Entries in friends (5)

Wednesday
Jul212010

summer on sjælland continues...

DateWednesday, July 21, 2010 at 3:00AM

Another great summer weekend in here in Sjælland (the big island we live on).

Friday I traveled out to western Sjælland with Christian’s mom, a friend and Christian’s siblings Emilie and Magnus.  We stayed at a “summer house” on the peninsula called Røsnæs just outside the city of Kaldunborg.

We took a boat trip out into the bay to look for some dolphin like fish, the closest English translation I could find was “porpoise” but I think they’re still a little different.  I don’t know, we didn’t see any in the end.  Which I’m sure you can guess, was fine by me the fish hater. ;)

We left late Saturday afternoon and I headed into Copenhagen to meet up with Jeanette for dinner, a movie and drinks.  Sounds like a romantic date, haha.  We ate at ChilliMilli and saw Shrek (the 4th?) which was fine, definitely not as funny as the first two but anyone could have predicted that.

We were going to get a beer at a bar or something of the sort but decided to buy a few beers at the grocery store and sit in Nyhavn and people watch instead.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s my favorite thing to do on a nice day in Copenhagen.

I like to watch all the people walking by and guess where they’re from.  Come join me sometime and I will share with you my skills on guessing.

I took a train home around 11:30 and missed a connection by 4 minutes and ended up with a 200kr ($35) taxi ride home from the station.  Oh well, it was a really nice night and worth it!

Yesterday I relaxed for most of the day and then joined Christian’s uncle’s family and Farmor to Gillileje for dinner in the harbor.  I found the one bit of chicken on the menu (I’m pretty good at that) and we ate outside and enjoyed the evening sun.

We took a walk on the rocky/sandy beach there after dinner.  We looked for amber and special rocks that had what looked like petrified starfishes on them.  I found a piece of amber, not sure if that’s special or not, though.  The kids took a swim and then we started out to go home.

On the road out of the town there was a circus setting up.  They literally had just arrived and the animals were out getting some fresh air.  We stopped and got to be pretty close (without anything than a mere rope between us) to elephants, zebras, camels and horses.  Pretty cool.

In other news, most of you probably read on Facebook that I got a job here, finally!  I am absolutely  over the moon about it.  I definitely need structure and routine back in my life, not to mention a Danish income!!

I’m working remotely until the end of the month for my old job still and then supposedly I start my new job the first of August.  So I never really was unemployed, kind of nice.  I’ll know more details this week when I go in to sign some paperwork. :D

Thanks for all your love and support, as always.

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AuthorJillian Als | Comment1 Comment |
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Sunday
Jun132010

being home alone leads to...

DateSunday, June 13, 2010 at 5:40PM

Well after a week alone, hubby came back.  Thank god.  I was missing him lots!  Here’s a shot of him at lunch on Saturday .  It’s from my Hipstamatic iPhone app which takes old looking photos, love it:

Despite being alone I think the week went pretty fast. I had lots of ‘dinner dates’ and such to keep me busy.

Tuesday I had a meeting in the city about a job with my parent company.  She expressed to me several times that it is not a matter of ‘if’ I have the job but a matter of when.  Hopefully at the end of this coming week I’ll know more. 

After the meeting I met up with Jeanette for some shopping in the city and then we headed to her apartment to rip down some old wallpaper and brainstorm about… a PROPER DANISH WEDDING.

Ah, I said it!  I agreed to this over a bottle of wine at Christian’s mom’s house on Monday night.  The end of this summer, we’re still working some church logistics as the first priority.  I still want my princess church!

It should be fun and it allows us to celebrate with all of our family and our awesome Danish friends. :D I’m sure you’ll hear more but it’s going to be another bohemian all hands on deck kind of wedding. Love it!  Steph… are you up for round two? JK you’ll be happy to know they don’t traditionally do MOHs and bridesmaids and such.  Just a few flower girls.

Speaking of weddings. Steffen and Haley stopped by to see me on Thursday and are newly engaged thanks to a little help of a ring delivery to my desk at work in the US! Their NYC trip was cancelled with the ash cloud business so we've very happy to help and be a part of their special story! Congrats!

This weekend we spent a lot of QT with the family.  Christian’s older brother was in town with the lovely Emma.  She and I have figured out how to communicate somehow… for the most part.  We play hide and seek well.  Today we rode bikes together.

Christian had to fix a number of things on Maggie.  Suddenly I know why it was sooo hard to ride her in the beginning.  Okay so I had two flat tires.  Then Christian sees that my front brake is always touching the wheel and kind of permanently on a bit… pfft.  All fixed up. She rides like a dream!

In other news.  I have had my 2nd ever lesson on stick shift today.  It went fine in the school yard just going in circles and starting and stopping.  Christian even taught me the emergency brake trick when starting on a hill which I semi-got.

After the school yard I drove down this long windy country road which was fine except when I had to come to a stop and make a turn. I stalled in the middle of the road and oncoming traffic came at me in both directions…  they swerved in different directions around us as I cried and refused to go further with the lesson.  HAHA. Almost dying was enough for one day!

Back to ‘the grind’ tomorrow – aka working from home.  Chr is still around somehow, which is great for the ever growing ‘honey-do’ list. :)

Day one of my new gym tomorrow!  Eeekk.

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AuthorJillian Als | Comment5 Comments |
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Tuesday
Feb022010

flashin lights, lights...

DateTuesday, February 2, 2010 at 8:05AM

I consider myself lucky to know so many talented and ambitious individuals. It's good to have people in your life that make you say, "I wish I could do that."

Take for instance the lovely Jenn Delahaye, who is making her move on photography. One of her photos has scored prime real estate on Boston.com's best photos of 2009:


(Photo by Jennifer Delahaye)

Kudos to Jenn, I absolutely love the photo. And well done for pursuing something exciting, challenging and ultimately something that makes you happy!

I definitely wish I stuck with my own budding photography hobby way back when. Most of you know that my Grandpa sort of has a stop bath thumb (or whatever a green thumb of photography would be called). He's a great inspiration, but he's also retired. :P Here's a brilliant shot from New Foundland where he and my grandma summer:


(Photo by Edward Huberty)

I know I still owe my readers my New Years resolutions. All my health and fitness goals are kind of necessary more than a goal at this point, ha. The biggest resolution is to start my first book. Details yet to come! 

Another resolution is to save money for a digital SLR and see if I can't get myself back into the darkroom.... aka photoshop on my laptop. Though... there is something therapeutic about a 35mm, a reel of film and hours in a dark room afterwards. I always remember the classical music playing in my grandpa's dark room, even a girl who's gaga for Lady Gaga can appreciate the serenity in the dark making potential master pieces.

So, in 2011 when I have my new toy, "can I shoot you?" Always got a kick out of that question as a kiddo, Grandpa loves a play on words!

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AuthorJillian Als | Comment2 Comments |
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Saturday
Jan022010

God Nytår! Happy New Year!

DateSaturday, January 2, 2010 at 1:34PM

Hope you’re all in a good spirit with the prospect of a new year and new possibilities.  I certainly think that 2010 is going to be a big year for me and the hubs.  No babies, I know what you’re thinking and that’s not what I mean!

Here is some prime footage of our typical NYE in Copenhagen… enjoy my commentating.

Did I mention that I hate my own voice? ;)  I posted all of our NYE pictures on FB but I’ll add some here for fun. 

I am really digging the whole halo headband look.  The sparkle halo headband is from Danish designer Friis & Co.  I gave it some extra sass by adding the feathery flower hair piece I had from H&M a few months back.

We spent New Years Eve with family for dinner and dessert and then drove in to Copenhagen to meet up with friends and get crazy.  We got a hotel room for the night because trying to find our way home at some absurd hour in the morning was likely to be just as expensive.  

 

We met up with friends Sebastian and Lykke and some of their friends at a party.  Very fun! Christian & Sebastian lit fireworks in the street, well maybe you saw this in the video.  I think our heads hit the pillow a little after 5am. Whoa. Anyway here's a good pic of the men:

 

The hotel gave us a 2pm check out time, thank god.  And god bless Denmark for having McDonalds open on New Years day across the street from the hotel.  I never felt so American, haha.  Perfect hangover cure!

And with that... I haven’t officially decided on my 2010 resolutions.  Obviously they only start once I’m stateside again, which, sadly, will be tomorrow.  I am going to miss Christian a lot.  We’ve had some great QT together over the holidays this year.  Meget hyggeligt :)

However, I did dig up my 9 things in 2009 blog post to determine how much of last year’s resolutions I accomplished…

1. blog more – 21 entries in 2008 and 78 entries in 2009, check.
2. have better posture – yeah, hasn’t happened. 
3. stop cursing like a sailor – somehow it’s gotten worse, ugh.
4. run more – a handful of 5ks, 10 mi race and a half marathon in ’09, check!
5. stay on top of my health – yep, even though I wished I kept my wisdom teeth in afterall! Check.
6. do something incredible at my job – I got promoted in ’09, can’t be all bad! Check.
7. keep my nails strong and healthy – I’m a little better with this… so… check.
8. manage finances better – top of the list 2010, for sure.
9. stay in better touch with friends and relatives – not sure how to measure this but I’m going to say check.

So I guess I achieved more than half of what I was after.  Not terrible.  There is some serious room for improvement, though.  I will have to have a serious think of my 2010 resolutions and keep you posted.

To 2010 o-m-g-ers!  Skål!

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AuthorJillian Als | Comment1 Comment |
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Tuesday
Nov102009

the grand finale

DateTuesday, November 10, 2009 at 10:50PM

To sum up our weekend, in a word, it would be... accomplished.  Christian's last weekend in town was nonstop, but a lot of fun!  We ended on a high note for Christian here at Finale in Coolidge Corner.  Check out these scrumptiousnesses:

Which do you think I like best?  The handsome Dane, the ice cream, the molten cake or the espresso martini? :)  Difficult to choose but I guess I'll go with my Dane as the what I liked best about that night.

Saturday we went bowling at Jillians with Megan (Focaccia) and her boyfriend Matt.  We got some grub and only Matt bowled over 100.  It was lots of fun!  Afterwards we took a walk to Matt's office in which he grabbed free tickets to the Museum of Science for Christian and I.  Saweet.  Thanks Matt.  Check out his blog - lots of funnies and head scratchers and 'ohhhh that's interesting's!

We spent two hours roaming the general exhibit halls, highlights include the visual perception exhibit and of course the butterfly garden - helloooo. :)  Beautiful, beautiful butterflies.  We each had a few "hitchhiker" butterflies land on our shoulders - so cute!  After the exhibit halls closed and I stopped acting like a child in the gift shop we went to a Guitar Hero laser show.  I fell asleep during the last song, haha.

Took the E train and headed to the beloved Cheesecake Factory where you can eat like kings with left overs enough for three more meals.  1.5 hour wait and Christian and I have a new business plan - he is genius.  I would tell you what it is, but I'd have to kill you.  Stuffed to the gills we headed home.

Sunday we woke up to gorgeous and profound 60 degree weather in Boston in NOVEMBER.  Nice.  Went to brunch at Charlies on Newbury St and sat outside.  Perfection.  Took a stroll and then got on the T over to Cambridgeside Galleria to start CHRISTMAS shopping.  Yep you read that correctly.

Few gifts bought we headed home to Brookline and met Lykke for dinner at Zaftigs.  Matzo ball soup and potato pancakes are just about the best thing in the world aside from great Danish company.  As a grand finale to the weekend and Christian's trip we headed to... well you already know where.

Now I'm here trying to catch up with the digital world as I've been somewhat MIA in the personal realm for the past month.  I've got a awesome invite to Google Wave from a developer I work with in the UK and not a figgen clue how to use it.  Even the Wikipedia explanation didn't quite clear it up for me.  Hmm.

Do you Wave?  Can you Wave with me?  (Don't worry Sarah - save that one wave of the flag for you!)

What else is new in the virtual world - anything more fun then our weekend?  I bet not!  

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AuthorJillian Als | CommentPost a Comment |
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