daily damara

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Daily Jamie

April 7th

April 10th

April 11th

April 13th

April 14th

April 15th

April 16th

April 17th

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Daily Jamie

March 30th

March 31st

April 1st

April 2nd

April 3rd

April 4th

Last Thursday, our company took a trip up to Sälen! It was actually only 75% of the company because several people were unable to make it, including The Swede, who was busy terrorizing perch at the ice-fishing national championship. Aside from the major bummer of that very bad timing, though, it was an amazing weekend.

Despite growing up in the Rockies, I'd only put on skis one other time in my life, when I was in grade school. It was not a hit, but this time I was determined to give it a shot. I was not good, you guys. In fact, I won a prize for how terrible I was after I crashed into and did a somersault over a snowman-shaped slalom obstacle on the kiddie slope. After a few hours, though, I had gotten it down enough that I started to actually enjoy myself, and I'm kinda itching to try it again. Hopefully the feeling won't wear off during the eight months until skiiing will even be possible again.

We spent a lot of time partying it up and also taking it easy in cozy cabins. We all ate breakfast together, grilled hot dogs for lunch, went swimming at the indoor water park, had a beer tasting, danced, chillaxed, and even snuck in some business development brainstorming sessions.

On the last night, a bus came to pick us up about an hour before sundown and drove us to a snowmobile safari. We rode deep into the moutains (well, hills... remember the Rockies?) to a cabin without electricity and running water where we were served fondue by candlelight. Afterwards we all hopped into a big sleigh and a snowmobile pulled us back down to civilization. Because we were so far from anything, it was pitch black and the sky sparkled with stars. It was all pretty magical.

Nothing compared to the hug I got when I went to pick up Jamie from Mama Swede's on Sunday afternoon, though. The Swede came home from the championship late Sunday night having achieved a solid result during the first competition and fifth place during the second. Oh, and you can call me aunt of Sweden's Bronz Medalist in the young ladies category: Elin! Julia also competed and came in sixth and I'm so impressed that both girls even competed. This family is making waves in the ice-fishing community, guys.

Now: back to our well-loved routines for a while!

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Daily Jamie

Monday, March 27, 2017

Daily Jamie

March 24th

March 25th

March 26th

March 27th

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Daily Jamie

Teeny Tiny Cons Part III

Last Thursday, The Swede and I went out to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary! We ate a ten-course meal at an amazing restaurant thanks to a generous gift card from Kate and Scott, and stayed the night at the Hilton. We had taken Friday off of work, so we had time to kill in the morning and decided to take a walk through Gamla Stan, the oldest neighborhood in Stockholm. When we went past the royal palace, who should we see, but a chain gang in HOT PINK! This was my favorite of all the Teeny Tiny Cons I've seen in Sweden so far.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Daily Jamie

March 14th

March 17th

March 20th

Bigger Kid Bike

Jambo is almost six, super tall, and in the market for a bigger bike this season. All we have to wait for now is the gravel to be swept from the roads in our neighborhood and a paycheck.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Daily Jamie

March 1st

March 5th

March 6th

March 10th

March 11th

March 12th

While I Was Gone

It's March! You haven't heard from me in March, have you? I looked through my phone to see what in the world we've been up to for the past couple of weeks and, aside from last week when Jambo and I were sick, this is what I came up with:

We went to see The Lego Batman Movie and jazzed up our usual pre-movie selfie with a fun filter.

The Swede took Jamie ice-fishing and he was a total pro, on top of which he acutally liked it.

Erin and I proved how *NSync we are when she texted me about a nail polish color she wanted to buy when we went out shopping later that day and I texted her back a picture of me wearing that exact color at that very moment.

Jamie and I started building a fort but didn't get far.

I drove through our old 'hood late at night and rolled down the window to take a shot of the beautiful church that used to be our neighbor. My kind of drive-by: photographing churches without interrupting traffic.

I discovered the most magical ice cream flavor during one of my frequent window-shopping sessions at the grocery store freezer. I took the picture to remember for the next time I throw caution to the wind and eat what I want.

So those are the small things. Here are the big: work is busy, spring is on the way, I'm in love with my husband, my kid is awesome, life is good.