Daily Jamie

June 26th

June 27th

The Business Cas Fashion Show

We're on vacation!!! Here's the last fashion show from the gym at work until I go back in - wait for it - FIVE WEEKS. Aaaaaaand Sweden is awesome.

When I wear outfits like this one, that feature blue and white, I usually add my red and blue ribbon belt (which, unfortunately you can't see in this picture) and then think to myself as I'm getting dressed, "this is my American outfit." That whole sentence actually goes through my head. I am a loser.

I debated buying this top for a while because it cost a bit more than I usually like to spend (as in, like, more than fifteen dollars) and, well, it's pink leopard so, yeah, there was some internal debating going on. I'm glad I splurged, though, because I love it like a sister.

This dress is one of the longest-running items in my wardrobe. I bought it six years ago and it still ends up in the rotation from time to time. I always wear it with Kate's mom's vintage leather belt that I ripped off from their yard sale years ago and love it with my leopard pumps. I'm in a leopard phase, if you couldn't tell.

"This is my American outfit."

I'm not wild about this outfit and think it makes me look super short, but it got the job done. Also, I think it's funny that Jamie always touches the beading on the top and says, "aj, aj, aj!"

Oh, and guess what? We're going to Cleveland tomorrow! See you in the States tomorrow!

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Sommaren Är Min

It's summer in Sweden! I've said it before, there's no place I've ever been that's better than this country during summertime. Summer belongs to us here and Astrid Lindgren knew it. All the Swedes know it, and it's one of my favorite things about them.

Here's a decent, but poorly-rhymed translation of Pippi's summer song, which starts at 1:50.

And now I want to sing
that summer is nice
and the trees are so fine
and the ground is so green
and the flowers are beautiful
and the hay smells good
and the sun is so sunny
and the water is so wet
and the little bird flies
in and out of the nest
and therefore I want to sing
that summer is mine.

And I also want to sing
that butterflies are good
and all the sweet mosquitos
I also want them
and I'm brown on my legs
just as it should be
and therefore I want to sing
that brown legs are good.
And I have new freckles
and speckled summer skin
and therefore I want to sing
that summer is mine.

Daily Jamie

June 20th

June 21st

June 22nd

June 23rd

Molsta Midsummer 2013

We just got home for a wonderful, long, midsummer weekend in the country. There was swimming and dancing and eating and walks and football and afternoon naps and just generally a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures, but the real show was captured by Elin in this video.

 

Daily Jamie

Whoosh!

Jamie was even more enthusiastic about cars than usual when I picked him up from school today, shouting the word over and over again and pointing out every one he saw. He led me to the hill next to the main road outside of our subdivision where we sat down and watched the cars and trucks pass by. I wish he would stay this sweet and easily entertained forever. 

Daily Jamie

Drop-In

 

It was too pretty a day to do the same 'ol same 'ol, especially with The Swede away for the evening on business, so after I left work I called Ingvor to see if I could stop by with Jamie after I picked him up from school. Per the usual, she was thrilled to have us and made us feel right at home in their epic garden. She and I combed their yard for wild strawberries and the garden for ones they had planted, giving them to Jamie to shove in his mouth. Despite it being very early for strawberries, he must have eaten at least two pints worth. Roland came home from work just as we were gobbling up the last of them and brought out a ball that the four of us kicked around for a good half hour. Then we explored the garden some more and fed the cheese-loving birds and splashed in their fountain and climbed a giant rock and they sent us home with some homemade pickled herring. Jamie, who took a few minutes to warm up to them because it's been almost two months since we saw them last, hated to go and left totally smitten with both of them. We've been invited back later in the summer to collect more berries and will definitely be taking them up on the invitation.

Daily Jamie

June 15th

June 16th

June 17th

A Place To Love

Sometimes we look at the realty listings online. We've even gone to a couple of showings. Recently, though, we've decided to change our attitude about where we live. Instead of the next good thing, the current good things that are literally just around the corner are at the forefront of our focus now. The warm, shallow bathing area just a few steps away at the lake. The kids everywhere and the speed bumps protecting them. The playground practically in our back yard. A manageable yard that gets sun almost all day long and the perfectly-sized home that doesn't exhaust us to clean. A room for our son and a room for us. A three-minute drive to a brand new track and football fields. A place to enjoy the people we love. Just enough, no more, no less.

Daily Jamie

    

Daily Jamie

 

Daily Jamie

Dinner Date

The Swede had business with the fishing club this evening and I needed to get a low rail for the side of Jamie's newly-adjusted, three-sided crib since he woke all of us up at five a.m. by falling out of bed, so I took my favorite Ikea dinner partner out for meatballs. I LOVE eating with him there. We both love the food and he can play within arm's reach while I finish my meal when he predictably finishes before me. Then there are stuffed animals to play with, chairs to be wheeled around in, rows of bureaus to run through, and low rails to be bought for a (hopefully) safer nights sleep.

Daily Jamie

Jamie's first home run captured by The Swede.

The Business Cas Fashion Show

I'm back with some low-end "fashion" for your Tuesday. So this is kind of fun. I think I'm going to keep doing it. 

This is my favorite kind of outfit, on myself and others. Solids and (in this case, faux) leather. Simple. I felt like a million bucks.

This is where I wear a t-shirt and jeans and pretend I'm dressed up enough for the office because I'm wearing leopard print heels. Also, is this pink not the funnest color ever? It's going to be very hard not to wear this top every day this summer. 

And this is where I don't try to get dressed up at all because I'm leaving work early to kick it with Jambo and don't want to change before he puts his sticky hands all over me. This tank top is most often used as pajamas and those are my taking-out-the-trash shoes.

This is a super cheap dress I picked up at H&M on my lunch break. It fit a little weird in the waist, but I knew a belt would help. Instead, though, I used a vintage scarf I found on Etsy and saved myself the trouble of a too-tight-after-lunch belt. 

Please take a look at my golden dream sandals that Becca (THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!) sent me for no reason at all except she knew I loved them. She's just that kind of a broad and I'm wearing them in her honor today. As I uploaded this last picture I realized that I basically only ever wear jeans with t-shirts and belted dresses. I'm okay with that if you are. 

Daily Jamie

June 9th

June 10th

All I Have To Say Today

This evening our son had a half-hour-long, thrashing-on-the-floor, flailing-limbs tantrum that culminated with the revelation that he can now climb out of his crib. This fact was the only thing that pleased him enough to stop screaming, catch his breath, and return to reality and allowed us to get him settled down enough to actually go to sleep. We'll have to pray he's forgotten his new trick until papa can turn his crib into a big boy bed tomorrow after work.

Daily Jamie

Mini Vacay

We've been at the cabin since Thursday morning, enjoying Sweden's national day and the long weekend it afforded us. The weather has been absolutely perfect so we've been relaxing in the sun, bathing in the lake, and generally taking things extremely easy while Jamie runs around naked having the time of his life. It's been incredibly relaxing and I'm falling head over heels in love with this summer cabin. Sorry for the lack of pictures; I've apparently gone into full-on vacation mode and can't be bothered to pick up a  camera. 

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Hanging Out

This is my closet before. Not much space, am I right? Stuff was crammed in there so tight that I couldn't see half of it. My dresses, especially, were having it rough since they were all packed into that small space next to the metal drawers. Everything was getting so wrinkled. So over the weekend I invested in this rack and ironed all my dresses and hung them up, all pretty and evenly spaced on our fifteen nicest hangers. Fifteen. Whoa. I guess I have a lot of dresses. Anyway, it makes me happy whenever I look at it.