Daily Jamie

Folk Barf, More Like

I can't stop gagging. I'm going about my business, living my life, reading a tourist magazine, when I made the mistake of reading about that lovely crown pictured there. It's made out of HUMAN HAIR, you guys! Oh no, I'm gagging again. Apparently when fashions changed in the 1700's, the wig makers were out of work so they resorted to making this disgusting, so-called "folk art" instead. Apparently that was before the dole, which is a shame because the wig makers' unemployment leading to this catastrophe was something I'm sure any tax payers of the time would have been thrilled to have contributed to the prevention of. How, how, how can this admittedly intricate and seemingly painstakingly-woven… what… accessory?… even be in the same category as this glorious beast? 

Daily Jamie

The Beginning Of A New Era

You guys! Erin and Svante are selling their apartment on the south side of Stockholm, an hour away, and moving into a house just FIFTEEN MINUTES from our place! I am PUMPED, to say the least. They had the showing for their apartment this past Sunday and since you need to get kids out of there to clean up all their crapola beforehand, Erin came over with the boys for brunch. Pancakes, fruit salad, lots of coffee, and chaos was on the menu. And even though I'm still finding Legos in odd places, I'm looking forward to much more of this kind of thing in the future. 

Daily Jamie

April 20th

April 21st

April 23rd

April 24th

April 26th

Hangout For The Modern Family

I am so excited for Sarianne right now, guys! She and her friend Aja, who I met at Sarianne's last party and who is a doll, started a lifestyle website totally from scratch. It's called Womsa, a combination of the word woman and their initials. They've been working hard for months getting the concept together, recruiting bloggers, working with web designers, and surely lots more that I can't even imagine to get the website off the ground. Even yours truly got to play a small part by designing the blog header and logo, which was so much fun and so different than the design projects I usually do at work. Sarianne is giving up a lucrative role as a top blogger on another portal for this passion project and I'm so impressed by her bravery and drive. This site is in Swedish and it's not quite finished yet, but check it out and I'm sure you'll get an impression of how much they've put into it. Oh! And they have a Facebook page and an Instagram account, too, so be sure to follow them there. Then keep checking back at Womsa.se because I'm positive it's going to be totally amazing and will for sure be one of my favorites.

Daily Jamie

No Regular Day

It's The Swede's birthday! Gah, I just love that guy so much; I'm celebrating him every day in my heart, trying not to constantly make too big of a stink of it so as not to annoy everybody around me. That's my battle, people: keeping my mouth shut about how crazy I am about this man so the rest of you find me tolerable. I'm not alone. Yesterday Jamie made a wish on a loose eyelash and couldn't keep it to himself. He wished, he told us seconds later, that Papa would have a fun birthday. Not the easiest task when it falls on a Monday, but I hope breakfast in bed, a new pair of sneakers, pizza dinner, and a surprise visit from his (also devoted) fishing buddies made for a pretty decent birthday in any case.

Daily Jamie

April 15th

April 16th

The Beginning Of A New Era

Guess who learned how to ride a bike yesterday? This proud, suddenly too-fast-to-keep-up-with kid.

Daily Jamie

April 10th

April 11th

April 12th

April 13th

Daily Jamie

April 6th

April 7th

April 9th

Convergence

Well, this is actually a terrible picture of nothing, but it was all that I got from today's big event, namely a ceremony for the newest Swedish citizens in our municipality. I got my citizenship quite a while back, but I guess they were collecting more newbies before they went ahead with an official celebration. Unfortunately, The Swede couldn't come because it's the Swedish Masters of ice-fishing, but Jamie made an excellent date. A pianist (and fellow singer in my choir, incidentally) and a violinist played traditional songs, we sang the national anthem, and each new citizen - there must have been fifty of us - walked up on stage and received a certificate and a beautiful hand-blown glass dish stamped with the municipality's insignia. Then we were treated to a delicious smorgåsbord and Jambo and I both ate until our stomachs hurt. While we were in line for the buffet, we met an Australian (and now, apparently Swedish) woman who lives in the next neighborhood over from us now and who lived in Chagrin Falls, Ohio for four years during her early teens. That would be the Chagrin Falls that's fifteen minutes from my grandparent's house. Small world. That coincidence, and the lovely event itself, made my day and I'm so glad we went.

Daily Jamie

March 3rd

March 4th

March 5th

CineMa

Look who was lucky enough to get to hang out with Erin twice within three days! This lady! We went to see Room last Tuesday night and yeah, we had a really nice time, but it was also two hours of the most anxiety and sorrow to pass through my body, like, probably ever. I don't think Erin really knew what to do with me, sniffling, shoulders heaving, literally shaking for a twenty minute span. Thank goodness we're moms and had a ton of tissues with us. What a movie. Go see it if you have a strong, healthy heart.

Daily Jamie

March 30th

April 2nd 

Today's Warriors

This is the first weekend in months that The Swede didn't have a fishing competition and Jambo and I are so happy to have him around! After lunch we drove out to the country and took a walk through the woods on a thousand-year-old Viking road to a burial site consisting of six gigantic rock piles (the actual graves) and the labyrinth my Vikings are following above. We talked a lot about how the Vikings' bodies had returned to the earth and eventually turned into the moss and shrubs we were walking on and the trees all around us, and imagined how the stunning view of the Mälaren from where we stood might have looked to the people who lived there a millennium ago. There wasn't a modern thing in sight, only the plants were new, so the view must have been very much the same.