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..