A break from the swedish winter

Ronny and I have been in New Orleans for a little over a month now.
We decided that the winter months would be a good time for visiting with the fam in hot Louisiana.

So many things going on, so much to look forward to back in sweden.

I've promised myself I really am going to put more effort into learning the language, this time around.

My limited vocabulary of,
"Jag förstår lite svenska men inte tala för mycket"
(I understand a little swedish but don't speak to much),
"Pizza och glass på Ikea, 10 kr, ja tack!"
(Pizza and ice cream at Ikea, for a buck 50, yes please!)...
...isn't really getting me to far.

I found these awesome dishes on sale at Macy's and at the spur of the moment decided to buy six sets of them (biting fingernails now).
Not really thinking how much of a pain in the ass (and expensive) it's going to be to get them all back to sweden in one piece.
All I was thinking was how plain and boring the cheap Ikea dishes are. Blaaa.
The only thing I could come close to finding that I liked was some at Indiska..




But for 199 SEK, $30 a plate(!) they can have em!

Back in the states

Well, it's been exactly one month since my last post and I am now in New Orleans.
Decided to come back for a visit with the family.
Although, August & September aren't my favorite months in good 'ole Louisiana. It has definitely been a big change from the swedish summer. Much more humid and just a tad bit warmer.
OK, so a LOT warmer.

My niece just started 1st grade at a new school. She loves it. She looks so cute in her uniform.


It's been really nice being back home and being able to spend time with the fam and watch my niece grow into being her own little person.
It's so crazy thinking about how fast time flies.
The more time I spend with her, the more I realize how long I have been away and how fast she is becoming an individual.
Thus, the older I feel.

Yea, yea, I'm only 27, but hell, that's almost 30.
I have to remind myself sometimes that I'm not a kid anymore.
I've gotta remember to make every day the best day, and to take full advantage of every moment.

On another note...

I made a birthday cake for a friend of my Mom and sister. She just recently had a boob job, so we thought a boob cake would be fitting. ;-)

Lots of planting

I just finished planting 40 thuja bushes yesterday, along the border of the fence in the front of the house. If all goes well they should grow to 7 or 8 feet, giving us a nice privacy fence.

Although, we live down a road with just a handful of other houses, it's not like we need much privacy, but it's always nice to look out and see greenery.

I also put in three rhododendron plants. Spending a lot of time in North Carolina throughout the years and seeing rhododendrons growing wild all along the Appalachian Trail and beyond, I never really thought people actually planted these things in there gardens.

I haven't done to much research on them, I'm not sure if these are the same variety that you find in the states, but the folks in Scandinavia love these winter hardy bushes.

They bloom during the summer and I have to admit are quite beautiful, but I never thought of them as being something as special as they are.

It has been raining almost constantly the past couple of weeks with a few days of sun here and there.

The roof on the barn is in dire need of being replaced. With all of this rain we keep looking out the window thinking that we will see the whole thing collapsed.

The tomato plants are huge!

So far three zuchinni's have blessed us with there presence and a few cherry tomatoes ( I ate them as I was standing in the greenhouse of course).

Is this spring or summer?

It doesn't even really feel like summer.

The last three weeks have been really nice, warm & sunny.

The last few days on the other hand...

I suppose we needed the rain, it has been quite dry.

I had been going full force for those few nice weeks. Putting in new garden beds, planting flowers, playing in the dirt, cutting grass, brainstorming on where I could put what vegetable beds for next spring, and just exploring the property and what it really had to offer.

Friday and Saturday have really reminded me of how lazy the weather can make you feel. I look out the window, see the wind blowing through the trees, the grey clouds, the rain drops falling and all I want to do is stay in my sweatpants and veg out on the couch.

The sun really can fill you with energy. Like endorphins pumping through your veins almost, at least when you have been somewhat sun deprived for what seems like months.

I have been thinking of how fast the summer will fly by.

Fall will be here before I even get a chance to feel satisfied enough with what I have accomplished around the garden and by then it will be to cold to lay out on the hammock (which hasn't been hung yet) and really soak up all the rays, while drifting in and out of sleep.

I often think I should slow down and just take a day or two off from doing things that need to or I would like to get done and do just that, lay in the grass, nap under the sun, but then I remember how fast these nice days will go by.

Well, I suppose the rainy days are good rest opportunities.

We went to the garden center yesterday. I found snapdragons.

I was SO excited.

The last time I remember seeing them is when I was in North Carolina. I worked for a man that grew them for a living, helping him to plant seeds, put the new plants in the ground when they were mature enough, and just keeping busy outside making sure it all ran smoothly so that the local funeral homes would be supplied with there weekly shipments for the dead, and loved ones of course.

He grew hydroponic lettuce before he decided to make the switch to the colorful beauties. He said all the green was really starting to get to him.

To see the love he had for these plants made me realize how much of a health beneficiary than can be.

He also grew sunflowers. He had a big field of them, he purposely planted them on the road up to his house, just so he could drive past them each time he was coming and going. He always got a slight grin on his face when he drove by.

We got 18 young plants, just starting to bloom for 90 kronor (about $12). I have yet to put them in yet because of the rain, but I will be enjoying there beauty soon enough.

Living in By

Deciding to move to Sweden from the states was definitely a big decision, but not one that I was to intimidated by. I looked at it more as an adventure.

Learning a new language (something I have yet to conquer) has always been something that intrigued me. As well as traveling, experiencing new things, meeting different types of people and well, just understanding and realizing that there are many ways of living.

Making this move has not only given me those things but also helped me to really live them out and understand even more of the their true meaning.

Being blessed to travel around the U.S, during a peak time of blossoming in my life, my early twenties, gave me a unique perspective on life and what it has to offer. I realized from a point early on, that I don't have to fill a certain mold, to live a certain way, to be considered successful by others. As long as I was happy and doing things that made me happy I considered myself successful, and that was what really mattered.

I seemed to thrive in situations that were different. I love putting myself in places that I don't really understand or recognize. It always reminds me of how small I really am in the grand scheme of things.

Since moving to Sweden I have somewhat become accustomed to the swede way of living.

Fully taking advantage of every ray of sunshine between the months of May and August, because that's about what ya get, LOTS of coffee, fresh baked bread and sweet rolls, taking the time to talk to your neighbors while enjoying lots of strong coffee and fresh baked bread and sweet rolls, and LOTS of coffee.

Keep in mind that By (pronounced- BEE) is a small place.

Enjoying your neighbors company is just as important as a good cup of coffee. ;-)

The summer months here are coveted by everyone. Enjoying the singing birds, the colorful trees and flowers in bloom, and storing up as much Vitamin D as possible before the winter creeps it's way back in, is all necessity.

Garden centers here make a killing as soon as it's warm enough outside to sit for more than a few minutes. Everyone is anxious to get there hands in the dirt and get done what was put off last fall and winter.

I sit here on the porch, looking out at the swedish flag we hung the first week we moved in, it's flapping in the wind, the sun is reflecting off of it's yellow and deepening the blue.

A volvo just drove by.

Yup, I'm definitely in Sweden.