Birthday party

Carrie and I teamed up to celebrate our birthdays that are coming up. We had some really yummy pizza. Ok, it still is not as good as Swedish pizza but it was not bad.. actually really good. It was a really fun group with lots of laughs. After dinner we went to the Holiday Club and danced to some 80s and 90s songs. Good times! It was so great to hang out with everyone before we take off to go to Sweden. Here are some photos from last night:

Christmas train

This work week has been really busy, since I am not going to be in the office for 3 weeks. Horray!! I am going to Sweden.. I did survive the work week even though it looked pretty bad there for a while, since of course it is a million things that need to be completed this week. However, the highlight of the work week was on Thursday when I left for an hour to catch the CTA holiday train. The holiday train is a crazy decorated subway train with Santa and his sleigh and elfs handing out candy canes. Yes, it was fabulous and so fun. The train is awesome!! Go to the link below to see a video of it. Do it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_-licz-QTY

Weekend of Julebord and other fun

It was my company's Christmas party Friday. It is more like a nice luncheon with drinks and we all get to leave work early, which is nice. Matt and I was suppose to go to a friends house that night but it was just too cold and snowy out so we tried to get a car from the 'car share program' that we belong too.. but it ended up us waiting about 40 min in a cold garage and no one came with the car.. so we were pretty grumpy and never went to our friends house. Instead we went to the movies and saw the movie "Juno" which was really cute. Saturday was a really busy day. We started out with running down to the museum and helped put things in order for the Julebord, which is the annual Scandinavian Christmas party, after that we went home too cook food for it. I mad meatballs (thank you IKEA), oven-baked potatoes and egg halves with caviar. My brother, Niclas and his wife Autumn and their friend Scott also came over and we had a little mini-Christmas and then we all went to the party. The Julebord was a lot of fun (as always). We had lots of good Scandinavian food and lots of snaps and drinking songs. I also got to do the "speech to the men" this year. I was a bit nervous but I really think it turned out ok. After dinner we dances to some ABBA and Ace of Base. Good times. Sunday was mostly spent laying around being lazy. The only productive thing I did was to finally finish all my Christmas cards. I actually think they will arrive before Christmas this year.

The only sad thing with the party was that we took lots of photos but for some reason when we checked the camera Sunday most of them were deleted. I blame too much snaps and my husband (hi hi), he claims I probably deleted them.. Anyway, here are at least 2 of the photos that were still on the camera. One of me and the "Swedish girls" and one of Niclas, Autumn and Scott with a massive amount of empty beer bottles in front of them.

Out Second Anniversary!!

Yes, today is St. Lucia day and we will be heading to church to celebrate because I have my last choir performace (hurray!!) in the Lutheran church in Andersonville. Yes, this day is a national holiday in Sweden but what is more important about today is that it is my second wedding anniversary. Congrats Matt!! You put up with me for one more year. We will be heading to dinner tonight and then I was actually a sweet wifey and bought him a present. It is something 'cotton' since we are following the traditional wedding gifts.

no blogging

I really have no other excuse for not blogging in so long other than... being lazy and things have been busy. I have had a bunch of choir performances. We had one on Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, and Monday night. I am tired of singing now. The weekend went by way to fast since it was jammed packed with performances. I did go to my coworkers 30th birthday party on Saturday night and stayed out way too long. We did not get into bed until 2.30 am and the next morning at 7.30 am we left the house to run in a race. My friend Elin had 2 people that decided not to run in a charity run so we could take those bib numbers. Not the smartest idea. It was inches of snow and ice and freezing cold. No idea why we were crazy enough to run the race. The race was called the rudolph ramble and was originially suppose to be a 8 K race but they shortened it to 5 K. It was the hardest 5 K, I have ever ran since you had to try to trek through sluschy snow.

Graduation Day!

Today I graduated from physical Therapy. It has been almost 5 months of it now and when I think about how I first hobbled in there I felt like I really have made a great improvement. Sure my knee is still stiff and I am a lot slower than I used to be, but I am planning on running races again next year. It has been kind of nice to have your own personal trainer so I am definitely going to miss that. Also I cannot skip work for an hour or so on Tuesday and Thursday anymore. Maybe I shouldn't tell my boss about graduating just yet.

Christmas Spirit

We cleaned, did laundry and put up the Christmas decorations. Yes, a perfectly lazy Sunday. Here is a photo of our nice tree.

Lucia

Jag har gatt med i Chicago Nordic Choir igen efter att jag annu en gang inbillat mig att jag kan sjunga. Jag var ju med forra aret men hoppade av i sommras pga operationerna. Vart forsta upptradande var igar pa museet (Swedish-American Museum) dar det var julmarknad. Jag behovde inte sta och sjunga falskt denna gang eftersom jag skulle vara lucia. Sa det enda jag behovde gora va att sta dar och hoppas att inte for mycket stearin droppade i mitt har/ansikte. Det var verkligen ett jattevackert upptradande av koren och valdigt stamningsfullt. Jag hadde pluggat in en lucia dikt som jag skulle lasa upp.. jag blev lite sjalvklart for nervos och missade en mening i dikten men de flesta kunde ju inte svenska dar som tur var! lite irriterande men och alla sa att det knappt marktes .. det tog nagra timmar att fa ut allt stearin ur haret ocksa. Men det var jattefint och kul och nasta helg sa har vi 3 upptradaden igen. Bara ett utav dem ar lucia upptradande.. de andra tva ar julkonserter sa da far jag vara med och sjunga och slipper oroa mig for stearin och lasa dikter.

Thanksgiving

We were invited to the Regan's Thanksgiving dinner this year. It was such a good time. Lots of good food: turkey, mashed potatoes, salads and yummy pies. We ate lots and lots of food and then we played a couple of games of ping pong. Well, since it was a tournament and I am not very good at ping pong. I really did not play that much. I was eliminated from the games pretty quick. On Friday all the girls went shopping. It is suppose to be the biggest shopping day of the year. The stores open at 5 am (!). Yes, pretty insane. We rolled out of Holly's house around 10.30 am and the only store we really went to were target. I was actually expecting it to be worse: more people shopping and more deals. I did buy a bunch of mittens for $1 otherwise I really did not shop that much. After that we went to "Fred Claus". I was acutally suprised how good that movie was. Really recommend it. Friday night was our friends Holly's and Phil's birhtday party. We went to a italian restaurant and then out to the bars. I was actually one of the first ones going to bed since I was so tired but some of our friends and Matt they stayed up playing flippy cup until 4ish. I felt old and needed my sleep. Saturday we drove back home again. We have been cleaning, doing laundry and put up christmas decorations. Oh.. I totally forgot to say this but we rented a car and it ended up taking forever to get a car from them since they did not have any cars at the rental place. Eventually we got a car and it was a convertible mustang. Yes, Matt loved the car and it was fun to drive but not really the right time of the year for a car like that.. hence, we really never took the top down considering it is freezing cole and it was snowing.

Turkey Trot

I ran my first post-surgery race on Thanksgiving day. It was a 8 Km race, in the snow and frigid cold. It was a lot of fun and my goal was to run without any pain in the knee and finish under 50 min. I did. Matt ran the race too, he is going to be my new running buddy now. He promised to start training and running with me since I have to pretty much start over as a runner anyway. It felt good to start the day with a race even if it was not the best weather. It made eating pumpkin pie and turkey later guilt free.

The Foggy City

Last weekend we were in San Francisco. We met up with my sister Mari and her boyfriend Janne. It is always a good time with those two. We touristed, but had frequent stops at bars/ restaurants. I really liked San Francisco, it is a beatiful city with lots of hills. However, it was really foggy and the weather changed quickly and drasticly. It could be 65 and sunny and a couple of minutes later it is freezing and foggy. We actually never really got to see the Golden Gate Bridge. We actually took a cruise out to see it, but it was so foggy that you could almost not see the bridge even when you were right under it!! It was so great to see my sister and Janne. Lots of laughs and too much food. My favorite was the alcatraz tour.

Leaving for San Francisco

This week went by so fast. The weekend was so much fun. I had girls night both friday and saturday. A lot of good food, drinks and lots of girley talk. Saturday night we even played flippy cup until 4 am. I was so tired (i.e. hung over) the next day. I had my last Swedish class this tuesday and I showed the movie Offside. I LOVE that movie and I think that my students had fun too. Today Matt and I are flying to San Francisco to go meet up with my sister Mari and her boyfriend Janne. Should be a crazy fun time. The weather has really become cold here in Chicago. I had a hat, gloves, scarf etc. on today and I was still freezing. It feels good to be heading out to California today and forget about this cold weather. so have I made you jealous yet?
I posted some photos from the girls night with my Swedish friends.

He has been cheating on me

Yes, Matt has been cheating on me during the last couple of weeks. He has been seeing his mistress 'WORK' way too much. Today he will have spent 100 hours with this work during the last 7 weeks.. that is like 2 1/2 extra work weeks. It has been insane. I kind of miss him and I am glad that the busy season will be over soon. The good thing this year is that he will be paid for his overtime this year so he will actually get a christmas bonus this year. His first Christmas bonus actually. I think he needs to buy his wife something nice and sparkly after all this cheating.

Farväl Falkenberg

We saw the movie Farväl Falkenberg at the Swedish Museum yesterday. It is a really deep and emotional movie and I am not sure if I loved it or hated it. I know for sure that left me with lots of emotions and questions which I think is something most movies don't so that is good, right? One of my childhood friends now live in Falkenberg area. This movie wasn't really a good ad for Falkenberg, but we are still going to go visit her and it will be interesting to see it with ones own eyes now after seeing the movie. I am really happy it is Friday today. This weekend is going to be full of "girls nights". I am going home to my friend Jodie tonight for girls night with all my American friends and then tomorrow I am going home to Elisa's for girls night with all the Swedish girls. Now I can compare if there are cultural differences to girls night.. stay tuned!

Work Retreat

So we had a work retreat yesterday. I know what you are thinking we went to a spa or something. The word retreat means to 'take time to reflect or meditate'. Our work retreat was held on the top floor on our building and it was an all day presentation of the various groups in our department. It should have been called a day 'full of long presentations' instead. I feel a bit cheated. At least we got a free lunch.

Iowa State wins!

Matt and I went back to Ames, Iowa, to tailgate, go to a football game and hang out with our friend Tracy and Greg. It was cold tailgate with lots of hot chocolate (and peppermint snaps), a great game and fun seeing the campus. I did however feel like an old person, since we went home from the bars around 11 pm. All the college kids look so young too..

Halloween party

We went to a Halloween party Saturday night. It was a really scary (but lots of fun) bash. I decided to be original och crafty and wanted to be something Swedish and decided to dress up as a Swedish Maypole (midsommar stang). It kind of more turned out to look like a dressed up bush with flowers... plus it was really hard to keep my arms out all night. I got tired. And I did smell like the forest. So the Maypole idea was original but not that practical. Matt went as "Office Legoman". He built the whole costume and it was pretty impressive. Sunday we were hung over tired and hungover so we were mainly just watching TV, being lazy all day. Today I was going to have my last physical theraphy but I wasn't ready to "graduate" so they extended it for another 4 weeks. Which is actually fine with me because I enjoy it, it is kind of like having your own personal trainer, but a lot cheaper.

Getting ready for Halloween

This week went by really fast. Last weekend we showed your apartment and got told we were going to get an offer. This made me really happy because we have been trying to sell for a very long time, unfortunatly the deal did not fall through. Well, at least now we don't have to move which sounds like a lot of work. Thursday my brother, Niclas and his wife Autumn came to Chicago. We went out to eat and hung out at bars with them. It was great seeing them again. Now Matt and I are working on our Halloween costumes. Matt decided to be a Lego man. He has been building the head from styrophome and I really did not have much faith in his project but it is starting to look really great. I decided to be a Swedish Maypole (midsommarstang). I am worried that I might just look like a walking tree/bush instead. We still have a couple of hours until we need to leave so hopefully it will turn out ok. We have 2 parties tonight, but luckily the parties are on the same block. Yes, when does that ever happen. So now we can pick and choose and jump from one party to the other. Happy Halloween!!

Bend it like Beckham

Our friend Kristi got us tickets to the Chicago Fire vs. La Galaxy game today. That means that we got to see David Beckham play. The weather was awesome today. Sunny and warm, does not at all feel like in the middle of October. It was 75 F (25 C) today. So we drove to the southern suburbs and watched the soccer game. It was such a good atmosphere at the game and Chicago Fire was definitely dominating the game. David Beckham did not start the game but they put him in after about 60 min so we got to see him play. He did a great job, too bad that the rest of the LA galaxy team is not that good. Chicago Fire ended up scoring in the last minute and won the game. Fireworks and crazy celebrations!!


The guy on the left is David Beckham... he is pretty.

End of the weekend

So now it is Sunday and I have not blogged this whole week. Don't have any good excuses actually more than, I was lazy. This week went by fast. It was hard to get back to work after all the traveling and vacation I had. You could tell too because on Monday I was close to 2 hours late to work. The power had gone out so the alarm clock never went off.. anyway I pretty much got used to it by Friday since by then I was finally getting into work on time. I had to do major cleaning on Friday because we had a condo showing. It was the first showing we had had since July. We had both given up on selling the condo so it was good that someone came by. They seemed really interested and so did their realtor so please cross your fingers for us. Saturday night Matt and I went to the Swedish Charity Ball. Matt had done the program for the evening so we got to go for free. It was fun to be at a fancy event.

Back in Chicago!

So now we are back in Chicago and it is so cold here. I came from 90 F (30 C) to a 40 F (8 C). I need to get my winter coats out of the closet. It feels good to be home again. New Orleans was a lot of fun but there is no describing it. I don't think I want to go out and eat or go to a bar for a month now. It is Lindas last day today (no!!) so we are going to go shopping and run the last errands today.

Baby Gator!

We went on a swamp tour the last day in New Orleans. Apparently alligators love marshmallows, so if you are camping in the swamp make sure you have a bunch with you to divert any possible alligator attack. The tour was a lot of fun and we actually got to hold some baby gators. I was thinking of asking Matt if I could keep one. They are adorable!. I kind of feel bad since last night we had alligator at the restaurant.. and yes it tastes like chicken.

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Tired in New Orleans

I just woke up from a nap so I am tired. My conference is coming to an end today. It has too much work during the days and way to much fun on Bourbon street. New Orleans has been a lot of fun but it seems like the party is never stopping. Linda did have one too many hurricanes one night other than that we have been bar hopping a lot and I even sang some bad (isn't it always) karaoke one night. Last night we had a night in and just ordered a movie to watch. New Orleans is really a beautiful city. The French quarter and the Garden District is really nice. We took a cemetery tour today and got to learn a lot about why this is called "the city of the dead". Tomorrow we are heading out on a swamp tour and will hopefully not be fed to the alligators.

This is a photo of Bourbon street before the craziness starts, a photo of me and my alligator, and of me and Linda at the Cemetery tour.

The Big Easy

Linda and I arrived at New Orleans yesterday. I am here for a conference and Linda came with me for company. I don't really know at all how to even start describing this city for those that have not been here. The street outside is lined with palm trees and it is hot and humid. I somehow wasn't expecting it to be so tropical, but as was pointed out to me we are on the gulf of mexico.. Our hotel is right on one of the ends of bourbon street in the French Quarters. We went out last night and I never expected it to be such a party. The streets and bars are full of people drinking, partying and what-not.. Balconies are full of people throwing beads. It is a crazy party here. We were a bit overwhelmed and actually went back to the hotel early Saturday night. It was a bit too crazy for us. We are going to head out again tonight. Wish us luck and I will post photos soon.

Friday night Boating

So we got invited to go on a boat trip on one of my Swedish students boats. She and her husband had a gorgeous boat. She had 2 other couples from Sweden visiting so she wanted to show all the Swedes a good time. It was such a fun time and I have never seen Chicago this way before. We went up the river and also out on the lake and saw the fireworks off Navy Pier. It was such a good time and I am so happy she invited us to go. I posted some fun pictures from the Friday night adverture.

Shop-oholic

I took today and Friday off this week so that I could spend more time with Linda. We went downtown and went to the navy pier and shopping. I actually went on the Ferris Wheel, after years of years of living here I, it seems like the only time we do any Chicago stuff is when people are in town. After that we went shopping. I as always shop way too much.. why does a girl really need 50 pairs of shoes? The weather is so great still for October so I think that Linda and I will actually go to the beach tomorrow. I am really having a great time and I am so happy to have a visitor.

Back from Vegas

Here are some photos from Vegas. We stayed at a really nice hotel, unfortunatly I had to work a lot. The conference were over on Friday night and we went to a hotel on the strip and had a crazy night out...I lost about 27 dollars on slots. I don't gamble so I am blaming this bad decision on too many beers.




Saturday we flew home and got back to Chicago. We had dinner at our house that night. Linda made her famous Taco Pie and Jodie also came over. We were a bit tired and worn out after Las Vegas but we did play some fierce card games. Today is Monday again and I was at work, but I am only working until Wednesday this week since I want to spend sometime with Linda. So I am almost half way through the work week. Matt got a haircut today too. He looks less like a troll now and more like himself.

Sweet-@ss Suite

Pardon my language. Linda arrived yesterday and I wisked her off to Las Vegas pretty much right away. I am here for a conference and she is tagging along for company, shopping and laying at the pool. We arrived at the Marriott hotel and we got the suite. It is 2 bedrooms, 3 baths with a wrap around balcony overlooking the pool. Yes, rock star style suite. This place is much bigger then my apartment!! It's awesome and I will post pictures soon of it.

The weekend is too short

This weekend went by so fast. I really did not do much at all, but it still felt like it went by fast. I biked a lot on Saturday. It was my mode of transportation to go and hang out with people. I biked down to where my friends were playing innebandy (floorball). I still cannot play of course but I went there to hang out with people and go with them to Tre Kronor to have brunch. It is by far the best brunch in Chicago. After that I biked to Lincoln park and went to see the end of the chicago cubs game at the bar with my friends Sara, Carri and Valerie. After that it was off to the beach to hang out and enjoy the last days of summer. The weather this weekend was really amazing. Sunny and warm. Today I went to the burbs and biked for about 15 miles and then I have been working the rest of the day from home. Have a lot of deadlines for the upcoming conferences. Right now I am trying to finish some stuff up but it is hard since the Bears (Football) game is on. I have also cleaned that apartment because we are getting a visitor on Tuesday. I really need to go shopping too, because when you open the refrigerator all you see is a half empty milk bottle. I need to at least create the appearance that Matt and I are cooking at home.. sometimes...

Holy Cow!

It is finally Friday night after a long week at work. I have hardly seen my husband lately since he has been working so much overtime. We decided on having a date night tonight. We had a gift card to go to a fancy steak house so that is where we rushed off to after work. I now feel like I ate a whole cow and his brother.. yes, if your vegetarian please forgive me. It was good stuff, but we were so full that we decided to take a walk to feel better. We ended up walking almost half way home from downtown. Now we are both home, still pretty full and feet are sore. We are going to spend the rest of the night watching a movie and go to bed early. Yes, a wild a crazy Friday night for the old married couple.

Cyclones win!!

I love tailgating. This weekend we went back to Ames, Iowa and relived our golden college days. It was so worth the 6 hours of driving. So what is tailgating for those that have never done it? Well, it is a bunch of people that meet in a parking lot really early in the morning. Stand around, talk and then drink beer. Sometimes we even talk about football and the upcoming game. Not me though. It was a great time because I got to hang out with my friends that do not live in Chicago, like Tracy and Brandy. The picutre on the right is of me, Tracy and her hot man Greg. This picutre was taken at around 8 am and it was cold (freezing) in the morning. Hence, the hat and gloves. This is not normal fall weather it was just a weird cold day, today Chicago is back to normal fall warmness.. it is about 80+F and high humidity. I posted a couple of more pictures from the game too:

I love popcorn! Friends but football rivals. =)

Oh by the way Iowa State Beat Iowa by 15 - 13! Good times. The weekend went by way too fast, but they always do when we are out of town.

Svenska

Ok, jag har inte skrivit pa svenska pa ett tag. Denna vecka har verkligen gatt fort. Kanns som om jag bara jobbar bort mitt liv. Men i gar sa borjade ivilketfall svenska klasserna igen. Jag ar larare pa Swedish American Museum har i Chicago. Det ar verkligen jatteroligt. Det ar en kvallskurs med personer i olika aldrar som ar intresserade av Sverige och att lara sig prata lite svenska. Jag tvingar aven min man att ta min kurs i ar.. stackaren har fatt ta om svenska kursen nagra ganger nu. Fast det kanske han bara gor for att han tycker om lararinnan sa mycket, vem vet?

Photo from the game

We now have proof that we went to the nohitter game.
Pretty nice photo of us, I have to say..

Bifocals, bikes and beaches

I went to the eye doctor this week. I know, I am getting old and so are my eyes. I don't have perfect vision anymore. However, I had very "healthy" eyes and got a prescription for reading glasses, which would only be optional. However, the problem with glasses that you do not wear all the time, is that it is easy to loose them. I have a habit of loosing things, so I am not sure that you will see me with glasses anytime soon. Well, maybe now when I do have my lightning bolt scar in my forehead and with round glasses, I can turn in to Harry Potter. I am pretty good at making things disappear. I also fulfilled on of my goals of the summer this week. I biked to work. I have always wanted to do that. It is about 10 miles and it took me close to an hour. My knee was hurting a bit but it was amazing!! Yes, the bike ride down to work along the lake shore is so beautiful, seeing the sun go up and other crazy healthy people out there on the path getting a morning workout before work. it was great. The ride did more for my spirits than physically I think, since my knee was stopping me from peddling very fast.. In fact, I think at one point some runners past me on the path. Today I biked down and hung out at the beach with was so great. The weather is so great right now. The humidity is finally gone so it is pleasant to be outside. My favorite time of year.. I am not ready for winter yet so I hope this weather is here to stay for a couple of weeks.

Some photos from the vacation.

I know that I was complaining about this before, but I manage to loose one of our cameras on this trip... bummer, I know. So we lost a lot of pictures but here are some of the ones that were on Matt's camera that we took. The one on the left is at a hike around a waterfall in Quebec and the two to the right are from when we we went to Nantucket. We had a great time and I miss vacation already.



Matt and the tiny
light house.

Vacation over :(

So now we are home again. It was great to see that the apartment is still there and just as messy as we left it. The trip was so much fun. The game on Saturday was so awesome by the way. It was no-hitter, which apparently is a big deal. People were celebrating like they won the world series. The audience did the "the wave" (including us of course) and got showered in beer. After Boston we drove down to Cape Cod and also went out to Nantucket for a day. The beaches at Cape Cod are so beautiful. We drove all the way out to Providencetown. Which by the way surprised us.. it was kind of like a mardi gras town, but fun. We rented bikes once we arrived to Nantucket from the ferry. We actually biked about 15 miles. The wind was somehow always against us and the hills were always uphills.. I have no idea how that works, but it happened to us..so we got a great workout. The really sucky thing was that I lost my camera on the beach in Nantucket.. yes, 9 days of great vacation pictures lost. I am really kind of upset about this. But I am a clutz so I am not so surprised at all that I lost it. Luckily, we do still have Matt's camera and he took some pictures during the trip too, but that camera is a bit bulky so we did not carry it with us all the time... Now when I look at the pictures from the vacation it kind of looks like I went alone on this trip, since there are only a few random photos of me at some of the places. I took all the pictures of Matt with my camera. Yes, I will call these photos Sandra's tour of the East.

Boston Red Sox

Matt and I arrived at the "walking city of America" yesterday and we have not stop walking since. ok, bad joke. But we have been walking a lot. Yesterday we ate at this seafood restaurant at the fish pier. Then we ended up at original "Cheers" bar (Bull and Finch bar). Somehow my old college skills came out and I "smuggled" out a pint glass from the bar. Hey, It was a cool beer mug so I couldn't resist! Today we went shopping and walked the freedom trail. We had an excellent charismatic guide that showed us the sights. We, of course, ended this tour with a stop at the famous Green Dragon pub, where we toasted the old revolutionaries. We are off to see the Boston Red Sox game tonight.. that is baseball for those that do not know. I am actually really excited, even if I really don't know much about baseball. It is going to be fun to see old Fenway Park and the game. I will cheer load, but not as load as I would for the Chicago Cubs, of course. Yes, I will cheer for the Red Sox, if I am paying attention to the game and by mistake do not cheer for the opposite team.. which happens a lot.

Oh Canada, Oh Canada!

So we have now arrived to Montreal. The trip so far has been really smooth and we have not gotten lost. We started the trip in Manchaster, New Hampshire which we flew into Saturday. We drove along the coast up to Portland, Maine where we spent the first night. It was such a scenic drive along 1-A. Posh eastcoast houses, cliffs and lots of lobster shacks. We did end up going to Old Orchard Beach on Saturday night. It was a Pier/Carneval set up on the beach. We had Coronas and Red Stripe beers and felt like we were somewhere in the carribean. Sunday we started the drive up the mountains to Canada. It was such a beautiful drive. We drove to Quebec city which we spend 2 full nights. If you have not been to Quebec city, you have to go. It is a beautiful old walled city and many of the hotels look like castles. I am a princess so I of course felt at home right away. It really felt like an old European city. We ate lots of good food, walked .. walked some more. I was really amazed by how "French" Quebec really is.. I was thinking that it wouldn't be such a big difference from US, but first of all everything is in French.. road signs, radio channels, tv etc.. so I feel a bit lost since I know about 2 words of French. Luckily everyone pretty much speaks English too. Bon soir!!!

Lobster hat

I found this fashionable hat in Boston. I think it brings out the color of my eyes!

Storms in Chicago

Det var riktigt daligt vader i Chicago igar. Regn, harda vindar och till och med tornados pa sondra sidan. sjalv var jag helt ovetandes i Boston. Men nar jag kom till flygplatsen for att flyga hem igar sa var ju sjalvklart allt installt. Jag fick stanna annu en natt i Boston.. trott, ofrash och utan rena klader akte jag fran hotellet redan klockan 5 imorse.. zzz.. men jag landade vid lunchtid och sa akte jag hem istallet for kontoret. Jag behovde aka hem och tvatta, packa om och bara ta det lite lugn. Imorgon bitti bar det av till Manchester, New Hampshire. Matt och jag ska pa varan "New England road trip". Vi ska till Main, Quebec city, Montreal, Vermont, Boston och sedan Cape Cod. Ska bli superkul!! I am so excited.

Working in Boston

I have been working in Boston for 3 days now and I have to say that this town has the nices taxi drivers. They have pretty much been our tour guides and good at it too. Even if I have been working a lot this trip, I had sometime to see the touristy places. We went to the harbor and had dinner. Sea food was so fresh it was just off the boat. Shopped around Quincy market and Newberry streat. I really like this town. The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the smell of Sea, since I was growing up in a place close to the sea this made me smile and feel at home right away. Yesterday, I did one of my typical "Blond" moves... We were at a hospital in downtown Boston working and I took out money from the ATM. 3 hours later I realized, when I was trying to pay for dinner that I must have forgotten my ATM card in the machine. Not a smart move. We called and the security actually had it at the front lobby!! Wow!! How is that lucky.. well, usually not me.

Reser till Boston

Om nagra timmar bar det ivag till flygplatsen for jag ska till Boston pa en "business trip". Det ska bli spannade att aka till en ny stad men jag tror att det kommer att vara full rulle nar jag ar dar. Det ar lite trist att vara sjalv ocksa. Det ar tva andra som ocksa kommer till Boston som ska hjalpa till med mitt projekt men dem har jag inte traffat forrut. Jag tog med mig bocker och nagra DVD-filmer om det blir for trakigt pa kvallarna.

Busy Weekend

This weekend was pretty busy. Friday night we were a typical
stereotype couple and went to IKEA to shop. We needed a new mattress and stuff for our bedroom. I of course love IKEA and made sure that I stocked up on candy, bread and salmon. Later that night we met up with my friend at a street festival: North side summerfest. There was a fun cover band (Hairbanger's ball) playing all of the favorite rocker songs. We had a beer and sang (my case more like screaming) words to Bon Jovi songs.
Saturday we drove to Iowa for a wedding. It was our friend Valerie's little sisters wedding. The picture to the right is from the wedding. Yes, it is scary how similar Matt's and my hairstyle is.. There was a bunch of dancing and fun times at this wedding. No accidents.

Sunday we drove back into town and we had tickets to go to the Chicago Cubs (baseball for those that do not know) vs St. Louise Cardinals. The game was a night game but the weather was not co-operating with us.. The picture to the right is of Sara and the soaking wet field behind her. They stopped the game after the 2nd inning due to rain and we stayed around for 1 1/2 hoping that the game would start again. .. but no, it was cancelled. But I have to say that it was nice to go home, get warm and dry and get to bed early so I wasn't too sad about it.