Reminiscing..Sweden part 1.

From January through July of 2009, Drew, Jasper and I studied abroad in Sweden. I started a blog then- but I was HORRIBLE at keeping up with it. The one thing i was good about doing was taking a LOT of pictures. I never want to forget our amazing time there, so once a week or so I'm going to pick a memory of Sweden and right it down so I wont ever forget.

I'll start off with the first blog post I wrote, after we had arrived in Sweden.
Greetings from Karlstad, Sverige
Well after possibly the worst 24 hours of my life we finally made it here. I'm not going to write too much about the trip because honestly I dont even really want to think about how horrible it was! To sum it up- I started throwing up at about 11 am Iowa time and didnt stop for about 25 hrs. Im a horribly flyer and always seem to get sick- and throwin up every 15-20 minutes and not eatiing or drinking anything tends to make me a litle weak. So on top of getting so sick, as soon as we landed in Stockholm I fainted- and had to be wheeled around the airport.

Anyway enough about me being so sick- jasper did really well! He only slept about 3 hours out of 25 hrs of traveling so was a bit crabby but other than that did amazing. Drew did good also, he was a little fed up with my getting so sick and being of no help- and going on NO sleep in about 48 hrs tends to make a person a bit crabby but all in all it went really well for the boys.

When we arrived in Karlstad we had two people from the University meet us and take us to our apartment- which is only about 2 blocks away, but w/ ten pieces of luggage that would have been an impossible trip.

We Love our apartment- its bigger than we thought, and is going to be a great fit for us.

Well im going to sign off now because the battery on the lap top is dying and we have yet to get a converter to plug in it! By the way the way im using the laptop outside on our 4th story porch of our apartment- its the only place we could get recetion!

Love and miss you all
Darlene, Drew and Jasper (or Jesper) as these swedes like to call him.

Taken The first week we were in Karlstad, from our balcony

This was our apartment building. We were on the top floor (4th) on the far left (not pictured)

Fashion Friday and Monkey Biz

I decided to copy  participate with  Molly in Fashion Friday today. I needed an outfit that I could be comfortable in and wouldn't upset me if paint was splashed one me(which totally happened. twice.) because we were meeting up with some friends at Monkey Biz.

Excuse the horrible pictures - I forgot to have someone take a picture of me, and by the time hubby is home to take a pic I'm sure I'll be lounging in yoga pants for our exciting Friday night.

 And yes- that is a black cardigan and darn brown boots- I should mention that I don't really follow fashion rules like no black and brown together.

This is another summer dress that I'm trying to convert into a fall/winter dress. With long socks, boots and a cardigan I think it works.

Dress:Target
Boots:Some store in Stockholm. I LOVE them, but they aren't very comfortable so only can be worn when not much walking is required!
Socks:Gap
Cardigan:Heritage

Monkey Bizness is one of Jasper's FAVORITE things to do. If you haven't been- you should see if they have one in your area. It's basically a huge indoor play area with a coffee bar/internet/tables for the mammas. Pretty much the best idea ever.

We met two of our friends w/ three year olds- and the kids all had a blast and played well together for 3.5 hours! Has to be some sort of record. It's located in an outdoor mall area and they also have a train that you can ride around which we did afterwards.

Have anything fun planned for the weekend?We have a semi busy weekend ahead, Swedish Christmas market tomorrow, then the Boulder lighted parade (I think that's what it is?) followed by a girls night of Harry Potter and drinks (and yes, I'm totally one of those HP lovers) and then Sunday is Swedish class and dinner with my cousin. Hope everyone has a Fabulous weekend!

I have this weird thing..

Where I can NOT touch raw chicken. Will Not do it. If it weren't for Drew cutting the fat off of my chicken we would never ever eat chicken in this household. So my amazing husband will always buy me a HUGE bag of chicken, cut off all the gross fatty pieces, and then freeze it in individual baggies so when I'm ready to make something involving chicken all I have to do is defrost a baggie or two and dump it in the pan, or oven dish (where I am able to touch it using a spatula)

A couple of days ago I wanted to use our crock pot which I think has been used once in two years and has been sitting there collecting dust. I'm not huge on following recipes, so I just threw in some chicken breasts, cut up potatoes, italian salad dressing some spices and cheese because really, cheese makes everything better, and 7 hrs later had an amazing chicken and potato meal. Seriously delish.

But the dilemma  came when I realized that the chicken Drew had cut up for me the night before wasn't in small enough pieces. Solution: Dump the chicken in the crock pot (being careful that NO chicken touches fingers) clean some scissors, use said scissors to cut chicken without having to actually lay a finger on the chicken. And then wash those scissors again. Brilliant right?

1. What are your 'weird things' because everyone has them right? and 2. Anyone have any crockpot recipes to share? I loved doing this and need more ideas!!


*All the ingredients used mines the spices were organic.

Yepp. I did it.

I put up Christmas decorations in November, and I'm not even ashamed to admit it. The last few weeks Jasper has gotten SO excited for Christmas. Whenever he sees Christmas lights on Trees he get's all giddy and shrieks "look mamma Tismas, Tismas" so I figured why not.

Saturday morning Santa arrived at our mall and they had Breakfast w/ Santa. Cutest idea Ever! Jasper was first in line went Santa walked by and he reached down and gave J a huge hug and said nice to see you again. Of course I was snapping away taking a dozen pictures. The way jasper's face lit up when Santa talked to him was priceless. Then I realize my memory card wasn't in my camera. And I wanted to cry. And throw up. I feel sick even thinking about it. Mommy fail.

I found my extra memory card in the camera bag- but still, the moment was gone.

We went on to enjoy our morning, had our breakfast with santa and then came home to put up our little tree. It might be time to buy a bigger tree- but since we are never even in the state of CO for Christmas it seems silly to do. And he does get to see/decorate big trees at both his grandparents houses in December. This year (after buying our yearly one ornament that we all pick out) we had enough to fill our tree that we didn't even need to put up the ugly red and gold balls that we have! Yaaay.

Every morning Jasper runs out to check on his tree- he could Not be more excited about it. And everyone who comes to our home is shown his tree, while he points out all the ornaments that are HIS. I'm so excited we started this tradition when he was just 4 months old. Priceless.

This Dress deserves it's own post.

It was February, 2008. I was walking down the street to our Karlstad, Sweden apartment. From the window display of one of my favorite stores KappAhl, I could tell they had gotten new stuff in. I went in, ya know just to take a peek. And then I saw it. A beautiful dress/tunic. Colors I don't normally wear. Calling out for me. I tried it on, ya know just to see how it would fit? Hoping it would look horrible on. It didn't it fit like a dream. The price tag? 800 kr. Or about 120. Neither of us had jobs, and we were on a budged. So sadly I put her back and walked out the door.

A few weeks later I check in, just to see if she was still there. She was. And she was down to 600 kr! Still couldn't justify it. 

Two weeks later I'm in Stockholm visiting some friends. I happen to go into the KappAhl there and what to you know, MY dress is there, and she is even more on sale! AND last on in my size. I snatch her up and rush to go pay. My 800 kroner dress is now down to 400! Half price!! As the lady is ringing me up she asks if I have a coupon(they send out monthly coupons for 25 to 30% off one item to those who have credit cards with the store. I said I didn't have one. She reached into a drawer and scanned a card bringing my dress down to 250kr!! (about $30!!!) When telling my friends about it they were shocked- that type of thing is unheard of! That the sales lady would give me a discount with out my coupon just does Not happen in Sweden. But it did! It's fate. This dress was meant to be mine.

Fast forward a year. We visit Iowa. Come back. Move to a new place. All of a sudden I can't find THE DRESS. I'm heart broken- for months I ask Drew if he has Any idea what happened to the dress. He doesnt.

A few weeks ago while in Iowa my mom brings me a bag of stuff had left behind during our many trips to iowa over the last year- pajamas, jaspers books, some toys, a bra..and...THE DRESS! It had been in IA all along, and my mother not knowing the story didn't even THINK to tell me HERE IT IS HERE IT IS! I almost cried happy tears. Almost.

Here it is, me wearing it this past weekend while decorating our Christmas tree. My beautiful, perfect fitting dress that I waited for almost two months for, lost, and was reunited with again. 

Maybe you don't get the big deal over this dress, but the cut, colors, style, softness, all of those things make this such an amazing dress to Me.

This time I wore it with cream colored leggings from F21 and boots from Charlotte Rouse. 

Here I'm wearing them with black leggings and boots last year. Love how versatile it is.

And there you have it. My love affair with a dress.

not sure why the crazy face

So this is my first time joining in on Steppin Out Saturday. My Steppin out outfit is actually from Sunday, where our day consisted of grocery shopping, some other errand running and cleaning. Not a very exciting day! But Necessary.

I have about a billion dresses that I wear in the summer and spring and decided that I would find a way to make those fall and winter dressing instead of buying a whole bunch more(see how responsible I'm being?)  So here's my first shot at it.

I paired a Forever 21 Dress with a Cardigan I got in Sweden, shoes  from Forever 21, and knee high socks that my aunt got me in Germany a few weeks ago. It was a bit chilly out with my long German socks and shoes and cardigan this dress totally worked!!

When Jasper saw me get dressed he said "Hey look, Mamma is a Pippi" (Referring to his favorite, Pippi Longstocking..and she does sort of has shoes that look exactly like those..and crazy knee high socks too...)

On Jasper

T-shirt Old Navy

Sweater I Think Khols

Jeans TJ Max

Shoes GAP

Here we are showing off our shoes

And Now we are roaring at the camera- because if you want to take a picture of this kid you have to be doing crazy stuff or he will run and hide because he is just Not a fan of the camera.

My Skin Care routine: Part One: Face Smoothing Polish

Friends are frequently asking me what I Do with my skin to make it ' so perfect' those are seriously their words- frequently. Having great skin is honestly not something I ever thought about growing up. I remember in Jr. High actually being jealous because all my friends were always complaining about zits and pimples and I had Nothing to ad. I felt left out of those conversations--laaame I know. In college when I moved out to CO my skin became SO dry- there was a huge spot on my face that was seriously so dry that I would sleep with a huge gob of vasaline on my face. Everyone told me I would end up with bad acne by doing that- but having never had a pimple I said I didn't care. Well the vasaline never did give me a pimple.

And then I got pregnant. And all of a sudden I would randomly get zits- and they HURT! Now I get what people have been complaining about. When I was pregnant I got about a zit a month- which may not seem like anything to some of you, but when you go 20 yrs w/o one and all of a sudden you have them? I thought it was the end of the world.

Obviously I'm not pregnant anymore and my skin went back to be 'perfect' except a random dry spot, but  I've started taking better care of my skin. I used to go to bed with make up- never ever wash my face..seriously, and never do anything except the random slab of moisturizer. Now I'm almost obsessed with my skin care. So I thought I would share some of the products I've tried.

My first product I want to share- Organic Face Smoothing Polish from Target. I think it was like $8 and as soon as this is up I'll be heading back for more.

I use it about twice a week in the shower- and it never leaves my face feeling dry AT ALL- and this is Colorado people.

It's a gentle exfoliater (is that even a word??) and removes dead skin and crap. It leaves my face super smooth and even toned. That's the one problem I'll randomly have, I feel like my skin isn't always the exact same tone through out my face and THIS seriously solves that problem.

Bonus? It feels really awesome on your skin as you are rubbing it in. It's like Christmas morning every time I use it.