It's a New Year

It's that time of the year,  the time to look back on the year gone and look forward to the future.  The time when one actually stops and says,  "wow time flies, what did I do with it all?!?"

The last year was an awful year and an amazing year all in one;  it was a roller coaster.   Last year my life changed upside down.  I spent the year waiting for my new life, looking forward to the future.  Being optimistic about what was ahead.  And waiting, lots of waiting. Months were spent in the US avoiding the previous country.  I missed my hubby so very much.

I planned a wedding, which I loved and was super fun.  I found so many talents for crafts and creativity that were bursting to get out.  I had many wonderful days with both my parents making and creating, and telling them how to glue what to what, lol.  Please forgive me, mom & dad.  I got to bond with my parents as an adult.  It's something I wouldn't give up for the world, I know them on a totally different level than before.  It was a beautiful blessing in disguise.  I got married, it was all I could have ever dreampt of. My beautiful day to celebrate our love.  I built 2 vacation homes in Southern Oklahoma,  they are currently on the vacation rental market.  Building helped me find myself and some hidden talents.

I reflected on my life.  Resulting is a massive life changing change of heart, I now have a totally different outlook.  I am much more focused on doing things to make "me" a better person, to expand myself, to challenge myself, being creative, being the "real" me not the me I think I'm suppose to be.  I loved working for myself this year.  I look back on my previous career with a degree of self-pity.  Corporate oriented ambition seems unproductive and, well, evil.  I'm trying to make the most of my new country, Norway. I'm excited for 2012, I'm excited about our new life.

Goals for 2012:

1. Get a job.  I picture it a bit like this: Somewhere to spend my time, something to challenge my brain.  Something with projects and where I can make an impact.  Somewhere I can be proud to work.  Probably something engineering and oilfield oriented to use my previous experience.  However this time, I'm not going to let it control my life.  Family WILL come first.  I will not work for months on end every single day without a break, I will not be bullied by my company or it's employees.  I will apply myself to make my company a better place and to achieve our goals.  I will spread my happy cheer to my co-workers.  I will not they them bring be down to their level.  I will work for a happy company, full of happy people, with smiles and honorable goals.  I actually think this will be quiet easy.  Norwegians have a good work ethic based on family time and it is not based on "the corporation is #1."  Plus, they actually have labor laws and believe in them.
2. Buy the ever illusive Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  Use it to make lots of things from scratch, including: a cake, cinnamon rolls and ground beef.  Find it a wonderful prominent place on my counter, for me to stare at with glee whenever I walk past the kitchen.  
3. Improve my cake icing skills. (They currently suck.)
4. Learn what all the settings on the stove actually mean.  Learn to cheat the induction stovetop, or get a new pots and pan set.  My current set doesn't work on the stovetop, most frustrating.
5. Throw a couple dinner parties.  
6. Learn to make sushi.
7. Make friends outside of work, mine and my husbands.
8. Paint pretty pictures.
9. Make my home a little less clean modern style and a bit more India Sari soft.  More "home" like.  I need to figure out what that means myself.
10. Become a better photographer; use light better, fill the image, work with my angles.

It's a brand new year!   It's not usually so exciting.  But It's time for a new year.  2011 you will never be forgotten.



Hope you have honorable goals going into 2012, and have a wonderful New Year!

Slingbox

Culture Shock Prevention Tool #1.

We've done this before, lived in another country.  At the end of that experience we didn't have many good things to say about... gosh the word is hard to say,  about... Azerbaijan.  Yes, some things there are great (tomato's - downright to die for tasty amazingness) and some things were once in a lifetime experiences (buying handmade carpet, while drinking tea in some dark basement).  But, overall not that great a place.  Among other things we suffered from an obvious case of culture shock; although at the time I had no clue.

What is culture shock:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock

This time, we have prepared ourselves to in the fight against "culture shock."  Both, mentally and with goodies from home.  Our favorite goodie from home is a Slingbox.  We have installed our Slingbox in a property back in the USA.  We have connected it to a full satellite suite of TV channels and a DVR (digital recorder).

What does this mean to us:

1. We can use our computer to stream live US TV to our television here in Norway. 
2. We can record US TV shows and watch them whenever we wish. 
3. I can get US style football!!!  Go Packers!

Although, we don't watch alot of TV.  I would be hard pressed to watch 2-3 hours a week, we have every channel you can imagine in English and all the newest shows from home.  When you start to feel out of the loop on the latest sports win, or when everyone is talking about some new show on facebook;  I can actually feel like I'm not so far from home by watching it myself.  AMAZING.

Hubby's Hair Cut

Our first attempt to get my hubbies hair cut.  It was getting crazy long, falling all over his ears.  But we had heard horror stories about what a hair cut could cost.  I asked some of the coffee ladies about where to get a hair cut, and one said her husband hot his done across the street from the coffee shop.

I made an appointment,  and 200 NOK (About 34 dollars US) he has shorter hair than I've ever seen him with.  It's not too bad, might take a couple days to get use to, but it might grow on me.   But, it was a try and in our opinion pretty cheap.  There is only 2 weeks between a bad hair cut and a good hair day, they say.

The World's Happiest Country

Norway, was repeated been voted "The World's Happiest Country."

Read: http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2011/12/07/the-worlds-happiest-and-saddest-countries/

Although, When I told people this Happy Fact they could still be negative about my then upcoming move to Norway.   Why? How? What were the reasons?  You ask.

This is how my interpretation of what some people may think of Norway who have never been.  And my first impressions of Norway. 

Isn't it cold?  Frozen Tundra?  Are you above the arctic circle?   They'd ask.   We'll yes, but it seems pretty warm.  It's the end of December and I've only seen snow once, it lasted 1 day and then melted.  It rains alot, and can have a windy day storm.  But, so far so good, no frost bite.  Not even dry skin.  I may be lucky,  I'm in Stavanger.

Don't all they eat is fermented fish?  We'll they do have some interestingly fishy food.  But, they have all the other things too, beef and lamb and yes fish, fresh even.  Right off the boat, for sale in the harbor.  Now, this is pretty awesome for a girl from Oklahoma.  Oh, and that have lovely breads and a pretty darn good produce selection too.  I could go on for days about food.  I'll save that for later.

Vikings?  Hummm...   Yah, they are Vikings.  They are the tallest people in Europe and a nice race of people,  once you get them to speak to you.

Isn't it expensive?  Ok, yes.  It's expensive.  Very expensive.  But the per capita income is through the roof to compensate for it.  So people know it's expensive, but still can maintain a standard of living despite the costs.

I heard if you drink and drive it's awful bad punishment?  Ok, seriously, what is wrong with this.  Seems like a pretty good policy to me.  There is plenty of public transport and taxis,  you can still enjoy yourself and be social with a little liquid courage;  you just get a ride home another way than driving yourself.

I think overall Norwegians, seem, so far, to be very happy people.  They like where they live, they enjoy their culture, and they don't complain.  You don't meet many Norwegian's who want to leave Norway. I take that as a pretty good sign, that Yes, Norway is a Happy Place.

At least it makes me very Happy so far.

In conclusion:  I think some people, think they must be from the best place in the world, and are negative because they want to convince you they are happy and they have the BEST lifestyle and country.  And I'm sure they are happy, and I'm sure their lifestyle and country is the BEST for them.  But, some statisticians think maybe as a whole population, not quiet as Happy as Norway.   And I haven't seen anything to prove them wrong yet.

Small Victories

Today something wonderful happened!  I ran into someone I know, in town. 

Well, ok...  This may not sound that wonderful or delightful.  But, I have been here for 2 months now and my friend group is very small; well basically non-existent.  It consists mainly of my husbands coworkers.  I have been going to a once weekly morning coffee social event.  It's an expat get-together /  meet & greet, type event.  It's been really nice, it's a group of people who are all trying to adapt to a new culture also.  So we share stories, complaints, small victories and enjoy a cup or 3 of coffee.

And then it happened,  while strolling around the post-Christmas sales, looking for my ever illusive Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer "On Sale";  I ran into a lady I met two weeks ago at coffee, oh the JOY I felt.  It's starting to feel like home.  :)

1st Christmas in Norway

Having just moved into our new home this week, we were very happy to be out of the hotel and to be having home cooked meals after months in the hotel.   However, the house is still not put to together fully and we don't know how everything works.

For instance, I learnt two days ago that the stovetop is "Induction."  Which meant nothing to me at the time.  But now means that I can't use any of our nice pots and pans,  or well anything,  not even my stock pot.  We have one thing that works on the stovetop, my cheap $6 hand me down wok.

Despite this setback, I believe my boys and I had a lovely Christmas dinner, Stuffing, Yams, Cranberry Sauce, Turkey and Gravy.   Made 100% with a Wok and an oven.  Welcome to a new country.
 
But, always one to love a reason to be creative.  I organized the present wrapping and Christmas tree before we moved out of the hotel.  Enjoy my 1st Christmas tree away from home.  Not much like a "real" Norwegian spruce,  but modern matchy matchy like me.

Etsy I love You

Etsy is the horribly addictive website, that is like heroine for those planning an event or redecorating a house.  Or into craft project of any kind or sort.  It has the magic power to be more time consuming, thought provoking and to take your whole day away from you; so much more addictive than Facebook could ever dream of being.  At least addictive for me.

Here are some of the things I bought on Etsy in the last 12 months!

I have also bought 2 other pillow, burlap table runners in bulk, vinyl lettering for a massive wall, bingo numbers, a blue wedding garter, "I Do" shoe stickers, custom bridal shirt with new last name,  custom trophy wife t-shirt, bridal veil.

Etsy has bad a major or minor roll in inspiring my Save the Date, Invites, Guest Labels for Bingo and probably much much more...

I love Etsy.  I am Loyal to Etsy.  Etsy is the go to place for custom everything.  When I want something unique, original, not store bought junk, this is my first place to go.  Plus almost everything is a really good deal.  We'll as long as you aren't shipping to Norway from another country.

Official Photography by Mandy Ballard

Wedding Bingo

What you say?  What is wedding bingo?  Are you telling me you don't know about this great thing.  We'll of course you don't know about it.  Unless you were at my wedding, that is.  Because we made it up. 

When planning my wedding we had 1 big problem; well bigger than big, one huge ginormous crazy large issue to tackle.  We had everything finally planned and in process.  The caterers were sorted, the bridesmaids dresses on order, the flower arrangements settled on, the place mats arrived, the napkin rings done, all the big details that had to be addressed further than 2 days before the wedding. done.  All these things were happily organized.  But, what are we forgetting.  We picked a venue, "yes," The Leaping Lizard Lodge; thanks mom and dad.  I picked a groom, "yep"  I had that sorted, lol. I had my ceremony music picked out, every song to be exact; with instructions for the DJ to alter at will in order to please the guests and atmosphere. What could we be leaving to the end.  What could be so hard to figure out.  Someone to marry us, An Officiant!  We couldn't find anyone that was willing to do a secular, non-church wedding in Southeastern Oklahoma.  Not a judge nor a random citizen.  We asked photographers, and DJs and wedding planners; all the local wedding talent.  No one, I mean absolutely no one knew someone who could marry us.  It sounds crazy, ok, yes.  But, it is the Southern US, what can I say.

We researched the requirements to be legally able to preside over a wedding ceremony.  We discussed friends and relatives.  Discussed writing the ceremony for them, and them just reading what I wanted to make it easy on our lucky friend of choice.  But, we couldn't decide on someone, and no one was really jumping up and down volunteering.  So after a long exhausting day of shopping in Northwest Arkansas, my mom and I were driving home.  We must have been delirious.  She wanted to have door prices for the wedding,  what you say, door prices?  Yah, give away some centerpieces, some bottles of wine.  Spice up a boring wedding moment with door prices.  Ok, a bit loopy.  So we discussed giving everyone a number so they could be called on. I had seen a great Guest Labeling system on Etsy, I wanted to try out.  So I was working with mom on this one.  Then we started joking around.  We could door price off who has to be the officiant.  Yah, we could call there name and they get the honor of marrying us. It would be torture for the random people called!  lol.

Next day,  "mom maybe we could actually door price off who has to speak."  Mom, "ummm, i don't know."  So we told dad our grand plan, and what did dad say, "ummm.... maybe."  Upon further discussion this is how it turned out.

My dad volunteered to get the legal papers so he could legally marry us!  Someone had to be legal.  We decided to use a bingo wheel to call the winners, and we would rig it.  We talked endlessly about what would happen if the wrong person got called and froze in the spotlight.  We decided it would be better to rig the speakers so we picked people close to us, and those we knew would get excited about speaking,  i.e. not run away into the woods to never be seen again.

I bought an awesome vintage Bingo wheel from Etsy.

These are the victims:

Hannah, my outgoing American cousin, started us off with an intro and reading.

My hubby's sister, a talkative Aussie, recited a reading.

Our mutual friend and coworker, a not so shy Canadian, took us through the handwritten vows.

Lastly, my dad, added some Dr. Suess and pronounced us man and wife.

I was able to incorporate the awesome guest labeling system.  It was such an easy DIY project.  I used actual bingo number to label the guest and correspond with the bingo wheel.  We went ahead and did some door prices during dinner, wine and such. It turned out ok, to break up the monotany of eating, but I think was confusing for everyone.  We'll you never know unless you try.  The door prices were random the ceremony participates were not.

I hope you like our wedding bingo idea.  It shocked all the guests and participants, and made for a really spontaneous and fun filled evening.  After the ceremony everyone was pretty excited and taken aback from the unusual nature of what could have been a typical ceremony.  I was very very pleased with how it all turned out.


I'll blog about the actual ceremony wording another time.  That's way alot for one post already...

Goodday, Tif

Official Wedding Photography by Mandy Ballard

Ring Bearer Bag

What to do with a ring bearer that is 12?  Well, in my opinion he would look and feel silly carrying a pillow.  Yah, that's a no go.   We went back and forth, looking at ring bowls on Etsy; way cool but not quiet right for us.  We searched endlessly for the right option.  And mom came to the rescue once again.  She had a bright idea, so it took come convincing but in the end I let her run with it.

And look how marvelous "IT" is...

 

The top decorated layer, flips up revealing a pocket which holds the rings nice and securely.  The saying "Rings for a Champion and his Trophy" was an inside joke and affectionate thing my soon to be husband and I have.  I'm his trophy,  but you only get trophies if you are a champion.  So he is my Champion!  :)  He didn't see this Ring Bag before his son handed him the bag at the alter,  we were hoping it would make for lots of smiles and giggles from him.  Honestly, I was so caught up in the moment, I'm not sure of his actual reaction, guess that's how thing go.  His son carried this in his pocket.   But what did he carry to keep him from fidgeting and looking uncomfortable.  What else but another mommy-made sign.  We love SIGNAGE!

One side for walking down the aisle before the bride...

And one side for the walk back up the aisle, in front of the newly married couple...

Mommy did good!  Plus my wonderful ring bag is small enough, I can easily keep it as a keepsake; without cluttering my life.  Go, Mommy, Go.

Official Wedding Photography by Mandy Ballard

Vintage Hankies

Oh My Gosh!!!  This is my most favorite thing.  Well almost my most favorite thing,  there are lots of things in my life, that get me all wound up.  This is WAY WAY WAY up there though.  "Vintage Hankies" of all shapes, colors and uses.  They are such a wonderful creative addition to just about everything.  I wish I would have used them more in my wedding, by making a cohesive theme of them.  However, I didn't come across the idea until my wedding planning way too far along.

Here are some great ideas I wish I would have had the chance to utilize:

Save the Dates thanks to The Wedding Chicks:

 or even Invitations thanks to June Bugs Weddings:

Napkins maybe, from Joielala:

  

Plus, I like Hankie Banners, Placemats, Coasters, everything really...

No, not for me, not this time at least!  I'm sure I'll be trying to blend these ideas into my life in the near future.  But, I couldn't live without "Tears of Joy."  All over weddingbee are wonderful ladies praising the glory of this wonderful idea.

First, I bought lots and lots of hankies on ebay.  I bought only "lots" which basically mean large bulk hankies,  I tried to find ones from old real estate auctions. I didn't care if they said they were "well used" or "for crafting."  I got so excited everyday when I would see my next lot of hankies delivered in the mail.  It was a true surprise to see what I would get inside.  I ordered about 200 hankies for my wedding of about 100 guests.  This way, I could sort out all the ugly and stained specimens.  I only wanted fun hankies and found it cheaper to buy in bulk risking getting some ugly ducklings along the way.  I ended up using about 100 hankies, and ended up having about 40 over after the wedding.  The men didn't partake in the hankie fun, but some girls got excited and had to have more than 1. :)

I machine washed and dried my hankies, throwing out the truly holey and ruined hankies.  This is the result, hanging in my parents back yard.  My test hankies!  Oh, I got so excited!  So So excited!!!

 

Colorful, floral, vintage, unique, just what I wanted to surprise and bring a sentimental touch to my wedding.  I ironed the hankies.  My mom made another sign!  This one to tell our guests to take a hankie for their "Tears of Joy".  I found a lovely corner which all the guests would walk by on the way to the wedding, from which to hang my touching tear rags. 

And for a final touch, I dyed some of wooden clothespins with RIT dye green.  A lovely finishing touch.

I really like how it turned out and got lots of compliments from the guests.  It's apparently a totally unique and creative idea; well at least for those who don't read wedding blogs obsessively, hahaha

Update:  Do you wanna Upcycle your Hankies post wedding.  Here is a great idea for incorporating Hankies into your decor.

Official Photography by Mandy Ballard

Burlap Favor Bags

To continue the nature theme of the wedding; I decided to go with Burlap Favor Bag filled with flower bulbs.  This way the guests could return home and plant a little piece of the wedding.  This of course only worked for our domestic guests; but I figured the international guests would forgive us, they wouldn't be able to take their bulbs with them. :(

I followed this wonderful tutorial from Christina on Intimate Weddings:  http://www.intimateweddings.com/blog/diy-favor-bags-peony-pockets-part-one/

 

My mom made this last minute sign to hang above the bulbs!

 

 

My mother also worked some DIY screenprinting magic, and the look came out with a perfect vintage and rustic feel.  "Love Blooms" What a perfect saying for the favor bags,  :).   Then, I used some left over paper from the invitations to print tags on my ink jet printer.  The top vellum piece thanked our guests for coming, and the lower green card stock had planting instructions for the bulbs. 

It ended up being a pretty big project in the end; cutting, sewing, printing and running string closures for all these bags was quite time consuming.  We were glad we started about 5 months before the wedding!

Official Wedding Photography by Mandy Ballard

Burlap Banners

Burlap banners = my first time to touch a sewing machine.  And what a good project to get started trying out my "mommy homemaker" skills.

With some wonderful crafters on Etsy being my inspiration I set off on my DIY project.  It was actually pretty easy.  1) cut burlap into triangles, 2) surge the edges so they don't unravel, 3)  iron them flat if they are wrinkled, 4)  paint on the letters, using homemade templates, 5) fold & sew the top of the triangle around some jute twine/rope and back onto itself; sew so the letter can move back and forth.  Yep, Easy.  The hardest part is cutting triangles out of the burlap (burlap is hard to cut in a straight line).  Really really hard.

Homemade templates:  Keep it simple.  I blew up the letters in Microsoft word to take up most of a regular sheet of printing paper.  Printed.  Used my X-Acto knife to cut out the letters.  TaDa, a homemade template.

And this is the results!

 

 Smiles all around!  Just how I imagined they'd turn out.  :) :) :)

And my first sewing machine adventure is a success. Only some loud yelling at the spools and continual needle threading was involved. hehe.

Photography by Mandy Ballard

Mason Jars Stole My Heart

Some of the glorious uses of boxes and boxes mason jars I found in my Grandma's storage this year.

Lights to accent the Stairs...

  

As accents for the Aisle...  I used chalkboard paint to give them the matte black accents, and they match my awesome lanterns that we mixed in.

As a backdrop for the Bride & Grooms table...  (Scattered through the woods, behind the rest of the fairy lights)  This is when my wonderful maid-of-honor is giving her speech.  She made a funny joke, about when we met in college.  You have to use your imagination.

Yep, the lovely lady above you is my MOH,  :)  Notice all the pretty lights, hehe.

Thanks for enjoying my mason jar fetish with me.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Photography by Mandy Ballard

Napkin Rings

I find myself spending hours upon hours surfing Etsy.  I have found so much inspiration from this collection of DIYers.   On this particular occassion, I have found some awesome napkin rings.  This is an easy project I have been able to mass reproduce without much cost.

Etsy Inspirations:

Eabdesigns StoreFront

 JW Upholstery Fabrics StoreFront

 Pink Pig StoreFront

My Napkin Rings:

Jute Webbing comes in a bulk roll of 72 yds for about $40 including shipping. We printed everyone's name on a green card and tied it to the napkin ring.  A great idea, that kept the placecard on the table, in case of wind,  while also eliminating some "clutter" on the table.

Hope you like it.

Official Wedding Photography by Mandy Ballard