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.

Cowboys i parken

I tisdagskvall sa tog jag, Matt och Carrie med oss stolar och filt och

gick till milleniumpark mitt i downtown Chicago efter jobbet for att titta pa utomhusbiofilm. De visade en gammal westernfilm "Buth Cassidy and Sundance Kid". Superbra film och det var verkligen mysigt att sitta utomhus i en park och se en film.. Plus annu battre var ju att det var gratis. Vi tog bara med oss varaegna stolar och bredde ut oss och vantade pa att filmen skulle starta. Vissa hade med sig bade stolar, bord, mat, vin, levande ljus...etc..etc.. Vi hade bara med oss stolar och kopte en macka pa 7-eleven.. men det dog minsann at oss. Jag har borjat kolla pa en massa klassiska filmer pa sistonde och denna film kommer jag verkligen att rekommendera.. aven till dem som inte tycker om gamla westernfilmer.. denna film kanns verkligen inte som en westernfilm.. plus den har ju snygga Robert Redford och Paul Newman nar de var unga!

Kräftskiva hela helgen or "Aint no party like a crayfish party"

We ate a lot of crayfish this weekend! !!


We had some of our "Swedish girl- couple" friends over for dinner. We had a really good time with crayfish, snaps, songs ..etc. The American men were all bonding, enjoying the weird Swedish
traditions. We had my friend Jospehine and Elin come over with their men on Friday night and then Anna and Gregg came over for dinner on Saturday night. Yes, it was so much fun we had to do it twice. Also I was amazed by my cooking skills.. Everyone that knows me knows that I think popcorn and a piece of toast is a perfectly normal dinner meal.. Well, I know this might surprise you but I made both a salmon and cheese quiche. Yes, both edible and got compliments from the guests. I even made some awesome fried potatoes with parsley.

The rest of the weekend I just relaxed. I needed a weekend for relaxing and taking care of my knee. My physical therapist would have been proud of me. I did all my exercises. I even biked for 20 miles on Saturday..oh man, was I tired after that and took a long walk on Sunday. It feels good being able to move around like a normal person again.

Today I got flowers.. - Tack for blommorna

Today I got these wonderful flowers from my friends Linda, Leila, Sofia and Paula. It was so great and it really made my day. I shed a tear or two... wow, I am starting to be a softie. It was just great to get some well wishes from friends since things have not been going my way lately.
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Idag fick jag dessa fina blommor av mina underbara vanner: Linda, Leila, Sofia och Paula. Tack sa mycket ni ar verkligen fantastiska!! Det verkligen fick mig att le och jag blev sa rord att jag fallde nagra tarar.. vet inte vad som hande med tuffa Sandra men jag har blivit en liten softies pa sistonde. Tack igen!!!!

Today I learned to walk and the in-laws stopped by

Today my physical therapist was kind of busy with another client, so he wanted me to work out with another physical therapist at the clinic in order to get a second opinion on me, because I am not meeting the rehab goals that were set... she was tough!! I was hurting so bad from some of the stretches that I was sweating. At the end of the session she took me out in the hallway and did walking drills... and yes, I got it after a while.. YES!!! YES !!!! I graduated from the knee brace... that is right.. today is the day I learned to walk again... no knee brace at all. This really made my day!!! but oh man, I am going to be sore tomorrow....

The in-laws also came by tonight. They are driving back from Iowa to South Carolina so they stopped at our house on the way. It was great seeing them. Matt is now being a real kid around them playing nintendo wii .. he created his parents as
miis so he wanted to show them to his folks.. but ended up playing now for 30 min. Kind of funny =)

Jess is getting married!!!!

Matt and I went back to Iowa over the weekend, since
one of my best friends, Jessica, got married. She is the cute bride in the photo on the right. It was a really fun wedding with lots of friends and family. I got some good stories from the wedding. Matt realized that he had forgotten his suit about 2 hours before the wedding. He only had a T-shirt and shorts packed with him. The bag with the suit was at home. We kind of panicked, but devious as I am I talked him into going to a store and buy a new suit and then return it the next day. Yes!! Innocent Matt pulled this off.. the girl at the register asked him and Matt told her he was going to a wedding that night thinking that she will probably not be there tomorrow working... but yes!!! of course she was.. Matt pulled if off by telling her he "borrowed" some clothes. Makes for
a good story....




This is how cute Matt and I looked a the wedding..











The night did not end so well for me. I fainted by the bar and apparently my forehead broke the fall. I was hauled off with an ambulance and got 10 stitches. The photo to the right is of miserable me in the ER after being stitched up. Matt was a sweetheart and held my had through most off it.. he did not enjoy watching the stitching part. I made it back to the after party and was able to tell everyone, including the couple, sorry for putting a damper on the party. This better be the last accident of the summer.... :)

Sunday after the wedding we went to Cedar Rapids and had lunch with Matt's sister, nephews and parents. It was nice, relaxed day. Today I was back at work again and we showed our apartment so keep your fingers crossed because hopefully, we will be able to sell the apartment soon.

This summer so far...

this summer did not turn out the way I wanted it. I had both surgery on my feet, and then 4 weeks ago I got a new ACL in my knee. I am doing a lot better, but it sure has been a ride..in a wheelchair, crutches, scooter etc.. but now I am walking and going to physical therapy so I will be running around in no time.. So with this said I have been watching a lot of movies and relaxed a lot this summer.

I just came back from watching the movie Sicko after work tonight. It was really an entertaining movie, but for me (being European and all..) it really did not inform me of anything that I already didn't know. I grew up with universal health care , long maternity leave, affordable daycare, free tuition to college, 6 weeks paid vacation etc etc... but I do think that it opened my husband's eyes a bit. It is always more trustworthy if you hear it from someone else than your wife =). My own experiences so far with the American health system has been great. I have gotten excellent, fast, care with lots of rehab and free physical therapy after my surgery. I think I am one of the lucky ones with health insurance that covers this, thanks to my employer. I decided to post a picture from one of the worst times this summer... a picture of my banged up feet right after the surgery... I just wanted to start with posting this to my first blog ever (!) since I really feel that things are just getting better each day and there is still at least the whole month of August to enjoy this summer.