Winter!

So today it has been snowing, and snowing, and snowing! We drove back from Dörarp today and it started snowing along the way and it only got worse, we were not driving very fast at all.

This weekend we have done a lot. We went to mum and dads on Saturday, and while me and mum made the traditional christmas sausage Stephen went out with dad and shot the outdoor christmas tree. They actually came back with two trees, one for mum and dad and one for us. It is a Swedish tradition to have an outdoor christmas tree with lights or maybe put some lights up outside at somewhere else in the garde, the apple tree or somewhere else.

Then Jonas arrived to Dörarp and me and mum started making gingerbread while Jonas ate the dough while watching me and mum.

In the evening we went for a traditional christmas smörgåsbord, called julbord in Swedish, christmas table if translated literally. My grandparents and dads sister Kerstin was there as well and we had a nice evening with some really good food and I was the lucky driver! Mainly because I dont really appreciate snaps in the same way as most of the others do.

Early today we spoke to Jeff and Pauline on Skype and also got to say hi to Neville and Mama Lea. Skype is great! It is almost like we met for real even though we were almost as far away from each other that is physically possible. It is really nice to be able to speak and also see each other.

After brekkie we headed back to Älmhult to look this house again, this time with mum and dad. Thats when it started snowing, and it snowed heaps and heaps and heaps. The house was just as good as last time, next step is a building inspection and then we will decide on how much money we will offer them and also go to the bank and borrow a bit of money, hopefully. There is a lot of renovations to be done but I think the end result will be awesome!

After looking at the house we went back to our place to have some lunch and reflect a bit over the house. And now it is Sunday evening again and time for bed soon. But first some pictures and videos from the weekend.

Oh and by the way, last week I made saffron buns, it is a tradition in Sweden for christmas, they are called lussekatter.

And another bit of information, today is the first Sunday of Advent. In Sweden we light a candle for every Sunday of Advent. The first candle 4 weeks before christmas, and then three weeks before (the 2nd of Advent) we light candle no 2, two weeks before we then light candle 1, 2, and 3, and the Sunday before Christmas we light the last candle. You will see on the photo what I mean, otherwise I recommend google or Wikipedia =)

First of all is a movie of us driving when it was snowing cats and dogs... And as always the pictures are in whatever order...

It had been snowing during the night, Jonas car had no snow on it the evening before...

The first candle of Advent was lit when we had brekkie

Dad and Grandpa choosing which snaps they want

Lots and lots of gingerbread cookies, I made 1.7 kgs of dough, will halve the recipe next year

Dad and his moose antlers that he finally can add to the collection

The buffet almost ready for the guests

A bit of glögg for starters

Proud christmas tree hunters

Sausage making

Saffron buns from last weekend

BTW

Yesterday was our 5th anniversary... And in 6 months we are getting married!!! At this stage in time we have 2 churches and 2 reception venues booked... And I have my dress of course.

Winter in Älmhult

Winter has come to Helmut and I love it! I walked to work yesterday and today because it is too cold to ride the bike, the gears have frozen, and I couldnt be bothered digging out the car every morning. Look at the photos and you will understand why. On Wednesday I could only open the drivers door, the rest had frozen shut, unlucky for the guy I was giving a lift to work, but he was pretty happy curling up in the boot =)

Anyway, I brought my new compact camera that Stephen bought me in US and took some photos. Unfortunately something is a bit suss with it when I transfer the pictures to the computer so I havent edited them at all, hence the slight blue tinge to it. I think it is also due to the fact that the sun still wasnt up when I took them that makes them look at bit blueish. But it will still give you a pretty good idea of winter in Helmut I think. The last photo is the view from my desk at work.

Snowstorm!

Or at least the light version. It has been snowing the whole day, since I got up this morning. I was gonna drive to Ljungby tonight but I decided not to because it is terrible weather for driving. And at the same time a perfect excuse for a glass of red on the sofa in front of the tv.

Two things that has happened to me today was quite funny I think. At work this morning someone asked me if I was pregnant and kind of patted my belly...hrmmm no, not that I know of, I answered, I am just fat... He felt a bit awkward and apologised again later on. Luckily I am not that bothered with these things, I kind of think it is funny, there are a lot worse things that could happen. I should have told him that he owes me lunch though, but there is always a next time as this is the third time I have been asked =) And how am I ever gonna fit into that wedding dress...

And after work I went to the bottleshop to get some wine for my guests tomorrow. The old lady at the checkout asked me for ID and luckily I brought it. I said to her with a smile, I think I am old enough, yes you are, she responded, you just look very young. I have now gotten used to it, I used to be a bit annoyed because I want to look my age, mainly for people to take me seriously at work. But I feel that I have built a lot of confidence already at work and it doesnt bother me that much anymore which is a good thing. I wonder if it is working in Sweden that has helped the confidence out or if it is that I actually have a bit of experience these days. Maybe it is a combination of both.

No matter what I feel that it is now red wine time, and maybe a bite to eat.

Sensitive readers beware!!!

The strong men carrying the elk (or moose or whatever) to the trailer.


The proud hunter who shot the elk, he isnt normally this serious, just when there is a camera in front of him, he actually is very funny

His name is put on the list

Skinning the poor thing, it was only a young one

The hunters talking about their day while celebrating with a whiskey

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

Washing up a bit

Just one more...

The deadly bullet

Almost the whole team

Exciting days!

Ok, so we have lived in Sweden for just over 6 months now, I know, it is crazy! Anyway, we moved to this place in August and have lived here for just over three months. I would be lying if I said I am a clean freak but I have used our vacuum cleaner a few times, I might not be the worlds largest user of domestic vacuum cleaners but I do use it from time to time. My vacuum cleaner is a pretty good one, Miele, German engineering, not a bagless one but it has this little warning function that if the bag is full and it is starting to loose sucking power (or whatever it is called) there is a little red thingy on it that indicates that it is time to change bag. That is IF there is a vacuum bag in it. During these three months the red thing hasnt shown up but as I told you before I am not a big fan of vacuuming so I am not that surprised thatthere was still room in the bag for another round. So today I was gonna be a good girl and vacuum and mop the floors, but in the bed room it sounded like I vacuumed something that didnt belong in the vacuum cleaner bag so I decided to open it up and see what it was, and was everything but delighted to see that there was no bag in there. Crap! And I hate vacuum bags and dust and the whole insinde of the damn thing was full of it, yuck. I thought to myself bye bye my little vacuum cleaner... Luckily the German engineers decided to put another filter in there for whatever reason, I guess the reason was for when idiots use it without putting a bag in there. A few swear words later and a couple of plastic bags to cover my hands when cleaning up the mess, plus a trip to the shop I have now finished vacuuming and mopping the floors.

I will end this post with a little warning for what is to come in this blog, there will be hunters, a dog, blood, and a large dead animal...

BTW

Check this out, you might have to use google translator if you dont speak Swedish...

Yay

I have a new keyboard to the computer! Now I have to get used to this one instead but it already feels a lot better than the old one and I can once again almost touch type, or whatever it is called. I hope Stephen will be just as happy as I am cause it is an "ergonomic" one with a bit of a curve to it. Ah well, he will just have to get used to it.

I have also bought his christmas presents, and I know what to get mum and dad and I am not sure if Jonas and I will buy something for each other or just the one for mum and dad. So I am pretty much done, and it feels good! I have decided to enjoy Christmas and not get stressed about it. I figured it is up to me if I am going to stress or not. And really, we dont have any kids and not a huge family to buy presents for so what is the stress all about. Christmas should be a time to enjoy life and spend time with loved ones. I think it is all the hype and shops starting to sell Christmas decorations in September that makes people stress about it. All the things that we feel we "have" to do. I am going to what I want to do! Så det så!

And now I am going to finish off the wedding photos for David and Camilla, and then burn another CD with baby photos for Emelie and Donne.

Over a week...

...again. Time is just flying at the moment!

Stephen left for USA this morning and I have decided to buy his christmas presents while he is away, and I might invest in a new keyboard as well because this one is still driving me mental.

On Sunday I went to a friend to take photos of her daughter, when I was there I thought I got some good shots, coming home and looking at them on the computer I realized quite a few of them were blurry, luckily not all and I ended up with some 50 odd shots that I liked. And also some that Emelie liked, I hope she doesnt mind that I upload some of them here (please tell me if you do and I will remove them!). I have also added some of the wedding shots, again of the happy couple are reading this and wants to be removed please tell me!

As always the pictures are backwards, obviously the bride did her hair first and not last... And I just realised when previewing the post that most of my favourite pictures are black and white, I only do a handful of the total "batch" in black and white. Maybe I should bring out my good old analogue camera and load it up with black and white film...













I have discovered that I really like photographing people in their "natural environment". Catching real moments in life. And happy people makes me happy too, it is really nice to be able to look at the pictures and see that the people are happy, maybe they are not picture perfect according to all the "rules" of photography but that doesnt matter as much as the story the picture tells. We all know the world is not perfect. And they are not a perfect match together either, they all have very different style. Not like an album you would get from a professional, and that is something I need to work on but at the moment I am just so happy working with lightroom that I dont care. It is such a joy. I shot the photos of Lova on Sunday morning and at night I was kind of finished with all the editing, thanks to Adobe Lightroom. One might think that I get paid to say that but I dont, I just think it is a great tool that suits my needs perfectly.

Anyway, time to go to bed, alone =( I will miss having Stevie next to me... I hope I can sleep alright. I have had a cold lately and I keep waking up coughing at night which is kind of annoying, I bet Stevie wont miss that when he is away. Hopefully it will be gone by the time he is back.

And lucky for me I have training for three days at work and we dont start until 9am, and we are at a different office than the normal one so there is no point going to work before either. I am getting trained in Business Quality Improvements, to help lift our quality performance to even better levels still. But first I need a bit more sleep =) Alone =(

I have done it!

Not finished the wedding photos, but I have invested in Photoshop lightroom, a really really good software for photoediting. I am impressed! And all of a sudden it is actually kind of fun to edit photos =)

Stephen is playing simpsons on the playstation three at the moment, we bought the game today. We also bought a new point and shoot camera for him to bring to US. He is leaving on the 9th of November and will be going past the Niagara falls on the way back, ticking off another 2 countries on his list, 2 that I dont have =) He is very happy about that, as he is catching up to me soon.

Last night we went to a 30th birthday party in Jönköping, a city roughly 150 kilometres north of here. That was the city I was aiming for before we happened to end up i Älmhult, it is situated beautifully by one of the largest lakes in Sweden and not too big but still not small either. The birthday girl was Nina, who I went to uni with, and who also is a dear friend of mine. Stephen also got to meet Mikkel for the first time, he just turned 1 and is the son of another dear friend of mine. I agree with Stephen that he is a cool kid.