We’ve spent the past two days packing up the place, taking trips down to the recycling centers, storage shed, trash bins, and so on. We’ve now got the entire place packed up and shoved into one half of her bedroom, and the entire living room. Since the kitchen, bathrooms, hallway, closests, and dining room has to be 100% empty, it’s been a lot of work. Trying to figure out how to get the dining table out of the kitchen was the most entertaining… we took the doors off after 20 minutes of trying to take the table apart and failing due to stripped screws. Bastards.

The other night, Emilie spent the evening writing her homework “Memoir” while I brainstormed for a new story I’m really excited about. I still need to finish my current one, but it was nice to feel that creativity actually work with me, instead of against me for once. After writing a bit of the plot and character outlines, I played some more Sims on her big screen TV, we packed some more, and we watched How I Met Your Mother. We’ve made it half way through season 3 now, so we are moving through the series pretty quickly.

This afternoon while we were out recycling, Emilie realized there was another candy store she had forgotten about so we stopped by. We were in our sweat pants, sleep shirts and sweaters, but it was worth it. We had a blast while I pointed at literally everything and asked “what’s that?” or “Is is salty?” for every bin. I must say, they have a lot of candy, and it’s all so similar to other candies, so why so many choices? I was confused.

Anyway, I ended up with 2.18 kilos of candy and chocolate, and once we got home I spent an hour sorting it into bags for everyone back home to have their own personal bag with a little of everything. The bags came to 23 dollars, but it was worth it.

I spent an hour re-packing my bags, rounding up my belongings, and finished washing my clothes. I went through all the souveniors I’ve bought while here and realized I only bought three things for me – postcards, a candle, and measuring cups from IKEA. In reality, I figure the entire experience is mysouvenior, so I don’t really have a problem with it, plus, i’ll be buying more chocolate and candy before I leave, so I’m fine with it. I did a tally to see how much I’ve spent while here, and Emilie was shocked it was so little – $248.00 US Dollars. Not bad at all.

Tomorrow we wake around 9am, finish the last minute details for the apartment, load up the car, and take off around 1pm for Stockholm. I’ll be meeting her parents, and I’m soooo nervous about it. I know it will be awkward, but I’m just worried they won’t like me or I’ll do something wrong. Once we drop off her cats and some of our things there, we will head out once again for the harbor so we can catch the cruise before it leaves. I’m so excited about being on a ship, and sailing on the sea, and visiting yet another country, and having dinner on my birthday and getting drunk on the ship. It will all be so awesome, and a very cool well to spend my birthday.

Well, everything is packed, Emilie is already asleep, and I’m yawning every couple of minutes, so I think it’s time to say farwell. I won’t be able to update about the cruise until after we are back because there is no wifi, so I won’t be posting until Sunday most likely. So, until then – Adieu, Adieu…and the next time I post an entry, I will be yet another year older, and hopefully this year will be just as good as the last, if not even better.

So, I was sad there would be no candy… and Emilie was sad she had let the American down… so we went to the grocery store and got some ice cream and cookies. The ice cream was gingerbread with cinnamon swirls and it was oh…my…god… delicious. I’ve never tasted better ice cream – seriously.

Besides the trip out, we didn’t do much but pack up the house and relax. We have a busy weekend ahead of us, so we are just enjoying our time together while it’s still so laid back.

I fixed chicken carbonara with sour cream and garlic potato wedges and a side salad for dinner. It was really delicious – something I’ve never cooked before but plan to in the future back home. We then watched some TV which later turned into watching “The Mist” – a Stephen King movie. Emilie cringed and jumped at all of the appropriate places and I giggled at her reactions since I’ve seen it before.

After the movie, we hooked up the Sims to the TV screen and I played for a few hours – building a character and starting a house. After an hour or so of playing, I couldn’t stop yawning, so we went to bed around 2am.

We spent most of the day just relaxing. I read quite a bit while she did homework. I didn’t want to turn on a movie or tv or music and distract her. After her homework was finished, we packed up the entry way and took some boxes down to her storage unit and brought some more empty boxes up to fill later. We felt pretty productive, so we enjoyed some TV, ate leftovers, and then got on the topic of makeup. She went through her makeup stuff and pulled out the things she doesn’t use or like or was given as a gift that wasn’t her colors and gave them to me to try. I found some foundations that hadn’t been used because they weren’t her shade that I liked a lot.

We decided to have a dress up glam night and did our makeup and hair and took pictures of us together. It was a lot of fun, and in the background we listened to/watched the Swedish version of American Idol – only it’s bigger here. They have Swedish Idol, but this is for all of Europe – like the finalists kind of thing. Previous musicians can compete against each other and then at the end they go on to have the hit of the year or something like that. The event last 3 months and there is a whole series of competitions – apparently this is as big as the Super Bowl in the United States. In my opinion, all of the songs were poppy dance club, trendy crap, but that’s the genre the contest is held in – or at least this episode anyway.

After we took pictures and watched the show, we stayed up until 2am talking about the differences between the US and Sweden… from housing differences, to taxes, social security, income, and culture in general.  We finally got tired and headed to bed, and I managed to have the best night of sleep since I got here. Who knew all I needed was to sleep on the floor, instead?

2.5.11 - Emilie, Nae, Starbucks

The renovation is supposed to last for a month, and during part of that time, Emilie doesn’t have to pay rent, but she also can’t use her bathrooms or kitchen, so she decided to take her cats to her parents, and stay either with them, or at the summer house during the entire duration. Today was the day the building company was going to come by and inspect the apartment for any notable damages and decide what is staying and what is going. Emilie said she didn’t want to be there during their inspection, and since it wasn’t required, we took the time to conveniently go to the grocery store and stock up for the rest of the week.

I managed to get better pictures of the store this time, as well as the hand scanners and the wall you check in at.

2.4.11 - Hand Scanners and check in wall.

2.4.11 - Hand Scanner Wall

We bought the things on our grocery list, but also picked up some chips and cookies that were popular in Sweden for me to try. The cookies were delicious, but the chips are just alright. They have sour cream and onion chips like our Ruffles, and they also make them in Dill flavor. We also bought some Cheese Doodles which is their version of Cheetos – the puffy kind, but they use a creamier and lighter yellow cheese which really changes the flavor a lot.

The cookies are kind of like Oreo’s, but more like digestive cookies with a thin filling of either chocolate, nougat, or mint. My favorite are the mint or the chocolate, but Emilie loves anything Nougat flavored – it’s her weakness. I’ll probably bring some home with me in each flavor because they are delicious.

The rest of the afternoon we watched How I Met Your Mother, and I uploaded pictures from the previous few days and gave them titles and descriptions. Around 6pm, Emilie fixed her pork stroganof and I made my version of garlic bread and we continued the TV marathon. By 10pm I was pretty tired, so Emilie went into her room to finish her homework while I fell asleep. Tomorrow we plan on boxing up a lot of the kitchen and relaxing I might even do some reading or writing while she finished homework.

Oh, I nearly forgot – this morning it also happened to snow, so I took some pictures and a video.

2.4.11 - The Second Snow

2.4.11 - Emilie's writing on the car

2.4.11 - Sixx in the Snow

2.3.11 - Swedish currency

2.3.11 - Swedish currency

2.3.11 - 4,000 Kronor = $615 USD

We then drove to the tattoo shop, Don’t Worry Mama, and paid for our parking before heading inside. Frej was waiting for us and had his station set up for the most part. He was working on the stencil and told us to go ahead and take off our shoes and head into the other room where the work stations were set up. The room was small, but much bigger than the previous shops we had looked into. The art around each station really resembled the kind of work each artist liked to do. There were dozens of stencils up on the walls that I could only assume were from clients working on large pieces that were still coming back for more work on them.

2.3.11 - Don't Worry Mama Custom Tattoos

2.3.11 - Don't Worry Mama Custom Tattoos

2.3.11 - Frej's Workspace in Don't Worry Mama Custom Tattoos

Frej had Emilie go first, which worked for me, because I didn’t want to get mine done in 30 minutes and then have to sit there for 3 hours while he did hers. He got started around 12:20pm on Emilie’s phoenix, fixing the lines and recoloring it in. He finished exactly two hours later, and had us wait for 10 minutes while he got the new colors out for the moon and clouds, and switched needles.

He started the moon and clouds around 2:30 and finished up around 3:30 after touching up a few things here and there that Emilie requested. He wrapped her arm up and began cleaning the station and sterilizing the guns.

This is Emilie’s before, during, and after shots.

2.3.11 - Emilie's phoenix before the touchup

2.3.11 - Emilie getting her work done.

2.3.11 - Emilie's phoenix and moon with clouds after

Twenty minutes later, he was ready for me, so we talked about size and placement and he got the stencil ready. Looking back now, it probably could have still been smaller, or further toward my shoulder, but I’m happy with it – it just means I need smaller cut neck lines for anything professional.

I had Emilie take some pictures while he worked on my tattoo, and we all talked casually. His English was really good, but I could tell he would think for a little while before saying anything, making sure what he said was right and rehearsed. He was geeky in a very cute and shy way, but he kept both of us talking, and made sure I was alright every ten or fifteen minutes. The clouds hurt the most as the got closer to my shoulder or colarbone, but when we were all talking, I barely noticed. It was only when we stopped occasionally that it really hurt. I’ll have to remember that next time I go in for more work back in Las Vegas.

He asked where I was from, and why I was so crazy to come to Sweden in the winter. I explained when you live in the desert, you welcome the snow from time to time – at least I do, since I don’t have to drive in it, and I’m not bothered by the cold. He mentioned that he was going to New York in April and that it would be his first time in America, and we discussed the cultural differences I’ve found since arriving here. Half way through my tattoo, another client walked in with his pre-teen or young teenage son. They asked me something in Swedish and I had no idea what they said, but Frej translated for me with a smirk, explaining that they wanted to know if it was okay to stare. I may have blushed, but agreed, and they continued to have a conversation with Frej. He asked me quickly if I minded them talking while he tattoo’d me, and I thought that was really considerate of him to ask, but I didn’t mind at all.

He later told me after the guy and his son left, that he was a client he was going to be working on later that week and that he had been googling him last night and discovered he was the most notorious Swedish Bank Robber in history. Apparently he had served his time in prison, and he reformed – getting his education while locked up, and when he got out he became a model citizen. We both laughed at how random but cool that was that he gets to tattoo him, which brought me to asking him if I was the first American he’s tattooed. He said no, there was one other, and that he had even received a tattoo from someone in Sweden that was American. He said he had been in the business for four years, and enjoyed the classic tattoo art from the early 20th century America.

We talked a little more about Sweden and English, subtitles, translations, and cultures before he was finished. My tattoo only took him 40 minutes, and was bigger than he planned, but since it took less time, the price didn’t change. He asked if I wanted to add anything more or if I was happy with it, and I took a look. I loved it, and when I asked Emilie she said she loved it more than her own moon and clouds. I then asked Frej if he was happy, and he said he was – it felt finished and right to him. So we all agreed, he bandaged me up, Emilie paid, I thanked him profusely, and we were on our way back home.

Here is the before, during, and after shots of mine.

2.3.11 - Nae Before the Blue moon and Grey clouds

2.3.11 - Nae getting the tattoo done

2.3.11 - Closeup of the after image

2.3.11 - Nae after image

We took off the bandages shortly after we got home, washed the areas, and applied some lotion. We decided we didn’t feel like cooking anything, so Emilie ordered pizza, which was way different than pizza in America. One, there is very little toppings put on, two, it’s thin crust – no option otherwise, and three, they don’t cut it, you cut it yourself at home.

We relaxed for a couple of hours and then went to bed. Sleeping proved to be difficult for both of us because it was still so sore and we didn’t want to lay on them, but I’m used to not sleeping comfortably here, so it was nothing new to me. Here’s a picture of the pizza, and of the kitten keeping me company.

2.3.11 - Swedish Pizza

2.3.11 - Liten Kisse and I before bed.

I’ve decided that more off the shoulder tops, strapless bras, and wide cut necklines are a must for my wardrobe, but I’ll need to find smaller v-neck tops or at less thinner across the neck openings for professional clothes. I’m excited about shopping for new stuff to be able to finally show off one of my tattoos. All of my previous tattoos are located in places that make it difficult to show without revealing a bit too much. All in all – I’m very pleased with it.

Our trip to Stockholm was a ton of fun. I didn’t think it would be as entertaining as it was, but I was pleasantly surprised. We left for the train station from Västerås to Stockholm around 10am. It took us awhile to find a parking spot, and then to find a parking meter to purchase a ticket for the car. Once we managed to make it inside the station, we ran into Emilie’s thesis partner, Alex. He said hi, and they talked for a minute, and then we said goodbye. Apparently he works in Stockholm, so that was our guess as to where he was going. We bought our tickets and headed down to the platform where the trains arrive.

2.2.11 - The Vasteras Train Station

2.2.11 - Train to Stockholm

The train ride was pretty cool. It was still light outside, so I watched everything as we passed it and got some interesting shots with my camera of the sun and the snow or ice. I was surprised how much graffiti there was along the roads and train tracks, but it wasn’t appalling graffiti, more artsy.

Once we arrived in Stockholm, it was a total cluster fuck of people! I hadn’t seen this many people since I was walking down the Las Vegas strip at night back in December of 2010. There were tons of people, all in a hurry, and all with strange bags. I could only really assume that a lot of them had just arrived from the airport train that carries passengers back and forth from Arlanda to the center of Stockholm. We eventually found our way toward the surface, and decided to buy a drink and a sandwich before continuing our adventure. We ate quickly and then headed up to the surface. The entire train station is actually underground the city’s center – it’s pretty cool. I wonder what happens when it snows a ton though and it all melts…

We started at an old cathedral. It was right next to the station, and the gates led right to it from the escalators. I took a few pictures outside, and then we went inside where cameras weren’t allowed. It was gorgeous. The walls were so detailed, and the stain glass was beautifully done. There was a giant wall on the second floor where a pipe organ appeared to be, with a wooden wall divider that had the most ornate carvings I had ever seen. It was amazing.

We then found main street and headed for Old Town Stockholm. On the map of the city, there is a tiny floating island that has two bridges onto it, one from the north, one from the south. The House of Parliament, the Royal Palace, the Royal Church, and many other historical buildings are located in Old Town, which is actually a series of islands clustered together. The Royal Palace is the oldest Palace in history to still be used by the king of it’s country, and within Old Town, there is a restaurant that is the oldest restaurant to still have the same interior since the day it opened.

I took tons of pictures of the architecture, statues, store fronts, and views without knowing much about the places. Emilie had only been there a few times, and she didn’t know much either, so when we got home, I found myself interested, so I looked it up. Sweden has some amazing history, and a lot of it is centered around this small little portion of the city. It’s called Gamla Stan, which means Old Town, and for over two centuries it was considered the slums that surrounded the Royal Palace and historical landmarks. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that it became a huge tourist attraction and started gaining a lot of traffic from other countries curious about the area. Now, the 5 or 6 streets within Gamla Stan are made up on tourist shops, jewelry stores, bakeries, restaurants, pubs, and galleries. There is still a few old shops that haven’t moved, but for the most part, it’s the Swedish Las Vegas Strip of tourism.

I wanted to get pictures while it was still light out, and since the sun goes down around 4pm, we only had four hours to see everything and then circle back around to do some shopping. We managed to get pictures of everything and circle the Old Town twice before 3pm, and then started our shopping adventures.

We quickly learned that all of the tourist shops had the same items, and were priced within the same range. Some stores carried a specialty, like t-shirts, whereas another place carried more trinkets and shelf displays like their large fascination with trolls. A few stores carried more viking and ships than others, but overall, they were the same. I did a lot of shopping for everyone back home, checking off my list to make sure I had everyone taken care of. The people that I thought would be the easiest proved to be the most difficult, however, which was rather ironic. By 5pm, we were hungry again, and so we made our way back to the city central near the train station and got some burgers at the Swedish hamburger joint called MAX. I guess they would be like the In & Out of Sweden, but carried items closer to Wendy’s or Burger King.

At this point, our feet were a little sore, Emilie had a small headache, and it was dark, so we decided to head back to the train station and buy our tickets home, knowing it would take us around an hour to get back to Västerås. Since she had purchased our tickets to Stockholm, I bought our tickets back to Västerås. They cost the same either way, so our bill back home came to 244 Swedish Krona’s, or SEKS, which was about $38 USD. We found our platform and boarded the train, even though we still had 20 minutes before it departed. About 5 minutes after it was supposed to leave, someone came onto the speaker and said that they couldn’t hook up the cars to the main car, so we would have to transfer to the train on the next platform which would be leaving in 20 minutes. Emilie and I gathered our things, and ran to the next train to make sure we got a spot as it was already boarding for the passengers who purchased tickets for it specifically.

We made it home about an hour later than we had planned, but we had fun regardless of the confusion and cluster fuck at the end. I got a lot of shopping done, and had a blast seeing so much culture and history all packed into such a small place, and Emilie had fun getting out of the house with me. We enjoyed some TV, had some ice cream, and headed to bed because we had to be up early the next day for our tattoo appointment.

The next morning, Emilie heard on the news that our train problem was a big deal. Apparently the second train we transferred to was so jam packed, people were standing for two hours and packed in rather uncomfortably, and a bunch of other people missed their train because there wasn’t enough room and so they had to wait for the next. It created a major domino effect that escalated into a news broadcast, which was really amazing because the car we were in wasn’t packed at all. In fact, I think there was even an empty seat.

Anyway, Here is some of the important pictures I took while in Stockholm.

2.2.11 - Olaus Petri

He was a major motivational speaker in favor of the Lutheran churches. His brother was a religious preacher of sorts, and they both felt very passionate against the Roman Catholic church. Olaus was nearly executed by his own country many times, but saved last minute and allowed to live. He later went on to teach about religion in schools, and persuaded the King to declare the country Lutheran before he died. This statue is located in the front of the Church which is right beside the Royal Palace on the harbor.

2.2.11 - Royal Palace and Obelisk

One of the Royal buildings in the courtyard of the Royal Palace. The Obelisk was built based on the Egyptian structures and designed to resemble the pyramids. It’s constructed of a bunch of smaller stones.

2.2.11 - Royal Palace Side Entrance

This is one of the few entrances to the Palace where the map of the Palace is located. Down a hill to our right is the Royal Armory just before the harbor.

2.2.11 - Royal Palace with Guards

The black and white suits marching down the slope are the Royal Guards. The Swedish flag is on top of the Palace, and this is one of the first things you see as you cross the bridge into Gamla Stan.

2.2.11 - Royal Cathedral Church in the distance

In the distance, the Royal Cathedral church tower can be seen from one of the few streets in Gamla Stan.

2.2.11 - Stock Exchange in Royal Square

The Stock Exchange building in the royal square takes up nearly 1/3rd of the area and was built partially in order to hide the Parliament building, and the Royal Palace from view.

2.2.11 - City Square and old well

This is the oldest part of Stockholm. It’s the town square where a lot of festivities are held during the holidays, and where some of the oldest shops and buildings are located. The well was built, then moved, then rebuilt over a few centuries, but dried up sometime in the 19th century. To the right of the well is the Stock Exchange building.

2.2.11 - Stockholm City map

The part in the red box is considered the center of Stockholm, the rest is all rural areas. The tiny island near the bottom of the red box is Gamla Stan – Old Town, where all of the historical buildings are located.

While at the store last we bought some garlic dressing – that was pretty interesting. With feta, tomato, red onion, and lettuce it makes a pretty good salad, though. I think Morgan will like it a lot.

Today we stayed in, had leftovers, and wrote. I finished naming all of my pictures in my photobook account, and even managed to organize them a bit more so they are in order. I wrote another 800 words for my story, and then decided to read. I went fic diving, and found an interesting time period piece that is about kings and castles that I enjoyed. We later watched more of the Australian Biggest Loser, planned our trip to Stockholm, and discussed our tattoos before heading to bed. We both had to get up by 9am to get food, get dressed, and be at the train station, so we wanted to make sure we got enough sleep.

That was my February 1st in Sweden – not all that exciting, but definitely relaxing.

When we stepped inside, the place was pretty busy, but we got the attention of one of the guys and asked our questions. He pointed us out to Richard, one of the artists there who took us to his cubicle to talk. Richard was concerned about how the new tattoo would mix with Emilie’s previous work – noting they are two entirely different styles. I was surprised when they started speaking English instead of Swedish, and noticed he was American.  We asked for a price range, and he was a bit higher than we wanted which was disapointing. He also said he wouldn’t have time until March, which definitely didn’t work for us. He told us to try talking to another artist that worked there named Anna, stating she might be able to work out a price for us, and has a more flexible schedule. Anna wouldn’t be in for another hour, so we decided to just skip coming back, and left to check out the last shop we had on our list.

We drove to a smaller side of town and parked, but we realized the shop wasn’t open yet, so we sat in the car for another 15 minutes. I took some pictures of her car, and the surrounding area while we waited.

1.31.11 - Emilie's Car

1.31.11 - Shops/Housing Area

Once it was noon, we entered the tattoo shop and were immediately surprised how awesome the place looked. They were playing something like a cross between Swedish pop and reggae music and the walls were covered with flash work and signed by the same couple of artists. There were three guys there, and Emilie spoke with them for awhile about her tattoo, getting it redone, and then adding the new work to it. They seemed concerned about the lines from the previous work getting blurred and turning into a blob since they were so thin. They discussed different ideas in length, and eventually one of the artists said that he could do it – but it wouldn’t be perfect like her art reference – it’s already lost a lot of detail due to the previous touch ups, but that he could make it look much better than before.

They then started to discuss the new tattoo, placement, incorporating it in, and then where I would want mine done. When they realized I didn’t speak English, they seemed taken aback and confused, but said nothing about it. They gave us an amazing price, so we were scared they wouldn’t have an opening in a long time, but they said how about Thursday and we were ecstatic. Emilie told them about the outrageous prices of the other shops, and how they all seemed to be booked for months and the guys we pleased to have our business. I guess the artist that agreed to do our usually only does old style tattoos, but he saw how hard we were looking, and he was confident he could help Emilie with fixing hers, he decided to take it on. He was also the only one with an opening all month – so that worked out. He told us it would be 4,500 SEKS combined, mine would be about 1,500 while Emilie’s was 3,000 because she was having other work done. We made the appointment, and he said there would be a 500 SEKS deposit so we left to get him the money while they wrote us into their book.

Emilie had agreed to pay for mine entirely since she knew it would be over half of my money I had set aside for the trip and she knew I had already paid so much money to get there in the first place. We agreed that she would pay for it, and depending on how much I spent while here and how much she spent to support while here, that we would work it out at the end of the trip. If it came down to it, she didn’t mind paying for all of it as a birthday present.

We returned and paid the deposit, got a slip with our appointment time for noon at Thursday for the both of us, and I got to ask a few questions. I learned that our artist’s name was Frej (pronounced Fray) and that he had amazing, albeit quiet, English skills. He was very shy while speaking English, but he did a great job. I told him that I didn’t want it identical to the image we brought it – that I wanted his own opinion on how to make it realistic. He said he would put the craters in the moon, and shade it more appropriately, and as for the clouds, he was thinking an oil painting style would fit the overall look more. He mentioned that because I was getting it small, any intense detail would be lost, so he wanted to stylize it more with a greywash appearance to the clouds, no hard edges, and a faint oil painting look to it. I immediately loved the idea, and was really happy that he was already thinking about it artistically and we weren’t even getting it done yet. I asked if he planned to use any white and he said no, he doesn’t like the cartoon look this piece would get by adding white – generally when white is used it’s to make something pop unrealistically, like a glare on something shiny, or a hot spot on someone’s flesh. Since this image was so dark, by adding white it would take the soft appearance of the clouds and draw more attention to how blue the moon was. I agreed and was surprised at his in-depth explanation and thorough thought process on the matter. I last asked him how long it would take, and if a US I.D. would be sufficient for the paper work. He said roughly an hour, and then laughed softly at the ID question. He nudged the other guy and asked if I looked 18, and he pretended to think about it. Frej then commented that I looked 18, give or take a few months, and so an ID would be just fine – they don’t have as strict of laws for underage tattoo work as we do back home. I blushed slightly, thinking how off they were on my age, and we left. I snapped a photo of the entrance before we left.

1.31.11 - Don't Worry Mama Tattoo

Emilie and I discussed the shop, it’s vibe, Frej style and personality, and the overall experience of the afternoon, and agreed that we really liked the place, and Frej. He seemed to be a soft spoken, albeit geeky, humble and genuine person. He was very confident in the ability to help Emilie fix her old work and incorporate the new piece in to make it look like it belonged somewhat. I really liked the fact that he was already thinking of it artistically, he spoke English directly to me, instead of speaking through Emilie, and that he seemed excited to start working on it. They were also burning my favorite incense – Dragon’s Blood, and had some amazing flash on the walls. Overall, we were very impressed.

We then headed off to the grocery store to get a few things for home, like more soda, more ice cream, some bagels and cream cheese and salad fixings, along with some more ideas for dinners later in the week. I found some pesto sauce, as well as some carbonara sauce – so I can make two more meals for Emilie. We picked up some more juice that we both love, and some tortillas for chicken burritos later in the week, and were on our way to the renovation center to pick up her new keys.

While they are changing out her bathroom and entry way – they will have different locks on the door, so we picked up the new keys, she signed some paper work about when they would be starting, and we went home, still highly excited about the tattoo.

While Emilie fixed spaghetti, and I fixed the garlic bread, we talked about our next week and the schedule of things to do. Wednesday we will be going into Stockholm by train to spend the day sightseeing and shopping in the capital city. Thursday we will have our tattoo’s done, and her father will be in surgery to remove his tumor – she’s hoping to have the news by 11am so she won’t be worrying about it during our session at the shop. Friday we will take it easy at home and maybe do some grocery shopping if needed, the renovators will also be coming by to take measurements and change the locks. Saturday we might go over to her friends to watch movies with her SPEX friends. Then starting Monday we will be packing up her bathroom, kitchen, and entry way so when we leave for the cruise on Thursday, it will be done and we won’t have to return to the house. After next Thursday, we won’t be coming back to Västerås, instead we will be on the cruise for three days, and then heading to the summer house near Stockholm.

I’m excited about Stockholm on Wednesday, though a little worried. It’s a much bigger city, so there is a lot more to be looking out for – thieves,  cars, scams, missed trains, tickets purchased for transportation, and not getting lost, to name a few. Stockholm is remarkably safe compared to Las Vegas, but as a tourist, I know I need to keep these things in mind, and be concerned about them – I especially don’t want to draw attention to myself or make myself a target.

I’m also really excited about Thursday and getting our art done – I can’t wait to have it finished and healing; it’s been so long since I’ve had ink done and I miss it.

After dinner, we watched some TV, and I easily fell asleep by 8pm after the long day and being awake for so long. I slept rather well, finally, and woke up at a decent hour – 7am. Things are slowly falling into a routine, and casual/comfortable chatter between us has come much easier as well. I’m having a lot of fun, and there is still so much I’m looking forward to in the next 17 days.

Being here for a week already seems to have opened my eyes to other cultures and the vast differences from back home. The technology alone is so much more advanced here in Sweden, that it makes me wonder why we are so far behind. From banking, to credit cards to parking meters and grocery shopping – it’s obvious that not only does our government not trust us, nor do we trust each other, but that our government leads us to think we are so advanced, and so safe when we are very far from it.

Anyway, today was very laid back, and I spent most of the day napping on and off as we stayed indoors and watched TV. When I woke later, I fixed Cashew Chicken for dinner. The soy sauce was much different than I’m used to, so it made fixing it difficult, but it turned out okay – perhaps a little bland.Here’s a picture of dinner.

1.30.11 - Dinner: Night 7 - Cashew Chicken

After dinner, we watched some How I Met Your Mother, and I eventually fell asleep once more until 2am, where I stayed up the rest of the day, and that was that.