Tales from the UK

On the wish list - take note husband!

2011-09-22T18:39:00.000+01:00

Efva Attling design

Snapshots of summer 2011

2011-09-07T12:46:00.000+01:00

We started off with a wedding in Sweden...

The beautiful couple Magda & Ulf

We then jetted off to the French Riviera...

Where we had one cloudy day over 2 weeks, amazing views...

Lucky did her best "Here's Johnny" impersonation...

And also enjoyed the shade under her favourite plant when it got too hot.

Wilma on the other hand turned into a chameleon - spot the dog?

Then it was time to go back to Sweden for Sonja and Signe's christening.

Agent Sims reporting for duty. Great looking babe he's got on his arm.

Sonja on the left and Signe on the right. We're working on the whole looking into the camera thing.

After a quick weekend in Sweden it was time for Boston where we went to Cheers.

Again, Cheers. Can't go wrong with this place.

Gary found a donkey outside the old City Hall he felt compelled to sit on...

And no explanations needed for this one I think - married to a man who loves his ales.

Finally - our master bedroom

2011-06-20T11:40:00.000+01:00

This weekend we managed to put the final touches to our master bedroom (me ironing curtains for 2 ½ hours which I'll never get back!!) and we're moved in properly. All the clothes are nicely hung in our wardrobe and nicely folded away in the dresser. It's such a relief to have it done. All we need now is to put some pictures up and some few decor bits and we're done. I wanted a calm, cozy bedroom, which I think we've achieved. It's not too cold and it's not too warm (colour wise). It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears going in to this room but the end result is fantastic and I'm very pleased - the best thing of all though is to have our king bed back - I cannot sleep in a small bed. I love my husband but there's a limit on how close to eachother you can be!

Crazy roses on the front of our house

2011-06-06T11:50:00.000+01:00

They are huge - at least I've got a green finger somewhere..

Yep - still busy

2011-05-31T20:20:00.000+01:00

Well my last post was a recap of how quickly March went by. Shall we do the same with the last 2 months then?! After holiday in March, I got called in to a company here in Windsor where they needed some PR help so that's what I've been doing for the past 2 months. Not every day, I still work with Renegade PR but this is two days a week and it has become a lot more then just two days a week. Being a control freak and also wanting to stay on top of things, I put in more time then just those two days but it's all worth it. The experience it gets me and the new contacts - it's all great. I'm helping out a video game company called 2K Games, and I'm helping out the ROE (Rest of Everywhere) territory, which is every country from Scandinavia to Middle East, to Russia, to South Africa to Greece. And some in between. After this stint, all I have to work is the US and then I have experience in working with pretty much every territory! Nice add on to my CV. :-)

Other than working all hours under the sun, we managed to escape home over Easter for some family fun. We met the two new additions in the family, Signe and Sonja. Two adorable little girls my sisters popped out within a week of each other. We also cleaned out the apartment in Stockholm. It was sad to see it go but we don't spend nearly enough time there to justify keeping it so now all my stuff is in a storage unit until we eventually buy a place in Sweden.

The big project of the house - we are finally seeing the light in the end of the tunnel!!!! Extension work begin next Wednesday, and in six week's time, we will have a brand new dining room, a new downstairs bathroom and a 5th bedroom/office. I am beyond excited that this is finally been given the go ahead and we can begin. We are also waiting on a fancy striped carpet for the stairs and the upstairs hallway and a new carpet for our master bedroom. After that, we are DONE. I can't believe it. But if I don't ever touch another paint brush or have to go to a DIY store - I will die a happy woman. I am done. I refuse to ever paint again.

Busy, busy

2011-04-15T11:07:00.000+01:00

March went by really fast and we're already in the middle of April! It's true what they say, the older you get the faster time goes by. I never used to believe that when I was young but I think I have to give in to the fact that it's true.

Well my sisters have been busy popping out two new little adorable girls and we are very excited to go home in a few weeks to see the new additions. We're a very proud Auntie and Uncle. Now Gary has someone on his same level with the Swedish as little Julia is now way ahead of him. :-)

We have also upped the renovations of the house, after losing all of our motivation and just feeling like the house eats up all the energy, we're now ready to start on our master bedroom. We've got builders coming in on the weekend to knock a wall out and then the fun job of painting starts. I don't think I ever want to paint again after this house is done. I hate it. I used to love it but now I hate it. Next house we move into will be done exactly the way we want it from the beginning!! We also had electricians here in the week to sort of lights and wiring and sockets, work that can't really be seen but it makes such a difference being able to turn the kitchen spotlights on and they actually stay on and do go all 80's disco on you. And, more importantly, we have working lights in the bathroom - I can finally see what I'm doing infront of the mirror!!

Work is busy. I have started work at a company called 2K two days a week which now makes me an even more busy bunny. It's fun being back publishing side again and also doing agency work at the same time, and I get to experience working with the export territories, as in Russia, the Middle East, South Africa, Greece etc. And, most importantly, I get to work with Scandinavia too - although my written, professional Swedish isn't really up to scratch anylonger....!

So that's life at the moment - busy, crazy and exhausting. And exciting. :-)

Mommy's little angels

2011-04-15T10:54:00.000+01:00

A week's R&R

2011-03-22T11:39:00.000Z

We had a fantastic week in Egypt with lots of sun and sand. The Egyptian people are all very polite and has a great sense of humour. You do get a bit hassled when you're walking past shops but after a few days they loose interest in you if you aren't interested in what they have to offer. It was the third time we went back to Egypt so it's safe to say it's become one of our favoruite spots for winter sun. You're guaranteed sun every day and this time it was hot, over 30 C every day pretty much. I can't even begin to think how hot it will be in the middle of the summer. But it's the dry heat which I love, humid heat isn't as nice. :-)
The beaches aren't as nice as in Thailand, the sand is quite rough and it's quite rocky in the Red Sea so I don't really enjoy going in the water when we're there (who knows what is hiding under thos rocks!!). This time the tide was just unreal, we could walk out really far and the water still didn't even reach up to your knees, it was insane. You could see where the drop was as that's where the waves were forming but we didn't walk out all that way. Don't really fancy my chances with the great unknown depth of the Red Sea... The tide must have been this way because of the "Super Moon" which happened while we were out there. I tried to get some good shots of it, it was a bit hard but the picture where Gary's pointing towards it sort of shows how big it was. It was quite cool actually.
As always when we're on holiday, we didn't do anything other then read books, flip around in the pool and doze out on the sun loungers and take a few walks down to the beach. Although, this time we did actually bring our gym gear and got quite a few sessions in. I'm so glad I'm not married to a restless guy that can't sit still for even 10 minutes, and who appreciates the sun just as much as I do.

So far this year...

2011-03-08T10:27:00.001Z

I was ill the first 7 weeks of the year
Grandad passed away
I've been to two funerals - no more this year thank you
I've had my mobile stolen from a wedding

It's now the great things for 2011 will start to happen isn't it? This holiday we got coming next week is much needed...

Hmmm....

2011-03-08T10:18:00.001Z

Friday's message

2011-03-04T10:34:00.000Z

Best dresses at the Oscars

2011-03-02T14:14:00.000Z

Halle Berry and Camilla Alves wore the most gorgeous dresses to the Academy Awards this year.

Mama's got a brand new pair of shoes (and a hat!)

2011-03-01T17:13:00.004Z

The shoes will be of great use in a few weeks and the hat, well, that's just fun.

A wedding in Seer Green

2011-02-07T17:36:00.008Z

Over the weekend we celebrated Peter and Maya's wedding. I didn't get any good pictures of the couple (!) but there are some fun ones to go in the album of 2011. The boys had a bit too much fun behind the bar (these guys have grown up together so mischief is their middle name) and I think they all thought they were professional bartenders. We had some good laughs but unfortunatley the evening ended on a bad note for me. Someone decided to steal my mobile phone from my handbag - which made me very, very angry. I cannot believe someone would do this at a wedding! It leaves you with such a bad taste and I'm not going to remember this day as a great day of celebration now, all I'll remember is that some stupid person decided to take my mobile. There's been many bad words uttered over the last 2 days because of this person, but I hope karma will bite whoever did it HARD.

Yet another laid back weekend

2011-01-31T17:51:00.004Z

We spent the weekend chillin' with some cinema, a long walk on The Long Walk and a lovely Sunday roast at the Two Brewers in town. It was a sunny day and just the right temperature for you to want to pop in and have a sneaky glass of wine. I love that you can bring dogs with you to the pubs here in England, that would never happen in Sweden. And of course, our two girls are so well behaved and they always get a huge fan base wherever they go. Maybe I should enroll them into some doggie PR and get them to earn Mummy and Daddy lots of money. :-)

Did you know...

2011-01-28T10:24:00.005Z

It's 25 years ago today that the Challenger space shuttle exploded on its way out into space. I remember watching the launch on TV as I was such a space junkie as a child and Dad was sittning next to me, watching it too. When the explosion came, I asked him: "Is it supposed to do that?" and his answer was "No, not really". It's a very clear memory for me as I had a dream of becoming an astronaut when I was young and that dream died a little then. And it's also a very clear memory because I remember Dad trying to explain to his 7 year old daughter why things like this happen. He must have done a good job though as I'm still as fascinated by the launches and the space trips today as I was then, and now there's only 3 more trips left for the three remaining shuttles; Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor.

A relaxing weekend

2011-01-24T18:43:00.002Z

The Stables Spa, Windsor

For my birthday this year, Gary gave me a half day package at a spa here in Windsor. It was very much appreciated and needed after a long time of sickness for me. It was lovely to get a full body scrub, a massage and a pedicure. We were also able to use the facilities as in the steam room, the sauna, whirlpool and some crazy loungers that vibrate and make rainforest noises. It was all very relaxing and both of us felt rejuvenated. We then had some lunch in the hotel where the spa is and in the evening we went out for dinner. Just what the doctor ordered. :-)

Old pictures of an old gal who's young at heart

2011-01-17T17:45:00.003Z

Say good bye to 2010

2011-01-10T16:49:00.003Z

Last year meant a lot of different changes for us. We found a house in Windsor that we liked and saw the potential with, so we decided to move. It was a very important move for us both, but maybe even more so for me. I am not a village girl, never will be either. I do enjoy being away from the city but there's nothing more soothing then hearing the buses, the sirens, the pulse of a city. Windsor may not be a big metropolitan, but at least I get to hear my sirens if I want to. So I feel a lot happier here in Windsor then I did in Seer Green.
Gary moved jobs, left Activision and decided to start work for Hasbro. I think it's been a hard adjustment for him, it's never easy changing business and learning a new market. But despite all the hard work and long hours, I think he likes it and it it the right company to work for when you want to start a family.
We went to Greece for a wedding which was amazing. Neither of us had ever been to Greece before but we have found a new paradise and we will be going back sometime in the future. It's an amazing country and the landscape is beautiful, and it provided us with some well needed quality time and relaxation.
We drove back to Sweden for 2 weeks, which was a lot of fun but also a very long trip when we got stuck in Germany for so many hours. Luckily we could stay over with friends in south of Sweden before heading up north but it was a very, very long drive. The girls were so good and had a wee in every country we went through (globetrekking dogs!) and they charmed everyone on the different ferries over.

So what can we expect from 2011 then? Hopefully all the bad news have ended with the year, and we have turned a corner. We got a few exciting things planned this year, we'll be going to Egypt in March and we'll be going to Sweden for Easter. Hopefully there will be 2 new babies out by then as well, it will be fantastic to meet my sisters little girls. We'll be doing an extension out back of our house to make the kitchen even bigger. This will hopefully start around March time when all the planning regulations have been approved. And I hope we can have our own bedroom done by end of February too! It will be a bliss to be back in our own bed. :-)

Christmas 2010, Windsor

2011-01-10T16:25:00.006Z

Christmas is around the corner

2010-12-20T11:21:00.005Z

And we get to have snow this year! Well, at least there's snow now, and lots of it (for being England!). I'm hoping it can stay but as it causes severe disruptions on the roads, it would be good if the roads could be clear...wishful thinking. My Mum was supposed to fly out today but with Heathrow not coping well under the cold, she's re-booked for tomorrow instead, fingers crossed she'll get on the plane.

There's been a mad few weeks lately, with me going to Sweden for a bit, doing work and other bits and bobs. There's always the stress with the house not getting done fast enough, well, not fast enough for me at least. I was hopeful our master bedroom would be done for Christmas but that is not going to happen. Over the holidays we'll be able to start it a bit more though and we can get carpet upstairs on the landing and also on the stairs. It would be great to get that done as Lucky has got bongo legs going up and down the stairs. I swear she's walking that loudly just to make sure we are awake.

We are trying to figure out what to do for our summer holiday next year; either we'll go to Greece again and rent a villa or we'll take the dogs with us and drive to the south of France and rent a villa. Difficult to decide! We will be spending a chunk of it at home in Sweden too as there will be two new babies in the family by then, but we do need to get our yearly sun fix. We also got Las Vegas on the cards - would be fantastic to go over and visit our friends there. If we win the lottery - we'll do all three. :-)

This clip has me in tears

2010-12-09T12:25:00.000Z

I hope this woman rots in hell for doing this to her child.

Inspiration for my gray bedroom

2010-11-30T17:58:00.003Z

Source

It's becoming a house...

2010-11-15T11:01:00.006Z

And the ugly pine and crazy colours are almost all gone!

Staring contest

2010-11-15T10:46:00.002Z

Amazing picture.

A new season is here

2010-10-19T16:21:00.002+01:00

The colours are slowly starting to turn now - gone are the green leaves and we're getting more and more of the orange and red ones. It's so pretty and for most of the time, we enjoy beautiful weather as well which makes it even prettier. It's starting to drop as well in temperature, which is nice, I love it when it's cold. Although, last weekend, we had around 24 degrees here which meant shorts and t-shirt! Crazy.

We've enjoyed having Mum over for two weeks, which has involved some shopping (I've clearly inherited the shopping gene from her according to Gary) some sight seeing and some chilling out time. I think she liked our new house and even if it's a long way until it's all done, it's well on its way. The spare bedroom wasn't done before she arrived, which I was very annoyed about, but two days after she had arrived it was pretty much done. Wall paper is up, bed is assembled, carpet is in and now we're waiting on the skirting boards to get into place and hanging some pictures and a mirror and we're good to go. It's a very nice room and I'm very pleased it turned out so well. Next on the agenda is the room where we sleep at the moment - it needs to be painted and the floor needs to be exchanged and then we're moving on with the pink room, which really is bright pink, which will get a new layer of paint and a new carpet. The it's just the office and the kitchen left, the office we can't get done until we've gotten the loft done and the kitchen can wait a bit longer as it only needs paint (everything in this house needs paint - the people before us had a love for yellow and pine). Hopefully, by the time we are done with the two bedrooms, we can start work on our extension downstairs to make a nice big openspace living room and dining room. But first, we need to get permission and get our neighbours in on it, which, fingers crossed, they'll want to do as well.

Last week we recived some very bad news - one of our close friends got news about cancer. We're still waiting to find out exactly what type it is, at what stage it is and what the next steps are but never in a million years would you expect this thing. It sort of bursts your little bubble of life you walk around in and it makes you realise that so many things doesn't really matter. I really hope everything will be okay and that we can beat this thing together and that me and Gary can offer the right kind of support for this couple who's going through it at the moment.

Such an inspiration

2010-09-30T11:47:00.002+01:00

This little guy had his arm broken by some bullies at school - when are parents going to start teaching their children that it's okay to do what ever it is that is right for them, and not care about what other people think if you? If this little man wants to be a cheerleader, let him be one! It's not like he's wanting to be a high school drop out, hanging out with the wrong crowd and doing drugs and drinking alcohol. Things like this winds me up so much.

1 year anniversary

2010-09-21T10:57:00.006+01:00

Time flies. I think that's something we all can agree on. A year ago I married the most perfect man, and it's been an amazing year with a new house in a new town. He still makes me laugh, and he makes me feel amazing. It's the best feeling in the world to be with someone who can make you feel so good and special, and that's something Gary is great at doing. He's the most selfless person I've ever met and always put other people's needs infront of his own. I'm so happy that I have such a great person in my life.

We decided to go to our beloved little quaint village of Branscombe where we got engaged 2 years ago, to have a relaxing weekend away with the girls. And relaxing it was, with long walks along the coast and swimming for the dogs. After much scepticism, Lucky decided that she no longer was afraid of the waves and went straight in. It was hard getting them out of the water after that - Wilma would probably be the happiest if she could be in the water all the time.

We are slowly getting there...

2010-09-10T14:29:00.008+01:00

Before...

And after...although not yet done!

And this is the second floor hallway before...

And after...again, so not done with it but at least the pine is gone!

Ugly shoe fest

2010-08-31T13:49:00.007+01:00

Was flipping through images from the Polar Music Prize that took place yesterday in Stockholm and of course you had the odd one wearing a really frumpy dress or jeans, but I was surprised by the amount of ugly shoes.

Summer 2010

2010-08-16T12:05:00.008+01:00

Happy days

2010-07-26T17:20:00.002+01:00

Hero?

2010-07-15T14:18:00.004+01:00

I am sure you've heard of Raoul Moat - the guy who grabbed a gun and shot his ex-girlfriend, her new boyfriend and a police officer. He stayed under the radar and was on the run for a week before emerging last Friday. He came out of hiding with a gun held to his head and talks started with him to try and stop him from committing suicide.

Now there's tributes to this man; outside his home, where he killed himself and also on Facebook where a page is set up in his honour.

Some people are calling him a legend and a hero for almost killing a police officer and his ex, and for killing an innocent man. They say he was justified to kill his ex's new man. Really?

It amazes me that there are people out there who thinks this is a man who should be admired for his actions. He was clearly mentally ill and unstable, and there was no chance he would surrender to the police, he wanted to go out with his flag held high in his own sick mind. People who place these comments on this page disgust me. I can gurantee it's people who are unemployed, who have drinking or drug problems, who got knocked up when they were 14 and now have 5 kids with different dads who write these things. They are going to tell their kids that this sick man did something right in killing a man. I do feel sorry for his family, I'm sure this was not the future they wanted for him, but to say that he's done something right when he's clearly committed a crime, is so wrong. To give a young child even the tiniest inkling that you think he's done something right, what kind of parent are you?

Just because you get hurt by someone doesn't give you the right to kill them. Yes, I would want to kill anyone who's killed my child or one of my dogs, but if someone breaks up with you, you go into therapy or you talk with your friends and family - you don't go out and use a gun on them! And the people saying he should've gotten help and bla bla bla, HOW are they going to know he needs help when he hasn't said anything? Don't go blaming the society for turning its back when there hasn't been a cry for help. Some people just think it's so much easier to blame the government for everything. Because it's so much easier to do that, then to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you're happy and content, because chances are, you aren't.

World's bestest Wilma

2010-07-13T17:42:00.004+01:00

It's Wilma's 10th birthday today - now entering the mature adulthood (so not gonna happen).

2010-07-06T12:04:00.003+01:00

Today is the day that Marty McFlay arrived in the future in Back to the Future 2. Where's the hoverboard?!

Gossip Girl

2010-07-05T17:05:00.007+01:00

Blake Lively is number one on my list of most beautiful women. Effortless and always great make up and clothes.

Great article that British men (and women) should read

2010-06-30T12:19:00.002+01:00

Now that I've lived here for a while, I've come to understand that Swedish style and British style is very different. I knew this before but didn't think it would be so prominent. I read a great article today in the Daily Mail about how British men dress themselves. I can only agree with the article;
why do British men dress like oversized toddlers in trainers, shorts and vests, or worse, the nylon football shirt.

Click on the link to read.

Midsummer is here

2010-06-24T11:18:00.002+01:00

I myself will be working on Midsummer's Eve but hope to celebrate next weekend instead with my Swedish partner in crime over here. :-)

This little princess turned 3 on Sunday!

2010-06-22T12:17:00.001+01:00

I think it's an understatement that time flies!

She finally got her prince

2010-06-21T14:37:00.005+01:00

This weekend our crown princess got married - her husband is now a prince. I cried my eyes out during most of the day. His speech during dinner for his new wife was extraordinary - he's shown how it's done for sure.

Polo match and Pimm's

2010-06-16T10:58:00.003+01:00

On the wishlist

2010-06-11T13:43:00.003+01:00

For those rainy days that I'm sure we'll have this summer.
From TopShop

R A N T

2010-06-09T11:27:00.003+01:00

Sometimes I'm amazed how some institutions just complicate things. For example, I need to change my license as we've moved house and I've changed my last name. In order to do this I need to send in details on my new address and my new name and I need to send in proof of identity. Fair enough. I have to send in my passport as I don't have an UK digital passport, but I haven't had a chance to change my last name in my passport either as I haven't been able to get it done while I was in Sweden last time, so I need to also send in the marriage certificate. Fair enough. What I don't understand, and here's the good part, is WHY ON EARTH DO I HAVE TO SEND IN A PHOTO OF MYSELF AS WELL??????!!!!!!!!???????? It's clearly me in the picture on my license already, it's clearly me in my passport as well. WHY do they need just a photo of me as well?

Speechless. I wonder if I can send in a photo of me aged 7 as that's the only right size photo of myself that I have.

She's done it again

2010-06-09T11:21:00.002+01:00

I went to her concert just over a week ago and I can honestly say it was the best concert I've been to ever. Her presence, energy and humbleness on stage is incredible and you walk away feeling like you're a million dollars. If every artist could be as thankful, honest and fantastic like she is maybe the music industry wouldn't suffer so much from illegal downloads and what not.
You feel her pain, her love, her sympathy and her humility for her fans throughout and I had goosebumps the whole 2 hours.

Wedding in Greece

2010-06-08T11:38:00.007+01:00

We've had the most amazing week in Greece with lots of sun, good food and a great wedding. It's been wedding crazy for us for a while now but now we're done with the weddings for this year unless someone suddenly books something in?!

We stayed on the small island of Paxos, which is tiny, only 2,500 people live on it year round. It's very hilly and you need to have a car to get around which we had. It felt like you were on a very, very small race track driving around there as the roads are steep and turn very quickly. We had a villa to ourselves which was great, we enjoyed being on the beach during the day and then in the evening just sitting outside on the patio under our own lemon tree and we also had an orange tree. Needless to say we had lemons every day but the oranges weren't as ripe yet. We had two house cats, which we quicly named One-eyed Willy as she was missing an eye and the other one Lucky the cat - had the peronality of our own dog hence the name. Very cute and very stray but none the less I wanted to bring both with me home!

It was a great week away and much needed after the whole pilava of moving house and trying to get all kinds of things done. Now we are looking forward to our road trip back to Sweden in the beginning of August which will probably be full of adventures as our last trip was...

Wedding in Sweden

2010-05-18T15:45:00.009+01:00

Chaos

2010-05-06T11:00:00.003+01:00

We've finally moved and we barely survived. Moving day was mental but we had really good weather which was great, made things a bit easier. We packed our old house in a huge truck (well, three big men did) and then we headed over to our new home. On arrival, we realised the shmuck who lived here before had left about half his furniture, so before we could unload the truck, we had to get rid of his crap. Needless to say I was on the brink of a breakdown. And the house was in a complete mess so I had to start with cleaning everything; floors, bathrooms, cupboards etc. The breakdown came a few days later when I got hit with a nasty cold which took the last bit of energy from me.

Anyhow, it's great to have moved and fantastic to have everything you need within close range. Now the process of painting, putting new floors in, getting planning permisson for extending etc starts.

Over the weekend we had visitors from Sweden, which was a nice break. We went into London on Friday and spent all day in there (I'm so glad all of them are helping us out of the recession, their shopping was insane!!) and Saturday we hung around in Windsor. It was good to have 'em over and it was great not having to step on eachother as we had to in our old house. :-) Now people can come stay with us and have their own rooms!

So a little sneak peak of the house. This below is the living room, and here we're going to paint the walls in a nice putty colour. We might get a wallpaper in to put over the fireplace but that will be a later decision depending on how the room feels after we've painted and put our new oak floor in. The skirting boards are all pine at the moment, and they'll of course be painted white. The fireplace I painted in glossy black, and that's about what we've down with that room so far.

2010-04-20T11:23:00.004+01:00

The weekend offered a food galore I haven't experienced in a long time. Saturday night we went to a very nice restaurant in London called Côte, which is a French bistro. It's been voted "Best value restaurant in Britain" by the Good Food Guide. The food was lovely and the prices were really good considering it was such nice food. We were out celebrating Rich's 30th birthday and what better way then to celebrate with good food and good drinks with good friends. :-) I started flagging at like 10, having eaten so much food and being so tired from all the packing takes its toll so we went back home at 11:30 at night and went straight to bed. I'm officially old.

Sunday was even more food galore, as we were invited to Rich's parents house to continue the celebrations. The weather was lovely for being April so we could sit outside and enjoy the sun. Rich's Mum had been cooking for 2 days so we all ate like we've never seen food before, it was so good! And she had made delicious cakes, one that looked like a big chocolate bar and another italian cake with marsipan, which was just divine. We both rolled home from there in the early evening, and we actually had to have a snooze on the sofa before we continued the packing...

Is this true?

2010-04-16T17:46:00.002+01:00

I read today that President Obama mandated that hospitals allow visitation rights to the partners of gay men and women, along with respecting patients' choices about who can make critical health-care decisions for them.

Again, I am lost for words. It's 2010.

The new rules will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding and will become active within months. I have no idea what constitutes these hospitals with Medicare and Medicaid, but wouldn't you think that in times when you need to be surrounded by your loved ones, it wouldn't matter if you're gay, straight, left, right, dark, white, green, yellow, whatever. Point is - equality is needed for everyone.

And oh, this new mandate will also apply to widows and widowers. So if I was to go to the US and die, and Gary goes into the hospital, he can get visits from friends. Isn't that just lovely.

Mother Earth

2010-04-16T17:35:00.002+01:00

What's gonna happen when one of the big ones erupt - atomic winter for 50 years?

Most of the air traffic is closed across Europe because of the volcanic eruption from one of Iceland's volcanos. It's fantastic that we forget we live on a planet that has a very active core, and there's a pattern here - Haiti, China and then this volcano. If one plate moves, surely the others will move. If one volcano is starting to wake up, there will be more to follow. The pressure must get out somewhere. I'm just glad I'm not close to it when it happens!

Pure magic

2010-04-16T10:44:00.002+01:00

We went and saw this film yesterday and it was fantastic. I love the books and the first film is just amazing. It was subtitled with English so Gary could understand it which was great. I really wish the US could just take it as it is and not Hollywoodise it. It's so beautifully filmed and has such intense drama. I'm pretty sure the awful rape scene wouldn't be portrait in the same way in the US. It's bloody, awful and you cringe, but that's exactly what needs to come through. I'm really looking forward to seeing the following two films.

Grand National - where you see Britain's finest

2010-04-12T10:36:00.013+01:00

Clearly these ladies haven't looked in a mirror before stepping out to this weekend's Grand National....

Really?

2010-04-12T10:24:00.003+01:00

This is such a disgusting picture. And to think she spent a fortune looking like this as well. Bad, bad investment darling.

The wait is almost unbearable!

2010-04-09T18:04:00.002+01:00

Aidan's back!

Finally moving

2010-04-07T11:35:00.002+01:00

After much paperwork, heel dragging and tons of bad words, we have finally set the date for when we leave the village God forgot and move to the city - April 22nd!! I have waited and waited on this day! I know it's not as much city as Stockholm but Windsor is perfect for having a semi-rural life along with the choice of restaurants, coffee shops, stores etc. Bliss for a city girl like myself.

Easter was spent here with some parts of the family over. It was great to see them as I haven't seen them since December! Julia has grown so much, she's actually a little person now! So weird to see that but at the same time, it's great to actually talk to her and she understands more then you think...! We did some (well my family did a lot!) shopping and also had some nice Easter dinner. As always around Easter, the weather seemed to be a bit dodgy at times, but I suppose it's true what they say, April showers bring May flowers!

Cuteness

2010-03-18T18:09:00.001Z

I'm addicted to...

2010-03-11T13:16:00.001Z

SWEDE!!!!

How funny is that, the Swede is addicted to Swede. Kålrot in Swedish.

Citizenship, general elections, nationality etc...

2010-03-11T12:26:00.003Z

It is not the easiest thing to move to another country and marry a person with another nationality then yourself. It's not necessarily impossible (thankfully) but it's about 180 things you need to consider and know when you do it, and you learn about 160 other things as you go along.

There's a few hurdles as the moment. I need to let both countries know I've changed my name and is married. It's easy peasy doing it in Sweden as that's controlled by the government, you send an application in, a copy of your marriage certificate and 2 weeks later, everyone and their mother knows you're married and have changed your name. Over here, not so easy. You need to send copies of your marriage certificate in (and you're lucky if you get it back), you need to fill in forms through your ears, ideally you need to bring some other id with you as well and oh, 2 seperate bills with your name and address on! Because that makes ALL THE SENSE IN THE WORLD. Hence, I've only changed my name on my bank accounts and my Boots card. Takes time and effort and as we're about to move, I'd rather go through the process once then twice because you have to do the same thing when you let people know you're changing address.

Second hurdle, Britain is having elections over here this spring/early summer. No date set yet, because why would you set a date, so much more fun to spring it on people 2 weeks beforehand! As I'm not a British citizen, I'm not allowed to vote in the parliamentary election which sucks, but is understandable (even though I pay taxes like everyone else and don't mis-use the system you'd think I'd be entitled to vote anyway) So I am now telling Gary who he must vote for as this country really needs to lose the labour government and bring in the tories....

Third hurdle, Sweden is also having it's general elections this fall and as a Swedish citizen I need to contribute to the democratic process and I will need to find a way to get my hand on a posting vote. Somehow.

And at number four, we have the winner of them all; what do I do, do I become a person with dual nationality as I'm entitled to become a British citizen after 3 years of resicende here and being married to a British citizen? I can keep my Swedish citizenship as well, that's fine, but it might face me some problems having two passports going into other countries. Or do I just stay Swedish? If I stay in this country for a long time, I'm gonna have to become an emigrate and I lose all my Swedish rights. Food for thought.

Oh and when we have kids, that's when the fun begins, with registering in two countries, what citizenship do they get as their number 1 etc etc, and the administration machine starts again.....

Spring is here

2010-03-10T14:03:00.002Z

New hat

2010-03-05T15:48:00.003Z

Is this really true?

2010-03-01T11:38:00.003Z

I was gobsmacked today when I read the Independent. There's a proposed bill in Utah, that says women who suffer a miscarrige can be criminally prosecuted and face life impriosonment.

Yes, you read it right.

I myself had to read it twice, thinking it was already April 1st.

Basically, the main thrust of the proposed law is to enable prosecutors to seek out women who get illegal, unsupervised abortions, but it also includes a provision that could trigger murder charges against women who are found guilty of an "intentional, knowing or reckless act" that triggers the miscarrige. And this is described as "having a glass of wine, skiing or walking on an icy pavement".

How on earth are they going to be able to keep track on all pregnant women? Will you get a certificate saying you're pregnant and then 9 months later, if there's no baby, you'll be hauled into jail?

This sounds a little bit to Big Brother to me. Maybe just inplant a chip in every woman that monitors what they eat, drink and what they do. And we can all just become a growing ground who's put on this earth to produce kids.

Bread

2010-02-25T16:10:00.001Z

Did a little baking today as the weather is so bad that the dogs won't even go outside...

When the cat is gone...

2010-02-24T18:32:00.005Z

...the rats are dancing on the tables, as we say in Sweden. And I think I can vouch for that when Gary's gone for a few days - dogs will be in the bed with me and there will be popcorn for dinner as I can't be asked to cook proper food. And, I can watch all the "girly" series (The Vampire Diaries, 90210, Ghost Whisperer etc) in the evening rather then during my lunch break. :-)

So with Gary living the high life in Nice for a couple of days, I'm trying to get things together for when we move. There's so many things we need, and one of them is a new fridge/freezer. I find it amazing that we're moving to a big house, yet the people living there before us haven't had a proper fridge or freezer. And they had kids too. When I started looking I could only find pieces that cost a fortune but now we're seeing some with reasonable price. We want an American style piece, but we've chosen not to have the "ice-hole" as it'll eat up too much space from the freezer and, more importantly, the water in this country tastes like pool water and I don't think there's any filter that can remove that without probably boiling it, nuclear it, put baking soda in it and then do the process over 500 more times. So after some searching, I think we'll go for something like the below one.

Fantastic view

2010-02-22T17:57:00.002Z

Image taken from the Space Station as the shuttle Endeavour is approaching, with the sun setting over earth.

I feel alive when...

2010-02-16T14:11:00.002Z

...Wilma wakes me up in the morning with her little paws clicking on the floor and Lucky dances around the room when I come downstairs, when I smell them and they smell like love and safety, when I take the first zip of my tea and have Swedish mashed apples with my porridge, when giving my man a kiss good bye and tell him to drive safely to work.

I feel alive when you take the first long walk in spring and you see the flowers coming up, when you put fresh tulips in a vase, when you wake up in the morning and it's daylight and not dark, when we have the first BBQ of the year and you can sit outside, when you can be outside all night long and the sun never sets completely, when there's a warm breeze in the air, when you take the first dip of the year, when there's a nice summer, when the sun is shining, when the first snow comes.

I feel alive when Julia jumps up and down with excitement to see me, when I sit on an airplane flying in over Stockholm, when putting the keys in the door and see my apartment just as I left it, when spending time with my family and friends who I don't see so often anymore, when I spend hours on the phone with my husband because we're in different countries, when I can jump on the tube or the bus and be anywhere in no time, when there's life around me.

I feel alive when looking at Gary and he smiles at me, when he says I'm the most beautiful girl in the world, when he massages me feet and when he gives me a kiss good night, when I roll over and can smell him next to me, to hear him breathe. I feel alive being with him, together.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T11:21:00.002Z

I think I'm probably one of the few people who thinks Valentine's Day is highly overrated and commercialised through the roof. I think it's a lovely idea and I don't mind sending a card or a text reminding people who I love, that I do love them. What I don't like is that just because it's Valentine's, restaurants double their prices, bouquets are doubled in price (only if they're red flowers though!) and there's balloons, cards and stuffed animals everywhere. I'm lucky that Gary feels the same way so the pressure is off him to get me 24 red roses, a card bigger then the front door and a place in a restaurant with a set menu at £24.99.

With that said, we do have a little tradition on Valentine's and that is to go into London and have a day out. As it's so expensive going into London, we rarely go in there in "private", as when it's with work, you can claim the expense back. Last year we went in and got our wedding bands and had an afternoon of wine tasting; this year we went to the Science Museum. If we could, we would've gone on a weekday as Saturday means 18 million kids running around, high on sugar. My God was that a good way to stop being so broody. After 4 hours we felt like we had run a marathon so decided to get out. It was a good trip though, we saw 2 3D films about space, one of them was like being on a ride as the seats moved, you got squirted with water and you could smell things. It was a good day out and we got to have dinner in a nice little hotel on our way back home. Sunday was obviously Valentine's but with Gary playing football and having to get food in for the week etc, we felt it was better to do this a day early.

Last week I also got to go to the European premiere of the movie Valentine's Day, which is a proper chick flick. Gary would've hated it (duh) so it was good fun to go with some other PR ladies in the industry, and to walk the red carpet. Quite a few celebs there too, so got my fix of that for a while!

We also went and saw Avatar (finally!) this weekend, such a good movie, very beautiful. It really has a message if you read between the lines (hello, living in peace with Mother Earth (global warming anyone), big bad military bombing the sacred tree (Afghanistan, Israel) etc etc) The bad guy in the movie made both me and Gary think about George Bush...wonder why....Let's bomb everything, shall we? ;-) Politics aside though, it was a fantastic film, it made me want to move into the Avatar world too and live in peace with Mother Earth and have a little dragon to fly on.

Weekend wrap up

2010-02-08T11:18:00.004Z

This weekend started with an event for us at the Ironmonger's Hall in London. A very well suited location for Harry Potter as it's a spitting image of the great hall in the movie. Everything went quite well, we had everyone divided up by the sorting hat into the 4 different houses and I think it was a good day. We had interviews with the developers, which meant I had to sit in on them making sure no one asked things they're not supposed to ask. It's always quite tiring doing these things as you're running around all day and you talk to so many different people so when I got home in the evening, it was nice to just sit and relax and chill with Gary.

Saturday was meant to be a sleep in day but the kids next door were running havoc which meant we woke up at about 7:15 - one was not amused. The older I get, the harder it is to go back to sleep as well, which meant we got up and had a long brekfast instead. After that it was time for us to get our hair cut so we went into Windsor. My hair is quite layered now, which means a volume boost, I'm a bit tired of having it the same length which I've had for about 2 years now, makes me look like I ran away from the 70's. Much oomph in the hair now!

We went to a party in the evening, it was Gary's childhood friend's 30th. It was at the new hot spot, Crazy Bear, which is quite expensive. It's quite nice inside though but spending £50 on 4 drinks is a bit excessive! When we were there, rumours started flying around that David Beckham was there but the boys quickly dismissed that as he was apparently supposed to play in Milan that day (how do they know these things?!) but turns out it was his anorextic wife Posh that was there instead. Big wo-ho.

Yesterday - big Super Bowl day! I'm not the biggest American football fan but I do enjoy the Super Bowl. Me and Gary had an all American day eating pretty much junk food the whole day and drinking Dr. Pepper. I can't really eat junk food that much as it feels like all the fat just burns my stomach, and I usually never have soft drinks either, but you gotta do these things sometimes. :-) We lasted until about 1 the morning and then we had to turn to bed, but I was pleased to see the Saints won the game.

Depressing weather

2010-02-03T12:15:00.003Z

The outlook for the next 5 days is just looking fantastic, isn't it.

February already

2010-02-02T16:09:00.003Z

The above picture was taken during Christmas when me and Julia were entertaining ourselves in her new, fancy castle. Seems like ages ago already! I've booked myself to go home for a week in May but I'm hoping there will be time to get home before that....awful long time until May!

This weekend just gone we had a little Lucky staying with us, she's quite the adorable little dog. Her and our Lucky are quite close in age so there's was full on play time going on, much to Wilma's delight - meant she didn't have to entertain them at all. It was good to see they get along so well as she's staying with us for 2 weeks this summer while her parents are out and about. :-)

Other then enjoying long walks in the woods and finally seeing the sun for the first time in about 3 weeks, we didn't do much at all. Just chilled. I did however stock up on my make up. I had a big clean out on the Friday and realised I own three eyeshadows. Hello, I'm a girl, I should have like 30 different ones! So I had to venture out on the weekend to get me some nice colours and some bit and bobs to play with. Next on the list of grooming is to get my hair cut this weekend, will be nice to get rid of the split ends I accumulated while in Thailand!

The wait has been long....

2010-01-28T16:00:00.003Z

...but finally, finally it's premiering in the UK with english subtitles. I have waited so long for this movie to come over here so Gary can watch it with me. He's read all the books too so we're ready for the triology to start. I read that Hollywood has bought it now too so it will no doubt get ruined by the Hollywood stamp, and I prefer watching it with the original Swedish actors. Bring on March 12th!!

Broken Britain

2010-01-25T16:40:00.002Z

This story below unfolded last year when two young brothers tortured two other young boys. They got their sentence on Friday. The whole story is very tragic and very upsetting, but I can't help but think, why are people like the brother's parents allowed to even have kids? I know we are supposed to live in a democratic society and there are human rights and respect and bla bla bla. But these kids are a lost cause. They are never going to come out good after doing something this gruesome at such young age. They are screwed for life. And that's because their parents are screwed. The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree, and yes, I know there are exceptions to the rule. But if this was my kid who had been tortured, who had been whipped and hit until the face wasn't recognisable, burnt with cigarettes and forced to commit acts that he's far too young to even know about, I'd want to send the kids responsible away to a Russian mine for the rest of their lives. I'd want them to suffer just as much as my kid. And they sure as hell won't suffer in a closed unit, costing us tax payers £420,000 a year, where they get to play videogames and learn how to cook. Why does it have to be sugar coated? Using cotton gloves with kids like these won't do them any favours. I'm not an expert, and I'm not saying I know how to better "correct" kids like this, but it's offensive to even suggest that they are going to pay for a crime like this in a 5 year period. The parents of these brothers, are they proud? Are they grateful to have kids like this? She has 7 kids with 3 different men. Living off welfare. It's disgusting. And we're meant to have social services to help people "less fortunate", and to look after kids like this, making sure they somewhat turn out fine. And that has clearly not been achieved here. It's revolting, disturbing and makes me so mad that we have people like this around us. Why are some people so insanely stupid!!? What went wrong?? Survival of the fittest - not survival because I can live off welfare if I produce 7 kids and keep doing drugs and hook up with a man that thinks I'm a punching bag.

Stories like these winds me up so, so much. Read it yourself and see what you think.

THE father of a boy left close to death after being tortured by two devil brothers yesterday warned they will kill if released.

The shocked dad had watched in court as the 11 and 12-year-old — who had a "Beware Of The Kids" sign outside their home — were given a minimum five-year sentence. With time already served they could be free in four years and three months.

The dad, whose 12-year-old son was filmed during an attack so brutal he was left in a coma, said the sentence was "ridiculous", adding: "Never let them out. Next time they will kill. I am certain of that. "I don't think it will ever be safe to release them. I am convinced they will do it again. They loved what they did. You could see it on their faces in court. They were smiling. They are bloodthirsty." And the 44-year-old slammed the boys' parents. He said: "They brought them up like dogs."

Today, child welfare campaigners said they will ask the Attorney General to increase the brothers' sentence. Founder of charity Kidscape, Michelle Elliott, said the victims deserve the security of knowing their tormentors will not be released for at least a decade. Dr Elliott said: "I'm grateful for the indeterminate sentence but I would have urged a 10-year minimum before they are assessed for release. "I will be appealing to Baroness Scotland (the Attorney General). Several groups are doing that." "I think, for the victims and their families, they need to have a clear 10 years. They would then all be in their 20s."

Psychologist Dr Elliott said the two victims stand a good chance of recovery, but believes the brothers could pose a risk to society "for many years to come". She said the pair would be "better off" now they are in an environment away from the "feckless parents" who "dragged them up".

South Yorkshire Police have today confirmed they are considering criminal action against the brothers' parents for neglect. Judge Mr Justice Keith branded their kids sadists who enjoyed torturing the boy and a ten-year-old pal in Edlington South Yorks, in April last year.

The mother of the younger victim had to be restrained after launching a furious verbal attack on the brothers as they were led from the dock at Sheffield Crown Court.

Last night there was anger too at Doncaster Council's social services department. Workers had 31 opportunities to intervene. But a report into the case found they were more interested in the mother's problems with her violent husband. Only one worker is under investigation and will face a disciplinary panel.

One of the victim's mum screamed "You evil little b*****ds" at the devil brothers who tortured her ten-year-old son as they were caged yesterday for a minimum of only five years. The two boys — now 11 and 12 — looked unconcerned as they were led away, with the rage of a court's public gallery ringing in their ears. The pair, who could be freed in four years and three months, subjected the youngster — then nine — and his 11-year-old pal to 90 minutes of brutality and humiliation. They were given an indeterminate sentence by Mr Justice Keith.

He told them: "This was prolonged, sadistic violence for no reason other than that you got a kick out of hurting." The judge went on: "The two of you know that you are going away for a very long time for boys of your age. "The bottom line is that I'm sure you both pose a very high risk of serious harm to others. "Everything I know about you suggests that there is a very high risk of the two of you committing really violent offences." The boys must serve at least five years, including the time they have been on remand. But the judge warned them: "That does not mean you will be released then. You will only be released when the authorities are satisfied that you are safe to be released."

As the brothers were led away the mum of the younger victim stood and punched the glass of the public gallery, shouting: "You evil b*****ds. I hope somebody does it to you." Her family tried to restrain her and she was escorted from Sheffield Crown Court in tears. Other relatives wept and shook their heads. The dad of the eldest victim blasted the sentence as "ridiculous". Earlier, he said of the brothers: "They did not care that they nearly killed. In fact, they thought they had at first. "As they get older they are going to be bigger and stronger. They are bloodthirsty crackpots. "I will be furious if they are ever released. They will never be safe on the streets. "The parents should have been in court and prosecuted as well."

Child protection campaigners were also angered. Shy Keenan, founder of Phoenix Survivors, said: "We have appealed the five-year minimum tariff on this sentence to the Attorney General on the grounds that it is unduly lenient. "We do hope that the authorities involved will now pursue the offenders' parents for their neglect and abuse in this awful case."

The judge had spent two days listening to harrowing accounts of how the brothers - then ten and 11 - lured their victims to a secluded spot in Edlington, South Yorks, and subjected them to savage violence and sexual degradation in April 2009. Boulders were thrown at their heads and dropped on them and they were whipped with sticks. The older brother tried to strangle one of the boys with a metal hoop. They were also burned with cigarettes, forced to undress and covered with a plastic sheet which was set alight. They were then forced to sexually abuse each other. The brutes filmed the boys' torment and gloated, "Hell of a picture" as they viewed the footage. A 12-second video clip shown to the court showed their 11-year-old victim - now 12 - with blood caked and pouring down his swollen face.

The judge was told that the lad, who was left in a coma, barely survived the attack. He was spotted in a stream gully after his friend managed to run away and get help. The seriously hurt lad was tended by cop Sgt Richard Vernon, 41, who was so traumatised he broke down in tears. He said: "Every time I heard him breathe I feared it would be his last breath." The officer, who wrapped his jacket over the boy to keep him warm, added: "In the 22 years I've been in the job it's the most distressing thing I've ever dealt with." Mr Justice Keith said the pals' relationship with each other had been seriously affected. Their parents had been left with a feeling of guilt "which they don't begin to deserve, about whether they could have done anything more to protect their boys".

The brothers had admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent. They denied attempted murder and the pleas were accepted so there was no trial. Both pleaded guilty to stealing a mobile phone from one boy and cash from the other. They admitted two counts of intentionally causing a child to engage in sexual activity. The brothers also admitted causing another 11-year-old actual bodily harm a week before the other boys were attacked last April. The older attacker already had convictions for violence against children and adults. The younger one had punched one teacher and butted another. The pair came from a background of domestic violence on a Doncaster estate.

Their parents allowed them to down cider and vodka and smoke cannabis grown by their father. The boys also watched ultra-violent movies, including Saw, and porn DVDs as part of their "toxic home life". Social Services were aware of the pair and they were taken for fostering after their mother who has seven children by three men, begged for help. But they were placed with an elderly couple in Edlington, near their father who had just split from their mum.

Probes into errors by the children's services department have already been dubbed whitewashes. Only one worker has been disciplined after 31 opportunities to intervene were ignored. Doncaster's interim director of social services, Nick Jarman, admitted yesterday what had happened was a "catastrophe". Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, feared the brothers could offend again when freed.

2010-01-25T16:23:00.003Z

This weekend we got to have a quick date with my sister who was over with her work. We had a great Friday night at a great restaurant, I think all of us walked out with football size tummys. I managed to fall asleep on the train back as well, so I wasn't good company for Gary but walking home in the rain really woke me up!

Saturday was spent mostly at home, getting some bits and pieces in and walking the dogs. It's not fun walking them when the weather is so bad, wet and grey seems to be the key words at the moment. We went out for dinner with K&R which was lovely, and we managed to show them some of our bargains we did in Thailand.

Sunday is football time, Gary played for the first time since being injured in the fall, but I wasn't a very supportive wife this time, I decided to stay in bed and read my magazines instead of standing out in the rain watching some boys kick a ball around. :-) In the afternoon we had his Dad over for a belated Christmas roast which was also a birthday roast as it was his birthday yesterday. And as always, the day ended slouched on the sofa with big bellys, trying to stay awake longer then 9 o'clock....

Royal wedding

2010-01-21T12:07:00.003Z

I must say they make a very handsome couple, our crown princess and her "man of the people". It will be great to see all the official pictures for their wedding series, the above one is one of them.

Darkness

2010-01-20T14:45:00.002Z

Getting back from the sun and the intense heat to total darkness and grey, cold weather doesn't exactly work wonders with your mood! Amazing what impact the weather has on you.

We're trying to get back into the swing of things after celebrating Christmas in Sweden and having a fantastic 3 week holiday in Thailand. It was such an amazing holiday, and so needed. We spent most days relaxing, reading through our books and talking about what this year will hold for us. Many exciting things are on the radar which I'm itching to get started on!

2010 agenda

Selling our house in Seer Green and moving into a new home in Windsor
Releasing what will hopefully be the biggest LEGO title so far: LEGO Harry Potter
Go to Greece and celebrate Ian & Emma's wedding
Drive to Sweden this summer
Surprising Gary with a fantastic birthday gift on his 30th in August :-)
And many more things...

Lots of fun stuff to look forward to and to plan, planning is always essential....First up though is to have a great weekend this weekend, when my sister is coming over with her work so we'll be able to have dinner on Friday in London and then on Saturday it's time for a date with K&R, to catch up on everything and show pictures from our holiday. Sunday I'm hoping will be quiet...there's still a huge pile of clothes that needs to find its way into the washing machine, and with it being winter, it takes so long for it to dry as it can't hang outside....tumble dryer would be nice....!!

Honeymoon - part 3 - Krabi

2010-01-18T11:24:00.009Z

One of the lagoon's we saw.

Maya Bay.

Snorkel time!

Lizzie - the hotel's own pet.

Some caves people actually live in!

Celebrating with some bubbly.

Sun setting over the Andaman Sea.

Watching the sun go down.

Honeymoon - part 2 - Phuket

2010-01-18T11:11:00.008Z

A little monkey - no bigger then my hand

This cheeky moneky managed to get hold of the whole bag of nuts we had!

One of the pools at our hotel

Part of Patong beach - commercialised through the sky. Love the wiring on the telephone poles.

Our private pool.

Part of our private pool and garden.

Honeymoon - part 1 - Bangkok

2010-01-18T10:53:00.007Z

Getting our feet done by flesh eating fish - the new spa treatment in Thailand.

One part of the Grand Palace - this is where they get on and off their elephants.

The Reclining Buddha - 46 metres long!

Another part of the Grand Palace

View for our hotel

New Years celebration!

Soon it's time

2009-12-22T09:35:00.002Z

Only 2 more days before Santa is coming, at least in Sweden. We're enjoying lots of snow at the moment, and I'm getting excited to see Gary as he's joining us tomorrow. :-)

Busy bee

2009-12-14T17:18:00.002Z

Busy weekend that just passed that started with a little visit to the pub on Friday where Gary and the football team had their yearly Christmas dinner. For being lots of boys, it wasn't as messy as one would've thought...!! After a slight crab walk home (not me!) the lights went off at 1 in the morning, that's about as long as both of us lasts these days.

Saturday was busy, we were meant to catch a house viewing but that person cancelled, but we also had viewing on our house, so the morning meant a mad dash around the house with the hoover and the dust cloth, basicly throwing everything in the garage that was lying around. What would you do without a garage??? So instead we managed to get some shopping done and then head home for a nap before heading out with Katie and Rich for a night on the town. Well, we were meant to visit a few places but ended up in one place the whole night instead. And at 11:30 it was time to say night night as we were all quite tired. The trip home was eventful, the taxi driver decided to take a random way home, not really asking us which way to go and also having the meter on, which made me really angry and we ended up being charged twice as much as you usually get charged. Imagine my rage, I hate taxi drivers that decide to take a longer way back without asking you. One was not pleased. Didn't get better when he almost hit us as well reversing his way out.

Sunday was baby time - finally! We went and saw little Mackenzie, and my God was he tiny!! Big hands and feet though, must get that from his Daddy. :-) But dangerous, I get insanely broody holding a little one, and he was just perfect. And seeing Gary holding him as well, got me even broodier if that's even a word. Lisa looked smashing, like she hasn't had a baby at all. No dark circles, weight has literally fallen off her and just glowing like any new mother. Tim was glowing too but maybe not in the same way. :-) It was good to see them though as we wouldn't be able to meet him until January now so I was way excited to see him. My heart is wrapped around his little fingers. :-)

New additions

2009-12-09T17:53:00.003Z

Finally, after a long wait, Tim and Lisa got their little baby boy, Mackenzie. I'm so happy for them, and can't wait to meet the little bundle of joy this weekend! After a gruelling labour, which possibly have put me off having babies for a little while, he arrived on Monday night. I'm going to be snap happy with the camera on Sunday! It's been a long wait and I've hardly slept myself as I've been worrying about how it's going. Since it started on early hours on Saturday...you kind of start worrying when nothing is happening!

Another addition is Blondie and Kristian's new baby boy, which arrived on Sunday! So happy for them as well and hope to meet them when I go home for Christmas. :-)

And the last addition won't be joining the party until next summer.....but I'm not sure that person wants to be outed just yet so won't say any names. :-)

Other then babies coming along left and right, there's absolutely no Christmas feeling for me at all so far. It sucks. I've always felt Christmassy all of December but this year, it hasn't even started. Not sure why, but with two weeks to go, I'm as far away from it as I've ever been. Maybe the workload and the stress of the house market is taking its toll. It will be nice going home next week though, and help getting everything ready and try and get into Christmas-turbo-mode!

2009-12-09T14:56:00.000Z

This is what I'm currently working on, releasing in spring 2010. :-)

On the wishlist

2009-12-03T16:05:00.005Z

To be or not to be

2009-11-30T17:44:00.003Z

There's a huge debate going on here in the UK about the maternity leave. At the moment you get 39 weeks. The paternity leave is 2 weeks. From the start, there's already a problem.
The discussion is about increasing the maternity leave or not, and Sweden is being used as an example of what can happen if you have a longer materinty leave. Apparently Sweden only has 31,6 % female directors and that's considered a problem. Basically, you won't be able to become a director if you have a long maternity leave.

In my ears, this is a load of bullshit. In the US and Australia, you get 0 weeks of maternity leave. They on the other hand have 42,7 % female directors. Now which of these would you chose if you had to? Spending time with your baby or earning the big bucks?

I personally think that it shouldn't matter if you are on maternity leave or not, you should still be able to become what you want to. Everyone has a choice and everyone can chose what works for them. I think the option should be there if you want to have a long maternity leave and if you chose not to, then fine. But claiming there's fewer female directors because there's a longer maternity leave must be the silliest thing I've heard in a long time.

What should be addressed is the paternity leave. It's a joke. I've told Gary that when it's time for us to have kids, we're moving back to Sweden because you share the leave there. You each are allowed to take the same amount time off work. You are two people in a relationship, you both make the decision to have a baby, you should both share the "burden". I will not tolerate Gary having 2 weeks off and that's it. I want our kids to be able to get to know their Dad, and be able to spend time with him.

If the paternity leave was increased, would the percentage of male directors change in any way? Would it decrease? Even if the maternity and paternity leave was equal, or the other way around, would there even be this debate? Here's an idea; make the paternity leave longer, make sure women earn the same amount of money as men, in the same jobs of course, and then see if there's a difference in the percentage in directors.

1st of Advent

2009-11-30T09:13:00.005Z

In memoriam

2009-11-20T12:24:00.003Z

Dad graduating high school

Weekend wrap

2009-11-16T16:40:00.002Z

Our weekend started with a mad dash around the house on Saturday morning trying to get our house in order for some viewings. With two dogs it's not the easiest thing to do...I also had to get to a hair appointment so we were on a deadline. I think we did quite good though as we got in time to Windsor for my hair and I even managed to get some photos developed for Grandad from our wedding. As I was getting groomed, Gary took the doggies for a walk and just as he's gotten far away from the car, the skies open up and it started to rain. Needless to say that the three of them were drenched. And my nicely blow dried hair looked quite sorry after a short run to the car. I've taken off quite a large bit of my hair, it's still long but for me it feel like I have no hair.

The evening we spent at one of the pubs in the village where a singer performed, she was very good and it was nice to sit and listen. Or stand actually, as the place was rammed with people. Some of the boys from the football team was out as well and it always tends to get a bit loud when they are out, but it was a good night.

Sunday - Gary didn't play footie as he's got a bad knee but he went and supported them. Me on the other hand stayed on the sofa and watched old episodes of Dr. Quinn (!!) I used to love that series when I was younger. So after a very relaxed and calm weekend, we still feel like we're not exactly refreshed in any shape or form, but hopefully, we'll get there soon. And if in doubt, one can always have coffee to perk up!

Today is Dad's birthday as well, so tonight a candle will burn for him. This week in November is always hard with his birthday today and also the day he passed away. Everything in one week, which I'm sure will be filled with emotions out my ears.

If we were to have a little girl...

2009-11-13T12:58:00.002Z

...I'd get her this little stool that says Princess in Swedish. I might have to get one for myself as well. :-)

www.bondeofsweden.se

At the moment

2009-11-12T17:16:00.002Z

There's a handful of things going on at the moment which are more or less stressful. Work, the house, future. And it doesn't help that I'm still so tired every day. I used to fly out of bed at 7:30 every morning. Now I struggle to get up at all and just want to stay in bed with my book. I'm so looking forward to the honeymoon. We need a proper holiday!!! That's all I have to say.

Remembrance Sunday

2009-11-09T15:13:00.002Z

Yesterday we had Remembrance Sunday in the UK. The poppy flower is the symbol of Remembrance Sunday, they are worn to commemorate the sacrifice of veterans and civilians in World War I and other wars. Growing up in Sweden, you learn about the different wars of the world and other wars that's taken place, how they have changed the world, sometimes to a better place and sometimes to a much more worse place. The one thing you're shielded from though is that Sweden hasn't been to war for over 200 years. Sure we have soldiers in parts of the world where there are wars going on, but that's not as the nation Sweden, that's through the UN. As we celebrated Remembrance Sunday yesterday, it became quite clear to me that I'm now part of a country that's actually at war. Every week there are soldiers that's coming home in a coffin, with the union jack laid across. Every week there are families who learn that their husband/dad/son/brother won't be coming home any more. Being Swedish, hearing about these things is very strange and also very hard to relate to.

We went to the service in Windsor where wreaths was laid by the memorial. There were all sorts of different soldiers there, and there were also many people there who's lost some one in the war that's being fought now in Afghanistan. The service was led by our minister Mary, and she did a fantastic job, as always. Being emotional as I am, I had to sit and fight my tears back, even though I don't know anyone that's fighting in the war, and I don't know anyone that's been killed either. But you just get this sense of how it must feel. I dread every day that Gary will have an accident on his way to or from work, imagine dreading if he's going to be blown up or not every day. The stress these families go through must be absolutey heartbreaking. I could not do it.

I am not a supporter of wars, in any way. I think there are other ways issues can be solved and I think that you're sending the wrong message when you're sending more and more troops into Afghanistan. Despite that, I do think that there are some really brave people out there, that are willing to serve their country and that are willing to fight for freedom. And I am also grateful for those soldiers who died in WW 1 and WW2, who managed to change Europe completely and saved millions of us from being led to think in a certain way. Today, the war bulletins are read like any other news story. As there's been wars going on in different parts of the world all my life, you tend to get a bit blasé about it and growing up in a country that's not at war and probably never will be at war again, you really don't feel like it's something that concerns you. How sad is that.

Scary

2009-11-06T13:42:00.007Z

Five years ago in the H&M catalouge:

Images from the H&M website 2009:

How far is the size zero ideal going to go? How far is Photoshopping going to go?

Images taken from Gröna Anna

Counting down the days now!

2009-11-05T13:26:00.001Z

Halloween weekend

2009-11-02T11:20:00.002Z

What a weekend! Friday night started off with me having a phone conversation with my sister for about 2 hours, I don't think she got to say more then 2 lines during the whole time as I had to ventilate for a bit. :-) Good thing you got people that you can have a chat with, or in this case, spew things out, and they listen!! Gary was at an award show and came home a bit tipsy, and with a garlic bread (!!) that was delicious and worked really well with our home made lasagna.

Saturday was a bit hectic with a ton of meetings we had to go to in the morning, we were so busy we even forgot to pick up our copies of our marriage license! After a mental morning we headed home to have a snooze and some lunch and then getting ready for the dinner we were having. We carved two pumpkins, the big one was mean looking and the little one looked like a dork but he was very cute. I didn't really dress up, only put on my pink wig and a flowery dress and Gary painted his face to look like a mix between Beetlejuice and the Joker I'd say!

Sunday was quiet, thankfully. Gary played football in rain, it was coming down like cats and dogs! And two hours later it was really sunny, a bit weird. We didn't really do anything other then to cook a roast and then, for the third Sunday in a row, I fell asleep on the sofa again after dinner. I don't understand why I'm so tired the whole time, it's insane!! That's what like your grandparents do, not a 30 year old woman. :-)

I'm getting very excited about going home for a weekend in three weeks. I haven't been home since August and I really miss everyone at home so it will be nice to see them again, even if it's just for a short visit this time. I can't believe it's November already, this year is just flying by so fast. I need to start getting the house pimped out with some Christmas decorations soon, and make some of the saffron buns that's traditional in Sweden. I made my cinnamon buns the other week and they went down very well with the crowd. None of them raisins and sultanas and crap that's in cinnamon buns over here! Just plain old good cinnamon buns with pearly sugar on top. :-)

WTF?!

2009-10-30T14:42:00.003Z

How can anyone behave in this way? Stomp a little puppy to death before its owner's eyes. I'd be happy to stomp on their head so they can feel how it felt for the little innocent puppy. A person who acts in this way shouldn't be out in society. Clearly they have some problems, that cen be resolved by locking them up for life and throw the key away. Saves us the tax money and gets rid of horrible people. Sometimes Darwin's theory needs some help; they're not the strongest, fittest people around so just get rid of them. It amazes me that people can be so cruel and so evil. Where's this world going?

Earthly casual

2009-10-29T11:51:00.002Z

I took a test to reveal my StyleScope, as in what kind of interiors I like and how my style is. I have to say I think it's quite spot on.

"You're interested in creating a welcoming home where people feel comfortable and happiness flourishes. You appreciate the warmth and individuality of natural materials and handcrafted things and are inspired by colors and forms from nature. You love mixing up different textures and are sensitive to the tactile qualities of objects. Your style is grounded and solid, not flighty or frilly. And you are never taken in by the trend of the moment.

You value order. You feel happiest if your home is well organized. You understand that when your house is in order, your mind feels clearer. Rather than a lot of meaningless objects or overly-designed items, you are happier with a few well-placed things. Your home is your respite from a busy life. Try to avoid letting things into your home that you don't really love."

I think the key word here is order. Something Gary can vouch for as he knows I go crazy if our house isn't cleaned or if everything isn't in order. :-)

The sniffles

2009-10-28T12:17:00.002Z

After Gary's 5 week cold and coughing his lungs up, it's now my turn to have a cold. Thanks a bunch honey!! I thought I was in the clear as he's been ill for so long and I've been fine up until now but nope...got the sniffles now. It's actually not that bad but still very annoying to be sick. I suppose the good thing is that I can stay in bed and read. Right now I'm reading the last Harry Potter book, very good despite it being a children's book!

Virginia Water Lake

2009-10-26T13:57:00.003Z

Yesterday we spent the afternoon walking around the Virginia Water Lake Park, which is part of the Windsor Great Park. We've never been there before but it was beautiful, it was sunny and warm and the leaves are all orange and red which makes it even more beautiful. As the weather was so nice, everyone was out, and there were lots of dogs for Wilma and Lucky to say hello to. The whole park has a Central Park feeling to it, with the water and the scenery. We met up with Kate and Graham and their Lucky (a Beagle that's pretty much the same age as our Lucky) and had a little walk and then went on for some late lunch/early dinner in a cosy pub. As always after having a big meal and lots of fresh air, the food coma arrived when we got home and none of us could move from the sofa for the rest of the evening. Not sure who was more tired, us or the dogs.

This week is the last week if October, insane how fast time is flying by. It's only 8 weeks left until Christmas, and to our much anticipated honeymoon. :-) It is time to start getting the Christmas gear sorted and working on a wishlist. But first, we need to celebrate Halloween this Saturday which will be at our house with some friends. And as always, there will be lots of kids ringing the door bell asking for treats. Last year we managed to get some screams from a few so we need to top that this year and make sure we scare more kids. I'm so mean but there's nothing more fun. :-)

Possibly the longest title?

2009-10-26T12:33:00.003Z

Her Majesty the Queen of United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis. She's also Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann and Paramount Chief of Fiji.

Oh the controversy!

2009-10-22T13:37:00.002+01:00

The Synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden has come down in favour of church weddings for homosexuals in a vote held on Thursday morning.

The decision, which is based on a proposal from the church’s governing board, means that the Church of Sweden will conduct wedding ceremonies for both heterosexual and homosexual couples. The proposal was approved by 176 of 249 voting members.

The decision comes just three days after the 30th anniversary of the date when homosexuality stopped being classified as a disease in Sweden.

“The Synod’s decision takes a stance in favour of an inclusive view of people. Regardless of whether one is religious or not, this affects the entire social climate and the view of people’s equal value,” said Åsa Regnér, head of the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU), in a statement.

In June, the church board took the first step towards permitting same-sex marriages by submitting a petition to the Church of Sweden Synod – the church's highest decision-making body.

The board proposed the church continue to perform wedding ceremonies following new legislation which came into force on May 1st and grants same-sex couples in Sweden the same legal marriage status as heterosexuals.

Current church regulations will likely continue to apply in practice, with some alterations, such as replacing “man and wife” with “lawfully wedded spouses” when a homosexual couple is married.

Since 2007, the Church of Sweden, which counts around 74 percent of Swedes as members, has offered gays a religious blessing of their union.

The ruling by the Synod, which has 251 delegates - two of which were absent from Thursday's vote, puts Sweden among the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major church.

In moving ahead with the decision to perform same-sex marriages, the Church of Sweden ignored concerns expressed earlier this year by the Church of England in a strongly worded letter to Swedish archbishop Anders Wejryd that the move could lead to “an impairment of the relationships between the churches”.

Church of England spokesperson Steve Jenkins confirmed that relations between the two churches may be headed for a turbulent phase in the wake of the decision.

“Those concerns remain,” he told The Local, referring to the letter from English bishops Christopher Hill and John Hind. He added that he didn’t know of any plans by the English Church to issue a formal statement in response to the Church of Sweden’s decision.

Text taken from www.thelocal.se

I've read many comments posted in that site about this above text and it obviously enrages and excites people. I think one of the funniest comments I read was "It is embarassing for this Country, as many already think that all Sweden is breeding our Gays and Lesbians, they are all over the place." I think that's possibly the dummest thing I've read so far. It will be interesting to see what sort of welcoming this has on the rest of the world, and the different churches around the world.

Weekend wrap up

2009-10-20T16:44:00.002+01:00

The weekend involved, as usual on a Friday, home made sushi and some quality time by the dinner table. Even though we always eat dinner by the table (unless there's a really important football game on the telly!!) we never actually sit there and talk, which is something that we do every Friday. Talk and talk, about work, how the week has been, what we want to do on the weekend, how we are feeling etc. Communication is priority, always. I can't expect Gary to read my mind and he can't expect me to read his. This Friday it got very late though, we didn't get to bed until 3 in the morning so we were suffering a bit on the Saturday...we only managed to get to John Lewis in the late afternoon and get a few pieces from our gift list, so now we have a new set of cutlery and also some new, fancy wine glasses.

Sunday was spent in Windsor, having a lovley Sunday roast lunch with Ian and Emma, and our little four legged ones were with us as well. They always gets such a fussing from people when we take them places, but after all, they are just perfect little doggies. :-) After eating a whole load of food, including a yummy dessert, we went for a nice stroll along the Great Walk in the sun. It was beautiful, nice crisp autumn air, sunny and not too cold. When we got back home, it took me about 10 minutes before I was sleeping on the sofa...! Having been fed, walked and snuggling up next to my babies, it doesn't take long before the Sandman arrives and sprinkles some magic dust. A great way to end a great weekend.

Swedish entry - tiden räcker inte till

2009-10-15T12:09:00.000+01:00

Det sägs att det är nyttigt att varje dag äta ett äpple, och en banan för kalcium. Man ska också äta en apelsin för C-vitamin!

Och det är ett måste att dricka en kopp grönt te (utan socker för att undvika diabetes) för att minska kolesterol i kroppen!

Man måste också dricka 2 liter vatten varje dag och sedan kissa lika mycket, vilket fördubblar tiden man hittills har tillbringat på toa.

Man måste också dricka ett glas yoghurt varje dag för att få de bra bakterierna i magen, som ingen vet vad de exakt är, men du MÅSTE ha minst en miljon sådana i magen, annars är det illa!

Du ska också ta ett glas rött vin för att undvika hjärtinfarkt. Och så ett glas vitt vin för att skydda ditt nervsystem! Och ett glas öl (jag minns inte varför det var nyttigt!) Men om du tar dessa tre samtidigt kan du få stroke, fast det gör inte så mycket, du kommer inte ens att märka det.

Man ska också äta nötter och bönor/ärtor varje dag. En hel massa nötter/bönor/ärtor. Du ska äta 4 till 6 måltider per dag, lätta måltider, men glöm inte att du ska tugga varje tugga minst 36 gånger. Bara för det behövs det 5 timmar!

Och så en sak till: efter varje måltid ska du borsta tänderna. Borsta dina tänder efter äpplet, yoghurten, bananen, nötterna, bönorna och ärtorna. Detta ska du göra så länge du har tänder, och glöm inte tandtråden, tandköttsmassagen och munvattnet. När du ändå håller på med detta, kan du ju städa badrummet, kanske installera CD-spelare eller TV där inne, för med tanke på allt vattendrickande och tandborstande lär du tillbringa en hel del tid i badrummet.

Man måste också sova minst 8 timmar per dag och jobba 8 timmar per dag, plus de 5 timmarna som behövs för att äta, det blir 21 timmar. Det är 3 timmar kvar, under förutsättning att det inte är trafikstockning när du åker till och från jobbet. Enligt statistiken tittar folk på TV 3 timmar per dag. Det fungerar inte längre, eftersom man måste ta en promenad varje dag i minst en halv timme (ett råd: efter 15 minuters promenad, vänd tillbaka, i annat fall tar din promenad en hel timme).

Du måste också hinna med att träffa dina vänner, för de är som växter, måste tas hand om dagligen.

Bland allt annat måste du också hålla dig informerad, dvs. läsa minst två dags- och några stycken kvällstidningar, för att kunna ha en kritisk inställning i livet.

Du ska också ha sex varje dag, men utan att det ska bli rutinmässigt. Du ska vara innovativ, kreativ och varje gång på nytt förföra din partner. För detta krävs ju tid. Och då har vi inte ens nämnt tantriskt sex.

Du ska också hinna med din familj, hinna moppa golv, diska, tvätta, för att inte tala om allt du måste göra om du har barn eller husdjur.

När man räknar ihop allt detta ovan behövs det minst 29 timmar.
Den enda lösningen är att göra flera saker samtidigt!
T.ex. duscha med kallt vatten och håll munnen öppen så får du dina 2 liter vatten per dag. Medan du lämnar badrummet med tandborsten i munnen kan du samtidigt ha sex med din partner, som i sin tur tittar på TV och läser tidningar medan du torkar golv.
Då har du fortfarande en hand ledig, med vilken du kan ringa till dina vänner och släktingar. Drick vin efter det , du kommer att behöva det.

Dags för mig att sluta nu, för mellan äpplet, yoghurten, ölen, den första litern vatten och min tredje måltid idag (inkl. nötter/bönor/ärtor), vet jag inte längre vad jag måste göra, men jag vet att jag måste gå på toa NU.
Jag lär spara några minuter om jag borstar tänderna samtidigt ännu en gång!