counting down the hours.

looking back over this year, i realize that it has been truly, truly amazing! i have completed my first full year as a resident of sweden, traveled around the world some, learned a new language, experienced new traditions, enjoyed every single moment with my love, missed my family so much i felt like my heart would break, gotten a job, learned the true art of fika, and oh my gosh what an adventure it has been!

here, take a peek.

january

in january i finally finished reading this awesome book about the hippie, peace-lovin’, one of my idols beatle. it inspired me at the start of a new year to begin writing my story, and it of course inspired me to follow the road less traveled, to just be true to myself in every way. from the time i had moved to sweden (in august 2010) until january, i spent most of my time at home. reading, writing, having fika with friends. it was a weird time in my life, but very cozy. kind of a sabbatical. with the new year, though, life began to pick up speed, so it was good to begin it feeling inspired by one of my idols!

february

in february i was in the middle of my swedish for immigrants class. we’re representing the states, the phillipines, poland, & iraq in this picture. these girls were amazing friends during the first half of this year, but we’ve lost touch since summer. i definitely have to figure out a way to reconnect in 2012!

march

yep. march and the snow was still hanging around. i think the first snow was in november, so i lived for the first time in my life, with snow on the ground for about 4 and a half months! i loooved it! though, i must admit, i started to wonder if spring would ever come…

april

at the end of april, the snow was gone and flowers slowly began to peek out. the days seemed to be a bit warmer, but the nights were still chilly. on the last day of april all of sweden celebrates the coming of light, warmth, and spring with a giant bonfire. i went to a celebration with my love’s parents, while my love worked the whole night. it was a really fun tradition of grilling out (the first one of the season), singing traditional spring songs (swedes have traditional songs for everything), and enjoying a cracking, warm, beautiful bonfire out in the woods. looking forward to next year!

may

the days were now longer, the sun was shining almost every day, and we were longing to be outside. it was also the month of my love’s birthday, so time to celebrate her & everything that she means to me. she is my everything… my inspiration, my best friend, my joy, & my love. ♥

june

time to celebrate in june! sweden’s national day was the perfect celebration for the month where i graduated from my swedish course after only 5 months (yes. i am proud since it usually takes about 2 years). i made a day trip to stockholm with my swedish class, our youngest niece was born, and i began a paid internship at lina’s work place. whew! life got busy real quick.

summer trip to the states

 atlantic beach, nc with my family! the best!

 my love & i in our “hometown”, asheville. oh, how we love this eclectic, nature-loving, diverse, alive city in north carolina!

 nyc, baby!!!

july

 back in sweden in late july, and back to work. but not without some relaxing, fun times with friends. july is a great month to enjoy the “midnight sun”… the days are so long and sweden is so beautiful.

august

 we worked together at lina’s job, which was quite slow actually. from mid-july to mid-august all of sweden is on vacation. except us, this year. but we spent some quality time together at cozy outdoor cafes, with some youth that lina works with, with friends at a birthday reunion in stockholm, and celebrating/working during the huge outdoor august festival in the city. beautiful days, beautiful weather.

september

 my birthday month!!! well, fall was on it’s way in september & it was back to the grind for all of us… including me! I GOT A JOB!! yes, that’s right. a real job! working at a church, albeit only 10 hours a week (yeah right.), but a chance to get back to doing what i do best: working with theology & young people. at the same time, i kept doing my internship at lina’s work, so life was really busy. the crappiest thing was that all this working now meant that lina & i had completely different schedules, and not that much free time together. meh. for example, i celebrated my birthday evening alone (well, we had a wonderful fika the week before) since lina was working. it was the culture night in norrkoping, and that equals a night that hippie, artsy people are all over the place. it felt like asheville! i spent some hours wandering the streets, going into local independent stores, listening to music, drawing on a cathedral floor, hearing poetry, and visiting my favorite little music shop which smells like incense & has cool, funky music. oh yes, it was a good day to turn 37!

october: traveling again!

 lina’s parents celebrated their 60th birthdays by taking the family to greece for a week. seriously? a trip to warm, sunny greece in the middle of fall?! nothing could be better! and it was a fantastic, amazing time with all 6 adults & 4 kids!

 for halloween & the end of october, we were off to ireland to visit some friends for a long weekend! we spent 3 days in dublin doing all things irish, from visiting the guinness storehouse/brewery to eating in cafes to shopping in the best places to walking in parks to touring cathedrals to hanging out at pubs, eating amazing food, watching irish dancing, and visiting the coastal areas north of dublin. i wanna go back!!!! (and we will next september! our friends are getting married!)

november

 we celebrated our second thanksgiving in sweden in november. we invited family that had never experience thanksgiving before and ate traditional american thanksgiving food (yes. i cooked it… with help from lina!). then, after a big, long dinner, we cleaned up the dishes and got right to the decorating of our apartment for christmas. the holiday season had arrived!

december

yes. a truly amazing year. i am overwhelmed, humbled, excited, and in awe of the journey so far… who know’s what 2012 holds in store for me, my love, little zola, & our crazy, beautiful life together. whatever it brings, i’m ready!

welcome, 2012!!! i’m waiting!

happy new year’s eve, dear readers!  celebrate big – wherever you are & whoever you’re with! peace.