much love for the acquarius

I suppose there may actually something in the stars about me finding so many wonderful acquarians (spelling/use?) in my life.  Early - mid february is nearly filled daily with a close friend's birthday.

flowers from farmor - made by uncle bjarne

On the 4th of Feburary we celebrated swalshy.  Bring us to the 7th of February and it's Mike Prible's birthday.  The next day, the 8th (today) is Seb's birthday (happy birthday gorgeous girl!). The 11th is my one and only hubby's birthday.  The 14th is Christian's older brother's birthday and finally we have Carissa who is the 15th.  Phew... that's a lot of birthday wishes to remember!

Last week I baked cupcakes and we had a little happy hour in town with friends to celebrate my birthday a bit late and Chr's a bit early.  Funfetti cupcakes with cream cheese frosting with sprinkles on top - holy delicious!

They were a big hit. I was pleasantly surprised Christian's grandmother didn't wrinkle her nose to my box made creation - perhaps she didn't realize, haha.  

Over the weekend we celebrated Christian's best friends' little boy, Nicholas', 2nd birthday (another Acquarian!).  He was so sweet and so cute.

Sunday we celebrated yet some more with family brunch.  Champagne, french toast bake, egg bake and my ever so favorite, Farmor's homemade lagkage.  So good.  Even though the cake was technically for both of us, you'll note the decoration was very jilly. ;)

This weekend brings our celebration to for each other - a weekend getaway to Paris.  SO excited! Will be so great to get away and spend Christian's birthday and Valentine's Day in one of the world's most romantic cities!

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birthday and winter blues

It's definitely winter here these days.  Christian is not sleeping very well and I haven't been overly excited to turn 26 last week.

However, it was really nice to celebrate a bit of my birthday home with friends and family before we left the US - that felt pretty nice.  I did get a little birthday cake here with friends over the weekend, too.  Christian and I will plan something soon for a combined birthday celebration I think.

 

Christian and I's main gift to each other is the trip to Paris over his birthday/valentine's day weekend.  We booked a studio B&B (minus the breakfast haha) in Montmartre an outer 'quarter' of Paris built on a giant hill that has a good mix of locals and popular 'sites' to see.  

(from aphotographerinparis.com)

I have a handful of things I want to see (photograph) but would love any inputs from any readers still out there (I know I've been slow)!  Paris by night seems to be a common theme.  We get there on Friday afternoon on Christian's birthday - any good birthday dinner restaurant suggestions?

Anyway, it's not as gloomy as the title of this post suggests.  Definitely looking forward to our weekend getaway in Paris!

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happy birthday lady g!

This one is dedicated to my one and only Lady G – Gail Gaga Felcher.  Happy birthday darling!

I miss you more than words can say Gaga so I thought instead I’d include a little montage of some of our fondest memories together (there are too many to choose from!)

I miss our Sunday fundays, dates at Cambridge 1, our runs (although they were always followed by proper shove fests), dates with your DVR, lady gaga concerts, trips to LA, birthday parties, happy hour, etc etc.  Hope you’re enjoying LA!!  Miss you and love you bundles!

summer has arrived

My friends and family love us so much they sent us their east-coast heat wave.  :P Only problem is that we don’t have those fancy, new-fangled things called air conditioners here! Or outdoor public pools.  Plenty of beach, though!  Danish summer is here!

Christian and I went to the beach last week and it was awesome.  There weren’t waves but the water was not atrociously cold and I could see through it (and we know this is important) so I had a blast just slashing around so to speak. 

Before it gets too far gone I should talk about last weekend.  There was a lot going on!

Friday we helped Christian’s uncle with some floral arrangement delivery and decorations for a horse show in Sweden.  The customer was a bit off her rocker and we moved everything like 400x for her but I think it turned out well!

(yes, that is in a horse stable)

Saturday we went back to Sweden for Christian’s grandma’s sister’s 75^th birthday.  Did you follow that?  Christian’s grandma (Farmor – the little one who lives across the terrace) is Swedish and is one of something like 7 or 8 children, no one can really answer that question for me.   So there is a lot of Swedish family.

Lots of Swedish family that no one really knows through whom they’re related.  I thought I was struggling to understand Danish… you should hear Swedish – it makes me laugh mostly.  It’s definitely a whole different intonation than Danish, yauh.

Apparently birthdays aren’t a big gift giving ordeal but everyone comes and brings maybe a small gift and sits down for coffee and 3 courses of cakes, cookies and other delicious desserts (see picture of dessert table below).   I see where Christian developed his sweet tooth!

Sunday we had the brunch for Emilie’s graduation and it was also the 4^th of July and so obviously we had to celebrate!  We hosted a barbeque at our house in the garden (ok backyard ugh where is this proper English coming from already?!) and invited friends and family.

Apparently evite is not commonly used in Denmark and hit half of our friends spam folders instead of inboxes. Whoops! So our brave and handicapped friend, Sillas, made the trip out to grannytown from Copenhagen to spend the 4^th with us and Christian’s family.

We made so much food.  I made Kayte’s guacamole recipe and some fresh pico de gallo and served with tortilla chips as an appetizer. Ok so not American but hello, every American loves Mexican food.  Or it’s just me. Either way YUM. 

We grilled all kinds of meats and corn on the cob. I made potatoes and a salad to serve as side dishes.  I was particularly proud of my salad – mixed leafy greens, cucumbers, red onion, strawberries, blueberries, walnuts and feta cheese with homemade balsamic vinaigrette.  Delicious! I also made the cake shown above. Cake mix from a box does exist here but it's just not the same! ;)

We drank a few cocktails and played a Danish yard game.  It’s called I forget… Købclub or something.  Haha I totally forget what it’s called but it was super fun.  I played on the winning team the whole day until the very last round. 

It would take me forever to explain the game so maybe you should just come over and play it with us sometime instead!

It’s been sunny and warm, if not hot, every day for a long time, I almost don’t want to jinx it!  I am loving it! Hope all is well with my loyal readers!

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hey there, remember me?

I actually have gone a little crazy.  My life is a whirlwind trying to get ready to move.  

The race. First of all THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES OVER for all of your generous donations to The BCRF - it was such an inspiration and truly touching.  In the end I raised a whopping $1600 in one month for the cause.  Awesome awesome awesome.

The race was difficult for me this year, more so than last year mostly due to the heat and humidity.  I had to take it a little slower but I only finished 3.5 mins slower than last year - not awful.  Of course you know this is a disappointment to me and I'm still not over it, haha.  I'm in better physical condition this year but for a multitude of reasons I couldn't quite pick up the pace. Grrrrr.

Anyway it's done.  Next big race on the agenda is the Copenhagen Half Marathon on Sept 12th with the hubby.  Yep, that is our 1 year anniversary date.  We'll be running 13.1 miles and then going home to eat frozen wedding cake!  (He hates me)

Moving. Well it's all coming along, and SWIFTLY at that.  I am realizing that even what I consider not to be a lot of "stuff" - it's A LOT OF STUFF. Holy Cow!  Let's all join my campaign to Christian that he needs to buy me all new clothes over there instead.  :P

Job. It's a WIP.  I have some contract work with my current company/role to keep me busy for a month or so and a couple things in motion for a full time placement with Experian EMEA so fingers crossed these "approvals" happen and I'll be fully and gainfully employed by end of June.

Celebrating. I LOVE MY LIFE.  I have the best friends and family a girl could ever ask for.  Not a dull moment around here these days.  I need to work out extra hard just to minify damage to my body from alcohol and dinners out.  Wouldn't swap it for the world, though.

This weekend. GET READY FOR THE GAGA BAR CRAWL aka THE JMAs (Jill's Moving Awards).  Gail has done a fantastic job planning and gathering all my loved ones for this fantastic event.  I have super amazing friends flying in from all over the country.  This is going to be epic.  How are you going to get your JMA? 

Christian.  Firstly, I love him.  He gets in TOMORROW.  He has to help me with all my "stuff" as mentioned previously.  But can't wait to plant some big kisses on his face, I've missed him so much!

That is the update - as you can tell I have a bit of excitement running through my veins.

Countdown:

1 Day til Chr gets here
3 Days til the best going away party ever
7 Days left of work at QAS Boston
7 Days til we go home to see the fam
11 Days til we SHIP OUT!

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