never say never

So...it's taken me a few days again and I'm sorry... I am really happy I got to talk to all of y'all while you were all in Jacksonville! And I'm happy you got some trip stuff figured out. I can't believe it's so close now. This time next month you'll all be in Sweden, hard to believe:)

You might remember that for many, many months now I've been complaining of the cold. I have even been known at times to say that I thought it would never end. Well guess what? I sat outside in short sleeves for the first time since I moved here. Just so we're clear, that would be the first time in over 7 MONTHS of being in Sweden that I sat outside without a jacket. The bad news is that I was only able to sit like that for about 15 minutes before I got too cold and had to put the layers back on (you may notice there is a jacket and sweater in my lap in the pic). The very good news is that contrary to my earlier belief, winters here are not in fact eternal, AND it's warming up just in time for y'alls trip. Here's a few more from another day in the park...






Onto another thing I thought I would never say... I joined a gym. I've spent years observing people go to gyms with a mixture of curiosity and confusion, never quite sure why anyone would want to go to such a place. Anytime someone managed to drag me along it was normally the beginning of 3 days worth of pain that left me even more confused as to why people would choose to feel that way on a normal basis. Well, that all changed after one winter here. Suddenly there wasn't the option of going to take a run in the park that didn't involve me dying of hypothermia. Gyms started looking like the nice, warms places to get away from the outside, and I couldn't resist. So I'm now a proud new owner of a SATS membership card...and I get to go to all the Zumba classes I want to:)

Another good reason to join a gym is that my husband happens to be an amazing cook. He finds these recipes that are a little long and scary to me, but not at all intimidating to him. He's teaching me along the way, so I call myself his "sous chef". Here's some pics of the mustard chicken, potatoes gratin, and spinach from the other night. Pretty good, huh?




Yummmm....


Right now we're on the train to Malmö so I just took a picture of Bjorn reading. He doesn't know about this one, but I'm sure he'll find out.




There's a guy sitting across the isle from us from Texas, I think. He's studying in Italy now, so he's just visiting Sweden. When we got in I overheard him ask his buddy if Malmö and Lund are the same place. FYI: they're not. So maybe I'll warn him before they get off a few stops too soon.

We're going to Kivik for a few days after Malmö to check everything out so I'll be sure to put some pictures up afterwards. I think you'll like it:)

Hope you have a good Easter Whitty. Love you!
Allie