Showing off the west coast

Strömstad harbour

On the way to the koster islands

Picnic on the north island

Chris and Carrey

Old house on the south island

A rainy Smögen

Eileen and Carrey didn't seem to mind the rain

As long you have umbrellas..

Eating shrimp in Smögen is a must

All the way over the atlantic ocean

Eileen, me and mum

Carrey and dad

A very windy Strömstad

Chris parents Eileen and Carrey arrived Monday night after 38h of travelling all the way from Texas! This is Eileen's first time in Europe and it happened to be in Strömstad of all places. We are a bit sad the weather is not perfect but it seems like they enjoy getting away from the hot and humid weather back home. Chris has taken a week of work and is here to spend some time with hs parents.

Great visit from a good friend

My friend Jojo from Västerås visited me from monday to Saturday last week and even though i was working at least 3 of the 5 days she was here, we managed to do alot. We visited Lotta in Fjälbacka were it was super crowded with sailers from all over Sweden. Friday night was spend at Skagerack as Timbuktu (popular swedish rap artist) were playing. It was abit too crowded for me but a great concert. I just found out that i got in to my school in Norrköping which means i will only be living 1,5h away from Jojo. So hopefully we'll be able to hang out more next year.

Visit to Fjällbacka

Me and Jojo

Going out in Fjällbacka

A guy, Ida, Lotta and Me

Wednesday night out

Philip & Emma

Me, Philip an his friend Emma from Stockholm shared a bottle of wine and went to see the Sweet, a british popband from the 70's. The audiens were mostly around the age of 55 and we didn't know more then one hit but had fun anyway.
My friend Jojo is going to visit me next monday, I'm really looking forward to that espacially as i'm doing nothing but work the next couple of days.

Finally some rain

Favorite chocolate

Yepp that's right, it's FINALLY raining! After 14 days of constant sunshine and heat the fresh air was more then welcome. You learn at a very early age to catch the day, carpe diem, when it's nice weather because who knows if it's raining tomorrow. But catching the day, day efter day, get tiresome and you're feeling bad if you spend some hours indoors even though you're really tired and just want to eat chocolate and read... So after working 10h yesterday and then going out until 4am staying indoors while the rain was pooring down was exacly what i wanted to do to.
Glad to find some lemon & ginger chocolate in the cupboard, my new favorite! Having a good book didn't make my day less great. The girl with the dragon tattoo is written by the Swedish authur Stieg Larson and can be find abroad, have a look for it because it's really worth reading.

miss you..

Chris has now been away for almost 3 weeks. I think there is a certain line after 2 weeks when you really starting to miss eachother. In the beginning it's fun to do what you want, go where you want whenever you want but it only last (at least for me) during this first 2 weeks. It's 2 weeks left until he will get here in time for his parents visit.

Strömstad at it's best

Found a perfect place for jumping

Philip with Strömstad harbour in the background

Me, Philip and Marc was for once free the same day (me and Philip start work at 6pm) so we took the boat out together to enjoy Strömstad's beautiful coastline. The weather was perfect and we found a spot were we were all alone. I bathed the first time this year and it wasn't too bad (i did only stay for 2 seconds).

Free day in the sun

Dessert made out of berries from our garden

I have litterary done nothing the whole day except relaxing in our magnifique garden. I was in big need of some rest after last week's 70h of work (and some partying).
It's high pressure all over the country for the moment and the weather is really nice (if your not sweating your ass of at work). The strawberries have started to pop up in our garden due to the nice weather and i've probably intaken my weeky vitamin C dosage just during today.

I started reading a new book today called Montecore by Jonas Hassen Khemiri and it really got me hooked. The language is an amazing mixture between "immigrant Swedish" with very advanced Swedish words, English, French and some Arabic.

At least i got to be social in the end of the day when Moa (a friend from Strömstad/Skagerack) joined me for a glas of wine while the sun was setting.

A quick break

I haven't been able to write for a while and the reason is spelled WORK! A guy just quit which means that the rest of us has to cover his hours. I work about 75h this week. And this is in 28 degrees heat. For all of you who doesn't know how Swedish weather works; this is really good and if you're happened to be on the westcoast take your chance (because there isn't too many) to get out on the ocean sunbathing and swimming in the ocean. Too bad i work. Well i really like my co-workers which makes it alot easier to go to work on days like this. I "only" worked 8 hours yesterday and a couple of us took a ferry to an island right outside the Strömstad harbour. Good times. Now i have another 12h work ahead. Have a good day!

Frustration!

Thought i would change layout today. I downloaded a new one but realized quick that i didn't like it at all. So when i tried to go back to my "old one" alot of the old information was gone. Yey! Thank God my old posts were still there. So now i'll try to get it back to how it was before... or acctually i'll go to bed now, it's pretty late and i will work 14h tomorrow. I think i ate a whole bag of chewing gum while i was frustrated with this so my stomach isn't too happy right now...

Cutest hot dog ever! Couldn't help but put up this photo! Good night.

Cutie!

Midsummer celebration

Midsummer "pole"

Typical midsummer flowers

Strawberry cake

herring pie

Midsummer smargasbord

It's midsummer's eve today, one of the biggest swedish celebrations. It's supposed to be the longest day of the year; the day with the most sunny hours. We normally celebrate it by dressing up in nice clothes and the girls make a garland of flowers to put in their hair. We also dress up a kross with to rings in leaves and flowers and dance around it. We eat herring, egg, radish, strawberry and drink snaps. This might be the biggest party day for young people (and old) of the year. So when the evening comes it's big party all around. Strömstad is one of the towns in Sweden where you go to celebrate and party.

It is nornally very imprtant to get good weather on this day and unfortunately it seems like it will rain this year. I will work from 6pm so i don't mind but for all of those who planed a vacation on the westcoast with picknick and dance, it's a shame.

(the pictures are from last year)

Long time no see..

In the Strömstad harbour

Spending time in our "always-sunny" garden

Had a great visit from my old friend Sanna for a couple of days. I think we haven't seen eachother for 2 years so we had a lot of catching up to do. We first met at a track and field camp about 9 years ago and kept in contact ever since. Sanna now lives in Gothenburgh with her boyfrind but is home staying with her parents in Uddevalla during the summer. It's about 1,5h drive from here so i'm sure i can manage to visit her at some point this summer (my work schedule is brutal though...).
Anyway she is a great person and a good friend and it was a pleasure having her here!

Kick-off!

At the Koster islands

Grilling hotdogs and playing games

At the spa-hotel to eat and relax

and then drinking champagne..

We had Kick-off for all the staff at Skagerack yesterday. We took the ferry to the koster islands outside Strömstad and spend the whole day in the sun playing games, grilling hotdogs and drinking. Then the ferry picked us up and took us to the spa-hotel were we relaxed in the many pools and hot tubs before having a nice dinner together. We ended the night at a night club for some more drinking...
After all a great day, but i'm pretty tired today.

Visiting Lidköping and Örebro

Läckö castle, Lidköping

Me, Chris and my parents took a little roadtrip to Örebro this weekend to celebrate my cousin's baby daughter at her "name-giving-party". This was acctually just the beginning of Chris 1120 km drive up north to Storuman the folowing day. Anyway it was a way to break up the drive for him and a chance for us to meet up with relatives we don't see so often. We made a stop in Lidköping on the way there to see one of the most beautiful castles in Sweden, Läckö, and to get some nation wide famous pastries.
Chris left this morning and i wont see him until his parents get here in about 5 weeks. This is the longest time we've been parted for 2 years.