jag vet inte.

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!

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

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

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!

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

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?! :)