Daily Jamie

Cuteness captured by Mama Swede

Daily Jamie

Boca Band For My Ladies, For My Fellas

There are a heck of a lot of mediocre apps for kids out there, many of which I'd hardly expect Jamie to like and most of which require a purchase to use the app to its fullest. Imagine my surprise, then, when I downloaded Boca Band on the suggestion of Naomi at Love Taza and have loved playing with it just as much as Jamie. I don't ever play games on my phone and I seldom pay for an app, but I would recommend this fun, easy-to-use, three-dollar purchase to anyone. 

Daily Jamie

I'm Not A Woman Anymore. I'm A Mom.

What luck! I was just lamenting the fact that mom jeans when out of style before I was ever able to legitimately wear them. H&M to the rescue yet again! 

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Poop/Technology

I don't know if it's because our library is brand new or because I haven't checked out a book in a long, long time, but library technology has sure come a long way from what I grew up with. Yesterday after I picked Jambo up from school we went to check out a book about poop. He's in a poop phase, in case I haven't mentioned it before. It's been going on rather long for my taste and I'd be concerned except that when we hung out with Sukai last weekend and asked her what her baby doll's name was she answered, matter-of-factly, "Poop." Sukai is generally pretty classy so if it that kind of thing is okay in her book than I suppose it's normal. Anyway, we went on a hunt for this apparently amazing poop book that Jamie's teacher reads him at school. We didn't find it, but the librarian spotted another book with some feces content for my darling son. And then, get this: I set the books down on a desk to log in on a touch-screen using my personal ID number. I thought it was strange that there was no barcode scanner at the desk, but then, as soon as I had logged in, the titles of the five books I had laid on the desk appeared on the screen in front of me. Somehow the desk itself had scanned the books. Amazing. I daresay it has never been so easy to borrow a book about poop.

Daily Jamie

Business Cas Fashion Show

The dress is yesterday's news, sure, but you've never seen the scarf before! Know why? My darling Erin kindly gave it to me after I complimented her on it a few weeks ago. I'm not as awesome as Erin or any of the Swedes at tying scarves, but I was pleased with my skills that day and got a couple of compliments from the girls at the office so mission accomplished.

This is apparently the BCFS where everything is a hand-me-down from Erin. She gave me those boots a couple of years ago and ever since then I've gotten excited about them whenever I've taken my cold-weather shoes out of storage. Have we talked about this sweater yet? Linda bought one last winter and I loved how it looked on her so much that I ordered it for myself in two colors, grey and black. At twelve bucks a pop I couldn't afford not to. Turns out the black one was a mistake, however, as it always loses out to another favorite when I'm reaching for a black sweater. Poor little guy. Maybe I'll try to find a way to work him in to the rotation sometime soon. Also, Linda wore hers on this day and I begged her to come into the gym with me to take this picture and she refused. Pssht. 

This outfit is the result of a rare successful plundring of the Gina Tricot sale rack during an otherwise unevenful lunch break. The shirt fits exactly as I think a button-down should and has light torquoise stripes that probably aren't appropriate for the season (and likely indicate why it was on sale) but are very pretty. I also got a cheap statement necklace with plastic jewels in the same colors as the blouse and my favorite wedges. Poof! Fifteen dollar ensemble! 

Note to self: if the whole point of the picture is to show off the to-die-for oxfords, make sure they're well-lit and in-focus. Since I discovered how squat flat shoes make me look compared to heels, I seldom wear them to work. It takes a really great shoe to make me compromise my principles and this, my friends, is a really, really great shoe. I promise to do them justice with a better picture in the future. 

I wore this today and good golly, I'm glad to be out of it and in my cozies. I fought that dang skirt all day because, while passable standing, I was flashing a whole lotta pantyhosed leg under my desk.

Thank you for your time. I'll see you here in the gym again when all the FW2014 goes on sale.

Daily Jamie

October 19th

October 20th

Daily Jamie

Gettin' Cultured

Our community just opened up a new, huge cultural center, including a library, theater and who knows what else. It's been under construction for a while now and because it's so gigantic I expected it to continue to be for much longer, but discovered the other day that it is indeed open for business. I mentioned my discovery to Linda at work on Friday and of course she already knew, had already been, and was, indeed, planning to go to a bit of children's theater Saturday afternoon. My heart rate went up immediately. I mean, children's theater?! I'm all about that. So Jamie and I met up with the girls today and watched a super cute, super entertaining musical adaptation of the ugly duckling. The kids loved it just as much as I did so I think we're all pleased with how our tax kronor have been spent and are looking forward to what the cultural center has to offer in the future. 

Daily Jamie

Checkin' The Choppers

Jamie had a dentist appointment today, just a routine check-up to makes sure that we're doing what we're supposed to and also to make us feel guilty about ever giving him anything sweet. Seriously, dentists mean business when it comes to little kids and this one threw down a guilt trip like I've never experienced in all my years of irregular flossing. Do you know, for example, how often kids should be allowed to drink juice? Never. NEVER. I nodded in agreement, of course, flashing my flawless pearly whites and thinking of all the Kool-Aid I drank as a kid (Swedes, the ingredients in Kool-Aid are 1. sugar and 2. flavored sugar). So basically I suck, because yeah, the kid drinks juice sometimes. Jamie was a very good boy, though, and opened his mouth wide like a tiger so I rewarded him with a bag of candy and a Coke. Heh.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

October 14th

October 15th

Skogspromenad

Lemme just tell you, Jamie's preschool is the coolest. A couple of weeks ago they sent him home with a little note saying that they were going on a long walk into the woods where they'd be eating a hot dog lunch and studying water, the main subject of this term's curriculum. They photograph most of the fun things they do and post them in the hallway outside of their classroom and I love, love, love being able to see just how fun and informative their days are.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

October 11th

October 12th

#SELFIE

OMG, you guys. Sarianne sent this picture to The Molsta Group last night. Apparently in 1994 the Swedish postal system had a campaign where you could write a letter to yourself or someone else that they would keep in their museum until 2014, at which time they would deliver it to the intended recipient. Sarianne had taken advantage of the offer and sent a picture of their family to Future Sarianne. And I think we can all agree that it was the best idea ever because this picture is nothing short of magical. 

Good Company

Trade Show Times

Hiya, guys! Sorry for the silence this past week. I got home from Göteborg yesterday after a few days working our company's trade show booth. I had managed the project without ever having had anything to do with an exhibition of this size, so I learned a lot but have to say that it went really well and was a lot of fun. It was pretty much sunup to way-past-sundown, though, so I was and am pretty pooped. Speaking of which! The Swede potty trained Jamie in the eighty hours that I was gone so that's one big parenting win for Pappa and one overjoyed and relieved Mamma! So glad to be home with my boys and looking forward to a low-key weekend.

Daily Jamie

October 7th

October 8th

October 9th

October 10

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

October 3rd

October 4th

A Wedding In England

Finally, right? You think you waited? This wedding has been on the books for a year and a half so we were all SO ready to celebrate Annemor and her chill, incredibly-likeable new husband Matt. First, do you recognize the setting? Have you seen Pride and Prejudice, the 2005 version with Kiera Nightly? If not, watch that YouTube clip and then watch the whole thing because it's excellent. Oh my goodness, Mr. Darcy! Swoon! But what I'm trying to get at is that the ceremony took place in that breathtaking temple in the rain scene. I basically died when I found out.

Everybody got all gussied up and we ladies did each other's hair while The Swede schlepped bridesmaids from the hotel to Stourhead. Jambo was ADORABLE in his little suit. I mean please. Just look. There was a necktie that came with the suit but he refused to wear it and insisted on the bowtie instead. And naturally, since when am I going to go to a wedding in England again, I wore a fascinator and loved every single second of it.

It was a little bit of a hike to get to the temple from where we were getting ready so we were thankful that Annemore suggested we wear flat shoes. We took a bunch of pictures up there before everybody else arrived since the setting was so beautiful. I also spent this time working up a gigantic lump in my stomach over the fact that I would be singing a couple of songs (Kärleksvisan and When I Fall in Love) during the ceremony. The accoustics were unreal in there, though, so it went well and I was then able to concentrate on the fact that Jamie was whining full-volume during the vows. Jambo aside, it was a lovely ceremony.

Directly afterwards, there was a champagne reception on the grass and lots more picture-taking. I was hoping for one with Christmas card potential, but Jamie and his uncomfortable shoes had other plans.

Otherwise, the pictures were taking themselves. I mean, you cannot find a more beautiful backdrop. One of the things I really loved about this wedding was that they kept the decorations to a minimum and let the location do the wowing.

Even at the reception, which had a lovely modest interior, they used simple touches like the colorful paper lanterns, lots of randomly-arranged wildflowers in recycled glass jars, and the adorable place cards below to make it special without everything feeling too perfect and overdone.

Well, actually the flowers and the cake and, now that I think about it, everything, was pretty perfect. 

I got to sit across from these two, who, per their usual, held an unofficial "Who's The Funny One" contest. I'm a terrible judge, but I do love to be in the audience. Papa Swede made a perfect, concise toast, we all shed a tear when Matt toasted Annemor, and we laughed hard as we learned more than we probably wanted to about the groom during the best man's speech. 

Then we danced the dang night away. Everybody got in on it and it was a blast.