Two Thousand Fourteen

 

This year has been particularly eventful, I realized while putting the annual roundup together. Lots of travel, a bunch of weddings, tons of fun! It all started in January when it finally snowed and Jamie got a lot of use out of his new snow racer.

Then, Rio was born! Brand new humans are the most exciting thing, I think we can all agree.

In February, I made my dreams come true, first by getting a professional makeup consultation...

...and then when I joined a choir again.

In March, we enjoyed the annual Melodifestivalen festivities, complete with the live show and visit from friends and family from England. 

In April, this guy was the cutest thing ever...

...and we took advantage of the warming weather by geocaching around Molsta with the Segerstens. 

May was all about Selah and Andy's visit! We spent a whole week seeing all the best sights in and around Stockholm and really enjoying some quality face time. 

In June, we celebrated Sweden's national day with friends at a picnic and carnival. 

Then I flew to Ohio for a long weekend and married some of my best friends. Spending this time with the Cleveland girlfriends was beyond magical.

Oh, and hanging with this lady was pretty much the best, too. 

Back just in time for Sweden's warmest month, we set off on an awesome July vacation!  

First, we took a long weekend in Dalarna with lots of pool time, a classic car show, and a concert at Dalhalla.

Then we spent the rest of the week along the west coast, with friends in Göteborg and then on the beach in Tylösand. 

Also in July, Jamie turned three! We celebrated with a superhero birthday party and invited lots of friends. 

In August, Jamie reached an important milestone in his life when he attended his first AIK football match.

We also took a super fun, last minute cruise to Helsinki.

September was a big month for us. We flew to Montana for the first time in four years and got to spend time with far-flung family in a beautiful setting. Grandpa Ray was there...

...as well as my sister Lukia and her daughter Hayden. We had a blast at Lukia's wedding to her new husband Don.

I got to see some of the most beautiful old spots, here with two of my favorites.

Plus I finally got to introduce Jambo to his Opa and Grandma Rainey!

As soon as we had recovered from the jet lag from the Montana trip, we were off again, this time to England to celebrate cousin Annemor and Matt's wedding.

By October we were ready to take it easy. Jamie, Linda, Sukai and I enjoyed a little theater and the opening of our community's new cultural center. 

And Jamie had his first official, big boy dentist appointment.

In November, we took a little road trip to Kalmar with a stop off in Söderköping...

...and had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with friends.

In December, we made the most of Sweden's coziest month by decorating the house more than ever for Christmas, including the lovely gingerbread houses we constructed with Linda and her girls.

It's not a competition or anything, but this year was surely one of my favorites. Top that, 2015!

Daily Jamie

Porcelain Royalty

I got some great presents this Christmas and while I don't usually like to brag about my acquisitions, I find I need to mention these beauties in particular. They were a re-gift, actually, on a joke present that Papa Swede's brother had sent to him and Mama Swede a few weeks ago and that I insisted they give to me when they started talking about relegating them to the summer cabin where they loveliness would only be witnessed on occasion. No, I couldn't let that happen, so I asked for them for Christmas then promptly forgot about it, which allowed me to have a moment of great excitement when I opened that particular package on Christmas Eve. The actual value of these limited-edition plates to commemorate our king and queen's marriage in 1976 are of little interest to me; their contribution to my kitchen environment, however, is priceless.

Daily Jamie

Cuteness captured by The Swede

The Lunch Break Of All Lunch Breaks

Dudes, today I had the lunch break of my life! The office is practically deserted and my favorite lunch buddies are still on vacation so I knew I'd be lunching alone but hadn't decided what I'd do with my hour off until a text message came from the beauty chain from which I'd just happened to get a gift card for Christmas. "20% off EVERYTHING!" the text read. That settled it. So off I went, driving through a winter wonderland (please reference the Instagram picture at right) that reminded me of the morning I landed in Sweden for the first time almost exactly six years ago and that gave me loads of warm fuzzies. Then, get this: tons of cosmetics were already marked way down so I ended up with three high-end items that would have totaled about a hundred bucks that with the gift card cost me FOUR DOLLARS. Euphoria! Then... THEN!!!... I remembered that a Dunkin Donuts had just opened in that mall! Guys, I mean, I was outta my mind with glee. The poor kid behind the counter must have thought I was high as I kite; I couldn't stop smiling. And of course I got the Swedish flag donut because I am just the kind of... hmm, shall we say effervescent? Yes, just the kind of effervescent girl they invented Swedish flag donuts for. And I think we can all agree that a solo lunch break doesn't get much better than that.

Daily Jamie

Bolero, Thirty Years Later

Expectation: Torvill & Dean. Reality: 6.0, across the board. 

Daily Jamie

December 23rd

December 24th

December 25th

December 27th

Söderköping Christmas 2014

We got home yesterday after a few days at Sarianne's celebrating Christmas and all of its traditions. Our annual walk around old Söderköping was made more exciting this year by a gang of hungry ducks who kind of loved us and our sacks of bread.

We drank glögg during Kalle Anka and tried to take an attractive family portrait in front of the tree. And per tradition, it wasn't the best. 

The annual cousin picture, however, went well and Sarianne and I got several successful shots. This one is the most fun, I think.

Santa came after the smorgåsbord, followed by a marathon package-opening sesh, followed by Jambo forsaking most of his new toys for a shipping box. So thanks, Grandma Jan, for the awesome box! 

I have to say it may have been the most fun Christmas I've had here so far. That's out of SIX, people! Six Swedish Christmases, how can it be? Lots of love and thanks to the Segerstens for hosting and making us so comfortable, and to my in-laws for the amazing food and everyone for being so generous. And, of course, a merry belated Christmas to my family overseas. Six holidays later and I'm still missing you like crazy.

Daily Jamie

December 19th

December 20th

December 21st

Merry Christmas From Us

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

December 16th

December 17th

Kalle Kamel

After Saturday's party, The Swede and I stayed at a hotel in the city. We slept in but got back to Kungsi before lunchtime to pick up Jambo from Mama and Papa Swede's. Driving home, we saw a big crowd and signs at the church: Christmas market! With hot dogs! As we drove closer we saw basically the one thing better than a Christmas market with hot dogs: A CAMEL! And not just any yucky old zoo camel. This one was coiffed to perfection, both humps sticking straight up, making him the proudest camel I've ever seen. Oh, and did I mention he was soft as the dickens? I had to force myself to stop petting him because I felt like his owner was giving me the stink eye, but really I could have stood there the rest of the day admiring that magnificent beast. Even today I can't stop thinking about him. Is it too late to add something to my Christmas list? 

An Investment In Morale

Big company Christmas party over the weekend, guys! The evening consisted of a pre-party at a nearby sport bar, then julbord and a show with a bunch of Sweden's most famous musicians and comedians. Everyone was in high spirits and the wine was flowing so it was a fantastic time. Our boss treated about twenty of us and I daresay it was worth it because the mood at the office today is one that's never been experienced before on a dark and rainy Monday.

Daily Jamie

December 13th

December 14th

December 15th

The Business Cas Fashion Show

Let's squeeze another fashion show into 2014, shall we? I wore this outfit so long ago, weeks and weeks, really, that I have no idea what I was thinking I should write when I photographed it. So there. Just a picture, no superficial introspection or back-story.

Here, however! Okay, so The Swede found this holiday sweater and decided we should invite the office to dress up in ugly Christmas sweaters so that he'd have an excuse to buy it. Thing is, Sweden doesn't really have a lot to offer in the way of ugly Christmas sweaters so we had to change the event to Christmas-themed clothing. AAAAAAAnyway, on my hunt for the former I found this beauty (with elbow patches and everything!) and bought it just to wear whenever during the winter. When I wore it to work, though, everyone was like, "Um, Mara, the Christmas clothes day isn't till next week. Duh." Drama, guys. Big time. 

The only thing new to the fashion show here is the scarf, which I bought for ten bucks at a kiosk in the mall. I've been on the lookout for an accurate Burberry knockoff since 2003 when my college roommate got Burberry Brit perfume for Christmas and made our room smell amazing for the rest of my college career. When I saw this surprisingly-good quality one I said "Eureka!" and pulled out my credit card.

So here's the actual Christmas-themed outfit. Those tights are rough on the eyes, amiright? I'm gonna get on Pinterest right away and find some craft I can do with them since I will definitely not be wearing them again. The shirt, however, I will live in during the holidays.

Daily Jamie

December 11th

December 12th

Daily Jamie

Stereotypes

This package of donuts is called "police tray". Sometimes these Swedes just don't give a care whose feelings they may hurt.
UPDATE: The Swede just informed me that the word "bricka" means not only "tray" but "badge", which means that some super clever baker did a little wordplay. Cute!

Daily Jamie

December 6th

December 8th

December 9th

Exterior Decorating

One day at work a couple of weeks ago, Linda and I decided that she and her girls would come over this past Saturday and decorate gingerbread houses. We did something similar last year and it was so cozy we just had to do it again.

I had a huge advantage in that Jamie had absolutely no interest in helping me decorate, which meant that I was free to frost and candy that bad boy to my heart's content. Jamie was happy just to sit at the table with us ladies and eat candy. Linda made hot chocolate from scratch and we played Swedish kids' Christmas classics on Spotify and had a grand time. Plus everyone went home with a gingerbread house far too pretty to eat.

Homeland > Blogging

Sorry, but it's true. Be back tomorrow!

Daily Jamie

December 3rd

December 4th

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

November 30th

December 1st