Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

April 27th

April 28th

Fresh Air People

Yesterday was a good day. It was warm and sunny so we spent the morning on the playground then, after Jamie's nap, took Papa Swede's boat onto the Mälaren. Since we live so close to the water, we were really just cruising around our neighborhood, just from a different perspective. 

It was Jamie's first time on a boat and he LOVED it, especially when Papa turned the motor down super low and let him steer. They did a little fishing, too, which was also a first for Jambo and it was likely his lack of experience that dragged the whole team down because they didn't catch anything.

 

We all loved being out on the boat and Jamie was especially enthusiastic about his life vest and the whistle it came with, as well as the nest full of eggs that a mama bird had made on the beam next to our boat at the harbor.  Hopefully we'll make a habit out of this kind of day.

A Day With Jamie

 

I hope you're ready for Jambo overload because today I plan to gush over him even more than usual. The Swede was busy with fishing club duties so the boy and I spent all day together doing normal things that were made a thousand times more fun by his enthusiasm, humor and curiosity. First, he had a haircut right when the mall opened and after a few tears he settled in with his paci and lollipop and just let it happen, which is great because he was starting to look like a bit of a troll.

Afterwards, we cruised around the mall a bit, trying on hats and playing hide and seek at H&M, riding the escalators and doing an extremely thorough appraisal of every toy at the toy store. When we sat down and ate a burger at Burger King he wore a paper crown and said, in the middle of the meal, "Thanks, Mama!" without being prompted. I doubt I'll ever forget how great that moment felt.

There was a bit more playing at the mall before we headed home for Jamie's three-hour nap during which I read a good book. See what I'm saying? He's the best!

Later, we drove The Swede over to his friend's dudes-only housewarming party and Jambo and I decided to stay in the neighborhood and play at this awesome playground we found since it was still warm and light. I thought I'd have a tough time getting him into the car to head back home, but he just said good-bye to all the giant wooden ants that he'd been balancing on and raced me to the car. 

We got home too late to make a real dinner so we split a quarter of a watermelon and snuggled on the couch in front of Scooby Doo until he told me he was tired and wanted to go to sleep. I love this age and the fact that he has the language now to hold a conversation. I asked him, when we were laying in bed before he fell asleep, what was his favorite part of the day and he said, "The ants."

Daily Jamie

April 24th

April 25th

Speechless/Sockerbit

Yuck, I thought I was having allergies all week since I've been coughing had gunk in my throat but no other symptoms but in the middle of the night it kinda turned into something even gunkier and I can't really speak. I stayed home from work today and took it easy so hopefully I'll be back to my chatty self tomorrow. In the meantime, I wanted to post this link mostly for my Swedish readers to the newest candy craze in the States: Sockerbit, a Swedish candy store in New York and LA. I'm seeing it all over the Instagram feeds of the hippest bloggers. The smågodis culture has caught on stateside and they've got all our favorites.

Daily Jamie

Spring In Stockholm

I just got back from choir rehearsal, where we practiced a couple dozen songs strictly about spring -  birds, flowers, long evenings and sunshine. The five-day weather forecast is filling me with glee and Linda was wearing a skirt today, my cue to do the same starting tomorrow. I don't have to dress Jambo in a ton of clothes before we head to school and I don't have to wear boots to work and just those two things have somehow lifted a weight off my shoulders. It's true again. Spring 2014 is totally putting me in an awesome mood just like all the ones before it. 

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Washing Up

Today, with another day off from work thanks to Easter, we did a little spring cleaning. I did the windows while The Swede power-washed the front and back terraces and Jamie got sweaty and rosy-cheeked under the sun. The whole neighborhood had the same idea and lots of folks were out in their yards planting and fixing while kids bicycled and charcoal warmed in grills all around the block. 

Daily Jamie

April 18th

 Oops, I accidentally deleted the 19th!

April 20th

The Geocache Pack

Today we got back from a lovely Easter and The Swede's birthday weekend at the cabin. Beyond the usual (i.e. The Swede and his parents and Sarianne working while the rest of us relax, good food, afternoon naps and a lot of child-induced chaos) we did some geocaching. It was super fun when we did it around home last fall and even better with more people and when the treasure is hidden deep into the woods. If I get my wish, we will do this every time we're in Molsta this summer. Just as long as it's not during my nap time. 

Daily Jamie

Skärtorsdag Millenials

The neighborhood's Most Enthusiastic Candy Distributor, yours truly, was ready with a sizable load of candy for the kiddos today. I bought three bags (wrapped, because I come from a place where loose, bulk candy is probably poisoned and I can't wrap my mind around these naive Swedish norms), ready to let the neighborhood witches dig in for a big handful because I like to be that cool (old) lady who lets you take a bunch of pieces. After a couple of hours I saw these charming girls outside again and they said to me, "Do you want to take our picture? Our parents said you can put it on the Internet if you want." Don't mind if I do. 

Daily Jamie

April 15th

April 16th

Spring Cleaning

One of the most tangible and appreciated signs of spring around these parts is when they clear the streets and sidewalks of the layers and layers of gravel that was spread with every snowfall all winter. We had a very mild winter, but there was still a ton of the stuff and it's been threatening to trip Jamie up every morning as he dashes to school so getting rid of it is a relief to this tense mama. Seeing the guys out early this morning cleaning up the gravel with their leaf-blowers made me incredibly happy and I can say that I was not the only one.

Daily Jamie

You Understand

The final season of Mad Men had it's premier last night, in case you live under a rock, so that means I have no choice but to spend my evening with Don. Forgive me if I'm a little too preoccupied to blog properly.

Daily Jamie

April 12th

April 13th

Time Zones

After a long conference, a long day of travel and a couple of attempts to make a dent in this jet lag, I'm back into the swing of things. And what better way to resume my regular schedule than to bring Jambo over to Erin's to spend the afternoon with a few of my Central European Time favorites! I'm even pumped to get back to work tomorrow and put all the stuff I learned into practice. It's more than great to be home, but I'm missing Mom and the rest of my Cleveland family and friends and just feeling thankful to have such wonderful people in so many time zones.

Daily Jamie

Too Much Of Everything

Greetings from the thick of a Swagelok conference, where my colleagues and I are being plied with as many snacks as best business practices and being entertained to within an inch of our lives in the evenings. There's been gambling and zip lining, and lots and lots of food and drinks. It is a lot of fun but I'm not sure I've ever been so tired and I don't even remember what it feels like to be even a little bit hungry. Thank goodness I'm staying at Mom and Ray's and getting a bit of peace and quiet in between all of the intensity.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie Via The Swede

April 5th

April 6th

April 6th

April 7th

Agenda

 

Hiya, dudes! Sorry I haven't been around for a few days, but I flew to the States, hung out with my mom and Ray, met up with girlfriends, shopped till I dropped, spent an afternoon at my grandparents' with family and an evening at a conference kick-off dinner and just didn't get a chance to prioritize the blog. You have my most sincere apologies. Today was the actual first full day of the Marketing and Communications Conference for  Pillars of the Organization and it was a loooong day. We started with breakfast at 6:30 and now I'm just getting home at almost midnight. I met some great people, got to know others even better, and was able to squeeze in some time with some of my favorites from the old days at the Hard Rock Rocksino this evening, so it's been a day packed full of fun. It will be another long day tomorrow soI hope I fall asleep quickly, not just because I need the sleep but so I don't have to think about how much I miss The Swede and Jamie. If you don't hear from me again for awhile it's because I'm picking low hanging fruit or some other business metaphor that makes me sound much more intelligent than I actually am. Peace.

The Cutest Carbs

This week I decided not to eat carbs so that all of my best business casual attire would fit properly at a conference next week. It is a good thing that I set such a strict dietary boundry, too, otherwise I'd be making excuses to cram marzipan alligators and chicks into my pie hole for sure.

Daily Jamie

April 2nd

April 3rd

Daily Jamie

Creep

The Swede and another colleague and I went to an eCommerce trade show this morning to get some ideas, make some contacts and generally TCB. That's Taking Care of Business in case you're not one of us. After I had done a round, I took a moment to check how things were going back at the office (or, ahem, check the latest on Facie) while The Swede walked around a bit more. After several minutes my phone plinged, a message from my husband. He had sent this picture that he had just taken, apparently whilst discreetly admiring his oblivious wife. He's either very sneaky or there were some very interesting items on my newsfeed.