Sunset at 3:30pm and Other Adjustments

Living is Sweden is great, but it does come with some small yet significant adjustments. Just when I have started to get used to having to wear a vest or down jacket most of the day during this time of year, then I started to notice that the daylight hours were slowly dwindling.

These photos were taken today at about 3:30pm. This is the price you have to pay for it being light until 10pm during the summer months.

I understand that this is the way it works. The reality is I have to make sure that I have gotten everything done at about 2pm or else the day has a way of getting away from me.

City Mouse or Country Mouse?

While I was on my daily run through the woods I started to think about what my walks a year ago in San Francisco looked like. My everyday surroundings now are about as different as they can be from my life in San Francisco.

People who meet me here in Sweden almost always ask the same question: "It is so different from San Francisco here, how are you doing it?” The answer is I do it all. I find it hard for myself to believe sometimes, but I have found out that I am not a country mouse or a city mouse. I'm a mouse that changes when change is needed, that's the brassiest kind of mouse there is, I assure you.

Before moving to Sweden I did second guess myself a lot; "Will I be ok being away from the ocean? Will I make any friends? Will I learn the language? Can I survive without Happy Hour in the city?” My feeling now is most of us can handle much more change in our environments than we think is possible. I think if more people stopped second guessing themselves when it comes considering a life change, more personal growth would happen for more people in much less time.

Swedish Proverb #2

"Tålamod är nyckeln till paradiset"

"Patience is the key to paradise"

While I struggle with my Swedish courses I try and think of this very proverb. Even though most everyone here speaks English, and on TV most of the shows I watch here are American or English I still need to master the Swedish language in order to unlock the door to my ultimate paradise. I am thirty years old learning a brand new language so patience is key to my success here. Even though I suffer through my Swedish, I have a new mantra: For the results I require all I need is time.



 I have not been able to think about this much before but, isn't time all we really have anyway?

California Dreaming

No matter what I do or where I go in the World, this scene always makes me remember who I am. I have spent hours and hours on this beach and hours and hours wishing I was on this beach.

This is Capitola, California right before the sun goes down. The little houses pictured here are called "The Venetians" and are painted in all the colors of the rainbow. When I was a kid I stayed with family and friends in a lovely blue one of these for a week every summer before my parents decided to move to the area good when I was five. I see now that those summers set a high standard for what I thought my life should be like.

If I was looking at this scene in real life I would be on the deck of a bar called Margaritaville, most likey catching up with old friends over a salt rimmed double margarita and being made fun of about how bad my sunburn from the day was.

As an adult I grow restless everywhere I go, and there is no doubt in my mind that had we chosen to move back to Capitola I would be feeling restless. However, in this moment when I am looking at this photo it seems like the only place in the world where I can have my particular and familiar Californian experience. Good thing I am pretty sure that my authentic experience will still be there when I get a chance to go back. The sunset on the water and the salt rimmed margarita will be waiting for me.

Friday Night Fajitas

I know, this is a blog about Swedish Lifestyle and I always make Mexican Food. Even though this dish is not Swedish it is very quick and easy to make which I think will appeal to my readers all around the World.

What you need:
Cubed chicken breast
Onion
Bell Pepper (Not pictured because I'm allergic)
Old El Paso Fajita Spice Mix (available in Sweden and the States)
Avo
Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped Lettuce
Salsa of any kind
Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
Tortillas

Cook chicken on skillet with Fajita spice mix for 5 min. on high heat then put in sliced onion. Cook covered until chicken is browned and onions are soft.
Chop veggies, warm tortillas and done :)

My Flag is a Doormat: Has the marketing of Old Glory gone too far?

Lexington is a Swedish Company that can't seem to go one collection with out some kind of image of the American Flag. And they are certainly not the only ones. It seems where ever I go in Sweden I see my star spangled banner. It is comforting but also strange for me to see my home country's flag on everything from Tshirts to bath towels.

I am a proud American , but I am more of the type that hangs my flag high in my backyard, instead of having one on my doormat.

I am aware that the American Flag just cannot mean the same thing to Swedes as it does to Americans. To Swedes and many people from many other nations the American Flag is just a design or part of a trend. Don't get me wrong, I love that Swedes think the American Flag is a marketable symbol. Their affinity for the flag makes me feel more accepted and at home living in Sweden. But I do find it strange that I can be talking to a Swede who has strong opinions against the way my country has handled countless items of foreign policy, wars and conflicts, all the while wearing a sweater with a huge American Flag on it. I am always confused by this contradiction but I think I just need to see the flag as a fashion statement, which is hard for me to do sometimes.

With this being said, my husband often makes fun of me because I do enjoy shopping at Lexington Company. I find myself wanting to purchase items there that I would have never taken a second look at if I were in a store in the states. Even I get wrapped up in their marking plan because I am home sick some of the time. Even though my life here is so new and exciting there are some evenings when all I want to do is sit on the sofa and watch Two and a Half Men reruns, curled up in a big awful throw blanket with the American Flag on it.

"Life Is What Happens To You While You're Busy Making Other Plans"

"Life Is What Happens to You While You're Busy Making Other Plans"

From Beautiful Boy by John Lennon

I grew up listening to John Lennon and this line was always a favorite, but I never knew what a true statement it was until I stepped outside of the hamster wheel that was my life almost a year ago. It seems that while I was frantically trying to make a life for myself that looked good to everyone else in the "big city" I could never stop long enough to realize that I was not happy.

Today I can say that even though I am not yet at a place where I am totally satisfied or have fulfilled all of the goals I want to reach in my lifetime, I am now able to enjoy my everyday life as it is now.

"The Swede Life" for me means stopping to smell the flowers instead not noticing that I trampled all over them on my way to catch the train downtown.

Have a great day everyone and please remember to allow yourself to enjoy your life as it is now. I'm telling you all this so you don't have to drop everything and move to Sweden to figure this out like I did. But if you decide to make the move anyway...let me know so I can prepare some Fika for us!

I Love This Guy!!!!!!

Here in Sweden there is a reality show called Allt för Sverige (you can find episodes on you tube) where Americans with Swedish ancestry come to Sweden and try to learn about the country and culture. I love the show, but I especially love Season One contestant Guy Clark. Guy is good spirted and fun and I just love that he is doing these tv commercials for Swedish Department Store Ahlens.

Guy gives me hope that an outgoing, home decor loving American has a place in Swedish culture.

Tusan tack for allt Guy(a thousand thanks for everything,Guy)!!! Hope to see more of you soon!