An actual post.... !!

I almost forgot about my blog until my mom mentioned that it's been ages since my last post. And it's been ages since my last written post - I've been taking the easy way out and just posting pictures.

What have I been doing for the last few months? Everything!! My life has been so hectic that I think I almost fell apart due to stress. I used to think that stress was just an excuse to take a step back but now I know better!

I finished my first year at school - passed my work experience and aced my exam. Really put in some extra effort the last couple of months of school and it definitely paid off. I ended up getting a job at my work experience place, so between school, the pub and the new place, I was pretty busy. Trying to keep track of my calender and getting everything done was insane. And also trying to have a somewhat social life and quiet time was nearly impossible. Luckily, the pub job is very social where I either work with many friends or have my friends sitting on the other side of the bar so that helped.

I started my summer vacation at the beginning of July - BAM - got really sick and was forced to be in bed for almost 2 weeks. Horrible way to start my vacation!! But other than that, I've been keeping myself busy but at a more normal pace. Work (yes, I work during my vacation) at the pub and new place. Visiting friends, fishing, day trips here and there, parties, music festivals, cleaning - it's been a wonderful couple of weeks. I start back up at work again on Monday - back to my daily routine - with school on the side so I'll be keeping myself busy. Work at the pub, weddings, events - won't really have time to be bored.

I'll try to be better at keeping my blog updated - I like writing and it keeps me focused. I'm planning a serious lifestyle change and I'll probably write about it tomorrow or Friday. Right now, I'm in the middle of cleaning my little apartment, throwing stuff out - I have so much JUNK! - and just enjoying a quiet day. Maybe I'll drive down to the beach and enjoy the sunset and take some pictures.

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Work weekend...

It's around 4:30 pm here. I can honestly say.... I haven't done anything interesting today!! I didn't even get up until way past lunch time. It's a work weekend for me, which means I was at the Pub working last night and then again tonight. So I don't even feel guilty about getting some sleep! And now I will get some coffee...

Mmmm - coffee.... (and loud music!!)

Work last night was good. A decent warm-up for a rockin' night tonight - I have a feeling it's going to be super busy. It's the first real "Julefrokost" night for the Danes and that always includes a trip to a bar. Julefrokost is basically just a Christmas party with lots of food and lots of alcohol. So that means every weekend from now to Christmas will be busy at the Pub. But I would much rather it be busy than too quiet!

I'm almost done with LS's late bday present. It just needs a zipper.... I made her one of those weaved magazine purses - black and white with speck of silver using wrapping paper, backside of a chips bag and clear packing tape. I'm quite pleased with the result so far and it will be nice to finally get it done. I also had made her a sock monkey (joke gift) and that turned into a big hit... which means that I might have to make more. The kids at the club have gone all crazy about the purses and the sock dolls so we've been busy in the art room. Pretty cool when something works out, eh?

Other than work, nothing new here. I've been busy at the youth club with kids, teenagers and meetings. And whenever I do have some quiet time to myself, I just drowned myself in a good book and escaped reality. I have the munchies right now - craving foods that I just don't have in my kitchen. Well, actually, I don't have anything in my kitchen other than soup and frozen meat.... nothing all that interesting. Meh.

Off to sew in the zipper so LS can come home from work tomorrow to a little extra surprise. I think I will update my blog (and my creative blog) with pictures instead of too much writing. I just like to write. Maybe I should start working on a book.... Do I have the time for that?? Not at the moment.....

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just a little hello...

I just wanted to say hello - I haven't been very active on my blogs but it's not because I have forgotten about them. I've just been super busy with extra shifts at all my jobs and things like blogging, housework, sleep and fun have been neglected. But I'm still here and will SOON come with an update. I promise!!

A very tired Rie and Dorte, after hosting a slumber party at work - it was a long night!

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vacation...

But not for me. The kids here in DK are all on vacation from school and many are out skiing in Austria or whatever.... so I'm here at the club. With. No. Kids.

It's going to be a long day.

But then again.... I could use the time to have a little fun in the creative workshop/art room. Hmmmmm - I really like that idea.

Off to work I go, trala lala la la

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What a work weekend!

I might actually be getting too old for these kind of weekends!

The sleepover at the youthclub was a success. HUGE success! At least, that's the impression I got from the kids. It started out with a major shopping trip to the grocery store with Dorte - pizza stuff, fruit, veggies, snacks, juice, makeup stuff etc. Lots of good stuff! Luckily, my other coworker had already made dinner for us, so we didn't have to worry about that. Which was a major bonus because the kids started to come early and we were a little stressed out.

But it worked out. The kids came, were all happy and excited. They were fed and then the activities began. Dancing, fashion shows, nailpolish, pillow fights, movies, snacks, girltalk, computer games - it was a long and busy night. I think the last of the girls fell asleep around 4am and then Dorte and I cleaned up and evaluated the evening. We woke them all up at 8am and got the place ready for breakfast and for the parents. They were picked up at 10am and an hour later, we could also go home.

But it was a good night. The girls were all excited to tell their parents about the sleepover so I'm assuming that means they had fun. And they are already talking about next time.

I got home, ate some lunch and then went to bed. I had to work at the pub at 7pm, so after a couple hours of sleep, massive amounts of coffee and redbull, I was ready. The night started off at a slow pace - but turned super busy after a couple of hours. I was working the coatcheck and by 2am, I was in trouble. Not so much because I was tired, but because people just kept on coming - the pub was packed almost the entire night. It was a long and very tough shift. Thank god for some good co-workers, who helped out even though they weren't working. I couldn't have survived the evening without them! But when I got home at 6am-ish, I was exhausted. Tired and in pain.

But I survived my work weekend.

Sunday - I kept things quiet. Lise came over so we could watch the men's handball game - final game in the world championship. We lost to France. Boohoo! We'll have to live with a silver medal. Her and I ate burgers and then she left so I could skype it out with my parents. Gotta love Skype!

And then I went to bed. And I let myself sleep in today. It's now 11am and I'm ready to take over the world!

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It's going to be a long night!

I'm enjoying a quiet Friday - I stayed up late last night, working on my puzzle. I slept in today and was able to just wake up at my own pace. I ate breakfast/lunch and started on some laundry. I worked on my other blog and now I'm here. Oh yeah, don't forget the drinking tea part... I don't have more milk for my coffee, so it was tea today.

But at 4pm - the quiet, relaxing Friday is at an end. I have a long evening and night ahead of me. We're having a slumber party at the club - 25 girls (ages 9-12) are coming at 6pm and then it'll probably be madness until 11am tomorrow. I don't expect to get any sleep (we didn't sleep at all the last time we hosted a sleepover), so I'm going to drown myself with coffee and Redbull. We have many plans and I know many of the girls are very excited.

But my work weekend isn't over there. I get home Saturday at around lunch time, and then my plan is to sleep a bit. And try to relax. I have a shift at the pub at 7pm and I won't be home until 7am Sunday so it's going to be another long night.

Good thing I love my jobs! Now I'm off to drink more tea and make up a shopping list for today.

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Sweden 2009

I am now relaxed and finished up everything here at home so I can update my blog - with pictures!! I got home last night from a camping trip to Sweden with work. 21 kids for 5 days can sure wipe one out! But it was a really good trip and I think I can safely say that everyone had a good time. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the campsite was perfect for our needs. The only 2 things that kinda sucked were all the bugs that came out at night and the fact that I didn't get to see much of Sweden. So I'll probably take another trip to Sweden sometime in the future, without kids and see more of the nature and whatever else Sweden has to offer.

On to the pictures!

Here we are in Grenå Harbour, waiting for the ferry. It took 5 hours to sail to Varberg in Sweden but for many of the kids, it was their first time on a ferry. I felt like an old pro!

Yeah, ok.... so I'm not normal. Had to entertain myself (and 21 kids) while we were waiting to board the ferry!

Dorte, one of my co-workers at Jættebo. She's amazing and I'm so glad she came with us to Sweden. She has crazy crazy crazy curly hair and the fresh breeze on the top deck of the ferry didn't help her keep control of her curls!

I knew the trip to Sweden was going to be long and hot so I just put on a headband and my funky glasses. Enjoying the fresh air on the ferry and goofing around with Dorte.

Varberg Harbour, Sweden. We had to wait for the bus to deboard and pick us up.

Jesper, one of our BBQ masters and one of my co-workers at Jættebo. When 21 kids are hungry, they get evil! Just kidding!

Our campsite. We had 10 tents with us for 25 people. The pool is just to the left.

Dinner time. Poul is our boss and knew what he was doing since him and Jesper have been on trips with kids lots of times.

Dorte is just so cool!

To celebrate Canada Day, my co-workers thought we should have a "Canada Day Cake eating" contest where everytime me or the 3 kids involved could answer a question about Canada, we could eat some of our cake. Needless to say, I KICKED ASS!

We took our 8 mountainbikes with us and they were well used during the trip. That's the bus that got us to Sweden. No air-conditioning and only 2 windows that could open. Try a trip in a heatwave - it wasn't all that much fun!

Group shot on the morning we left. Tired but happy kids.

It was super crazy with all the baggage! And that's only half of it!

I was bored on our trip back to Denmark.

The view from the ferry leaving Göteborg.

Goodbye Sweden!

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update!

It's been way too long since I last posted... But I'm here now and this time, I plan to post pictures too! Most of the pictures have been uploaded on facebook so these are mainly for those of you who don't have facebook. Gotta love facebook!

I have been busy, but not too overly stressed out. My days just seem to fly by and I'm seriously enjoying life. Ok, I've had some days at work where I'm ready to tear my hair out afterwards but I guess that's all part of the "real life". I still love my jobs. We had a market/circus theme week a while ago and my part of it was letting the kids throw "flødeboller" at me. It got sticky and very messy. The kids loved it - I wasn't too thrilled afterwards but it was worth it. But next time, it'll be someone else's turn in the box!

They all lined up and threw marshmellow-ish stuff at me. Even my co-workers took advantage of it and had a go. It got messy. And we were all on a sugar high afterwards!

I had several hours left of my shift afterwards and wasn't able to wash my hair. Yuck!

The youth club in Nørup is closed now. A bitter-sweet feeling. I love working there - I love it when the kids seem happy to see us and all the fun (and not-so-fun situations) stuff that goes on. But then again, it's nice having my Wednesday evenings free for other stuff. I see the kids from Nørup every once in a while at the local youth parties so I try to keep in contact. And facebook definitely helps too.

But I'm still working at the garage every Saturday and now that the weather has gotten way better, we have more and more kids coming by. Lots of fun. Especially now that I'm actually getting to know them.

Now that the sun is shining and it's warmer, we tend to move the scooters outside and work on them in the fresh air. I still know NOTHING about scooters but I'm having fun "learning" while hanging out with these kids. They love telling me all sorts of stuff and I still understand nothing about motors and stuff. Luckily, we talk about a million other things besides scooters.

Lise came out and visited me last Saturday at work. Gorgeous weather! And I got my first sunburn of the year - probably won't be my last one....

Other than work, I've been either hanging out here at home, doing artsy/creative stuff, reading and just relaxing. Or I'm spending time with my friends where we either just hang out, make dinner together, watch movies and have a couple of drinks every now and then. Greg, my Canadian buddy stayed at my place a few days before heading off to travel Europe. He'll be coming back for a few days again at the end of May and then he's going back home to get on with the real life of work and responsibilities.

Greg and me at a party at Rasmus' place a little while ago. He's definitely brought back a lot of Canadian memories and it was nice having someone here that understands my stupid canadian jokes and all the good stuff from back home.

I don't get to hang out with my friends as much as I wish I could. Due to my wacky work hours (mainly afternoons and evenings), I rarely see them during the week. So we try to get together on the weekends and catch up. Not always drinking and wild parties but always lots of fun!

Rasmus, Lise and I had a seriously fun night a few weeks ago. Just us three and I laughed so hard that my stomach muscles were hurting the next day. We took so many pictures but this one is definitely my fave. Kinda hard taking the picture and being in it at the same time but it worked out.

Last weekend was just gorgeous. Sunshine, good friends and BBQ food. Christa and Lise picked me up at work and after we did some grocery shopping, we came back to my place (and Christa's - she's my neighbour) and had a BBQ in the courtyard. Good food, good wine and good company. When the sun went down and it got chilly, we went up to my place and had a serious girl's night. Talking, laughing and even a few tears. The only bummer was that I had been in the sun a little too much during the day and was feeling the pain later on in the evening.

Great picture of Christa but a horrible picture of me. I was tired and sunburnt. Luckily, they love me even when I look like shit.

There is so much more to tell but I think I'll end it here and leave the rest for next time. I have to get ready for work now... and drink more coffee. Mmmm, coffee.....

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Work weekend...

I'm cold, hungry and alone.... sounds a lot more pathetic than it really is!

I'm at work (the garage) and since we have no heat here, I'm freezing. Seriously. I have long underwear on underneath jeans, two pairs of socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a t-shirt, a thick sweater, my jacket, a hat and gloves on and I'm still cold. And I can't type on my puter with gloves...

But it's all good!

No kids are here right now so I'm taking advantage of the quiet to update my blog. Soon I will eat lunch. It's all about work this weekend because after my shift at the garage, I will be heading out to Jelling to the youth party - that's the one where a lot of the kids are completely shitfaced and there is usually lots to do.

But.... I love my jobs. So it's all good.

I've been sick earlier this week with a nasty cold but I'm pretty much back in business again. Still snotty and still sporting a yucky cough but I'll survive. I usually do.

I have some new paintings that need to be hung up at home plus some old ones that have been touched up. I should seriously take some pictures soon of my home. Do you remember my old apartment when I lived alone? Just picture that - they're exactly the same.

And I love my home. It's my home. A little messy and still need to get some things done like curtains, lights and buy a vacumn cleaner but that'll come.

My babbling is coming to an end. My fingers are too frozen to type so the gloves are coming back on. Have a great weekend!

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