Wednesday, December 15, 2010

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).

Monday, December 13, 2010

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!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Remember the Thesaurus!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

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


Wednesday, December 8, 2010

'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

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

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

Friday, December 3, 2010

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!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

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!