Moving and Moved

We did it! We moved. And for a couple with not much stuff, we have a ton of stuff. Where did all of it come from?
It's been a crazy, hectic three days with very little down-time except for dinner and the moments right before bed. We sleep so well here.
Today we cleaned our old place. It took seven hours. It's not like we're dirty people but it's all these little things that need to be cleaned and cleaned super well. But it's fresh and ready for some other person to move into.
I promise I'll post pictures but for right now I'm just going to enjoy resting before another crazy day tomorrow. There's still so much to do at the new place.

Moving Week and Name Days

Today is my name day. Which is almost one month away from my birthday. I'm not sure what you do on name days here, but maybe we'll eat a semla later and call it a celebration.
And, It's moving week!!! YAY.

Maybe we're getting the keys on Wednesday and if so we'll start moving on Thursday. Maybe we won't get the keys until Friday and we're prepared for that too. We've rented a trailer for both days super cheap so we're ready either way. The living room is pure chaos with boxes and bags and (new!) suitcases everywhere but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

We're back in Malmö now after the best weekend ever. It felt so wrong to leave such a peaceful place but I'm so excited about this coming week and the possibility that soon we'll have our own peaceful place.

Winter Walk

I can't explain just how much we needed this weekend. Even though I'm home almost everyday, there is something so peaceful and relaxing about escaping to a change of scenery. It feels good.
Today we went for a short walk around the village. It was a perfect day for a walk- the sun was out!!!

In less than one week we'll be moving! I'm so excited!

Escape to the Country

We're up at my in-laws for the weekend. They're off sunning themselves in Thailand so we've decided to escape to the country. It's super foggy outside. And frozen. Everything has a thick layer of frost.

When we arrived last night the house was so cold. We've had a fire going almost 24/7 and have bundled up with blankets and thick socks (such a winter luxury!) Thankfully it's starting to warm up inside, even so, my favorite spot in the house is still right in front of the fireplace.

Pre-Move

This is our living room. It's been more or less like this for the past two weeks and it's getting worse.  But thankfully there's a light at the end of the tunnel and everything is slowly coming together. I think the hardest part about moving is the balance between needing to live in your current place vs packing up your whole life. 

The first packing week was spent packing up the items we know we won't need to live: the record player, the LPS, decorative glassware, etc. We packed up all but two of our coffee mugs, same for wine glasses, drinking glasses, etc. And it took time to wrap everything individually in newspaper so I'm glad its all out of the way. There's a few more breakable items that still need to be packed but those can wait. 

We also went through all our stuff and put everything we wanted to either donate or sell in a HUGE pile. 

The second packing week has been spent properly labeling every box, boxing up items that we can do without for a week (baking supplies, clothes, extra towels, etc). 

And next week will be everything else. Thankfully everything else is just a few pots and pans, food, our bathroom items, and the rest of our clothes. That's easy. 

For the labels I wrote where each items was supposed to go, what was in each box, and if it was heavy or fragile. Hopefully this will help us on moving day.

There's a small corner with all of our "to donate" items. There's one box of stuff we'd like to sell. We'll be borrowing a car next week so hopefully we can get rid of this pile ASAP.

There's a small chance we might be getting the keys to the new place next Wednesday instead of next Friday which would be awesome. The only problem is that G has to work and I don't know how to drive here. But it'll still be nice to have the keys. I can move over a few items via bus and start setting us up.

With our last place we had a month to move, meaning we paid double rent for our old place and our current place. But it gave us the time to fix up the new place (it really needed it) and slowly move everything over. For next week's move we have like five days between when we can move to our new place and when the new tenant is moving into our old place. The move needs to be as organized as possible. So that means it's time to pack a few more boxes.

Yesterday

Yesterday I:
- Got my hair trimmed and spoke a well-balanced mix of Swedish and English with my hairdresser (who speaks only Swedish but understands English).
- Discovered that thieves broke into our storage AGAIN (fourth time) and stole our luggage. Thankfully we have insurance. Can't. Wait. To. Move. From. Here.
- Discovered a syringe in our cellar. G told me it wasn't bad syringe but still, not the best thing to find in your storage unit. Right? I was creeped out.
- Went out for dinner with my husband but then decided to go to a  pub instead. We had tall, cold glasses of beer and freshly fried french fries with bearnaise sauce.
- Bought one really expensive bar of pink pepper dark chocolate. We ate it all. It was awesome.

Sunday Walk: New Neighborhood

We took a long walk around what will be our new neighborhood today. Unfortunately, the batteries on our camera were dead so I can't really share my excitement with you via photos. But you guys, it's going to be great. The new place is seriously right by the beach and once the snow/ice clears it'll take like five minutes to get there. It seemed like such a peaceful, calm area which is just going to be lovely. There are jogging trails and bike trails by the beach and what looked like a restaurant too. If we walk west along the beach for about 20 minutes we'll hit the popular Västra Hamnen* which is really upscale and a bit too pricey, but still... it's exciting. Also, we have a recycling center near us. Maybe it's weird to be excited about that but I think it's neat.
Like the food nerds we are we explored the two groceries near our new place. The first is my favorite grocery store: ICA. It's as close to a Central Market as Malmö is going to to get. Our new ICA is HUGE. I think it used to be three different stores and now is just one big, maze-like grocery store. We also have a COOP near us and it's surprisingly nice for a COOP.
Moving day is just 12 days away. We might be able to move in a bit sooner which would be ideal but either way, it's good. We've already packed up a lot of stuff so it should be a smooth move.
I'm realizing that this is probably boring to read but I'm excited.

*That's the Google translated wikipedia article. It's not very well translated. But the photos are nice.

Apartment Inspiration Photos

With the move just a few weeks away I've been trying to find inspiration for decorating. Honestly, I have no idea what to do. Our bedroom and living room are one big room and while I know we'll figure it out, I'm completely stumped when it comes to coherent ideas. The plan now is to just move everything over and go from there.
I keep an "inspiration" folder on my desktop and thought I'd share some of the photos that are inspiring to me.  They're much nicer to look at than the pile of clutter that's growing in our current living room.

I love the colors in the first picture. Hopefully we'll do similar colors in our entry way. Photo: sfgirlbybay

Lovely rug and bright colors. Photo: Apartment Therapy.

I love everything here but I'd prefer a plain steel Tolix chair over the red one. Photo: Husligheter.

The simplicity and nauticalness of the bedroom is perfect 

for a beach apartment like ours. Photo: Kitka

birthday list

My 24th birthday is coming up soon (and by soon I mean in over a month and I accidentally almost wrote "34" which is terrifying!). I've been thinking about it a lot because I've started to kind of dread/hate my birthday.
But I made a birthday list recently and here it is:
- one long black maxi dress
- a case of Burt's Bees chap stick (plain)
- one diamond earring to go with the other one
- a larger print (almost poster size) of the photo below which is of my parents back when they were young'uns

That's a pretty good birthday list right?

Vacation Plans!

One of my favorite tv shows is Friday Night Lights. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it so much if I didn't live abroad. But since I'm terribly homesick, I cling to this show like nothing else. I love everything about it. The scenery, the music, the football, the accents. It reminds me of home.

We watched all four seasons last year obsessively and now we've started on Season 5. We watched eight episodes yesterday.

From watching Friday Night Lights I also started listening to Explosions in the Sky and that is one amazing band. 

Last night, after our tv watching marathon I looked up the tour dates for Explosions in the Sky and found out that they were doing a European Tour this spring! Unfortunately they're not coming to Sweden or Denmark but they will be playing in Berlin. G and I have never taken advantage of living in Europe by taking small trips to other countries, mainly because of limited student funds. But things are changing here and it's well time to take advantage.

So we bought tickets to the show! It's not until May so we have awhile to figure out how we're getting there and where we're going to stay. But oh wow! I'm so, so excited! I've never been to Berlin and I can't wait to see Explosions in the Sky play.

Sunset (Explosions In The Sky - Your Hand In Mine) from Derek Flagge on Vimeo.

Entry Way Idea #1

Yesterday we started packing a bit. We have about 2.5 weeks until the move so it's time to get started. But not too much since we still have to live in our current place. So yesterday we packed up the records, the record player, a lot of books, and small breakable items. I also went through a few of our kitchen cabinets and wrapped our glassware, etc. So progress but thankfully we still have a ton of time.

I can't wait to see our new apartment again. My mind is blanking when it comes to decorating and I wish I had snapped a few photos when we were at the viewing. Oh and I found out that our current apartment is actually 63 meters squared (678 square feet) so we'll actually be gaining 2 extra meters with the new place. This whole time we thought it was 68, oops.

If I remember correctly, the whole new apartment is painted white except for the entryway and the bathroom. The bathroom has a dark greenish tile which we can do nothing about. It's not terrible, it's just how it is. But the entryway is a gross terra cotta color. Our new landlord said we could paint so that's definitely on the New Apartment To Do list. It's just what color?

The obvious answer is white but I've been thinking a lot and I realized the entryway is really the only area that could take a different color of paint. And while my usual decorating style is white walls with furniture in tans, greys, and blacks; I thought it might be fun to do something a bit different for the entry way.

I love the colors in Gemma Ahren's apartment (photos from Design*Sponge). Especially the above picture with the charcoal greys, the hot pink, and the warm wood colors. I've always been way too scared to paint a room in a dark color here in Sweden since most of the months are grey and dark. But an entryway, well that could be dark....?
I'm thinking a wall color similar to the one above. We have a large teak framed mirror which would look awesome against dark paint. And maybe a dresser or a shelf below it for extra storage, keys, etc (honestly, I can't remember what all the hallway already has in it). And then I've been thinking about spray painting our shoe rack hot pink.
I'm not one for bright color but I think a hot pink shoe rack would be an unexpected and cheerful twist in my dramatic, imaginary hallway.

It's really hard to plan when I can't remember anything except for the ugly terra cotta walls. But it might just work.

reinvention: me and a coffee table

My to-do list today looked something like this:
-shower
-pick up bedroom
-vacuum all rooms
-pick up/organize living room
-make dinner
-wear clothes
-thank you notes
-edit essay
-write essay
-study
-pack

I thought it would be good for moral if I included some mundane items on the list (shower, wear clothes) so I would definitely have something to cross off. And it was!
Also, just so you know, what I mean by "wear clothes" is "don't wear pajamas all day" which is something I'm guilty of almost everyday. So double points there.

To put it lightly, I've been in a bit of a slump for awhile now and last night I had a big, big sob about everything. I don't know what it is about crying your eyes out but I always feel better afterwards. I mean, not immediately. But this morning I woke up still a bit down and just as time went on I started to feel more refreshed and I don't know, but "new" I guess. Does that make sense?
I remember when my dad died, my neighbor, who had just lost her husband a few months earlier, sent me a sweet card that said "tears of grief cleanse the face." And it's true. After all that sobbing it just feels like a big weight has been lifted.
So yeah, things feel better. I've done a lot on my To Do list which is inspiring and I have a big weekend ahead of me of studying and packing.

In the theme of reinvention and newness, I thought it would be a good time to post our "new" coffee table.  I wrote in this post about why I love/hate our old coffee table and in another post you can see a photo of it. It just never felt guest friendly and was a bit too high.
G is almost done with school and has recently finished his last big paper so there was no need for our old desk.

The above desk is an IKEA hack. We bought a different desk (from blocket.se) with a light wood table top and then bought the dark wood table top and switched the two. It gave us a wider and more modern desk than the original one.
But since now we no longer needed a desk we sold the original desk and kept the dark table top. During our last trip to Stockholm we had bought some short hairpin legs so in less than 30 minutes we created...

our new coffee table!!!
It's nothing fancy which is perfect. We didn't want anything we'd have to clean from smudges (glass) or would be damaged easily (teak). It's big, stylish, and the perfect height. I love that we used what we already had to recreate something completely different.

I think that last sentence there is a keeper, as in, it's something I need to remember for myself. It's never to late to change who you are or what you want to do and it usually works out for the better. At least this table did.

So far in 2011

It's Tuesday in the beginning of January 2011. Doesn't it feel slightly futuristic to write "2011?" I feel kind of like I should be half cyborg by now.

I haven't really done much these past few days. What I need to do is study. I have two big tests next week that I have to pass. But I'm not really motivated or in the mood to study. Which is going to be a problem.

But I'm not completely wasting my time. I have a few "secret" projects I'm starting to work on. Secret as in: I don't want to jinx it so I'm not telling you yet.
I'm also reading a book in my spare time (literary points!)
And we're also moving in less than a month so there's a lot of packing to do. Moving within Sweden has always been really easy for me since I got rid of most of my stuff back when I made the big move from Texas to Sweden. A lot of my big furniture is in storage back in Texas so basically I have 2-4 suitcases of stuff here that needs to be moved (I said 2-4 because winter shoes, coats, and sweaters take up a lot of room). Plus the stuff we've accumulated together but that's your basic furniture: couch, table, bed, etc.
I like moving. I like purging the old and making way for the new. It's cleansing and allows for more creativity.

So not a lot is going on. My neighbors are blaring music with a deep, thumping bass and I'm about the eat the last Ballerina cookie.

Later this week I'll show you our "new" coffee table. I know, you're crazy with anticipation

Happy New Year

Happy 2011 everyone! I hope you guys had a good New Years Eve and a lazy New Years day. It's well into the evening here in Sweden; we spent the day eating our black eyed peas, hanging out with friends, and making Bloody Marys (but with tequila which I read is called a Bloody Mariachi).  We've slept in, watched a few movies, and have plans to laze out even more.
New Years Eve was also pretty chill. Just us and some friends, a good dinner, and local fireworks. My kind of evening.
I try to not post many pictures of my self on this blog but I reeeaaaalllly liked my New Years Eve outfit. It was comfortable times ten but a bit glammy.
The dress is my first ever maxi dress I bought on sale at H&M ($11!) and it's like wearing a long t-shirt. The jacket is a gift from my mom, I think it's from Target? The fur hat is a gift from my mother-in-law. And I was wearing leggings underneath the dress since it's freezing cold here and we trekked through calf-deep snow to get to our party last night. Basically pajamas but fancy because of some fur, pink lipstick, and pearls.
I plan on buying like 20 more maxi dresses and living in them this year. That is my New Years Resolution.

I'm kidding. Kind of. I do have two big resolutions:
1. I want to pursue a path that makes me happy. I'm starting to figure out it might be a different path than what I thought it was going to be but it'll be a good path nonetheless.
2. And save money.

Good resolutions right?