Merry Christmas!

I'm waiting for Anders to get ready and then we're going over to his parent's place to spend Christmas eve with his family. Good food, coffee, wine, chocolate and presents - it should be a nice evening.

I did absolutely nothing this weekend and I LOVED it! I guess I really needed to catch up on some sleep because I slept in both days and woke up to breakfast being served. I didn't do much other than sleep, eat, watch movies and play on my computer. Since we'll be so busy with family stuff the next few days, I don't feel guilty about being a lazy hermit the last couple of days!

So tonight is at Anders' parent's place. Tomorrow will probably be left overs at their place again - we usually go over to my family on Christmas Day but plans have been changed. Then a Christmas lunch on Wednesday at Anders' aunt and uncle's place - again with too much food and lots of people. We were invited out to Nørup (my family) on Thursday but Anders has to work and I have a youth club party that evening with lots of drunken teenagers plus I have plans with an old friend coming to Vejle so we had to unfortunately say no thanks to more food. Hopefully we can drive out there sometime during the weekend and drink some coffee with my crazy aunt and uncle.

New Years Eve (NYE) plans are starting to come around.... ok, not really. All I know is that Tine, Heidi, Anders and I will be eating dinner together, most likely here at our place. Maybe two more friends too. But we don't know what's happening afterwards and with who. No one is really showing too much excitement towards NYE so it'll probably be a quieter evening... which suits me just fine. It'll be a nice excuse to really just hang out with our friends and have a good time without the hangover the day after.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas - Danes, Canadians and whoever else reads this blog. Big hugs to you and your family!!

xoxoxoxxoxo Rie

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bad at blogging!

I've been such a horrible blogger lately.

I've been busy with work and that takes up a lot of my time - working and the transportation. I get home at 11pm three night a week and it takes lot of my energy. But I still love my job and even though we've been busy, it's still lots of fun. I'd rather be busy then having nothing to do.

I'm still in the process of moving all my stuff. I guess I haven't been clear on where exactly I moved since some people have been asking questions.... Anders and I have moved back in with each other and instead of spending money on a new apartment, I moved back to his place, which is actually my old place too. So I guess you can say we are finally back to normal after some hard times during the past year. And life is good - we are happy. We still have lots to do here but because of work, we can only really get stuff moved and organized during the weekends. But it's getting there. I think after I finish this post, I will start cleaning up in the computer/craft room and then start re-organising the kitchen so we can see what we need and don't need from my old place. I have the other apartment until Feb. 15 so we still have some time. We are slowly buying new furniture and have already bought two desks for the computer/craft room, a dresser for the bedroom and a tv bench for the living room. At one point, we do want to get new couches and a new dining room table but that'll come after Christmas when we have some money to play with.

Speaking of Christmas, what is everyone's plans for the holidays? Are you all done with the shopping? We're only halfway done and I'll have to make some trips downtown before work next week and Anders will have to do his shopping next weekend. We'll be doing the usual for Christmas - Christmas Eve at his parent's place and then hopefully Christmas Day with my family in Nørup... Maybe I'll get to see my cousin's new babies - the twins were born Dec. 5th and Line and Tobias are happy and healthy (from what I hear from Karin).

Major update!!! Glenda and Nathan are now proud parents to Aiden Benjamin. He finally came to the world yesterday, Dec. 15th after a tough labor that ended in a c-section. From what I hear from Nathan and Dee, mommy Glenda and baby bean Aiden are both doing really good.

Congratulations to the Potter family! I can't wait to see more pictures! And thank you to Dee for keeping me updated and also for posting pictures on her blog!

It's been a quiet weekend. Anders and I both had Christmas parties at our work on Friday so he was in Århus with computer geeks and I was here in Vejle with my co-workers. Dinner, drinks and Singstar. We ended up meeting each other downtown at the local bar and came home at around 5am.... We are too old for this kind of partying because we did absolutely nothing yesterday - neither one of us could find extra energy to do anything else other than watch tv and sleep.

I hope to update my blog more often and to take some more pictures of my life here. The batteries to my camera are being recharged as I type this so I won't have any excuses.

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Yes, I'm still alive....

I've been busy with work and getting our apartment organized and re-arranged so I haven't really had some quiet time for my blog. Not like I really have anything to write about lately - I'm just living my everyday life here.

Our "new" home is coming along nicely. We have bought some new furniture - a desk, chest of drawers and a tv bench and it definitely helps. I don't have all my stuff up here yet but that's because we are both working quite a bit (and at different times in the day) and plus we want to really clean up and get it all ready here before we move everything. I think it's going to look great when we're done but it's taking longer than I expected because of finances and just plain lack of time.

I went to a "summerhouse" with Anders and his family this weekend to celebrate his mom's bday on Tuesday. Tine and I did have plans to spend Friday evening with Jonna and her two girls but they unfortunately all came down with the flu and Jonna was forced to cancel. Next time! I just hope they're feeling better. (And I hope Tine's headache is finally gone too!) So I came out to the summerhouse and basically just hung out there. We went for a walk Saturday but it was really cold and windy so after a few hours of wandering around in some vacation town, we went back to the fireplace, our coffee and played boardgames. Trivial Pursuit and "Tegn og Gæt" (what is it called in English? In teams, drawing and guessing what it is? I can't remember!)

We drove home Sunday and I was so tired - I didn't sleep well at all so I desperately needed a couple hours so I could function again. And now I'm here. Just finished talking to my parents and brother and his girlfriend on skype and now I think I'm going to clean up on a bookshelf here and the closet in the hallway before I throw myself on the couch and watch a movie. Maybe we should start thinking about what we're eating for dinner tonight too....

See, nothing all that interesting to post. Work is good. Life is good. Health is good. Family is good. It's all good.

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a life update!

Yes, I'm still alive!

I don't know why but I haven't been good at updating my blog lately but I think it's because I don't know what to write. I work. I sleep. I take the bus. I eat. I watch tv. I play cards on the computer. That's my life. But I'm loving it!

Thank you to everyone for all the birthday greetings! All the phone calls, emails, text messages, facebook... I felt so loved! I had a good day - it started with breakfast served by Anders before he had to work. Then I brought a cake with me to my work and found a few minutes to sit down with my co-workers and eat cake and drink coffee. The kids found out that it was my birthday so a lot of the girls sang to me and make small gifts from the materials we have in our creative workshop - I ended up coming home with cards, a purse decorated with beads and roses, small earring boxes and keychains. I got other good gifts, including money from the Canadian family, dvd's from Anders and a book from Tine. I went out for dinner with Tine Tuesday after work and we really caught up on some girly gossip - lots of laughs and a really good time.

So, I had a really good day - nice and quiet but that's the way I wanted it!

Other than my birthday, I haven't really been doing much. Work takes up a lot of my time and energy but I love it. I feel good at work and I definitely feel right about making this my career choice. It won't make me rich but that's not what's important. I'm learning so much about myself, about my limits, about kids and their limits and I feel as though I'm doing something good. Plus it's fun! I can honestly say that my work is fun.

News from my American side of the family - my cousin, Cydney, tied the knot with her boyfriend Patrick and can now call themselves husband and wife! Congratulations! The ceremony took place a couple of weeks ago but I'm a little behind in my blogging. Here are some pictures of the happy couple!

My aunt helped Cydney with getting ready for the small, intimate ceremony.

The happy couple - Patrick and Cydney. Congratulations! I hope you guys had a great day!

Speaking of weddings, my brother and his fiance finally set the date. JC and Kim will be getting married in Calgary May 1st next year! It'll be a small wedding ceremony... without his big sister being present. Yes... I am forced to take a good look at reality and reality for me is that I can't afford a trip to Calgary at that point, nor can I take the time off work for an extra vacation. And I'm pretty bummed out because I would have loved to meet Kim and seen my baby brother get hitched. So I'm going to have to rely on my parent's photography skills and be there in spirit. Hey, maybe someone can set up a webcam in the corner!

I have a busy weekend coming up - a "tupperware" party Friday evening with Jannie and the girls and then a bday party at Anders' place Saturday. I don't plan on hitting the drinks too hard this weekend but it should be fun hanging out with some friends and just having a good time. I'll bring my camera and take pictures!

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I know, I know....

It's been freaking forever since I last wrote here on my blog. Wow, it's actually been several weeks ago since last.... I hope you guys haven't given up on me and this blog - I am now back in business and promise to write more often!

So.... things have definitely been happening here and I have no idea where to start. The last time I wrote, was shortly after Jannie's birthday party and that following week, I didn't do much other than work. And work. And work. We are now open in the other clubs (Norup, Egtved etc) and I'm back in Norup every Wednesdays plus I help out when I can in Egtved and Odsted.

The next weekend was crazy but it was nice that Lena came over for breakfast Sunday morning. She's such a sweetie - she brought some food and cooked up a wonderful meal and we had a chance to catch up and just hang out.

Then it was the week of Emma/Anders' birthday (Oct. 9th) - HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAYS! I didn't get a chance to do a blog post because I ended up getting sick that week (again). I don't know why, but I've been sick quite often lately and it really sucks. But I got over it and I'm back in business again. I hope you both had great birthdays and were spoiled rotten!

Speaking of Anders.... we are now officially back together. I don't know what to say other than the fact that I'm happy and I'm glad we worked things out. Yups, Anders and Rie are again a couple!

I can't forget Kirsten, who celebrated her birthday too Oct. 14 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The week after was busy with work and a birthday - Tine celebrated her second 29th birthday Oct. 17.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Yes, she turned 30 and she's not happy with it - just remember, it's just a freaking number and it doesn't mean that your life is over! Geez, Tine and Glenda are nuts when it comes to birthdays! (that was written with love!) Anyways, Tine held a small, yet extremely cozy party and it was nice finally meeting some of her other friends. I've heard so much about them and just needed to put some faces to the people I felt I already knew. (Pictures from her party are on her blog).

It was also Ernst's, my uncle, birthday that week (Oct. 20th) and I hope he had a good day too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! The day after Tine's party, I went to Kolding and visited Lena and Laine and had a really good afternoon/evening with them. Just talking, making dinner and doing some crafty stuff. I don't get to see them all that often so it was fun being able to spend the day with them.

Puha, this is turning into a long (babbling) post. I just need to catch up and then I promise I will return to less rambling-like posts.

So... where was I? Oh right, last week, I didn't do much other than work and hang out with friends. I finally got my dishwasher and I'm LOVING it! No more yucky dish water and no more dirty dishes piling up on my counters... (I truely hate doing dishes!) I had a dentist appointment and didn't pass with flying colors which means I have to go back to the dentist again Nov. 9th. Shitty deal.

Last Friday, I had an interview at my work. I had applied for the permanent position there and well.... I GOT IT! Yups, I am no longer a temp and now I'm a "real" member of the staff. No more panic attacks about if I have a job Jan. 1st because I know now that I have a job and I love it! I'm very happy and that definitely lifted a big burden off my shoulders.

This past weekend, we (Tine, Jannie, me etc) went to Jonna and Brian's place for their open house. They have been working for months, years on an old house and have completely renovated it so they had an open house for all their friends, family and people who have helped them. Their house looks great and it was great seeing everyone again. After that, Tine and I went over to my place and carved pumpkins.... Yes, we are people who decided to spend our Saturday night carving pumpkins and just hung out here. Tine says she never carved a pumpkin before but I think she's lying because it went very well. We carved 3 pumpkins - she carved one with windows so it looked like a lantern, I carved a very traditional spooky, mean faced pumpkin and then we made a special one for Jannie - inside joke and I'm not going to get into it here. Lots of fun!

So now it's Monday and I'm up early because I have laundry and stuff to do around here before I head off to work. This turned into a very long post (sorry about not posting any pictures) but I promise to be better in the future. Now everyone is updated in what's been going on in my life here in the land of the Danes.

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weekend activities

Puha, what a week and what a weekend. I'm getting too old for this but I'll admit it - I had such a great week and a really fun weekend!

Actually, I just worked all week - pulling double shifts at different youth clubs and going to youth club related meetings but since I LOVE my job(s) so much, the week just flew by. Most of the people I work with are super nice and that really helps the long days fly by. So, even though I've been crazy busy, things are going great. Busy in such a positive way!

After I got to sleep in Saturday (thanks Heidi!), my fun weekend started. Heidi came over and it was great seeing her again. We talked about everything and really caught up on each others lives. (Congrats on the new job!) Then we got ready - she kept stealing my mirror and I had clothes all over the place. Loud music and coffee, then we're happy. Christina, Tina, Tine and Jannie came over, we had dinner and some drinks before we went down to celebrate Jannie's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANNIE!

Sooooo, I'm not going to get into all the details. Lots of laughs, dancing, drinks and just a really good time. We lost a Tine, found a Leon, met some nice people and met some wierd people. Here are the pictures - the good and the not-so good!

Heidi and Rie.

Tine and Rie

Jannie and Rie - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANNIE!

Rie and Maj.

Rie and Jannie.

Group shot - Heidi, Rie and Tine. Having a great time!

(check out Heidi's blog for more pictures!)

I'm working a lot this week too but nothing planned for the weekend. Not yet at least ;)

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drinking pictures from Canada

Me and some old friends went out for drinks one Friday while I was home for my visit and here are the pictures. I have known Glenda, Nathan, Lance and Dan (and Dan's brother - we met up with him later) for many years and it was nice seeing them all again. I know I look like a total alcoholic but trust me, we all knew our limits and we all behaved ourselves. But we sure had fun and partied like the old times! Here are the pictures, again in random order.

PS. One thing did seriously suck that evening... my dear friend Dee couldn't make it and I missed her terribly!

Nathan is NOT sober in this picture.

Thanks to Lance, I found out I like rye and ginger-ale!

Nathan with a big beer in front of him. Nathan and I both used to live in Sooke and have spent many hours going for walks (sneaking smokes) and just hanging out. He's a great guy!

Me and Dan... we have a history together and I'm really glad that we can still talk and get along great. We hung out with his older brother after the bar closed and it was great seeing Mid again!

Rie enjoying her drinks!

Rie and Glenda - Glenda is pregnant so she was drinking non-alcoholic beverages all night and it was great seeing her again and I'm surprised she stayed out all night with us! Surprised but very happy that she did!

Rie and Lance. I haven't seen Lance in quite a few years and we still get along great. He's a dear friend and I hope he finds his way to Europe soon! Lance, remember our plans when we turn 50!

Lance is the MAN!

Group Shot - Glenda, Nathan, Lance, Rie, Dan and our bartender - Shawn (I think that was him name but either way, he was a really nice guy!)

It's a quiet Saturday night here in DK. I just ate leftovers from last night and I'm starting to feel better again. I think I was hit with the flu or whatever but it's over again and I'm ready to take over the world on Monday. I don't know what my exact plans are for tonight but it probably involves dishes, painting and the tv. I should probably just take it easy this weekend since I'm working every day and every evening next week plus a big bday party to attend on Saturday.

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MORE pictures!

I did say that we took so many good pictures from my trip, didn't it?

Ok, so here are some more, pictures of time spent outside.... We were lucky with the weather and the sun was shining most of time.

(in random order...)

Jaime and Rie - goofing around and having a good time!

Chris is being "attacked" by Alli's dog, Jack. He'll lick you until you bleed!

Group shot - Mormor, Soren, Peter and Gaby.

HAHAHA, I just love this picture. We (mom, dad, JC, Rie, dogs and cat) slept in this huge tent for several nights and Spencer got curious when Mormor and Bebba decided that we had slept in long enough one morning.

JC, Mormor and Jake.... Mormor is either short or the boys are tall.

How about we say that the boys are tall and us girls are normal? Jaime, Mormor and Rie.

Group shot - Mormor with her grandchildren. Too bad Peter and Cydney wasn't there! (Mormor, I think you're right, we are the same height....)

We got a picture of my brother not making any faces!

My mom out in the sunshine.

Jaime, Mom, Stritte, Rie and Mormor. I think Jaime and Stritte were comparing the size of their bums...

Soren and Bebba having a "serious" talk.

Peter and Gaby

Group shot - almost the entire family! Mom, Mormor, Greg, Stritte, Bebba, Jake, Jaime, Dad, Chris with Spencer and Rie. (I know I look funny!!)

Yes, I still have loads of great pictures and they are all slowly making their way up on my blog!

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Shopping downtown

One of the days during my trip home, us girls (Mom, Mormor, Alli and me) went downtown to look around Chinatown, Market Square etc. The weather was gorgeous and we even did some shopping! Here are some of the pictures in random order...

There are several small "pathways" in the Chinatown area where there are small stores hidden in the back.

This is in front of a silly gag store on... Johnston St. I think. It's a store with funny t-shirts, mugs and just a bunch of goofy stuff. We saw a t-shirt hanging in the window that was just hilarious so we had to go in there to look.

Alli in Fantan Alley in Chinatown. Lots of small funky stores.

Rie is a true tourist!

We stopped to have coffee in this little cafe.

I don't know what's going on in this picture but Mom looks like she's having a good time!

The traditional tourist picture - The Chinatown Gates.

Ok, we're not normal but we like that! My Mormor had this thing of taking pictures of us from behind - aka Bum Pictures. So we gave her a bum picture!

Things here in Vejle are ok. I've just been working and taking it easy here at home. The next few weekends will be busy with youth parties, bday parties and family stuff so I spent last night just relaxing and doing things around here after I got home from dinner with Tine. We met up in town after work yesterday and had a quiet dinner at the local cafe and then just walked around and talked. I have a family bbq tomorrow so I'm not sure if I'll make it on for my usual Sunday Skype session.

Right now, I want to put on some loud music and get some things done here. Get my place cleaned up and looking good again!

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Up island...

Here are some more pictures of my Canada 2007 trip. As most of you know, my parents have a boat docked in Cowichan Bay and of course we took a drive up there so my grandparents could have a look. Plus we went to Chemanus and saw a musical - my first time seeing a musical and I must admit, I enjoyed it. That day, the weather was just gorgeous and we got some really good pictures.

I just love the view from the top of the Malahat. You don't see that in Denmark!

JC, Mormor, Dad and Rie - we look like tourists and I guess most of us are considered tourists in Beautiful BC.

Bebba enjoyed the view from Dad's truck.

JC, Mormor and Mom.

I'm playing with a very old typewriter.

Mom is checking out all the small funky stores at the Whippletree Junction.

JC trying to look like he doesn't care that I'm taking a picture of him.

Bebba and Mormor!

JC, Mom and Bebba - we're on our way after window shopping in Chemanus to the see the musical.

Dad and Bebba went to see the boat the day before and there was just enough wind for a little trip. Dad always looks happy when he's on his boat!

The marina is "Cow Bay" is a lot nicer than Goldstream and well worth the drive up there.

Here's the family - Marmora , Sooke, Calgary and Vejle. The best fish and chips is in Cowichan Bay at the Rock Cod Cafe!

I have to cut this short - I have to help another youth club out tonight so I'm going to work soon. Lise just walked in the door and I should get ready. Hope everything is going well for all you guys and I'll be back again soon with lots more pictures! Love you all!

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