Tired...

Tired, tired, tired... Really tired. I'm going to go lie in bed and watch LOTR III (take three). It takes me about six evenings to get through that movie. Because I fall asleep. Because I'm exhausted. I need help.

Todd wants everybody to know that he is officially "spot worthy." Apparently some big muscle man asked Todd to spot him at the gym yesterday. He was about to lift more than he had ever lifted before. Todd was really glad the guy didn't drop the bar. Todd was even happier the guy picked him above all the other people at the gym for the spotting honor. Babe, next time, I'll let you spot me!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

My 500th post...

Just signed on and Blogger informed me I have previously written 499 posts. I'm not sure that I've even paid attention to that count before, but there you have it.

I think I also have blogging anniversary right about now. Yes indeed, I just passed my 3 year blogging anniversary on 10/11. Good times.

I ran 3 1/2 miles today!!! I haven't had this good of a workout in a long time. Elliptical is just not the same. It took 38 minutes, but who cares!?!? My knee didn't even hurt that badly afterwards. I'm excited. I've really, really missed running. I think it's been bad for my mental health.

This afternoon, I took Rebecka to see The Game Plan. It was cute. I left my phone at home. I still don't have my phone (I'm at Panera now). It's weird and panicky and kind of liberating. I am also not able to get to my email. Hopefully, the world has not ended. I guess I'll find out when I get home.

I guess technology (or lack thereof) and my airheadedness are coming together to force me to take my vacation day seriously.

Time to browse some usability articles!

Sweden - a welcoming country

Apparently, Sweden is the top country when it comes to welcoming immigrants.

Read more here: BBC Article

Church at the Lake

This morning, we decided to worship at the lake. It was a fabulously religious experience.

Up close and personal.

Serenity...

Shhh - don't disturb the rest of the congregation.

Thank God for Sundays and nature and life.

New stuff...

My new backpack arrived this week. No more carrying my backpack backwards through the airport because the right shoulder strap is broken. :)

I also replaced my sunglasses today. The old pair broke last week. I generally don't replace stuff until the previous item breaks or becomes useless in some way (like goes out of style...). My new shades are even more movie star like. (yes!)

Today, I purchased a new dress for the autumn wedding lineup. Yes, I am going to re-wear it, because the two weddings are mutually exclusive (aside from Todd). This dress is different. It is black. Apparently these days it's OK to wear black to weddings as long as it is "festive." This is festive alright - in a very "witchy" way.

We also received a box full of shoes from Zappos. One of the pairs worked. Yay! They're cute.

Rebecka also got a pair for the wedding she is going to be in (Apple David and Care Bear). Everything is coming together... (amazing)

Hmmm - what else? Sophie got a pumpkin outfit for Halloween. It was too big. I'll have to exchange it for a size small.

I feel like I have fallen into the pits of consumerism... I better not buy anything for at least a week to make up for it.

I'm back!

Sorry about the blogging hiatus. It's realease time in my world, which is like finals week. The difference is that your entire grade depends on this one program and it is a group project (eek!).

Anyway, I know it's been hard for you, my faithful audience (of 3).

Sad things today:

- I ate the last of my favorite Swedish cereal (Crunchy). I've had it since June. That is what I call rationing!
- Todd bit his tongue. It is still bleeding.
- Rebecka beat me severely in Dance Dance Revolution.

Happy things today:

- We're going shopping.
- I'm still in my pjs.
- I get to spend time with my favorite people.

Bye now.

Workout Notes

There is a new, fancy, flat-screen TV in the hotel workout room.

I turned it on and automatically turned to channel 34 (VH1) hoping for the best. This channel hasn't been working for several weeks, so last week I filed a complaint about it (I can't workout properly without VH1!). Now it works! I'd like to think it's all because of me, so that's what I'll think.

Some favorites that were played today:

"Nolita Fairytale" by Vanessa Carlton
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day
"Waiting On The World To Change" by John Mayer

I'll have to ask Rebecka to download these. She is my iTunes manager. I buy the cards and she finds the music and magically puts it on my red iPod. It's a wonderful thing.

So I decided to get on the treadmill to see how long I could go before my knee started complaining. It ended up being the traditional 15 minutes. What the heck!?! I can't keep going like this. So I took a 15 minute elliptical "break" and got back on the treadmill. I was able to go for 20 more minutes!

I would have gotten back on the elliptical after that, except a slightly pregnant young woman reading Parenting Magazine (cute!) had stolen it. So, I returned to my room for some strength training and stretching.

Life is good when I can workout.

PS. I have been in a consistently happy/content/relaxed state for 48 consecutive hours. I'm not sure what I'm doing right, but I'm going to keep doing it...

Guest of the Day...

...once again. At my hotel, that is. I get an extra drink token to add to my ever-growing collection!

This place is really like my second home. I've been coming here for over a year now. Last week when I went straight from the airport to trivia and stayed out past my bedtime, the hotel actually called to check on me... So sweet!

I feel loved.

Memories...

For the past couple of days, I've been playing a Swedish piano piece called "Sommarsång" by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. I once had to memorize this piece over one of my summer vacations.

When I first picked it up yesterday, I started out by reading the music and got a little frustrated that I wasn't able to play it very well. The piece has a lot of jumps and fast scales so a lot of attention must be paid to fingering. After a while, I decided to stop looking at the music and just go by memory. Aha! It was one of those procedural memory moments. The memory of how to play that piece was in my fingers - not my in eyes translating notes to my brain to pass on to my fingers.

Made me think of the movie "The Pianist." It is such an incredible scene when Wladyslaw Szpilman finds the piano at the end and just starts playing like he never stopped... Hopefully, I didn't just ruin that for someone who has this movie on their "Must See" list. Anyway, if you haven't seen it, it is amazing!

Procedural memory is also the mechanism which allows me to ride a bicycle every time I go home to Sweden. I once went probably six years without riding a bike. Nuts!

I used to be the Queen of hands-free bike riding. Once, I risked my life (by passing through an intersection without stopping) to ride hands-free all the way home from school. It was an amazing feat!

I'm looking into buying a bike so I can go riding with Rebecka. I've said for two weekends in a row that I would go out looking for one. Maybe this coming weekend will be it. I'm just paranoid about buying expensive stuff without conducting proper research. And I don't really have time to do the research. So I'll just have to trust whoever is selling it to me (probably a really bad idea) and go with the flow.

Now I am being summoned for TV watching. Sounds important. Chao!