2010

I thought I'd write a year in review post since it's been kind of a crazy year. A year with many ups and many downs and my first full year in Sweden. Happy New Years Eve.

January: We were in Texas and celebrated the New Year with my parents. I ate my fair share of Tex Mex food and drank many margaritas. We returned to Sweden about two weeks into 2010. Upon our return I started to feel the winter depression blues and we tried to spend a lot of time at my in-laws where we went on long, country walks and even trekked across a frozen, snow covered lake. My in-laws house has always been a retreat for us- it's always nice to escape from the craziness of the city to the peace of the country.

February: I didn't take many photos in February. I was pretty down and made the decision to quit my job and start studying Swedish full-time. We celebrated our one year wedding anniversary(!) and my 23rd birthday. My husband baked me a red velvet cake from scratch. We spent a weekend up at my in-laws celebrating both my birthday and my mother-in-laws and we went to the sauna (in their village they have a little wooden sauna right by a big lake. It's lovely). I wore a bikini in the snow (something I never thought I'd do!) but you won't see a photo of that. Nope.

March: Again, not so many photos. At this time I was taking night classes in Swedish twice a week. I was itching for spring, sunshine, and warm weather. We visited Stockholm for a long, cold weekend.

April: Finally! Spring very slowly started to show itself. And with that came sunshine and better days. We celebrated Easter at the beginning of April and at the end of April we celebrated my last day of work.

May: Even more sunshine. I became a lot happier having quit my job and started studying Swedish full time. We bought a few plants to grow on our patio and enjoyed many days outside grilling, reading, and drinking rose. I also read my first full (easy-read) book in Swedish. I finally got to take a picture of the amazing yellow raps fields that I saw during my first summer in Sweden, 2009.

June: It was officially summer! And so sunny and hot. We spent a lot of afternoons and nights by the beach grilling with friends. I got a new hat. And then we moved up to my in-laws while they spent a month in the States. We lived in the country side for awhile and enjoyed an easy life of eating strawberries right off the vine, making sun tea, and celebrating Midsummer with our friends.

July: We celebrated the 4th by working at a flea market and then having a BBQ with some of our American friends. We later took a small trip to Småland to visit friends at their summer home. We stayed in a real log cabin with an amazing view and picked wild blueberries! The highlight of July was my bff, Leslie, visiting us. She was here for two weeks and we had so much fun. Come back to Sweden Leslie!

August: We took a mini-vacation to Germany with G's parents. I applied to a Swedish course that would give me the equivalent of High School Swedish and got accepted! Malmö held it's annual festival  and we saw some cool bands play. I also got my dream shoes! August was a good month.

September: I was in school full time, it was (still is) hard. I planned a scavenger hunt with 26 clues for G's 26th birthday and baked him his favorite cake: princesstårta. I started to get VERY VERY homesick but in late September we flew to NYC for my step-brother's wedding and I got to hang out with my parents! 

October: We flew back from NYC to a lovely, autumney Sweden and I felt less homesick. I really fell in love with Sweden during the fall, each day felt so special. I started a food blog.

November: It got cold and dark. We experienced a lot of snow and started to re-learn the art of layering. We traveled to Stockholm for Thanksgiving and enjoyed the company of our friends. November was cozy.

December: We experienced crazy amounts of snow and I had my final exams. We decorated for Christmas and drove up to Stockholm to celebrate. G played Santa. It was my second Christmas in Sweden and I was very homesick and still am. We also got to sign a lease on our new, beach side apartment.

I feel like 2011 is going to be an amazingly good year for me, for us. 2010 was in all honesty pretty rough. I started to finally adjust to life in Sweden and as a glamourous as living in foreign country might sound, it's also pretty hard. I think that kind of hit me this year. I'm struggling with homesickness and just a general frustration about how I fit in in Sweden. But, I am an optimist and determined to make the best out of it. I know things will get better and I'm excited to see what's in store. 

I hope everyone has a great New Years Eve and is excited for what 2011 will bring.