This morning I woke up early to get in a run before having to shower and get ready for our trip to the Gripsholms Castle, which was an hour away. We left around 10 am, and we stopped first at some store downtown so Rey and I could buy 2 pairs of crocs for 100 swedish krona. And then I bought some sunglasses for 30 krona!
Once we were done shopping in that store, we headed out. We got there around 11:15, and the English tour wasn't til 1 pm, so we parked and had a picnic lunch out on the grass and picnic tables. We had pasta salad, apples, and bread. Then a little after 12, we walked up to the castle and looked around and took pictures before the tour. Cameras weren't allowed inside of the castle so I couldn't take any during the tour :( The tour guide cracked me up. He had a lisp, and couldn't say the "th" sound, so he claimed we were in the "frone" room, haha. He also would stop talking for a very dramatic pause which was kind of awkward. But we were able to see the THrone room, a prison room, the theater room, the princess's quarters, the king's bedroom, and a few others.
Once the tour was finished, we walked around a little more, and then walked back to where the car was parked and had fika on the grass. Then we drove over to Mariefred, which is like this tiny little town, so the kids could get some ice cream. Then we packed it in and made our way back home.
Once home, I relaxed until it was time to go to practice. I was the only one that went to practice out of My, Wilma, and Karin. We had a good practice tonight. We did a lot of situations and live plays, which was really good for the girls.
Once I got back from practice, they had dinner ready. Micke and Rey made a dish Rey wanted them to try which was grilled chicken on buns with cheese, pineapple, and jalapenos. They really enjoyed it and it was really good. I couldn't do the jalapenos, though.. my mouth is too weak for all that spicy-ness :)
After dinner, I tried to do some flips with My and Lousia on the trampoline, and now I'm about to shower off and relax. I've been so tired these past couple days because we've been so busy. Tomorrow will be another busy day... I've got practice from 10-12, and then we are leaving for Vasteras to go to a festival and watch Gustav's band perform.
Hope yall enjoy my pictures of the castle! :)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Day 37, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!
Today's my 22nd birthday! :) Happy Birthday to me! :)
I woke up at 5 am this morning, had some cereal and coffee, and biked down to the bakery. I helped the bread baker from 6-8. He had me working with a lot of dough. I had to cut off 2000 kg sections and then roll those out onto boards, and then put the boards in this machine that cut them into circles. Then I had to slather different creams onto dough for cinnamon rolls and some other kind. Then he showed me how to roll them, and then he cut them, and showed me how to twist them around my fingers for cinnamon twists.
From 8-10 I worked with Helen again. I coated the sides of a cake with cookie crumbs, and then cut them into pieces and moved them onto a platter. Then for the rest of the time she showed me how to roll out this pie crust stuff in the machine, and I used a cookie cutter to cut small circles and put them into tiny cupcake cups, and then those set over night. After that, I turned cookies upside down, filled the middle with cream, and then placed a cookie on top.
I left the bakery at 10:15, and biked back to the house. I napped from 10:30-12, and when I woke up my birthday package from home was waiting outside my door for me! I got a bunch of running tank tops and spandex bottoms, the water mixes that I love, a can of my favorite almonds (blazin' buffalo wing), lotion, self tanner, antibacterial soap, and birthday cards.
At 12:15, Kelsey and I went for a very leisurely 20 minute jog/walk. My knee has been bothering me since walking for 10 hours around Stockholm yesterday. After we got done exercising, I showered and got ready. At 1:30 I went upstairs and everyone was outside for a surprise get together for my birthday! One of the girls on the team made me a strawberry cake (typical swedish birthday cake), and My and Louisa made chocolate balls! We ate that and had lemonade. I also got some presents... Kelsey got me sour cream and onion cashews, and this wine that tastes like apple pie. Ingrid bought me a sweden shirt and visor, and some swedish candy. Karin and the family bought me 2 swedish elementary books so I could learn basic words, and then at dinner they gave me measuring cups with swedish and american measurements, as well as dry ingredient measuring cups (same with the measurements), a swedish cookbook full of desserts, a cheese slicer, and a small scale that you can weigh ingredients on (it has grams, oz, and lbs).
After we had fika, we had some real food, they made some tortillas and I had bread with butter and melted cheese and tomatoes. I also tried a couple squares of their marabou chocolate. Afterwards we sat around outside. I jumped on the trampoline a little bit, and then Kelsey joined me and she fell off, lol. We helped Karin fold clothes outside, and then My, Kelsey, and I had to change so we could bike down to the softball field and teach the little girls at 5. We played a few games with them that they really enjoyed and we kept score so they would stay interested in the games.
Afterwards, we biked back to the house and sat around outside until dinner was ready at 7:45. We had (upon my request) different types of herring, cold smoked salmon, grilled salmon, corn on the grill, tomatoes on the grill, red peppers on the grill, bread with cheese and butter, boiled potatoes, and boiled eggs with caviar on top. Micke bought me a bunch of coke zero cans for my birthday that he said are off-limits for everyone else in the house, haha.
After dinner, Kelsey and I biked down to the store so I could buy a bunch of apples, and Karin asked me to get pesto and ham for a pasta salad they are making for a picnic for us tomorrow. I also bought myself a Marabou premium dark chocolate mousse bar and a bag of mixed nuts w/ fruit :) I paid Karin back for those 2 things though. After biking with Kelsey to her place and then dropping the food off at the house, I took my ipod and went for a long 11.5 mile bike ride around Enkoping. I just got back from that and am now planning on relaxing and reading for the rest of the night.
I had a great birthday, the family did everything to make this day special for me, but I miss my family back home very much. It's not the same celebrating without them.
Tomorrow we are going some place to see another castle, supposedly very nice, and there we will have a picnic. I've got practice at 6 tomorrow night, though, so we won't be gone all day.
That's all for today :)
I woke up at 5 am this morning, had some cereal and coffee, and biked down to the bakery. I helped the bread baker from 6-8. He had me working with a lot of dough. I had to cut off 2000 kg sections and then roll those out onto boards, and then put the boards in this machine that cut them into circles. Then I had to slather different creams onto dough for cinnamon rolls and some other kind. Then he showed me how to roll them, and then he cut them, and showed me how to twist them around my fingers for cinnamon twists.
From 8-10 I worked with Helen again. I coated the sides of a cake with cookie crumbs, and then cut them into pieces and moved them onto a platter. Then for the rest of the time she showed me how to roll out this pie crust stuff in the machine, and I used a cookie cutter to cut small circles and put them into tiny cupcake cups, and then those set over night. After that, I turned cookies upside down, filled the middle with cream, and then placed a cookie on top.
I left the bakery at 10:15, and biked back to the house. I napped from 10:30-12, and when I woke up my birthday package from home was waiting outside my door for me! I got a bunch of running tank tops and spandex bottoms, the water mixes that I love, a can of my favorite almonds (blazin' buffalo wing), lotion, self tanner, antibacterial soap, and birthday cards.
At 12:15, Kelsey and I went for a very leisurely 20 minute jog/walk. My knee has been bothering me since walking for 10 hours around Stockholm yesterday. After we got done exercising, I showered and got ready. At 1:30 I went upstairs and everyone was outside for a surprise get together for my birthday! One of the girls on the team made me a strawberry cake (typical swedish birthday cake), and My and Louisa made chocolate balls! We ate that and had lemonade. I also got some presents... Kelsey got me sour cream and onion cashews, and this wine that tastes like apple pie. Ingrid bought me a sweden shirt and visor, and some swedish candy. Karin and the family bought me 2 swedish elementary books so I could learn basic words, and then at dinner they gave me measuring cups with swedish and american measurements, as well as dry ingredient measuring cups (same with the measurements), a swedish cookbook full of desserts, a cheese slicer, and a small scale that you can weigh ingredients on (it has grams, oz, and lbs).
After we had fika, we had some real food, they made some tortillas and I had bread with butter and melted cheese and tomatoes. I also tried a couple squares of their marabou chocolate. Afterwards we sat around outside. I jumped on the trampoline a little bit, and then Kelsey joined me and she fell off, lol. We helped Karin fold clothes outside, and then My, Kelsey, and I had to change so we could bike down to the softball field and teach the little girls at 5. We played a few games with them that they really enjoyed and we kept score so they would stay interested in the games.
Afterwards, we biked back to the house and sat around outside until dinner was ready at 7:45. We had (upon my request) different types of herring, cold smoked salmon, grilled salmon, corn on the grill, tomatoes on the grill, red peppers on the grill, bread with cheese and butter, boiled potatoes, and boiled eggs with caviar on top. Micke bought me a bunch of coke zero cans for my birthday that he said are off-limits for everyone else in the house, haha.
After dinner, Kelsey and I biked down to the store so I could buy a bunch of apples, and Karin asked me to get pesto and ham for a pasta salad they are making for a picnic for us tomorrow. I also bought myself a Marabou premium dark chocolate mousse bar and a bag of mixed nuts w/ fruit :) I paid Karin back for those 2 things though. After biking with Kelsey to her place and then dropping the food off at the house, I took my ipod and went for a long 11.5 mile bike ride around Enkoping. I just got back from that and am now planning on relaxing and reading for the rest of the night.
I had a great birthday, the family did everything to make this day special for me, but I miss my family back home very much. It's not the same celebrating without them.
Tomorrow we are going some place to see another castle, supposedly very nice, and there we will have a picnic. I've got practice at 6 tomorrow night, though, so we won't be gone all day.
That's all for today :)
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Day 36, STOCKHOLM!
So today we spent a full day in Stockholm!
I was so excited about it that I woke up at 4:30 am to the sun shining in my eyes and couldn't go back to sleep... so I decided to work out on the elliptical. That lasted approx. 5 minutes, and I decided I should at least try to go back to sleep so I wasn't miserable in Stockholm. I finally fell back asleep at 5:45, and my alarm went off at 7. We got ready, had breakfast, took Louisa to school, and then was on our way!
We parked in Stockholm around 9:45 am, and we walked to buy tickets to ride a boat over to another island that is part of Stockholm so we could see the Vasa Museum. We got to the Vasa Museum at 10:30, and was able to find an English speaking tour guide. Once she told us all there was to know, we watched a 30 minute video on the Vasa ship, and then walked around on our own taking pictures.
After the museum, we walked to a cafe on the harbor for lunch. I had shrimp salad with herb cottage cheese that was very good! After we were finished eating, we walked to the subway to get to where the Hard Rock Cafe and the Harley Davidson store was. Then we started walking and making our way back to the middle of Stockholm, stopping at many souvenir shops and other shops on the way to shop and look around.
We finally ended up in Old Town around 3, where we walked around the Royal Palace. The King and Queen no longer live in that palace, they live in a castle outside of Stockholm. Once we were done looking at the palace, we walked down some of the old alleyways in Old Town and stopped at an ice cream shop where they were making their own waffle cones in the shop. They had vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon, and some other kind of waffle cones. I ordered a chocolate flavored waffle cone with a scoop of pecannut caramel ice cream and a scoop of brownie ice cream. It was delicious! Then we took our ice cream and walked to another small cafe where we could sit down for awhile and Rey and Micke could order a beer, and Karin ordered a latte.
When we left there, we walked back to the car to put more money in the meter, and then we were going to walk to this huge elevator that you take really high up so you can see all over Stockholm. Well, the elevator was broken, so we took the stairs. Then we found out that there was another small elevator we could have taken.. but oh well! more exercise. After taking some pictures up there, we made our way to another part of Stockholm that was very crowded with tables everywhere where people were eating or drinking. We found a table and had dinner. I had a shrimp smorgasbord sandwich thing. It's very Swedish. It's a round piece of pita bread with boiled eggs, mayo, shrimp, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, and red pepper. It's very good!
Once we ate and sat awhile longer for the men to have a couple more beers, we walked around some more. Karin and I went into this shop called ginatricot and I found very cute tops! I was excited because before then I hadn't spent any money! and even then Karin bought the shirts for me, but I will be paying her back... we just didn't know how much money I had on the Swedish account they gave me.
Once we were finished shopping, we walked back to the car. We spent a good 10 hours in Stockholm walking around all day. Needless to say, I'm exhausted and my legs hurt, but I had a great day!!!
Tomorrow will be another early morning for me.. I'm waking up at 5 am to be at the bakery from 6 -10 am. Then it's my BIRTHDAY! YAYY!! My package from home should be delivered tomorrow! perfect timing! We are having cake around 2 pm tomorrow with some of the softball team, and then grilling out tomorrow night... hopefully fish and smoked salmon that we had at Midsummer that I loved!
Check out my album on Facebook from today! lots of good pictures!
I'll talk to yall tomorrow.. a year older and wiser :) GOODNIGHT!
I was so excited about it that I woke up at 4:30 am to the sun shining in my eyes and couldn't go back to sleep... so I decided to work out on the elliptical. That lasted approx. 5 minutes, and I decided I should at least try to go back to sleep so I wasn't miserable in Stockholm. I finally fell back asleep at 5:45, and my alarm went off at 7. We got ready, had breakfast, took Louisa to school, and then was on our way!
We parked in Stockholm around 9:45 am, and we walked to buy tickets to ride a boat over to another island that is part of Stockholm so we could see the Vasa Museum. We got to the Vasa Museum at 10:30, and was able to find an English speaking tour guide. Once she told us all there was to know, we watched a 30 minute video on the Vasa ship, and then walked around on our own taking pictures.
After the museum, we walked to a cafe on the harbor for lunch. I had shrimp salad with herb cottage cheese that was very good! After we were finished eating, we walked to the subway to get to where the Hard Rock Cafe and the Harley Davidson store was. Then we started walking and making our way back to the middle of Stockholm, stopping at many souvenir shops and other shops on the way to shop and look around.
We finally ended up in Old Town around 3, where we walked around the Royal Palace. The King and Queen no longer live in that palace, they live in a castle outside of Stockholm. Once we were done looking at the palace, we walked down some of the old alleyways in Old Town and stopped at an ice cream shop where they were making their own waffle cones in the shop. They had vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon, and some other kind of waffle cones. I ordered a chocolate flavored waffle cone with a scoop of pecannut caramel ice cream and a scoop of brownie ice cream. It was delicious! Then we took our ice cream and walked to another small cafe where we could sit down for awhile and Rey and Micke could order a beer, and Karin ordered a latte.
When we left there, we walked back to the car to put more money in the meter, and then we were going to walk to this huge elevator that you take really high up so you can see all over Stockholm. Well, the elevator was broken, so we took the stairs. Then we found out that there was another small elevator we could have taken.. but oh well! more exercise. After taking some pictures up there, we made our way to another part of Stockholm that was very crowded with tables everywhere where people were eating or drinking. We found a table and had dinner. I had a shrimp smorgasbord sandwich thing. It's very Swedish. It's a round piece of pita bread with boiled eggs, mayo, shrimp, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, and red pepper. It's very good!
Once we ate and sat awhile longer for the men to have a couple more beers, we walked around some more. Karin and I went into this shop called ginatricot and I found very cute tops! I was excited because before then I hadn't spent any money! and even then Karin bought the shirts for me, but I will be paying her back... we just didn't know how much money I had on the Swedish account they gave me.
Once we were finished shopping, we walked back to the car. We spent a good 10 hours in Stockholm walking around all day. Needless to say, I'm exhausted and my legs hurt, but I had a great day!!!
Tomorrow will be another early morning for me.. I'm waking up at 5 am to be at the bakery from 6 -10 am. Then it's my BIRTHDAY! YAYY!! My package from home should be delivered tomorrow! perfect timing! We are having cake around 2 pm tomorrow with some of the softball team, and then grilling out tomorrow night... hopefully fish and smoked salmon that we had at Midsummer that I loved!
Check out my album on Facebook from today! lots of good pictures!
I'll talk to yall tomorrow.. a year older and wiser :) GOODNIGHT!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Day 35
This morning after eating cereal and falling back asleep, I managed to run another 7 miles. Then I laid out in the sun for a couple hours in the backyard.
Around 2pm, I came in to change and relax, and then a little before 4, I drove My, Tove, and Pontus out to their grandparents at the lake for an early dinner. Karin, Micke, Ray, Wilma, and Louisa met us out there shortly after. We had boiled potatoes, ham, salad, and peas in some sort of white sauce for dinner. Afterwards we took a 30 minute walk by the lake to show Ray.. and then we came back for fika. I had a cup of coffee while the others had rhubarb pie.
After we finished, I had to drive My and myself back to the house so we could change clothes and bike down to the softball field. I'm missing practice tomorrow because we are going to Stockholm for the whole day, so I had asked Kelsey if she would pitch live to me so I could hit, and My wanted to work on her pitching. We ended up being there for almost 3 hours, so we got back to the house at 9:30.
After showering, I grabbed an apple, a mug of chocolate milk, and had some cheese :) Now I'm settling down for bed with my kindle... waking up early for a full day in Stockholm. I'm excited, I hope I can find some good stuff to buy :)
Around 2pm, I came in to change and relax, and then a little before 4, I drove My, Tove, and Pontus out to their grandparents at the lake for an early dinner. Karin, Micke, Ray, Wilma, and Louisa met us out there shortly after. We had boiled potatoes, ham, salad, and peas in some sort of white sauce for dinner. Afterwards we took a 30 minute walk by the lake to show Ray.. and then we came back for fika. I had a cup of coffee while the others had rhubarb pie.
After we finished, I had to drive My and myself back to the house so we could change clothes and bike down to the softball field. I'm missing practice tomorrow because we are going to Stockholm for the whole day, so I had asked Kelsey if she would pitch live to me so I could hit, and My wanted to work on her pitching. We ended up being there for almost 3 hours, so we got back to the house at 9:30.
After showering, I grabbed an apple, a mug of chocolate milk, and had some cheese :) Now I'm settling down for bed with my kindle... waking up early for a full day in Stockholm. I'm excited, I hope I can find some good stuff to buy :)
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Day 34
This morning I set my alarm so I could get up and go run for an hour again, I was able to get in 7 miles. Then I had breakfast with the family, and then we drove to the softball field for our scrimmage/practice. Micke, Pontus, Ray, Emil, and Ingrid's husband Micke played with us so we would have enough players. We were there from 11-1:30, and then I had to take Ray's bike and bike back to the house so we could hurry and shower and grab a quick lunch before heading to Västeras to visit and have dinner with Karin's twin sister Heleana and her family.
We got there around 3:30 and had fika. They had blueberry pie with vanilla cream, and then some cookies. I just had some coffee with warm milk. I love the Swedish coffee! Then Karin, Heleana, and I took Ludde (the dog) and went for a walk to some ancient viking grounds/graves, which took about an hour. When we got back we started grilling out and making dinner. They had me try a little Marabou dark chocolate square, and it was so good! Their marabou brand of chocolate is supposed to be the best and it comes in all sorts of different flavors. I'm definitely going to have to buy some to bring back home with me! Bjorn, Heleana's husband, is an amazing chef and he grilled the best pork filets. We had that with 2 different kinds of potato salad, bread, grilled corn on the cob, grilled tomatoes, and salad. It was sooo good! We left their house around 10 pm, and just got back a few minutes ago... it's about a 30 minute drive. We are hopefully going back on Friday (if we can get practice changed, or we will either miss it) to a festival there and to watch their 18 yr old son perform with his band.
Tomorrow we are planning to drive out to the lake to Karin's parent's cottage around 4 to have an early dinner so Ray can see them, and then we have practice at 6.
That's all for today :)
We got there around 3:30 and had fika. They had blueberry pie with vanilla cream, and then some cookies. I just had some coffee with warm milk. I love the Swedish coffee! Then Karin, Heleana, and I took Ludde (the dog) and went for a walk to some ancient viking grounds/graves, which took about an hour. When we got back we started grilling out and making dinner. They had me try a little Marabou dark chocolate square, and it was so good! Their marabou brand of chocolate is supposed to be the best and it comes in all sorts of different flavors. I'm definitely going to have to buy some to bring back home with me! Bjorn, Heleana's husband, is an amazing chef and he grilled the best pork filets. We had that with 2 different kinds of potato salad, bread, grilled corn on the cob, grilled tomatoes, and salad. It was sooo good! We left their house around 10 pm, and just got back a few minutes ago... it's about a 30 minute drive. We are hopefully going back on Friday (if we can get practice changed, or we will either miss it) to a festival there and to watch their 18 yr old son perform with his band.
Tomorrow we are planning to drive out to the lake to Karin's parent's cottage around 4 to have an early dinner so Ray can see them, and then we have practice at 6.
That's all for today :)
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Day 33
Today's blog isn't that interesting, sorry to say.
I ran 7 miles this morning in an hour, and it poured on me the last 30 minutes, so I was drenched when I got in the house. After showering, I basically laid around all day reading my kindle. We ate pizza and salad around 3 for lunch, and then I tried to nap for awhile. They cooked some noodles with salmon sauce for dinner, which we ate around 7:15.
I texted Kelsey to see if she wanted to bike down to the store with me, so we did that and I bought some apples and grapes for myself, and Karin had me buy milk for the house. Then I biked with her back to her place and then circled around and biked back to the house.
And since then, I've just been laying around reading some more. Tomorrow we are having a practice game from 11-1, and then we are driving out to Karin's sister's place to hang out there for the rest of the day. Hopefully if the weather is nice and warm we will be able to swim in their pool.
That's all for today :)
I ran 7 miles this morning in an hour, and it poured on me the last 30 minutes, so I was drenched when I got in the house. After showering, I basically laid around all day reading my kindle. We ate pizza and salad around 3 for lunch, and then I tried to nap for awhile. They cooked some noodles with salmon sauce for dinner, which we ate around 7:15.
I texted Kelsey to see if she wanted to bike down to the store with me, so we did that and I bought some apples and grapes for myself, and Karin had me buy milk for the house. Then I biked with her back to her place and then circled around and biked back to the house.
And since then, I've just been laying around reading some more. Tomorrow we are having a practice game from 11-1, and then we are driving out to Karin's sister's place to hang out there for the rest of the day. Hopefully if the weather is nice and warm we will be able to swim in their pool.
That's all for today :)
Friday, June 24, 2011
Day 32, MIDSOMMAR!
GLAD MIDSOMMAR! That means "happy Midsummer" in Swedish :)
This morning I woke up at 6am to drive to Stockholm with Karin to pick up her friend Ray from the Arlanda airport. We got back to the house around 9:45 am, and Kelsey came over so we could make the apple dumplings. After we put them in the oven, I was able to work out on the elliptical for about 25 minutes, then had to go check on the dumplings.
Once those were out of the oven, I showered and got ready for the day. We biked to the midsummer field at 1... they wanted me to balance the huge carrot cake on my basket, but changed their minds once they saw I couldn't even get the bike going without toppling over. So once we got to the field, we laid down blankets and spread out our cakes and drinks and everything else and ate that.. then we watched people dance around the pole and a dog competition. Then they started doing the dances again so we joined in to dance around the pole. Around 3 we bought some freshly roasted almonds sprinkled with vanilla sugar, and then biked back to the house to change into warmer clothes and grab the food for our lunch. We then biked to Ingrid's and ended up eating lunch around 4:30.
After lunch we played team trivia, and my team won! I won a box of expensive german chocolate eggs. Then we had fika again with my apple dumplings and swedish cakes. Then around 8:45 pm we walked down to a nearby field to play a couple games of Kubb. It's hard to describe but was so much fun! My team won both times. By that time it was about 10 pm, so we walked back and they started grilling dinner and getting everything else ready. We ate dinner around 11:15-11:30 pm, which consisted of salmon, chicken, beef, potato salad, pasta salad, salad, and rolls. By this time the men had been drinking for about 12 hours straight, and were HILARIOUS. I took a couple videos of them.
At 12:30 am, we biked back to the house and now it is time for me to go to bed! I'm so tired! And my diet starts in the morning.
Goodnight!! :)
This morning I woke up at 6am to drive to Stockholm with Karin to pick up her friend Ray from the Arlanda airport. We got back to the house around 9:45 am, and Kelsey came over so we could make the apple dumplings. After we put them in the oven, I was able to work out on the elliptical for about 25 minutes, then had to go check on the dumplings.
Once those were out of the oven, I showered and got ready for the day. We biked to the midsummer field at 1... they wanted me to balance the huge carrot cake on my basket, but changed their minds once they saw I couldn't even get the bike going without toppling over. So once we got to the field, we laid down blankets and spread out our cakes and drinks and everything else and ate that.. then we watched people dance around the pole and a dog competition. Then they started doing the dances again so we joined in to dance around the pole. Around 3 we bought some freshly roasted almonds sprinkled with vanilla sugar, and then biked back to the house to change into warmer clothes and grab the food for our lunch. We then biked to Ingrid's and ended up eating lunch around 4:30.
After lunch we played team trivia, and my team won! I won a box of expensive german chocolate eggs. Then we had fika again with my apple dumplings and swedish cakes. Then around 8:45 pm we walked down to a nearby field to play a couple games of Kubb. It's hard to describe but was so much fun! My team won both times. By that time it was about 10 pm, so we walked back and they started grilling dinner and getting everything else ready. We ate dinner around 11:15-11:30 pm, which consisted of salmon, chicken, beef, potato salad, pasta salad, salad, and rolls. By this time the men had been drinking for about 12 hours straight, and were HILARIOUS. I took a couple videos of them.
At 12:30 am, we biked back to the house and now it is time for me to go to bed! I'm so tired! And my diet starts in the morning.
Goodnight!! :)
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Day 31
Today's been a busy day!
When I woke up this morning, I had cereal and then checked my grocery list to be certain of everything I needed from the store. Then I drove the car to pick up Kelsey (it was pouring) and we went to Coop, the grocery store downtown. It was a madhouse there since tomorrow is Midsummer... everyone was trying to get their food. It was also an experience trying to shop in a foreign grocery store, but we did pretty well, and we were only in there about 45 minutes.
Once I dropped Kelsey back off, I went home and unloaded all the groceries and started making the carrot cake for tomorrow. The cake is HUGE and we are supposedly going to decorate it tomorrow with a swedish flag. But anyways, I finished the entire cake around 2 pm, and then I had another bowl of cereal for lunch. Then at 3:30, I had to drive the kids out to the lake for their cousin's birthday... but My got a call from her mom asking her if she remembered to pick Louisa up from the school at 3, and she had forgotten! So we drove around for about 15 minutes looking for Louisa, and My and Tove finally found her sitting at the road where Karin told her not to cross. She had been sitting there for 45 minutes in the rain :( She was pretty upset.
Once we got everyone piled in the car, we drove out to the lake. Their cousin didn't get there til about 5:15, and they didn't sit down to have fika until 5:30, and we had to get back for practice at 6. We made it back to the house at 5:50 and biked fast to the field and made it on time. We did hitting drills for most of practice today, and then ended with sliding practice in the wet grass. We had to show a few of the girls how to slide properly, and one was too afraid to do it at all.
After biking back home, we were starving, but had to wait for Karin, Tove, and Fanny to get back from the store, so My and I started cutting vegetables for a big salad... and then around 9:15 we ended up eating swedish meatballs, salad, and mashed potatoes with gravy. They put jelly on their mashed potatoes and gravy, and I tried a little dab of it and wasn't very fond of the idea.
So now I'm about to shower and get to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a LONG day, with it being Midsummer. I'm waking up at 6 to drive to the airport with Karin to pick up her friend and then have to make apple dumplings as soon as we get back.
I tried to motivate myself to workout tonight after dinner, but I just wasn't feeling it. I won't have time to work out tomorrow either, so I guess my body will be getting a couple days off, and will definitely get fueled with all the yummy food and desserts we are having ALL day tomorrow :)
But tomorrow should be fun so I look forward to sharing the details with yall! :)
When I woke up this morning, I had cereal and then checked my grocery list to be certain of everything I needed from the store. Then I drove the car to pick up Kelsey (it was pouring) and we went to Coop, the grocery store downtown. It was a madhouse there since tomorrow is Midsummer... everyone was trying to get their food. It was also an experience trying to shop in a foreign grocery store, but we did pretty well, and we were only in there about 45 minutes.
Once I dropped Kelsey back off, I went home and unloaded all the groceries and started making the carrot cake for tomorrow. The cake is HUGE and we are supposedly going to decorate it tomorrow with a swedish flag. But anyways, I finished the entire cake around 2 pm, and then I had another bowl of cereal for lunch. Then at 3:30, I had to drive the kids out to the lake for their cousin's birthday... but My got a call from her mom asking her if she remembered to pick Louisa up from the school at 3, and she had forgotten! So we drove around for about 15 minutes looking for Louisa, and My and Tove finally found her sitting at the road where Karin told her not to cross. She had been sitting there for 45 minutes in the rain :( She was pretty upset.
Once we got everyone piled in the car, we drove out to the lake. Their cousin didn't get there til about 5:15, and they didn't sit down to have fika until 5:30, and we had to get back for practice at 6. We made it back to the house at 5:50 and biked fast to the field and made it on time. We did hitting drills for most of practice today, and then ended with sliding practice in the wet grass. We had to show a few of the girls how to slide properly, and one was too afraid to do it at all.
After biking back home, we were starving, but had to wait for Karin, Tove, and Fanny to get back from the store, so My and I started cutting vegetables for a big salad... and then around 9:15 we ended up eating swedish meatballs, salad, and mashed potatoes with gravy. They put jelly on their mashed potatoes and gravy, and I tried a little dab of it and wasn't very fond of the idea.
So now I'm about to shower and get to sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a LONG day, with it being Midsummer. I'm waking up at 6 to drive to the airport with Karin to pick up her friend and then have to make apple dumplings as soon as we get back.
I tried to motivate myself to workout tonight after dinner, but I just wasn't feeling it. I won't have time to work out tomorrow either, so I guess my body will be getting a couple days off, and will definitely get fueled with all the yummy food and desserts we are having ALL day tomorrow :)
But tomorrow should be fun so I look forward to sharing the details with yall! :)
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Day 30
This morning was my morning at the BAKERY! :) I woke up at 6 am to get ready and eat some breakfast... then Karin and I took Louisa to school and then she took me to Tammerfors Bakery at 7. She introduced me to everyone and I met Helen who I would be working with on the desserts/cakes/pastries.
Helen showed me downstairs where I would have a locker and she gave me a bakery shirt to wear and a baker apron. She showed me around the bakery so I would be familiar with where things were... she wasn't very confident in her English but she did fine explaining to me what to do while I was there.
The first thing she had me do was slice strawberries and put them in the middle of a bun, on top of a vanilla custard that was filled in the center. After that, she spooned clear gelatin into a frosting bag and I coated the strawberries with it. Once that was finished, I took the tray and placed it on a rack with other pastries ready to be taken out to the front of the bakery.
Next, she brought out 3 thin, rectangle sheet cakes for me to slice strawberries and place on the tops of each one. Then I spooned more gelatin (with a thicker consistency) onto those strawberries, and then I took cookie crumbs and covered the sides of the cake with them. Then I cut 3 finger-width slices and placed them on a separate tray.
After that, she rolled out green marzipan for me, and gave me a cookie cutter and showed me how to cut leaves with it. Then I took the end of a fork and made leaf veins in the leaves and then scrunched them up in a way to where they looked like real leaves. I filled almost a whole tray with those, then she asked if I would like to try and make flowers out of pink marzipan, so I said "sure!" Let me tell you... those flowers are a lot harder than they look to make. First I had to take a cheese cutter thing and slice a strip of the marzipan... then I rolled one end a couple times to make the center of the flower, then I had to take the remaining strip of marzipan and weave it around the center. I kept running into the problem of not having a long enough strip. After an hour of working on that, I completed maybe 5 good flowers. But she made me feel better and said it took her many many years to learn how to do it perfect.
While attempting those flowers, the guy who agreed to let me work there came in and talked with me. He was really nice. He said I could come in again next wednesday (my birthday) at 6 am to help the bread baker for 2 hours, and then work with Helen again from 8-10. The next 2-4 wednesdays I won't be available, so if he lets me come in on other days I should be able to continue every week... but he told me to just have Karin call him and we would schedule something.
At 10, Helen told me she was taking her break and that should be enough for me for the day, so I put my stuff in the locker and walked the 30 minutes back to the house. Once back I had some chocolate milk and then took a couple hour nap :) After waking up and making myself a sandwich, I worked out for 35 minutes on the elliptical and then worked on my abs. Afterwards, I relaxed until about 4:30, then grabbed an apple and some cashews before biking down to the softball field. We had the small girls from 5-6, and then our own practice from 6-8. For part of our warm-up during practice, Ingrid paired us with someone according to our speed, and she paired me with the fastest girl on the team... this tiny little girl who Ingrid is always talking about is the fastest person she's seen. Well it was like a race kind of, but one of us would start about 5 feet in front of the other and the one in the back had to catch the one in front, and I caught her every single time, and I think she only caught me once, and it was right as we were crossing the bag. But anyways, we mainly worked on infield/outfield and I was in charge of the infield. Then we tried running some plays. Afterwards, I biked home and there was noodles and meat sauce with salad waiting.
Now it's time to shower up and relax! Midsummer is Friday and I'm baking a carrot cake for Karin (because she usually brings that) and then Kelsey and I are going to make apple dumplings. Supposedly at 1 we will go to a field and dance around a pole and have fika. Then at 3 we will go to Ingrid's and have lunch which will be different types of herring and salmon and other stuff... then we will fika again. Then we will grill out for dinner and fika again! haha... that's my kind of day!
So with the bakery being a success, today was a great day! It makes me realize that this is something I REALLY, really want to do because I enjoy it so much. :)
Helen showed me downstairs where I would have a locker and she gave me a bakery shirt to wear and a baker apron. She showed me around the bakery so I would be familiar with where things were... she wasn't very confident in her English but she did fine explaining to me what to do while I was there.
The first thing she had me do was slice strawberries and put them in the middle of a bun, on top of a vanilla custard that was filled in the center. After that, she spooned clear gelatin into a frosting bag and I coated the strawberries with it. Once that was finished, I took the tray and placed it on a rack with other pastries ready to be taken out to the front of the bakery.
Next, she brought out 3 thin, rectangle sheet cakes for me to slice strawberries and place on the tops of each one. Then I spooned more gelatin (with a thicker consistency) onto those strawberries, and then I took cookie crumbs and covered the sides of the cake with them. Then I cut 3 finger-width slices and placed them on a separate tray.
After that, she rolled out green marzipan for me, and gave me a cookie cutter and showed me how to cut leaves with it. Then I took the end of a fork and made leaf veins in the leaves and then scrunched them up in a way to where they looked like real leaves. I filled almost a whole tray with those, then she asked if I would like to try and make flowers out of pink marzipan, so I said "sure!" Let me tell you... those flowers are a lot harder than they look to make. First I had to take a cheese cutter thing and slice a strip of the marzipan... then I rolled one end a couple times to make the center of the flower, then I had to take the remaining strip of marzipan and weave it around the center. I kept running into the problem of not having a long enough strip. After an hour of working on that, I completed maybe 5 good flowers. But she made me feel better and said it took her many many years to learn how to do it perfect.
While attempting those flowers, the guy who agreed to let me work there came in and talked with me. He was really nice. He said I could come in again next wednesday (my birthday) at 6 am to help the bread baker for 2 hours, and then work with Helen again from 8-10. The next 2-4 wednesdays I won't be available, so if he lets me come in on other days I should be able to continue every week... but he told me to just have Karin call him and we would schedule something.
At 10, Helen told me she was taking her break and that should be enough for me for the day, so I put my stuff in the locker and walked the 30 minutes back to the house. Once back I had some chocolate milk and then took a couple hour nap :) After waking up and making myself a sandwich, I worked out for 35 minutes on the elliptical and then worked on my abs. Afterwards, I relaxed until about 4:30, then grabbed an apple and some cashews before biking down to the softball field. We had the small girls from 5-6, and then our own practice from 6-8. For part of our warm-up during practice, Ingrid paired us with someone according to our speed, and she paired me with the fastest girl on the team... this tiny little girl who Ingrid is always talking about is the fastest person she's seen. Well it was like a race kind of, but one of us would start about 5 feet in front of the other and the one in the back had to catch the one in front, and I caught her every single time, and I think she only caught me once, and it was right as we were crossing the bag. But anyways, we mainly worked on infield/outfield and I was in charge of the infield. Then we tried running some plays. Afterwards, I biked home and there was noodles and meat sauce with salad waiting.
Now it's time to shower up and relax! Midsummer is Friday and I'm baking a carrot cake for Karin (because she usually brings that) and then Kelsey and I are going to make apple dumplings. Supposedly at 1 we will go to a field and dance around a pole and have fika. Then at 3 we will go to Ingrid's and have lunch which will be different types of herring and salmon and other stuff... then we will fika again. Then we will grill out for dinner and fika again! haha... that's my kind of day!
So with the bakery being a success, today was a great day! It makes me realize that this is something I REALLY, really want to do because I enjoy it so much. :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Day 29
This morning I woke up at 8:30 with all intentions of working out... but after having a big bowl of cereal, I went back to sleep for 45 minutes :) Then I biked to the field nearby to meet with Kelsey, Emelia, and Rebecca, but they didn't need me because Rebecca was catching for Emelia, so I biked back to the house and did the elliptical for 15 minutes and punched the punching bag. Then I biked to Kelsey's and waited for them, then we walked to another field and helped Emelia and Rebecca with their hitting for about 45 minutes.
After biking back to my place, I packed a sandwich and apple, then Kelsey and I biked the 4 miles to the lake. After about an hour and a half, it started thundering so we decided to pack it up and start biking back, but it started raining on us, so we turned around and waited out the rain in the cafe for about 30 minutes. Once we got back from the lake, I laid around reading and then tried to take a nap.
We ate dinner around 6, which consisted of schnitzel, fried rice with mixed veggies, and some cottage cheese. After helping clean up, I worked out on the elliptical for 35 minutes more, and then showered.
Since then I've been relaxing and watching some TV. I'll be heading to bed shortly because I'll be checking out the Swedish bakery at 7 am! I'm so excited! :)))
Come back tomorrow to read about how that went! Hopefully all will go well!
After biking back to my place, I packed a sandwich and apple, then Kelsey and I biked the 4 miles to the lake. After about an hour and a half, it started thundering so we decided to pack it up and start biking back, but it started raining on us, so we turned around and waited out the rain in the cafe for about 30 minutes. Once we got back from the lake, I laid around reading and then tried to take a nap.
We ate dinner around 6, which consisted of schnitzel, fried rice with mixed veggies, and some cottage cheese. After helping clean up, I worked out on the elliptical for 35 minutes more, and then showered.
Since then I've been relaxing and watching some TV. I'll be heading to bed shortly because I'll be checking out the Swedish bakery at 7 am! I'm so excited! :)))
Come back tomorrow to read about how that went! Hopefully all will go well!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Day 28
This morning around 10:30 I had an apple and some chocolate milk for breakfast... then I leisurely made my way to the garage to workout. I did an hour on the elliptical an got some punches in. Then I sat around for about an hour and read my kindle, and then went upstairs to make some lunch. I made some macaroni noodles and sprinkled some homemade garlic salt on them with butter, tomatoes, a little EVOO, and some swedish cheese.
After eating, I read some more, and then decided to take a nap because I was still tired from being out so late in Stockholm. Once I woke up, I read some more, had some chocolate milk, and then got ready for practice.
We practiced in the school's gym because it looked like it was going to rain, but it didn't. It was a good practice and we were there from 6-8:30pm. Afterwards, I rode the short distance back to the house and Karin told me some leftover dinner was upstairs. They had something similar to hashbrown patties, rice, and something called "blood patties." She told me to heat up the blood patties and try them, and I took a small nibble and did not like it so I made a salad and that was my dinner. I'm glad I decided not to eat that because as I was making my salad, Micke started telling me about how his mom or grandma would make the blood patties after butchering the pig... bleh.
So anyways, after I ate, Karin made a grocery list and asked if I'd mind driving the car to the store to get the items with Wilma. I said no problem, so Wilma and I went there so we could work on our Swedish and English. They use scanners to scan the items you put in your bags as a "shop express" thing, and that's what we did, but the shop express machine wasn't working so we kind of stood there for about 5 minutes not really knowing what to do, and then I saw someone else have trouble and then just get in the regular line, so that's what we did. We just got back from there, and now it's time for me to shower and relax.
Hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow so I can bike out to the lake!
After eating, I read some more, and then decided to take a nap because I was still tired from being out so late in Stockholm. Once I woke up, I read some more, had some chocolate milk, and then got ready for practice.
We practiced in the school's gym because it looked like it was going to rain, but it didn't. It was a good practice and we were there from 6-8:30pm. Afterwards, I rode the short distance back to the house and Karin told me some leftover dinner was upstairs. They had something similar to hashbrown patties, rice, and something called "blood patties." She told me to heat up the blood patties and try them, and I took a small nibble and did not like it so I made a salad and that was my dinner. I'm glad I decided not to eat that because as I was making my salad, Micke started telling me about how his mom or grandma would make the blood patties after butchering the pig... bleh.
So anyways, after I ate, Karin made a grocery list and asked if I'd mind driving the car to the store to get the items with Wilma. I said no problem, so Wilma and I went there so we could work on our Swedish and English. They use scanners to scan the items you put in your bags as a "shop express" thing, and that's what we did, but the shop express machine wasn't working so we kind of stood there for about 5 minutes not really knowing what to do, and then I saw someone else have trouble and then just get in the regular line, so that's what we did. We just got back from there, and now it's time for me to shower and relax.
Hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow so I can bike out to the lake!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Day 27
Today's post will be short because I didn't do much of anything!
After waking up around 1 pm today, Kelsey, Jonna, and I ran to the subway in the rain to take the subway to Stockholm where we would catch the train to Enkoping. Micke and Louisa picked Kelsey and me up at the train station and brought us back.
After showering and having a bowl of cereal, I took a much needed nap. Then I helped a little with getting dinner ready... we had soft tacos and tortilla chips around 8 pm. Then after cleaning up, we watched Life as We Know It in the living room.
Now I am in bed about to read and head on to sleep.
...I forgot to mention in my previous post that the apartment we stayed at last night had a dog, a ferret, 4 lizards, at least 4 snakes, and 2 tarantulas LOL.
But anyways, I'm excited for this week because I get to go into the bakery Wednesday morning, and Midsummer is this Friday! We will be attending festivities all day long... and I'm going to help Karin make a carrot cake.
Sorry today wasn't more entertaining... hopefully this week will be filled with good stuff :)
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD! Thank you for being the most supportive dad in the world... Courtney and I couldn't ask for a better dad. I love you!
After waking up around 1 pm today, Kelsey, Jonna, and I ran to the subway in the rain to take the subway to Stockholm where we would catch the train to Enkoping. Micke and Louisa picked Kelsey and me up at the train station and brought us back.
After showering and having a bowl of cereal, I took a much needed nap. Then I helped a little with getting dinner ready... we had soft tacos and tortilla chips around 8 pm. Then after cleaning up, we watched Life as We Know It in the living room.
Now I am in bed about to read and head on to sleep.
...I forgot to mention in my previous post that the apartment we stayed at last night had a dog, a ferret, 4 lizards, at least 4 snakes, and 2 tarantulas LOL.
But anyways, I'm excited for this week because I get to go into the bakery Wednesday morning, and Midsummer is this Friday! We will be attending festivities all day long... and I'm going to help Karin make a carrot cake.
Sorry today wasn't more entertaining... hopefully this week will be filled with good stuff :)
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD! Thank you for being the most supportive dad in the world... Courtney and I couldn't ask for a better dad. I love you!
Day 26
Sorry I'm just now posting a blog for today... I was away last night.
Anyways... I started my day with a 5.15 mile run, where I was trying different paths and kind of got lost... but then I found my way :) At 11 am, I met Kelsey and Ingrid at the little field near the school to catch her, which took almost an hour an a half.
Then I biked back to the house and had some fruit bread from one of the bakeries for lunch. Kelsey and I then decided to bike into downtown to do a little shopping. I bought a top and she bought some pants. Once back from that, I showered and got ready. At 7:45, Karin drove Kelsey and I to the train station, where we rode the train to stockholm to meet Jonna. From Stockholm, we took the subway to her sister's apartment about 15 minutes away. We hung out with her sister and her roommate til about 12:30 am, then we took the subway back to Stockholm, and went to a club on King's Street, called Abassa Deur, which we had to pay 160 krona to get into. We stayed at the club until it closed at 4 am. Their dancing is so different than it is back home.. it's nothing but like techno dancing so that was a little strange. We also had 3 french guys that kept trying to follow us around... and I got nailed in the head by some guy's elbow while he was dancing.
When we finally left the club at 4 am... the sun was up in the sky lol. We decided to take a cab back instead of waiting for the subway, and we told the driver to just take us however far 250 krona would get us and we would walk the rest of the way... well the "rest of the way" ended up being like a 45 minute walk... so we didn't get back in until after 5 am. They all went and got McDonald's and I laid on the couch and was out.
It was a lot of fun, but it will be awhile before I want to stay out all night dancing again, haha.
Anyways... I started my day with a 5.15 mile run, where I was trying different paths and kind of got lost... but then I found my way :) At 11 am, I met Kelsey and Ingrid at the little field near the school to catch her, which took almost an hour an a half.
Then I biked back to the house and had some fruit bread from one of the bakeries for lunch. Kelsey and I then decided to bike into downtown to do a little shopping. I bought a top and she bought some pants. Once back from that, I showered and got ready. At 7:45, Karin drove Kelsey and I to the train station, where we rode the train to stockholm to meet Jonna. From Stockholm, we took the subway to her sister's apartment about 15 minutes away. We hung out with her sister and her roommate til about 12:30 am, then we took the subway back to Stockholm, and went to a club on King's Street, called Abassa Deur, which we had to pay 160 krona to get into. We stayed at the club until it closed at 4 am. Their dancing is so different than it is back home.. it's nothing but like techno dancing so that was a little strange. We also had 3 french guys that kept trying to follow us around... and I got nailed in the head by some guy's elbow while he was dancing.
When we finally left the club at 4 am... the sun was up in the sky lol. We decided to take a cab back instead of waiting for the subway, and we told the driver to just take us however far 250 krona would get us and we would walk the rest of the way... well the "rest of the way" ended up being like a 45 minute walk... so we didn't get back in until after 5 am. They all went and got McDonald's and I laid on the couch and was out.
It was a lot of fun, but it will be awhile before I want to stay out all night dancing again, haha.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Day 25
Today's been a great day!! ... besides my Facebook account being hacked into.
Anyways... I woke up this morning and had an apple and some chocolate milk, then Karin came and picked me up so we could go by the bank and try to get some questions answered regarding checks and everything. Basically, checks are no good in Sweden because they have an expensive fee and take around 10 days to get cleared.
Once back from the bank, I tried working out on the elliptical, but only got to about 10 minutes, and then Kelsey came over so we could bike down to Wickman's Cafe for lunch. I ordered another salad, this time with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, boiled egg, crab meat, pasta salad, and pineapple. After eating, we biked further to the candy store so we could try all their different chocolate candy this time :) Then we biked back to Kelsey's to watch a movie... but Ingrid put us to work baking swedish cookies (I forget the name at the moment) for a birthday party tomorrow. All that biking totaled to over 7 miles, but then once back at the house I worked out on the elliptical for about 35 minutes, and then got some punches in on the punching bag. Then I showered and got ready for the party at the Lindevall's plumbing business.
Kelsey biked over around 6:15, and we biked the 2.5 miles to the business for a cook out. All of the plumbing guys drank all night and were toasted by 10... and we just got back from it (1 am) and they were still drinking. I have a couple funny videos from the night and some pictures that will soon be posted on Facebook. Speaking of, someone hacked into my friends fb account, sent me a message, and me thinking it was her, sent her my email information and that's how mine got hacked into... so any messages you received that said "hey help" please disregard because it wasn't me and I'm fine and don't need help.
That's about all for now! My phone decided to go crazy tonight and call everyone in my contact list...so hopefully that will stop and it will work properly.
Hope yall enjoyed my day! :)
Anyways... I woke up this morning and had an apple and some chocolate milk, then Karin came and picked me up so we could go by the bank and try to get some questions answered regarding checks and everything. Basically, checks are no good in Sweden because they have an expensive fee and take around 10 days to get cleared.
Once back from the bank, I tried working out on the elliptical, but only got to about 10 minutes, and then Kelsey came over so we could bike down to Wickman's Cafe for lunch. I ordered another salad, this time with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, boiled egg, crab meat, pasta salad, and pineapple. After eating, we biked further to the candy store so we could try all their different chocolate candy this time :) Then we biked back to Kelsey's to watch a movie... but Ingrid put us to work baking swedish cookies (I forget the name at the moment) for a birthday party tomorrow. All that biking totaled to over 7 miles, but then once back at the house I worked out on the elliptical for about 35 minutes, and then got some punches in on the punching bag. Then I showered and got ready for the party at the Lindevall's plumbing business.
Kelsey biked over around 6:15, and we biked the 2.5 miles to the business for a cook out. All of the plumbing guys drank all night and were toasted by 10... and we just got back from it (1 am) and they were still drinking. I have a couple funny videos from the night and some pictures that will soon be posted on Facebook. Speaking of, someone hacked into my friends fb account, sent me a message, and me thinking it was her, sent her my email information and that's how mine got hacked into... so any messages you received that said "hey help" please disregard because it wasn't me and I'm fine and don't need help.
That's about all for now! My phone decided to go crazy tonight and call everyone in my contact list...so hopefully that will stop and it will work properly.
Hope yall enjoyed my day! :)
Day 24
Today was a very long day, but very fun! This morning I woke up at 8 to have breakfast and workout on the elliptical for 45 minutes. Then, as soon as I was done, My and I biked over to the small gravel field about a minute away to meet Kelsey so she could help My with her pitching while I caught. We did that for an hour, and then biked back to the house.
I had to shower and get ready, and then grab a quick lunch at the house. Karin came to the house to pick Tove and me up and then we went to the business. At 1, Karin, Micke, My, Tove, and I headed out.
The drive was about 2.5 hrs, and our first stop was to get the van inspected. That took about 45 minutes, and then we drove to their friend's house, which was only about 5 minutes further. We were there about 30 minutes and then all piled into the van to go eat for their daughter's 15th birthday. She chose the restaurant so we ended up at a China Garden where I got fried rice that had beef, chicken, shrimp, and eggs in it.
Once we finished dinner, we went back to the house for fika. The mom made a frozen raspberry vanilla dessert of some sort, so we had that with coffee and tea. I tried some herb tea with milk and honey in it, and then had a little coffee.
After that, the mom, Mary, and Karin and I walked around looking at different things. They have a hen house so we went in there with her while she picked the eggs they laid and put them in a carton for us to take back with us. She also showed me her studio where she does a lot of crafts with different things and fabrics. Then we went over to her garden and they had me try a couple leaves, one being mint and the other parsley. I took some pictures of their property, it was sooo pretty.
Around 9 pm we headed back. At 10:30 we stopped at a McDonald's because Tove was starving and they needed coffee to keep them awake, so I got a drink. We finally got home at midnight, and I soon after went to bed.
OH! I also found out that on Wednesday morning I will be going to the bakery in downtown Enkoping to meet everyone and talk with them, and if they like me I will be able to help them out a couple time a week and see how things are made! So keep your fingers crossed for me that everything works out and they like me!
Keep an eye out for pictures to be posted on Facebook, too!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Day 23
It rained most of the afternoon here, today, therefore I didn't really do much of anything besides what I could do in the house. I worked out on the elliptical for an hour this morning after breakfast, and then pretty much sat around all day reading my kindle or sitting at the laptop.
I cooked some macaroni noodles for lunch, and put salt, butter, EVOO, pepper, and sliced some of their cheese to go on it. I was just trying to go for something different and it was pretty good.
I didn't think the rain was going to let up, but it did around 4:00, so we had a snack before heading to the softball field. We had the little girls from 5-6, and then our practice was from 6-8. Kelsey and I had to coach the practice so we split the team up into infield and outfield and worked on some drills... then we played some games, one being "mexican softball" where you have to do everything backwards. So we played with a wiffle ball we had to wear our gloves on the wrong hand, bat on the wrong side, run to 3rd instead of 1st, etc. Then we hit front toss for the last 30 minutes.
I stayed for an hour afterwards to help Jonna and My with their hitting, and Kelsey helped a couple girls who wanted to pitch. Then we biked back to the house, and My and I had swedish "hard bread" for dinner with butter and cheese on it.
Not a very interesting day, but tomorrow should be better... I'm going out of town with the family for their mandatory car inspection and then to have dinner with their friends. So come back again tomorrow :) see ya!
I cooked some macaroni noodles for lunch, and put salt, butter, EVOO, pepper, and sliced some of their cheese to go on it. I was just trying to go for something different and it was pretty good.
I didn't think the rain was going to let up, but it did around 4:00, so we had a snack before heading to the softball field. We had the little girls from 5-6, and then our practice was from 6-8. Kelsey and I had to coach the practice so we split the team up into infield and outfield and worked on some drills... then we played some games, one being "mexican softball" where you have to do everything backwards. So we played with a wiffle ball we had to wear our gloves on the wrong hand, bat on the wrong side, run to 3rd instead of 1st, etc. Then we hit front toss for the last 30 minutes.
I stayed for an hour afterwards to help Jonna and My with their hitting, and Kelsey helped a couple girls who wanted to pitch. Then we biked back to the house, and My and I had swedish "hard bread" for dinner with butter and cheese on it.
Not a very interesting day, but tomorrow should be better... I'm going out of town with the family for their mandatory car inspection and then to have dinner with their friends. So come back again tomorrow :) see ya!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Day 22
This morning when I woke up to get some breakfast, I realized they were all out of milk, which is shocking considering there are usually at LEAST 6 things of milk in the fridge. So I decided to try some of their "sour milk" or yogurt stuff with the fruit granola, and it wasn't bad. It tasted like plain yogurt to me. After that experience, I worked out on the elliptical for 45 minutes and then worked out my arms on the punching bag. I then read and laid out for about an hour, which was about the only time the sun was out today, from 11:30 to 12:30.
Around 1, My and I biked downtown to eat lunch at Wickman's, her favorite restaurant. We both ordered salads, and the salads come with lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes, and then you get to pick 5 extra toppings, so I chose pasta salad, cottage cheese, mushrooms, pineapple, and crab meat. I asked for vinaigrette dressing, but I think their vinaigrette is more like italian dressing. The salad was 65 krona and you got to pick a drink to go with it, so I grabbed a coke zero. The salad was DELICIOUS! Kelsey was supposed to go with us but she has come down with a cold, so I texted her and told her when she's feeling better I'll be glad to go down there again and have lunch even if it's tomorrow :) After we ate, we biked to one of the bakeries that Karin and Micke are talking to about having me help out at, and I bought a chocolate ball for later. It's basically oats, cocoa, and butter rolled up and covered with sugar crystals I think.
After I got that to go we biked on back to the house where I watched tv for a couple hours, then had an apple and some peanuts around 4. Then I got bored so I decided to work out on the elliptical again for 25 minutes and did some more punching on the bag. Then I showered and went upstairs to help Karin clean the kitchen and help with dinner. I made the salad, which I've gotten very good at by the way... I cut up lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers and some other pepper, cauliflower, and feta cheese. I usually scoop out some avocado in it as well, but we were out of those. Then Karin rolled out some dough for a pizza and put some toppings on it. When the pizza was ready, I was able to see what all was on the pizza: sundried tomatoes, regular tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, some garlic cheese spread, CORN, red peppers, yellow peppers, and cut up ham. She told me she refrained from putting raisins on it bc I had made a face the one day she told me she puts raisins and cashews on her pizza LOL. I could have done without the corn on the pizza, but everything else tasted really good.
After dinner, I ate my chocolate ball. It was also DELICIOUS! Then I skyped with Greg so we could figure out our Rome trip when he comes to visit me in August... YAY! I also talked with Karin so she could help us figure everything out. They get "points" with their plumbing business so they are using some of their points to let Greg and me stay in a hotel in Stockholm for a couple nights either before Rome or after, we haven't decided yet.
But that's been my day, today. Now I plan to watch some tv and relax before bed :)
Have a great night!
Around 1, My and I biked downtown to eat lunch at Wickman's, her favorite restaurant. We both ordered salads, and the salads come with lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes, and then you get to pick 5 extra toppings, so I chose pasta salad, cottage cheese, mushrooms, pineapple, and crab meat. I asked for vinaigrette dressing, but I think their vinaigrette is more like italian dressing. The salad was 65 krona and you got to pick a drink to go with it, so I grabbed a coke zero. The salad was DELICIOUS! Kelsey was supposed to go with us but she has come down with a cold, so I texted her and told her when she's feeling better I'll be glad to go down there again and have lunch even if it's tomorrow :) After we ate, we biked to one of the bakeries that Karin and Micke are talking to about having me help out at, and I bought a chocolate ball for later. It's basically oats, cocoa, and butter rolled up and covered with sugar crystals I think.
After I got that to go we biked on back to the house where I watched tv for a couple hours, then had an apple and some peanuts around 4. Then I got bored so I decided to work out on the elliptical again for 25 minutes and did some more punching on the bag. Then I showered and went upstairs to help Karin clean the kitchen and help with dinner. I made the salad, which I've gotten very good at by the way... I cut up lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers and some other pepper, cauliflower, and feta cheese. I usually scoop out some avocado in it as well, but we were out of those. Then Karin rolled out some dough for a pizza and put some toppings on it. When the pizza was ready, I was able to see what all was on the pizza: sundried tomatoes, regular tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, some garlic cheese spread, CORN, red peppers, yellow peppers, and cut up ham. She told me she refrained from putting raisins on it bc I had made a face the one day she told me she puts raisins and cashews on her pizza LOL. I could have done without the corn on the pizza, but everything else tasted really good.
After dinner, I ate my chocolate ball. It was also DELICIOUS! Then I skyped with Greg so we could figure out our Rome trip when he comes to visit me in August... YAY! I also talked with Karin so she could help us figure everything out. They get "points" with their plumbing business so they are using some of their points to let Greg and me stay in a hotel in Stockholm for a couple nights either before Rome or after, we haven't decided yet.
But that's been my day, today. Now I plan to watch some tv and relax before bed :)
Have a great night!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Day 21
Today was a recuperation day for me. I've been so tired all day from yesterday's games. I went to bed pretty early last night, so I woke up kind of early. When I did, I had some cereal, and then did a 30 minute workout on the elliptical machine in the garage. After that, I sat on the couch and waited until I was supposed to run to Kelsey's for us to go on our run, but she texted me around 10:15 and said she wasn't feeling well, so I took an hour an a half nap on the couch :)
When I woke up, I made myself a salad for lunch, and then went back down to the couch to read/watch tv. I kept texting Kelsey because I was supposed to go over there and help her and Ingrid bake swedish cookies, but I never heard from them... and then My walks down at 4:30 in our practice clothes and I found out we had practice at 6. I don't know how I didn't know about it lol. So Kelsey calls me a few minutes later and asks if I can bike over there to help her and Ingrid make out the practice schedule, so I do that until it's time for practice, and then bike down to practice.
We decided to split the team up into groups to work on their weaknesses. I was in charge of infield, Kelsey of hitting, and Ingrid had the outfield. And every 15 minutes 2 different people would go to Kelsey's hitting station. So I didn't really practice today.. I was more of a coach, but it definitely worked out well to be able to work with the girls one on one with what they needed working on the most. I helped the infield with ground ball drills where they are on their knees, and then I threw short hops to them, and then worked them side to side. Then I hit them grounders and had them throw to the bags. I also worked with a few of the girls on how to cover 1st and 3rd base on leads and steals, and we worked on some bunts and foul ball pop flies. I thought the practice went really well... Ingrid had the outfield catching tennis balls with a bucket (coach majeski gave me that idea) and they had a blast doing that.
We have another practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but Karin, My, and I won't be at Thursday's practice because we are going out of town to look at the camper we will be using on our vacation, and then to have dinner with their friends who they never get to see. Ingrid will also be out of town for business the rest of the week, so Kelsey will be running practice all alone on Thursday :/
After practice, we biked back to the house and My and I started making some dinner. I cut up all the veggies and lettuce for the salad, and My cooked some very thin meat on the stove and put butter and cheese on some rolls and put them in the oven. It was tasty.
After dinner, I did another 20 minute workout on the elliptical, and got 500 punches in on the punching bag, then showered. Now I am getting ready for bed. Hopefully tomorrow My will take Kelsey and I to her favorite restaurant downtown called Wickman's. Supposedly their salads are awesome and you get to pick 5 different things to go with them... such as pasta salad, feta cheese, cottage cheese, etc.
Oh! Also... Karin talked to a man today about the possibility of me working at one of the bakeries, and he said at one of them there's a 21 year old girl working, but he doesn't know if she speaks English. So Karin is going to look into that, and Micke is going to talk to another bakery tomorrow for me! Hopefully something will work out, even though I might be working at like 4 am since that's when the bakeries start their baking. But oh well, I will work for a couple hours and then come back and sleep :) So keep your fingers crossed for me!
When I woke up, I made myself a salad for lunch, and then went back down to the couch to read/watch tv. I kept texting Kelsey because I was supposed to go over there and help her and Ingrid bake swedish cookies, but I never heard from them... and then My walks down at 4:30 in our practice clothes and I found out we had practice at 6. I don't know how I didn't know about it lol. So Kelsey calls me a few minutes later and asks if I can bike over there to help her and Ingrid make out the practice schedule, so I do that until it's time for practice, and then bike down to practice.
We decided to split the team up into groups to work on their weaknesses. I was in charge of infield, Kelsey of hitting, and Ingrid had the outfield. And every 15 minutes 2 different people would go to Kelsey's hitting station. So I didn't really practice today.. I was more of a coach, but it definitely worked out well to be able to work with the girls one on one with what they needed working on the most. I helped the infield with ground ball drills where they are on their knees, and then I threw short hops to them, and then worked them side to side. Then I hit them grounders and had them throw to the bags. I also worked with a few of the girls on how to cover 1st and 3rd base on leads and steals, and we worked on some bunts and foul ball pop flies. I thought the practice went really well... Ingrid had the outfield catching tennis balls with a bucket (coach majeski gave me that idea) and they had a blast doing that.
We have another practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but Karin, My, and I won't be at Thursday's practice because we are going out of town to look at the camper we will be using on our vacation, and then to have dinner with their friends who they never get to see. Ingrid will also be out of town for business the rest of the week, so Kelsey will be running practice all alone on Thursday :/
After practice, we biked back to the house and My and I started making some dinner. I cut up all the veggies and lettuce for the salad, and My cooked some very thin meat on the stove and put butter and cheese on some rolls and put them in the oven. It was tasty.
After dinner, I did another 20 minute workout on the elliptical, and got 500 punches in on the punching bag, then showered. Now I am getting ready for bed. Hopefully tomorrow My will take Kelsey and I to her favorite restaurant downtown called Wickman's. Supposedly their salads are awesome and you get to pick 5 different things to go with them... such as pasta salad, feta cheese, cottage cheese, etc.
Oh! Also... Karin talked to a man today about the possibility of me working at one of the bakeries, and he said at one of them there's a 21 year old girl working, but he doesn't know if she speaks English. So Karin is going to look into that, and Micke is going to talk to another bakery tomorrow for me! Hopefully something will work out, even though I might be working at like 4 am since that's when the bakeries start their baking. But oh well, I will work for a couple hours and then come back and sleep :) So keep your fingers crossed for me!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Day 20
I. Am. So. Exhausted.
We just got back from our games in Skovde, a 3 hour drive that we left for at 7 this morning. The games didn't go so great... we lost the first one 8-1, I was that one run, and lost the second game 12-2 in the 6th inning... I also scored one of those runs.
I started out the first game in center field, batting 1st. Then about the 4th inning, I was moved to shortstop. Their infield was grass, so the first groundball that came to me spun off the grass and hit my hand, so I wasn't able to get the girl out, but other than that I made all the plays. Jonna caught and we got almost every girl out that tried to steal. I went 1 for 3 hitting in the first game against the American pitcher. The first hit was a pop-up to short, the second was a hard fly out to left, and then my last hit was a line drive to the outfield.
In the second game, I ended up playing shortstop the whole time, and was 3rd in the lineup. My first and second at bat didn't go so well... I struck out the first time.. I was all over the place the last pitch I swung at... and my second at bat I hit a popup to left field, but my 3rd at bat I hit a grounder down the 3rd base line, so I was once again 1 for 3. I had a really awesome diving catch on short... it was a line drive between short and third and I dove and caught it for the third out.
After the games, we went to the locker rooms to shower and change into some clean clothes. Once we were all clean, we headed back to Enkoping, with me driving one of the cars. We stopped at a McDonald's for dinner, but some of us didn't want that so we went to a nearby grocery store and got some stuff... I just got some cottage cheese and mixed nuts, so I'm starving right now haha.
We have 3 weeks until our next game, July 3rd... so Ingrid, Kelsey, and I are going to talk with the girls and make out a schedule for times when they can get with Kelsey and I and practice specific things during a 30 minute period. It won't be every day bc we should be able to fit about 6 people into a short time.
Other than that, I'm hoping to get a lot of site seeing in during those 3 weeks!
Bye for now :)
We just got back from our games in Skovde, a 3 hour drive that we left for at 7 this morning. The games didn't go so great... we lost the first one 8-1, I was that one run, and lost the second game 12-2 in the 6th inning... I also scored one of those runs.
I started out the first game in center field, batting 1st. Then about the 4th inning, I was moved to shortstop. Their infield was grass, so the first groundball that came to me spun off the grass and hit my hand, so I wasn't able to get the girl out, but other than that I made all the plays. Jonna caught and we got almost every girl out that tried to steal. I went 1 for 3 hitting in the first game against the American pitcher. The first hit was a pop-up to short, the second was a hard fly out to left, and then my last hit was a line drive to the outfield.
In the second game, I ended up playing shortstop the whole time, and was 3rd in the lineup. My first and second at bat didn't go so well... I struck out the first time.. I was all over the place the last pitch I swung at... and my second at bat I hit a popup to left field, but my 3rd at bat I hit a grounder down the 3rd base line, so I was once again 1 for 3. I had a really awesome diving catch on short... it was a line drive between short and third and I dove and caught it for the third out.
After the games, we went to the locker rooms to shower and change into some clean clothes. Once we were all clean, we headed back to Enkoping, with me driving one of the cars. We stopped at a McDonald's for dinner, but some of us didn't want that so we went to a nearby grocery store and got some stuff... I just got some cottage cheese and mixed nuts, so I'm starving right now haha.
We have 3 weeks until our next game, July 3rd... so Ingrid, Kelsey, and I are going to talk with the girls and make out a schedule for times when they can get with Kelsey and I and practice specific things during a 30 minute period. It won't be every day bc we should be able to fit about 6 people into a short time.
Other than that, I'm hoping to get a lot of site seeing in during those 3 weeks!
Bye for now :)
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Day 19
Today's been a lazy, do nothing day for the most part. When I woke up, I had some cereal, and then saw that everyone else was still asleep so I went back to my room and ended up falling back asleep for about an hour. Once I got up again, I laid out in the backyard. Kelsey texted me asking if I wanted to bike to the lake between 1 and 1:30, so around 12 I went inside to make a salad for lunch. I waited til about 1:15 and was about to leave to meet her, when she texted saying she forgot she was supposed to skype with her family so I ended up going back outside on the trampoline to lay out. By the way, trampolines are a great place to lay out. She ended up coming over around 3:30 to lay out with me, which we did til 5:30... then she left and I showered. After my shower, My and I walked to the store to buy some drinking yogurt for our lunch in between games tomorrow. While there, I met one of their neighbors, Matilda, who is my age, and she seems very nice so she gave me her number to call her whenever I wanted something to do.
Karin and Micke had a couple over for dinner. So I sat outside with the 4 of them. We had different kinds of fish: salmon, regular herring, mustard herring in a jar, and some other kind of herring in a jar, and shrimp. I had one bite of each. We also had swedish hard bread with butter and cheese on it, and boiled potatoes. After that, they put some other meat on the grill, so I had another small bite of grilled salmon and a small piece of lamb with a small spoonful of potato salad. I was supposed to go over to Ingrid's and Kelsey's after to bake some traditional swedish cookies, but they called and said they ran out of time.
The couple that we ate dinner with are moving to the states in a couple months, and asked if I would be willing to help their 10 and 14 year old with English before they move and they would pay me. They also suggested I go to this specific bakery downtown and talk to them about me possibly helping them a couple days a week for a couple hours each day. They wouldn't be able to pay me but I could help out and get experience with swedish pastry. I said I would be very interested in that and so Karin will hopefully take me down there soon so we can figure out if that would be possible. The wife and her daughters also ride horses, so when I told her I wanted to go ride them one day, she said I could go with them one day this coming week if I wanted.
That's about it for today. I'll be heading to bed shortly because I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow. We are leaving at 7 am for Skovde, which is 3 hours away, and have a double header starting at 12. They are supposed to be the hardest team to beat in Sweden, so wish us luck! :)
Karin and Micke had a couple over for dinner. So I sat outside with the 4 of them. We had different kinds of fish: salmon, regular herring, mustard herring in a jar, and some other kind of herring in a jar, and shrimp. I had one bite of each. We also had swedish hard bread with butter and cheese on it, and boiled potatoes. After that, they put some other meat on the grill, so I had another small bite of grilled salmon and a small piece of lamb with a small spoonful of potato salad. I was supposed to go over to Ingrid's and Kelsey's after to bake some traditional swedish cookies, but they called and said they ran out of time.
The couple that we ate dinner with are moving to the states in a couple months, and asked if I would be willing to help their 10 and 14 year old with English before they move and they would pay me. They also suggested I go to this specific bakery downtown and talk to them about me possibly helping them a couple days a week for a couple hours each day. They wouldn't be able to pay me but I could help out and get experience with swedish pastry. I said I would be very interested in that and so Karin will hopefully take me down there soon so we can figure out if that would be possible. The wife and her daughters also ride horses, so when I told her I wanted to go ride them one day, she said I could go with them one day this coming week if I wanted.
That's about it for today. I'll be heading to bed shortly because I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow. We are leaving at 7 am for Skovde, which is 3 hours away, and have a double header starting at 12. They are supposed to be the hardest team to beat in Sweden, so wish us luck! :)
Friday, June 10, 2011
Day 18
This morning we were all up early to attend all the graduations that were going on for each of the different grades. We had to be at the school's gym at 9 am for My's and Fanny's graduation. Then at 10:15, Karin and I walked over to one of the classrooms to watch Pontus get his name called by his teacher for completing the grade. After that, we waited for My's class to walk over to the classrooms for the students to accept their grades from their teachers. Once the students accepted their grades, we had "fika" where there were different kinds of cakes and coffee for everyone. A very popular cake here in Sweden is a version of our strawberry shortcake, so there were tons of those. Karin and I walked over and tried some of the cakes from Fanny's class because the treats that My's class brought didn't look as appetizing, haha. Once all of that was finished, we walked back to the house. I read for awhile and then decided to lay out until all the family arrived around 2, and while waiting my package from home came! YAY! ;)
We had smorgastorta for lunch, which they call in english sandwich cakes. It's sandwich bread layered 3 times with a spread in between each slice and then on top there are different toppings. There were 3 different ones at the house, and I tried all 3. I thought they were all really good. Then they had fika again with another version of the same cake, so I had a couple bites, but was full from the smorgastorta.
I sat around and read awhile and then dozed in my room for about 30 minutes, and then decided to go workout on the elliptical machine in the garage. I did that for an hour and then did 500 punches on their punching bag. After cooling off for awhile, I rode my bike to Ingrid's and me, her, and Kelsey walked to a small field a couple minutes away so I could catch Ingrid while she pitched. The bugs were TERRIBLE in that grass field... I thought I was being eaten alive by them, and I'm pretty sure my neck has about 50 bites on it.
Anyways, after walking back to their house, I rode the bike back home, showered, made a salad for dinner, and then rode the bike back over to watch The Island. The movie ended at 12:30 am, and I just got back to the house from riding my bike back. Even it being 12:30, it still wasn't pitch black outside, but my bike has a flashlight on the front that turns on when I pedal so I was good to go :)
That's been my day today. I'm exhausted now so I'm heading on to sleep. I don't know what tomorrow holds for me!
We had smorgastorta for lunch, which they call in english sandwich cakes. It's sandwich bread layered 3 times with a spread in between each slice and then on top there are different toppings. There were 3 different ones at the house, and I tried all 3. I thought they were all really good. Then they had fika again with another version of the same cake, so I had a couple bites, but was full from the smorgastorta.
I sat around and read awhile and then dozed in my room for about 30 minutes, and then decided to go workout on the elliptical machine in the garage. I did that for an hour and then did 500 punches on their punching bag. After cooling off for awhile, I rode my bike to Ingrid's and me, her, and Kelsey walked to a small field a couple minutes away so I could catch Ingrid while she pitched. The bugs were TERRIBLE in that grass field... I thought I was being eaten alive by them, and I'm pretty sure my neck has about 50 bites on it.
Anyways, after walking back to their house, I rode the bike back home, showered, made a salad for dinner, and then rode the bike back over to watch The Island. The movie ended at 12:30 am, and I just got back to the house from riding my bike back. Even it being 12:30, it still wasn't pitch black outside, but my bike has a flashlight on the front that turns on when I pedal so I was good to go :)
That's been my day today. I'm exhausted now so I'm heading on to sleep. I don't know what tomorrow holds for me!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Day 17
This morning after breakfast I decided to go for a 5 mile run while waiting for Kelsey to finish her pitching lesson with Emilia. Once I finished that, I changed into my bathing suit and started getting my stuff together for the lake. When Kelsey called to tell me she was heading back, I biked over to her place so we could make sandwiches and pack the cooler, then we biked down to the store so I could buy some mixed nuts and a drink. From the store we started biking toward the lake, which is about a 30 minute bike ride, and it rained on us the whole way there. As soon as we got there it stopped raining, though, and was sunny and warm the rest of the time.
We had a couple puppies run over us while we were laid out on the dock... they were so cute. We stayed at the lake for about 3.5 hours and then had to start biking back home because we had practice at 6. As we were riding back, we passed some horses on the side of the path standing really close to the fence, so we stopped to try to pet them and take some pictures. I was trying to stick my hand out to one of the horses, and the fence shocked me... I was wondering how that puny little rope fence kept people out... now I know :) One of the horses was acting really weird, so I took a few pictures of him and a video that will be up on Facebook soon.
We got back around 5:15, so I had to quickly change into my practice clothes and get that stuff together and then bike down to the field. I stayed late to catch Ingrid, so I didn't get home til 9 and hadn't eaten dinner yet so I just had an apple and the sandwich that I didn't eat for lunch.
Tomorrow is the last day of classes for all the kids and they all have some sort of "graduation," so I will be attending those all morning, and then all of the family members will be coming over either for lunch or dinner and we will eat smorgastorte? Which is like layered sandwiches with a different topping on each layer. Tove is having a party at the house tomorrow night, but I think they are all camping out in the backyard.
Well, that's all for today. Time for me to shower and get ready for bed :)
We had a couple puppies run over us while we were laid out on the dock... they were so cute. We stayed at the lake for about 3.5 hours and then had to start biking back home because we had practice at 6. As we were riding back, we passed some horses on the side of the path standing really close to the fence, so we stopped to try to pet them and take some pictures. I was trying to stick my hand out to one of the horses, and the fence shocked me... I was wondering how that puny little rope fence kept people out... now I know :) One of the horses was acting really weird, so I took a few pictures of him and a video that will be up on Facebook soon.
We got back around 5:15, so I had to quickly change into my practice clothes and get that stuff together and then bike down to the field. I stayed late to catch Ingrid, so I didn't get home til 9 and hadn't eaten dinner yet so I just had an apple and the sandwich that I didn't eat for lunch.
Tomorrow is the last day of classes for all the kids and they all have some sort of "graduation," so I will be attending those all morning, and then all of the family members will be coming over either for lunch or dinner and we will eat smorgastorte? Which is like layered sandwiches with a different topping on each layer. Tove is having a party at the house tomorrow night, but I think they are all camping out in the backyard.
Well, that's all for today. Time for me to shower and get ready for bed :)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Day 16
This morning after eating breakfast I decided to try out the family's elliptical machine in the garage... I don't know why but that elliptical machine was 100x harder to work out on than the ones back home. I did 15 minutes on it at the level it was set on, and finally realized I could set it at an easier level because by that time I could barely get my legs to move the machine.
After that workout I put my bathing suit on and laid out in the back yard. After about 45 minutes it started lightly raining so I moved under an umbrella to read and wait it out. It stopped after a few minutes, so I moved all my stuff back and tried again, only to make it about 15 minutes before it started raining again, so I gave up and went inside. I read my kindle for awhile, made some lunch, and read some more.
Karin called to ask if when she came home with My, if I could ride back with her to their business and then drive the car back to the house. So once they got home I did that... a few minutes after I got back, Kelsey came over and then Gabby, Rebecca, Michaela, and Linea showed up around 2 for me to do their makeup for their prom tonight. It took about an hour and a half for me to do all 4 of their makeup, and they loved it! Kelsey took before and after pictures to post on facebook. Gabby and Rebecca gave me a present afterwards to thank me for taking the time to do that, even though I told them I didn't want anything. They got me a necklace that has 2 rings interlocked and on both rings it said "Hope Faith Believe Love." I love it! That was so nice of them to do that... I hope their having a blast at their prom tonight. We told them to take lots of pictures.
After that, Kelsey and I biked to the store so I could get a drink and she could look for some stuff. Once back at the house, I had an apple with peanut butter before biking down to the softball field at 5 to help the little girls with softball. There's 4 of them that come and they are so cute. Ingrid had to translate to them what Kelsey and I were wanting them to do. After they were done, we had our own practice from 6-8... because most of the girls had their prom tonight, there were only 7 of us at the practice, but we were able to do a lot of ground balls and repetitions. I practice at shortstop today because I might be playing there in the first game on Sunday.
After practice, we biked back to the house and Micke had dinner ready. He grilled a hawaiian pizza and we had salad (lettuce and cucumbers). Now it is time for me to shower and relax. I've got practice again tomorrow night, but other than that I'm not sure what I'll be doing.
After that workout I put my bathing suit on and laid out in the back yard. After about 45 minutes it started lightly raining so I moved under an umbrella to read and wait it out. It stopped after a few minutes, so I moved all my stuff back and tried again, only to make it about 15 minutes before it started raining again, so I gave up and went inside. I read my kindle for awhile, made some lunch, and read some more.
Karin called to ask if when she came home with My, if I could ride back with her to their business and then drive the car back to the house. So once they got home I did that... a few minutes after I got back, Kelsey came over and then Gabby, Rebecca, Michaela, and Linea showed up around 2 for me to do their makeup for their prom tonight. It took about an hour and a half for me to do all 4 of their makeup, and they loved it! Kelsey took before and after pictures to post on facebook. Gabby and Rebecca gave me a present afterwards to thank me for taking the time to do that, even though I told them I didn't want anything. They got me a necklace that has 2 rings interlocked and on both rings it said "Hope Faith Believe Love." I love it! That was so nice of them to do that... I hope their having a blast at their prom tonight. We told them to take lots of pictures.
After that, Kelsey and I biked to the store so I could get a drink and she could look for some stuff. Once back at the house, I had an apple with peanut butter before biking down to the softball field at 5 to help the little girls with softball. There's 4 of them that come and they are so cute. Ingrid had to translate to them what Kelsey and I were wanting them to do. After they were done, we had our own practice from 6-8... because most of the girls had their prom tonight, there were only 7 of us at the practice, but we were able to do a lot of ground balls and repetitions. I practice at shortstop today because I might be playing there in the first game on Sunday.
After practice, we biked back to the house and Micke had dinner ready. He grilled a hawaiian pizza and we had salad (lettuce and cucumbers). Now it is time for me to shower and relax. I've got practice again tomorrow night, but other than that I'm not sure what I'll be doing.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Day 15
This morning at 7:15 AM Kelsey and I went for a run, I did 4.5 miles. Then I quickly showered, got ready, and ate some cereal before Kelsey and Ingrid picked me up at 8:45 AM. We went with Ingrid to Uppsala which is about 30 minutes away and considered "university town." Ingrid had a couple business meetings at 10 and 12, so while she was busy with that Kelsey and I roamed all around Uppsala for 3.5 hrs. We stopped first at a small cafe so Kelsey could get some caffeine to wake up, while I had a refreshing Coke Zero. After that we walked all around, stopping in some shops. We hiked our way up to the Uppsala castle to see it, but it didn't open til 12, and it was about 11:30 and we were hungry for lunch so we took some pictures instead. I tried finding an open door to sneak in, and almost succeeded when I was pulling on one handle and a girl came busting out of that same door... but I got nervous and scurried away :) so we didn't get to go inside. We stopped to eat lunch at a little pizzeria, Rifiti's pizzeria, it was underground. We were trying to decipher the menu, which was in swedish, for about 5 minutes before the guy behind the counter said "I can translate anything for you." We were like oh that'd be great. He told us the pizzas were only big enough for one person so we each got our own pizza.... well we easily could have shared one, but we ended up each only having 3 small slices left over.
After lunch, we walked around some more and waited for Ingrid to call us and tell us her meetings were over. She called around 1:30 and so we started heading back to the huge church. Once we were back in Enkoping, Kelsey and I biked into downtown to try out the ice cream at one of the cafes we've had our eye on. I got 3 scoops in a cone... one scoop of pistachio, one scoop of after eight (which was mint chocolate chip), and a scoop of chocolate. It was delicious :) So once we biked back from getting that treat, I put on my bathing suit and went and laid out in the backyard.
At 5, dinner was ready. We had that pasta with the meat sauce and salad. I actually drank a little milk with my dinner. I went and laid out for about an hour more after dinner and then came inside to get ready to go catch My. So at 7:30 we biked to the little field near the school and met Kelsey there. I just got back from that and now doing a load of laundry.
I don't have many plans for tomorrow. I'm sure I'll do some form of exercise once I wake up, and then if it's pretty maybe lay out again. Some of My's classmates and girls on the team are planning on coming over around 3pm for me to do their makeup for their prom tomorrow night. That should be fun. Anyways, keep reading and comment if you'd like! :)
BTW... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! I LOVE YOU :)
After lunch, we walked around some more and waited for Ingrid to call us and tell us her meetings were over. She called around 1:30 and so we started heading back to the huge church. Once we were back in Enkoping, Kelsey and I biked into downtown to try out the ice cream at one of the cafes we've had our eye on. I got 3 scoops in a cone... one scoop of pistachio, one scoop of after eight (which was mint chocolate chip), and a scoop of chocolate. It was delicious :) So once we biked back from getting that treat, I put on my bathing suit and went and laid out in the backyard.
At 5, dinner was ready. We had that pasta with the meat sauce and salad. I actually drank a little milk with my dinner. I went and laid out for about an hour more after dinner and then came inside to get ready to go catch My. So at 7:30 we biked to the little field near the school and met Kelsey there. I just got back from that and now doing a load of laundry.
I don't have many plans for tomorrow. I'm sure I'll do some form of exercise once I wake up, and then if it's pretty maybe lay out again. Some of My's classmates and girls on the team are planning on coming over around 3pm for me to do their makeup for their prom tomorrow night. That should be fun. Anyways, keep reading and comment if you'd like! :)
BTW... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! I LOVE YOU :)
Monday, June 6, 2011
Day 14
HEJ! (that's Swedish for "hello" :P )
I learned a new phrase yesterday that I forgot to mention... Jag pratar inte Svenske... which translates to "I don't talk Swedish," or you could say "Jag talar inte Svenske" which translates to "I don't speak Swedish." They taught me how to say I speak a little Swedish tonight, but I already forgot it :) Also, last night we had grilled bananas with chocolate for dessert... they sliced open the whole banana and put some kind of chocolate in the cut that they made, then they wrapped the whole banana in tin foil and grilled it on the grill. We had that with some vanilla ice cream. It was interesting.
Now let's talk about today...
This morning I was supposed to meet Kelsey and Ingrid at this small gravel park area near the school at 9am so I could catch while Ingrid practiced pitching. We rode the bikes there yesterday and it took like 1 minute to get there so I thought it would be no problem... wrong. I went the wrong way and got lost and couldn't figure out how I was missing it so I had a text from Ingrid that asked if I wanted them to ride by the house so I could follow them or if I was meeting them there. I texted back saying for them to come get me because I got lost and was heading back to the house now. So anyways, I caught for about an hour and then we rode back to the house. I told Kelsey I was going to lay out in the backyard so once she changed into her bathing suit she met me out there. After a couple of hours in the sun, I made myself a sandwich for lunch and then got ready for practice at 2pm. Ingrid's husband came out and hit us fly balls for most of the practice and then we hit live off of Kelsey. Practice ended about 4:30, so we biked back to the house to get showered and changed for the get together at Ingrid's at 6. We had chips and cheeseburgers with swedish lemonade, and then Marie made homemade blueberry pie for dessert with vanilla ice cream and creamy vanilla sauce, which was DELICIOUS, and Emelie's mom made Locta Cocka?? haha it's like a sponge cake with raspberries in it, and that was delicious also.
We left Ingrid's around 8:45 and biked back to the house. So now we are waiting for the rest of the family to get home so we can have our family meeting so everybody knows what's going on this week.
Mom's birthday is tomorrow, I'm sad I can't be there to celebrate with her but I know she'll have a blast with Mrs. Christine wherever they decide to go for dinner!
Well I hope yall enjoyed hearing about my day today! I'll see you again tomorrow :)
I learned a new phrase yesterday that I forgot to mention... Jag pratar inte Svenske... which translates to "I don't talk Swedish," or you could say "Jag talar inte Svenske" which translates to "I don't speak Swedish." They taught me how to say I speak a little Swedish tonight, but I already forgot it :) Also, last night we had grilled bananas with chocolate for dessert... they sliced open the whole banana and put some kind of chocolate in the cut that they made, then they wrapped the whole banana in tin foil and grilled it on the grill. We had that with some vanilla ice cream. It was interesting.
Now let's talk about today...
This morning I was supposed to meet Kelsey and Ingrid at this small gravel park area near the school at 9am so I could catch while Ingrid practiced pitching. We rode the bikes there yesterday and it took like 1 minute to get there so I thought it would be no problem... wrong. I went the wrong way and got lost and couldn't figure out how I was missing it so I had a text from Ingrid that asked if I wanted them to ride by the house so I could follow them or if I was meeting them there. I texted back saying for them to come get me because I got lost and was heading back to the house now. So anyways, I caught for about an hour and then we rode back to the house. I told Kelsey I was going to lay out in the backyard so once she changed into her bathing suit she met me out there. After a couple of hours in the sun, I made myself a sandwich for lunch and then got ready for practice at 2pm. Ingrid's husband came out and hit us fly balls for most of the practice and then we hit live off of Kelsey. Practice ended about 4:30, so we biked back to the house to get showered and changed for the get together at Ingrid's at 6. We had chips and cheeseburgers with swedish lemonade, and then Marie made homemade blueberry pie for dessert with vanilla ice cream and creamy vanilla sauce, which was DELICIOUS, and Emelie's mom made Locta Cocka?? haha it's like a sponge cake with raspberries in it, and that was delicious also.
We left Ingrid's around 8:45 and biked back to the house. So now we are waiting for the rest of the family to get home so we can have our family meeting so everybody knows what's going on this week.
Mom's birthday is tomorrow, I'm sad I can't be there to celebrate with her but I know she'll have a blast with Mrs. Christine wherever they decide to go for dinner!
Well I hope yall enjoyed hearing about my day today! I'll see you again tomorrow :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)