Canary Islands it is!

It seems crazy to be thinking about Christmas but in all reality it is just a few short months away. After all Costco did have all the Christmas decorations and ornaments out before I left.  I can’t believe September is coming to an end this week! After 2 weeks of research, talking to the travel agent, and other people that have been to the beautiful island south of Spain, we’ve decided we will spend 7 days at an all inclusive resort on the Canary Islands….(Playa Del Ingles to be exact). The way the schedule works out we will leave December 17^th and be back in Sweden on the 24^th..it will be nice to spend Christmas Eve & Christmas Day in our apartment. It saves us hauling presents, decorations, and a tree with us! I thought I was spoiled enough spending my dream Christmas in Disneyland Paris last year. This year will be even more special since both of us have never been on a tropical vacation beforeJ

Cookies on a Saturday

I woke up this morning and decided I’d make chocolate chip cookies, thinking it would be easy. I’ve made them many times; piece of cakeJ I got my recipe and my shopping list and headed to Willy’s (the grocery store in the city centrum). I forgot my Ipod so I had no way to translate any of the ingredients. It took us 45 minutes to get everything and that didn’t include chocolate chips (what is with the Europeans? I couldn’t find any in Holland last year and the same thing is happening this year). Instead I used some knock off brand of a Smartie. After 45 frustrating minutes we left…I knew this was turning into a bigger ordeal then I had hoped for.  I got home and translated the ingredients we just bought, instead of buying baking soda I came home with yeast & baking soda mixed together (Jäsblandning) ….that’s great, and instead of vanilla extract I got vanilla sugar (that’s really really great). After having a minor cookie meltdown I decided I’d make them anyways …and so what if they didn’t turn out I could send them on the bus tomorrow and 25 guys wouldn’t know the difference.  Here was the end result: 

We had a nice lunch at Dolce Vita a small bistro, the town was having some sort of garage sale from what I could see. People had tables of their valuable junk set out nicely for sale. There was also a plant market on; I kept seeing people pedal off on their bikes holding tall trees/plants. Tomorrow I’m spending the day babysitting as Ty will be out of town. Hope everybody’s enjoying the sunshine looks like it’s beautiful and sunny in Kelowna this weekend!

                                                       Dolce Vita

                                                  Plant market with pumpkins

Ps- a little note for my best friend who’s flying to Germany tomorrow  ...have a safe flight, I’ll be thinking of you<3



Unsuccessful drive to Växjö..

We just got back from a 2 1/2 hour car ride to find out the immigration office was closed, I have 3 months to get my residence card and today was suppose to be the day. Unfortunately we will have to go back to Växjö some other day to get it. There’s something about Wednesdays in Sweden... some business don't open till noon and others are CLOSED for the day. Oh well it was a successful shopping trip, went to some stores and sat in at a small cafe and then made our way back.

Tonight's the home opener; the team has been waiting weeks for this. They have been doing lots of marketing around town so I’m sure there will be a big turn out, there’s definitely some pressure on the boys. Go Vikings Go! Not looking forward to riding my bike to the game in the rain, hood up and umbrella in hand… oh the joys of Europe.

Looks like we may be heading to Kalmar tomorrow for an appointment so i'll keep you updated, and post pictures from the game!

In Love With Kalmar

It was the perfect day, the sun was shining and there was no wind for once! We had a lot of fun in Kalmar; it's about a 10 minute train ride from Nybro. I can see us going there at least once a week now:) We trained in with some friends and then went for Sushi, still love North American Sushi better!

We walked around the city (population 100,000) and did some shopping:) I handed out some resumes as well, fingers crossed. Mostly everyone spoke English which made me feel more at ease; it had a different atmosphere then some of the bigger cities we visited last year in Holland and Germany.

Here are some pictures from our day trip:

                                                            Cathedral

                                                          Kalmar Slott

                                                       Along the harbour

                                                          Streets of Kalmar

Ty left this morning he won't be home until early tomorrow morning, it's cold, rainy and really gloomy. Feeling a little bit home sick so I invited Jenny & another girlfriend (I haven't met yet) over for dinner and a movie. A little girl’s night is just what the homesickness doctor ordered! I think ill make some chicken quesadilla's and a salad for dinner.

I'm quite excited about the app I added on my IPod, it lets me send text messages home to Canada for FREE! (as long as I have WIFI). Most of you probably already received a text message or two from me since I was overly excited and sent out a bunch! Gotta love technology:)

I hope everyone's enjoying the weekend<3

Hurricane Winds

The winds this week have been atrocious, parts of Sweden were left with torrential rains and winds from the aftermath of Hurricane Katia. To say the least it wasn't the best bike riding weather. I was practically blown over with my basket full of groceries trying to bike home Eeek!

Earlier in the week I got my gym pass.. hooray! I am now a member of Friskis & Svettis, the gym is quite small, but very modern we have started to go every morning it's a good routine:)

I baked chewy granola squares on Tuesday..I would rate them only about a 6/10 since the syrup & honey in Sweden have a different consistency, long story short my squares crumbled to pieces. Good thing I have a sweet guy who will eat ANYTHING I bake even if it involves using a spoon!

We are off to Kalmar tomorrow I’m so excited, we will leave after practise and spend the afternoon/evening exploring the city. It will be nice to get out of this small town for the afternoon:)

It's Friday! Have a Fantastic day<3

Glassblowing to Diamond Back

Glassblowing was a huge success, lots of fun to try something new. We had a traditional Swedish meal for dinner: mash potatoes, herring in a creamy sauce, strips of bacon, and flat bread. Everyone sang songs and drank it was surprisingly a lot of fun.

I am now a proud owner of the Diamond Back; my new bicycle, unfortunately it is not pink but it will do the trick for the next eight months.

I made salmon, rice, and salad for dinner last night we had Tony and Anton over. The boys played PS3 while I tucked into bed early.

Today is game day; we just got back from a walk around town. The tanning salon and Coop are the only things open on a Sunday. Pre game is in the oven and game time is 4pm looking forward to watching today's game!

Hope everyone has a Sunny Sunday:)

Safe in Sweden with Jet lag

As most of you know Ty left for Sweden 3 weeks before I did, leaving me with 3 flights, 16 hours of flying alone, and one over weight suitcase. It was quite the trek; I'm not an independent one when it comes to flying so when I arrived I was pretty proud of myself. I arrived safely in a small town located East of Nybro, and managed to sleep through the first night ..thinking I had kicked jet lags butt.

Ty left for an away game the next afternoon which was probably a good thing, I was very productive. Unpacked/cleaned/moved furniture, and decorated. I had seen pictures of our apartment before I got here so I had a rough idea of what to expect but I knew it would need my touch.

The town is quite small 12,000 people, very cute with neat buildings and cozy looking houses. We hopped on Ty's bike and peddled into town (6 minute bike ride from our apartment). The grocery stores have a bigger selection then what we had in Holland last year, lot's and lots of Swedish candy, and hot dogs too:) We toured around the Centrum for a little while, the market was on as it was Thursday..(market days are Tues & Thurs).

Last night we invited Jenny and Joachim over for taco's, it was fun to meet one of the girls she speaks very good English. Tonight we are going to the Glasbruk for glass blowing and a team dinner. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone else.

I have a good feeling about this season it's going to be a lot of fun!