Big Bear

Greetings from the slopes of Big Bear! Yes, we took the day off and went skiing! I will have to make up for it by working tomorrow, but it's worth it. It was a really gorgeous day. Blue skies, sunny and warm. It was so warm that Ramzi and Mazen were snowboarding in their t-shirts. That however had some consequences as you can see in the pictures below...

Personally, I didn't get hurt, but I had a pretty major fall in the double black diamond slope. I just couldn't stop sliding down either because I had so much speed and the slope was very steep. I lost one ski on the way, which a nice snowboarder picked up for me. I'm happy I didn't get hurt, it's really been a while since I had a fall like that. I partly blame my ski boot though, it was not tight enough. Hate when the gear isn't good! 

Now, I'm off to a quiet evening at home with tea and a movie.

Another Mardi Gras Party

It's Thursday, but yet, it was time for another Mardi Gras party, or should I say... Jeudi party :) This time I have a mask! I can't take any sort of pride in its creation or aesthetic beauty however because I kind of stole it off the wall (it was a decoration), but it was all in the spirit of fun and honoring those who put a lot of time into this celebration... :)

I have to say though the Jeudi Gras party was a lot lamer than the Mardi Gras party. Just goes to show: don't break tradition!

Tomorrow's agenda: Skiing in Big Bear! Yeay!

Mardi Gras Party

Yesterday's fat tuesday was celebrated with a fabulous Mardi Gras party instead of with Semlor. I took the opportunity to wear a lot of eye makeup. I found a peacock-blue and shimmery eye shadow, which I contrasted with black eyeliner. Very dramatic! I also managed to find a sequin butterfly and some homemade bead necklaces that my cute nephews made.

How do we know it was a great party? Well, the cops came three times, so it must have been good! Another sign is that Lady Gaga played at least three times!

Unfair!!!

Let me tell you what's unfair! 

Today is Fat Tuesday and it's week 9. This means that my whole family, in Sweden, are in the mountains skiing the whole week and eating Semlor, while I'm stuck working. 

They wanted me to go, and I would have gone if I had time off from work and money to go. But I'm currently low on both time and money. Now, it's not so much the skiing and the eating that miss. I could go up to Big Bear for a day and I could bake semlor, it's not that hard. What I really miss is spending a week with my family. Uninterrupted family time. 10 people in a two bedroom apartment 24 hrs a day for 7 days! I know, it sounds dreadful right?! But that's the charm of it all! It's loud and it's chaotic and it's absolutely wonderful!

This is not to say that the closeness doesn't have its downsides. There was for example one time when the entire family came down with the stomach flu. That bug travelled quickly in our close quarters! It started with one person, and when that person was at the worst peak of the illness, it would break out for the next, and so on. It was like a relay meet in vomiting. Eeeeeeewwww! 

Actually, come to think of it, I don't think there was ever a time we went up there and everyone stayed healthy. One time, my nephew fractured his leg. Poor guy! He was, I think, 5 years old at the time. The doctors didn't find the fracture, so we thought he was just scared of skiing after the fall, and we made him go back and ski! 

Another time, I had to go in to the little emergency care hut with an inflamed wisdom tooth. And another time my mom burned her whole face, first by sun exposure and then by mistaking the shampoo with the soothing lotion. The shampoo kind of added a chemical burn to the already burned situation!

Even with all the bad stuff that always seems to happen, when I think back on week 9 skiing, I just think of the good times. The long dinners, the good food, the card games, seeing my little nephews and niece learn how to ski, seeing their proud faces after mastering the ski lift, and their excited faces in the morning waiting for the lifts to open. 

Although I'm not skiing this week, or eating semlor, I'm posting some pictures from previous years, when apparently time and money was more abundant!

Sunday Night Promises

Tonight was Oscar night and as always I was glued to the TV. I missed the red carpet event, which in some sense is more important than the actual show, but the show was really great. Slumdog won a lot of awards and it was my favorite movie of the year, so I feel like a winner :)

While watching the show I also gave my blog a makeover. Nicer huh? I really should have been working on other things, but I'm holding on to the last hours of weekend and can't make myself think about work just yet. Tomorrow...

Speaking of Sunday nights, anyone else make the same promises every Sunday evening? Mine are to go to bed earlier this week, wake up earlier, be healthier, go to the gym more, facebook less, do more research, and bring my own lunch. What are your Sunday night promises?

Girls night

Sofia is here! We enjoyed happy hour at French 75 in fashion island
and now we're anxiously waiting for "he's just not that in to you" to
begin. :)