American in Norway

We have made it...  finally "home" after almst 23 hours traveling.. We were met at the airport by these cuties.. All of the kids friends showed up at the airport at 10:30 at night to welcome Dane & Eva home.. We are so blessed... So vacation has finally started for us. It is so nice to be home..  

While most of y'all are almost finished with your first month of summer... ours is just beginning... Kiddos just got out of school.... we bought a "new" boat... & we are on our way to the states for a few weeks of quality time with family & friends.... Just thought I would post a few pictures of our summer thus far...

I am a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE Blogger.  I miss my dear blog I really do.... Every once in a while I will pop by...(with the intention of writing something)  & read a couple of old posts... or look at some pictures of the kids... Makes me sad I don't have the time to blog on a regular basis... STOCKHOLM was AMAZING-.... I could TOTALLY live in that city...  I have been to Stockholm before but never with a bunch of SWEDES.. Even MORE fun... During my 2 days in Stockholm... I went to the Corporate Office.... I met the CEO.  I had lunch with the Nordic director... I went to our "concept store" .... was invited to the company SUMMER Party...  with the most amazing VIEW...  (Managed to pull a few outfits together... - thank you for all of your help.!) MY FABULOUS COUNTERPART  <----     from Bergen... I went on a tour of the factory... where they make most of the bath products... HEAVEN... Love the expr...

I am in a PANIC....  I receive an email on Friday.. that I will be attending a conference & a "party"  .. while in Stockholm... Oh, and by the way... I will be going a day early.     What kind of a party I am not sure... Cocktail...Garden?  Who the hell knows... I SHOULD have emailed my boss back  immediately & asked ... but I didn't want to seem clueless... HELLO C L U E L E S S I don't have a single day to shop before I take off... so now.. I need to make do with what I find in my closet... Question...  I have a Navy Blue shortsleeved suit.  It fits cute.. no really. I have an AWESOME pair of shoes.. However a girlfriend told me that short sleeved suites are OUT/dated. She has about as much fashion sense as moi..  so I am taking her opinion with a grain of salt. I checked online.. they don't seem out.. are they? Tell me the truth.. really before I show up in Stockholm looking like a frump. Can I wear a pair of...

Coming to a town near you..   Okay.... probably not.  But it sure seems that way.   Don't get me wrong.. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new job- I get to be creative, think out of the box... work (somewhat) on my own schedual. And do a lot of traveling around Norway.   (I will try to be better about taking pictures) Can't believe I have only been working there  for a month. time flies when you are having fun. I went to  Trondheim.for a week.. LOVE this city...  Perfect size between Oslo & Fredriksatd. I took some photos, which I will try to post this week Been to Gjøvik.... 2 x's - Off to Lillihammer tomorrow... Roa Kristiansand... Stockholm first week in June USA third week of June Kansas City-Roanoke VA. (not job related) Then it is a week in Rhodes Greece...  (tough job... but someone has to do it.) home for 2 days then  MADRID.  woo hoo... Much to my delight... Bjørn and the kids have been doing really we...

What a LONG wonderful day!..  One of the best 17th of May's ever... We hopped from one thing to another... from 7:45 this am until 6 pm this evening.. & my butt. is DRAGGING.... As most of y'all know what 17th of May is... I will spare you the information & hop straight to the pictures! :-) 17th of May is always a time of reflection for me... Amazing to see how big the kiddos & their friends have become. We had a really fabulous time... 3 parades.. brunch at my in laws.. & then a school party to end the day!

Sorry if my last post left some of y'all flat...   I have had a lot of hits- the last two days... I am sure folks waiting for me to tell the Big ol' Secret of how to land a job in Norway. It is hard as HELL y'all....  I am not saying that to scare you... just being honest. You are going to need to be patient.. you need to be creative & you are going to have to keep plugging away.  Ask EVERYONE you know if they can help you. & do anything... & don't complain . Majority of my expat girlfriends have FABULOUS jobs NOW. But they didn't walk into these fab jobs... they had to start somewhere just to build a Norwegian backgroud. Even if you think you are 100% PERFECT for the job.. you may not get it because you are TOO American, or British, or German...etc.  I have a brilliant friend.. who is now some big wig marketing guro.. who made it all the way through  SEVERAL TIMES & at the last min did not get the job because she was "TOO AMERICAN". T...