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.