Going Old School - France 2007

Remember when...



We went to France?

Really though, the title should be "Remember when we went to Paris and Nice and a few other small places in France?" It's not like we actually experienced all of France, but we did get about 14 days of touristy France.

At the end of May 2007, Erin and I travelled to Paris, France. We spent most of the first week in Paris (sunday afternoon through friday evening).

Travel Potential

I hereby make a solemn vow to limit my shopping and buying of useless items. I have other, bigger goals in mind.

Thailand

Tanzania

Looks good, right?

This spring my cousin L is interning at a Danish company in Thailand. In the fall, boy will be travelling to Tanzania for six months for an internship at an organization that works with homeless children in Tanzania.

Project "make it to Thailand" and "travel to Tanzania" is now underway and accepting donations!

Remember the Thesaurus!

A while back I posted an overly nostalgic picture-blog titled "Going way old school - Nostalgia 2005" with the tag "remember when?"

So I'm going to go back through some of my visits, travels, and aother memories, to make some "remember when" posts. Some of it just for the sake of me making a written note of some of the memories, even though it is already a few years too late. Also, maybe it will be fun for some friends/family to hear more of the random details I remember from different events.

Just a warning, so that you know what to expect! Look for a very detailed picture post coming in the next few days of a trip I took a few years back. Hint: "no photo mademoiselle."

let's go Dancing

Why don't people have Balls anymore? I have this romantic fantasy about how in the "olden days," people wents to Balls all the time. We still have the occasional prom, homecoming, or gala, but if you are just a normal person with a normal job, there really just aren't that many occasions for big ballgowns, tuxedos, bow ties, fancy jewelry, dance cards, good love stories....

It wasn't even that long ago that people went out 'dancing' for entertainment on the weekends. Not dancing like we do at the clubs these days, but real live dancing, like two people doing a waltz or a jive.

My grandparents even hooked up (I mean "met") when they were out dancing.

They both worked for Danfoss, and just as it is today, it was customary to take potential customers out to Dinner or otherwise entertain them. My grandma worked with bookkeeping, and at some point she made a fuss out of not getting invited to take the customers out. Why did only the men get to take the customers out entertaining? The next time the division took customers out, she was invited as well. They went to dinner and then they went out Dancing. there were places specifically made for going dancing.

She already knew of my grandfather. They both came from the same small town, and in the early 50's Danfoss was still a smaller company. He asked her to dance, and the rest is history. Well, first he asked the bosses wife to dance, just to make sure he was polite, and also to make grandma know that he wasn't desperate. That was over 56 years ago. This past spring they celebrated their 55th anniversary. Now that's a good love story.


Anyway, If I were to go to a Ball, I would want to wear something like this:

I don't remember where I foudn this picture. If it's yours, I'm sorry.
Let me know and I will add a photo credit

'tis the season

Yesterday I finally, really, truly, caught the christmas spirit bug. Also, christmas shopping '10 commenced. I got gifts for my mom, for Erin, and for my aunt. And nothing for myself. That's quite an accomplishment!

I wish I could post some of stuff I bought on here, but since at least two of the gift-recievers are also readers (2 of my appr. 5 readers), I found something else to post


Christmas time is also the season for christmas decorations! These cute little lights from Trip Trap are adorable. If they go on sale after christmas I may have to buy them.

Trip Trap from Inspiration

Also, I found a set of glass Angels that are being added to my "want to buy/wishlist."

Glass Angels

Another dream that I would like to own one day is a Stelton Tea/Coffee "jug" or pot.

Stelton termokande

/superficial post of the day

Pet Peeves (round 1) - Cutting in line

You know what's really, really annoying? People who don't understand the concept of standing on line.

Let me set the scene.
I'm standing at my local grocery store (Netto). They are notorious for never having enough cash registers open, but since they have cheap food, I deal. It's monday, which is the day their sales start. They always have new items (of the category "crap-you-can't-live-without-(except-not)") and specific food sales that start every monday. The brochure comes out during the weekend, and alot of times if you want to make it in time to buy some of the really good sales, you have to go on mondays. Also, it was about 4:30 PM, right around prime time for the start the after-work shopping rush.

So I'm standing in line (only one line open, out of three possible), and the line is long enough that it has started going down the nearest aisle. Her's the catch. The cash register is placed right at the intersection of two aisles- I'm in the one where a line has formed, and there are several people behind me. As I make it up to the "intersection" or "t-cross" (whatever you want to call it), this little old lady decides to get in line right next to me. Not only is she trying to cut in front of all the people behind me (granted she can't really see them, but she could check...) she also is trying to cut in front of me, clearly standing in line. Being the friendly person that I try to be, but also a hater of line-cutters, I try to tell her that there is actually a line forming behind me.

Her response: "old lady stare of death."

She then moves out of the line and over to the empty cash register. There, she yells at the girl at the open cash register to open another register since she believes there are too many people in line (I guess she was right about the last point). The girl calls someone to open the register and the old lady starts putting her things up, meanwhile sending daggers of death stares of her own at the angry old woman.

So now, she just cut in front og all the ten(ish) people patiently waiting in line for the open cash register! And, she was rude and angry for no reason!

Ugh. In my world, when another cash register opens,  especially in Denmark where they are all very open, you let the people who have already been standing in line have the right of way to the new register. At the same moment that register opened, two people behind me (from the end of the line) immediately ran up to get ahead in line. I blatantly pushed myself in front of them, letting the lady in front of me have the first right of way to the line.

On a some-what unrelated note: I'm starting to get really annoyed at the little old people who go shopping during rush hour and then complain about long lines, crowds, or too few open registers. This old lady was clearly old enough to be retired, couldn't she have gone  to the grocery store earlier in the day, when they are empty? I know it's not always the case that retired people have nothing to do, but I feel it is a common occurence that old people get angry at the grocery store, while the rest of us stand patiently in line - it just takes the time it takes!


The funniest part = the angry little old lady who cut in line? Her purchase: 20 bananas.


/ end rant

heh.

this is just funny <-- yes that's a safe link.

life style expert?

One of my favorite programs on Danish television is "Do you know the type?" (kender du typen?). In this show, two lifestyle experts get to investigate the home of a famous Danish person. (I really should say "famous," because there is a limited amount, and sometimes they include obscure reality stars, local politicians, etc.) Then, based on that home and different items in the home, they have to guess who lives there. Usually, at the end, they are given three choices to choose from, because realistically, who is ever going to know what random famous person lives in this random house? During the program, they are also asked questions like

Host: Ok, before we look inside the fridge, this is your first challenge. Do you think our person is someone who A) shops organic and fair trade, B)buys discount, or C) Doesn't cook and has a mostly empty fridge?
Life Style Expert (LSE): hmmm well, based on what we just saw over there by the stove, with all the different little pots with herbs and spices, and the handmade olive oil dispensers and the high quality balsamic vinegar, I think this is a person who thinks alot about the food they make and the quality of that food. So I am going to say, this person is A) someone who shops organic and fair trade. People don't put that amount of effort into their kitchen and their condiments if they don't go all the way.. (blabla bla bla blabla) so yes, A is my final answer
Host: oh no! You were wrong. This person actually shops discount. Answer B
LSE: oh, well that would have been my second choice, you know, because often people who actually do care about their food also know where to buy locally and discounted, and they know how to go for good sales. This leads me to believe that this person is probably on the younger side, still not used to having ... (blabla bla blablabla)
Host: ok.....moving on...


Now my questions is

What is a lifestyle expert? And what do they do?

(cue Aaaahnold voiceover "Who is your daddy, and what does he do?" -"my mommy says my daddy is a sex machine...")

And, how do I become one? I think I would be a great lifestyle expert!

wintery wonderland

bbrrrrr It's cold outside! I'm all cuddled up on the couch with blankets and layers, listening to the wind outside. There is snow on the ground and we are expecting a storm tonight/tomorrow. If this is a sign that this winter will be worse than last year then - well I'm not sure what I'll do. It's already so dark and gloomy....

On the bright side, we went for a walk in the snow this weekend, and I actually took some photos with my cell phone.

Cute Coca-Cola commercial!

heh.

The news from yesterday.

"Singapore has rebuked its national water polo team for wearing swim trunks that feature an "inappropriate" likeness of the city-state's flag.

The trunks, which were designed by members of the men's team currently competing in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, show the flag's white crescent moon jutting up from the groin area with five stars to the side on a red background."

USA Today article

"The skimpy trunks sported by Singapore's men's water polo team at the Asian Games are causing red faces back home in the conservative city-state, with many embarrassed by their design."

Reuters

munchkin

This post is dedicated to my little sister.

Sofie is pretty cool, as far as little sisters go. She is 15, going on 16. Man, I'm a little bit jealous. (I wish I was 16 again!) And a little horrified that I am jealous.

Sofie is a dedicated reader of this blog. She is upset and jealous that I have yet to mention her. This is of course not on purpose and it is a horrible mistake.

Sofie likes horses and riding and she likes to read. We like to jam out and sing really loud in the car. We like to watch Harry Potter movies, talk about the books, and go shopping. We share a love for tasty mall chinese food. Sofie thinks I am wierd and gets embarrassed because sometimes I do dumb/crazy things, like bust out dance moves while driving (whoops). She is also super smart, and way better at science than I ever was. She also likes art and doing computer graphicy-stuff. If I ever get married, she is going to be a co-maid-of-honor in my wedding. She claims to not like the color pink, but really I think she just likes to take some distance to the teenage girl stereotype of  wearing pink, being blonde, acting ditzy, etc. I can respect that. Instead, her favorite color is blue, like me! I don't really think we look that much alike, but alot of people say we do. She is really lucky to be almost as good-looking as me. If anyone ever hurts her, I will do bad things to them. Don't laugh, you know I could totally take you.

I like to call her munchkin and she likes to pretend she doesn't like it when I call her munchkin. Sometimes in Danish I call her "stump/stumpen/stumpie." I'm not sure she likes that either. I hope one day she comes to visit me in Denmark so we cna do fun Denmark things together. I miss her terribly when we're apart but we can also drive each other insanely nuts when we're together. I think that may be one of the few normal sibling things we have going for us.

Sofie, you maye be upset that I never mention you.... but what's up with never commenting, anyway, huh?

Personality Test

I took a job/personality test (jobindex.dk)and my personality type is:
INFJ
"The Protector" or "the mystic"

I don't always believe in tests like this, but I always find it fun to see what results they get from the answers. This one is pretty complex.

The site suggests that I should work within:

• Education
• Languages
• Art
• Politics/ministiries
• Architecture
• Medicine
• Psychology
• Marketing

I must say, it is pretty accurate. But really, also very broad. I would say that medicine is very, very different from languages and marketing. And even medicine can be very broad within itself. I can see how psychology, marketing, languages, and art are related. Even to a certain degree I can see it mized with politics and languages. The only odd things are medicine and architecture.

Honestly, I read the site and felt like it knew exactly who I was. A little creepy actually.
http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html

I included a few quotes that I thought were fun and interesting:
"Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types....
INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them.... "


Interesting fun fact:
Other people with the same personality test result include Mahatma Ghandi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Adam Sandler, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey

Linking

A friend of mine linked to this site, which has an article about making good powerpoint presentations.

10 tips for designing presentations that don't suck (part 1) and (part 2)

If you are in the business of making powerpoints (and really, aren't we all?) it is definately worth checking out. I am currently exploring the rest of the site as well, since I'd like to get more skilled in the technical/design aspects of communication. I'm finding more and more that it could be very useful. Even though I of course am hoping to work more within strategic communication, I think it is always very useful to have some practical skills as well.We all have to start somewhere, right? I think taking a course in photoshop/Indesign may be in may somewhat near future

Read on to see my little experiment with what I learned.....

Cool Stuff Campaign

A Danish company is currently running a campaign that I think is pretty much genious. A little annoying, but genious.

Background Story:

This website/company sells cool gadgets and fun stuff, basically random sh*t. (Literallly, their name is coolstuff.dk. It sells all sorts of cool stuff, you should go check it out.) As part of entering the christmas season, they are offering bloggers free gift cards to their shop in return for favorable mention on the various blogs. Depending on the popularity and the traffic on the blog, bloggers (ordinary people like me - or you) get a 100dkk or 200dkk gift card, free of charge*
Now, I don't have enough readers to be able to become a blog-tester, but I am seeing blogs pop up all over the place that have been accepted as blog-testers.They are proudly showing off their purchases, and some even bought a few more gifts online in order to make it worth the shipping fee. PLUS! *Right now, if you spend more than 250 dkk, you get free shipping! (unfortunately, it can't be combined with giftcards, so you would have to buy an extra 250dkk worth of random junk)


Here's why it's genious:

It's the same concept as when regular stores have big sales, or Victorias Secret mails out those "10$ off your next purchase of 10$ or more" -- getting the customer into store is the first step. Once you're in the store, you are likely to buy more than just 10$, or more than just the one item on sale.

I'll admit it, it often works on me. I am a total sucker for sales and advertising/marketing tricks and I'm barely even ashamed to admit it. I go into Victorias Secret, trying to find someting to buy that only costs 10$ (nearly impossible) and come out with some new random purchases.

Honestly. I went to the website to see if I was eligible to be a tester (I'm not), and then got curious about what exactly this company was all about. I started looking around, and actually found myself putting things into a shopping cart. I still might buy something from the site,.... like this MAGNET TAPE!!!! OMJ

all images in this post are courtesy of coolstuff.dk

So, coolstuff.dk, I just gave you free advertising to all of my 5 readers in the US (Hi Mom and Dad!). I also may purchase something from your store in the near future. I've always wanted a snuggie. And a fake plastic cup.

I accept checks and all major credit cards.
Just kidding.
Just Cash.


*Don't even get me started on the whole selling your soul (or your blog) for free gifts, which is just a bit icky, kind of, but.... Don't judge, I'm a poor student. I'd do it. I mean, they aren't even paying me and I just plastered my blog with their stuff.


P.S.This is pretty cool too:

It's a scratch off map! So you can scratch all the places you've been!
Just like the lottery, but much, much more satisfying!

on life

Another week gone by, another week closer to the end of the internship, christmas, and moving back to Odense.

It's not that I am excited about ending my internship, because I would love to be able to stay and work longer and get to continue working on some projects (or start new ones). I am also finally getting used to the schedule of getting up early (not that it is easy, mind you, but it is nice to start your day off early). The only downside is that I am getting sick of the whole long-distance relationship - and-friendships. Travelling so much and being a littlebit lonely down south is starting to get to me. Fortunately (and unfortunately), there is now elss than a month left.

My Nanowrimo project is chugging along slowly. I fell a bit behind this past weekend but hopefully I will be caught up by November 30. Winners get a free editing-print copy of their novels so I would like to get one once I finish the story. I really like the story and the characters but I am still unsure of where exactly it is going. I will probably need more than 50,000 words to complete everything.

Lastly,
 we got some really good, excellent news these days. Boy got accepted/cleared for his internship in Tanzania next fall. Good news for him, bad new for me - except for the fact that i can go visit him. Africa, here I come!

There's also another small thing that might be good news (can hopefully be announced next week) so cross fingers for me!

Mission accomplished

This weekend I successfully did nothing, and it was glorious.

Friday after work, boy came to town around the same time I made it home from work. We went shopping for some last minute food-related- emergencies items (apparently we can not live without ice cream, beer, rice, cheese, and coffee. I find that list very amusing)

For dinner we had the classic "Kong Feddes livret" (King Fredericks favorite dish). Boy had never had this before (you're welcome, by the way). We watched dancing with the stars (my first time) and I introduced boy to Dane Cook (again, you're welcome). Also, we ate ice cream.

Saturday we slept in. Well - I slept in all the way until 8:30! I'm not sure I was entirely popular when I got up and started making coffee and breakfast at that ungodly hour on a saturday morning. After a few hours of breakfast, we made our way outside to take a walk.

I forgot my camera, but it was an absolutely beautiful day to take a walk by the water. The sun was shining and there was just the perfect amount of wind, and it was suprisingly warm.



I did not take these pictures. courtesy skovognatur.dk




I did not take these pictures. courtesy visitsonderborg.dk

Basically, you get the tone and the mood for the weekend: do as little as possible, lots of "hygge", homemade cookind, watching movies, etc. Saturday night we bought Ravens tickets! and Watched Wedding Crashers!

Wore this wonderful little dress to work the other day with skinny jeans, high heals, and a black top underneath (it is surprisingly seethrough)



h&m dress - 69kr

From now on though, shopping (with the exception of christmas shopping) really needs to be postponed untill christmas time when I am back in the States.

har-dee-har-har - - Funny

Did you hear the one about the Blonde who called the travel agency and asked,

"I want to know how long it takes to fly from here to Baltimore,"

and the receptionist says, "Just a moment,"

and the Blonde says, "Thanks alot, goodbye"?

I found this little Gem on facebook, where several friends had linked to it, and wanted to share.


Ona a different, only slightly related, note:
It seems there is alot of hatred against Obama for various reasons, including some pretty funny accusations that he is not an American citizen, he is actually muslim, he is actually a communist/socialist, he is actually an Arab terrorist. I mean... really?

If you are going to criticize, criticize something real - and not crazy assumptions about religious beliefs, family background etc. If you don't like him for some reason, that's fine, just don't list "He is only pretending to be a Christian, he is actually a muslim. His dad was an Arab muslim terrorist!" as your main reason.

Also, - don't criticize him on the background of "but the economy is not back up yet." It took time to get where the economy is now, it will take time to get it back.

For the record, I am not saying I am totally for Obama. I also believe that criticism of the government is healthy and keeps democracy alive. Just use real criticism, and not biased rumours.


Also, if you chose not to vote, you also lose the right to complain.


// end rant.

on NaNoWriMo

I am participating in NaNoWriMo (or at least giving it a decenet shot).

Yes, I should probably be working on my internship report, or sleeping, or cleaning, or doing laundry.

But what fun is that when there is a novel to be written?
When different characters are suddenly invading your mind, begging you to bring them to life on a piece of paper (or in my case, on a crisp, clean sheet of MS Word)?

So my blogging may be thin for a little while now again, for however long I can stick out with this challenge.

On vacation at home

Wait, what?

It’s a very odd feeling to at the same time not have a home but call several places home. At times I feel rather rootless, because I’ve never lived or stayed in the same place for a longer significant period of time.

Sønderborg is home to me in many ways because it is the only place that I’ve lived in the same house, permanently, for 7 years (actually, the only place for more than 3 /or4 years). This is where my parents are from, where my grandparents and aunts and uncles live, where I went to school, where we went on vacation when we returned to Denmark for visits.

The other home is Bel Air, which, depending on how you count, is the place that I’ve lived most years cumulative - 3 years in the nineties, and then 2002-(2009). Even so, after 2005, Bel Air was really only my temporary break and weekend home, with College Park being the other home.

Now, I have an address in Odense in Denmark, which technically is home. Yet, when summer vacation rolls around and I head to Bel Air, I say that I am “going home for the summer.” I also have an apartment in southern Denmark for during the work-week. This is also home - but in a different way.

A few weeks I caught myself talking about the first time I took the boy “home” – and I was actually talking about the first time I took him to Sønderborg to meet my grandparents and my aunt and uncle.

I am still very excited to truly bring the boy home at Christmas time. This time I am talking about the Bel Air home and my parents home.

Home is where the heart is - sometimes love multiplies.

Cinnamon theme!

In Denmark, there are a alot of fun traditions for birthdays and anniversaries that are quite different from in the US.

There is a long tradition for calling the 30^th birthday of an unmarried person the “pepper birthday” or “pepper bachelor/oldmaid.” You do all kinds of things with pepper and also give them pepper as a gift.

A newer tradition is that of calling the 25^th birthday the cinnamon birthday. This is a much newer tradition, probably thought up by young Danes who just wanted to have some extra fun and an extra excuse for a big party.

Boy recently turned 25 (aka old). So of course, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass to 'give him cinnamon' - Christine Style!

Cinnamon is really messy and stinky though, so I don’t really like the idea of throwing cinnamon around and making a mess with it. This is actually what alot of people do - they throw it around, put it in stuff that explodes - lots of grossness. Also, since I am younger, I don’t want to get the cinnamon back 10 times worse than I gave it.

So instead, I decided to bake and make foods with cinnamon. Lucky you, I'm sharing my recipes and pictures....

Homemade 'mater Soup

Dinner tonight

The theme of the meal was “emptying our fridge before weekend trip”. So, what to do with a bunch of tomatoes and some leftover milk?

• 5 overripe tomatoes
• One small onion
• One carrot
• Tomato paste (small can)
• Chicken stock-cube
• Water
• Milk
• Salt, pepper

Dice onion and carrot, simmer with olive oil. Add tomato paste and tomatoes. Add water and chicken stock with some milk. Season to taste.

Technically you are supposed to blend the soup, but if you don’t have a blender (like me), you can cheat by running the soup through a colander to get al the chunks out of the soup. Although – and this is is probably forbidden in “real cooking world” – I kind of like the chunks in the soup.

Excuse the bad photo - taken with cameraphone - with wierd colors apparently.
Tastes much better than it looks!

 

I’m not good with measurements, as I just added water and milk to taste and texture. But this makes a pretty big portion- I’d say it could feed 4 if you eat it with fresh bread (or even better: grilled cheese sandwiches) or with noodles. It tastes delicious, it’s easy, it’s cheap, and it’s healthy. Coupled with some fresh bread and it made an absolutely delish dinner!

P.S. also good with garlic bread!

wintery wardrobe

I want this:

courtesy hm.com/dk

It's so pretty.

Wallpaper samples!

Roaming around internet world I found out that a paint/wallpaper/decorating company was giving away free wallpaper samples. they usually cost a little less than a dollar (+shipping). Now, wall paper isn't something i am currently in the market for.... but I am always looking for creative  and cheap ways to decorate my room. Since I will (hopefully*) be moving into something slightly bigger soon, maybe I can try and be creative with the decorating. One of the samples I got:



courtesy of flugger.dk

If nothing else, maybe they can make a nice birthday card for someone.

BTW, the code is B5flugger, if anyone in Denmark wants some free samples... (Flügger), and the coupon is for three free samples.





One year down....

A year ago today, I went on a date with this guy. We ate homemade sushi, talked about his upcoming birthday, and about our travels to Baltimore, DC, and NYC.

And somehow, he's not sick of me yet. He doesn't think I'm (too) crazy, he still likes spending time with me, and he's willing to actually move in with me in a little tiny apartment, and deal with all of my quirks and personal crazies on a daily, up-close-and-personal, basis.

apparently Miracles do happen.

Social media discussing social media - Meta-social-media?

My newest fascination has to do with social media and social media marketing.

This might just be an excuse to let myself spend time on twitter, facebook, and blogging. In reality though, I find it fascinating the way new technology and new trends have affected - and are still affecting - the way we communicate.

It's affecting personal relationships and the way we communicate with our friends, as well as the way we keep in touch with people we might not otherwise be in touch with. It is also causing new relationships to start and rekindling old relationships (and not just the romantic kind).

On a more academic note, it is also affecting the way organizations communicate: to customers, to employees, to competition, to the media - really to all stakeholders. The use of social media - or the "non-use" - is communicating all sorts of messages about organizations and business.

What does it say about the organization that it does (or does not) use modern forms of communication and social medias?
What messages are the organization sending through these medias?



There exists a ton of literature, research, and observations on the use of social media and its effects and effectiveness. Some of these observations exist - somewhat ironically - only in blog format.

It's gone so far that I am now seriously considering ways that I could use social media/marketing as one of the main themes of my thesis. It is still a ways out, but it could be something that could keep me interested for six months of research and writing. And that would be truly amazing.

Quick update from "synneborr"

This weekend was spent in Odense visiting the boy and spending some time in what is actually supposed to be "home." I've lost count of how many weekends I have been travelling in a row, but I am pretty sure I've only stayed here (at place of internship) two weekends so far this semester, and even those weekends have hade some sort of birthday parties or visits, causing them to be very hectic and busy.

 

There were two big things to celebrate this weekend:

• Boy turns 25 on Tuesday
• Monday is our one year anniversary

The birthday celebrations will mostly be saved for next weekend, but at least we got to spend some quality together time this weekend before another crazy weekend ahead. We also had a few friends with birthdays, so we ended up going to two different birthday parties saturday night.

 

The weekend ended with a visit with Lene, who is always good for a few "hyggelige" hours. We went to the grocery store and then made lunch, which meant plenty of chances for chatting. I wish I had taken pictures of our meal, but we made Danish Shrimp cocktail followed by a scrambled omelet with sausage, bacon, vegetables, ana feta cheese.

 

Next weekend wil be extremely busy but I am looking forward to it since it will involve good parties, good people, and good food. The following weekend I am planning on NOT TRAVELLING anywhere. That's the plan right now - but we will see.

 

Over and Out.

Retail Therapy

It's not that I actually needed retail therapy, but sometimes shopping can just be very therapeutic. It's kind of like taking a mental health day.

Today I shopped at H&M online, something that really needs to make it to the US ASAP.

So I bought the above poncho. My sister-in-law (is that what I am supposed to call my boyfriends-brothers-fiance?) has a really cute one that she has been wearing on cold days, mostly outside. I feel like it is a good in-between weather sort of clothes item. Last winter taught me to really splurge on warm clothes because the winter here is long and cold, and my transportation is based on the outdoors. My niece (above mentioneds daughter) also has a really cute one that she wears outside over her witnercoat. Cutest.two-year old.ever.
So they inspired me to find my own.


Then I bought this dress:

Which I think is very nice, and I may choose to wear it for boys birthday party next weekend. I hope it makes it here in time and that it looks super -cute. The color is very different from my other wardrobe, but one of my wardrobe strategies lately has been to expand the color palate.

And then this ordinary long-sleeve t-shirt with a little bit of detail:

Best of all, I had a 25% online coupon deal, so it was all very reasonably priced.

And that was my superficial post of the day. Gaaawsh I love shopping.



Going way old school // Nostalgia 2005

Remember when.....

on today

Today is Monday, October 18th 2010

In the US, it is also National Chocolate Cupcake day.

It is also "National Clean your Virtual desktop day". Have you cleaned your virtual desktop lately? According to wikipedia (the most reliable of sources), each computer has an average of 10 unused items on the desktop.

Alaska day is recognized in Alaska today, since this was the day the territory of Alaska was officially transfered to the US.

In the Virgin Islands, the third monday of October is an official holiday that celebrates the end of the hurricane season.


Clearly there are too mane crazy holidays and awareness months to be able to mention them all, but one that is especially important to mention:

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month
http://www.nbcam.org/
Aside from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer for women.
In Denmark the campaign is called "Support the boobs." Just like you can buy pink ribbon items in the US, we can buy support the boobs items here.

I'm not necesarily asking that you buy anything or give money or otherwise support breast cancer awareness ths month. I am asking that you go to the website and learn about what you can do to prevent breast cancer (and other cancers), how you can screen yourself, and worrisome signs that mean you should get checked by a doctor. Too many people die every day because of cancer, and prevention and early treatment is one way to raise the number of survivors.

on a more positive note...

10 Things I luurve

1. Pretty Little Liars, it’s like a teenage dream. Deliciously, wonderfully, bad and amazing,
2. Bright pink fuzzy socks “hyggesokker”
3. Looking up interesting recipes online and drooling because of the potential deliciousness.
4. Baking loads and loads of cookies. Then being asked for the recipe by people at work.
5. Waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee
6. Wearing warm gloves for the first time of the winter season
7. Playing with other peoples babies, (in a non-creepy way) yet still appreciating that I can hand them back when they cry or poop or otherwise become messy or annoying.
8. Looking at apartments I can’t afford. Then decorating them in my mind with things I can’t afford.
9. These earrings from Georg Jensen:

10. Feeling productive and satisfied at the end of a long day.

10 Things I strongly dislike

1. Pressing the snooze button. More than twice. Always a bad idea.
2. Waking up late in the morning; hurriedly getting ready for work, then making it to the end of my street before realizing that I forgot to put on real shoes.What am I wearing, you might ask? H2O indoor flip flops and bright pink fuzzy socks, would be the answer.
3. Forgetting to take cookies out of the oven and thereby burning an entire pan of pineapple almond cookies.
4. Finding a great sale for essential kitchen items and making a stop by Bilka (Target equivalent) after work, only to realize those essential items are sold out.
5. Buying stuff I don't really need at Bilka just because it is there and “it’s such a great deal.”
6. Missing the bus by 3 minutes and walking home from Bilka with heavy bags.
7. Not knowing what to buy as a birthday present for my wonderful boy-toy
8. When my boy-toys winter coat and cell phone get stolen at the gym. Why can’t people leave stuff alone if it doesn’t belong to them?
9. That it is cold and dark outside when I wake up in the morning….
10. …. And knowing that soon it will also be dark by the time I leave work

on communicating

I am a Communications nerd.

It’s true.

Studying communication doesn’t always mean that you are good at holding conversations or good at telling stories, or even that you can analyze all forms of communication. These are few of the misconceptions I meet whenever I tell someone that I majored/am majoring in Communication.

Communication is a part of everything we do. In one of the first communication courses I took at Maryland, we learned that there exists a school of thought that claims “All behavior is communication.”

This is the school I belong to.

I view myself as part anthropologist, part psychologist, part sociologist, part journalist.

I like to observe the way people communicate and interact;

I like to analyze what communication and behavior means;

I like to learn about writing and I like to write;

I like to study how people learn and how people understand various messages;

I like to understand the reasons behind different behaviors.

Clearly this could be explained to eternity, and for right now this is just a simplified discussion. Of course, for certain research and certain situations, communication must be defined much more narrowly. Overall, though, everything we do, consciously or subconsciously, communicates something to someone.

This doesn’t mean that what we communicate is always what we intended to (or didn’t intend to) communicate. Various aspects (noise) can get in the way. Literal noise, language barriers, cultural differences, mode of communication.

This is all probably why I ended up loving my major so much. It can be taken in pretty much any direction. My Masters degree is taking me the business/organizational route. But it could end up taking me into strategic HR or business services. Even within those categories, the possibilities are endless

Communications was a good fit for me, because I didn’t have one clear-cut passion when I started out. Actually, I once told someone that I wanted to major in talking, because that was something I was actually good at. Guess that kind of became reality.

Sooo…

How did you choose your college major?

What are some ideas you have had or heard about communication?

Do you agree that “all behavior is communication” ?

on life

Whoop whoop,

It seems my life never stands still, but I guess for right now it is back on track. For right now my address is Sønderborg and I am working at Danfoss for an internship.

To be honest, the transition to work has been a lot harder than I expected it to be. The first many weeks were spent pretty much like this: sleep, work, eat, TV, sleep. When I came home from work I was so exhausted that literally all I did was watch TV, read, sleep, eat, etc.

Now that it’s been two months (nearly halfway already?!?), the rhythm is getting a little easier, but the chronic tiredness still seems to be hanging around. An average day:

Alarm clock at 6 AM, shower and get ready for work after a few snoozes. 7 AM, leave for bus station where colleague picks me up. 7:30ish-7:45ish, enter office. Anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30 (usually around 4 though) we leave to go home. Somewhere in between (12:30-1) is a half hour lunch break in the employee canteen.

It’s not just the new schedule of getting up early, it’s also the many thousands of new impressions and new things to learn and experience every day. It’s being nicely dressed and behaving professionally and thinking about every move. It’s trying to do as much work as possible and still doing it all perfectly. It’s working hard and concentrated for about 8 hours straight.

As a student, you can plan your days and working/studying hours pretty much however you like. When you need a break or a nap, you do just that. Sometime that means that you end up studying into the evening hours, but that’s ok if it means you could hang out with a friend during the afternoon, go to the gym, or cook a nice dinner (procrastination is awesome). For some reason beyond my understanding, none of those procrastination actions (in Danish: overspringshandlinger) are socially acceptable at work. You are expected to work concentrated and efficiently while you are at work. Crazy concept.

It’s nice to go home from and not be worrying about homework; to have that free time for whatever I please. I enjoy not feeling that same chronic guilt that I’ve always felt when I was taking regular classes, when there was always something to be read or something to be working on. Still, that doesn’t mean that those hours after lunch aren’t sometimes difficult to get through, and that my caffeine and coffee consumption hasn’t sky-rocketed.

Still, the work is interesting. The people are nice. I’m pretty sure I’m headed in the right direction as far as my major and my ambitions. I am getting excited about going back to school for my last few classes and then writing my thesis and then finally being DONE! I am excited about getting a job in a few years, getting a nice apartment, having a real job and more steady finances.. I think I’m just about ready to be done with the student lifestyle.

I might make a more detailed post about what I’m working on at work another day. For now though, here are some links to two articles I helped create. I can’t claim sole credit for any of them, since they were group efforts. This isn’t my regular work but two small things I was asked to look at, make input, edit, finish, etc. It is nice to be asked my opinion and to be involved in these small things too, and to have a bit of external proof that I was at Danfoss

http://heating.danfoss.com/xxNewsx/086fe61b-9738-4b3a-ba55-d64b175ed018.html

http://heating.danfoss.com/xxNewsx/d701d2ee-a3c1-48ef-bbb1-ed8a77d17304.html

On the way down the aisle…

..... (not me!)

My best friend is getting MARRIED!
(this post is a little bit late, but I have a lot of catching up to do)

The “surprise” of the summer was the engagement that happened to take place on my very own birthday! I guess I will always be able to remember that specific anniversary in their life, and hopefully Erin will as well! When I say “surprise” I mean that it probably didn’t come as that big of a surprise to anyone, since we knew it would happen *eventually.*

They are meant to be and seem to balance and complement each other nicely. As someone who has known Erin for 18 years, I can definitely say that I approve of Matt and that I’m not sure I’ve seen Erin happier. And this is coming from someone who is kind of like a “big” (or “little”) sister, and who never thought she would approve of anyone Erin brought home.

Anyway, I wanted to take this little moment to wish the couple congratulations, best wishes, good luck, etc.etc.

The wedding will take place September 3rd, 2011, in Southern Maryland and I get to be in the wedding party as one of 4 bridesmaids. As something extra special, my dad will be officiating the ceremony. I can’t wait to be a part of their special day and all the planning and festivities that surround the occasion.

I just hope Erin won’t make me wear a super ugly dress!!!


(pictures copyright Erin Sell)

“Last week the world lost an awesome person but gained a beautiful guardian angel”

That’s the sugary-sweet, yet sad introduction to this post. Dedicated to “tantemoster Anne.”

I don’t remember the exact time I first met Anne, but I know I was 4 years old and in Fort Myers, Florida. She was married to a Danfoss man who was stationed in Fort Myers, and quickly became friends with both myself and my mother. She also worked part-time in my kindergarten, the Edison Learning Center. According to my memory, it didn’t take long for the too of us to become great friends. Anne was in her second marriage and was wishing for another child of her own, and for a few years I became her little princess, until she finally got a little princess of her own. She took care of me and let me play with her hair, taught me to not eat with my mouth open, and to like cheeseburgers.

(Funny story: I didn’t understand the concept/difference between cheeseburgers and hamburgers. I would always order a cheeseburger without cheese because I thought I didn’t like cheese. One time Anne was babysitting me and we went through the McDonalds drivethrough, and of course we ended up with a cheeseburger with cheese. Crisis!)

Our friendship continued the next year in Baltimore. Anne was nice enough to go stand in line to sign me up for ballet lessons, because my family was on vacation at the time of signups.

After that year Anne and her husband moved back to Florida, and she finally got her beautiful little princess.
The past 15 years our families have kept in touch. Some years more than others, but always bonded by our common experiences and memories from the past, and to me she was always aunt Anne. Her little daughter became close friends with my own little sister. Our parents were friends, and they came to big family events.

I won’t get into all the details of the horrible sickness and pain that Anne had to suffer through the past 6 years, but would rather like to honour the incredible strength she exhibited throughout the entire process. I can only hope to be as strong as her and to have the same will to live and love and laugh. Anne lived years beyond the expectations given to her by the doctors, she wanted so much to live and to watch her daughter, son, and grandchildren grow up. She was always planning her next big event or her next big vacation. She got to live to see her daughters confirmation, her sons wedding, beautiful grandchildren, vacations and cruises.

In the end though, the human body can only take so much, and her body grew tired before Anne and before time. We all knew it would happen eventually, but it was still a hard hit. She fought for so long that I know we were all counting on another miracle.

Rest in Peace tante Anne. Where you are now, I know there is no pain and no worries. We’ll take good care of your daughter and your memory.

Reflections (Year One)

Next week I return ‘home’ for ‘the summer.’ This means that year one of graduate school is done, over, finished, etc. And what a year it has been. In reality, it has been about 10 months since I left the comfort of Bel Air and truly moved out on my own, it’s been 13 months since graduation at Maryland, and it’s been a full year since Erin and I returned from our graduation road trip. Man, time really flies.

Even though I never felt it while it was happening, as I am sitting here thinking about the year that has gone by, I guess I can conclude that A LOT has happened and that I actually have learned A LOT. A few of my thoughts:
• I finally started taking school really seriously and realized that I wouldn’t be able to just ‘slide’ through anymore schooling. Not to say that I didn’t work really, really hard (at times) in High School and College, but this was the first time I felt that I actually had to put a lot of effort, thought and consideration into school to even pass the classes. In High School, it was a question of getting an A or a B, or maybe a high A compared to a low A. At the same time, I finally felt a lot more compelled to actually learn and understand the material rather than just pass the class.

• I learned I can’t do everything and that sometimes the pressures of life mean that you have to slow down or even fail at times. Also, I learned that some of the small failures are okay “as long as you win the war.” In the end, who cares that I had to a drop a class, or that I chose to postpone taking an elective, and therefore will be completing my degree approximately 6 months later than originally planned?

• I eat way too much ketchup. Way, way too much. I think it might be a problem.

• Even thought the weather generally sucks in Denmark, there are a few things that (almost) make up for it: (1) the longest day of the year means that the sun rises at 4:39 and goes down at 22:04, meaning I almost forgot about how sucky/dark/cold the winter was (8:40/15:30). Going to bed when it is light out and waking up when it is light out is amazing. As is going out to a bar and it being light out (again) on your way home. (2) The Danes are great at going outside and proclaiming “summer” as soon as the sun peaks out behind a few clouds or as soon as the temperature rises above 15C (65-70ish F). Something about appreciating the sun and heat more when you don’t have so much of it.

• Along those same lines, I have never been more excited to go to the BA this summer. It really is a great place, even if it is slightly boring, out of the way, and typical suburbia. Who knew?

See you soon!

Fall Internship

I am so happy to be able to say that I scored a great internship at Danfoss for the fall of 2010. Without spilling entirely too many details, I will be in a Marketing Communication and Research department at Danfoss HQ in Nordborg. This means that come August, I will be moving south for a few months. The internship ends December 15th, which also leaves time to prepare and possibly travel for the holidays.

I am super excited to get out of the classroom and actually try to test my skills. Also feeling a bit nervous about whether I actually have any skills, or if all of my skills are based on writing research papers and memorizing facts for multiple choice tests. After having spent the last 18 years in school, the end is coming up quickly, and it is nice to be able to see the end.

Of course, it is going to be a bit of a culture shock to have to work all day, every day... Just kidding, I am really excited!

Race Report

5k Race Report


Since I wrote n entire post about running, I figure it is about time for a report on how the race went. All in all, it went really well and I am satisfied. I ran a decent time, I finished, and it was a fun race. Between the 5k and the 10k race, 21,000 people completed a run. That is a whole lot of people!

My preparation up to the race wasn’t ideal, as the week before the race suddenly became very busy and stressful (more on that later). I had also been dealing with some sort of pain/injury in my right thigh that had me working out on the cross trainer/elliptical for about half of my workouts. Lot’s of excuses, but in the end, I hadn’t gone for a real run in about a week by race day.

It was a cold morning, but thankfully the rain held off and we all got to stay dry. The race started at 11:15 A.M. and my starting time was 11:31. They sent groups of 1000 people off every 4 minutes. Even though I was relatively early in the corrals, I still had to navigate around A LOT of people. By the 2k mark, a lot of people were walking and blocking the way. It was probably closer to a 5.1k or a 5.2k…

I started out way too fast, but it felt good so I went with it. By the 2k mark my legs were kind of on autopilot, but I knew I was going too fast, and I tried to slow down. Right around the 3k mark was a pretty big hill that caused the real slowdown: I had to stop and walk for about 20 seconds. Once I caught my breath I got annoyed by two girls walking very, very, slowly in front of me, and I resumed a jog. I figured that even though it was slow, it was still faster than walking. Somehow I maintained a decent pace and finished in 31:30.

I am happy with my time because I did it and I finished, and I had a good time. I am also happy because 2-3 months ago, I couldn’t even run 1-2 kms without stopping. However, this “race-pace” is about the pace of my moderate runs from 5 years ago.
I will be doing a women’s 5k on June 9th, but again, due to circumstances both within and beyond my control, my running hasn’t been so great these past 2 weeks since the race. If nothing else, I’ll view the race as a chance to run a nice scenic 5k, except this run will give me a t-shirt and a bag of sponsor gifts at the end.

just thinking

I suppose there are lots of 'funny' and random little things about knowing two languages and living in different countries and moving alot. But here's my story of the day (disclaimer, it's a real 'Christine' story):
I was sitting outside in the sunshine, just enjoying the sun and the heat and the fact that it nearly hit 20c today. Too cold for a bathing suit but perfect for shorts and a t-shirt and a blanket on the ground (I would have been too shy and self-conscious to wear a bathing suit anyway). There are lots of other 'kids' around me. Some playing volleyball, viking/king game, petanque, etc, some drinking beer, and some, like me, just sitting or laying out on blankets and sucking it all in.
Suddenly, I saw Wes! Yea, Wes Blue Moose (comment if you read this, I don't think you do though)!! Casually, I thought to myself  'oh, there's Wes, that's nice, he probably wants to enjoy the nice weather too."
Then, I thought. "Wait a minute. Wes is in Florida. I'm in Denmark. That can't be right."
Obviously, it wasn't actually Wes, it was just a look-alike. Man, was I dissapointed. I could use some more Wes (and other brothelites) in my life. The funny thing is, though, that this is something that happens and has happened, alot. I am always seeing people I 'know' and then realizing that they are on a different continent than me. I guess it is just confusing for my poor brain to keep people separated like that. Maybe sometimes it is just wishful thinking that I could collect the people I love and want to hang out with in one place.

Yes, this is a special kind of crazy.

on Running?

For as long as I can remember, I have always been an athlete. I was even a pretty good athlete. I never got into team sports, but I was a decent swimmer and runner. Even though the past few years have been somewhat of a slump in training, I still always thought of myself as an athlete. Except I wasn’t.

So I started running and exercising regularly again. I used to be a runner; I figure I can become one again. As mentioned in a previous post, I am signed up for a 5k race in May (the 13th). I am currently searching for a few more races to do over the summer and possibly even a longer race (10k) in the fall. Goals and races are good ways to stay motivated, especially for me. Also, I have a half- or a full marathon on my bucket list (body and knees depending), so if that is ever going to become reality, now is the time to start.
I realize that since this all only started 2 months ago, there is still time to relapse and fall back into a sedentary lifestyle. Still, I am trying to make this a routine that will stick. A change in lifestyle, if you will. Oddly enough, the most important part of this includes taking it easy, not overdoing it. I have had to learn that I am not as strong as I used to be, that I can’t handle the mileage I used to be able do, and that pushing myself too hard will only lead to injuries. Really, I’ve learned that even though I have some good experience from Cross Country and Track in High School, I am really a beginner runner in terms of my physical shape, my knowledge about training and training plans, proper form, nutrition, etc. etc.

So it is a learning process. By putting this on my blog, I now have one more way of staying accountable to my goals. You heard it here first. I am now a runner (again). Please help me stick with it. Come run with me (ok, I’m kind of far away, but when I am home for the summer, go running with me). If you’re a runner, give me tips and encouragement and answer my questions along the way. If you’re anyone else, give me encouragement, ask me about my running, tell me to go get my butt in gear and go for a run.