"Gentlemen prefer blondes... but gentlemen marry brunettes." ~Anita Loos

How do I keep loosing things?!?!? My room is literally the size of a matchbox!!!!  I have currently misplaced a small calendar I was planning on hanging next to the door...  I unwrapped it yesterday, finally got a pushpin today and low and behold I can't find it!!! Uhg.

The other day...  thursday night maybe I dyed my hair! I haven't done this in a really long time and it used to be a regular past time of mine.  I went to get my hair cut while I was in VA (hadn't cut it since the summer) and the girl said it would be a good idea to get a nonpermanent brown similar to my own to even out the color and make it look a little nicer.  I went to the grocery with my mom, picked out a color which was very nearly the exact same in the box and my head with high hopes of getting a nice balanced hair look.  Well, since I got sick I didn't have time to do in the states so I did it here! I went to the bathroom with the box of dye, a Cosmo for light reading and got started.  What I forgot was anyway to tell time! Whoops! I figured I could wing it since I needed to leave it in for 10 minutes, not long.  Here is how it looks:

Before with box:

 After (I couldn't take a normal picture without looking like someone who hasn't gotten out of bed all day, so I went with this one):

It is a little darker, a little redder, maybe that is what it looks like on the box... oh well, it will fade away over the next 28 shampoos it says.

This week in school I told you we started wine glasses, very exciting and very boring.  Exciting in theory... I can't wait to be able to make a kick ass wine glass... boring in practicality because it is super hard and requires doing the same thing a million times in a row to get good at it.  Here in Sweden we use this "foot tool" to make the foot on the wine glass.  This is supposed to make it easier and the same size every time.  On Wednesday we got the tool and were given a crash course in what it was.  Mostly we sat around, everyone took it apart, talked about it in Swedish (with jet-lagged brain I zoned out) and then we were told to put it all back together.  It should be noted that when taken apart this thing is in about THIRTY TINY PIECES!  And.... I was the first person to get it back together correctly! TAAAAA-DDAAAAA! I beat everyone in the class, about 7 of us, half of which are guys!  I was very proud of myself :)  Here is a picture of the crazy contraption:

 Those dark bits are made of graphite.

 you hold it like this and then foot goes under the silvery part between the two bottom wing nuts.

The top piece of graphite has the curved opening for the stem and then you make the bottom part, foot, by mashing a bit of hot glass against the bottom piece where it is kind of lighter in color... very tricky to get it centered.  Maybe next week I can get a video of Vegard doing it, he is really good at it.

We have worked with making the foot for several days but I have not made any worth keeping yet.  I have made maybe 3 that could actually stand... but not straight.  I will try to keep a few next week just to see how they look when they are done :)

Also, this week while in the cold shop I worked on that huge piece that I was cutting down to look like a diamond... remember?  I think I have been working on it since November, not everyday of course!  I have got it almost done! I have decided that I can't make it absolutely perfect (it is my first try) and will be perfectly happy to accept good enough on this one.  It still needs some more polishing but here it is so far:

I tried to find a before picture, but for some reason can't find one now...  It was just really thick and lumpy if you can remember.

This weekend I plan to do NOTHING! I know, I did just get back for a vacation... which by definition is full of nothingness... but it was kind of busy at times.  I plan to sleep tons and kick this jet lag out for good and to maybe do some laundry... but maybe not.  I have managed to get new virus protection on my computer... so that is something.  Also, I have stumbled across this cool blog called Index.  It is a really hilarious look at life through graphs and charts!  Here are a few of my favorites so far:

hahahahahahaha!

This one reminded me of Sam and I, of course.

And this one reminded me of all my best friends I have left back in the states.

Apparently you can get these on shirts and cards and stuff.  I might have to get the friends one on a shirt one day!

I am not sure if I will post tomorrow since I will probably do next to nothing between now and then... maybe ski?!?  But I will def be back on Monday with my regularly scheduled program... err blogging.

“There is nothing like returning to a place that reminds unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” ~ Nelson Mandela

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'MMMMMMMMM BAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!

I have officially returned to Orrefors, gone back to school and am a full blown glass blowin' student again!  I am not going to lie, I never do to you guys, I am slightly exhausted and easily confused still.  I think this jet lag will just take a day or two to kick but in the mean time I am "le TIRED"!  I will resume posting regularly again I promise :)

Today, with my first steps out the front door on the way to class I slipped and fell on the ice... all I could think was "thank you Sweden, nice to see you too" as I slid towards the none icy area on my sore ass to try to get up again.  The snow has melted a lot and now is a mix of mush, brown grossness and ice... not so fun, but not so cold thank goodness!!  I am pleased to announce that we are starting wine glasses at school! But, more on that later... I forgot to bring my camera to school today anyway.

I think I last left you when I was about to go back to NC to see my parents and sister but was trapped in VA due to snow/ice.  Well, I finally made it! I got to my parents, Sam followed the next day and we spent a few days in Southern Pines spending time with my parents and little sister.  I also harassed the puppy Julia:

got a new pair of shoes:

did some glass blowing with my Dad, Mom and Sam in Star:

re-tiled the bathroom floor:

 me to Sam "When we have our own house we will be pros at this!"

Sam to me "we will pay some else to do this!"

 someone was a perfectionist and even broke tiles to fit perfectly into smaller spaces... it was impressive!

(that was Sam, not me, being a perfectionist and trying not to get his fingers dirty here)  

harassed the puppy some more:

 She has her hair all brushed out... that is why she looks a little extra crazy... and the flash makes everyone look a little crazy honestly.  But, here she looks like her truly adorable self:

then got AMAZINGLY sick.  

Didn't see that coming did you?  haha, me either!

I had been congested for a few days then all of a sudden I was super sick, felt awful, ear aches, sneezing and bright red nose... the usual horrors.  But, the real travesty was that I had to cancel seeing one of my best friends!  I was supposed to see Carrie (we have been friends since elementary school) and go to this great Thai place... I even had a Christmas present for her! I couldn't go, instead slept for about 15 hours the went to the Urgent Care, got drugs and tried to recover before I had to fly back to Sweden.  I am feeling much better now :)  This sickness also didn't allow me to finish the bathroom floor! Sam and I got all the tiles down but didn't get the grout (stuff between the tiles) down.  Oh well, I got better and thanks to a very patient and wonderful boyfriend was entertained the entire time I was sickly, he even went to get me a movie and some food with my little sister driving him.

On Sunday Sam and I went to Raleigh to spend the night before I was to fly out the next day.  We stayed at this nice hotel near the airport and at my request Sam hunted down a "real deal" Mexican restaurant.  He found a place called Los Cuates on Yelp and we enjoyed some delicious salsas:

 tacos (fish, with on rouge shrimpy, on left and shrimp on right):

and a mediocre burrito... it doesn't get a picture...  just TONS of ground meat in a soft taco.

We then spent the rest of time talking about life, watching bad movies and in general saying how much we would miss the other, how much we love each other and all that sappy stuff.  I know, I don't generally get sappy on here, but sometimes it is hard when Sam is so wonderful to me.  He supports me going to Sweden to learn this, puts up with my leaving for months at a time, and even talks about our future together on a regular basis.  

He took me to the airport on Monday and luckily decided that he would wait with me to get my ticket and check my bag!  I thought I was flying with Continental, maybe United... but they merged right?  So, I went to Continental's desk... they had no record of my return trip, so after looking up the confirmation email on Sam's phone I knew I was flying with Scandinavian Air (SAS) but my first flight was carried through United.  There wasn't a check in desk for SAS so I went to the United one, couldn't get a ticket there either at first and after a while finally got one printed.  Sadly, my bag was like 8lbs over the weight limit.  After learning that the fee was two HUNDRED dollars I decided to do some reshuffling with Sam's help.  I ended up getting it down to the right weight by carrying a bag of dirty laundry in my hiking bag... all I could think was "great, now if they loose my luggage all I will have is my dirty laundry with me!"  I left Sam at the security check after lots of hugs and kisses.  I will admit my eyes were stinging a little as I got in line at security check (cue the "awwwws").  

I had an uneventful trip really... well, I did almost miss my international flight because I am an idiot and can't tell time.  I lucked out and didn't have anyone sitting next to me on the long flight and slept some.  I woke up even more congested then I left and experienced the most painful headache while landing.  I had tears in my eyes for about 15 minutes while we slowly landed and invisible knives were slowly rammed into my head between my eyes and through my ears.  Then we landed and I was fine!  After about 18 hours of traveling I made it to Orrefors!!

PS: If you didn't get the "le tired" reference check out this video, short and HILARIOUS:

Weekends don't pay as well as weekdays but at least there's football. ~ S.A. Sachs

I last left you when I was about to go to Madison Heights and pick Sam up from setting up for their gig that night.  I sat around for a while waiting (the life a rock star's girlfriend is full of waiting at bars) and we went back to his parents for a quick dinner then back to the bar for a night of ROCKIN'!!

Sam's buddy's band played first called The Last Armintrout, they were really good, but really loud!  After about an hour Bad Circus (Sam's band) took the stage and the place started "bumpin."

Here is one of the first songs they did I think. 

 The light show at this bar is always out of control!

 A recent (to me) addition is the fog machine though! Pretty cool.  You can see Sam in the back right, next to the black light.

 Then the buddy from the previous band, Kellogg, got on stage and rocked out a "Whippin' Post" and people went wild!

 See?!?  Haha.  It was a really good time and I think everyone had fun.  It was so nice to see Sam play again, I have missed it while in Sweden and it was great to see the other guy's families too!  Afterward we went to a friend's house in Lynchburg, stayed up too late and then crashed in his little girl's room (don't worry she wasn't there).  But I did have to borrow some clothes from Sam and his friend (jeans and sweater) to ride the next morning.  I looked like a goofy mini Sam!  It was pretty adorable too when I came back from riding to pick him up and he was all curled up in that pink bed with purple walls!  I don't know why but it was really cute.

Saturday night we went out with some of our close friends to see The Last Armintrout again at a place called Rivermont Pizza.  They have really good pizza and often good music.  Luckily the band was AS loud as the night before, but still pretty loud.  Sam and I split this pizza with another guy:

 Its called the Virginian, it has Virginia Ham (salty ham), apple slices, cheddar cheese and red sauce!  It was amazing! Who would have thought to put cheddar on a pizza?!?!? A genius!

The evening turned into a sort of high school reunion for Sam and Chris which was weird for Courtney and I who are not from here.  I hung out with this nice guy who was the husband of a local girl and also didn't know anyone.  It was a good time, but I was exhausted by the end of the night!  

But we did convince everyone to go to the T-Room!!!! It is a local greasy-spoon joint that everyone in Lynchburg knows about.  I haven't been for years and really wanted to go before I went back to Sweden.  There isn't anything like this place in Sweden that I have found yet.  We got the traditional meal of a "bowl all the way": 

 and a "cheesy all the way":

 The bowl is chili with cheese, onion and some yellow relish... wonderful!  The cheesy is a cheesy western (hamburger with cheese and a fried egg) with yellow relish and onions on it.  There is nothing like it and you have to know what you are doing when you go there to order.  It is a cultural experiance!  I was looking over the menu where they also list things like a "funny"  which is a hotdog with no dog, spagetti (from a can) and other random things.  They same two woman have worked there for forever and they don't put up with any crap!  Often they get late night drunks in there, drinking buttermilk with their westerns and bitchin' but these ladies will put them in their place!  Sam and Chris won them over and even got permission to use the employee bathroom, I was a little concerned that it was like the beginning of a horror film... partying young people go to sketchy dinner late at night, go to the bathroom and are NEVER SEEN AGAIN... some say they are served up in the next week's cheesies and bowls! bum bum buuuuuuuuum! haha luckily it wasn't!

Sunday was another day filled with football at the Addison house and delicious Mr. Addison beef stew.  I love this stew, its got rutabagas in it!  I was supposed to go back to NC today but it is getting slammed with snow right now and I thought I would wait another day to see how the roads look.  But I thought I would leave you all with this: 

I have no idea how old Sam is in this picture but it cracks me up and is adorable all at the same time.  That is one of the fun things about staying with Sam's parents they have so many pictures of the kids when they are young all over the house.  I am having a blast staying with Sam and am really not looking forward to leaving him again for a very long time to go back to Sweden.  

"Kiss the mountain air we breathe" ~ Widespread Panic

Since I have last posted I have been in Virginia visiting Sam's family and my friends from this area.  There has been a lot going on and not a lot of time to write an update.  I am currently sitting in the Madison Heights Library on Sam's computer in a "Early Learning Station" whatever that is... the keyboard is color coded.

But here is a brief recap of what I have been up to:

This is Mamma's new puppy, Julia... I made her wear her bangs in a pony tail... it brought out her eyes! 

 Then, I put her in high heels...  I think she looked good... really gave her legs some definition... under all that fur! haha I don't know how much that dog likes me much any more!

 Finally, said good bye to my wonderful (slightly lazy) cat Tom to go off to Virginia!

I went to the Stoney Badger to for New Years Eve.  Sam's band, Bad Circus and Mark's (Sam's older brother) band,  Junkyard Mountain (formerly 110 Calories) played the night away.  It was great to see tons of people that I, of course, haven't seen in months!  We danced, drank and in general brought in the new year with a bang (I have the bruises to prove it)!  It was great to see both bands after all this time and old friends also!!

The next day was spent mostly hungover and going between napping and watching football, which is really just more napping for me.  In the evening though Sam's dad made a delightful Southern New Years Feast for us:

 Skillet corn bread!

 Turkey!

 Collard Greens cooked with some bacon or some sort of pig parts.

 Black eyed peas,

 and stewed tomatoes (my personal favorite... not really I think they are really some of the weirdest food out there in the world.)

 I also got a special treat of getting to see FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER someone using an ELECTRIC KNIFE ON TURKEY!!!!! hahahahaha it was so great! I kept walking around saying "we don't talk about that, it's a tender subject" from Rocky Horror but no one knew what I was talking about sadly.

And, here is the epic Southern New Years Feast!  I tried to look up what all the foods mean but I got distracted or something... so, instead you get my guesses!

Corn bread = gold, like money!

Stewed Tomatoes = when eaten with hot sauce (like I did) they are for vitality!

Black eyed Peas = are grey like cinder blocks so they are for security

Collard greens = with balsamic vinegar are for money or maybe health... I am running out of things here...

Turkey = love.

TAAAA-DDAAAA! 

I have also gone to Lexington a few times to visit my horse Justin who is king of the sheep!

 There are about a million sheep out there... ok, maybe not a million but A LOT!!

 Like Jesus, he keeps an eye on his flock... except Justin doesn't wear sandals.

 He would like you all to know he is still super tall, likes to bite things and looks good in purple :)

 He is also incredibly hairy! I think he is going for the long haired hippie look... he is living in the mountains!

 The sheep were adorable! They freaking chew sideways with their little mouths... it is hard to explain but awesome.  I also got to meet the woman caring for Justin for me while I am running around Sweden.  She was wonderful, super friendly and apparently calls him Secretariat instead of Justin.  She was pleased to hear that he is half quarter horse and half thoroughbred and even follows my blog (hi!!)!  I am very glad he is there, with a sheep and some other horsey friends also.  He seems very happy and looks to be in great health :)  I still miss him though...

 I had to drive back and forth over these mountains to see him the few times I did.

 This is my favorite part of Virginia!  

 This is Justin's view... pretty sweet.

 I think he has it pretty lucky even if it is REALLY cold in Lexington!

After I fed him about a pound of peppermints I kissed him goodbye one last time and drove back over the mountain.  I tried to explain when I would be back and how we would kick ass this summer together... but I think he was more focused on finding more peppermints to eat!  

 I drove back to Lynchburg the other day along the James River... and I realized that over the past few days all I have been doing is driving back and forth over mountains and rivers... the Tye, Piney, Maurre River, James and I think there is another I keep forgetting...  There are a lot of rivers here!  It reminded me of summer fun on the river :)

I have also had a riding lesson with Kit and Parker!  While I was living here I often rode in lessons with Parker and her horse Theo and have missed them greatly.  I got to ride a horse named Dazzle who has been carrying around young girls for a while and in comparison to the horses in Sweden is TINY.  She was great to jump and I had a lot of fun.  It was also really nice to see how much Parker and Theo have progressed! They are quickly leaving Justin and I in the dust jumping 3'6" with ease!  It was great to see everyone at the barn and be somewhere where I felt comfortable and not completely lost!  It was also nice because Kit asked me the million dollar question of what have I learned in my riding in Sweden that I will be able to bring back to the hunters and riding Justin in particular.  It was a great question and really got me thinking (and missing Justin) and I think I will have to remember to keep it in the back of my mind while I am riding in Sweden.  I really enjoyed Dazzle, she was such a sweet ride and jumped like a pro and made me feel great too.

I have also been able to spend a few evenings hanging out with Sam and I's friends Chris and Courtney!  We used to cook meals together, go out to happy hours and in general hangout.  They got a pug puppy before I left but now the little bugger is a full grown pug!  He is still a puppy spaz and nearly ate me alive (in a good way) when I walked into their apartment.  He has totally won me over on the pug front... I used to think they just looked really weird... they do, but in a cute way!

 Sampson the Pug!

 This is how he is most of the time and making weird snorting noises... adorable!

I also managed to squeeze in a lunch with Jeremy (old boss and friend) and Grant (old coworker/boss and friend) at a great restaurant called Market on Main, run by the old boss of all of us!  We caught up on each others lives, gossip around town and ate some great hamburgers!  I was nice to see them, they were both big supporters and fellow schemers of me moving to Sweden for glass.  We sat down like no time had passed and I think it will be like that every time I come back into town.  Now I am off to see Sam's band play again and in a few days will be going back to NC to see my family and hopefully blow some glass with my dad!