moi moi finland, hello america

Well... for those of you who don't know, the team lost in game 7 of the quarterfinals on Monday night, putting and end to their season.  It was a little earlier than hoped and it was too bad they couldn't pull out a win and keep going.  But, on the bright side....

WE'RE COMING HOME TO THE U.S. of A.!!!

(nope, no excitement in that or anything... not one bit ;) )

I wish it was as simple as heading to the airport and jumping on the next flight, but unfortunately, it's not.  Stuff has to be packed up and moved to the rink for storage.  The apartment needs to be cleaned out.  Laundry has to be done.  Our car needs to be returned.  Maddie needs to go to the vet to get her papers for back home (this is about the only thing we have completely done so far... haha).  Keys to our apartment, cell phone cards, TV card, have to be returned to their proper owners.  Hubs has team meetings.  Planning a time to see our friends here before we take off.  Tickets have to be booked (...minor detail).  All of that wonderful, fun stuff that is even more fun and wonderful when it stands in the way of getting home!

I despise packing and moving (someone remind me again why I picked a lifestyle that requires I do this twice a year again?  oh, that's right, a cute boy brainwashed me into thinking it'd be fun ;) )  but I'm keeping my eye on the prize:  4 wonderful summer months spent at home, with family and friends, eating all of my lovely American foods, trips to Target whenever I feel like it, drying the laundry in a ¡dryer!, driving a car (warning to those of you I will be sharing the roads with back home: this girl hasn't driven in 7 months!) buying milk by the gallon so we don't have to go to the store every. single. day.  Don't get me wrong, I like Finland a lot, and I'm sure come July I will be more than excited to get back.  But no matter where you're from, I think we all can agree.... There's no place like home!

We don't have an offical date of arrival set yet, but it will more than likely be sometime this weekend or early next week.  The hubs is acutally at the rink right now for meetings and figuring all that good stuff out and we hope to have our flights booked by tonight.  I know I kept talking about our European trip we were going to take at the end of the season, but, for several reasons, it's just going to have to wait :)  We may decide to take a trip somewhere warm once we get back, but we'll see how we're feeling.  Right now we need to just focus on getting home first. 

So, off I go to continue packing and cleaning.  I'm still waiting for my personal assistant to come and help me.... but she just never seems to show?  Not sure what's up with that ;) 

Moi Moi Finland, see you in 4 months :)

Hello America, can't wait to see you!!

wednesday's words to live by / hockey update

Happy Wednesday!

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Hockey Update:  The guys won Game 2 on Saturday to go up 2-0 in the series, but lost on Monday.  They're still up 2-1 in the series and play Game 4 at home tonight, which will either put them up 3-1 (meaning they'd only have to win 1 more game) or the series will be tied 2-2.  It's been a very physical series and makes me cringe watching a lot of it.  J has come home with many battle "wounds" (bumps & bruises) over the past few days (I would post a picture but I don't think he'd be too pleased...).  Hockey fans may like lots of hitting and physical play... but not this girl, not when my hubby is the one out there!

(some pictures from Game 2... from my

phone so they aren't the greatest quality!)

game 1 down, game 2 tonight!

A quick update for family & friends (and anyone else who was curious):  The team won their first playoff game last night 1-0.  Since it was an "away" game (even though the arena is right next door) I did not go.  The game was sold out, not many (if any) of the other wives & girlfriends go to away games, and I figured one night this weekend was enough hockey for me :)  

Game 2 is tonight at home and it looks like this one is sold out too (13,500 seats... that's pretty big for over here!)  I'm sure it will be a rowdy and intense atmosphere, since it is playoffs, sold out, and against their biggest rival team..... and seeing as it's Saturday, and boy these Finns can DRINK!!   Looking forward to a fun night of hockey, hopefully the boys can pull off another W :)   For those of you who aren't aware, you can check the live updates of the game here (I even already google-translated for ya, beware though... some of the names/penalties etc. translate pretty strange!)

Check back soon for more updates and some new (hopefully more interesting- sorry, my life's just not that exciting right now!) posts :)

a big win & a nice relaxing weekend

Well, the guys did it!  They won 4-1 Thursday night, finishing the league in 6th place out of 14 teams and securing their spot in the playoffs.  That gave them a week off before their first playoff game on Friday the 18th.  It's a best of 7 series, and the way that the standings work out they play their big rival team (same team they played in the Winter Classic game) which will make for some very interesting and exciting games, and hopefully some great crowds.  With both teams being located in Helsinki and their arenas being 5 minutes from one another, the travel isn't too bad either! ;)  Nothing like sleeping in your own bed every night (well, in our case, I use the term "own" very loosely). 

After securing the playoff spot, the guys were given 3 full days off to rest.  Friday they all went bowling and to "sauna together" (yes, that is acutally a proper term here)  along with some other team activities.   I went to see the movie Burlesque with one of the girls.  It was cute, and left us wondering exactly how old Cher is.  We knew she definitely doesn't look as old as she actually is (thank you plastic surgery) but she can definitely still sing!  (She's 64, for the record)

The rest of our weekend has just been relaxing.  Yesterday, we went to the Sokos Flamingo hotel & entertainment complex.  They have a Spa & Wellness center, indoor waterpark, bowling alley, movie theatre, mini golf, lots of restaurants & shops (it's attached to a mall) among other things.  We thought a nice relaxing day at the spa sounded good.... you can buy a 4 hour pass and use all of their warm water pools, saunas, etc.  There are restaurants and bars inside the waterpark area & spa area and it's a nice place to hang out, kick back & relieve some stress.

    

Flamingo Spa

Today includes grocery shopping & some other errands.  Nothing too exciting going on here (as you can tell) and just wanted to write a quick update about the game, but I promise to post something exciting soon!  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!