.

Anywho...

The Swedish thing of the day is Tara's whole school singing on their last day. This is when the 5th graders "graduate" and they all say good bye to each other. It's what every school does on every last day of school. It's really sweet and hearing 300 something Swedish children sing is so adorable. Apologies for the bad video/audio, but you get the picture. :)

The Swedish word of the day is "hej då" which means "good bye" and is pronounced "hey doah" or sometime "hey da". Depends on where you are from, I guess. ;)

bröllop

2010-06-08T09:26:00.004+02:00

Wedding! Crown Princes Victoria, of Sweden, will get married June 19th! Which is the 34th anniversary of her parents, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. It's very exciting. A lot of people remember when Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married. This is the same thing, to Swedes. Princess Victoria will become queen of Sweden and she is marrying a regular old guy! Daniel Wessling, a lawyer! I love Princess Victoria. I think she is beautiful, in a very modest way. She is a spitting image of her mother Queen Silvia. When she speaks, she sounds very smart, educated and classy, but is very open with her problems, such as dealing with anorexia and dyslexia.

Here they have all kinds of stuff to buy for the wedding. Towels with their pictures on it, playing cards, shot glasses, wine glasses, table runners, candles, the list goes on. All decorated with the royal crown of Sweden. They are also having a lot of wedding shows and movies on TV, in anticipation for the wedding.

It's something I've never experienced and it will be fun to watch it on TV. I might even make a small wedding cake (to test my wedding cake making skills for my own wedding). :)

The Swedish thing of the day is Swedish pie. They don't make it with the crust on top. Always this mixture of cinnamon, flour, butter and vanilla powder. It's reallly good. Last weekend was mothers day here, and Fredrik's sister, Maria, made 3 different pies! It was wonderful! This pie was raspberry (hallon) and rhubard (rabarber).

The Swedish word of the day is "väntar" which means "waiting" and is pronounced "ventar".

Booked!

2010-06-03T08:52:00.005+02:00

Our flight and car for our trip to Germany is booked! We fly to Frankfurt July 7th and visit Henneberg, Mayen, and tour Frankfurt for 2 and a half days, then we fly home July 10th! I'm SO excited. I have wanted to do this since I arrived in Sweden, and my amazing husband has made it happen. I'm so lucky! We will be staying in Frankfurt with Jan (our former German exchange student). I thougt it was so nice he offered that, and it saves us a lot on a hotel room we will only be sleeping in!

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous the past few days. Last night Fredrik and I went to the lake ate some ice cream and drank some beer. Sandy feet make me happy. :)

This is Lake Aspen and it's about a 5 minute drive from my house.

The Swedish thing of the day is the inside of a train. Haha, this seems stupid. But Being here as made me realize how much we DON'T use trains in the US. We take the train all the time and I actually really like taking the train! This time we were headed to Fredrik's Farmor's 80th birthday in Ljungskile. It was a great time and we ate some delicious food and I met a lot of new people from his family. Isn't my husband so handsome!? :)

The Swedish word of the day is "tåg" which means "train" and is pronoucned "toahg". "

Now those are some cakes

2010-05-27T12:39:00.003+02:00

Left cake is the 3 layer vanilla, the right is the 3 layer chocolate! :) I'm actually quite impressed with myself on my first real cake decorating venture. They look pretty amateur, but I think they will suffice! And as you know now, "grattis" means "congratulations".

Your Swedish thing of the day is some Swedish deer! These were in our front yard. As you can tell from the porch rail and the clothes hanger. They guys scare me so often too, they run away really fast everytime I walk out the door! I think somebody is running to attack me!
The Swedish word of the day is "tårta" which is "cake" and is pronounced "torta". You can also use "kaka" which is a smaller cake and do me, used more often for cookies. Plus, I don't like this word, for obvious reasons. ;)

which one, which one.

2010-05-26T13:12:00.012+02:00

Help me!

#2 ( I think I like this one best, in black and white.)

I have to decide which of these pictures to have as our framed picture. I CANNOT decide. These 8 are our top 8 choices and they come in a little album. But which one to get as the large one, we can't decide! I love these pictures, and I'm SO happy with them! And it was a lot of fun having our first professional pictures taken together!

Today I am busy baking 6 layers of cake to make 2, 3 layer cakes! One chocolate and one vanilla. YUM. Tara's early birthday party is this Friday, and for some reason I agreed to make the cakes! I'm crazy! Haha!

This weekend is Fredrik's farmor's (dad's mom) 80th birthday, so we are getting together with his dads side of the family, who I've never met before! I'm excited! And Sunday is Mother's Day here in Sweden. So we have a busy busy weekend coming up! Nice to be busy, takes the day away quicker untill my last day of work! Then I have one and a half monthes of freedom with Fredrik! We are trying really hard to schedule a trip to Germany! It's so exciting, and if we can pull it off, it would just top this amazing year off perfectly! Cross your fingers for us! :)

The Swedish thing of the day is this beautiful tree. Spring really is here, and I love it! Saturday we went to the Botaniska Trädgården (Botanical Garden). It was amazing! Much bigger than I thought it was! Lots of different gardens and even a herbal smelling garden. We went on a hike to a very huge hill that over looked the city. We are definitely going back soon. Kansas has many gorgeous tree's, bushes and flowers, but this tree literally took my breath away. The picture doesn't even do it justice!The Swedish word of the day is "bild" which means "picture" and "bilder" means "pictures".

grattis! 100 posts!

2010-05-18T20:32:00.008+02:00

Today is 100 posts. I don't have anything significant to talk about but here are some pictures.

This was taken at 10:30 last night. Yea...it's getting harder and harder to sleep. The sun is coming up around 5 but it's already starting to get light out around 3:30-4.

This is a murder slug, and they are evil. Although, Fredrik told me yesterday you can boil them and eat them. I threw up in my mouth a little bit when he said that.

This is funny cause it looks like I'm a floating head going around kissing people in their sleep.

I posted a Swedish breakfast awhile ago, but this is an american breakfast. Maybe slightly modified with yogurt and a banana, but don't worry, there was a lot of butter and maple syrup on those pancakes!

This is my springtime, Swedish umbrella. I look like a fool carrying this around amongst all the black and dark blue umbrellas most Swedes carry, but I don't care!

If you know a sign says something important and pertains to you, doesn't it make you nervous if you don't understand it. Imagine seeing this. That's why I took a picture to bring it home to Fredrik and ask "what all does this say?" ;)

This is your Swedish thing of the day. This is Fredrik's favorite bread, ever. I don't know how he will survive without it in the US. But we might have to steal the recipe and learn to make it. He eats this at least twice a day. Breakfast and snacks. He loves it.

The Swedish word of the day is "vår" which means "spring" and is pronounced "voor". Spring is definitely and finally in the air here. I will post some pictures of nature soon because it's just breath taking here. I have a tree right outside my window with gorgeous white flowers all over it. It makes me happy. :)

Studenten

2010-05-17T07:49:00.006+02:00

As I mentioned earlier, it is graduation time here in Sweden as well. They do it a bit different here This is Fredrik's cousin Therese. She is wearing a simple dress, with the traditional Swedish graduation hat. Looks like a sailors hat. And all that junk around her neck are gifts and flowers from her friends and family. Nice of them to give her all this stuff, huh? :)

Basically, the Swedish graduation is like ours, only with it's own twists and flare! They have a ceremony like ours, but it's a lot less formal. As you can see, no gowns, no square hats. Although the boys do wear a suit and tie and the girls wear a nice dress, which I think is usually white or mostly white.

After the "ceremony" they go to be greeted by friends and family, who adorn them with gifts and get their picture taken. After that they go around in taxis or cars and some schools rent huge dump trucks for all the students to go around together on holding signs and posters and screaming and shouting through the town. Sounds fun!

Each family makes their graduate a sign that has a picture of them when they were small (usually embarrassing), their name, the day and year they are graduating and which school they are graduating from (in Sweden you chose a school at 16, and you learn a vocation. i.e Fredrik chose to learn mostly about cars). The posters are really big and very sturdy and are on a stick, so they can carry them around. You have to go to a special place (like kinkos) and get it made. Fredrik still has his. He's so cute!

Then after the riding around they go home, much like we do. Have a party with your family and once you can get away from that party you go away with your friends and have a great night!

I like the way we do graduation, but this way also seems like a lot of fun! My brother and sister graduated from high school this weekend! How proud I am! Congrats Brad and Mikaela!

The Swedish thing of the day is some cheese. Haha. Sweden has the largest variety of cheeses. Even at the smallest store, they have a huge isle dedicated to cheese. It's so important. This

particular cheese went a little hard on the bottom so I was advised to cut it off and throw it away. But hey, why not take advantage and create a love message. Stupid me. This cheese is like the cheese you imagine a little mouse coming out of. It has holes and everything.

The Swedish word of the day is "grattis" which means "congratulations". You also use it on birthdays too. Congratulations on your birthday!

måndag.

2010-05-03T14:33:00.004+02:00

Just another Monday. Nothing special, nothing new.

What's in my tummy:

A giant Dutch apple with peanut butter. Don't worry, I haven't TOTALLY forgot how to eat like an American.

What I'm listening to:

TRYING to listen to some Sia, but unfortunately Tara has a friend over and they won't stop whistling. This is Tara's new favorite thing and I can hardly stand it!

Drinking:

Not a whiskey sour, but this is pretty good in itself, Ramlösa mixed with Pomegranite smoothie style juice. Really yummy!

This is bubbly water with lots of different flavors. I like original, but sometimes I venture out and drink some jordgubb (strawberry).

Reading:

A Rice and Curry cookbook and writing down as many recipes as my little cook book can hold. I've really become interested in Indian cooking, and Fredrik and I certainly love to eat it, so why not learn to cook it!

Looking forward to:

This weekend. Helping Fredrik's parents at their cabin, getting ready to put a new addition on to the living room. Forecast looks promising, sun and warm temperatures.

On the table tonight:

Simple, make your own burritos. Complete with homemade tortillas, ground taco beef, cumin cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce and salsa.

Soon to be on the table:

Pesto basil jumbo shrimp with lemon parmesan linguini. Can't wait for this one! I think I'll save this one to make for Fredrik. :)

Feeling frustrated with:

Caitlin isn't done with school until June 15th. What a long time!

Feeling not frustrated with:

Spending a month and a half with no work, no commitments. With my honey, in the beautiful Swedish summer. Midsummer here we come!

The next few weeks are going to be quite a bore, just waiting and waiting for June 15th!

The Swedish thing of the day is the Swedish flag. Now I know my readers aren't dumb and surely know what the Swedish flag looks like. But this flag is really special to me. I don't know why, and anytime I see something with these colors, I want to buy it! Fredrik doesn't understand, but I have a weird obsession with Swedish souveniers. I love buying silly little Swedish things. Right now, they are getting ready for graduation and it's traditional to buy a small stuffed animal or other small toys that are Swedish colors, put it on a blue and yellow ribbon and put it around the graduating person's neck. So the graduate then, at the end of the day, has lots of silly, small, Swedish themed toys dangling from their neck. I will write a lot more about this later, because Swedish graduation is a really cool thing. And if I'm lucky, Fredrik might let me take some pictures of his graduation stuff to show you all! :)

The other day I was sitting in my little house with the window open, letting some clean, country air into the room, when I noticed something out of the corner or my eye. It was this bright, beautiful flag waving through a gap in the newly green trees. Just a small thing, but it made me smile. :)

The Swedish word of the day is "Du gamla, du fria" it means "you old, you free" and it's actually the Swedish National Anthem. It's actually a really nice sounding anthem. This is the version of Carola singing it. Carola is a really famous pop singer. She has been singing in television contests for many years and won the Eurovision Song Contest in the 90's. Du Gamla, Du Fria

Fredagsmys

2010-04-27T15:20:00.005+02:00

I have mentioned a few times on my facebook something called "fredagsmys". This is basically the Swedish version of TGIF. I looooove fredagsmys. It's when you make a good dinner, sit in front of the TV and watch good Friday night TV such as "Så ska det låta", "Talang" "Skavlan" and some sort of movie ususally at 10pm. The first is a singing show. They get famous people to come compete with a "piano man" and they have different categories, such as the intro to a song, and the first team to identify it has to sing the song. It's a lot of fun! Talang is the Swedish version if America's got talent and it usually makes me mad because they say no to a lot of really talented people! Skavlan is a talk show with a Norweigien man, Fredrik Skavlan, who is doing a Swedish talk show. I love this because the people he usually has an American or English speaking guest and the guests all stay so they can all talk and there is always a singing performance. He surprisingly has a lot of really famous Americans on his show!

So fredagsmys is defnitely something I hope we do our whole lives. It's nice to wind down on a Friday night and spend some "cuddle" time together. Usually our fredagsmys involves some sort of alcholic beverage of choice. The other night, as you can see, it was New Castle. :)
The Swedish thing of the day is Swedish breakfast. As I was grocery shopping today, I was thinking about what Fredrik and I needed for breakfast the next few mornings and it hit me how my grocery list has changed. I was thinking about eggs for boiled eggs, caviar and cheese! What's wrong with me!

This is so typical. Coffee, of course, a soft boiled egg, bread, some sort of veggie, the cheese is missing and so is the butter, but if you eat caviar and egg, you don't need those. How appetizing does this look? ;) The tube is the Kalles caviar, which Fredrik LOVES and is definitely going to miss when we move back. Poor guy, he'll just have to eat hash browns, scrambled eggs, pancakes and fruit! :)

The Swedish word of the day is "frukost" which means "breakfast".

The Bird Section at the Zoo

2010-04-22T08:16:00.005+02:00

I live in the bird section at the zoo. I go to bed hearing HUNDREDS no...THOUSANDS of birds. At first, when the snow was melting I was grateful to hear the chirps of birds. It means spring. Now I just want them to shut up! They chirp untill 10pm, when it gets dark. They start chirping at 5am, when it gets light! I've really never heard so many birds in my life chirping at once. I think of the movie "Birds". And not only is it birds chirping, it's owl's hooting, woodpeckers pecking and bumble bee's constantly buzzing around my head! (I know bumble bee's aren't birds, but they are big enough to me to be considered a bird!) Either way, I'm still grateful it's spring and I love sitting outside with the sun on my face. But once the bee's start really buzzing around I go in! Fredrik thinks it's ridiculous, but I am terrified of bumble bee's! I even kicked on the other day and of course, ran away like a little girl.

Aside from the birds and bee's there is other amazing wildlife going on here. We have 3 deers that live right behind my house in the forest. They are always walking around eating and stuff. There is something growing here called "vitsippor" which is White Cyprus. It grows everywhere. It's gorgeous. Along with "påsklilja" which is Easter lillies and of course, Crocus is growing everywhere. It's really amazing the amount of things that grow out of the forest ground.

This volcano situation, I think, is starting to get under control. Our local airport, Landvetter, was closed and is now open, I think. They close and open every other day due to the Icelandic volcano that won't stop erupting and is apparently going to erupt for 2 years of something like that. It doesn't really affect me, other than if there is an emergency, it might be a problem for me to get home or somebody to come here. So drive safe and use all other safety precotions!

This weekend, I have another 3 day weekend, like last week. It's SO nice to have 3 day weekends. I'm still putting in my 25 hours a week though. So hmm, without those 3 day weekends I'd be working overtime! It was a huge change going from 45-50 hours a week to 25. I don't mind it, but it will be nice to go back to a regular work schedule.

Sorry for this boring blog just about everyday life. I have been a bit uninspired to write about "Swedish" things, mostly because I've been here for 9 months and the newness has definitely worn off. Plus, there isn't much going on here. Once summer rolls around I'll have a ton to write about. The weirdo sun never going down, Midsummer and other great Swedish summer things. Leaving here July 27th, will be very hard. Especially going from the beautiful Swedish summer to the awful Kansas summer. But I will definitely be more than ready to be home!

The Swedish thing(s) of the day is my shoe rack and recycling containers.

I know this seems dumb, but in Sweden it's a big deal. Everybody has a shoe rack just like this one. Not everybody has one all to themselves, like me, but none the less, you must have one. Also, everybody MUST recycle. It's the law! Some houses are much more organized about it. Some are not. But, you must do it. The green is compost, the grey is non recycle items, and the red is recycle items such as metal, large plastic, newspaper, cardboard and glass. I really enjoy recycling and in the long run, it's not much more work than taking a huge, full trash bag out everyday! Plus, it's kind of fun to throw all the stuff in the right bin at the recycling station, except glass, it's really loud and breaks when you throw it in. ;) And yes, that's a pizza box sitting next to the red can. My cans are a little bit smaller than the average household. ;)

The Swedish word of the day is "recycle" which is "återvinna" and is pronounced "ohatervinna". In Swedish, if there are 2 of the same letter next to each other, you say it a little bit faster. It's like you emphasize the "i" and say the "nna" much faster. I really like the way it sounds, especially when Fredrik does it. It's one of the things that makes Swedish sound kind of sing songy. :)

Happy Earth Day från Sverige! :)

Proud

2010-04-15T08:48:00.004+02:00

After reading another person's blog, it made me realize, although I love Sweden. I am certainly proud to be an American and say I am from America. American's are criticized and shown in such a way that doesn't give the rest of the world a proper view as an entire country.

As somebody who has lived in another country for some time now, I can see why they have the view they do. They are seeing shows like "The Jersey Shore", "The Biggest Loser" and other shows containing "smut" that depeict American's as greedy, fat, selfish, idiots. And really, these shows have an affect. Many people think this is exactly what America is like. AND many of the people who truly believe this, have never stepped foot on American soil. It's not fair to judge if you have never experienced.

These are also the same people who love OUR television shows. "CSI" "Desperate Housewives" "Gossip Girl" "Grey's Anatomy", etc. and including many of our movies. America really gets an unfair deal. We provide lots of countries with a lot of things, but only get the back hand when it comes to an overall view. And by no means, do I think America is the perfect country or place to live, but it's a really great country and a really great place to live.

So, as most of my readers are American, I am sure you can see my side. Again, I want to reiterate, I love Sweden, I have learned so much here and I have a fair view of both countries. Yet, I am still not judging. It's about understanding and embracing the differences all of us have as individuals, people from different towns, and countries.

On a lighter note, the weather is beautiful! And last night Fredrik and I started a fire, grilled hot dogs, talked, laughed and enjoying the crackling fire. Perfect night.

The Swedish thing of the day is Swedish pancakes. They are thin and as big as your plate. The Swedish Chef is soooo good at flipping them in the pan, I love watching him make pancakes. They don't stack them up like we do. One at a time, with some sugar and jam and then rolled up. Yes, they eat them with a knife and fork! And of course, there are other variations, such as with fruit, whipped cream and me, I enjoy syrup on mine! :)

And see, not everything in the US is bigger. :)

The Swedish word of the day is "svensk pannkaka" which is "Swedish pancake" Yum!

Malmö och Köpenhamn

2010-04-14T16:18:00.008+02:00

We started the day at 7:30, packing, coffee making, showering. We left Göteborg at 9am with Maria and Pontus. It's a 3 hour drive to Malmö, which is a very southern city, and the 3rd largest city in Sweden, following Göteborg. It's where Pontus is from.

Luckily I didn't drink too much coffee and we only stopped once! Go me! I'm usually the jerk who wants/needs to stop every hour or so. We made our way into the city, stopped to do some grocery shopping then headed to Pontus's mothers house. Nice, quant house outside the city limits. We ate lunch and then proceeded to the Turning Torso. This building was built in 2005. This building is awesome. Really, it is.

We walked around the pier, gazing at the beautiful architecture, the ocean and the beach. There is also a huge bridge that connects Sweden to Denmark, and that bridge is massive.

Then we went to the very very very southern tip of Sweden, which was kind of a cool feeling. It was cold, windy, but beautifuly sunny. So we got out, took a picture and got back in the car!

We went home, I made my famous chicken enchiladas and we called it a pretty early night.

The next morning we got up bright and early, ate breakfast, got dressed then hopped on the 8:30 bus into the central of Malmö. We had 3 minutes to kill so we walked around and ate awesome delicious cinnamon rolls. Got on a bus at 9:30 and headed to Copenhagen!

What a cool city. It was a perfect day (a little windy). Unfortunately we walked a very long way to see the "little mermaid" which is one of Copenhagens most famous attractions, well, she's gone. She is in China at an expo! UGH! So we took a picture of the sign. We walked around Nyhavn, which is the fishing harbour, ate some lunch, had some beer, went shopping, had more beer and went home. It was really a perfect day and a vacation I can call a honeymoon!

Nyhavn

We traveled home the next morning and celebrated Easter with some delicious homemade Thai food and some movies. I really love spending time with Maria, my sister in law, and her fiance. I'm really lucky to have such great in-laws!

Lately, I have been enjoying time with my hubby. He's really wonderful and there is something so comforting knowing you are loved in such an unconditional way. We had been enjoying BEAUTIFUL Swedish weather. The snow is ALL GONE! And we have temperatures in the high 50's. It's been gorgeous and I even have a little sunburn on my face. Oops!

The Swedish thing of the day is a movie theater, which in Swedish is "bio". This theater, "biopalatset" is translated to "the movie palace". Wooo, makes you wanna see a movie, huh? We went and saw "Flickan från ovan" or "The Lovely Bones" this weekend. What a great movie. I read the book and really loved it and the movie was really good too.

The Swedish word of the day is "promenad" which means "walk". Fredrik and I went on a 2 hour walk the other night to the big bridge I wrote about earlier. We brought the camera and got some beautiful shots of the ocean!

A Story of a Swedish Chef

2010-04-06T13:30:00.003+02:00

There is a food here and it's magical, and I don't know why we don't have it in America. Sugar Cake. It's a very fluffy, sweet, yellow cake, with the main ingredient being sugar.

The first time I ever had sugar cake was about a year ago. Fredrik was visiting me in Kansas and he said one day 'I want to make you a sugar cake'. Uhm, ok, I love to eat and I love to bake and I've never heard of this. Ok, what do you need to make it? Sugar, eggs, milk, butter, flour, kardemumma and vanilla powder. ????

So we go to Hy-Vee and we look around and find Cardamom. Yea, never used that. But still no vanilla powder, can you use vanilla extract? It's liquid, I dont'w know, we don't know! Let's just try it and see.

Come home, watch TV, Swedish Chef doesn't want me in the kitchen. The Swedish Chef works alone. So it's a lot of noise, a lot of 'shit's' and 'hmm's'. I just ignore it. Finally a really, really, really wonderful smell comes from the kitchen. How long is that going to take? Don't ask questions! Continue watching TV. Finally, Swedish Chef swaggers out of the kitchen with a paper towel and says 'taste this'. Put a piece of the sweetest, warmest, softest, most delicious cake I've ever tasted in my life. The wonderful smell of Kardemumma and the fluffiness of the cake, wow. Swedish Chef, will you marry me?

I don't know if it was the magic of the first time I'd ever tasted Sugar Cake, or the newness of the Swedish Chef in my house, but man, that Sugar Cake beats all that I have ever eaten since then. Don't get me wrong, this cake is delicious, and I always love it. But Sugar Cake number 1 was a deal breaker. Swedish Chef was here to stay, if I had anything to say about it.

Now Swedish Chef is my husband, and I still sometimes call him my 'boyfriend' or 'fiance'. When do you get used to calling your husband, your husband?

The Swedish thing of the day is Sugar Cake.

This looks quite similar to how Fredrik and his mother make it, they make it in a larger flatter pan, and they dust it was sugar on the top. Delish!

The Swedish word of the day is 'sockerkaka' which is 'sugar cake' and is pronounced as it looks. But with a weird kind of 'u' sounding 'o'.

PS: pictures of the Malmö och Köpenhamn 'Copenhagen' trip coming soon!

March 27, 2010

2010-03-28T16:25:00.004+02:00

Best day of my life.

Sheesh.

2010-03-25T10:49:00.003+01:00

Could I be ANY worse of a blogger! My computer is on the fritz and it makes me not even want to touch it! Thinking about buying and installing a new hard drive (which I have been told is what it needs) stresses...me...out!

I have SO much on my mind! Filing an extension on my taxes (could I have waited any more last minute), paperwork to fill out to bring Fredrik over and OH YEA! Getting married on Saturday!!!!! AH! It's really hitting me! It's just...amazing. I'm so happy and excited and nervous and all those things that are supposed to happen when you get married! I keep calling Fredrik my "almost husband". I can't wait to call him my husband. It's amazing to think about it.

But that isn't all I do around here! Think about weddings and act like a major stress case! I did have a great St. Patricks day! It was a lot of fun. Pictures to come...maybe. We might be uninterested in them by the time I actually do it! Because Sunday, the priority is to put wedding pictures up! Duh!

So I'm sorry I have been so boring lately...but here is your every day thing!

Now although this isn't everday to you, it's everyday to us here in Gothenburg! The ocean. Well, the part of the ocean that is really close to the city. This was taken a few weeks ago when the snow hadn't started to FINALLY melt away, but it's still really awesome to me to just...walk up to the ocean and look at it! There are huge cruise boats that sit in the harbor that go to Germany, Denmark and other places. It's just cool, ocean/marine life. Especially to a Kansan who is landlocked!

The Swedish word of the day is "hav" which means "ocean". It's pronoucned with a british sounding "a". So kind of like "hov" with a long "o". And "the ocean" is "havet". Swedish is a confusing language, but I am so surprised by how much I understand lately. Even when watching movies in a foreign language with Swedish subtitles, I can follow!

bröllop och gift

2010-03-17T07:47:00.003+01:00

Wedding.

"Bröllop" means wedding. "Gift" means married. Fredrik and I are getting married March 27th at 3pm, for you Kansas readers, that is 8am.

I am...for lack of better words, estatic. I am beyond happy. I really feel like the luckiest woman on the face of the planet right now. I get to marry the love of my life, in a country I love. This is the first step to Fredrik and I starting our life together, and it could not be any better.

Wish us luck, and if you happen to be awake at 8am, on that Saturday, send some thoughts our way! We will be here, happy as ever!

Also, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Whether you are Irish or not, be gay and merry! I get to celebrate my non-Irishness with a bunch of Swedes! Can't wait!

The Swedish words of the day are "bröllop" and "gift". Bröllop is pronounced "bruhllop" with a long "o" sound. And gift is pronounced "yift". Sadly, in Swedish, this word can also mean "poison". Yikes.

We got it!

2010-03-11T09:07:00.002+01:00

We got our marriage license in the mail yesterday! Now we just have to find a date and time! I'll keep you posted!

In other news, my computer is being fixed by my wonderful and genius fiance right now. So sad. So no pictures and very few updates for the time being!

cupcakes, muffins, and more

2010-03-04T13:14:00.003+01:00

I have now made over 100 cupcakes in less than 24 hours.

Right now:
Waiting for the last batch to be done, so I can clean up my mess.

Next to me:
A glass of vitamin C water and the book "The UnDutchables".

Waiting for:
Friday night.

In my tummy:
One of the homemade tortillas I made last night with butter, cinnamon and sugar. :)

Wearing:
A big blue sweater and fuzzy turquoise socks my mom sent me. Caitlin is at home today, so I get to sit around in comfy clothes and bake.

Listening to:
Caitlin sniffle and the ticking of the oven.

Wondering:
Why Caitlin has such hard science and math homework!

Loving:
Fredrik for forgiving me no matter what I do.

Happy about:
The fact that I made all these cupcakes and muffins and some really cute Swedish kids are goin to enjoy them tonight!

I've really grown to enjoy the quiet. Spending time with a 10 and 12 year old can do that to you. So today, while Caitlin is "under the weather", it's nice to just sit and bake and she is quiet, for once. :)

This weekend we have plans to have dinner with some good friends and other than that, not much. I think Fredrik is really concerned about the fact that I've never seen The Lord of the Rings, so heck...we might rent 1 or 2 and be bums on Sunday. I wouldn't mind!

The Swedish thing of the day is a normal Saturday afternoon table. Includes remotes, necessary alcohlic beverages, newspaper, bowls filled with nuts and chips, the table cloth thing that every table in the house has, candles and half a cup of cold coffee from the morning. And of course, the camera!

The word of the day is "börd" which is "table" and pronoucned "buhrd" Kind of like bird, but kind of not. :)

jag vet inte.

2010-02-23T14:20:00.003+01:00

I don't know of many Swedish wedding traditions and most Swedes, for example, Fredrik, has not been to nearly as many weddings as Americans. Swedes generally wait much longer to get married than Americans and some live with their partner, have children and might not get married at all or finally get married after many years of living like that. I have researched Swedish wedding traditions and the only 2 that stand out to me as different, but I'm not sure if they are practiced or not are...
1. The brides mother gives the bride a gold coin and the father gives her a silver coin. The gold coin is placed in the right shoe and the silver in the left.

2. The bride wears 3 rings, the first is the engagement ring, the second the is the wedding ring and the third is for motherhood.

Mind you, these are all based on research, not actual first hand experience. So I don't want any Swedes reading this and telling me I am wrong! :)

I think marriage in Sweden is very important and Swedes take marriage at a far higher responsibility than some cultures. It would be extremely out of the ordinary if an 18 year old were to marry or become engaged. Also, the size of weddings is smaller. It's very common that a couple would get married in a court house or take advantage of the beautiful nature and get married in a small park or whatever.

Great question, Gran! :) Sorry I don't know much on the subject and neither does my Swede! :) But all in all, I think weddings here and there are really similar! Definitely a celerbation!

The Swedish thing of the day is Guacamole. This is odd, but notice how different it looks. I think it looks like baby food! But it brings me to another point and it's Sweden's obsession with Mexican food. They have entire sections in grocery stores dedicated to Mexican food. You don't have to search around the store for beans and tortillas and sauce, it's all there in the same place. Even the smallest grocery store, you can find the "mexican section".

The word of the day are "ica" and "hemköp". These are my two mosted go to grocery stores. There are a few others, but I don't facy them as much. :) It's just like in the US, you find the stores you like and go to to them.

Glad Alla Hjärtans Dag!

2010-02-22T08:55:00.008+01:00

Ok it's super late but I just was so occupied these past 9 days. Occupied with spending time with Fredrik! Good excuse, eh! :) But I did do some fun things while I've been on hiatus...like make these cookies and brownies!

Cookies I made for the girls before I left them!
Some fudge espresso brownies, I took these to my friend Farzad and Misty.And some cowboy cookies. YUM! Took these to Fika with Fredrik's Mormor and Morfar.

For Valentines Day I woke up nice and early and made some homemade biscuits and gravy, and I made my own sausage! Spiced it and everything! Go me! And I made a big delicious egg, bacon, cheese casserole. I also did a very corny thing and won't go into detail..but man, I have a good Valentines Day to top off next year! Sheesh!

Next!

I forgot to mention a VERY Happy Birthday to my dad, who turned 35 the day before Valentines day, my mom who is a Valentine baby, and Leslie who celebrated the day after Valentines day! Grattis på födelsedagen to you all!

As I mentioned prior, I gave the lovely brownies to Farzad and Misty. We met them this past Friday night and had a really great time! Lots of laughs, conversations and beer! :) When Fredrik and I left it was snowing...HARD! So here are some mishaps from that photo session! :)

Yes, I know some of you are wondering...why? I think we wonder the same thing when we see this video. I know a certain reader and germaphobe is going to be quite grossed out by this! :) I love the part when I try to trick him and say "click". Wow. We are silly.
Now this picture just makes me laugh. I kept calling him Jack Frost and Father Winter. I wouldn't let him wear a hat out because I did his hair for him and it would have gotten messed up. How nice of me! :)
Maybe I like the snow...
Oh and this is one of the beautiful presents Fredrik got me. The scarf I'm wearing on my head. Haha, had to show it off. I think taking silly pictures of ourselves is one of our favorite pass times. I love his beard and squinty eyes! I think we were trying to make our lips disappear!

So all in all, it's been a great passed 9 days. I am so lucky I got to spend that time with my sweetie. He's one of a kind and I'm soooo lucky I snatched him up! I think the whole time I've been here we were waiting for a week like that.

Now it's back to the grind! But, just as quickly as the time I came to Sweden arrived, it's ending just as quick. I only have 3-4 months left here. In the long run, that isn't much time left at all! With the days getting longer (even though we have LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of snow) the days will start flying by! Must enjoy them while I'm here!

The Swedish thingof the day is a sign. I took this picture for some reason...but realized...to somebody who hasn't been living in Sweden for 7 months, this sign would just look ridiculous. It's kind of impressive that I can understand most of this. I usually get stuck on a word or two like in this sign. BUT, this sign says something along the lines of "what can my little self do for the environment." Swedes love to recycle.I'm gonna ask you. What are some Swedish words you would like to know? The Swedish word today is "fråga" which means "question" and is pronounced "froahga". Go ahead, answer, you know you wanna!

förlåt

2010-02-17T15:51:00.004+01:00

Sorry sorry, I haven't written in ages! I have a lot to write about, but I am on my little vacation, so I am at Fredrik's house, without my computer. I do have access to his computer, but his computer keyboard is the devil. It's really the most frustrating keyboard I've ever typed on! So...I have pictures and updates about Valentines Day, how my vacation is going and all that. It will be fun. A little catch up and is easy to type, so I don't throw the computer out the window. Reading other blogs has inspired me and here is something I saw on another blog!

Right next to me:

Fredrik

On the stove tonight:

Honey beer glazed chicken breasts

On my neck:

The necklace Fredrik gave me, along with the necklace my mom sent me for Christmas.

In my head:

The 3 hours we spent at Fredrik's 'mormor' and 'morfar's' house. Grandma and Grandpa. What a wonderful time.

On the TV:

The British version of Cops! (Really stupid)

In my tummy:

The cowboy cookies I made and took to Fika with Fredriks grandparents.

Needs to be done:

Buy 4 chicken breasts.

Waiting on:

Some mail from the marriage office! COME ON!

Missing:

My mom and Chipotle

Happy about:

My life here in Sweden and the wonderful week I'm spending with my sweetie.

The Swedish thing of the day is the electrical outlet.

These are surprisingly hard to pull out of the outlet! And they are so big!

The Swedish word of the day is 'el-uttag' which is 'electrical outlet'. Interesting looking, eh?

Cooking

2010-02-08T19:28:00.005+01:00

As you might have noticed from my newly revised list of blogs I follow, I found a lot of new blogs that I'm really into! They are all about cooking though! I have always loved cooking, but I am the kind of person that needs to be inspired by something to do it. Such as in high school, I was taking 2-3 art classes at a time, so I was painting and drawing ALL the time! Now, if I read these blogs, it makes me want to cook all the time. Plus, I have a nice situation here. They buy the groceries and I get to cook. I love it! Now, I love to cook food I know people will eat. There are a lot of great recipes, but they turn people off. And, I'm cooking for a 10 and 12 year old. So tonight I started with a grilled cheese. But this had, butter, garlic salt, gouda, parmesan, cheddar, pesto and and Italian black olive paste, and for the girls, some ham. They loved it! It was really good I might add. Pretty simple, but it's fun to add some interesting things to a normal meal. Tomorrow I'm going to make them "brinner" and try out some egg, bacon and cheese muffins! Mums! (yummy in Swedish!)

Also, I got great news last night, I get next week off! And Fredrik has it off too! So yay! The girls have "sportlov" which is a week they take in February (week 7, they label each week, I can't keep track of what week we are on, ever!) to go do sport stuff, usually skiing. So it's our version of Spring Break only a little earlier. Ernest parents are coming from Holland to help them pack (they are moving into the city in the summer, but to have the relator take pictures we have to put extra stuff away). So I get the week away from the house and away from work! I'm really happy about this. I needed a week to myself, and to spend with Fredrik. We are on a tight budget and saving to move to the US, but hopefully we can find some nice things to do together.

AND this Thursday we are all going to the Concert House to watch Andreas Brantelid who is a Swedish/Danish celloist. It's going to be so great! I love concerts and Mireille has seen him before and said it's so beautiful. It will be nice to do something with the girls and Mireille away from the house. And I won't be in charge! Just time to relax!

The Swedish thing of the day is Lingon Sylt. Lingon berries are very popular in Sweden. They resemble cranberries and have a similar taste. This jar is REALLY expensive, you can get the same thing in a plastic tube for a quarter of the price. I don't know if there is a different in taste or quality, but this is what we keep in our house. They eat this with meat balls and mashed potatoes, which is a VERY typical Swedish meal. You can also use it on pancakes and I recently used it in a frozen whipped cream dessert. Really tasty! I don't really like it on meat or with potatoes, but I think Fredrik could eat it everyday if I let him! :) Don't know what he is going to do in the US without it!

The Swedish word of the day is "köttbullar" which means "meatballs". Now this word is HILARIOUS for me to say because it sounds like "shuhtbullar". So...kind of sounds like "shitbullar". Yea. I can't say it without joking about it! I'm SO mature!

Glorious morning!

2010-02-05T08:43:00.010+01:00

This is what I woke up to. It was absolutely beautiful. The video doesn't even do it justice. Aside from the poor lighting, you can't hear the birds chirping or the smell of chimney smoke. I needed a refreshing, sunny morning like this. I did my best to capture it, but of course, memories are always better than pictures. This is the view from the garage area. It's looking down towards our driveway. the first house is the family's house, then the guest house, my house is the one WAYYY up top tucked in the forest. Then of course, my car and the garage.

The rest of these are some pictures I took while on a short walk.

Icesicles outside of my house.

And up the driveway!

So aside from taking awesome sunrise pictures, tomorrow, Fredrik and I will make dinner for his family. I love to cook, and I love to cook for a lot of people. I think I'm going to make an Italian Cesear salad, Chicken Parmesean with Garlic Butter French Baguette and for dessert a Lingonberry Parfait with Almond Tuiles. I think I might even dip into some Italian Soda making. It's pretty easy, but who knows, some people are a little turned off by mixing milk with carbonated water! :) Who knows!

The Every day thing is...beer! In honor of the weekend!

The Swedish word is "öl" which is "beer" and pronounced "uhl". Pripps is the Brand and "blå" means "blue" and is pronounced "bloah". This isn't the only Swedish brand either, but it's definitely a favorite. I think it's their equivalent to Bud Light. It's pretty cheap.

Mycket snow

2010-02-02T15:41:00.007+01:00

Much snow. That's all I have to say or can write about. It's all it has been doing here the past week. Everyday it snows! It's kind of magical and kind of frustrating. But in all honesty, I'm getting so used to driving in it, shoveling it, and walking it in, I'm just...used to it. Even though I do fondly look back on when I first arrived and it was so green, with trees, and grass and flowers. How I LONG for that! But soon enough. I can already see the longer daylight, which is comforting. I think it's an extra hour in the morning and afternoon every month. Yay! 2 hours is actually a lot of time, when you really think about it. Mmmm...I want this back!

This is the car of a friend of Ernest and Mireille. Their car broke down while they were here on a trip from Holland. So now, the car just sits here and accumulates snow. It's what I get to look at everytime I go up to my house.

And that is also my terrible, scary staircase that I get to shovel everytime it snows. I spent a good 2 hours shoveling this last week, and then it was sunny, and I put rock down and everything and was SO proud because they were safe and the sun melted the ice. The next day is snowed. I hate these stairs! They don't even look like stairs! Just a frightening snow slide!

And, the mailboxes. Our is the green one!

So this video is your everyday Swedish thing. It's sort of a strip mall, you can enter some stores on the outside, but you also go inside and enter the stores from there. It's nice for nice weather or crappy weather. The name of the center is "Solkatten" which means "The sun cat". Don't ask me. So, here is a little film of the Lerum townsquare during the snow falling. It's about 3 in the afternoon. When I point, that's my little red Kia Picanto parked, so cute, huh?! :)

Thoughts

2010-01-27T14:17:00.003+01:00

2 little people in my life are going through a really tough time right now.

Jayden, who is 4, is going through her 2nd battle with cancer. She has a Wilm's Tumor which is located outside the kidneys, which is extremely rare. She is fighting and fighthing very hard, but she needs as many postive thoughts and positive energy as she can get. I'm thinking a lot about her, her family and my own family lately. As a matter of fact, it's consuming my life, as it is many other people who are close to me. So Baby Jay, I'm thinking about you! Keep fighting!

Jayden and her 18 month old sister, Trinity.

The other little guy is my 3 year old cousin, Sebastian. He was diagnosed with Mononucleosis. Which many people are very familiar with, but when it hits a 3 year old, it's very serious. So he also needs some thoughts and positive energy going his way as well. He's a tough guy with a HUGE support system of mom, dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Hopefully he will bounce right back to his same energized self! Thinking about you too, Seb!

Quite a sombering post, I know. But these little people are important to me, espeically children this age. It seems quite unreal and un fair.

On a much lighter note, it has been snowing here ALL DAY LONG! So we are adding a few inches to our already couple inches of ice and snow. Super. Just gotta get through it. Thank goodness I have Fredrik. He is doing his very best to keep me positive through a rough time in my life. I couldn't be any luckier to have such a supportive partner for the rest of my life.

So, here is your everyday thing.

Now this is just silly. This is what Swedish people think American's put on their hamburgers. See the weird looking pink stuff slithering down the hamburger? Yea, that's the "American Dressing" we supposidly put on our hamburgers. I don't know about you, but how many times have you put pink sauce from a pink tube on your hamburger? Never. Me too. It's kind of cute though, and they really like it. I tried it once and it tastes a lot like Long Island dressing. Which is something I would never put on a burger. But none the less, Swedes like burgers, and it's kind of a pride thing, when we really get to be the ones to take claim for creating the hamburger!

Now the Swedish word for the day will not be hamburger, because it basically looks the same, but is nearly impossible to say. So I am going to stick wtih "sauce" which is "sås" and pronounced "soahs". More or less. :)

Norge

2010-01-24T20:28:00.009+01:00

Saturday morning we woke up pretty early and Fredrik joked, "we could go to Norway today." But he sort of looked at me in that way that you know your significant other is actually saying "let's go to Norway today." So I looked back and thought...is he serious? I said, "do you want to?" So we agreed and got busy showering, making coffee and planning to get money exchanged and grab my passport. What a great decision! We went to a border town of Halden and saw a huge fort from the...eh...1600s? The museum wasn't open, on a Saturday...guh...really, this town was pretty dead. But it was a blast to walk around and read the funny signs and hear the funny Norweigian people talk. I loved the spontaneity of the trip. Fredrik is such a wonderful man to do something like that for me. He knew I was itching for an adventure with him. We started our tradition, as my mom and Marshall do, buying a key chain every place they visit together. I love this, it's a great way to remember. We couldn't find a sourvenir shop! Ugh! But we found a place that sold some keychains and bought a big letter "N"...for Norway. It took us about 2 and a half hours to drive there, and the same back. Fredrik found I'm not so great to road trip with, especially around 11-1 because I have to pee, A LOT due to large coffee consumption. oops.

I cannot wait to share many more spectacular views with this man. He really is the man of my dreams and I'm so lucky to experience the world with him.As you can see we are kind of far up! :)Such a beautiful time to be up there...I love the pink sky and the mountains!

And here is your normal thing for the day. Some money, with a special edition...Norweigian money too! The top is "our" money which is "Kronor" and the Norwegian language is so close to Sweden they call it "Kroner". And if you are me and speak English you just call is a crown. Like 100 crowns. Haha, the easy way out! And I have no idea who the woman on the Norwegian money is, with some research I could find out, but I don't care so much. The guy on the Swedish money is Carl von Linne who was a Swedish botanist. The back image is a bee polinating a flower. Sooo cool! Their money is so much more colorful and I love the sparkly stuff on the edge! Random note, Norwegian coins have holes in the middle!

The Swedish word of the day is "pengar" which is "money" and is pronounced the way it looks...more of less. :)

a lot.

2010-01-21T08:30:00.004+01:00

A lot of thinking has been going on in my head. Jayden, who is my niece Emma's 4 year old cousin, has cancer...again. She is undergonig more chemo than any person should ever have to endure, and especially any 4 year old should have to endure. I am sending as many positive thoughts their way as I can. And for anybody reading this, I'm sure you already know about her, but send one her way, also.

In other news (not that interesting) I have started a new pilates routine that takes me about 45 minutes everyday. I can't WAIT for the snow to melt so I can go running/walking again. The snow and ice, where I live, is just too scary for me to go out and do some cardio walking and running on. I'm a whimp, I know, but at least I got the pilates going on. I know it's so cliche to say you want to lose weight before your wedding, and I don't necessarily want to lose weight, I just want to feel really good about myself that day. I think excersing is a sure fire way to feel good about your body, even if you arent loosing tons of weight. So we will see! :)

Here's your everyday item.As you can see I took some of these pictures around Christmas time, so we have a little "tomte (santa/elf thing)" on the package. Mjuk means soft...because here in Sweden we have
"knäckebröd" which is very hard crisp bread. But honestly, I don't think they need to write the difference on the package, it's really obvious the difference, but...fairness is the name of the Swedish game. And, Swedish bread is a lot tasty than the bread we have. I'm going to miss it!

The Swedish word of the day is "bröd" which means "bread" and is pronounced "bruhd".

Oh yea

2010-01-18T13:09:00.003+01:00

Also, I'm gonna make sure to answer questions. Since I have like...4 loyal readers, I better treat them good!

So starting with the last post, mom asked me when it will stop snowing here. Everybody keeps telling me..May. I don't know if they are just scaring me, or if they are serious. I have also heard that is when the snow will for sure be melted away. Ugh.

Sofia, we don't have a date here. Nor do we have plans. It's merely for legal purposes! :) Sorry!

This is ketchup! :) Felix is the most common brand, but I don't particularily like it. It's kind of thick and weird tasting. I usually buy Heinz for myself! :)
The Swedish word of the day is "flaska" which means "bottle".

Plans

2010-01-14T14:35:00.003+01:00

Wow, planning planning is my life now. Since (even though its 5 months away) we are moving back to Kansas, we have to start the complicated process of moving ourselves over there! Firstly, we are getting married here in Sweden. Then determining if we should apply for Fredrik to be a permanate resident of the US here or in the US, then getting to the US, then planning an actual wedding! Whew! Busy. Then we have to think about setting up a new life in the US. House, car, phones, bills, jobs...2010 is the most adult year of my life! :)

Things here in Sweden are cold and snowy. I know it's been horribly cold in the US, but it has been here as well. It also snowed here many days in a row and hasn't disappeared. I'm so impressed with my snow/ice driving abilities, especially with a manual transmission. It certainly widens the car search up quite a bit, if I don't need to rely on 4 wheel drive and an automatic transmission. What a strong woman I am, eh? :)

Here's your normal thing of the day.

This is...duh...milk. It's pretty similar to the US, color distinction between the different percentages of milk. Here in Sweden though, they are incredibly lactose free friendly, which for me, is awesome. They have everything from milk to sour cream, whipping cream to cream cheese. I love it! The other thing with this milk is the date it expires, along with other products such as cheese and bread. Here, they use fresh products and A LOT less preservatives, which is so healthy, but things go back really fast! So the day this expires, throw it out! Once I bought Fredriks favorite bread and we didn't finish it all and I didn't think twice about just leaving it in the cupboard. But when we returned after the weekend, the 2 pieces left were COMPLETELY green. Fredrik was absolutely horrified I let that happen! It is pretty disgusting, but how many of us Americans leave a loaf of bread in the pantry for weeks and can still eat a slice?

The Swedish word of the day is "mjölk" which is "milk" and is pronounced "myuhlk".

With the New Year

2010-01-13T11:05:00.005+01:00

...comes new things. To go along with my Swedish word of the day I thought some of you might like to see some normal everyday things, only Swedish style. I know a friend asked me to take some pictures of the grocery store for her and her husband, which I have not done...sorry! But this might be an ok substitute untill I get the courage to walk around a grocery store taking pictures, like a real tourist. So...enjoy.

Start simple, this is butter. There, as in the US, are many different brands. You might be wondering what the blue thing is that it sticking out on the side there. It's a Swedish butter knife. And well...since Swedes eat butter on just about everything at every single meal, they just want to have theirbutter knife handy, so they just keep it in the butter! Clever.The Swedish word of the day is "smör" which is "butter" and is pronounced "smuhr". Kind of an ugly word, if you ask me! ;)

A New Year Story

2010-01-11T15:45:00.000+01:00

More food, good friends, some games, a lot of fireworks, lots of booze and a great New Year's kiss! Here's to 2010!

A Christmas Story

2010-01-04T11:37:00.002+01:00

A story in pictures. The food they made, the food I made, gifts, Christmas trees, my new family, lights, laughs, snow, ice and my fiance! :)

This bridge

2010-01-02T11:03:00.004+01:00

Last night Fredrik and I headed out for an hour and a half long walk to this bridge. Fredrik lives on a big hill in Sweden that looks over all of Gothenburg, so last night our short walk ended up being a walk to this bridge. We walked half way across so we could see the amazing view. It was really exciting to walk across such a huge bridge! I'd never done that before. I think we are going to make it our goal to walk to as many such places as we can. Good exercise and new experiences! That's what the New Year is about, right? :) Wonder where we will go today?

The Swedish word of the day is "bro" which is "bridge". No, it's not short for brother. :) This bridge is called the Älvsborgsbron.

Gott Nytt år!

2010-01-01T11:43:00.003+01:00

Last night we celebrated New Years 7 hours ahead of all my friends and family! We spent it amongst really wonderful friends! Sofia and Anton hosted a dinner and party. New Years in Sweden is something I will never forget. It's Swedens version of the 4th of July! Fire works galore! It was really spectacular. At 11:45 we all wrapped up and got our warm clothes on and trecked outside. People started fire works and we counted down and opened champagne! It was truly magical. Kissing your honey, in a foreign country, under hundreds of fire works, in the cold, with snow and ice all around...doesn't get any more romantic! :)

The bus ride was also something I'll never forget. We met a lot of fun, crazy, drunk Swedes on our 1 hour bus ride home. Fredrik talked to some folks, some people figured out I was American, and that was pretty exciting. We talked to 4 gay guys about being engaged. It was actually really fun! And go Sweden, for having such great public transportation. It was comforting to know none of those people were attempting to get home by car.

I promise I will post pictures from my whole festive holiday! We have 1 weekend left, and by god, I'm going to enjoy it!

Welcome to 2010! :)

The Swedish word of the day is "romantisk" which is....yes..."romantic".

Grattis på födelsedagen!

2009-12-27T09:47:00.005+01:00

Happy birthday to my little baby (not so much anymore) niece Emma. She turns 5 years old today and I feel like she was JUST born. I miss her like crazy, but I know she has A LOT of amazing people to celebrate with and give her lots of love. I love you, Emma, and I can't believe how wonderful and amazing you are! :) Can't wait to see you continue to grow up!

And a late birthday shoutout to my sister Emily. She turned 19 on the 16th of December! I can't believe my baby sister is 19! :) almost a non-teenager! I am so proud of you, Emily. You are an amazing woman, and I'm so proud I know you and got to grow up with you. I love you!

The Swedish word of the day is "fem år gammal" which is "five years old" and is pronounced "fem or gammal". And "nineteen" is "nitton".

Christmas is coming the goose, the turkey, the ham, the duck, the rabbit is getting fat.

2009-12-23T16:45:00.003+01:00

Ok, here in Sweden we might not eat THAT much Christmas food, but it nearly seems like it! Tonight, I suppose, is the day they start celebrating. Tonight we are eating some sort of special "roll" that is boiled in water with vegetables and that kicks off the eating frenzy. Tomorrow is then "Julafton", which to us is Christmas Eve Day. The day we do nothing, but here in Sweden, it's the big day! We are going to eat a Julbord, which is ham, meatballs, herring (which I promised I would try), and many many other things. I promise, I will take a lot of pictures. There are a lot of foods they are telling me about, that make me a little bit nervous. We will eat that all together at 1 or 2 pm, then at 3 we will watch "kalle anka" which is Donald Duck, but every year they ALL watch is at 3 and it's a very traditional and old Christmas special. After that is when granpa goes and "gets the newspaper" and then magically Santa appears! And brings gifts! Fun that he comes in the middle of the day and you actually get to see him! :)

The next day is "Juldagen" which is our Christmas day, which is the best day. Well here, it's the nothing day. They sit around, mess about with their gifts, watch TV, rest, do whatever. So I will make some Christmas potato soup, which is what I always remember my dad making for Christmas.

The next day is "Annandag jul" the day after Christmas. And this day, they celebrate again! What?! Great! We are going to have a smaller get together, with just his sisters and their fiances, and eat a nice big turkey!

I am so excited I can't wait to see and feel what Christmas is like here in Sweden. I want to share something so special with Fredrik. I think sharing Christmas the way your spouse did their childhood is really important. The 26th is also special, because it is the day Fredrik first stepped foot in Kansas! One of the best days of my life!

All in all, I am in a VERY joyful and jolly mood. There is about 5-6 inches of snow, I baked a beautiful red velvet cake for tomorrow, Fredrik will be home from work soon and will have 4 days off, and tomorrow is Julafton! :) I have been taking pictures of snow, the cake and other interesting things, but I forgot to get my camera cable, so it will have to wait untill later to see pictures! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

The Swedish word of the day is "julklappor" which means "Christmas gifts" and is pronounced "yulklappor". Here in Sweden, you don't even have to ask them to wrap your Christmas gift, they just automatically do it, even if it isn't even a Christmas gift! :) They are REALLY good and really fast!

Snö

2009-12-16T12:09:00.006+01:00

Here in Lerum, it has been snowing every single night and quite a bit during the day. It doesn't really stay long, but there is a light layer of snow on the trees and ground. It's actually really nice and looks beautiful. In Göteborg, since it is so close to the sea, the snow doesn't get a chance there. Sometimes enough comes to actually accumulate, but not as much as it does in Lerum. But they are saying there is a really big chance of a white Christmas this year! That would be amazing!

This is what I woke up to Monday morning!
The stairs leading up to my house.
Outside the kitchen looking up to my house. Not a ton of snow, but enough! :)
The Swedish word of the day is "snö" which is obviously "snow" and is pronounced "snuh". I think this is a funny word to say!

a lucky lady

2009-12-15T11:56:00.006+01:00

I'M the lucky lady. Friday night Fredrik decided he would be the one to cook dinner. And did he ever! He cooked me a delicious 3 course meal! :)

To start was an appetizer of mango, avacado, crawfish with sweet chili thai sauce mixed with olive oil, lemon and corriander.

Then he cooked kantarell sauce (kantarell is the Swedish mushroom that we pick in the forest and are like 400kr for one kilo. That's about 60 bucks for 2 pounds. Thank god we picked a TON this summer and fall and froze them! :) The sauce is basically kantarell, with this brown stuff that makes it thick and some whipping cream. He also made chicken and fresh noodles! And garlic bread, as you can see!

Then we had our Glögg and amazing dessert. The dessert was melted white chocolate, mixed with heavy whipping cream and one egg. Topped with raspberries and grated milk chocolate. I ate mine AND his! :)
Our glögg and our bottle of wine. Don't worry, we drank it all, plus some! :)Glögg mugs are so small and cute! I love them!And notice the christmas curtains. Pretty much everybody in Sweden replaces their everyday (and useless) curtains, so Christmas curtains. I think it's so cute, so I bought myself some for when Fredrik and I are celebrating Christmas for the first time in the US. So he can feel a little bit at home! :)

I hope he does this again. It was such a treat to not cook, sit and relax, and not clean up afterwards! I was so full, too! He did a great job!

The Swedish word of the day is "middag" which means "dinner".

a very God Jul

2009-12-13T19:00:00.002+01:00

It really feels like Christmas is on its way. Especially here in Sweden. Today was St. Lucia Day. This is a day when young girls dress up at St. Lucy, with a crown of candles on her head, a white "angel" dress with a red shash. She comes in the morning of December 13th, to give sweets such as pepparkakor (gingerbread) and lussebullar (sweet buns made from saffron). Originally, it was the oldest daughter who brought light and sweets to the family. But now, a Lucia is elected for each town. The candle portrays the fire that didn't not take Lucy's life, when she was to be burned. But also, in Scandanavia, is bringing light into the darkest time of the year.

Now, in Sweden, to involve everybody, there are Star boys, who wear the same white robe, a pointy hat with stars on it, and a long stick with a shining star on the top. There are also Pepparkakor gubber (ginger bread men), and Santa Claus boys and girls who carry lanterns. They also participate in singing, and usually have a song or two about them.

These "characters" walk into the church in a line known as a Luciatåg (Lucia train). They sing the traditional Santa Lucia song and file up into some kind of bleacher structure at the front of the church. Usually, the girl depicting Lucia stands at the front smiling with her hands in a prayer position. She doesn't really have to do much. The other people sing many Lucia songs, including flutes, violins and other instruments. After it's over, they sing the same song they sang when they came in, and file out of the church.

It's really a beautiful tradition, and especially cute when children are doing it. I went to Fredrik's mom's school where I watched 3, 4, and 5 year olds do it. Wow, that was adorable! Then on Friday we went to see Caitlins.

We also woke up at 7am to watch the Lucia on TV. It was really beautiful and had a lot of good songs! I felt bad for the Lucia though. She has to stand up in front of everybody for a really long time just smiling and holding her hands together. Must be kind of hard!

We did a lot of nice stuff this weekend, but that will come later.

I hope everybody had a good St. Lucia day! :)

The Swedish word of the day is "julgran" which means "Christmas tree" and is pronounced "Yul gron"

Queue

2009-12-09T12:09:00.002+01:00

This is a bit long, but it's quite funny and very very true. I love Swedes, but this is really one thing I step back from and sort of...laugh at.

The Swedish word of the day is "kö" which means "line" or "queue" and is pronounced "kuh".

big one

2009-12-07T08:29:00.005+01:00

Weekend that is! :)

Starting Saturday morning Fredrik and I got busy! :) We sent 23 Christmas cards and a package! Wow, expensive. Post service in Sweden is ridiculously expensive! But, it's the holidays, and it made me happy either way!

Then we headed to Marias for a "card making party"! That was also fun. We were joined by his mom, his aunt Nina, cousin Therese, his sister Hanna and her boyfriend Andreas. We made 10 cards to send to our family and friends here in Sweden! I was really feeling creative that day! I tried Glögg the first time, and oh man this stuff is good! It's mulled wine, but almost tasted just like apple cider! I love it!

We then headed to the movie theater to see "Jul Saga" which is Disneys Christmas Carol, and it was in 3D! It was so good to see it! A little creepy for a Christmas movie, but none the less, we really liked it!

We then headed home for a restful sleep because the next day we woke up at 6am to go to Ullared!

Ullared is Sweden's version of Wal Mart, but there is only one! People come from EVERYWHERE to come to this place! It's really cheap and has pretty good stuff. We headed there at 6:45am, Fredrik, myself, Maria, Hanna and Andreas and it took us about an hour and a half to drive there. It opens at 8am and we arrived at like...8:01. We were feeling good because the parking lot was not that full, so we were in high spirits, with our 500kr Ann gave us in pocket. But then we saw the line. It was like a movie. We were walking and thinking this isn't so bad, and then we turned the corner and the line to walk in was very very long. And we, stupidly, opted not to wear our coats in! But it moved quickly and finally we were in. Wow, this place was impressive! People were everywhere, shoveling items into their carts! Fredrik and I had an idea of what we needed. So we set out and we were done in less than 2 hours! We probably could have done it in less time, but were wasting time untill 10 so we could visit the stores outside of Gekås. His sisters are another story, they stayed in the store untill 1:30! Again, none the less, I had a good time! It was fun to experience that! And by the way, there is even a reality show herei n Sweden about this place! You can camp there, so you can get there early. Some families who come from very far away camp for a week and shop all week long! It's crazy!

Then, last night, since it gets so dark so early, I was feeling very tired and finally asked Fredrik, what do you want to do? Go home, go somewhere, eat something, watch a movie, and he actually said "let's go to Liseberg". Liseberg is an amusement park in the nice weather but in the Christmas season it is "Jul på Liseberg" or "Christmas at Liseberg". They turn it into a market, with over 250 million lights and it's just really beautiful.This is outside Liseberg. It is a tower that they string lights on the outside to resemble a tree, obviously.
Lots of the trees had lights like this, and the ferris wheel was covered, includin the tower again. There was fake snow on a lot of trees, and little booths everywhere you could buy Christmas "things" like decorations and food. It was really a nice place to visit. Soon we will go to a "Slott" which is an old mansion and they set up a Christmas market in there as well!

The Swedish word of the day is "Slott" which means "castle" or "palace" or "manor" :) Bascially any big place where rich or royality had lived! :)

Advent

2009-12-02T08:35:00.004+01:00

As a Catholic, I have celebrated Advent with the Advent Wreath. Here in Sweden, Christmas decorations are a bit different, as you noticed with the Ljusstake. Christmas is definitely a time for lights and another addition to that is the Swedish Advent. It's the same concept as lighting a candle every Sunday until Christmas, but there's is not a wreath and everybody participates.

This is a very tradition looking holder. Some people have more modern ones, and they can vary in size, color, shape, and style, but they always have 4 candles. These and the ljusstake go in every window, so almost every home, office building, apartment building and store has either one set in every window. It really brightens Sweden up, which is great, since the sun is going down at 3:30pm now! Or 15:30, as we write it here! ;)

The Swedish word of the day is "solen" which means "the sun". I'm so happy that November is over and December has already provided us hours more sunlight than November did! :)

nummer två (#2)

2009-11-29T22:03:00.001+01:00

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :)My hard work was rewarded with some gifts! Barbro and Roy got me this beautiful plant, Margot got me a box of chocolates! And his mom, dad, sisters and their boyfriends got me a bag ful of homemade bath goodies! This picture cracks me up!

Just a few pictures from the big day! It went off without a hitch! And I had a lot of amazing helpers, and I am so thankful to Maria and Pontus for lending us their house and helping out so much! I am forever thankful to Fredrik who took all the pictures and was there by my side doing everything I asked him to! I am also thankful to have such a wonderful 2nd family, I love them and really enjoyed giving this day to them! Today we went back to Maria and Pontus's house to make some Lussebullar. I will explain more what these are when "Santa Lucia" gets closer! :) These rolls are made from saffron, which is what gives them the yellow color, and oh my god, they are delicious! :)

etta (number one)

2009-11-27T08:40:00.006+01:00

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving number one with my Dutch family and Fredrik. I spent 7 hours preparing this meal! And we ate it in about 30 minutes! :)

The final menu
-stuffing stuffed chicken breasts
-mashed potatoes
-creamed corn
-gravy
-cranberry sauce
-homemade sweet rolls
-deviled eggs
-apple cider
-pumpkin pie
-chocolate covered pretzels
-egg nog with ice cream
*everything was homemade, except the stuffing, but who makes that homemade anyway!

This apple cider made the house smell amazing!So did this cranberry sauce!
How typical, huh? Too cute! :) She did a fabulous job!The final product!

Thankful

2009-11-24T18:52:00.007+01:00

Thanksgiving is coming up and I have a lot to be thankful for. First and foremost, I am so thankful to have Fredrik. He has gotten me through more than one fiance should have to get another through in a short 4 month span, and even longer than that. He's such a strong, loving, giving and caring man, I couldn't be any luckier. He is the kind of man I can be thankful for everyday.

I am also thankful I am in Sweden. I get to learn so much, and learn a lot about myself. I also get to live with a familiy who tries very hard to make me feel comfortable. Mireille could feel that I've been feeling really down lately, so tonight she got all her Christmas decorations out and let me help myself to what I wanted. I took a Ljusstake, some holly, an advent candle (which is very popular here), and she bought me a Swedish Star. After I put all this up in my house, it really boosted my spirits and I'm very excited to celebrate Thanksgiving and move onto Christmas! And although I miss my family and my home, I think I will be ok here.

I am also thankful for all of you who actually read my boring blog and leaves comments, you guys are great!
My Swedish Star!LjusstakeI even wrapped some gifts today!

And just for reference, this is the sun at 1 in the afternoon. How lovely, huh?

The Swedish word of the day is "tacksam" which means "thankful" and is pretty much pronounced how it looks. What are you "tacksam" for?

holidaze

2009-11-23T11:25:00.002+01:00

With the holidays coming up, I have so much I want to talk about, but not feeling so inspired to write. I'm definitely feeling very homesick. It started with my birthday and is moving onto Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I first realized how different Christmas would be when I heard Caitlin tell me she was going to play a "Christmas" song on her flute. I was so excited to hear, but then as she started playing I couldn't recognize the tune! Swedish Christmas songs are not the same as American Christmas songs. I've already engrossed myself in making Christmas playlists on Spotify, so that at least when I'm sitting by myself or doing the laundry I can listen and pretend I'm home. It's also a harsh reminder that nobody has put a Christmas tree up. Here at my house they aren't even going to put one up because they will be in Holland for Christmas. Driving by houses, I'm not getting sneak peaks of trees in open windows, and they definitely do not decorate their houses like we do. How will I make it through a whole Christmas season without seeing a single decorated house? This is such a sad post, but when you think about Christmas away from home, it's kind of sad.

But on the bright side, Sweden is a great place and they do have their own special traditions I'll get a little taste of. And I get to celebrate with Fredrik's family, who I really love and feel like they are my own family. Fredrik and I bought our gifts for the Christmas exchange, and I will wrap them later. We each buy 3 gifts for under 150kr, which is about...30 bucks, and we play some sort of game with them. It should be fun! Since I'm so competitive!

Thursday I will be making my "family" a small Thanksgiving feast, since I don't want to make an entire turkey that day, I'll make chicken breasts stuffed with stuffing and baked in the oven, some potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls and pumpkin pie. Then Saturday is the real deal. I'm making a 13 pound turkey, with all the fixins'. I'm really excited, but also nervous. Fredrik's family hasn't really grown accustomed to the way I eat and what I cook, but we will see what they think of all this. Wish me luck!

The Swedish word of the day is "God Jul" which is "Merry Christmas" and is pronounced "god yul".

Halloween in November

2009-11-17T19:54:00.002+01:00

Here at the Huerter/Schiks/Van Abeelen household there were 6 rabbits living. Those rabbits lived in a room, in cages, and never came out. I had to explain to the girls every single day why those rabbits had to be fed. The girls were no longer interested in those rabbits. Well this morning, good news arrived and Mireille found a good home for the rabbits to live. A girl, who is obviously a rabbit lover, agreed to take the rabbits. Thank God. Well Mireille asked me to go with her to deliver the rabbits. So we loaded the rabbits this evening in the car and headed out into the country.

Now, Mireille warned me this is really out in the country. She gave me her version of the directions, written in chicken scratch Dutch/Swedish and a map. I was the navigator. We started off ok, going down our normal road, and she had a slight idea where we were going. We started into some towns I had never heard of, and followed into a curvy, very dark road. And mind you, Swedish people do not let the dark or rain bother them. There were many people running and biking, so we felt kind of safe, that people actually live on this road.

We then hit the "ancient ruins" sign, and this is where the house is, we think. We call the girl to confirm and she tells us to keep going down the road, it's very bumpy, very dark, and there is a "car graveyard" to the left. Ok? We aren't sure which way to go, but we know the road to the right is incredibly floaded with water and we decide we can't go that way. So we head into the car graveyard. This can't be her house. This is way to creepy. You can't even see the house. Oh my god, is that a boat? This place was very very creepy. I felt like we had teleported to somewhere in the Ozarks. But there she was, waiting, with a super creepy pit bull.

We then unload the rabbits and carry them into a dark alley. We put them in a room with over 50 other rabbits. This place was, yes, I'll say it again, creepy! I've never been to a place like this in Sweden. People in Sweden keep their homes and the area around their home very clean. Even if they live in the country, it's clean. Once we got back into the car, we were so ready to get back onto the road. And we had a pretty good laugh at how "brave" we are.

Not only did this creepy adventure happen, I noticed something that has grown normal to me, but then I realized it's not that normal in the US. As I mentioned, Swedes are always out running, biking, or walking their dog, regardless of light and rain. But they all wear these vest things, that are reflective and even their dogs and horses get them! Swedish people are so safe!

The Swedish word of the day is "mörk" which means "dark" and is pronounced "muhrk". And
"riktigt mörk" means "really dark" and that road we went on was "riktigt mörk!"

IKEA

2009-11-13T13:10:00.002+01:00

I went to IKEA for the 2nd time this week with Mireille. I went one time with Fredrik, and we went on a Sunday afternoon, so it wasn't very enjoyable, way too crowded! But going on a Wednesday night was really enjoyable! I wanted a lot of new and smell good candles! I bought 4 new candles, a star shaped string of lights and Mireille bought me a blanket and a mirror!

Other than the IKEA trip, this week has been pretty boring. I have stayed home with Caitlin everyday since Wednesday because she is "sick".

Today Fredrik went to the doctor for his 2 week checkup after his surgery. They took out 15 stitches out of 3 incisions. He doesn't have to wear the cast anymore, just a plastic thing to protect it, and he can take it off when he showers and 4-5 times a week when he does his exercises to help his hand get back to the way it was, or close to it anyway. We are both so happy he doesnt have to wear the cast and he can start getting his arm and hand back to normal. He does have a plate and some screws in his arm, and the doctor didn't know if that would set off the metal detectors at the airport (what kind of doctor doesn't know that?), so that is something we can deal with later, I guess! But I'm really happy for my buddy!

The Swedish word of the day is "Håkan" which is Fredrik's dad's name! :) It's pronounced "Hoakan". :)

what I did

2009-11-10T12:52:00.003+01:00

What I did this weekend was...

Enjoy a delicious "American" meal of buffalo wings, celery and carrot sticks, and baked potatoes made by Fredriks dad. He is so nice and treats me really well! It was so nice of him to go out of his way to make me a home cooked from home meal!

I went to the Cirque Du Soleil "Saltimbanco" with Mireille, Caitlin and Tara. It was so much fun and I really enjoyed it. I've never seen anything like that, and it was really amazing! I would totally see it again and definately want to see another Cirque du Soleil!

Celebrated Halloween with Fredrik and his sisters house with some nice people! It was a lot of fun dressing up with Fredrik for the first time! :) His sister had great decorations and really good and fun Halloween snacks!

On Sunday we came back to Lerum and celebrated Caitlins 12th birthday with some yummy Thai food and a delicious cake. Later in the evening Fredrik and I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Caitlin to take to school on Monday, and from what I hear, they were a huge success!

This week I have already been to Tara's school to teach English to the class. I am actually teaching 4 different classes. I take turns going to each class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lately, I have just been introducing myself, and the kids wrote questions and have been asking me them. They want to know all kinds of funny stuff. And they definitely always calls Kansas "Canada" and they always want to know if I have met any famous people. Funny questions. But I am really enjoying it. It's a lot of fun to just be around kids and talk to them like that.

The Swedish word of the day is "fråga" which is "question" and is pronounced "froaga"...and "questions" is "frågor" pronounced "froagor". I'm wondering if anybody has any frågor about Swedish or any special words in Swedish? I know you do! :)

My fiance wants me to eat blood...

2009-11-05T19:23:00.003+01:00

...a very creepy title...I know.

But really, he does. He wants me to eat blood pudding. Now I was going to write a whole entry about this and in doing some research found another blog from an American living in Sweden and his version is so funny and really captures how I would feel if I had done this myself as well. So I will let you read it and see for yourself.

READ THIS!

The Swedish word of the day is "vampyr" which is, yes, "vampire" and is pronounced kind of how it looks. Again, that "y" sound is really hard to make, so usually my way of faking it is making a weird "ewwyyyrr" sound at the end. I tend to laugh when I say words like this, because it's pretty hard to take myself seriously saying vampire in Swedish, especially when it looks like that.

Random Facts

2009-11-04T08:26:00.002+01:00

Wow, it's been awhile! Sorry!

1. In Sweden, the table etiquette is not even parallel to that of which we use in the US. They use the knife in the right hand, fork in the left (upside down style). Unlike us Americans who rarely use a knife, and if we do, we switch it back and forth, not able to hold a knife and fork at the same time. I have adopted this method of eating and it's so simple, you take much smaller bites, and really...it looks much more elegant! But often, to my surprise, napkins aren't present at the table as much as you would expect. I'm very used to having a napkin and putting it in my lap right away.

2. Movies in Sweden are expensive and that price is based on the length of the movie! Also, seats are assigned. No going early to get the seat in the middle with the rail in front so you can prop your feet up! The worst part about this is, if you buy you tickets well in advance and DO get that great seat, there is a high chance that somebody will be sitting in your seat hoping you won't show up! Ugh, it's so annoying!

3. They subtitle everything! Dubbing can be quite common in certain childrens shows, as the children aren't developed in English enough to understand the text or the actual spoken language. But if something is in English, it will always be subtitled. I find myself reading the subtitles and sometimes will exclaim "that isn't what they said!", so often, the subtitles are a lose translation of what the dialogue is really saying. Hmm...But with that, Swedes are really great at speaking English, and most aren't shy about it at all! I love it! :)

4. Name days. Here in Sweden everybody with a fairly traditional name has a "namnsdagen". There is usually a male and a female for each day. Sadly, I don't have a name day. :(

5. The boy wears a wedding band during the engagement, as some of you might have noticed, Fredrik is wearing a band. At first, I didn't really like this idea, but now I think it's nice. I'm not the only one feeling all happy and new with my new ring. Fredrik (as much as a boy can) gets to feel happy and new with me! Equality equality equality! That's the Swedes moto! :)

6. You have to pay to park EVERYWHERE! The movie theater, the mall, the liquor store! It's crazy to me! But Swedes patiently and ever so willing abide by this rule. And it's usually quite expensive to pay! And maybe, coming from a smaller town, I'm just used to not having to pay and in a larger city is necessary, but man, it's a real drag getting out of the car, going to get your ticket from the machine, then going back to your car to put the little paper in your window. Small things, small things. :)

7. Swedes love curtains and window dressings, but more often than not, they serve no real purpose, other than to look pretty. Now with the sun going down around 4:30, the houses are very well lit up, but walking around outside you start to notice you can see right into everybody's houses! There is no attempt to hide your living room or kitchen from the outside world! You can walk by a house and look into a kitchen and nearly see what they are cooking for dinner! Don't get me wrong, the curtains are usually really nice looking and match the motif of the house, but they serve no purpose!

8. Swedes love candles and lights and lamps. Back home, I'm used to the overhead lighting system, here it's more of a lamp and candles everywhere system. It's really nice and for me, seems more like a romantic looking setting, but is definitely less invasive than a huge overhead light overwhelming the entire room. This is particularily nice when you are having your after dinner "fika" and the lights are low and you are eating a nice piece of sugar cake and drinking a coffee..mmm. :)

With this time of year, I'm sure I will be finding many more new traditions and customes and fun new facts I can update you all on. I'm looking forward to seeing how Christmas goes around here! I already found out they celebrate on December 24th, and on the 25th, when we are all celebrating, they are recovering! And obviously, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, so we will see how they like my Thanksgiving celebration!

The Swedish word of the day is "ljus" which means "candle" or "light" and is pronounced "yus".

more fall festivities!

2009-10-27T19:34:00.004+01:00

Today Caitlin and I made pumpkin spice cupcakes, with the cute paper cups Sarah sent me! They are perfect, I'm so proud of them! I made the butter cream frosting and sprinkled pumpkin spice on the top! I think they are the best cupcakes EVER! :) We also carved a pumpkin! Caitlin calls him Grumpy...sooo, he's grumpy! Then we went to the Vatten Palatset, which is the indoor swimming pool. I didn't swim, but it was nice, I took one of the books Fredrik's sister's gave to me and I read 150 pages! It's good, good job soon to be sister in laws!

Fredrik seems to be in high spirits, and very sure he will be joining me and the girls tomorrow to see the movie we arranged to all go see together. We will see! He's just too sweet to not go. I know he doesn't want to let me down. I just wish he could get this surgery so I can feel better about his bones not rubbing together and healing wrong and him being in pain! Ugh!

Swedish word of the day is "pumpa" which is "pumpkin" and "pumpor" which is "pumpkins". Both sound how they look! :)

Hint taken, Sarah!

2009-10-26T21:04:00.006+01:00

Thanks Sarah! :) But it's been a busy past few days! With a surprise birthday party for me, bowling, pumpkin carving and Fredrik breaking his arm! :)

Yes, Saturday we went bowling with Hanna and Andreas (Fredriks sister and her fiance). After we went to his parents house for dinner with his sisters, their boyfriends, and his parents. After dinner, they cleaned up and when we went back to he table there was a surprise dessert waiting for me! AND presents! :) Ann made me a chocolate cake, even with writing on it! Usually here, you just eat "kladdkaka" or "sugar cake" which is soooo delicious, but my cake was awesome! And his sisters gave me 2 books, a really nice scarf and a card. His mom and dad already bought me 3 pairs of shoes a few weeks ago, but got me a really nice card (that is even in English!) It was so nice and thoughtful, and really made me feel loved and a part of their family! I really love the new extension of my family, I'm really lucky!

Sunday, Fredrik and I carved our first pumpkin together! We named him Gert, which is pronounced "Jert" so it's fun to called it a Gert-o-lantern. So lame. But I think he turned out great! And it was so good to do something new with Fredrik, that he had never done before. He really loved the smell, picking out all the seeds, and cleaning them! :) He did a great job, and I think he likes the seeds. His family certanily likes them! I roasted them with garlic salt, worchestershire sauce, salt and butter!

And then there was today. Monday morning, the beginning of a long week with the girls off of school on fall break. So, I'm just down at the house getting some coffee made and my phone rings at 8am, and it's Fredrik's mom. Never a good sign. She tells me Fredrik has broken his arm playing soccer and she is headed to the hospital. Ugh. Can you feel more helpless! 30 miles away, in a foreign country, and not able to drive a car there! I nearly broke down crying! But, I trusted Ann to be there and to let me know what was going on. Finally, I talk to Fredrik and he doesn't sound too bad. He get's his x-rays, yes needs surgery. We THOUGHT it was going to be today so Mireille (my host mom) can come home early from work and I head into Göteborg. Call from Ann, nope, just get on the bus and go to the house, Fredrik will have surgery on THURSDAY! I repeat, THURSDAY! WHAT?! Oh, I was not happy about this. But there is nothing we can do. I just have to watch the person I love more than anything in this world suffer with his little temporary cast, while his bones rub on each other, for 3 days. I feel so angry about that! But he's so tough. He never complained! The only time pain showed was when he moved wrong and his face winced just a little bit. Other than that, he doesn't want help and doesn't want sympathy. This is a good sign for the rest of our future, because from what I hear, guys are real whimps when it comes to sickness and pain. But my man is tough, and a real trooper! So we will see how Thursday goes, and if all goes well, my trooper thinks we are still goin to Copenhagen Friday night. We will see!
Only he could look this adorable with a broken arm! The break is right where the tape is. From what he and his mom told me, the "big bone" is broken and laying over each other and twisted like a screw as well. This is one tough guy, I think!

The Swedish word of the day is "bruten arm" which is "broken arm" and is pronounced how it looks!

Is it too early?

2009-10-22T22:16:00.002+02:00

I have already made my Thanksgiving menu...

Turkey (made the traditional way!)
Turkey gravy (made from the actual turkey drippings!)
Homemade sweet yeast rolls
Stuffing (sadly from a box!)
Grandma Miller's Creamed Corn
Sweet Glazed Yams
Mashed Potatoes
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Roll

I know I am missing plenty of items most people deem as Thanksgiving "musts", but Fredrik's family, who I will be celebrating with, already thinks this is WAY TOO MUCH FOOD! But I'm cooking it anyway! I have to! We will be celebrating the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and there will be 8 of us. Funny that my first time making a whole Thanksgiving meal will be in Sweden for a Swedish family. If I mess up, they might not even know! ;) I think the turkey makes me the most nervous, all the rest is pretty simple. But a whole entire bird! Yikes!

On a more, time relevant note, next week the girls have fall break. SO I get to spend the whole week with them. Sheesh. So I have some nice Halloween activities planned. Here in Sweden Halloween is really not celebrated at all. Younger people might dress up and have a party amongst themselves, but really, no kids are out trick-or-treating and such. So we will carve a pumpkin, make some pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting (thank you Sarah for the pumpkin mix and Halloween muffin cups!) and Mireille was so kind to buy me the movie "Hocus Pocus" which will always be my favorite Halloween movie, and one of my best memories of my grandmother. And Sweden being the "out of date" country it is, we will see "Upp" in the theater, since it just came out a few weeks ago! So hopefully it won't be totally unbearable! Plus, my birthday is Friday! So I think Mireille has taken that day off so we can do some fun things all together! And Friday afternoon Fredrik and I go to Copenhagen for the weekend! I love this time of year! So much to do, so much cooking to do, so much to plan! I miss home, but it's really fun to introduce the American way of celebrating, and learning the Swedish way as well!

The Swedish word of the day is "meny" which means "menu" and looks like it sounds. Only the "y" in Swedish is sort of special, you have to purse your lips, like you are trying to hold a pen between your lips and your nose. It's a REALLY hard sound to masture for a non-Swedish speaker!

Oh yea! It snowed too!

2009-10-19T18:27:00.001+02:00

It was raining Friday morning and then I didn't hear the rain anymore, so I looked out the window to notice it was snowing! It was really beautiful, and not cold enough to stick, but still...it's October!

"snö" means "snow" and is pronounced "snuh"

ja må han leva!

2009-10-19T18:10:00.003+02:00

The birthday weekend was really great. I had a really good time meeting more of Fredrik's family, and it was really nice to just sit around in the living room joking with each other, talking and eating good food. We ate "halv special" which is a Swedish specialty. Toasted hot dog bun, with a "korv", better known as "hot dog' to us, with mashed potatoes on top. Usually you put mustard and ketchup, but I don't! And as you can see, you can also put other kinds of "toppings" on. Here in Sweden, they have some weird salad type thing you eat on bread. I don't really enjoy them, but the Swedes sure do like them!

Also, Swedes love to sing to celebrate. They all sing at the same time, really loud, and at their own pace. As you can hear, it doesn't sound like our traditional "Happy Birthday to you". This is a song titled "Ja må han/hon (depending on the sex of the person) leva." You can see that everybody is standing up, singing however they want, and people are sitting down, and still standing, and still singing! It's chaos, but it's really funny! When I heard this the first time, I laughed, I laughed hard. THEN we sang it a second time, since we were celebrating 2 birthdays. And at the end, you can hear somebody should "skål!" which is "cheers!".

The Swedish word of the day is "skål" which obviously, means "cheers" and is pronounced "skoal!" I really dont think, in Sweden, you can say this word enough. It gives you a reason to drink!

long ago birthdays

2009-10-16T08:28:00.002+02:00

This weekend, Fredrik and I will head up to his parents cabin for a fun filled weekend of birthday celebrations. We will be celebrating Ann's and Fredrik's. Even though they happened in September. Haha. But as we say in my family, it doesn't matter WHEN you celebrate, as long as you are all together to celebrate it sometime. So finally, we can all be there. So I will be meeting a few more members of his family I haven't met before! Yikes. And last night, I made enchiladas for 8 people in my tiny kitchen, for tonights dinner. Hopefully they go over well!

Today, on my way home from dropping Tara off, I heard an interview on the radio, and it was in English! They were interviewing Jordan Sparks, who is in Sweden to be on tonights episode of "Swedish Idol". I don't even like Jordan Sparks, but listened to that interview as if I have never heard English before! It's so funny that I do that. I speak English all the time, with my family here, with Fredrik, his family and on the phone with my own family. But when I hear English outside of the realm, it's so weird and exciting! If I hear people on the street or in a store, I want to ask them where they are from and what they are doing! It's so stupid, cause really, I should be practicing my Swedish!

The Swedish word of the day is "grattis på födelsedagen" which means "happy birthday" and is pronounced "grattis poa fudelsedagen". Directly translated this means "congratulations on your birthday".

Måndag

2009-10-12T13:06:00.005+02:00

It's Monday, and my first day, after 4 weeks of class, that I have A LOT of time to relax. It's nice, but it might get old fast. We will see! I already have all my "chores" done.

Since I have so much time, I thought I would upload some of the pictures from recently!

The rings, together!

Ice cream for Grandma Fran

This was a really gorgeous road on the way to a "castle" Fredrik and I attempted to see. But it turned out to be a mansion that wasn't that great looking, and we had to pay for everything!

The Swedish word of the day is "ice cream" which is "glass" and pronounced as it looks. But this shouldn't be confused with "glas" which means "glass" :)

Oops

2009-10-11T09:21:00.002+02:00

It's been a bit longer than usual. But it's always discouraging to want to write when nobody leaves comments! Come on people! :)

Regardless, this week has been great. Fredrik and I joined my classmates on Thursday night for a really wonderful dinner. We all met, about 11 of us, and went and searched for a place to eat on Linnégatan. This is one of the busiest streets in Göteborg, with tons of café's, restaurants and bars. Here in Sweden, it is a bit more difficult to find a restaurant, on the fly, who can seat 10 or more people. So we were standing in front of various places asking the head waiter if it was possible, when we were standing in front of a nice place and a lady walked out and TOLD us to come in. There was nobody in there! That always makes you a bit skeptical to eat there, but none the less, it was delicious and was a really good time. I love being in Göteborg at night, it's so exciting to me!

Yesterday, Fredrik and I made a trip to Alingsås, which is a really typical Swedish town. We just walked around and looked at various things, and came home and I made a really delicious lasagne!

Also, yesterday was what I like to call 'Grandma Fran Day'. 10-10 was my grandmothers birthday, and since she has passed away, we have always celebrated her life by eating dessert before dinner. I upheld this tradition, even in Sweden! Fredrik was a little put off, as Swedes NEVER eat sweets before a meal, but I explained that I HAD to! Pictures to come, I promise. This day was also a bit more special because my mom has sent me my grandmothers wedding ring and band, and that is what I will be wearing throughout my life married to Fredrik. We were looking for an antique, gold, simple ring, and my mom had this great idea, that I should wear this one. I am so happy. The ring is beautiful and I'm incredibly honored to be wearing it. It was worn throughout 47 years of happiness, and I hope it does the same for me. Again, pictures to come!

The Swedish word of the day is "förlovningsring" which means "engagement ring" and is pronounced "furlovningsring". Don't forget to roll your R!

And it only seems appropriate to add "grandma" to the list. In the case of my mothers mother, she would have been "mormor". Fathers mother is "farmor" fathers father is "farfar" and mothers father is "morfar" I won't go into it now, but all your relatives, in Swedish, get special titles based on what side of the family you belong. It's a little confusing, but actually makes sense! I hadn't realized when you talk about your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, you always have to specifically specify which side of the family they belong!

Jag hade en gång en båt

2009-10-06T20:49:00.003+02:00

In my Swedish class (which, sadly, ends this week), we get a new Swedish song on Fridays. This past Friday we got a song I really loved.

Jag hade en gång en båt-I once had a boat

Jag hade en gång en båt
Med segel och ruff och köl
Men det var för länge sen, så länge sen
Svara mig du
Var är den nu?
Jag bara undrar... Var är den nu?

Jag hade en gång en dröm
Jag trodde att den var sann
Så väcktes jag ur min sömn och drömmen försvann
Svara mig du
Var är den nu?
Jag bara undrar... Var är den nu?

Det fanns en gång en soldat
Han kysste sin mor farväl
Han sa till sin flicka; du, jag kommer igen
Svara mig du
Var är han nu?
Jag bara undrar... Var är han nu?

Det fanns en gång en stad
I parken där lekte barn
Så släppte man ner en bomb och staden försvann
Svara mig du
Var är den nu?
Jag bara undrar... Var är den nu?

Jag hade en gång en båt
Jag drömde en dröm en gång
Men det var för länge sen, så länge sen
Svara mig du
Var är dom nu?
Jag bara undrar... Var är dom nu?
Jag bara undrar... Var är dom nu?
Jag bara undrar... Var är dom nu?

I realize this is all way too much for you all, but just listen and read, and you will feel kind of cool, cause you can pronounce some things!

TRANSLATION-beware non Swedish speakers! This song is actually really depressing!

I once had a boat
With sail and cabin and keel
But that was long ago, so long ago
Answer me, you
Where is it now?
I just wonder ... Where is it now?

I once had a dream
I thought that it was true
So I was awakened from my sleep and the dream vanished
Answer me, you
Where is it now?
I just wonder ... Where is it now?

There was once a soldier
He kissed his mother farewell
He said to his girl, you, I will again
Answer me, you
Where is he now?
I just wonder ... Where is he now?

There was once a city
In the park where children were playing
So let it down a bomb and the town disappeared
Answer me, you
Where is it now?
I just wonder ... Where is it now?

I once had a boat
I dreamed a dream once
But that was long ago, so long ago
Answer me, you
Where are they now?
I just wonder ... Where are they now?
I just wonder ... Where are they now?
I just wonder ... Where are they now?

Kanelbulle!

2009-10-04T21:16:00.003+02:00

Although they look good, they weren't! We threw them all away! How sad. It's quite difficult for me to either translate a recipe, convert "our" measurement into "their" measurement, or figure out all the ingredients i.e. yeast! Sheesh. Regardless, it was fun to cook with Fredrik! :) And the reason we did this was because here in Sweden it was Kanelbulle Dag! Cinnamon Roll day! Lucky us! And even though ours didn't turn out, Fredrik woke up nice and early and went and bought us some good cinnamon rolls!

The Swedish word of the day is "kanelbulle" which obviously means "cinnamon bun" and is pronounced like it looks! For English speakers, don't forget to say the "e", there aren't silent "e's" in Swedish! :)

BRRR

2009-09-30T19:19:00.002+02:00

This morning, in Lerum, it was -3C! Which is less than freezing! There was ice on the windshield! Yea, can you believe that?! Sweden IS cold! The past 2 days have been really nice, no clouds and plenty of sunshine! But definitely cold! Fredrik and I met in the park for lunch and it was almost too cold to have a picnic! It isn't even October yet!

I forgot to write about last Friday. There is a Swedish "happy hour" here and it's called "After Work". It's almost exactly like happy hour, only you buy your glass of beer and you get a plate with it and you eat buffet style food. We met 2 of the guys from my class. It was so nice! We went to a place called the Rumpan Bar, and had beers, mojitos and a lot of delicious food! Hopefully we will do it again!

The Swedish word of the day is "öl" which means "beer" and is pronounced "uhl". SO, I know this is what everybody wants to know. "jag skulle vilja ha en öl, tack" "I would like to have a beer, please!" "yah skulle vilya ha en uhl, tack!"

For Henry and Ian

2009-09-27T21:21:00.002+02:00

I saw this and immediately thought about the Farthing boys! They would have loved this, and they were even letting people sit in it! :)

The day in Skövde was amazing, and the train ride was so much fun! I had such a good time exploring with Fredrik. He's such an amazing tour guide! Seeing where he did his military service was really fun and interesting too! Puts a new perspective on him! I love learning new things about him all the time!

Also! Today I got my early birthday present from Fredrik's parents. Ann, his mom, took me and bought me 3 new pairs of shoes for the winter! So 3 pairs of warm shoes that won't get wet, since it will start raining ALL the time! 3 pairs of shoes in one day is like a dream come true for me! :)

The Swedish word of the day is "sko" which means "shoe" and is pronounced "skoo". To say "shoes" you change the word to "skor". In Swedish there are a lot of different grammar rules when it comes to singular and plural. Every word has an "en" or "ett" that goes in front of it and that determines how the word changes from singular to plural. It's really difficult because there are no rules, you just have to memorize all those words, and if you don't know it, it messes the whole sentence up! And to Swedes, it sounds really bad if you use the wrong one!