Sunday, September 25, 2011

125

I slept in this morning, and after having breakfast, I went for a very long run.. 8 miles in 69 minutes without stopping. I'm going to be feeling that tomorrow...

After showering, I did a little cleaning and did my last loads of laundry here in Sweden. I started packing everything up, realizing I have WAY too much stuff... and I'm going shopping in Stockholm one last time tomorrow. I already set aside a pile of clothes that I'm leaving for My, LOL.

After awhile I had a small lunch, and did some more packing until we went out to eat at 6 at a restaurant in town called All In. I got a grilled chicken salad that was very good.

Afterwards, we came back to the house and I drove My & Pontus to their dad's house about 25 minutes away. When I got back, I rearranged everything in my suitcases to try and make it lighter.. and it worked. Currently both of my bags weigh 43 lbs... so we'll see how much damage I do in Stockholm tomorrow.

At 9:40, I quickly went to the grocery store to buy a few things. Made it with just enough time before they closed at 10 :)

I had a glass of chocolate milk once in bed, and now I'm about to read a little and head on to sleep. I'm planning on a run before showering and heading to Stockholm tomorrow, but we'll see how my legs are feelings.

3 more days!!!!!!!!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

124 - Going Away Party

Today was a really fun day. I didn't get much sleep last night, but couldn't sleep past 8, so I went upstairs and made myself a breakfast smoothie and ate with some of the family. After awhile of doing nothing, I started baking the homemade banana pudding for the party tonight. It did NOT look right, or good, but I stuck it in the fridge anyways. But I have to say, when I tried it after dinner, it was DELICIOUS! I LOVED it! so I will definitely be making it again.. but this time with nilla wafers. The grocery store here didn't sell them so I had to substitute some other cookies that pretty much completely dissolved in the homemade pudding I poured over. 


Then I showered and got ready, and after that I started baking the Pinocchio Torte with strawberries. It looked kinda a mess also, but oh well. 


Then Kelsey came over and she made homemade coleslaw while I was finishing my cake. Karin assumed Kelsey and I had a special homemade coleslaw recipe because we are American.. I was like umm, we usually buy ours. 


So anyways, after we got all the food ready, Kelsey and I put songs to the picture slideshow she made for the team. Then the girls started to arrive around 5. Once everyone was there, we started dinner, but then went outside to play games, where we were split into 3 teams. My team ended up winning! YAY! We won a bag of caramel candy that they are letting me take home. 


We then came inside and ate dinner and sat around talking for awhile. Then Kelsey and I told them we had something to show them, so we took them all downstairs and played the slideshow and then gave Ingrid and the team the notebook of softball drills that we put together for them. 


Then there was a hugfest... then it was fika time. There was my pinocchio torte, my banana soup, some cookies that Emilia baked, and a white chocolate cake that Amanda baked. I only ate the banana pudding, and I had like 3 small bowl fulls. 


Then we all sat around talking for a long time, and then around 10 pm everyone started leaving. 


Hopefully I can sleep better tonight. Tomorrow I need to go for a run, do my laundry for the last time, start packing/organizing my stuff, and anything else I can think of. 


Can't believe only 4 more days and I'll be home! :) 

Friday, September 23, 2011

123

Ok... y'all are lucky I am writing this right now because I can barely keep my eyes open. 


I set my alarm for 8 this morning, ran 6 miles, showered & got ready, vacuumed the entire house, and then made myself a smoothie: 250 ml of light soy milk, 1 frozen banana (sliced), 1 Tbsp of peanut butter, 1 tsp of maple syrup, a few drops of vanilla extract, and a lot of ice. 275 calories of deliciousness. I was looking at runnersworld.com the night before and they gave a formula for good post-run smoothies so I followed that and added my own ingredients. 


At 11:30, Kelsey & Ingrid picked me up and we drove 3 hours to the Dalarna Horse factory. It's a very Swedish custom... almost every household owns a Dala Horse. The shops were in a small village in the middle of nowhere. Ingrid surprised me and Kelsey by saying that the softball club wanted to give us one of the horses (which are not cheap at all) and to get our name painted on them. She let us choose the color we wanted, but we both chose the traditional red horse with blue, yellow, and white decoration. She is giving them to us tomorrow at our going away party so everyone will be there to see. 


I bought a few souvenirs for my family at the shop... still have some more things to buy on Monday when Kelsey and I go to Stockholm one last time. 


After shopping around, we drove to this restaurant at a pier, walked the LONG pier, but then realized the restaurant didn't open for over an hour and we were starving, so we went to another restaurant in the small town of Rittvak (something like that). 


We attempted to stop at this big slope so we could bobsled... but they were closed so we weren't able to do that. 


Then we headed home... got back around 9 pm, and Kelsey and I took the car to the grocery store to buy everything we needed for the party tomorrow. I'm baking a "Pinnocchio Torte" from my Swedish cookbook, and also a homemade banana pudding. Then all of the girls are making spaghetti with "köttfash" sauce (Rebecca, I'm sure that's not right either :) ) it's one of my favorite sauces on noodles now :) 


After putting the groceries up I had a small snack, and since then have been working on a small surprise for Ingrid/the team. 


Now I'm about to pass out... GOODNIGHT :) 

Thursday, September 22, 2011

122

This morning I woke up around 9 and fixed myself a bowl of kellog's original bran cereal with my yummy light soy milk. 


Then I started looking at desserts and decided I wanted to bake something... so I pulled out the different chocolate chips they have in the freezer, and while trying to decide what I wanted to bake, I snacked on the different chocolate chips :) whoops :) Well, the baking idea got put on hold because Karin texted me and asked if I wanted to clean the house, and if so, to bike down to the company so she could tell me what she needs done. So I did that, then biked back to the house and started cleaning. Then Kelsey came over around 12 and we biked into town to eat the all you can eat lunch buffet at the thai restaurant Vita Elefenten (directly translates to "white stable horse"). After we stuffed ourselves, I biked around a little and then went back to the house where I finished cleaning all the bathrooms in the house and dusting. 


Then I decided I would bake something, so I baked some double chocolate cookies that had semi-sweet morsels and white chocolate chips in them, with Kelsey's help. I didn't try one... I would also like to point out that all this baking I've been doing lately (the cinnamon buns, the blueberry cupcakes, the double chocolate cookies...) have not been tested by me.. I have resisted the urge to try one, bc I know that when I work/own my own bakery I will need to learn how to bake and not eat, unless I want to be the size of my house. 


After that I played around on the computer a little, and then had to bike down to the softball field for the last time. We had individual sessions at 5 & 5:50. 2 of the girls who were supposed to come didn't show up.. but 3 did, so that's better than nothing. 


After coming back to the house and showering, I haven't done much of anything. Had a light dinner and have been pinning on Pinterest :) my new addiction. 


Tomorrow Kelsey and I are going to some town 2 hours away with Ingrid, to a nice village and also to the manufacturing place of the Swedish Dala horses. I also have to vacuum the whole house sometime and get in a run since I took today off. 


6 days & counting... :) 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Days 120 & 121

I completely forgot about my blog last night, so I'll recap what happened yesterday. 


I made myself another smoothie for breakfast... applesauce, blueberries, vanilla yogurt, and cinnamon. 


Then I texted Kelsey and asked if she wanted to go for a run, and she said yea but not until 12 ( it was about 10:45 at the time). I decided to get a run in before that, and ended up running 5.4 miles in 45 minutes... I ended up at her house so I walked in and helped myself to a glass of water, all while yelling her name and getting no response. Finally I just sat down on the couch and figured she was around somewhere and then all of a sudden her door opens and she is halfway off the bed poking her head out telling me I'm early. Well, we didn't end up going for a run bc she was really tired and had a headache, so after talking with her for awhile, I walked back to the house and showered. 


I got really bored so I found a good cupcake website and decided to make blueberry cupcakes with a maple brown butter frosting (partially bc I knew we had all the ingredients it called for in the kitchen). I didn't try one, but everyone else LOVED them.


Soon after finishing that, I started preparing dinner for the family. I made them noodle pleaser that my family makes back home a lot. It's one of the best noodle dishes EVER.. and it was EXTREMELY delicious last night. They all had 2nds and 3rds (me included). 


I tried going to sleep early last night bc I was waking up at 6 am for the bakery, well we all know what happens when you want that to happen... I ended up falling asleep at 2 am, so I got 4 hrs of sleep. Kelsey went with me to the bakery this morning, which was a lot of fun, and she got to help out and really enjoyed it. 


After biking back, I made myself chocolate milk and hard-boiled eggs and then took a 2 hour nap. After waking up and having a small lunch, watching Ellen, and then the end of Oprah, I decided to go for a 4 mile interval workout. 


I got back just in time to grab some water and then drive with My down to the softball field. We were supposed to have the little girls at 5, but Freja was the only one who showed up, and she didn't do anything bc she was hitting wiffle balls with a plastic bat off of a tee and hit Kelsey really hard in her leg and cried the rest of the time bc she felt so bad. 


So we ended up calling Rebecca & Josefina (the 2 girls who were supposed to come at 6 for their individual) and told them to come down as soon as they could. After hitting with them, My and I drove to the company where we cleaned it for an hour and a half.


Once home, I showered and then made myself tomato & paprika soup, and now I am in bed, HOPING to fall right asleep. 


In exactly 7 days from this moment I will be boarding a plane in Chicago to head to the Charlotte airport where I will be picked up by my mom, Kristina, and hopefully Greg :) 


GOODNIGHT! :) 

Monday, September 19, 2011

dAy 1!9

Can you tell I'm bored by my post title? :) 


Let's recap what happened today... nothing. thanks for stopping by :) 


JK.. a little more than nothing happened... 


I made myself a smoothie for breakfast this morning, it was very good, yall should try it: 
1/2 cup of orange juice, 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt, 3/4 cup of blueberries (frozen), 1/2 cup of bananas (frozen), 1 Tbsp of peanut butter, and a few granola pieces thrown in. It was delicious and only 280 calories. 


I bought myself mango, cantaloupe, and applesauce at the store tonight so I'm going to try a mango/applesauce smoothie tomorrow morning. 


It was raining earlier today, so I did a 25 minute workout in the house... I'll explain that also in case yall want to try it :) 
                  3 sets of wall-sits for 45 seconds with a 15 second break inbetween each           set. Then I ran up and down the stair case in the house 5 times (took about a minute). Then I did 3 sets of 10 lunges on each leg, then ran the staircase 5 times again. Then I did 3 sets of 10 side lunges, followed by 5 staircases. Then I did 3 sets of 10 pushups, followed by the staircase. 3 sets of 15 calf raises on each leg, followed by the staircase. 3 sets of 15 hip lifts, followed by the staircase. Then I went and did 5 sets of 100 punches on the punching bag in the garage :) all that and only burned 200 calories according to my Garmin watch. 


After all that exercising, I sat in the living room reading and watching tv until Kelsey biked over. We made healthy avocado chicken salad for lunch that we put on a wrap. It consisted of 1 avocado chopped up, 1 tomato chopped up, 1 chicken breast cooked and chopped up, 1/2 lime squeezed over chicken, and half a lime squeezed over the avocado and tomato mix.... the recipe also called for scallions and cilantro.. but we didn't have that so we used a little red onion and a fresh garlic clove. Then you salt & pepper to taste and ENJOY :) 


While eating our wonderful lunch, we watched Youth in Revolt... I wouldn't recommend it. Then we both had to get ready to bike down to the softball field... we were supposed to have Gabby & Wilma at 5, and Amanda at 5:50... well Gabby was the only one to show up, so a little after 6 we left because Kelsey was being eaten alive by the evil swedish mosquitoes. no joke. 


Once back home, I showered and then ate dinner around 8. We had penne noodles with mushroom sauce made from the mushrooms in the woods. SO GOOD. MmMmM! Then Karin & I made a list of groceries we needed and I went to Coop to grocery shop. 


After putting all the groceries away, I enjoyed a glass of light soy milk, called Grandma, skyped with Mom & Dad... and now I'm about to get ready for bed, read the wonderful book I'm reading at the moment (House Rules by Jodi Picoult), and then head on to sleep. 


ONLY 9 MORE DAYS UNTIL I'M HEADED HOOOMMEEEE!!! :) 

Sunday, September 18, 2011

118

Today was a lazy, relaxing day, with the exception of my 5.25 mile run this morning. My, Kelsey, and I sat around the whole day.. they were both attempting to work on homework while I was playing tetris, looking online, and reading. I started a new book called House Rules by Jodi Picoult... it's very good so far, her books are so deep, though. 


I made myself an egg white omelet for lunch and dinner, very good. I found a healthy avocado chicken salad recipe that Kelsey and I are going to make for our lunch tomorrow. 


I'm watching a movie with Karin & Micke right now, Jumping The Broom, but it's about to end. I can't believe I'm coming home in 10 days! I'm so excited, I can't wait to see all my family and friends :) 


Hopefully I'll stay busy this week so it'll go by fast. 


Hope everyone has a wonderful work week! :) 

Saturday, September 17, 2011

117

I spent the majority of the day baking with Karin & My, today. Around lunchtime, My & I went to the grocery store to get all the ingredients we needed for the baking. 

When we got back, we made the dough for the buns first since it had to rise for about an hour. As that was set aside, Karin & Louisa made homemade bread, and My and I made chocolate nut bars from the Swedish cookbook. 

Once those were done, we got to work on the dough. We each cut off a section, rolled it out, s pread butter on it, and put whatever we wanted in it and rolled it up/folded it and either cut it or twisted them into knots or twists. 

I made some with vanilla sugar & cinnamon, and then I made more with vanilla sugar and cocoa. I had some of the dough, but I didn't try any of them once they were done. 

While I was making the last bit of buns, My made some chocolate brownies with a coconut glaze on top from the cookbook. 

After all the baking, I didn't do much... I tried to motivate myself to workout, but all I ended up doing was a small mix of exercises and then went for a 20 minute walk. 

Karin and Micke came home from cleaning out his grandma's apartment, and his sister came over with groceries to make us dinner. We ate lasagna with squash around 9 pm. 

After that I finished watching a True Blood episode, skyped with Greg, and then got some chocolate milk and went into the living room to see what movie My & Tendra were watching. They were watching Air Bud translated into Swedish.... one of the most entertaining things I've seen. I had no clue what was being said but I thought it was hilarious. 

Now I'm in bed getting ready to read my kindle and head on to sleep. 

Hope everyone's weekend is going great! :) 

Friday, September 16, 2011

116...

This morning I went upstairs to have cereal around 8:45 after hardly any sleep during the night. I tried going back to sleep afterwards but couldn't, so I just got up and watched True Blood and Jersey Shore episodes online. After watching Ellen and having a small lunch, Kelsey and I biked 2.5 miles into town to the grocery store to buy ice cream for tonight. I got Ben & Jerry's Half Baked :) chocolate and vanilla ice cream with chunks of brownie and cookie dough... so good. I ate about 3/4 of it after dinner. 


Once we biked back, I watched another True Blood episode and worked out on the elliptical for 10 minutes, and then did 500 punches on the punching bag. Then I showered and got dressed. 


Karin called and asked for me to start cutting up vegetables to go with our wine & cheese dinner, so I did that, and then we waited for her and Micke to get back from the grocery store. 


Once they were home, I finished cutting vegetables and we brought everything downstairs. We had 7 different kinds of cheeses, a bunch of different kinds of crackers, and vegetables with 2 different dips. I only liked one of the cheeses, it was a cherry cheese, and I also liked the cherry jam that Micke's mom made to go on top of the cheese and cracker. After stuffing myself with that and having a little bit of my apple pie wine, I ate my ice cream. 


We watched Thor while eating, and now we are watching Sucker Punch. I'm not really watching it... it's kind of weird and trippy. 


Tomorrow Karin wants to bake some desserts from my swedish dessert cookbook so I guess I'll be doing that tomorrow. 


Hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep tonight. I think I'm so excited about going home in 12 days that it is effecting my sleep schedule, which is not good bc I'd like to sleep between now and the time I fly home. 


That's all for now :) Night y'all :) 

Thursday, September 15, 2011

115...

Just a warning.. the rest of my posts are probably going to be boring because I have nothing to do for the next 13 days that I am here. 


Today I did a sprint workout, a plyo workout, and went walking with Kelsey. I made egg white omelets for myself for bfast, lunch, and dinner. I biked to the softball field for 2 individual sessions with 4 of the girls, and I drove to the store to buy a couple things for myself. 


Now I'm about to get some soy milk and read my kindle until I decide it's time for bed. 


Tomorrow we are having wine & cheese night :) I'm excited about that... and sometime tomorrow kelsey and I are going to bike to the store to buy Ben & Jerry's ice cream to devour tomorrow night ... I'm deciding between Half Baked or Super New York Fudge Chunk... decisions, decisions. 


Anywho... that's been my day. Hope yall's was more exciting than mine :) 


OH and happy 6 month birthday to my beautiful baby niece, Chloe Taylor :) 

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Day 114

This morning I woke up a little before 6am to get ready for the bakery.. once again I was biking in the rain to get there... I swear, if I have to bike there one more time in the rain, I'm not going back and I'm going home!! OH WAIT! I'll be home in 2 weeks!! YAYYYYY! I'm so excited, I can't wait!

Anyways... I was at the bakery for 3 hours and took some pictures that I posted on facebook. I asked Alex, the baker, if I could bring Kelsey with me next week and he said that was fine... and he asked if we could exchange emails next week so we could exchange recipes lol. I'm not sure if they think I work in a bakery back home or what?

After I biked back to the house I had a glass of soy milk with chocolate powder added :) and then I took an hour and a half nap and woke up in time to watch Robert Pattinson on Ellen :) the episode was from like 6 months ago, but that's ok.

After Ellen, I had my lunch and then went for a 4 mile run. Then I had to bike down to the softball field for the little girls' practice at 5. Kelsey was working with one of the pitcher's on the team, so I was in charge of Louisa, Freja, and Tendra... which is so frustrating when you don't speak the same language.. I'm standing there trying to make them understand by saying random words in swedish and lots of gestures.

Then at 6 we had Josson & Rebecca's individual practice. Kelsey worked with Rebecca on some catching drills, I hit Josson some pop-ups in the outfield.. and then they each hit balls off the T... then it started raining so we packed it up and called it a night.

Once back at the house I showered and went upstairs for dinner... we had homemade pizza and salad so I put 2 pizza squares on my plate and a little bit of salad and Tendra said something in Swedish about how hungry I must be.. I was starving but I thought I was doing good with what was on my plate lol.

I got hungry a few hours later but I had another glass of chocolate soy milk instead of eating something.

I've been getting caught up on True Blood episodes online and they are so good!
But now it's time for bed.. 2 weeks from right now I will be on a plane heading to the Charlotte airport! :))))

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Day 112 & 113

Yesterday I slept in because I was so tired and sore from the games over the weekend. The only thing I really did was go for an hour cardio workout, and then showered and relaxed. I did cook dinner for the whole family last night. I made stuffed chicken breasts filled with a garlic cream cheese spread and a slice of aged cheddar cheese, and on top I put salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and sundried tomatoes and baked them in the oven for about 45 minutes. I made mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables to go with it. I have to admit, the chicken was delicious! After dinner I skyped with Court, and then Grandma, Pepaw, Ronnie, and Uncle Bryan, and then I skyped with Mom, and then Greg later on. 


This morning I woke up around 8 and had breakfast, then went back to sleep for a couple hours :) it rained almost the whole day, so I did a 30 minute elliptical workout in the garage, did 300 punches on the punching bag, and then ate lunch and watched Ellen. At 2 Kelsey came over so we could do a plyo workout that I found online. 


We ate dinner at 4:30, shetfash sauce with noodles and ketchup :) I really like it :) I was supposed to have a fun team practice at 5:30, but because of the weather we cancelled it, so Kelsey and I contacted all the girls to fill in the time slots for individual practices the next couple weeks. 


Around 6, I went with Karin and Tove to walk around for 2 hours and put letters in mailboxes from the company to make a little extra money. I thought it was going to storm on us the whole time because the skies were black and the wind was awful and it sprinkled the whole time. After we finished doing that and took Tove home, Karin and I went to the grocery store to grab a few things. 


Once we were back I finally showered :) and finished my laundry, and then had a couple glasses of chocolate soy milk :) 


Now I am about to head on to sleep. I've got the bakery in the morning. I plan on taking pictures tomorrow, hopefully one of my cameras is charged. If not, I'll take pictures the last morning I'm there. 

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Day 111

Today we played the 3rd game of our "best out of 3" for the semi-final. Unfortunately, we lost 9-7, but we played really well. We were down 9-0 and scored 4 or 5 runs in the 5th, and the rest in the 6th.. but we couldn't do anything in the 7th. 


Neither American pitchers could pitch this game so Ingrid pitched the 1st half and Amanda pitched the 2nd half. I played short stop again and had a few plays. I also had a triple and a double. 


After the game, this man came up to me and said they wanted to give me a shirt because they thought I was the best player in Enkoping... so I got a free tshirt! Then they took my picture with me holding the shirt up in front of me. 


After we got everything picked up off the field, we biked back to the house. Once I showered and had a small lunch, I took an hour nap. 


We ate dinner around 6... rice with pork & steak in a gravy with sweet onions, salad, and bread. Then Karin, My, and I sat and decided what we were going to have for dinner the rest of the week and we made a grocery list so I could go get everything. After I did that, I stopped and picked Fanny up to bring her back to the house. 


I volunteered to cook dinner for everyone tomorrow (9 people).. but I have no idea what to make. I bought a bunch of chicken but I have no clue what to do with it, so any suggestions are very welcome! 


Tonight will probably be an early night for me. My body is so sore and I'm exhausted from this weekend. 


Sad news... today was my last softball game. Ingrid wants us to keep practicing with the girls to help them keep improving, so we are having a fun team practice on Tuesday, and then going back to one-on-one practices with the girls for the next 2 weeks. 


*** Remembering those who lost their lives 10 years ago *** 

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Day 109 & 110

Yesterday I woke up and went for a 3.25 mile run, and then went down to the softball field with Kelsey, Ingrid, and Emelie to try and soak up all the water that was flooding the infield and outfield. We were there for 2.5 hours with shovels, buckets, and sponges trying to get rid of the water, and then we had to weed the field again so it would look nice for the semi-final games we played today. 


They brought me back to the house at 4, I had some fruit and a sandwich, and then had to bike back down to another field at 5:30 for practice. At 7, we biked back.. I showered and then we all had dinner. Karin & Micke made pork chops in gravy, potato salad, bread, and regular salad. 


This morning we biked down to the field at 10 for our semi-final games at 12 & 2. We ended up winning the 1st game 2-1, but we lost the 2nd game 19-14. There are no mercy rules or time limits in the semifinal games.. so our 2nd game took 3 hours. It was exhausting. I had  a triple in the 1st game and a few more hits throughout the 2 games, and in the 2nd game I had a diving stop on short stop where I threw the girl out at first from my knees. My, our 2nd baseman, got hurt during the 2nd game and had to go to the hospital, so the team kind of lost the momentum after that. She had some x-rays done on her knee, and they told her if it's still bothering her in 8 wks then she needs to get an MRI to make sure it's not her ACL. 


Finally at 5:15, we biked back to the house and showered. Then Kelsey came over and we started making dinner for My, Wilma, Louisa, Pontus, and his friend. I had to drive Karin to a party out in the country so Kelsey ended up doing most of the cooking. We cooked cheesy fries and fried chicken legs for the kids, and Kelsey and I cooked chicken breasts for ourselves and put them on wraps... and we all ate carrots & cauliflower with dips. 


Once we got the kitchen all cleaned up, Kelsey and I were in the mood for dessert so we made the cinnamon roll cake that I made last night for the concession stand at our games for this wknd. We cut the recipe in half though and enjoyed it with some milk. It was like a huge yummy cinnamon roll. 


Now I'm about to go to bed... we have one more game tomorrow at 12 since we split today. If we win, we play in the finals the next 2 weekends... if we lose, we are done. Neither Kelsey nor the american pitcher for Leksand can pitch in tomorrow's game, so it should be an interesting game. 


18 days until I'm home! 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Day 108

Today has worn me out! I woke up at 9:15 this morning and had breakfast.... then since it was raining, I did a 30 minute plyometric workout in the house, followed by a 4 minute high intensity workout, followed by some pushups and abs. Then I showered and got ready to meet Kelsey to bike down to the indoor gym so we could swim in the pool. 


The facility had a big pool with swimming lanes, where I swam a lot of laps, and then they had a really deep pool with 3 different diving boards, all different heights. I jumped off of each one.. I dove off of the 2nd highest and completely misjudged how far I was from the water, so my legs went up over my head and smacked the water. It kinda hurt. So I just jumped off the highest one and even that hurt the bottoms of my feet. 


After swimming for about an hour, we washed off and biked to the store so I could buy some apples, and then we met Emelie, a girl on our team, at Ingrid's to play some games. We ended up playing a lot of games of sequence and then Uno. 


After that, Emelie and I left and went to our houses. I ate dinner around 6:15, we had pork chops, potatoes, and salad. Afterwards, I took the car to the grocery store to buy groceries for the household. I finally found some light soy milk that tastes really good! And I bought some white tea pomegranate that I tried tonight and it's really good too. 


I haven't been doing much since then... I skyped with Greg, called Mom, and tried calling Dad. Now I am about to read a little and go to sleep! 

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Day 107

This morning I had my alarm set for 6 AM for the bakery, but I woke up around 4:45 AM and couldn't really go back to sleep... 


SO once my alarm finally went off I got dressed and biked down to the bakery. I got there around 6:45 AM and was with Alex again because Heleana is still with her daughter at the hospital. I was at the bakery for 4 hours and did a lot. Let's see... I took dough to the dough/fondant thinner machine and rolled out dough to put on this platter that goes in a machine and it makes dough balls that I have to transfer onto baking sheets. There were 6 big clumps of dough that I had to do that with. Then I spread cinnamon glaze on big pieces of dough that Alex had rolled out, and after he folded them and cut them into slips, I twisted them into cinnamon knots and transferred them to baking sheets. Then I put orange pieces on another and did the same with those. 


Then I had to slice logs of cookie dough and place them on baking sheets. After that, I was told that the old guy who couldn't speak English needed help, so Alex showed me what to do... the old guy rolled chocolate truffles in melted chocolate, and then I rolled them in chocolate sprinkles. Well little man was too quick for me and trying to tell me what to do in swedish and the sprinkles weren't sticking because the chocolate was already drying... finally I figured out that I needed to be quicker and got a nice "BRA!" from the man.. which means good. 


Once we finished rolling the truffles, I walked back over and saw that Alex had rolled out 44 (yes, 44) circles of dough, and I had to glaze them all, and then sprinkle almond slivers on 10 of them, fruit pieces on 10 more, chocolate drops on 9 of them, orange pieces on 10 of them, and nothing on the 5 that had cinnamon glaze. 


Once I finished that, I had to roll them all into logs, place 5 on a baking sheet, and then take scissors and cut them to where they look really cool. It's hard to explain, but next week I am taking my camera so I will take pictures and hopefully be doing the same thing so I can show yall! However, the scissors gave my finger a blister because I had to cut all 44 logs into designs. 


After I finished that, it was time to clean up. So I scraped the table down like I do every wednesday, and then I told him I would clean the dishes because I've been doing that every wednesday as well. The dishes always take me a long time because there are so many and I have to wash them by hand... WELL Alex came up to me today after he finished mopping and said "you don't have to do that" and stuck the board that I had put all the hand washed dishes on into this machine, shut the door, flipped a switch, and it started washing them and was finished in like 10 seconds. I looked at him and said "you realize I've been hand washing these every week?" He thought that was funny. 


I finally left at 10:45 and had to bike back in the rain. Once I got back, I put my apron and shirt in the washer, showered, and ate cereal. Then I started watching a movie but turned it off because I needed a nap. I slept from 1-3. 


Then at 4:45 I had to bike down to the field for the little girls practice. The field was flooded with puddles so we had to use wiffle balls off to the side with them... and then our practice was moved inside from 6:30-8. 


After practice, we biked back to the house... I showered and then we ate salmon, salad, and potatoes. 


Now I am in bed with some hot tea and about to read my kindle and head on to sleep. 






Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Day 105 & 106

Yesterday morning after I had a bowl of cereal, I laid back in bed for awhile, and then decided to go for an interval run. I walked for 30 seconds and ran for 1 minute for 5.2 miles (46 min), and then walked for 20 minutes. 


I relaxed for awhile back at the house, and then got bored so I went for a bike ride into town to shop around. I tried on some clothes at H&M but didn't buy anything. Then I biked to an area near the softball field called Vattenparken (Water Park) that just has a few small ponds, and I sat at one of the picnic tables and read for about 30 minutes. 


I biked back to the house around 4:30 and showered, then sat around relaxing until we ate Flying Jacob for dinner at 5:45. I really like that meal... it is rice and then the sauce it cream based with chili sauce and has chicken, peanuts, banana slices, and you can put bacon slices in it. And you put the sauce on top of the rice. It doesn't sound like a good combination but I think it is SOOO good! So I was starving and ate a bunch of that. 


After awhile I got bored again so I went for a 40 minute walk around the bike paths listening to my ipod. It rained lightly on me almost the whole time. 


After skyping with mom and then court & chloe, I went to sleep. 


This morning I woke up early and went upstairs for breakfast. Then I went downstairs and watched a couple movies with Karin. She stayed home from work for the 2nd day not feeling well. Kelsey came over as we were starting the 2nd movie. After that movie ended, Kelsey left and I decided to go for a 4 mile run. When I got back I did a few more exercises in the house and then grabbed an apple and a few slices of fruit bread for my lunch. 


At 5:15 I biked down to the softball field for practice. After biking back to the house around 8 pm, I showered, checked emails and facebook, and then had cereal and an apple for dinner. 


Now I have a mug of chocolate milk and my kindle in bed :) I will be with the baker again tomorrow morning, but last week when I asked him what time he wanted me there he said whenever I wanted to come... so instead of 4 or 5 AM, I will wake up at 6 and get there around 6:30 :) 


I hope everyone had a nice and relaxing Labor Day weekend! 

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Day 104

This morning I woke up and made myself a blueberry and banana smoothie before we headed out to the woods to pick mushrooms. We had NO luck at all finding mushrooms... however, My, Kelsey, and I found a lot of bones... kind of creepy. My stomach started hurting while we were out in the woods, so when we got back to the house, I showered and took a 2 hour nap. 


I felt better when I woke up, so I biked down to the field to hit some with Kelsey and Ingrid. After that, I biked back to the house, took another shower, and got on the computer until it was time for dinner. 


We had "make your own salad" for dinner tonight. We cut up a lot of veggies, made some pesto pasta noodles, boiled some eggs, had cut up ham and crawfish, and took our plates downstairs and watched Limitless while we ate. 


Now I am going to read a little and head on to sleep. Took yesterday and today off from running, so gotta get back into it tomorrow. 


Hope everyone's having a great labor day weekend! 

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Day 103

I slept in really late this morning, 11:30. I went in the living room to see if Kelsey was up yet, and we just sat around for a little while. I had some cereal around 1:30, and then at 2 we put in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. I told her now she HAS to watch the next one with Jessica Biel in it because that's my favorite one. 


Once the movie was over, I changed into some warmer clothes for the ice skating rink, and we biked to Ingrid's so Kelsey could grab Ingrid's skates, and then we biked to the rink to meet up with Emelie and Linnea. Linnea let me borrow her skates and we skated free from 5-6. We had SO much fun. There are a few pictures and a video posted on my facebook wall if you wanna take a look! 


When we left, we biked to the store because I wanted to buy chocolate covered nuts. Then we both biked back to our houses. After being on the computer a little while, I showered and then grabbed a bowl of cereal for dinner, and ate A LOT of the chocolate nuts. We started watching a movie in the living room, but turned it off bc the quality wasn't great and the subtitles weren't in Swedish so they wanted to wait and watch it when there were swedish subtitles. They bought a new 3D 60 inch TV today with surround sound... it's VERY nice, but kind of complicated to figure out. 


Now I am going to read and head on to sleep. We are going blueberry/mushroom picking in the woods tomorrow at 11am. I might take my book and if I get tired of picking I'll find a spot and read :) haha


Hope yall are having a great weekend and enjoying the start of another season of college football! 

Day 102

Yesterday I woke up early and had breakfast, and then went for a 5k run. 
Afterwards, I made a list of groceries I needed, and biked to the plumbing business to get Karin's card, then biked to the store and bought all my groceries, took her back her card, and biked back to the house. I was so loaded down with groceries I had to walk my bike up all the hills :) 


Once I was back, Kelsey came over and we made chocolate chip waffle cookies to take to practice because we promised the girls we would bring them "treats" this week at practice during the tournament. 


After we made the cookies, we started making the dips for our "mexican" night we were having with My after practice. We made a layer dip consisting of refried beans, sour cream & cream cheese, salsa, chopped up: lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, and green onions, and then topped it with shredded cheese. We also made homemade guacamole. We put garlic cloves on the stove until they were soft and brown and then peeled them and chopped them into tiny pieces and mixed them in with the avocados. Added lime juice and then mashed it all up and added some salt. Then we made some cheese dip from a packet. They were all sooooo good. 


We decided since it was Friday we would have a "Friday Fun Day" at practice. But when we got to practice we made them think it was going to be a hard practice with a lot of running. We split up into teams, 4 girls on my team and 4 girls on Kelsey's team, and we kept score of all the points we racked up with each different game we played. We all had a lot of fun. My team ended up winning by a total of 1 more point than Kelsey's :) haha. 


Afterwards, I hurried and biked back to shower and then started browning the ground beef and then the chicken. Once Kelsey came over we took all the food downstairs and watched I Am Number 4 while eating. 


Then the 3 of us took Ludde for a walk, came back, and we were gonna watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but Kelsey and My were too scared so I made them promise me they would watch it this afternoon with me. We finally decided to watch Just Go With It around midnight. The movie ended at 2 am and we were EXHAUSTED so we all headed to sleep. 

Thursday, September 1, 2011

DAY 101

This morning I tried to sleep in, but I woke up at 8:15, so I went upstairs and had some cereal. Then I changed into running clothes and went for an hour run. 


At 12 Kelsey biked over and we biked into town where she ate a salad. I was still full from my cereal so I passed. Then we went to a small shop where I bought a few things, and then we biked further into town to the plumbing business where I picked up Karin's card so I could get a few groceries from the store. I biked her card back to her and then we biked the groceries back to the house. 


Once I put the groceries away, I had a small lunch and read. Then I biked down to the field at 5 where Kelsey and I worked with one of the girls on catching. I left early to get back and shower before dinner was going to be ready. I saw they were having waffles with cream and jelly, and decided I would just make a sandwich. 


A little later I had an apple and some chocolate milk, skyped with Court, Greg, and Dad. Now I'm waiting to see if Mom gets on so I can skype with her and then go to bed! 


Tomorrow it'll just be me, Kelsey, My, and Tove at the house so Kelsey and I are making mexican food. I've been looking up healthy guacamole and cheese dip recipes online. If you know of any good bean dip and/or any other good mexican dishes let me know! :)