a few more vacation images...

skating adventures
one morning we woke up and decided to go ice-skating on Lake Siljan in Dalarna, Sweden. we bundled up, grabbed our skates and headed out to the lake.
"long färd skridskor" is popular in sweden - directly translated it would be "long distance" skating. you put long ice-skate blades onto specially designed boots. i've tried it in the past, but i don't own a pair. i had regular hockey skates, but almost everyone else had the long-distance skates.


my mom and jakob - he has the long-distance skates, and special poles, they both have ice-pick thingies around their necks; in the event they fall through the ice, they dig the ice-pick in the ice and don't drown... good to keep around :)

we skated alongside the shoreline... probably a total of 6 miles.
it was such a fun time and good exercise! we kept warm despite the chilly weather...


my amazing mom and me: ice-skating on a cold winter morning



beautiful views of a frozen dock from our ice-skating trip




close-up shot: my brother phil and me

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gallivanting in stockholm


walking the streets of downtown stockholm in the winter...


drottninggatan, stockholm
it's a "people only, no cars" street in stockholm that stretches for about 1 mile
there are fabulous stores on both sides of the street


drottninggatan, stockholm
i love the christmas chandeliers - so festive



my friends: emma, henke and petra


petra and emma goofing off in the street


henke...
it was soo chilly out...
i had a hard time taking pictures...
my fingers were FREEZING!


close-up: emma, petra, sara


goofy shot: emma, petra, sara

we met during my sophomore year in sweden. it's great that we still keep in touch.
emma, if you're reading this, i'm still sending you the converse :) xo

emma, petra and henke all live in stockholm, so it's great to be able to catch up w/all of them at once.

we spend the afternoon at a café - "fika" is what the swedes call it - basically taking time to drink coffee, tea or hot chocolate, eat a sandwich or yummy bum and catch up with friends. such a good word, wish it existed in english :)

we walked around stockholm while they helped me pick out a few wedding presents for friends in the states. then we decided to grab some dinner.
we went to a fabulous italian restaurant, that i can't remember the name of... henke, petra, emma, do you guys remember?
anyway, you walk into the restaurant and you are given a plastic card. you find a table, order your food, eat, spend time w/friends. when you're ready to leave, you bring your plastic card to the hostess. she checks you out and you pay. it's great for friends getting together - no one has to worry about splitting up the check. you each pay for what you eat.
the downside... you lose the card, you pay $100...

so there's another peek into my vacation that i WISH hadn't ended...

Hockey

My last post was a tribute to hockey. Last night was another game and it was intense! The game is such an amazing sport. It is such a rush to be out on the ice. However, I do have a complaint. Last night I scored a goal which would give us a 1 point lead. Yay! The ref saw things differently from his point of view. He didn't agree with the goal. He said he blew his whistle before my stick hit the puck. Well, after that, the other team came back and scored with 1 minute and 30 seconds left. My shift was over and I was not happy. They had a 1 point lead and we had 1 and a half minutes to tie the game. My coach saw the intensity on my face and sent me out to use the intensity to our team's advantage for the last 48 seconds. My team had a chance to score, but we missed. The puck was smacked to the middle of the ice. I was against the defender and I was ON the puck. The defender shoved me into the boards, but I wouldn't give. Since I am new to the sport, I didn't realize she shoved me into the boards to waste time. She knew I was a young player and would use my ferocity to combat the boards - with the boards winning. The bell rang and the game was over. Not quite as satisfying as games in the past, however the ache in my shoulder is testimony to the ferocity with which I played in the last couple of minutes. Tuesday- back on the ice to get some practice and learn a few pointers. Next post won't be about hockey, unless I am inspired again. :)

On another note, I went to the Ski and Snowsports Expo and I got psyched for the ski season which is pretty much here. :) I can't wait to buckle my boots, and snap into my skis and cruise down the slopes. Hopefully I can also have time to hit the slopes on my board a few times as well. :)

Avkoppling = Relaxation

Weekends are great. The feeling that the day-to-day life of the 5 day work week is over and the weekend is yours to enjoy, to do what you please. Weekends can be a way to catch up with what you haven't had time to do during the week, or a way to relax and "koppla av" as they say in Sweden.

Helgerna finns för att ta det lugnt och koppla av. Det känns skönt att kunna väcka när man vill på en lördag morgon och njut av dagen. Jag var ut och gick en promenade med min mamma, bara gå tillsammans, prata lite och ser alla nya hus som blir byggt i vår område. På en lördag är man inte jaktad, man kan kolla in i varje nya hus och undra hur det ska se ut när den är färdig byggt. Senare på dagen är det ärende som gäller. Det som jag ser fram emot efter solnedgång är hockey. Oj vad jag tycker det är kul. Att knytta skridskor, sätt på min hockey jersey, öppna dörren till is och "bara åk". Vilken härliga känsla! Visst är det sent på kvällen, men det är bara dig, din team och den härliga känsla att åka skridskor i en timme så hårt man kan. Efter, blir man helt slut och den kvällen när man ligger i sängen och sover, då sover man BÄST! Sen är det söndag morgon. Jag vaknar och hoppas att jag kan sova längre, men det finns barn som jag är söndag skol lärare till. De vill att jag är där för att sjunga, leka och har det kul med de. Då stiger man ur sängen, duschar, äta frukost och skynda sig till kyrkan innan barnen kommer. Eftermiddag blir det Amerikansk football som gäller, eller en promenade. Söndag eftermiddagar finns för att göra ingenting. Vilken helg! :)

Something to think about:
"Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine." - Anonymous

Saturdays are meant for relaxation. I love Saturdays. It's nice to go for walks feeling the breeze on your face, and the sun shining brightly. As I walked through my neighborhood, there's no sense of hurry. It is just a lazy Saturday morning. I can talk to my mom as we walk and peer in the different houses being built. We go inside the skeleton houses and plan out how it's going to look when it's finished: bedroom here, kitchen here, fireplace there, master suite here.

After a relaxing walk, you can take care of errands that you weren't able to finish during the week. There's no hurry.

Once the sun sets, the highlight of my weekend has arrived. Playing hockey. The feeling you get as you tie your skates, pull your jersey over your head and snap your helmet in place. I grab my stick and head for the ice. I love the sound of the click as the door opens and the scrape of my skate on the ice. A quick warm-up of skating around the rink and shooting on goal. Then, it's time, the sound of the puck hitting the ice. Gametime. It's the rush you get, struggling to get to the puck as it is pushed into the zone. It's the feeling you get when you and a teammate block off the defense behind the net so one of you gets the puck and the defense loses. It's the sensation of making a pass under pressure and watching as your teammate's stick slaps at the puck and the puck hits the back of the net. It's the satisfaction of coming off the ice completely exhausted, knowing you gave the game 100%. That night, the best feeling is pulling the covers over your head and falling asleep, your body completely worn out.

The next morning, you struggle out of bed. Sunday. It's time to teach Sunday School. Some people may think it is silly to spend a "valuable" Sunday morning teaching Sunday School. They would rather sleep-in. Well, pulling my worn-out body out of bed is difficult, I will admit. However, the satisfaction from seeing the 5 year old's face light up when I tell him we're doing an obstacle course, or the sound of the 4 year old's voice when I tell her we're going to sing her favorite song - she starts belting out the tune with a smile on her face before the rest of the class has even comprehended which song we're singing. Teaching Sunday School is such a reward. The children are so fun to teach and they always have funny stories to tell. They want you to think they are special and you leave knowing you've left your footprint on a child's life.

Sunday afternoons are filled with family dinner, football, and just enjoying the laziness of a Sunday. The feeling that you have nothing to do till Monday morning is satisfaction enough.

“Att våga är att förlora fotfästet en liten stund.
Att inte våga är att förlora sig själv.”
- Sören Kierkegaard

This sums up my weekend :)

"I’m looking forward to looking back on all this."
- Sandra Knell