Ghosts of Christmas Past

Christmas is over. PHEW!

 

What happened to me this year? Usually I love this holiday. But this year it just seemed like one big hassle.

 

I guess it was in part due to the fact that this year I didn't have the excitement of "going home." For the past 9 years, I've been living abroad and I have always taken 1 - 3 weeks off at Christmas and "gone home." So, Christmas wasn't really a one day event, but a big event full of family and friends and lots going on.

 

This year I did "go home" to Western Massachusetts but when I'm just driving an hour and a half from Boston, well it just wasn't the same.

 

And as I mentioned before, Christmas with just the four of us - my mother, father, brother and I - is a bit sad and well very very low key.

 

This year Christmas went something like this:

• Mom doing her annual cooking (that's right, she only cooks a big real meal about one time per year) and complaining and hating every minute of it
• My brother and I offering to help, mom not letting us and then complaining that we never help
• My brother and I drinking 
• My mother yelling at my brother and I for every little thing we did including at one point yelling out "Hey! No laughing while drinking!" I had red wine on the couch and was laughing and although there was no danger of spilling, my mother still felt that the glass of red wine + laughter = bad news for the couch
• My brother and I making fun of my mother for being so OCD
• My brother and I drinking
• Visiting Grandfather in the nursing home - always nice to see him but always sad that he can't join us at our house for Christmas the way he always did 
• My brother and I doing all our shopping (which really wasn't that much) on Christmas Eve and then staying up until 3 am to wrap presents
• The annual Christmas Eve eating and song singing with a couple who are my parent's close friends
• Christmas morning stocking unwrapping and breakfast eating (yummy breakfast casserole)
• Me spending hours and hours pre-Christmas to make family photo calendars only to find that they are all messed up (thank you Kodak) and being very disappointed)
• Mom burning my favorite part of Christmas dinner
• Me sulking about the burned part of Christmas dinner since it's the only time my mother ever cooks - have I mentioned that before? And my mother being mad with me.
• Mom swearing she will never ever ever cook again (yes, we are now reducing the cooking from 1 time per year to 0 times - although I do think that for the sanity of everyone involved it might be better if my brother and I take over this activity from now on). 
• The annual Risk game that we never finish - me sulking that I'm loosing. I always loose. I hate loosing. My brother getting mad at me for being a bad sport (I am a very very sore looser).
• Me making everyone watch The Sound of Music (which is always on Dec 26th) and everyone else in the family pretending to hate it but actually liking it more than they want to admit
• My brother and I getting stranded another night at my parents due to the inclement weather
• My brother and I drinking

This year Christmas was mediocre at best. I couldn't help but think back to Christmas' in the past when things felt just a bit more magical and special.

Let me share with you my Ghosts of Christmas Past in no particular order - just a random sampling of memories:

• Gram and Gramp coming to stay - they always played a very central role in the Christmas festivities and they made Christmas so festive
• My Grandmother would always dress up in a Christmas sweater, earrings and a Christmas pin (or broach - is that the right word)?
• When we were younger, my brother and I were so excited for Christmas! We couldn't wait to open all the presents. We would be so excited we couldn't sleep and waking my parents up as soon as they would let us.
• We always got to open one gift on Christmas Eve. It was usually a really good present. One year it was a Care Bear and another it was these little toy pianos (which I'm sure my parents regretted giving us)
• Other great Christmas gifts included: the wooden building blocks my grandfather hand-made us (those were our absolute favorite childhood toy); the wooden tool benches my father made us, the tape recorder and the books on tape (I remember my grandmother sitting with me listening to the books)
• We believed in Santa for a loooong time - that made Christmas fun.
• We always left milk and cookies for Santa
• Before we went to bed, my grandfather would always say that he thought he could hear Rudolph up on the roof
• As we got older, we got excited to give people gifts. We always spent a lot of time shopping for the "perfect" gifts - although we tended to choose quantity over quality. We loved to see LOTS of presents under the tree
• When we were still young enough to be super excited about Christmas, we were allowed to "tip toe" downstairs after the parents and grandparents were in bed and put our presents under the tree - I still remember how exciting it felt to get that first glimpse of the presents under the tree in the dark room. I would take a long time searching for the perfect place to put my presents. I remember how disappointed I was the first year that my parents brought out the presents before we "went to bed" they said we were too old and stayed up too late for them to wait any longer. I honestly think that until that day (I was 15) I still believed in Santa or at least in the miracle of Christmas. After that it was just never as special.
• Christmas Eve family jams - my brother and my father are very musical and sometimes I can be convinced to sing. This is one of the few traditions that still lives on.
• Grammy's ginger snap cookies and Christmas cheese
• Santa hanging boxes full of candy all over the tree - and sometimes we could even eat the candy before breakfast!
• Mom's lasagna for Christmas Eve, breakfast casserole on Christmas morning and Ham and home-made macaroni and cheese for Christmas dinner

What are your favorite Christmas memories? How was your Christmas this year? I hope that you all had a great one! And while I'm all bah humbug still, I sincerely wish you a warm and happy holiday with your families and friends.

It's Raining Men Part II

Thanks for tuning in to my "It's Raining Men" series Part II. Haven't read Part I yet? Do so here.

When this International Woman of Mystery last left you, I had been telling you about the attempted. yet averted kiss from Locker Boy and had been alluding to juicy omissions I may or may have not made on this blog. I also told you that I was not done talking about boys... there is one more boy to talk about.

As for Locker Boy... well, I have yet to return his last text message to me asking me to go to the symphony with him in Boston... I know. I'm feeling bad enough. Don't rub it in.


As for the juicy omission it might be because:

a. It involves a colleague
b. It involves a guy with a girlfriend
c. It involves a lot of alcohol and is therefore a little bit blurry and non-sensical
d. It is a little bit embarrassing
e. I haven't managed to process it enough to write about it
g. It is still playing out and I realize it's either too premature to write about it or I might never be able to
h. All of the above

Moving on...

There is one last boy to make an appearance on the It's Raining Men Series... And I felt like he deserved a whole blog post in itself.

So, without further ado... INTRODUCING NOMAD BOY!!!!

Nomad Boy and I have had a long history together. Let me tell you about it...

I met Nomad Boy when I was 19. That summer I had been living on Martha's Vineyard. The final night I was there, K one of my best friend's from home, came out to visit and help me move back. She talked about going to a party where there was a guy who I would "love." I remember her describing him as a long-haired skater boy (totally my type back in those days). He was a friend of a friend from a town close to our hometown. Well, we never made it to that party and I soon forgot about the cute skater boy she was supposed to hook me up with.

I moved back home to my parent's house for the final weeks before school started again. And a couple weekends later, I went with K to a party in the town next to ours. I didn't really know the people at this party, nor did I have any idea who lived in the house. But while looking at the family pictures on the walls, I recognized a girl who I had worked with at my summer job during previous summers. However, I didn't see her at the party.

So, I'm sitting in a bedroom on the floor and suddenly this super cute long-haired skater boy walks in and points at me. "You." He says.

"Yes?" I say.

"You're that girl!"

"What girl?" I say innocently and flirtatiously - I mean this guy is seriously hot and oh-so my type!

"You're that girl on the Vineyard." He says. And suddenly it clicked - he must have been the guy my friend was telling me about...

I tried to play it coy "What girl on the Vineyard?" I asked. Anyway, we chatted for a bit and I told him that apparently I knew his sister. And we made the usual comments about small world etc. (remember this is like 1997 way pre-Facebook when degrees of separation were so less in your face and encounters like this still seemed weird and random yet meaningful).

And later on that night we found ourselves alone...

"It's so strange," he says. "You know how you make up lives for people in your head? Well, I totally did that with you. I saw you all the time on the Vineyard - you always hung out with that blond skater boy and you worked in that shop and you always wear headbands." Wow. I thought to myself, he must have been totally stalking me from afar because boy had the details down. But he was hot so I decided I was more impressed than creeped out.

"And," he continues. "I thought that you were a Vineyard girl and lived there all year long and that the blond boy was your long-term boyfriend. And then I come home from the Vineyard to find you sitting in my bedroom and find out you're from the town next to mine."

"Funny how that happens," I said. And then he kissed me. And that kiss launched the adventures of Nomad Boy and the International Woman of Mystery - a story that has dragged on for 12 years and has yet to play itself out.

I went home that night slightly tipsy and overly euphoric and I woke up my mother to tell her in a typical International Woman of Mystery over-dramatic fashion, that I had met the guy I was going to marry.*

I can't say that Nomad Boy and I ever had a serious thing. We haven't. What we've had is a series of summer flirtations and random hook ups, stolen kisses on the couch in his basement while his dad watched TV in the room above us, many steamy late night conversations, flurries of exchanged emails, gmail chats, facebook messages and (sometimes dirty) pictures. We've also had years where we haven't seen each other and we've had many "just missed" connections were we thought we would meet up, but at the last minute it didn't work out - like this summer when we had plans to meet up in San Fran but he suddenly moved to Hawaii just days before we were supposed to meet (the life of a Nomad Boy is this way I suppose).

I sometimes blame our lack of substance on the fact that Nomad Boy and I have never lived in the same place at the same time. Our colleges were nowhere near each other. And since college I've been jet setting around the world and he's been wandering around the US... But for some reason, we have managed to keep in touch all these years which in days LONG before cellphones and when Mark Zucherburg was still in diapers, this was a BIG deal. We actually had to work at staying in touch by doing things like calling eachother's parents houses to find out how to contact each other. Of course in the later years we eventually moved to email and more recently Facebook (Nomad Boy is one of those strange people without a cell phone).

So, to bring you up to the present date... A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, Nomad Boy contacts me via Facebook to tell me he's going to be around the Boston area for Thanksgiving. We were supposed to meet up last Wednesday night in Boston but in typical Nomad Boy style he cancels at the last minute (I'm proud to say that I've finally learned not to be dissapointed by him - or any boy these days). We've been in touch a bit over the holiday and today he told me that he's around in the are for the next month and is planning to come to Boston on Thursday and stay with me over the weekend. 

We will see... Nomad Boy is not really a man of his words. Nor is he to be trusted. But I can say that I would like him to come. I welcome the distraction. And I would love to see what he's up to these days.

I'll be sure to keep you posted.

This concludes the International Woman of Mystery's "It's Raining Men" series. Although it's obviously "To be continued."

So, there you go from nothing to many things. To still totally lacking anything substantial.

In the meantime, I have recently received some awesome awards from some awesome bloggers. Stay tuned for my acceptance speech and pass on of the awards.

Love!

*My mother was typically unimpressed (and annoyed that I was waking her up) but I must say that in my 32 years this is the ONE AND ONLY time the International Woman of Mystery has ever proclaimed she has found a marriable man.

It's Raining Men Part I

So, after feeling all sorry for myself about the dry spot I was going through. Things suddenly changed and now there are boys everywhere!
The first boys to enter my life were my brother and his cute friend who came through Boston last Monday night to play a show (my brother is pretty much a nomadic musician these days but that's a whole other story).

My brother felt the need to send me an email in advance that said - and I'm quoting directly from his email here: "don't attack cute friend though.  he's tall and attractive and Germanic looking and he's kinda got a gf.  ;)"

I'm happy to report that I did not "attack" his cute friend - although he was cute and tall and had a really nice smile. He was also very sick with a sniffly sneezy cold which made him definite hands-off material (although I caught the stupid cold anyway it seems).

Next up was American Boy. Remember him? Here's the deal with American Boy (as I'm sure you are wondering what the deal is - oh what? You aren't? Too bad. I'm going to tell you anyway). American Boy unfortunately managed to move from Boston to San Fransisco right about the same time I moved to Boston - another sign that any sort of relationship between us is not meant to be - no matter how awesome he is. American Boy and I actually met for dinner this summer but outside of a kiss on the check, nothing happened between us. In fact, it was so uneventful I didn't even bother blog about it. And although American boy remains the hottest, coolest, cutest boy ever... I think that we are probably going to remain in the friendship territory. Unfortunately.

Anyway, American boy caught a ride home with me Wednesday night after work. So, we battled the 3 hour day-before-Thanksgiving car ride (normally 1.5 hours) together and spent the time chatting, catching up and listening to good music. It was actually kind of fun to drive with him. I tell you... he is really the perfect boy.

Being in my hometown brought forth lots more boys. On Friday night - Black Friday (btw - can someone pleas tell me when this became such a big deal? And wtf is cyber Monday? Clearly, I've been away too long), I met up with 4 boys from high school at the local pub in the town where we grew up. And although we are 14 years out of high school (damn we're old - although the bar tender did pull me aside to ask me if I really graduated with them because I look "way better" and "way younger" then them - I kid you not. I can't make this stuff up), it took about 5 minutes of conversation before it felt like we had never left high school as our conversation immediately regressed to high school immaturity levels.

And as sometimes happens when you catch up with the boys from highschool on Black Friday and find yourself as the only girl of the group, "handjobs" naturally became the the main topic of conversation. How does this even come up as a topic you ask? What is there to even say about handjobs when you are in your 30's? I have no idea... But that's how it goes with these boys.

So, handjobs was a recurring theme throughout the night. Awesome. And I kept telling them to be quiet since they were yelling the word handjob in really loud voices and I was embarrassed since I felt like the entire bar could hear or totally inappropriate conversation. Which come to think about it is probably why they talked about this particular subject for so long... I was giving them the total reaction they wanted. See? Just like high school. Awesome.

The other topic of the night was farting - but that's kind of the norm for one of those guy friends who has always (and I mean ALWAYS - I've known him since we were three years old) been abscessed with flatulence (high school friends who read this blog - take a BIG guess who I'm talking about). But what really amazes me is how this guy can bring farting into any type of conversation. And what's even more amazing that we have all known him for years but he still manages to make us laugh with the absolute outrageousness of his farting comments. For example, I was showing him a picture from a mutual friend's wedding this summer and he looks at a picture of the Groom and goes. "I bet he rips big juicy ones!" I mean who SAYS that? And who is even thinking that when they are looking at beautiful wedding pictures?

Alright. Enough potty talk. Sorry about that. Moving on...

One of the boys in the high school group was Locker Boy - who I have not seen since our kayaking adventure a month or so back although have been in some contact via text. Locker Boy actually picked me up and delivered me back home after the bar escapade. Upon dropping me off at my parents, Locker Boy made his move and tried to tried to kiss me (something I should have seen coming) and I politely declined by turning my cheek (seriously - this also felt like high school all over again - yes high school readers stop laughing and DO NOT tell him about this blog). Then I felt terrible... (and I kind of feel bad about blogging about this - I deleted this passage and then decided that I had to put it back in cuz this blog is supposed to be about boys and lately I'm omitting too much of the juicy stuff - more on that later... maybe -sometimes I can't don't tell you everything that's going on). I Especially felt bad when he texted me a really sweet message the next day apologizing for trying to make a move and telling me he hoped it wouldn't be awkward between us and asking to hang out again.

But that is not all... don't you worry. There are even more boys around that I'm going to tell you about. But as to not run the risk of writing a very LOOOONG post, I've decided to cut it into two parts.

You will have to come back tomorrow to read the next chapter in this International Woman of Mystery's "It's Raining Men" series.

I'm out. I'm going to work on over decorating my awesome new apartment for Christmas. If you are lucky there will be some pictures coming at you soon!

See you tomorrow.

Peace.

First Weekend Back Home

photo courtesy of portfolio.kevinthom.com

So, yeah. I survived my first weekend in the countryside. And it was a long weekend as today is Columbus Day (you know 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue...). 

In case you are interested, the weekend was kind of like this:

On Friday night after the car purchasing experience, I stayed home BY MYSELF as my parents ditched me for dinner with friends (see how happy they are that I'm home). So, I ordered  Chinese take-out and watched a documentary on TV (oh man did the millions of channels overwhelm my non-TV watching self) on Hippies that was kind of interesting.

On Saturday I spent time on the phone with the car insurance agency, then ran 4.5 miles and did some core exercises (apparently according to Mr. Personal Trainer, I have a weak core - so I'm trying to improve on this. Damn planks. They kick my ass - or my abs as it may be).

Then I jumped in the shower quickly as I had agreed to meet a high school friend - the boy who shared the locker next to mine for 6 years (poor boy) who I have known since I was 3. Locker Boy had seen that I was moving home on Facebook and had a little too eagerly gotten in touch with me.

He originally suggested that we go hiking in the Berkshires - where he lives now. But as didn't want to drive up to the Berkshires because I hate to drive I had some stuff to do in the morning, I suggested he come down here instead. He then suggested that we go kayaking. It was an absolutely gorgeous crisp autumn day so I agreed.*

As I was rushing to get ready, I realized that this felt kinda like a date. Weird. And while this guy is nice and good-looking-ish and I did have a crush on him for about 5 minutes in the EIGHTH GRADE, these days, he is not really my type. I mean he is the typical, small-town, baggy stonewashed jeans and Red Sox hat wearing, Republican type of American boy.

Speaking of clothes... I realized that once again, as per usual, I had packed like an asshole (it happens every time). I did not have any appropriate country-activity type of clothes with me (remember, I have just 2 suitcases of stuff with me, the rest is on a boat from England). Skinny jeans and high heels did not really seem appropriate for kayaking... Neither did a dress. Besides, what do you wear for kayaking anyway? I have only been kayaking in a bathing suite in the summer. Exasperated with my lack of kayak clothing options and running late (as per usual), I decided to throw on a skirt while fixing my hair and makeup and figure out what to wear later.

Unfortunately Locker Boy arrived before I got around the changing my clothes again. He laughed at my outfit and told me it was not appropriate for kayaking. "Don't you have any jeans?" he asked.


"Ummm... only skinnny jeans."

"Sweat pants?"

"Ummm... no. I will sort something out," I said and left him alone with my parent's dog while I scrambled to assemble an appropriate kayaking outfit.

I finally settled on black khaki-type pants, sneakers, sweater, scarf and jacket. I grabbed the skirt though and a pair of boots and decided to bring them with me.

Locker Boy deemed my outfit appropriate but laughed at me for bringing a skirt with me.

Anyway, we drove up on small country roads taking in the beautiful autumn scenery (seriously, I cannot say this too many times NOTHING BEATS FALL IN NEW ENGLAND) to some small town I had never heard of (we are talking hickville here) and went out kayaking on a big lake. 

photo courtesy of jasonfarnsworth.com



Not to brag or anything, but I do have to admit that I was kind of awesome at kayaking and Locker Boy was struggling to catch up - for real. He had a laugh at this because his father (who the kayak's belonged to) was all worried that I wouldn't be able to kayak at all. Jeez. This family has known me since I was a little kid. They should know how sporty I am!

It was lovely out on the lake - we kayaked from one end to the other taking just over an hour to do so and feeling pretty tired by the end. It was a beautiful day but windy and the water was extremely choppy and we ended up soaking wet! Well let me tell you, I was the one laughing when after getting completely soaked kayaking, I could slip into my skirt and boots and be all nice and dry while Locker Boy had to endure his wet jeans!

We then decided to head to the local pub where they make their own micro-brew (the master brewer graduated with us from high school - see it's that kind of small town that my parents live in). There we had pints - oops... I guess pints are in the British word. I think in America it's drafts?

Anyway, we had some drafts of the local brew. Another thing I LOVE about America: micro-brews! I had yummy American Wheat beer (or 2 or possibly 3) and also a fabulous pumpkin spice beer. Gotta love America and all it's flavour options (if you are American, you know what I mean - and no this does not exist in other countries like it does here - I have never seen pumpkin spice listed as a flavor outside the good old USA). I'm feeling fall festive and so I'm loving pumpkin flavors right now (seems like everything from coffee, to muffins, to beer has this option here).

Locker Boy was interesting to talk to and surprisingly a good conversationalist. Although the interesting part is that we were so different. He was Mr. American and I was Ms International... He was all waxing poetic about why guns are great (Yes Europe, I'm so serious here) and I was all like - "guns are illegal in Europe and therefore the homicide rate is lower." I told him that cops in the London do not even carry guns (thank you Mr. Sexy Policeman for that bit of info) and he found this hard to believe. Although we were both stumped over the question of how to "de-gun" America if it ever came to that (I admit that would be a hard one), leading him to conclude that my visions of a gun-free America are ridiculous and therefore I should suck it up and learn to love guns. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em right? Right? Well maybe that will be my next purchase after the apartment - KIDDING!

He admitted he has conservative views - i.e. he is was against abortion and gay marriage and thinks Obama's an idiot. I actually kept my mouth shut and left him to his right-wing views without trying to argue for once - actually I was shocked silent since I had forgotten that yes, this is America. I realized that I'm kind of ill-equipped to go head-to-head on American politics at the moment. I need a quick brush up on American politics and to figure out where I stand exactly on key issues (it's strange but it was easy to not pick sides on American politics while living abroad, and I'm used to being the conservative one when discussing politics with Europeans).

And of course I talked about my life abroad and my travels. He seemed impressed with all the places that I had been. And of course talking about traveling got me excited and all I wanted to do was get back on a plane and go back abroad. (Sob).

And then we had this conversation which I feel perfectly exemplifies why it's going to be so hard to fit back into American life:


Him: "Like are there any countries you would never go to? I mean, like why would you want to go to Iceland? You wouldn't ever go there right?"

Me: "Well, I was actually there on Wednesday..."

Silence.

Locker Boy: "You are kidding right?"

Me: "Well no, I technically was only at the airport so that doesn't really count. But yes, I was in Iceland on Wednesday for 2 hours, so I'm not lying. But I hear it's a cool place and it is somewhere I really want to go and hang out..."

Silence.

Locker Boy: "Wow. It's kind of hard to talk to you. You have done everything. I have done nothing unless you count going to New Orleans two years ago."

Silence.

So... there it is. My life as an International Woman of Mystery is over. And not only that. Having that experience makes me weird and just plain hard to talk to. Great!

And so the date ended - and admitedly conservative talk aside, I had a really nice time. I went home and hung out with my parents and their dog and their cat and my blog.

On Sunday, I laid out at the pool and willed the autumn sun to give me some color - it did but only a little. Then went for a 6 mile run followed by more exercises. Then my Mom made me my favorite lobster dinner!

On Monday, I spent the morning searching apartment listings in Boston (next task) and doing more move-related emailing (i.e. trying to get my security deposit back from my London apartment, arguing on the phone with British Telecom over my bill - again, trying to figure how to wire my money from my London account to my US account, and hassling with the movers over my customs documents). And then I spent the afternoon at the mall wherea among other things I purchased an IPAD!!!!

As if it wasn't enough that I bought a car this weekend, I had to then rush out and buy and Ipad too (say nothing of a few new clothes to update the back-to-work wardrobe). Let me tell you, the Ipad is soooo cool (except for the fact that you cannot blog on it - you can read blogs, but you can't blog, or at least I can't find the right app - does anyone know of one)?

Is it really bad that I secretly think that my Ipad is cooler than my new car? Although I might change my mind tomorrow when I actually take possession of the car.

So, that was it. My exciting first weekend back in the US. A far cry from my club nights and meeting hot boys in London... And a bit more expensive too.*

*When talking about what "moving home" would be like, my Swedish friends tried to reassure me that my life in the US wouldn't be so different than my life anywhere else. I told them they were crazy. I was all like "Hello? Boston is a small city with a very student oriented night life. The bars close at 1 or 2 am. There is no hot single 30 something scene like there is in Stockholm. There are no nightclubs like there are in London. My life is totally going to change. I'm going to spend my weekends hiking and doing outdoorsy sporty country things."


But Swedish ladies - here's your proof! This International Woman of Mystery has become a Country Girl!

They didn't believe me...

Moving Home Task One: Buy a Car

I'm back home and my To-do list that needs to get accomplished before I start work in a week is miles long.

First up on the list however, was to Buy a car.


Actually, let me rewind a minute. First up was to pay the movers for moving all my stuff from London to Boston. This "stuff" turned out to be 43 boxes (I swear I tried to downsize but quite obviously failed). Mind you... I have very few actual furniture items besides a book case, an awesome espresso maker, a small shelf container, a coat rack... So, those 43 boxes are literally just clothes and books "six years of random shit." So unfortunately, the movers kindly felt the need to charge me $1,000 extra then the originally quoted price (apparently I had more shit "stuff" than they thought), so I was looking at a whopping $5,000 dollar bill!

The bill was due and I had to pay - I tried to get them to reduce the price but failed. So, pay I did. IN CASH. The single most expensive one-time payment I have made for anything ever (until that afternoon when I bought a car - talk about a double whammy). And seriously, paying movers to move your own stuff across the ocean is not a fun purchase. I mean all you get out of it is your same old crappy stuff in boxes that you then have to unpack (actually, they will unpack it as part of the service - I just have to put it away). There is nothing at all exciting about shelling out $5,000 to welcome my things to Boston! Just think of how many amazing shoes and purses I could have gotten for that amount.*

Now with my considerably lighter wallet in mind, let's return to the car buying process.

On Thursday night (the first night home) my Mother sent me out with my Father to begin the lovely process of acquiring a new car.

Let me provide a bit of background information.

• I have never owned a car.
• My parents were kind enough to provide me (and my brother) with a car at various points over the years
• These cars were a Nissan Sentra, a Honda Accord Sedan, and a Honda Accord Station Wagon.
• Living abroad, made it so I did not need nor miss a car - I could walk everywhere or take public transportation a taxi.
• I HATE driving. If I miraculously became mega-rich suddenly and had a driver at my disposal and would never have to drive again, I would do the happy dance and I would never miss driving.
• I have a clean driving record (knock on wood) but consider myself to be a bad driver.
• I am not a confident driver and tend to get lost All. The. Time. Although thank God GPS has been invented since the last time I drove.
• My greatest wish is to have a boyfriend who loves to drive and then I will never drive again (cuz boyfriend to me obviously = driver, dog watcher, house fixer-upper, heavy stuff carrier, chef, technology guru.... Think I'm setting the bar a little high here?)

So, needless to say I was not thrilled to start this whole buying a car process. I half-seriously asked my Mom if a) she could do it for me (she said no) or

b) if I could pay someone else to do it for me (she didn't respond to this - I think she didn't get just how deadly serious I really was).


My parents told me to do some research on cars. So, being the kind of awesome daughter that I am, I did as I was told. But I got discouraged when I realized that I probably wasn't going to be able to afford a Mercedes or even a Lexus and probably even a BMW wasn't a really good idea right now as I have no idea what my other costs in my new life back home will be. (Obviously living in Chelsea - the land of incredible cars - seriously distorted my idea of what normal cars for normal people are. I got jaded by all the Aston Martins and Porsches and Lamborghinis just sitting around on the road in my neighborhood. I started to think these were normal cars for normal people). Out of disappointment (and boredom), I ended my car research before it really even began.

But there I was, my first night home and my Dad was taking me car shopping. Yippeee!

Our pre-car-shopping-departure conversation went something like this:

"What do you want in a car?" my parents ask me.

"Umm... leather seats?" I say.

"Oh good. That narrows it down. What else?"

"A good stereo. Cool technology..."

"Oh good. Glad you are so specific." I can tell they are getting irritated. "What about color? Any preference there?"

"Not really... But I prefer black. Something dark. At least nothing flashy. Yeah, black would be best. And definitely a four-door car. I don't like two-door cars."

They are looking more and more skeptical so I say "I hear that hybrids are cool. Maybe I want one of those. I mean, all I really care about is a having a 'cool' car." Both parents groan out loud.

"What about make?" they asked.

"Umm... I guess I have to rule out a Mercedes? Well, how about a BMW?"

My parents looked at me like I was crazy. "How about a Hyundai," they said?

"No way!" I said emphatically for no other reason that I feel like I hate Hyundais. "Perhaps a Honda Accord?" I say trying to bridge the gap and this is basically this is the car I'm most familiar with since they have had 3 different Accords over the years that I have driven (and in some cases been given). Luckily, they looked more pleased with this answer.

"New or Used?" they asked. But before I could respond, they told me I was getting a used car. "You hate to drive. You don't care about cars. You are getting a used car."

I couldn't really find a reason to argue with that.

So there it was folks, I had narrowed my car search down to this very weak check list: used car, leather seats, good stereo, black, four doors, possibly a hybrid (not that I even knew what that really meant). In summary, I wanted "a cool car." Although the definition of a "cool car" was not one that could be defined even by me.

I could see my Father was not very happy to be coerced into this trip. But off we went to the Honda Dealer where and my Father tells me he doesn't want to talk to any salespeople. So, instead we skulk around in the dark looking at the cars and reading the information pages on the windows. Let me tell you, for a person who has never bought a car, never owned a car, never shopped for a car before... this is not very informative.

But, I do learn the following things:

• Cars are pretty expensive, even when used
• I don't really like Accords - they seem too big and ugly
• My father also knows nothing about cars
• Car shopping is freaking boring

We decide to leave the Honda place and my Dad suggests we visit the Subaru or the Hyundai place near by. I tell him "No way. Those kinds of cars are on my definite 'no' list."

"Why are they on your 'no' list?" he asks me exasperated.

"I don't know. They don't sound like 'cool cars' to me." I respond. (Note: My Father currently drives a Subaru Outback and previously he drove a Hyundai Sonata - both cars I did not like to drive when visiting home preferring my Mom's cooler Saab or Honda Accord - mostly because they had leather seats and a cool stereo system. So, I was not endearing myself to my Father with these remarks - never mind the fact that he already feels I have 'snobbish' and 'outrageous' tastes 'like your mother').

"But Dad. Nissans aren't on my 'no' list. Let's go there!" I say, pointing to the nearby Nissan dealership.

By this time it's starting to rain and all I want to do is go home. We walk over to the used car section and I immediately find this black Altima. I look inside and get excited over the tan leather seats! And then I check out the info. It's a Hybrid! A 2008 Nissan Altima Hybrid. Well, that sounds kind of cool.

I convince my Father to actually let me talk to a salesperson and she tells me the price is $22,000 which is within my range. My dad thinks it's expensive but is pleased with the fact that it only has 16,000 miles. The leather seats, the Bose stereo, the navigation system, the blue tooth hookup, the totally awesome interior fail to impress him as much as they endear the car to me.

Interior of the car

Then we decide to go home. On the way home I am quiet and thinking about the black car. "I want that car." I tell my Father.

"Why?" He asks. "I mean you have certainly taken a lot of time to research and look around and make a well-educated decision," he says sarcastically.

"It's cool?" I say. In the dark I can feel him rolling his eyes.

On getting home we recap the car search adventure to my Mother who is livid that My Father didn't get the Vin number (or even tell me what that was) or let me talk to a salesperson or test drive the car.

At this point Dad is officially demoted from the car search process (I'm pretty sure this was his goal) and Mom takes over. She helps me research the car online and pull up the Carfax File (whatever that is).  She also decided that she can leave work early the next afternoon to help me.

"I want that car" I tell her.

"Why?" She asks.

"It seems kind of cool I say... Plus. I don't want to go through that process again - I'm already bored of this."

"Right. You spent a whole two hours on it," she reminds me. And we both crack up laughing at the ridiculousness of that. "You are your Mother's daughter" she says.

2008 Nissan Altima Hybrid

So, there it was. The biggest purchase I have ever made in my life was decided in just a couple hours based more on the fact, that I was bored with the process and didn't want to do anymore research on it or spend anymore time searching car lots (and I could tell my parents didn't want to either). This is so typical me. It's also so typical behaviour of my mother. Like mother like daughter. That's for sure.

So, the next day we go back to the lot and test drive the car. I'm a nervous driver to begin with but having my mother in the backseat cringing and moaning about what a bad driver I am didn't help. I had never driven a hybrid before and I was kind of expecting it to be different. I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't that different (although it's very weird when you turn it on because the engine only turns on when you put your foot on the gas) and it felt nice to drive.

The saleswoman who literally admitted to us that she was an inexperienced and not very good salesperson (and no I don't think this was some ploy of hers to makes us trust her - she seemed pretty limited) also had me drive a Silver 2007 non-hybrid Altima. It had leather seats but was missing some of the bells and whistles the other car had. Despite being about $4,000 less, I wasn't as impressed.

My mother pointed out that $4,000 was a lot to shell out for an undefined "cool" factor. I told her I didn't care. She also pointed out that the trunk space was severely limited which I admit, it was. But something like that would bother someone who has a car with normal trunk space more than me since I'm not actually loosing anything since I don't have a car at all right now (admittedly, I might regret this later).

By this time I irrationally (I know) had my heart set on the black Altima Hybrid and I just wanted to get this car process OVER WITH! I had had enough. I didn't want more choices. I didn't want to go back home and research the silver Altima and see if there were better alternatives. I was done. I was ready to throw down my money and get the hell out of Dodge - or Nissan as the case may be.

But unfortunately, the process was just beginning. Why didn't someone warn me the process of buying a car takes HOURS?

My mother and I decide to negotiate cuz that what you should do when buying a car right? So, we put in a considerably lower offer. And that's when the weak little saleswoman brings in the big guns. Enter the smarmy salesman. Picture the text book definition of a used car salesman - a smooth an fast-talker - complete with stories of his ex-girlfriend owing the same car and loving it and threats that another person is making an offer as we speak. We obviously did not stand a chance.

I'm embarrassed to say that we managed to get a whopping (wait for it) $350 discount! Although admittedly, the Kelly Blue Book price was actually the same as their initial asking price (so while I don't think we were getting screwed, we also weren't getting a bargain). That price was the pre-certified (whatever that means) price and this enabled me to get better financing saving me $1,000 over all in interest. But then of course I agreed to a $1,600 extra warranty covering all the electronic aspects of the car with a $0 deductible (it is a Hybrid after all). Pretty much I feel I got taken for a ride. By the end of it, I had no idea what I was actually paying for the car. But, that's what I expected so - oh well.

Then the paperwork began. It was excruciating. 2.5 hours of sitting around, signing my name, trying not to appear as bored as I looked. My mother and I - the two most impatient women in the world, sitting there tapping our feet, trying to get everyone to hurry up.

Amazingly I managed to get pretty good financing all on my own (my mother would have co-signed but was reluctant to).

And finally, 3 hours later after I signed my life and my money away, I was a proud owner of a 2008 Nissan Altima Hybrid. Yippeeee!

So, that is the story of how I spent less than 6 hours making the biggest purchase of my life.
It does make me a little sick to think of all the money I spent this weekend. Seriously between the car which with sales tax, interest, and the extra warranty they convinced me to get ended up somewhere around $26,000 and the movers cost $5,000 this was like a $31,000 weekend! Wow. That feels ridiculous to even write. (I actually only spent $7,000 in cash but STILL - that's a LOT OF MONEY). I'm feeling pretty poor right now. Say nothing of the fact I still need to put a down deposit on an apartment and then furnish it. Gulp. This moving thing is way overrated. And WAY EXPENSIVE.

But. I'm now a proud car owner and next Tuesday I'll be driving around in my new black Altima Hybrid. Watch out Y'all!

And because I'm already feeling ridiculously frivolous, I'm totally going to top off this weekend of spending with a purchase of an Ipad since suddenly I feel this is "oh so necessary" to have. Yup. That's how I roll. Just sayin.

Next on the moving back home "to-do" list: Find an apartment in Boston. Stay tuned. The life of an International Woman is never dull.

*The Company is giving me $5,000 for the move (although I don't have it yet). So, essentially they are paying for this. I was just hoping it would be cheaper so the extra money could go to the other costs associated with this move - cuz believe me, there are lots of other costs. Moving is seriously expensive.

Update: Google announced that they have made self driving cars that are already out and about and driving around ALL ON THEIR OWN! This is so awesome! That means that maybe in a few years, I don't even need to be rich enough to have a driver! I just need to have a self driving car. Thanks Google! To read more about this, click here.

The End of Summer

It's official summer is over. Here in the UK the August bank holiday that marks the official end of summer here has came and gone two weeks ago. And this past Monday was Labor Day in the US - the official end of summer for Americans.

My question is where the hell did summer go? I feel like it just started yesterday!

And because I live in London, I think that I do have the right to bitch about the weather. So, let me start by saying this summer was a complete let down! Although it started off well enough. And the weather I had while on vacation in the US was amazing! I was expecting to return to London in mid-July to experience some nice warm summer days in London. Boy was I disappointed! It was rainy and cold in London all summer! Other than the 4 weeks I spent in the US, I feel like I had no summer at all. Boo!

Alright, enough complaining. Let's quickly review what I did this summer...

To start with, I hit up the wonderful country of Spain twice in one month - first Barcelona and then Madrid!

I watched the second Sex in the City Movie.

I stressed about my summer of weddings and what I was going to wear and how I was going to face all those weddings ALONE as a single gal.

I went to the first fabulous wedding in Sweden and where I kissed a younger hot boy. I saw a dear old friend get married in Western Massachusetts. I went to San Fransisco where saw my "other brother"  get married in the most over the top kick ass party non-traditional wedding of the year.

I chilled at home in the USA with my parents and their pets and thought a lot about Americans. I went to one of my oldest friend B's beautiful wedding on Nantucket where I got to dine on yummy lobster and catch up with old friends.

I spent some time on boats on the Thames. The first time, I got to DRIVE the boat. The second time I met a hot Swedish guy dressed like Chuck Bass.

I went for a fantastic weekend trip to Smogen with the girls where we ate lots of seafood and I kissed a cute boy in the rain.

I experimented with leaving Chelsea. I went on boring date with a Scottish guy from Match, but I had more fun dating myself. The best date however was with the sexy cop - but unfortunately, he wasn't that into me.

I thought a lot about what it means to be a foreigner and what men should clearly not do when Internet dating.

I also offered up some words of wisdom.

I wrote my first unfortunate drunk blog. I went clubbing and met hot boys.

I went on a totally awesome trip to South Africa and saw 7 lions while on a safari!

And after all that overindulgence and alcohol this summer, I decided that since my clothes no longer fit right, I need to hit the gym and therefore I started to see a personal trainer who makes me do really crazy things.

I also found out my Ex-Boyfriend got engaged! And the Beautiful Swede reached out to me again. I have not written him back though - I'm proud to say!

So, what does the autumn bring for this International Woman of Mystery? Well, funny that you should ask? Because MASSIVE changes are on the horizon. I mean huge. But more on that later.

Stay tuned for an update on my awesome trip to Stockholm.

Toodles.

America the Beautiful

Although the Fourth of July is over, It’s officially still the Fourth of July weekend and I’m still feeling pretty patriotic!

Check out this awesome 100 Great Things About America list! It is so right on. It’s such a good list it reminds me of one of my own awesome lists! I totally could have written this list. In fact, many of the things that are on this list are things that I have mentioned before!

As I know that most of you are lazy and won’t even click on the link (although I really recommend that you do; seriously, just DO IT), let me list some of my favorites from the list: flip flops*, the Tiffany’s box, ice cream, chewing gum, Bendy straws, Redwood trees, The Golden Gate Bridge, New Year’s Eve (every country has one but they all watch Times Square), Baseball, Kegs, S’mores, salt water taffy, roller coasters...

Oh - and in case you are wondering what MY beautiful America looks like... well it looks something like this:

My Dog at the pool

My parents have a ginormous and fabulous pool!

I should note that the weather has been FREAKING FABULOUS! I don’t ever remember it being so amazing when I’ve been on vacation. Today was another day of “not a cloud in the sky” - see picture below so you know I’m so not lying. Although the temperatures soared (over 100 degrees which is about 38 Celsius), the humidity was low and all in all it was a beautiful day. In fact, this marks the 7th day in a row of pretty spectacular days!

See - Not a Cloud in the Sky!

I should also not that this is sadly the last week of my 3 week vacation (sob) and the final week of my four week US adventure. I go back to London a week from today. So... I’m kind of in that vacation panic where you realize it’s almost over and there are so many more things you want to do (or should have done). Above all I’m determined to soak up as much sun and good feelings as possible in order to return to London a more relaxed person.

This week I will actually attend wedding number 4 of the summer (remember there are 5 in total). My good friend B who I have known since I was three years old will get married to D her long-term love and they are doing it in NANTUCKET! Now, I have never been to Nantucket, but let me tell you, I’m oh so excited! Especially since I will be kickin’ it at a nice hotel with other long term childhood BFF’s S and K. We are headed out to Nantucket on Thursday where the wedding weekend will kick off with a Clam Bake. The actual wedding is on Friday and then we will stick around on Saturday (thank you three night hotel minimums) to just enjoy! S is attempting to arrange a boat trip - sounds like fun to me!

In case you are wondering, Nantucket is a small island off of Massachusetts (south of the Cape) and it’s a summer hot spot for the well-to-do. It’s supposed to be lovely! And hopefully this amazing weather will hold out.

Happy Monday everyone! Hope your week is off to a good start.

Happy Birthday America (and Dad)

Today America celebrates it’s 234th birthday and in other news my Father celebrates his 60th birthday (every year he thinks the fireworks are for him). Happy Birthday America! Happy Birthday Dad!

So, I guess you are wondering what I did to celebrate? I’m sure you are expecting some crazy party or story or at the very least a of the top fun things I did... But for once, I’m actually going to disappoint you. I have to admit that I did a whole lot of NOTHING on this Fourth of July. Life has been kind of running away with me for the past few months (if you haven’t noticed) and I thought that I would take this opportunity between big wedding weekends: last week San Fran and next week Nantucket, to just chill out a little bit. I think it’s been a much needed chill out time... But I have to admit, I’m getting a bit bored and am ready to get back into real life.

But the weather has been fabulous: over 90 degrees and yesterday there was literally not a cloud in the sky. Last night, we celebrated my father with a pool/keg/BBQ party - what else? So, I drank Sam Summer (from the keg) and chatted with my parent’s friends. Then went up to my parent’s friend’s lake house in Goshen to see some fireworks. Not exactly a wild evening - but nice.

Today I hung out by the pool and then braved the heat and went for a run (something I don’t really recommend doing in this heat - too hot)! Had dinner with the parents (hamburgs and hot dogs of course), hung out by the pool some more watching the sun set and then we decided not to drive to see any fireworks but rather to watch the on television (obviously not my idea and also something I don’t recommend as it’s not at all like being there). So, we tuned in for the NYC ones (which are supposed to be the best) and that was going ok until my Mother pressed some buttons on the remote control and started rewinding the DVR and then things got a little bit messed up. Then once Mom’s remote control privileges were revoked for the night, we settled in to watch the Boston Fireworks - which I actually thought were better.

But not to leave you with nothing (and for all my International readers), here is a rather boring list of Top Ten List of things you SHOULD do on the Fourth of July.

Top Ten Things you Should do on The Fourth of July

1. Go to the beach (if that is not possible, then a pool will do)

2. Gather with family and/or friends and have a fabulous time

3. Play sports such as wiffle ball or football (American style)

4. Have a BBQ

5. Eat hot dogs and hamburgers - as you do in America

6. Eat ice cream

7. Wear red white and blue (or something Patriotic - its seems that this year those Statue of Liberty Crown hats are a big deal) and march in a parade, watch a parade or join in whatever your town or city is doing to celebrate the Nation's Birthday

8. Sing Patriotic songs and wave American flags - seriously, this is important!

9. Drink beer - especially a patriotic and seasonal beer like Sam Summer

10. Watch FIREWORKS!

So faithful readers, as you can see... My Fourth of July weekend was a little calm. Did anyone else do anything crazy? If so, leave me a comment and tell me about it so I can live vicariously through you.

And Holla to Sweden - Midsommar kicks the Fourth of July’s ass. I know that as a true Patriot and an all around All American girl I should not say such things. But ha! I did anyway. I really missed Midsommar this year!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Fourth of July weekend. And please share your stories!

Rugged vs. Glamorous

I know you are all waiting for an update on my Fab trip to California. But I'm going to keep you in suspense a bit longer as I think that a wedding of a friend who is like a brother to me needs some serious space and by default time spent writing and I'm kind of tired. So, stay tuned for an awesome update on an awesome trip. But in the meantime, I leave you with the following little post about something that happened to me tonight.

But first, those of you who know me, before you begin reading this... please try to think of adjectives that you would use to describe me. Ok. Did you do it? Good (I know you were only thinking nice things - ha ha). But hold that thought and read on.

So tonight... I'm walking through the streets of Northampton, Massachusetts trying to get my burrito fix after a tough gym workout (I miss Mexican food when in Europe so I tend to eat copious amounts of it when I'm in the US to make up for the fact that all Mexican food outside of the US and Mexico is really bad - oh, with the exception of Maya in Shanghai) when a homeless and/or crazy man (as they often are) walks up to me and goes " You are so rugged. So rugged. Beautiful, but so rugged and so beautiful." Umm... Ok...

First of all. It seems like only in America do random strangers on the street feel the need to comment on your appearance, your attitude, whatever... This is a very common thing (especially in the streets of Northampton) although usually people give me positive comments such as "I like your outfit." "I like your shoes." "Where did you get that dress?" "You have a beautiful smile." "A beautiful girl like you should not be walking alone." - These are all comments directed at me that I have heard on the streets of Northampton before. But no one has ever called me rugged.

Second of all. Give me a break buddy. I had just been to the gym where I had a good 2 hour workout and I was still in my sweaty gym clothes with my sweaty hair plastered to my head. I had no makeup on (except for whatever was still smudged under my eyes from the wedding I went to 2 nights ago). I hadn't showered in over 2 days and had endured a long hungover plane ride back from San Fran. And even though it was evening, it was still over 80 degrees and humid out (note that I have manged to convert back to Fahrenheit). Basically, I wasn't exactly looking my best although I also didn't care... I was at the gym!

But still... rugged? Please see the description of rugged below. Does this sound like me? For those of you who know me, was that an adjective you came up with?

RUGGED
–adjective
1. having a roughly broken, rocky, hilly, or jagged surface: rugged ground.
2. (of a face) wrinkled or furrowed, as by experience or the endurance of hardship.
3. roughly irregular, heavy, or hard in outline or form; craggy: Lincoln's rugged features.
4. rough, harsh, or stern, as persons or nature.
5. full of hardship and trouble; severe; hard; trying: a rugged life.
6. tempestuous; stormy: rugged weather.
7. harsh to the ear: rugged sounds.
8. rude, uncultivated, or unrefined.
9. homely or plain: rugged fare.
10. capable of enduring hardship, wear, etc.; strong and tough: rugged floor covering; a rugged lumberjack.

—Synonyms
1. uneven, irregular, craggy. 4. austere. 6. turbulent. 7. grating, cacophonous. 8. unpolished, crude.

In fact, I would say that the adjective most used to describe me would be Glamorous... See the definition of Glamorous below. After reading both descriptions, those of you who know me, which one best describes me? Rugged? Or Glamorous?

GLAMOROUS 

–adjective

1. full of glamour; charmingly or fascinatingly attractive, esp. in a mysterious or magical way.

2. full of excitement, adventure, and unusual activity: the glamorous job of a foreign correspondent.

—Synonyms

1. captivating, beguiling, fascinating, alluring, bewitching.

Glamorous is an adjective that I try to live up to for the most part - by making sure my hair is shiny and well highlighted (no roots for me), wearing makeup (at least mascara) whenever I go out even to the gym (tonight was an exception), keeping my clothes simple but well put together in a classic yet slightly sexy fashion, tending to er on the side of being overdressed rather than under-dressed, keeping my skin soft and moisturized, wearing alluring scents (vanilla being my all time favorite) wearing high heels... Also glamorousness (which the dictionary is telling me is not a word but I don't care) is a lifestyle that I try to embody: having interesting things to say, being well read, keeping up with the news and pop culture, being well traveled, having an interesting life. As the dictionary says - full of adventure, excitement and unusual activity. I mean what International Woman of Mystery isn't glamorous?

But I do admit, I do draw the line at putting much effort into looking glamorous at the gym. I mean even an International Woman of Mystery like myself can't be glamorous all the time. And getting glammed up and looking beautiful at the gym is just not my thing. I'm not there to socialize - I'm there for a good work out. And in typical American fashion, I often don't shower at the gym choosing to do that at home instead and sometimes I stop for food or something on the way home and I try not to worry too much about the impression I'm making on others because most of time when not coming right from the gym... I know that I am glamorous!

But hey... to put it all in perspective, he did tell me I was beautiful. I guess it could have been worse...

About Americans

I have been in the US for just over a week now. This week I had the pleasure of spending most of the week in Boston. Which by the way was totally awesome. Thanks to my friends L and L for hosting me.

I've therefore had a bit of time to observe Americans and their behaviour. I would like to therefore offer up a few reflections I have "About Americans."


American women all have nicely pedicured toes - seriously, I dare you to find one woman between the ages of 15 and 45 who doesn't have cute little painted toes. The first thing I did upon arriving back in the great old USA? You got it. I booked myself right in for a much needed pedicure! (By the way, I also got an awesome Shellac manicure. It's a long lasting one. It dries in 2 minutes and is supposed to last for 2 weeks. I'm the type of girl who completely destroys my manicure the second I get to the car, but with this - so far, so good. I totally recommend).

Flip Flops are definitely the summer shoe of choice - Havainas being the most popular at the moment. Skinny jeans (finally arriving here in America) and flip flops seemed to be the wardrobe of choice for women in Boston. But both men and women rock flip flops here. They are worn EVERYWHERE and with everything. With suits at the office, with bridesmaid dresses, with wedding dresses, with shorts, with skirts with dresses and now with skinny jeans...

Americans love their sports teams (especially the Bostonians) - I got to watch the final game of the NBA tournament from Boston - featuring the Boston Celtics vs. the LA Lakers. Unfortunately, the Celtics lost, but it was still an experience to watch a Boston team play a game from a Boston sports bar. First of all this sports bar must have had around 40 televisions lining every free wall space in the very spacious bar. Second, almost everyone was wearing Celtics shirts (at least all the men were and many of the women). Third, everyone was drinking beer - out of plastic cups no less... I started to have flash backs to college right especially since by the end of the night my flip flops were absolutely sticking to the floor so bad I had to pry them off with quite a bit of effort with every step.

Americans are SUPER SIZED. Ok, obviously, not all Americans are huge (although that is the stereotype), but you definitely see a lot more super sized (well fat actually) people here. At least once a day when I'm out and about, I see a person who is just uncomfortably HUGE. In Europe, I don't think I've even seen one person who I've felt is alarmingly super sized American fat. But, just in general, Americans are big. Especially the men. Broad shoulders, big arms, big beer bellies - even the guys who are hot and fit (like the American boy who by the way I did get to meet) are still just big... It's just not the same in Europe. As one American man put it - "I just can't wear European clothing, it's too slim fit for me. I can't fit my shoulders or arms or legs in them." Hmm... why is that? Growth hormones anyone? Or possibly it's the SUPER SIZED proportions - seriously the proportions here are so out of control. Please show me another country where a "doggy bag" is such a common necessity.

American men wear very baggy (and bad) clothes. Ok, as I'm in honest person, I'm just going to say it. Most American men dress terribly! Big baggy jeans. Big unflattering suits. KHAKIS! Ewww... Sports T-shirts. Sneakers. Shorts! Yuck! I am already missing the sleek and tailored (ok, yes slightly metro) way that European men dress. My American girlfriends find it hilarious that I prefer this style to the American style (they think it's beyond metro and swear they could never date a guy who wears skinny jeans). They laugh at the fact that last summer the Beautiful Swede showed up at a Boston bar in Southie with white linen tailored pants, a baby blue collared shirt and a pink (yes pink) sweater over his shoulders and then proceeded to order a glass of Rose wine. The even more hilarious thing in their eyes is that I didn't even notice that this might be out of the ordinary until they proceeded to point it out to me. I have become Europeanized! To be honest, the way he dressed (and ordered Rose) was not at all abnormal in Sweden. I guess men there are just more comfortable with their sexuality and well way better dressers! I could never date a sloppy baggy jeaned American man!

Americans in general are very polite - this never fails to impress me. They are very curteous, they always give compliments and they seem to go out of their way to make you feel comfortable and at ease.

Americans get married very young and the women wear ridiculously sized diamond rings - I have noticed that I am an anomaly being over 30 and not sporting a huge rock on my left finger. This is less uncommon in Europe and certainly there seems to be less pressure to get married (and spend your entire savings on a ring) when you are young.

Americans are not as crazy about the World Cup as the rest of the world - While people are watching the World Cup here, there is not the same kind of frenzied excitement and activity that surrounds such a momentous event that I have experienced while living abroad during the last two world cups. The last two World Cups I had the pleasure of watching it in the same time zone (i.e. I was in Asia - Bali - when the World Cup was in Japan/Korea and in Stockholm when it was in Germany). There is definitely something to be said for being in the right time zone to watch the games (i.e. it's easier to watch them at the bar). The funny thing is that most children play "soccer" but we are not that used to watching it on television for some reason. I have not managed to watch a single game yet and I'm very disappointed in myself... I have unfortunately not had a free moment since I returned to the US, but that's another story.

Taxis in the USA are not very nice - whether eating in a restaurant, getting served at a bar, buying something at the supermarket or a clothing store, Americans tend to provide service with a smile and assume that the customer is always right. In a country with a strong customer service focus and in general excellent service, the one place where I find it appallingly lacking is when you get into a taxi. (probably because most taxi drivers tend to be recent immigrants...) But inevitably you end up with a driver who speaks little to no English and ignores your directions as he yells madly into his cell phone (yes, here it's a cell phone and not a mobile phone) - which I can't believe is even allowed here! It's not allowed in Sweden or the UK that's for sure. Also, I have to say that in Sweden and the UK, the taxi drivers are always very professional. And even in Sweden they speak way better English then the typical American taxi driver.

Americans have finally caught on to cool phone technology. It was not too long ago that while their European and Asian counterparts lost in their world of "texting," had forgotten that mobile phones can still be used to make phone calls, most Americans didn't even know how to send a simple text message. Times have changed and Americans seemed to have caught with and even surpassed their global counterparts. Thanks to Blackberries and Iphones that is. It seems like every American is typing away all the time on one of those two devices. Even both my parents have Blackberries which is just plain wierd.

Granted these are just my observations from the East Coast. I'm headed out west to San Fransisco for the rest of these week to participate in wedding number 3 of the 5 weddings I will attend this summer. I think it's going to be a great time. I'm looking forward to it! So in case you are wondering if the West Coast is any different (or if I will ever meet any cute boys this summer) well stay tuned for a West Coast update!

Hope you all are enjoying the summer!
XOXO

USA Update

So, I have officially been back in the USA for 4 days now. I got in late last Thursday so therefore today is officially my 4th day here. It is also my 4th day off of work. I have taken Friday and Monday off as vacation but plan to work out of Boston for the rest of the week.

Because my last post went on and on forever and ever, this time I will spare you the details and instead leave you with a very short list (relatively speaking) about what I've been up to since I landed back Stateside because I'm sure you are all very curious about what I'm up to and if I'm at all living up to my vacation to-do list. So, here goes:

First of all, I'm very happy to tell you all that I got CARDED on the plane on the way to the US! What is going on here? This is the second time in the past month (I must be doing something right). We didn't actually get to the point of me needing to show my actual ID. However, she did ask my age in a very skeptical tone and when I told her that I was the very old age of 32 she burst out laughing (and embarrassingly, so did everyone around me) and she actually said: "Wow. You look no older than 18!!" Well, that might have been stretching it a bit. But it did make my day err.... well, my week actually.

Since arriving home to my parent's house in Western Massachusetts, I have been very disappointed in the terrible cold and rainy weather. Blah! Where is summer? I want to lay by the pool!

On Saturday I attended the wedding of one of my oldest friend S. Despite the pouring rain, the wedding and the reception were fantastic! At this point I have to give a shout out to S. I have known S since we were 3 years old and we went to elementary school together. S and I have a long history that dates all the way back to his first bowl cut (over the years for some reason he chose to sport a bowl cut hairstyle most off the time). In elementary school he was like the way too "cool" kid who was always bullying everyone else. In high school he was the typical popular guy who played every sport. He was the guy who relentlessly teased everyone - although I think that he suffered his fair share of well-deserved teasing back. In college, he was the smart engineering student who knew how to have a good time and still get top grades.

Somewhere between elementary school and high school S and I became good friends and that friendship lasted us all the way to college at UNH. Over the years we have shared a lot of memories and good times (and some bad such as the infamous night that I split my head open at his girlfriend's apartment in college - oops). In high school he was a star basketball player and me being the cheerleader I was always had his name and even made up a special cheer for him (yes, we did relive this at the wedding). In college I remember driving home with S in TRUCK (pronounced loudly TRRRUUUCK) - it was a slow going ride since Truck only had 4 gears. People would joke that one day we would get together (I mean that's what you do in small towns right)? But S and I never had a romantic interest in each other. He is like a brother to me and I hope a friend for life.

I'm so happy that S found a beautiful bride in N. They are a beautiful couple I wish them the best of luck!

The wedding enabled me to to catch up with 2 of my best friends from high school who I went to the wedding with. So great to see them!

I also got to catch up with many other friends from high school mostly the high school "boys" at the wedding. Funny how quickly we all revert back to our high school selves and even the way we used to talk... As the mother of the groom said, "You all have such a special bond, and whenever you see each other, you pick right up where you left off." She is right...

As I so often do lately, I managed to feel out of place being one of the only single people as well as one of the few people without children - I guzzled gin and tonics as the couples went on and on about children. Not that I blame them or hold it against them (I'm sure I would be doing it too), it's just that I can't really relate and I certainly have nothing to contribute.

After a night of hearing my friends who are new parents talk about the early 5 am "wake up calls" from the kids and watching the married couples interact (not always in a very encouraging way) I have decided that I am in NO RUSH TO GET MARRIED OR HAVE CHILDREN! Perhaps single life is not all that bad...

I marvelled at the differences between American and Swedish weddings including: at this American wedding most guests (including the Maid of Honor) seemed to be wearing black which is a big "no no" in Sweden, the DJ serves as the person who gets the wedding going rather than the toast master, American weddings tend to have an emphasis on family members while the Swedish wedding has an emphasis on friends, the religious American ceremony vs. the very short and non-religious Swedish one, and the fact that the American wedding ended around midnight while the Swedish one raged on all night. Up next a San Fransisco wedding. We will see how that compares.

I have been trying to wean myself away from work but so far it's only been met with minimal success. Today while I was taking a nap (as you do on vacation) I had work stress dreams the whole time. I also have been unable to stop checking my blackberry (that damn blinking red light) and tonight and last night I actually found myself working for 2 hours! I hope I can find it in me to really leave work behind for awhile once I get through this week.

Today (Monday) the sun peaked its way through the clouds for exactly one hour. Unfortunately, that hour exactly coincided with the contractors who my parents hired to work on rebuilding our barn (no idea why this is important -it's not as if we have barn animals or anything). So, I sat in the house feeling very sorry for myself that I was missing the sun since there was really no way that I could strut out in my bikini in front of the 5 workmen. Thank you Mom and Dad for this great planning. I've been dreaming of a day at the pool for so long! I guess I have to wait a couple more weeks.

In general, I have been feeling a bit stressed and am not in vacation mode at all (probably because I know I have to work the rest of this week) I've been running around trying to sort out things, do work, get to the gym, etc. It has so far been anything but relaxing and so far I have not really crossed a single thing off my to do list and I'm struggling to find time to even sleep. And with this week in Boston and next week in San Fran, it doesn't seem like I will have much down time. Well, I guess that is the life of an International Woman of Mystery. I guess I should just get used to the fast pace.

I'm off to Boston for the rest of the week to work out of the office there and of course - have some adventures. Will keep you posted. So, stay tuned for a Boston update!

Have a great week!
XOXO

Vacation To-Do List

I just returned from the most amazing Stockholm weekend. I have lots to write about it, but am too tired right now. Instead I leave you with my vacation to-do list (a post I had written already). That's right. I'm headed back to the good old US and A on Thursday. I have to work some the first week but I'm home in the US for a month and I plan to do some serious relaxing in between the following things:

Go to three weddings - that's right THREE weddings and even more important they are three weddings of three of my oldest friends. Two of them I have know since I was 3 and we all went to pre-school together. One wedding is in W. Mass and the other is on Nantucket. I'm really looking forward to catching up with my high school girlfriends who will also be attending. And I can't wait to see my old friends get married. The other person who is getting married is someone I have known since he was born. He is my parent's Godson and essentially my "other brother." He's getting married in San Fran and my family is flying out for the week. My brother is even flying home from Barcelona. Should be a good time - they are a fun and trendy couple and the wedding seems like it will be quite the social event. In other weird mentionable events... my parents and I will fly together to San Fransisco and it will be the first time in my life I have been on a plane with my parents. Weird huh?

Meet the American boy in Boston - Remember him? Well... I hope to see him again in Boston. And let's hope he's still single! Although I wouldn't be surprised if he's not. He's way to good a catch to be single for long.

Lay around at the pool and do NOTHING! My parents live in the middle of the woods and have an amazing huge pool. It's up on a hill and you can't really see the house or the road. The landscaping around the pool is very natural with lots of wildflowers. You are more likely to see a bear (seriously, a big black one walked right by me one day) then other people. It is the most peaceful place in the world and I love going home to my parents in the summer and just chilling at the lovely pool.

Turn off my computer and my blackberry - I have not really had a vacation where I have been able to do this, but this time I'm serious. Work be damned. I have worked like a crazy person all year and I'm taking time off! My usual vacation day consists of waking up at 7 to bring my dad to work so that I can have the car for the day, then I usually log onto my computer and start tackling my emails. Before I know it, I'm in one conference call and then another... And then it's more emails and suddenly it's 4:30 and I have to go pick my dad up at work. And I realize that I have not moved ALL day - nor did I really need the car! And then there was that memorable Christmas vacation where I spent the first Sunday morning of my vacation speaking for hours with my colleague while my parents tried to get me to come and spend time with them. Or last Christmas where the President of our company called me like 5 times a day during my first week off... So, this time I'm making it very clear to everyone. I'M GOING ON VACATION! DO NOT CALL ME AND DO NOT EXPECT ME TO RETURN YOUR EMAILS! I feel that if I say this enough times out loud to myself I will actually maybe enforce this rule. I have to say that turning of the Blackberry is going to be a tough one.

Catch up with great friends - the best thing about weddings is it makes it easy for you to see everyone at once. I will have a chance to catch up with school friends and old hometown friends. I can't wait.

Read lots! I love to read but lately have had trouble finding the time. So, I can't wait to catch up on some good books.

Figure out "what next" - shh.... don't tell anyone (that I work with) but I'm planning on making a major life change soon which may even include trading in my international jet set lifestyle and heading back Stateside. Although I would totally prefer to head back to Stockholm if possible. Since I have no time at all to think or figure out what next (my favorite and only fantasy of the moment is running away to Bali and writing a novel - I'm not sure how realistic this is), I plan to use some of my vacation time to do some soul searching and well... job searching.

Go to the gym and work out A LOT! This is always on the agenda when I'm on vacation. It feels great to do a little extra burning and toning while on vacation and you have a little extra time.

Spend quality time with my family. I love my family. I miss them. It's nice to see them. It will be fun to be in San Fran all together. I'm so glad my brother can make it. It will be our first family "vacation" since the Stockholm trip 2 years ago.

Get lots of "pet therapy." Since an International Woman of Mystery like myself sadly can't even manage to even keep alive a plant, pets (although I would LOVE to have one) are totally out of the question. But, my parents have two cats and one dog. One of the cats has some serious problems such as when you try to pet her or pick her up she squirts horrible things from her bottom that make you smell terrible for hours (he he - the Beautiful Swede Ex learned the hard way). I don't touch her anymore. But the other cat and the dog are great. The cat is black and called Batman. He is such a little lover. Actually, he's a total brat and hates new people so last summer when the Swedish Ex came home with me, he refused to surface at all. But this year the Swedish Ex is back in Sweden probably having babies with his new Swedish girlfriend. So, I will get to pet my cat. And then there's the dog Jacoby. He is really cute. He is still kind of new and we are still bonding (which is hard to do when we only see each other twice a year). But isn't amazing how smart animals are? He totally recognizes me and gets all happy and tail waggy every time I come home. So, I plan to spend lots of time talking to and petting the animals: pet therapy.

Take up a new hobby like Yoga or Pilates - seriously, yoga and pilates are always on my "to-do" list and as my body is getting older and my back is giving me more and more problems (although my awesome new Danish Physio therapist here in London has taught me how to stand and breath properly and this is making a huge difference). I wish I could see myself as one of those really toned spiritual women like Madonna... (and hopefully with a hot younger guy like Jesus although hopefully without the scary manly arms). But I can't. I'm sure I will try yoga and pilates and hate them. But I will try anyway. Wish me luck.... Maybe I too will be a convert.

Eat Lobster - I LOVE New England lobster. My mom is usually nice enough to make a home cooked lobster meal for me at least once when I am home (this is usually the ONLY meal she cooks for me when I'm home) - if I beg her enough.

Have my "favorite" day - my favorite day consists of going to the beach in Rockport, Massachusetts. And stopping at Amelia's to have fried seafood (scallops, clams fish) and french fries and onion rings. AND THEN having a peppermint stick ice cream with chocolate sprinkles at the Dairy Queen. Ok admittedly, the ice cream and the fried food don't go so well with the bikini. But it's my favorite day and calories definitely do not count on my favorite day! By the way, my favorite day derives from the fact that my family used to vacation in Rockport when I was younger so rather than having a week long vacation on the beach with my family. I settle for cramming it all into my on "favorite day."

Celebrate my Dad's 60th - that's right, the old man turns 60 on the Fourth of July (and every year he still thinks that all the Fireworks are just for him). This will most likely be celebrated in my family's true style with a pool party and a keg! Gotta love it!

Read other people's blogs - I find it fascinating to read other people's blogs and get inspiration for my own. Unfortunately, this is time consuming and it usually means that I find myself still awake at 3 am when I need to get up at 6 am.

Get more people to read my blog. I have decided that I need to pimp out my blog a bit more and get more people to read it. I have no idea how to do these things... So, I probably need to first spend some time researching and then doing some shameless self promotion. Hopefully I can also find some time to WRITE MORE as I have heard this is also a key factor in writing a successful blog - kinda makes sense I guess. If you have any suggestions for me or my blog - please let me know.

Try not to think about the Beautiful Swede... He came home with me last summer... It was fun until he broke up with me directly after (serious jerk). However, I secretly sometimes wish he was going to come home with me again. In other moments I'm very happy that he's not because I can do whatever I want and not have to worry about him. And at least my cat will come out and play as the Beautiful Swede won't be around to scare him off!

And of course, I'm going to blog more! So, stay tuned!