NyStateOfMind

Monday morning and the rain is falling from the sky. The snow is all gone and it’s pretty warm outside.

2009 is coming to an end and I am ready to start filling my new calendar with fun stuff to do next year. There are a few plans already, a week’s vacation in Los Angeles, Rock of Ages on Broadway and of course going to SWEDEN!!! Then we also have a few weddings to attend and a couple of babies to welcome into this world.

After work tonight I’m heading to the airport to pick up my two Swedish friends that are coming to live with us for the next 8 days. Lots of tourist stuff and shopping is on the agenda. And of course the New Years Eve Party at Webster Hall :)

Christmas came and Christmas went. So much preparing and planning for almost a whole month before the 25^th arrives. Then it’s over in a heartbeat.

I guess I must have been a good girl this year since Santa came and left me lots of presents. I got everything from new books, clothes, CD's, coffee mugs, DVD's, jewelry and let's not forget Broadway tickets to Rock of Ages. And the one thing I wished for seems to be coming true, the snow is melting :)

Today I’m spending the day finding a home for all my new stuff, washing clothes and eating the candy that yesterday was nicely wrapped in my stocking.

The blizzard came, as expected, and we have about a foot of snow if not more. We have been out shoveling all morning and we now have a little walkway from the house to our cars.

My back and arms are hurting and my guess is that it’s going to be much worse tomorrow. With some luck my boss might decide to stay home and I don’t have to go to work. Keeping my fingers crossed :)

Last night we went to a friend’s house to celebrate his 30^th B-Day. Not the best idea when it’s a blizzard outside and you can barely see 2 feet in front of you. But we made it there and had a great time.

I’m now enjoying a glass of cold wine while talking to a Swedish friend online. I should go finish those Oreo Truffles that I started making yesterday.


               Trans-Siberian Orchestra - "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo - 12/24

Friday night and nothing special going on.

Went to see my munchkins again today to exchange Christmas gifts. I gave them each a toy and a personalized photo album and I went home with a pair of earrings.

Last weekend before Christmas and I am proud to say that all my gifts are wrapped under the tree waiting to be ripped opened.

It’s supposed to be a blizzard here tomorrow with up to a foot of snow. I hope they are wrong. I don’t want a white Christmas, I want sun and warm weather. I know that’s not going to happened, but dreaming is allowed, right?

Just got back from the post office and I feel like an ice cube.  :)  I have one more thing to mail out, I just need the address before the package can hit the road.

I have never really been into shopping online. But in the past two months or so it has become more and more of a hobby of mine :)

Anyway, a few weeks back on Cyber Monday I was, of course, online pretty much all day! I found some good deals but the best one was a pair of Jeans for $6!!! Including shipping and tax... Not knowing how these jeans were going to fit I decided to not be too excited. Last week a bag was waiting for me when I got home from work. I ripped it up and inside was my jeans. To my surprise they fit me perfectly! I couldn’t be happier.

Today is Lucia. My plan for the day was to go to Manhattan and listen to the Swedish choir sing.

For the past 5 years I have missed the Lucia celebration here in New York. It has always been on a weekday and I have been working.  I was so happy that it fell on a Sunday this year, thinking that I could go.  Well, since it fell on a Sunday, which is the day everybody goes to mass in church, they celebrated Lucia yesterday.

Oh well. Next year I will make sure I’m in Sweden for December 13^th.

To see the positive side of the whole thing: It’s raining and cold outside and I don’t really mind sitting inside dry and warm instead of pushing my way through Penn Station and walking up 5^th Ave in this weather.

The Christmas Party last night was fun and I went home with TWO gifts this year! A candle holder with three glass cups for candles and A mini fondue set. Can’t wait to cut up some fruit, marshmallows and maybe pretzels and dip it into melted chocolate.

Here is two of my favorite Swedish Lucia Songs


             Så mörk är natten



        Betlehems Stjärna

Yesterday was the last time I ever held Penny. She laid in my arms for about an hour just sleeping.

Never really thought about this day coming. 14 years old and always acted like a little puppy. Until last week. She lost so much weight it was scary to touch her. Couldn’t hear or see anything and she pretty much stopped eating.  It went so fast. I guess that’s good in one way. But still so sad.

5:50 is the time my alarm went off this morning and I didn’t hear it, as usual. After a few pokes in my back I finally woke up and pressed snooze on the clock. The rain was coming down so hard on the windows it kept me from falling back asleep. Still, I stayed in bed for another 30 minutes until I had to get up and get ready for work.

My new travel mug fits two cups of instant coffee (from starbucks of course) and a little vanilla creamer. The beauty about this it that it makes both me and my wallet very happy :)

The rain has now stopped and I absolutely love the smell of wet asphalt. 

My stomach is growling and the baby is sleeping which means, Lunchtime.

Winter is here and it’s the time of the year when I wish I had an automatic starter on my car :) 
Frost on the windows, white grass, and fog coming from my mouth when I breathe.

My winter coat, gloves and heavy scarf’s have found their way out of the closet and are now being worn everyday.

The sun is down by 4:30 and that’s when I light lots of candles in my apartment. Between the Christmas tree and all the candles it looks like a winter wonderland in here.

It’s also the time of the year when you can make soup for dinner and snuggle under a blanket while watching TV.

Tortilla Soup is on the menu tonight and after that perhaps I’ll make some sugar cookies.

Other than that, nothing new from here.

Listening to some music while I’m enjoying the smell of my soup cooking on the stove.

                                        Thrice - For Miles

Saturday night I was babysitting for a new family.

Got there around five. Played with the little girl, had dinner and watched Dora the Explorer.

After I put her to bed I went back downstairs to watch TV. All of a sudden the doorbell rings. I look at the time and it’s almost midnight. Who rings the doorbell at midnight? It rang a second time and after looking through the little peephole, I saw a police woman.

She told me that there had been a burglary in the house behind the one I was in and wanted to know if I had seen or heard anything. I hadn’t. 

The parents came home shortly after the police woman left, thank god! I drove over with the mom to the house behind hers and talked to the police man who was still there. He told us that there had been another burglary a few streets away that same night. He also told us that this had been going on for a few weeks, at least one house every night. Scary.

I’m going to make sure that my doors are locked and some lights are on so it looks like there is someone home at all times.

It started at the FedEx store where I picked up my new Ipod! Drove home and put it on charge. Then we caught the 9:30 train into Manhattan to meet my two Swedish friends!

The weather was perfect for a day in the city, warm and sunny. I didn't even wear my jacket!

Saw a whole lot of Christmas decorations and even visited Santa in Macy's on 34^th street!  

After 10 hours of catching up and a lot of walking we took the train back home.

Played with my new toy for a while once we got home, put on a lot of music, a movie and downloaded a bunch of apps!

My feet and whole body were so tired that falling asleep was no problem.

Friday we spent the whole day at the mall getting most of our Christmas shopping done. Even wrapped all the gifts and put them under our newly decorated tree :)

I missed FedEx delivery today and therefore still don't have my ipod :(  What a bummer. Hopefully they will leave it at the FedEx office tomorrow morning so I can pick it up, I hate waiting!

Long day at work today, then I have a four day weekend (like always). Going to the city tomorrow to meet two friends that are here visiting from Sweden. It's supposed to rain but only in the morning, lets hope the weather guy is right about that one.

Since they are lighting the tree at Rockefeller Center tonight I wanna see that tomorrow. What else we do depends on what they have done already, they have been here since Saturday and have probably seen a whole lot. Maybe the windows at Macy's, walk up 5^th Ave and see their decorations and end the day in Central Park looking at the ice skaters?

Either way, I'm gonna have fun just hanging out with my Swedish friends for a day!

  

I have a new favorite show on TV. Meet the Natives: USA

I think this is the best show ever made! For years we have been able to follow all these different tribes and their way of life. Now it's their turn to see how we live in here in America.

Meet the Natives is about 5 tribesmen who comes from an Island called Tanna somewhere in the Pacific.

In the first episode they go to a farm in Montana, but it was the second episode that really made me love the show. They came to Manhattan!

Coming to Manhattan from anywhere in the world is a pretty big change. I know when I moved from Sweden I was so impressed with both the buildings, all the yellow cabs, the amount of people and so many other things.

But I had seen it all on TV before so I knew what to expect. These people don't.

This show is definitely worth watching!

Thanksgiving is over and we are heading in to the Holiday season. Fun but at the same time a very stressful time of the year.

Here is my to do list for December:

- Cleaning the house

- Decorating for Christmas

- Writing out 40+ Christmas Cards

- Buying lots of Christmas gifts

- Putting up the tree

- Cross my fingers everyday that we won't get any snow

- Hosting my annual Christmas Party

It's a long list but most of it is fun stuff. Today we did most of the decorating and cleaning, I'll do the rest next week :)

My dad has always said that he would rather book a trip somewhere tropical and skip Christmas, I never understood that. Thinking about it now, maybe it's not such a bad idea. Sitting under a palm tree with the sun shining and a Piña Colada in my hand? Sounds pretty awesome.

It's a nice time of the year as long as you start early and don't have to stress, something I have a very hard time doing. I'm a last minute person. Always something left to buy the day before Christmas or even on Christmas Eve.

Shopping on Christmas Eve became a little bit of a tradition at my house growing up. Me and my dad would always run out buying something right before the stores closed.

But not this year, I'm gonna have it all done long before that!


                                      12 Pains of Christmas - Bob Rivers

OMG, Never again will I go to the mall on Black Friday!
I thought that by 2pm when I went it would be pretty quiet since the crazy shoppers go when the stores open at 3am, but I was wrong!

Got a parking spot quicker than expected and after fighting our way in to Macy's and the shoe department it didn't take us long to realize that between the amount of people and the mountains of shoes everywhere it was like looking for a needle in a haystack = pretty much impossible to find a pair of shoes worth fighting for.

Squeezed our way out of the store and made our way to the other side of the mall. Got to the next shoe store that was 1/4 of the size of the shoe department in Macy's with the same amount of people in it. We stayed in one corner (not our decision, we couldn't move) and had the saleswoman, who was the size of a 10year old and could hop in between all the people, get the shoes my friend wanted to try on. It took about 30 min, 4 pairs of shoes, a lot of sweat and a few crushed toes before she finally bought a pair of really hot boots and we could get out of there!

I managed to get a Christmas gift and a cute shirt for myself at ZARA, which to my surprise was the most quiet store at the mall.
The Guess store was a definite on my list but after being called a Bitch by some rude girl and 5000 people fighting for the cute clothes and bags they have there we looked at each other and saw that as our cue to leave.

Trying to get out of the parking garage was almost harder than it was getting in. That's when I go by the rule, honk and go! We made it home safe and sound.

Now I'm gonna take some time to relax, watch an episode or two of the Swedish show "Ullared" and then get ready for a night out celebrating a friend that hits the big 30 tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Since I'm always off on Thursdays sleeping in wasn't anything special, but getting a nice homemade breakfast, Swedish Cider and the Thanksgiving Parade on TV was a real treat. The parade is still on and will be for the next 90 minutes, lots of good performances and big floats. But I can't sit here and watch the whole thing. Have to get ready for the family get together at 2:00. 

I have decided to wear a dress so that I can stuff my face with lots of Turkey, sweet potato, stuffing, mash potato and all the other goodies that Thanksgiving is all about and just let that belly of mine expand :)

Finally home from a long day at work.
Didn't sleep much last night so when my alarm clock rang at 05:50 I was less than happy. After snoozing for almost 40 minutes it was time to open my eyes and drag my tired body out of bed.

It was dark and cold outside when I drove to work. 
But after a quick visit to Starbucks and a Vanilla Latte in my hand I was feeling better and I was able to get through my 13 hour work day!

Not much has happened today. I have been listening to this song over and over. Which by the way was a "Pick of the Week" song from Starbucks a few weeks back. Maybe his Cd will be added to my Christmas list :)

                                                     Mishka - Above the Bones




Just ate the rest of my cupcake and gonna try to find something to watch on TV.

Tonight I'm gonna take a Benadryl and hopefully get some much needed sleep.

So now I'm a year older than I was yesterday. Don't feel any different except that I'm a pajama, a dress and a pair of slippers richer, Thanks Hun!

The day started with breakfast made by my hubby, then off to the movies, it was us, a bunch of little kids and the senior citizens (I mean, what do you expect when you go to the movies at noon?)

We saw "2012" and my thoughts of the movie was that it was way to long, 2 hours and 38 minutes!! And very predictable. But I will admit I got tears in my eyes a few times and it made me think about the future. We really don't know when the world will end.
So, live everyday like it's your last!

For dinner we got Hibachi at Beni Hana's and we ended the night at Crumbs for the biggest cupcakes I have ever seen.

To wrap it up, I have had a very good birthday and I can't wait to do it all over again in 365 days :)

Ever really thought about who your real friends are?
I always thought I knew who I could trust and count on, but I was wrong!

There is certain things you go through in life when you want your friends to be there for you, whether it's just being able to call for the smallest little thing in the middle of the night or to celebrate a milestone or just someone to be there and give you that warm hug you might need sometimes.

I have learned that it doesn't matter if you live in the same town or even in the same country to be a true friend, the people that really cares about you and loves you will always be there.

I have a few good friends that I see once or twice a year, and still when I see them you can't tell that it's been months since last time. Everything just flows and you still have just as much in common and can talk for hours about anything.
And then there is the people that I see every week, maybe even a few times a week, and it's just not as real as a friendship should be.

Think about who really means something to you and start sorting out your real friends from the "fake" ones.
It's not important to have 30 friends, it's important to have 1 ,2 or 5 really good friends, and those are the people that will be there for you for the rest of your life.