Så mysigt (So cozy)

Well it's still cold, but today I am really seeing the beauty in the season. No more complaints. I am officially, very politely seeing the season off on its way. It is so very charming and cozy in Sweden during the winter months and as I said before, it’s just aesthetically pleasing in so many ways. It's like living in a holiday card. And the holidays are great, but to me they are most certainly over. I am making peace with it and adjusting my Californian ways to the situation at hand.

 I am told it will be two more weeks before the snow melts and soon after that I will see rolling green hills with little white flowers blooming evenly throughout. Until then here's my reality: cold, dead quiet and stop you in your tracks beautiful landscapes. When I get back from woods the path to my house is lit by lantern (a housewarming present from dear friends) and a candle holder I made out of ice. Mysig.So cozy.

This is What it Takes

This is what kind of outfit it takes for me to go outside right now. This is the reality I face every day. Even though I have all the right clothing now to get through the winter here, I still I am in disbelief that I need all this just to go outside. Sometimes when I look at my dog Peete ripping through the snow banks and sliding gleefully on the ice for miles, I wish I had fur.

woMAN'S Bestfriend

People often ask me how I am adjusting to life here in Sweden. For the most part I would say that things have been going pretty well thanks to a few factors. The fact that I can have a Skype call with friends and family in California makes the world much smaller and manageable. The other thing that I have acess to that makes my life here less isolating and more fun is my dog Peete. He was born the day we arrived to Sweden and I feel he was made for us. Peete never makes judgments on me because of my poor Swedish. His only requirement of me is that I take him for a run around the lake and that I tell him he is a good dog in both Swedish and English at least 100 times a day just for being cute.

No matter what happens throughout the day it does not really matter as long as when I wake up the next morning I have a wonderfully good looking husband lying next to me and this little furry face at my feet. Most of the photos I have posted of Peete he has been outside, full of energy, with his ears up. I thought today I would show a side of him that only my husband and I get to see. In the morning Peete has his ears back and he is just like the cuddly puppy we picked up. Being able to see Peete in this sweet way really helps later in the day when he hits me with my own running shoes.

Everything I Love about Sweden on Ice

Just for an update of what is going on outside....more and more of what I like to call Swedish Summer on ice. The little village where I live year round comes alive during the summer because it has so many vacation homes and people who come to the lake to fish, swim and sunbathe. During the last part of the winter I start to think about what would happen if it became really hot suddenly. As soon as the ice thawed I could take the boat or swim to the Sauna that floats on the lake. The snow that has piled up on the picnic bench pictured would have melted and I could sit there again and have a fika with my friends.

To me the weather right now is the only thing keeping me from a number of things that I consider to be a part of living "The Swede Life". In order to get not so bummed about it I tell myself that it's ok, all the things I love about summer in Sweden are all still here, they are just on ice.

The good news is even though it is cold as hell, it looks pretty. All of you looking at this can enjoy the view objectively, without having to freeze your butt off like I did in order to take these photos.