The luckiest

currently my HUSBAND- still feels so weird to say that- is making me his delicious broccoli cheddar soup from scratch- a triple batch. Seriously the luckiest.

And yesterday I made a vegetable soup from scratch for the first time- WITHOUT a recipe also. I'm slightly impressed with myself. I also made huge batches of my soup so we are going to have soup in our freezer for a while!! Perfect go to fall/winter meal.

Hope everyone had an amazing halloween! We did!!

Anyone know of a blog that features a ton of vegetarian recipes??

If so PLEASE pass it along to me! I'd love some great vegetarian recipes..not completely going vegetarian but I'd like to only eat/serve meat once or twice a week and just pasta and sauce is getting OLD

Recipe for a perfect evening?

One cup of hot tea
TWO cheese/butter/yellow pepper sandwhiches
3 burning candles
and pride and prejudice on my kindle

My three best friends from my early childhood flew to Iowa from Sweden for our wedding. When I think about how lucky I am to have friends like them I get all choked up- the four of us together just click. I think it's rare for four so very different adults (especially women) to fit together so perfectly. We were best friends and next door neighbors from when we were 4/5 until I moved away 7 years later. To feel so connected after a 11 yr separation to me is truly amazing.

Last year during all of our get togethers in Sweden it felt like we were long lost sisters. We are all so totally different- but we seriously could not get along better. Over this past week we laughed and cried, and laughed till we cried so much together and I can't imagine my wedding week without them in it.

Our week consisted of an entire day at the mall- countless target and walmart runs (these girls can't get Enough of those stores!) late night game nights ( try playing catch phrase with three Swedes- priceless) many bottles of wine, an entire night of chocolate ball making, staying up till 4 AM talking and having to be up and ready by 8 the next morning, and one of my favorite moments this week- a surprise horse back trail ride. Which by the way one of them had to drive to- which was funny in itself and getting semi lost in the middle of the corn field in Iowa.

Im not sure these three girls realize just how much they mean to me, but Sofie, Kerstin and Jessica- you girls are the Best, and even though we are thousands of miles away from each other I have No doubt we will be friends for life. We already have our reunion in Sweden planned for next year.

Signing the horse waiver- with the rediculous flower and gloves they made me wear...All day

Wedding slideshow

Wedding recap

Oh boy where to start. FIrst off I had an amazing week with my friends from Sweden that came for the week- I'll talk more later on all the fun things we did.

All week I kept expecting to feel nervous- but it never really hit me. The first time I felt nervous was when I was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for the ceremony to start- that's when I felt like it was 100 degrees in there. But once the music started my nerves went away.

The tears began when my father and I were getting ready to walk in- I looked up at him and he was tearing up- which I think I have seen him do once in my 24 yrs- which got me started- but it was just a few tears and I was done by the time I got down the isle.

The 2nd time I cried was at the reception during the father/daughter dance. We danced to What a wonderful world-and again, I look up at him and he has tears. I didn't look much at the 'crowd' during the dance- but the ones I could see where crying/tearing up as well. I should mention- if I haven't before- that I haven't seen my father in 3 years, so that is probably a big reason why we both got so emotional. He flew all the way from Italy to be there for me- which meant so much.

The 3rd time I cried was when they played my grandparents song and dedicated it to them. They have been married for 67 years and love to dance- but this time my grandmother was barely able to do anything but stand (she was diagnosed a few weeks ago with brain tumors and breast cancer) and it was very emotional to see them dance, especially knowing it could be the last time they dance.

The wedding was simple and beautiful- my friend sang a song in Swedish accompanied by a friend and his father on the guitar. Even people that couldn't understand the words were tearing up. Drews grandfather- a minister- married us, so that was special.

The reception was absolutely perfect also- I'm not Big on flowers- so we just had twinkle lights throughout the room and over 150 candles spread out over the tables- so when the lights were down it was super cozy. The food- well the food was spectacular. My father is sort of a big deal in the cooking world- and travels all over the world cooking. Two of my brothers have followed in his footsteps and the 3rd is on his way- all the food was prepared by the 4 of them and my dad's friend(also a chef) in the fine dining restaurant where my oldest brother works. We wanted hor dourve type foods as that is our favorite- so we had stuffed mushrooms, pita/chips and spinach artichoke dip, many different fancy cheeses/crackers, an amazing fruit display that was carved by a lady my mom works with, swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes- these were of course the biggest hit since it's not every day you get swedish meatballs made by a 100% Swede, swedish chocolate balls made by my friends from Sweden, 3 tiered cake and cupcakes w/ different flavors and icing, chicken wings because they are my dads fav and the day before he decided we needed them, veggies w/ several diff. home made dressings, mini quiche..im positive there was more but at the moment im drawing a blank! It was seriously amazing and I'm so lucky to have FOUR outstanding chefs in my family.

We had a huge turn out- I think there ended up being 230- which is a huge number since we sent out I think 130 invitations. When Drew and I left reception at 1 there were still probably 60ish  people left. Everyone was dancing and having SO much fun!

We stayed at a beautiful hotel with a HUGE jet tub and a shower that could have fit 5 people in it which we def. took advantage of the next morning. My friends from Sweden had been to the hotel room and set up champagne for us but I literally passed out (from exaustion- only had 2 glasses of champagne all night) so we didn't get to enjoy that--but I did bring it home with us.

That's all for now- I'll update more on the rest of the week later!

I'm a MRS!

We got back late last night from our amazing week in Iowa. Words can't even describe what amazing friends and family we have, it was one of the best weeks in my life.

The wedding went amazing- some small mishaps that I'll share later, but all in all it was truly amazing and beautiful.

pictures soon!! Cant wait to catch up on all the blogs I have missed!

Next time I post or read any blogs I will be MARRIED

We are leaving in 2 hours for Iowa and will be there till late Monday (as in the 25th) Hope everyone has a wonderful week!




this song has been running through my head allll day!

Day 5-9

I'm kind of cheating because we are leaving today for IA for over a week and I will be missing from the blog world and I Really wanted to participate! 




Day 5- Siblings

I'm the middle child of 5- and I absolutely LOVED growing up in a large family, probably the main reason why I want several more children!

Johan is my oldest brother, he takes after our father in that he is SO hardworking. He is also a chef like my dad, and he is one of the few people I know that LOVE their job so much. Being a workaholic is def. is his blood! He is the shyest of all of us, was always super protective of his siblings, especially his sisters. He is now a husband and also a father to a soon to be two year old girl. I'm lucky to call him my brother.

Wayne is next in line- and is only 18 months older than me. He has also always been my protector- which I sometimes Hated when I wanted to date the cute boys in his grade and he scared most of them off. Wayne is also a chef- runs in the family!!- and lives in Minnesota with his fiance, who I'm so excited will some day be a part of our family- even though she already is. He is the happiest person I know- always has a Huge smile on his face.


Camilla- my only sister, is 23 months younger than I am. We were only a grade apart, and had a love hate relationship. I hated that she always wanted to tag along with me and my friends- and would always steal my clothes. Now we are closer than ever- and I'm super proud of her. She graduated in May and is well on her way to becoming an amazing social worker. She loves kids so much, and Jasper is lucky to have her as an aunt.

Mitchell is the baby, but sadly no longer a baby. He is 17 and a Sr. in high school. He can at times be such a punk- and I know all of us can be super hard on him because we forget we were the exact same way in high school. He is very mature for his age- and when he became an uncle to Jasper at 14 he was amazing. We were living w. my mom for 6 weeks after J was born and every day he would wake up and come running up the stairs to see where his 'baby j' was.

This isn't a good picture of Any of us as we didn't realize mom was going to make us take pictures- but it's recent ( labor day weekend, and its all of us!)  L to R Camilla, Mitchell, Johan, Wayne, me


Day 6 A picture of something that makes you happy

Nothing makes me happier than this little guy. This was Aug 4th, 2007- the day after he was born, and the first time we spent more than a few minutes alone. Drew had gone off to buy some formula and bottles-because we were told we needed to supplement, and we hadn't planned on doing that. So it was just Jasper and I at the hospital. We watched a Law and Order SVU marathon and cuddled. I couldn't believe he was all mine.


Day 7 Favorite movies
Grease
Pretty Woman
Wizard of Oz
Twilight-New Moon- Eclipse
I'm sure a million more..but those popped into my head w/o even thinking so those must be the favs!

Day 8 Places You've Traveled to
In the US (only counting ones I've spent some time in, not just driven through) Hawaii, North & South Carolina, Florida (the keys also) Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Nebraska,probably more I'm not thinking of

Virgin Islands, Bali, Thailand, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, England...think that's it?

Day 9 Picture of your friends
I've got several different 'groups' of friends- the ones I've been friends with since I was 4 in Sweden, the ones I've been friends w/ since elem. school when we moved to America- the ones I didn't become friends with till high school, college friends, and lastly- mommy friends.

This is a group of my 'mommy friends'- we all have three year olds!

These girls were my BFFs starting when we were 4-5. We all lived within a block of each other. This is last year in Sweden and they are all arriving on Tuesday for our wedding!

I couldn't even have hoped for more..

Just did the ten day forecast for October 23rd in Iowa- our wedding date. As of now it's supposed to be 63 and sunny! I seriously could NOT ask for better weather for a fall day in Iowa. I have friends that got married in the same church last year on Oct. 2nd and it snowed, so the fact that its supposed to be 63 and sunny just warms my heart.

Day 4 Your Parents

My mom, Stephanie is the most amazing person I know. She is the strongest, kindest, most sensitive, most giving person I know. She would do anything for Anybody- especially her family. I'm very close w/ my family, especially my mom, which is why it's so hard to live 700 miles away from all of them. The past few months she has been doing 90 percent of my wedding planning. She works full time and STILL finds the time to visit the florist, the cake person, the church, etc. EVERYONE needed to make this wedding happen. She is super mom. She got married to my dad at 19, became a mom at 20, and 4 years later moved to cold Sweden, from Sunny FL with my dad and her 4 children. How she did it alone (my dad worked abroad most of the time) in a foreign country with 4 children and then a 5th I'll never know. She is truly amazing.

My dad, Stefan (yes, Stefan and Stephanie, cute huh?) is a the most hardworking man I know. He also leads the most exciting life of anyone I know. He works as a corporate executive chef/food manager for a cruise line and every time I get a phone call/text/email he is in a different country. Even from thousands of miles away he has do everything he can to help with the wedding. I get to see him one week from today when he flies in from Italy and I can't wait to see him!!

30 day blogging challenge..though I'll be missing for a lot of it

Since I love reading this I decided to join this blog hop..Since I'm a few days behind I will catch up now!


1. Day 1:introduce, recent picture and 15 facts.

I'm Darlene, a 24 year old stay at home mamma to three year old Jasper. Here's a recent pic of Jasper and I.

15 facts: I'm the middle child of 5, have changed my college major 3 times, love to travel, shop, born in florida, have lived in florida-south carolina- virgin islands- sweden, bali, iowa, and now colorado, want at two or three more children, obsessed w/ all things twilight (not where i got the name Jasper) am getting married in just over a week to my boyfriend of nearly 6 years, i hate seafood, favorite colors black and yellow, is that 15 yet?

Day 2- story behind your blogs name

It's nothing too creative or original, and someday soon i'll probably have to change it as I AM getting older- but I'm a young(ish) mamma and these are our stories.

Day 3 Your First Love

I'd be lying if I said Drew was my first love. My first love was my first serious boyfriend- we began dating the beginning of my freshman year, his jr year. We were pretty much inseparable for my freshman and soph. year.  He was a great guy- and I think I thought we would be together forever. He went away to college before my jr. year and we decided to end things- but still saw eachother whenever he came back from college. I will always care about him, he was an amazing guy/boyfriend and I only want good things for him. Drew and I started off as friends in 5th grade and then began dating Senior year when of course I wasn't looking for anything serious..here we are 5 years later..

Top Ten Things I miss about Sweden

For those that don't know- I grew up in Sweden, moved to the states when I was 11- and last year Drew, Jasper and I spent almost 7 months studying abroad in Karlstad, Sweden

In no particular order..

1. THE FOOD

Amazing pizza, bread, cheese and butter. Each of these individually deserve it's own post. Pictured is amazing Amigos Pizza- we went there at Least once a week, Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes, amazing chocolate- coconut- marshmellowy thing, its even better than it sounds- and our typical 'at home' lunch, thin bread, with cream cheese and cucumber, a cracker bread thing w cheese and delicious pasta salad. I have tried recreating that pasta salad- but without the swedish ingredients its just no where near the same..

2. Mariebergskogen

A park about 15 minutes walk from our downtown apartment. It was right on lake Vanern- biggest lake in Western Europe- it had a beach for the summer, ice skating, petting zoo, icecream/hot dog stand, miniature golf, sweet playground equipment, deep forests..seriously a dream park

3.The Shopping.
We lived right downtown Karlstad- so when I stepped out of my apartment building onto the cobblestone streets all I had to do was glance to my right and it was shopping paradise- Ginatricot, H&M, and Indiska were among my favorites. All of my current favorite items from my wardrobe were purchased in Sweden- my favorites? Some boots, sandals, dresses, skinny jeans, JEGGINGS- yes, before they became the in thing here I was rocking them. Sometime soon I will put together some outfit posts of outfits purchased in Sweden

To be continued...

Top Two Tuesday: Favorite place in your home

This is a tough one for because because honestly I'm not in Love with our home. We had three weeks to find something new- it fit our requirements of super safe area, good location, allowed a dog, child friendly and in our budget. Our lease is up in March and I'm excited about another move. Some people hate moving- I see it as a new adventure.

That being said Two favorite places

1. My closet. Emphasis on the MY- no one is allowed in there, it's mine alll mine, and growing up the middle child of 5 I have a need for some place in my home that is only mine. And I LOVE it.

And yes, that is Rob in my closet. I bought the calendar but actually Drew bought me my poster- kind of as a joke, but of course it had to to go in my closet!!

2. Our pool- living in this condo community gives us some nice benefits, like having a full stocked play room, work out place and several pools right next door.  Also the reason my son is fearless of water and was swimming unassisted under water at the age of two!

"Mamma, Maybe sleep you soon?"

These words come out of Jasper's mouth twice a day, every day. And it's ironic, because we didn't do the whole co sleeping thing. For the first 6 months of his life he slept in a bassinet next to our bed- and then had a smooth transition into his crib in his bedroom. 

When we were in Sweden we traveled a lot- one to two weekends of every month we were there (almost 7) we were in some other part of Sweden, or Norway visiting friends. We almost always shared a room w him when we were away so we Tried getting him to sleep with us- but he wouldn't go to sleep unless he was in his own bed- so the trick would be to get him to fall asleep first, then us tip toe in trying our hardest not to wake him.

And then he got sick. Not super sick- but he had a slight fever, and this child is Never sick so I was worried. And other kids in the area were getting fevers of 104-105 during the night, and there was NO way I was letting him sleep in his room without me monitoring his temp. Solution? Kick Drew out of the bed and have Jasper sleep with me. I got no sleep, but at least I knew he was safe. For 4 nights I made Drew sleep on our super uncomfortable couch just so I could make sure J wasn't sick. He only had a Slight fever the first day- nothing the other 4 days, but ya never know!

Ever since that week 5-6 months ago Jasper has been asking to sleep with me. Every nap time and every time I put him to bed for the night he asks "Mamma, maybe sleep you soon?" And every once in a while I cave. About once a month I kick Drew out of our bed, and let Jasper cuddle with his mamma all night long. I get no sleep those nights- because this kid is a Serious bed hog- but those 8-10 hours are so special, that I don't mind. Waking up to him kissing my cheek or stroking my hair (told ya he's a mammas boy!!) are so special, and I'm grateful for those nights, even if it means Drew wakes up with a sore back once in a while..

Mamma and Jasper Date

Friday I didn't have Riley (the 1 year old boy I nanny) so Jasper and I got to have a mamma jasper date ALL day! It was awesome. We decided to go to Monkey Biz- if you have one anywhere near you you just check it out- we have always have So much fun! Plus Jasper like to play by himself a lot here, which means mamma get's to sit there sipping a coffee and just watch my crazy little man make new friends.

We ended up being there from 9:30 till 12:45! He was having so much fun I didn't want to make him leave, so we had lunch there also then headed home and he took a nap till 3. Then we headed to the library to play on the train and read some books. Followed by walking around the downtown area where the library is and getting a fruit smoothie.

It was the Perfect Friday. Of course after I took 2 pictures of Jasper painting at Monkey Biz my camera died..boo.

Wedding Checklist

TO DO this week before we leave for IA Sat. morning

1. Wash ALL laundry

2. Figure out a week's worth of outfits for IA, be prepared for weather 30-80 degrees.

3.Finish Wedding reception Slideshow- almost done!!

4. Brazilian Bikini Wax

5.PACK- double, tripe, quadruple check that I didn't forget anything major!!

6. Finalize wedding music..yah we aren't last minute type people or anything...

7. Finish crocheting baby blanket for Walker (bridesmaid 2 week old baby!)

8.uhmm...Positive I'm forgetting at least a dozen things..

Wedding picture help!

So we are getting married TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW. Yah- totally think that deserves Caps. Obviously we have a photographer and all that- but what I want to know is What is your favorite picture from YOUR wedding?? I'd love some ideas!

I'm ready to share my 'depressing weekend' I talked about.

I'm the type of person that when something really upsets me, I have a hard time talking about it. It's easier for me to try not to think about it, and not talk about it. I'm not saying it's a healthy way to cope- but its how I do things.

My senior yr. in high school a very good friend of mine, who always was sort of an ex, died from brain cancer. It's taken me over 5 years to be able to talk about without breaking down.

Last weekend I found out my grandma, my moms mom, my grammy, has brain tumors and breast cancer. It's shitty. Seriously so shitty. And she's far away. North Carolina to be exact. And now we aren't sure if they can make it to the wedding. Which is also really shitty. Before you go thinking " Oh wow shes thinking about her wedding when her grandma is sick" thats not how it is. The part I am looking toward to THE MOST about our wedding is seeing family and friends I don't see very often. I see that side of my family MAYBE every other year because they are in Florida and North Carolina. Thats pretty much the only reason we didn't go off in the mountains and get married like we thought about. Because I wanted to see my family. Which is why this is so devastating right now. But I talked to my grandma an hour ago, and she's really hoping they are going to make it. But it's a 20 hr drive. And she's doing radiation every day for two weeks- stopping just 5 days before the wedding- and she's taking chemo pills. And I watched my strong, healthy 16 year old friend go through that for three years, and it was so much on his body. So I'm not expecting her to come, but it will be oh so amazing if she does come.

Got Twitter?

Cuzz friends now I do! I'm super new at this- about 20 min. so I have no clue what I'm doing. But let's be twitter friends!! Leave me a comment w/ your twitter address and you can be my first Twitter friends!! Kaay?

Jasper and friends

Friday was Jaspers buddy Mariah's birthday party- and it was Halloween themed. Turned out SOO cute.

Jasper slept in and I ended up having to wake him up at 8:30 so we could get going- so I didn't have time to get his pirates costume ready- so we pulled out his spider costume from last year. He kept going around singing "imse vimse spindel" -its bitsy spider in Swedish. It was pretty stinking cute- even if no one else understood him!

Me and my little spindel. Now I need to get his pirates costume ready that he demanded,   asked so sweetly for. What are your little munchkins going to be fore Halloween? I have only dressed up for Halloween ONCE in my life (and that was the weekend we're 90% positive Jasper was conceived) so I'm pretty sure I'm not dressing up. Just not really my thang- but I love dressing J up!!

***The reason I never dressed up as a child isn't because of poor parenting or anything like that- but because I grew up in Sweden were most people don't even know what Halloween is, and those that do  only know from watching American movies. By the time I had a Halloween in the states I was in 6th grade and Waaaay to cool to dress up. So wasn't until college when and I rocked the 'slutty costume' like all others did I really get into Halloween. ***

Saw this on a blog earlier so I figured I'd do it. Jasper is asleep- Drew is STILL at work, and I have nothing at this moment I have to be doing. Plus I kinda like reading these- so I tag all of YOU guys! Leave me a comment if you decide to do it also so I can read all about YOU! 


A- Age: 24

B- Bed Size: Queen size Swedish temperpedic. It's amazing.

C- Chore you hate?: Putting laundry away. I don't mind washing and folding it- but detest putting it away. Also not a fan of cleaning the kitchen. 

D- Dog's Name: Remington- Remi for short. And no, he wasn't named after a gun, which we get asked frequently. Remington Steele? Hellooo people. 
 
E- Essential Start To Your Day Item: I have to drink a glass of water right when I wake up- its weird but if I don't i feel nauseous. And then I brush my teeth.

F- Favorite Color: Black and Yellow. Probably why my wedding colors are black, white and yellow.

G- Gold or Silver: White gold!

H- Height: I'm 5'5 and 3/4- but I usually round up and say 5'6

I- Instruments you play: Use to be first chair FLUTE. And played the piano. Haven't touched either in years so I'm not sure I could do either one anymore.

J- Job Title: Stay at home mamma. Someday maybe I'll finish my teaching degree- but I won't work out of the house (at least full time) until my son and future children are in school. At least that is the plan!

K- Kid(s): Jasper, just turned 3.

L- Living Arrangements: In a semi small 1100 sq feet town home apartment- but our lease is up in March and then we will either be renting a house in Denver or Iowa- or maybe somewhere completely different? Thats kinda how we roll. 

M- Mom's Name: Stephanie

N- Nicknames: Darls, Darlin (name's Darlene)

O- Overnight Hospital Stay other than Birth: When I gave birth I stayed two nights.

P- Pet Peeve: People who let their children do whatever they want because they are too lazy to parent them. Especially when it affects others around them. (Example letting your 5 year old throw sand in my child's eyes, without saying anything..and I know you totally saw that)

Q- Quote From A Movie: So the lion fell in love with the lamb.

R- Right or Left Handed?: Righty

S- Siblings: Johan (29) and Wayne (25) Camilla (22) Mitchell (18)..........and my dad's girlfriend in brazil had a baby two summers ago, but I have yet to meet him so it's hard to call him a sibling..

T- Time you wake up: 7ish- sometimes a little later. 

U- Underwear: I have at least 100 pairs- every cut/style possible, every material possible. Love em all. 

V- Vegetable you dislike: celery. I think that's it. Oh and onions. 

W- Ways you run late: I'm very rarely late- but if I am it's because of Jasper or Drew. 

X- X-Rays: For teeth and when I was in a car accident a week after I turned 16- cracked breast bone. That's it I believe

Y- Yummy food you make: Swedish meatballs, lemon garlic chicken, feta cheese pasta sauce

Z- Zoo Animals: if they have any baby animals they are always my favorite- but always have to see the polar bears, seals and monkeys. ( We go quite often)

How do you know your 3 year old watches too much Harry Potter?

He is going around calling everyone a 'Dirty Mudblood'..True story.

Drew and I love Harry Potter- and before our 11 hr trip to Iowa over labor day I decided to bust out some of the older HP's to see if maybe it would hold Jaspers interest in the car. Turns out he fell in love. I shouldn't be surprised- we don't have cable, and I don't let him watch TV really except for 20 min. here and there- and some of our Swedish Pippi DVD's but that's purely educational :)

Plus Jasper has a crazy Harry Potter connection with his birth. When I went in overdue to be induced the docs gave me some strong sleeping pills- saying I would sleep through the night, wake up and pop out a baby. Sounded too good to be true- and it was.

I had just finished reading the last HP book at the hospital that night. I feel asleep at like 7 i think after the meds kicked in- and woke up 20 min. later to Harry Potter, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape standing over my bed w/ their wands. Creeeepy. I started yelling at Drew to get them out, it took him and two nurses 20 min. to convince me they weren't in the room. And then I started puking and was throwing up in between every contraction. Lovely huh?

So anyway I guess it's fitting that Jasper loves Hawee Pottah (seriously says it in a britishy accent) Won (Ron) and Miss Mighty--thats what he calls Hermione. No idea where he gets it- but I die its so stinking adorable.

So our Sat. night consisted of ordering an extra large pizza and breadsticks (told ya I was depressed!) bringing in every pillow and blanket we own, and cuddling on Jaspers floor and watching Hawee Pottah.

And the reason I haven't told any family/friends about this blog..

Because I want to be able to write what I want, without worrying about it offending someone (mainly someone from Drew's family.)  

But here's where I really need to be able to vent, because to me it is just So upsetting (not the reason for the depressing weekend, thats much more serious.) Last week (less than 4 weeks before our wedding) Drews family call and demand, Yes Demand that Drew have his two younger brothers in the wedding. He is not close whatsoever to said brothers. In fact they have gone out of their way to make Drews life miserable on many occasions. They think it's a major sin to have a beer with dinner for example. Drew works 60 plus hours a week and likes to come home and unwind with a beer. They think he is being very 'sinful' and make it known that they don't approve of our life. Fine. We don't really care. But Drew did not want them in the wedding. We wanted our wedding day to be about US- and celebrating our relationship. Well after hours on the phone, Drew finally gave in. FOUR WEEKS BEFORE THE WEDDING. I was so disgusted with what/how they did this that I called his mother and told her everything I think about this situation, and how they have treated Drew etc. All his parents kept saying as an excuse was "Well this will be a good time for the brothers to reconcile" Am I really wrong to think that I don't believe our wedding should be about his brothers reconciling but about US and the 6 years we have been together, and all the hardships we have come across and overcome as OUR family? Without any help, respect or anything from his brothers? They were just worried about how it will make them look- not about how we feel, and its our wedding! I felt it outrageous that they felt that they were able to make Any demands of our wedding when they have done absolutely nothing to help. Not one single thing. My mom and us have done absolutely every single thing for this wedding- seriously mainly my mom, and his parents think they can just sit there- send me the dozens of people they want invited and then make demands about our wedding party?? Not to mention the programs were DONE, the grooms mens gifts ORDERED. Everything. So now we aren't even going to have a program because there is no way I'm doing all that work again- just so they can change something last minute.

I have been as far as possible from a bridezilla during this whole time, but now the fangs are coming out. 

Am I being completely unreasonable here? 

Top Two Tuesday: Kitchens

My ideal kitchen is probably more simple than most. But I can't help what I love! My favorite thing about visiting everyone's homes in Sweden was checking out their design/ style. And it's much more simplistic than most things American. And I kinda loved it.

So something like these would be a dream to me!

Except I don't know where the counter space is on the last one..hmm maybe it's 'hidden' or I'd have to add an island or something. But I just LOVE it for some reason.

My bestie in Sweden- who is flying here for the wedding in two weeks!!!!- just bought an old house out in the country in Sweden and her and her fiance just redid their kitchen and now it looks like this!! I think it looks Fabulous!

Head over to Taylor's blog and play along!

Retail Therapy

So to distract myself and also get so me much needed alone time this weekend I took off for a 5 hr shopping spree on Saturday. Two of my friends later met me at the mall because they 1. knew I needed distraction and 2. knew just where to find me.

Shopping when you are sad is dangerous. At least for me. My though seems to be  "It's only money." Dangerous.

I ended up deciding on a complete whim to buy Jasper a ring bearer outfit instead of renting the tux as planned. But seriously- this was too cute to pass up, and I never spend $140 on one outfit for him and I figured this is the perfect time to do so. After having him try it on when we got home he wanted to go look in the mirror- and when he saw himself said " Oh I do Lookah nice" He's going to be the cutest ring bearer Ever.

Also went a little crazy at Victoria's Secret- spent waaay to much money in there, but I had a huge gift certificate from the 4 lovely ladies from last weekend, so I really didn't spend That much of my own money.

We hit up the make up Laura Mercier make up counter at Nordstroms and I got a wedding inspired make over. Jessica wanted to see her do it because she will be the one doing my make up for the wedding. This of course led me to buying out half the make up counter- but it was wedding related, so it was necessary! And maybe this will make me wear more make up on a regular basis?

And lastly- one of the friends that came w/ me works once a month at J.Crew- so for $40 I bought a $90 skirt and two pairs of tights that are normally $20 each! $40 for $130 worth of goods! Score.

Meet Me On Monday

It's Sunday evening, and I'm currently too depressed to write about my weekend as I know it will send me into another long  crying sesh and I just don't have that in me write now..so I'll do this instead!

1. What is the best dish you can make?
Home made Swedish meatballs and au gratin potatoes..it's seriously Delish. Ask anyone.

2. How often do you change your sheets?
I try to do them once a week..but let's be honest- there are Lots of times that doesn't happen every week. Whoops.


3. What is the longest car trip you have ever taken?
Probably from Iowa to Southern Florida..several times. It's I think about a 26 hr drive and we would do it to see family often growing up, but we had a sweet RV thing so we had several beds, and a billion books plus my 4 siblings and usually our dogs with us as well so I never minded it, actually I Loved it. Of course I wasn't the one driving..

4. What is your favorite fruit?
Oo tough one- I really love fruit. I'll have to go w/ Swedish blueberries though- usually the ones here at the grocery stores gross me out. Taste way too artificial. 


5. Would you rather have breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?
Breakfast for dinner for suuure- waffles or Swedish pancakes for dinner? YES PLEASE!! Are you sensing a pattern that I have a love for all things Swedish? Cuz I do.

5 lbs in 3 weeks?

So holy crap today is October. Which is also THE MONTH WE ARE GETTING MARRIED. I seriously can't believe it. I'm freaking out a little bit just typing it. We got in engaged last may in Sweden--I don't get tired of saying we got engaged in SWEDEN- but didn't set a date till I think April? And summer flew by way to freakin fast- and all of a sudden I'm getting married in THREE WEEKS. Plus a day. But that doesn't sound as cool.

Anyway ever since I got my wedding dress back in May I've been casually saying/thinking yeah I should loose those last 5-10 lbs baby weight before we get married. I've done pilates a few times. I have even lifted my 5 lb weights a few times. But now in 15 days I'm leaving for Iowa (where we are getting married) and I literally haven't lost a single lb. Of course I let the lady at the bridal shop talk me into getting the size 4 instead of the 6, by saying comments like "But ofcourse you will work out/diet before your wedding and the 4 does fit, just a little snugly" RIght. Ofcours I'll diet before the wedding. Who doesnt? Uhmm ME that's who. I did a 3 week diet ONCE back in Jan. and I cheated through out the whole three weeks. All of a sudden I'm getting a liiiitle bit worried I won't be able to breathe in my super snug freakin size 4(which in wedding dresses is really like a 2) wedding dress. HELP!

So here's the plan. EVERY DAY for the next FOURTEEN DAYS I need to do some sort of exercise. And yes- pushing a double stroller carying 55 +lbs of boys up a hill toootally counts. Also? I'm going to try to count calories- which I haven't ever succeeded at and not eat more than 1700 calories in a day. That one is going to be tough. I am pretty much a eat whatever the heck I want, however much I want kinda gal. Always have been and its always worked fine until after Jasper.

So there ladies- I need to you guys to help keep me accountable kay??

I started out good yesterday with 1600 calories for the day. Today? Not doing so hot. Started out the morning with a venti frap, blueberry muffin AND croisant. But I'm still going to try to make it to 1700 or under! Wish me luck!!

Though I said 5 lbs- I would be be happy w losing 3 lbs- to bring it to 127.