Kids play...

Yesterday it was my work's yearly Kick Off, which is where we go through the business plan and work together to brain storm how we will achieve it.  Normally these things are either b..o..r..i..n..g or jam packed with 'team building' shite.  But this was not any of those.  Thankfully!

Yes, it was full of charts, and graphs and marketing statistics but it was also really inspirational and well organised.  We had yummy food and cakes and I got to mingle and talk with people from other departments which I hadn't really spoken to before.  But there were 2 highlights to the day.  1st was the two guest speakers who where Katarina af Klintberg and Gunilla Axen who single handed through passion and their own needs as working mothers in the 70's, created the iconic brand which is Polarn. O. Pyret.  Even though I have only been with the company for 4 weeks, I shed a few tears when listening to them talk.  Not only because it was inspirational, but it was also quite sad to realise that we live in such a different world now.  Full of corporate decisions, financial pressure and extreme competition in every field, that it's not as easy to have a vision and to see it come to life and live on for over 30 years.

The 2nd was the fact that our dinner was at Junibacken which is a kids museum made up of all famous Swedish stories and authors.  It's quite magical and I can't really believe that we have still not taken Tilly there!  Nevertheless I got to experience it in a whole different way with champagne and no kids at all, which was like being a celebrity who gets to shop alone in a big department store!  It was brilliant and totally the next outing with Tilly.

 The perfect setting for the brand and a really great way to enjoy a night out with my colleagues.  We ate, drank and danced late into the night and I'm already looking forward to next year.
Thank you PO.P!

Oh Technology?...

Cute picture isn't it?  I have trying to upload a video on my blog for a week now.  With no luck!  So I thought I'd just post the symbol I keep getting just for the laugh, cos I'm so darn tired and have no fun news at all....

Will post some more fun and interesting stuff when I get myself out of this zombie state.  Until then - Rock on!

Happy Birthday Husby...

It was husby's birthday yesterday and I treated him to a weekend away in Vaxholm.  Vaxholm is still part of Stockholm but it feels much further away than the 55 minutes it takes to get there by boat.  I booked a weekend deal at the Waxholms Hotel which included a 3 course meal and breakfast.  Well worth the money and super romantic.
Tilly went to farmor and farfar for the weekend and got to see her cousins, so it was a win win situation for everyone.  Oh and Mickey got to go with too!

We spent the day walking around the little sea side town and wandered through the streets and looked at all the lovely houses.  You're not meant to admit things like this - I can't seem to be happy for those people in those amazing houses!  I just wish I had one and it makes me green with envy!  Can't seem to control the feeling... Oh well :(

That evening we sat on the balcony drinking wine and looking at the ocean, before heading down for a lovely fishy dinner.  More wine was had and even more yummy cocktails down in the 'night club' downstairs.  We went to bed very late and made the most of being child free.

We woke up considerably fresh on Sunday and after a delicious buffet breakfast headed back home.  We invited friends and family for a little party in the park to celebrate husby's birthday.  It was great to see everyone and for the kids to run around and play.  Another very lucky day with the weather.  

It was a fantastic weekend and I have the stamp of approval from husby as one of the nicest birthdays.  Happy people all round!

True Romance...

I was listening to the radio today and Aerosmith 'Miss a thing' came on.  It reminded me of an old boyfriend who used to call directly to my voice mail and record just a song on the message without saying a thing.  That was one of those songs. It was super romantic.  Actually that particular boyfriend did a lot of romantic things.  He used to write love notes on the bathroom mirror after a shower so I would see them when the bathroom steamed up or he'd use my jewellery and other things around the room to spell out words on the bed.  I was one lucky lady...
Or the boyfriend who sent me faxes at work every now and then with 'I love you'  - yes in the 90's!  Or like husby and I.  We are post it and SMS romantics, like I spoke about in the Keeping the romance alive post a few weeks ago.  We couldn't have survived without the text messages when we lived in different countries.

But I've always wondered if people just have a stock pile of romantic things they do and keep repeating them through every relationship?  Or do we recreate things done for us in our next relationships?  I promised myself that I would never repeat the same things in my future relationships and would try and feel out what new and fun thing could work for the person I'm with at the time.

What do you think and would you or have you ever RE-done a romantic gesture?

Here's a few of my favourite romantic songs and movie clips.
* Get the tissues
* My life in a movie
* Heart wrenching
* Fab cover
* Deal sealer
Actually just realised that most of them are also really depressing...oh well love is bitter sweet most times!

Have a great weekend and keep the romance alive....

Big trips with little people...part 4

The final part of our trip was our trip to Sydney.  The whole family did this together which was brilliant.  We stayed in a Radisson hotel in the financial district, and they stayed in a rented apartment near the Opera house.  We almost didn't make it though - we got a text a few hours before the flight saying it had been cancelled.  So after a very stern phone call from Uncle D, we got on the flight before  instead.  Luckily we are the kind of people who pack the night before cos we had to leg it to the airport!

Once we got there though it was just amazing.  Our first stop was Jamies Italian for dinner, which was the perfect way to start.  Amazing food and a buzzy atmosphere.  Perfect for bringing kids.  That's when Tilly became addicted to my phone and the since then she has to have the phone when we are at restaurants.  I feel a bit bad, but it does allow us to have that extra glass of wine and not have to inhale the food!  

The next day we went to the Sydney tower and saw the whole city from 305 meters - the highest observation deck in the southern hemisphere!  We walked through Hyde Park, stopped by Captain Cook's statue, went into the Australian Museum to see an old friend of mine (without luck as we missed her)  and then headed down to meet the family for sun downers at the Opera House.  Breathtaking!

Husby and the other men did the Harbour bridge climb which was a 3 hour climb all along the bridge - amazing but nothing for me.  So us ladies did a little shopping instead.  It started off well but then ended with Tilly having her worst tantrum yet!  Actually both her and I had a meltdown which resulted in me abandoning G and N and finding a quiet spot for the 2 of us to cool off.  She eventually fell asleep and I walked from Paddington back to the Opera house which took - wait for it - 50 minutes!  Anyway I got to see that cool part of town, uninterrupted!  That night Tilly stayed with Max and Nadine so husby and I could go out with D and G for an adult dinner, which was great craic altogether.  Tilly had a gas with the guys and we left a little glossary of Swedish words she might say just in case things got confusing!

On our last full day we decided to focus on the beaches and started with Bondi.  It was not exactly what I had fantasised but it wasn't high summer so I think it had to do with that.  Nevertheless it was great to be outside on the beach and Tilly could totally have a day just for her.  Later we caught the boat to Manley where we played on the beach and built sand castles.

We took the boat back at the perfect time and got to enter the city harbour at sunset.  It was magical and the perfect way to end almost 3 weeks in Australia.  Later on we had dinner together a cool burger place since we had been obsessing about Mikes Kitchen burgers the entire day....drank lots of cocktails and wine to make the sad goodbye much easier to manage.
Thank you Australia and thank you lovely family....Until next time x

Big trips with little people...part 3

G'day mate!  Yes I've found the energy the write more about our trip down under.  This was the best part of the holiday and why the whole trip took place really.  After many trips to Stockholm from my aunt and uncle and their kids, we were repaying the favour and seeing how things worked on the Gold Coast.  They live in a lovely house on the water with brilliant views and lots of space.  Just like I remember from growing up in Margate in South Africa.
It was the perfect set up and a good change from staying in the hotel in Singapore.  We had a big room for the 3 of us and Tilly had a nice big bed.  We ate home cooked meals every night and could follow a more 'normal' routine.  Plus there was the bonus of the 2 lovely big doggies - Blinky and Pretty.  Definitely Tilly's favourites, but I wouldn't say the same for husby!  They just loved hanging around him all day but I don't think he enjoyed it as much!

We spent most of our time sight seeing and doing fun day trips.  We went to Surfers Paradise (views from the Q1 building ), Byron Bay (my personal favourite) and Brisbane.

We did lots of fun things for Tilly like Sea World and visiting the Koala and Kangaroo sanctuary.  Tilly got to meet Dora at Sea World and see all the interesting fish and birds.  She fed the kangaroos which she wasn't scared of at all.  It was brilliant.  We got our photo taken with a koala, which husby got to hold.  We ate ice-cream, went on rides and generally had a fantastic time. 

She formed a major crush on Max, my cousin and they had super fun times even though he doesn't speak Swedish, cos somehow she didn't speak any English the whole trip!  So now I just have to convince him to come and live in Stockholm to be our new nanny!

We ate our way through the trip too!  We started everyday with smoked trout and avocado for breakfast.  Stopped off at a cafe for a yummy flat white.  We ate the best ribs at Mikes Kitchen, amazing sushi, went out for dinner just me Gail and Nadine for some posh nosh at a place called Truffle.  Had the most divine pork roast with crackling at a rustic farm house and my personal favourite which was the classic home cooked Lebanese food, just like Granny made - well almost!

But mostly it was just fun to hang out with my family and let them spend time getting to know Tilly.  She formed great relationships with each of them so it felt really easy.  She didn't even know she was so far away from home and kept saying how she loved 'Stralia'.