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!!!!!!!!

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! :) 

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 :) 

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... :) 

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! :) 

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!!! :) 

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! :)