Tagged: goodthings

24
Apr
2011

LOVE LETTER

Dear Easter weekend holidays, Thank you for making the 16-week wait for another day off from January 6 to now worth it. You’ve outdone yourself with the unbelievably beautiful weather, the relaxation, the traditional egg coloring, filling of the baskets and egg hunt (even though the kids wouldn’t let me take photos this year), the getting-things-done in between lounging on the deck and on the trampoline, the kitty fix and dog-sitting, the amount of books I’ve had time to read, the good food and good sleep of several nights in a row. And you’ve still got another day left! Mwah!...

06
Apr
2011

THINGS I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO, THROUGH SUMMER

Bookworms tomorrow Lunch with Geena! Sushi Night on Friday (which means sushi TWICE in one day!) Sleeping in on Saturday Little Big Bookgroup next week, which means this interminable book will finally be over Bonfire at Mats & Annelotte’s for Walpurgis Eve SPRING! Willow Weaving course GAME NIGHT at our house! It’s been ages! Anders’ birthday Martin participating in his second World Run Wonders at Angie’s in May and at a castle in June to celebrate Debbie’s big birthday Midsommer strawberries and new potatoes! Bookworms at the beach in June Summer vacation 4th of July party at our house! Trip...

20
Mar
2011

SLUGBEGONE

Yesterday, I’d had enough of my own sluggyness. So I cleaned the bathroom. THOROUGHLY. Everything out, and scrubbed top to bottom. I felt much better when I was done. It was another day of downtime though, as Anders and the kids didn’t get home until 10 pm. So, after the major bathroom blitz I sat down and watched the pilot episode of The 4400 TV show box set that Anders brought home for me from Shanghai last August and which I hadn’t gotten around to. After only a couple of episodes I’m hooked and a little bummed that it only...

10
Mar
2011

IN WHICH FOOD FIGURES PROMINENTLY. ALSO, PIE.

Start of a family-free week-and-a-half and a husband-less 2-and-a-half-weeks. Don’t know whether to be sad or glad right now, but am mostly too busy to think about it. I worked from home this afternoon so I could be here to say goodbye when Anders and the kids left…it’s their annual ski trip up north with Anders’ best friend Mats and his son Viktor, and the addition this year of Mats’ brother Mikael and his wife Lene, both of whom are also very good friends of ours. Anders’ mom called this evening just to check in and seemed not to know...

06
Mar
2011

YOU LIKE PIE? I LIKE PIE*

Getting through the week at work is really helped by 2 excellent weekend days full of sunshine, blue skies, sleeping in, a fun AWC event with good food and lots of laughter, and the new iPad I bought with some of my bonus money definitely helped, too! Not something I needed, but nice to have a fun toy to play with, and I’m looking forward to being able to read magazines on it, especially. The issue of Martha Stewart Living that was specially designed for the iPad was amazing. I wasn’t out as much in the sun as I would...

26
Feb
2011

ATTITUDE IS A LITTLE THING THAT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE*

I am not happy when I am not happy. I am not happy when I can’t concentrate on the positive and shove the things that bother me aside in favor of the good things that surround me. Small prickers under the fingernails of my mood are most definitely torture and I have the urge to yank them out and remove them as quickly as possible. I don’t LIKE being in a bad mood, a grumpy mood, a sad mood. Today, a concentration on good things: sleeping in, smiles, sunshine, swinging down a city street, shopping (sales on books!), sweets in...

16
Feb
2011

SPREADING SUNSHINE

There’s no knowing how the day will go. Even with a forecast read ahead of time, moods can be unpredictable buggers. Early morning sunshine helps swerve the curve upward. Some days, grey ones, with a pressure from above by clouds and within by…oh, just things, cause a trembling and stillness that makes you want to dive back into bed and burrow for your life beneath the covers. The choices you make each day, the words you deliberate over, the conversations in your head that you restrain yourself from having; all these steer the way the day goes. A choice to...

12
Feb
2011

PLANT A SEED OF FRIENDSHIP, REAP A BOUQUET OF HAPPINESS*

Last night we had the 5th anniversary of the beginning of our Wonders dinners together, my friends and I. Debbie was the one who thought of it; she wanted a mentor group of friends that were all living and staying here in Sweden to be a unit where we could help each other, support each other, be there for each other. She asked us each individually to be a part of the group: Angie, Kelly, Emily and me. We were friends before, all of us, for several years, and this was partly a way of finding our way back to...

02
Feb
2011

MOOD SWINGS

Good: Surprising my friend Geena at her surprise wedding on Sunday, and getting to be a part of her special moment Bad: Insomnia Good: Praise for a presentation I put together and a brochure layout I’m finalizing Bad: Stressball workdays Good: Finding out at the allergist that I might not be allergic to cats anymore…at least according to the “pricktest” (which is what they call it in Swedish), though I would have to have a bloodtest done for conclusive results Bad: Anxiety dreams about work Good: Results from last week’s mammogram: nothing to report! Bad: Realizing that I had a...

31
Dec
2010

RETROSPECTIVE

find closure in the year-end retrospective that I’ve been doing on this journal for—goodness!—8 years. It’s fun to look back and count up and tote up and list the things that happened, the experiences that shaped the year and the literary and musical discoveries I made. Outside the window, the world is white: still so much snow on the ground and the sky is white as well. The hoarfrost of yesterday is gone, but a heavy fog descending promises more for later. Two Swedish couples, very good friends of ours, are coming to celebrate New Year’s Eve with us; Anders...