Stockholm

After a few relaxing days at Petter's cabin, we headed onward to get a taste of big city life---STOCKHOLM!

 Martin turned 30 while we were in town, and we celebrated with a delicious dinner at Gondolen, a fancy restaurant with a killer view of the city.

 

  

The dinner was amazing, but the highlight of the birthday festivities for me was the night before when we stumbled across some live music at a Irish pub. 

As midnight approached, Lars and I got a round of Jager Bombs and an awesome note taped to Martin's back to get the party rollin'. 

 It worked--Martin got three generations worth of kisses and shots given to him by complete strangers. He didn't have a clue until we mentioned that it might have something to do with the message on his back! ;)

I could have lived in this city. Easily.

Cantineros (such good mojitos!), Grill, and Gondolen are restaurants I can recommend! 

I also recommend eating multiple ice cream cones from Gamle Stan. The smell of fresh waffle cones is irresistible.

 And, the Vasa Museum is definitely worth your time! It's the most visited museum in Scandinavia and was easily one of the coolest museums I have ever been to. It houses an old ship that was dragged up from the depths after it sat on the ocean floor. Really cool. And educational.

Stockholm is a gorgeous place--I definitely recommend making the trip if you have the opportunity.

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Raj

OK, here's a post for all you Big Bang Theory fans out there!

On my flight from Seattle to London, I had one of the worst seats possible and the plane was packed. Needless to say, I didn't have high hopes for journey. As my neighbors came, I thought it might be alright after all. A young woman in her early thirties came on my left and at the last minute an Indian man about the same age plopped down on my right. Plus, I had a great book I was reading and full battery on all my devices so how bad could it be right?

I made small talk with the woman on my left; she was quite chatty and initiated a lot of conversation. I had a lot more reason to talk to the man on my right while he was fumbling for his seat belt and generally getting settled and trying to avoid my personal space, ;) but he never said a word to me. I just smiled politely at him and settled in for what I thought would be a pretty chill, relaxed 9 hours over the Atlantic.

Boy was I wrong! The instant this guy got a travel size bottle of wine in his hand from the flight attendant's first round, he went Raj on me. Seriously, it was uncanny. He had just a thick of an accent, asked equally as random questions and apparently can't talk to women unless he's tipsy. I mean seriously, the first question he asked me was (please imagine this in Raj's voice):

"Have you noticed your nails are perfectly symmetrical?"

And it didn't get less hilarious from there. 

And for some reason, the flight attendant was hanging out two mini bottles of wine at a time instead of one. So we drank us some Pinot Grigio and got a little tipsy. My female neighbor joined us and we wasted a 3-4 hours of our long journey talking about our respective jobs, families, politics and travel goals. 

It was easily the most entertaining flight of my life!

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Julebord

Have I ever explained the Norwegian tradition julebord? If I have, I probably haven't done it justice. Aha--I found what I've written about it before in an old post from 2010:

Norwegians are good at celebrating a year well worked. It is common to have a julebord, literally "a Christmas table", where one dines and wines and drinks and drinks and drinks with a group of friends or coworkers. Hopefully we will get to have a julebord sometime soon so I can share a bit more about this Norwegian tradition. We'll probably have to have ours after Christmas haha--I think I can count my days off before Christmas on my own fingers.

So julebord is a Christmas work party!  It's pretty serious business--most gatherings include speeches, suits, fancy dresses and maybe even some entertainment.

Our boss rewards us nicely; instead of a traditional julebord dinner, we have been treated to a Christmas cruise the past two years! We skip over the speeches and the hired entertainment and tend to entertain ourselves haha...which explains why I am having problems finding any blog-appropriate pictures to share of our julebords from the past two years... ;)

In 2010 it was Oslo-Copenhagen...

And in 2011 it was Oslo-Kiel.

We all cut loose and had a splendid time. The only downside was getting acquainted "Emil" (a storm) on the way back. He wasn't that friendly. Oh, and having boat legs days afterwards.


Ever been on a cruise? It's crazy how long that boat feeling can stay with ya.

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Dublin

I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves... ;)

The only comment necessary is perhaps for this photo here: we taught the in laws the beauty of a Jägerbomb! Ha!
Spreke!

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Lovely moments ♥

I haven't been blogging much lately, and I apologize.
I've been busy and stuff.
You know, living in the moment.
Or whatever it's called.

I have rediscovered a life outside of work!
I have actually played some soccer,
eaten dinner with Lars
and traveled outside of Hamar!!

Hopefully I will get around to sharing about this past weekend--
which was truly insane--
work late Friday night, partying planning until the whee hours,
taking a bus to Oslo Saturday morning, wandering the city,
attending a well-executed double 30th surprise party, traveling back to Hamar,
playing a soccer game, hosting and attending our long-overdue "summer" party at work,
cleaning up until the wee hours, getting on another bus to Oslo,
playing another soccer game, ....
whew.

It was a weekend packed full of good memories!

And speaking of good memories, while Lars and I were in the US he was a groomsmen and I a guest at a Jesse and Amanda's wedding. I'll throw in some pictures here! Later!

Weddings are good fun.
Can you feel the love? ♥

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Me no speak English good.

Last summer my family gave me a bit of a hard time--apparently I sounded more like a Norwegian than an American when speaking English. I remember even after I had only lived in Norway for 7-8 months and went home and worked for the summer as a waitress there were a few different customers that refused to believe I was born in the US.

One of my sisters commented that it always sounded like I was asking a question. This must be thanks to the sing-songy-ness of Scandinavian language. I totally blank on English words and format my sentences with Norwegian structures. Do you think this has gotten better after being here even longer? And especially now that I have added Norwegian sleep-talking to the mix?? Doubtful. And kinda embarrassing.

To make it even worse, when my boss Hai and Frank (Victoriahaven's manager's husband) were renovating the restaurant, there were understandably some delirious late nights. And the boys thought it was a kick to speak stereotypically bad norsk/engelsk or Norwish or Englwegian or whatever you want to call it. And everything at that time of night with those dudes was hilarious. So of course, I joined them. And am now terrified that I will never break the habit. ;)

Frank building the bar

Hai getting his paint on

Luckily we've got quite a few English speaking employees in the kitchen so I get to practice a little before we visit WA this summer (JULY 26th-AUG 15th!!!).

Me screwing together the outdoor furniture

Strange to feel like a tourist in your own country.
Ya sure ya betcha.

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Trondheim, take two

Last summer, Lars and I met Colleen in Trondheim and had a fantastic time. Last weekend, Lars and I hopped a plane to his old stomping grounds to attend a childhood buddy's 30th birthday celebration. Trondheim did not disappoint the second time around either!

We spent the day wandering around the city Lars knows so well, met up with an old friend and soon-to-be father who co-authored his master thesis, drank some coffee, window shopped and enjoyed the crisp spring air.

We made our way back to the hotel to rest up a bit before meeting Øivind (one of my personal favorites!) at a local bar for wine, beer and mojitos! Or as Øivind mistakenly called them--mosquitos! Haha.

And then it was onwards to Trønderkjeller'n where Ole K. (the birthday boy) had rented out facilities for the festivities. Here he is, looking what he insists to be not a day over 30 years old:

I even had the honor of the first dance with the birthday boy!

Time went strangely fast down in that basement...it was 3am before we knew it!

It was a hell of a party. We made it out of there right before I turned into a pumpkin...

Takk for oss Trondheim! En gang i året er ikke nok!

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