what's going on

Thought I'd write a quick post to update on what's going on in the C & J household/world this week.

* J's last 2 games of the regular season are this week... Today & Thursday.  The team is currently in 6th place, and need to stay there to be guaranteed a playoff spot.  They play the top 2 teams in the league this week (including Mrs K's hubby tonight :) )  so it will be no easy task. 
Here's how it works: Should they end up anywhere from 7th-10th place, they will play a 3 game mini-series with one other team to determine which will move on to the playoffs with the Top 8 teams.  If they can (*fingers crossed*) stay in 6th (or higher!)  they will get a little break during this "qualifying round".

* Today is my last day "alone" for the regular season while J is away for the game.  Mixed feelings about that one! ;) 

* We're still brainstorming ideas and plans for our end-of-the-season trip.  It's just so hard to narrow anything down!  But I'm sure no matter what we decide, it will be wonderful. 

* I plan to start packing some of our stuff up and sorting out what needs to come home with us for the summer and what can stay here until next season.  It's crazy to think how soon the end of the season has come... but hopefully we still have several more weeks left! :)

* The weather in Helsinki is finally warming up a bit.  We're hanging right in the 30's F.  Not bad considering less than 2 weeks ago it was -20 F! 

* I'm working on plans for my future S.I.L's Bridal Shower in June.  Can't wait to make all of the creative ideas in my head a reality... I just looooove being a hostess! :)

* Also in the works are a couple new blog posts (of various topics) and hopefully a new blog design!  Be sure to come back and check them out :)

* Continuing expanding my photography skills!  It is quickly becoming a cherished hobby of mine.

* And last, but not least... keeping up with our shows!  The Bachelor, American Idol, NCIS: Los Angeles, Glee, Kourney & Kim, Teen Mom... etc.  Wow, am I a reality tv w*ore or what?  I guess I just throw them in along with all of the National Geographic, Viasat Explorer, Hockey & other sports programs J makes me watch, for good measure :)

Hope everyone is having a great start to their week!  Soon it will be SPRING!!

 

eurotrip 2011

Well, I think we've come to a decision on our end of the season trip!  We have such a long list of places that we want to see in Europe... and only so much time (and money!) to do it.  So, we narrowed it down to two separate trips that we want to take by the time our contract is up in 2013. 

Trip A:  A Mediterranean cruise around Spain, Italy, Greece and that general area.  There are lots of other places that the cruises stop, including Portugal, southern France, Monaco, Croatia, Turkey, etc.  so we'll see when it comes time to book it which one we pick.  It also depends on how long we go for. 

source

Trip B:  Travel throughout Western/Central Europe, including (at least some combination of) the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland & Austria.  We will probably fly from Finland to one of these places, take a train around (J found this fabulous site that seems to have great train multi-day/country train passes), and then fly back to Finland when we're done.  We're hoping to make it to all of those countries in one trip, but as we plan out the logisitics, we'll see if that's realistic or not.  We want to see as much as we can, but don't want to feel rushed in and out of cities either! 

source

 

source

 

and the winner this year is......

TRIP B!

We figure that this is the best option for us at this time, for a lot of reasons.  We've started to research into places to go  and things to see.  I think our biggest challenge will be making the actual travel plans- what hotels to stay in, getting from place to place/when, etc.  We want to have things farily planned out, but at the same time don't want to have too tight of a schedule.  If we're really enjoying one place, we don't want to have to only spend one day there.  Or if we hate another, we'll move on to the next.  We want to take full advantage of our ability to be young and spontaneous while we can! :)

So many of you passed on some great tips of things to do and places to see when I first posted about the trip, and they have come in very handy so far and they will all be put to good use!!  THANK YOU!!

If anyone has any more tips to share, particularly pertaining to any of the countries on our trip (Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria) feel free to keep 'em coming!  I am a person who much prefers personal references and experiences over something that I read on a Google search :) 

Of course, there are many other places still on our list.  I think these will be our "big trips" that we can only do at the end of the season, but hopefully we can squeeze some other little shorter trips in here and there.  It's such a wonderful opportunity to be over here... we want to take full advantage of it! :)

On a different note... only 3 more hockey games left in the regular season!  Can't believe how fast it has flown.  Of course I am getting super excited for not only our trip... but to GO HOME!!  I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to do such simple things like drive a car, eat a good meal out, wander aimlessly down the aisles of Target, and SEE FAMILY and FRIENDS!  Ahh, the simple joys in life :)  However, first the team's gotta take care of business here, and hopefully that means a good playoff run!
 

HAPPY FRIDAY!

stockholm, part 2

Those of you who have been to Stockholm know that the shopping there is amazing.  The Swedish people are very fashionable and trendy and clearly don't take their shopping lightly.  We decided to check out the shopping scene in Stockholm on Friday afternoon.  We figured with the snow and cold weather, we'd be better off indoors for most of the time.  We spent lots of time in the department stores, specialty shops, malls/galleries, etc.  It was a lot of fun to see how things compared to not only the U.S. but what we are now familiar with in Finland as well.  There was an H&M on every block (not an exaggeration) and more shoe stores than I have ever seen (along with everything else....)  We didn't buy a ton of stuff- shopping wasn't really our goal for the trip- but we did have a lot of fun looking.  I think we actually came home with more grocery items than personal items... they had a different selection of "American" groceries than we do here, so naturally, we had to stock up!

We got back to the hotel to rest for a little bit and get ready for dinner.  We already had our sights on one place in particular- the Hard Rock Cafe.  Most people who go to Sweden would want to taste a sample of what Swedish food is like.... not us!  A good old American burger, chicken strips & french fries satisfied us more than you could ever imagine.  We haven't found many restaurants over here that we really like, so we were pretty excited to just have some food that was "normal" to us and stuck with the safe choice.  No regrets!  Hubs did have a little tease though... the drink menu listed that they had "Miller Lite" in bottles.  I'm pretty sure he almost started to drool just reading that... the Finnish beer leaves a lot to be desired.  All that excitement for nothing though, of course they were all out.  He was a good sport and didn't let it ruin the rest of the meal though :)

Walking back to the hotel was beautiful with all the street lights, fresh snow covered ground and trees, and amazing architecture of the buildings.  It made me envious of all the lucky people who get to live in them.  Maybe one of these years.... ;)

Saturday was sightseeing day.  We had booked a bus tour along with our boat tickets, thinking it would be the perfect way to see most of the main sights (but from a warm and comfy bus)... and it was.  Taking the tour around the whole city made me fall in love with it even more.  I can't even count how many times I asked J if we could just go back to Finland and get Maddie and come right back to Sweden.  Oh yeah, I guess that little thing called "work" kind of gets in the way of that plan.... :)

After the bus tour, we were on a mission to find lunch.  We had driven past a Burger King on the bus.... and I was determined to find it.  I'm not usually a big fast food go-er, but it's just one of those things that you see and just have to have it just because it reminds you of home.  There was only one problem- we had no idea where it was.  Bound and determined, I remembered taking a picture of it... so I scrolled through the pictures I had taken on the bus.  I found a picture taken near where we were at the moment, scrolled back 3 pictures and... voila!  It had to be close!  We walked a couple blocks back and thereeee she was.  Thank goodness I had snapped so many pictures on the bus or we would have never found it ;).  We were happy campers. 

We walked around a little while longer and by then it was time to head to the hotel, grab our luggage and head to the boat home (not forgetting to stop at the counter and get our cabin upgrade first, of course!).  We arrived back in Helsinki on Sunday morning to freezing cold weather.  It was -30C, or -22F.  Real temperature, not including windchill.  Little did we know, that lovely weather would be staying with us for the next 2 1/2 weeks.  On the bright side, at least it has been nice and sunny... and finally starting to warm up now.

We had an amazing trip and cannot wait to go back.  It was a perfect little getaway before returning to Helsinki.  Most importantly, we were both refreshed and well-rested & the hubs was more than ready to get back to the rink to finish out the last month of the regular season before playoffs :)

Anyways, here are some of the pictures from our trip.