i'm realllllllly not into politics, but....

I think I've seen these pictures before...?



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Egypt?  nah, that's not it....



Lybia?  Yemen?  Nope, and Nope.



Oh, that's right.  It's WISCONSIN.  Sorry, I wasn't able to recognize my hometown with all of the protestors swarmed all over the place!

Some of you may or may not be aware of what is going on in Wisconsin right now, but my guess is that every American is to at least some degree.  It's only been all over every news channel for about a month now.  For those of you who don't know, the *very basic* rundown of it is that Wisconsin elected Rep. Scott Walker for governor in the recent 2010 election.  His promise: to repair the Wisconsin budget, which is, like the rest of the country, in deep deficit.  Sounds great, right?!  At the time... yes.  That is, until Walker introduced his budget proposal a few weeks ago, resulting in the largest uproar Wisconsin has ever seen....

In order to cut spending, Walker's bill takes away the collective bargaining rights of state employees, forces them to pay a larger share of their health care and pension plans, and results in about an 8% pay cut.  So, basically "repairing" the state's budget by significantly destroying the personal budgets of  hundreds of thousands of families all across Wisconsin.  Not only will it significantly hurt public employees' salaries & benefits, it also takes away so many of their Union rights.  This, in effect, will hurt major aspects of the Wisconsin public.... an extremely large one being EDUCATION. 

After the recent election, the Republicans hold power in the State senate, however, they need 20 State Senators present for a bill to be passed (there are 19 Republicans).  The Democrats, to demonstrate their opposition to aspects of the bill and try to protest immediate passage and buy some time to compromise and rework it, fled the state to Illinois so they could not be forced back to congress and thus resulting in the passage of the bill.

Now, this morning I have woken up to news that the Republicans found some sort of loop-hole and are inches away from passing the bill, even without the Democrats present. 

Obviously this whole mess has caused tremendous outrage across the state and country, resulting in hundreds of thousands of demonstrators protesting around the State Capitol and across Wisconsin.  The teachers Union urged it's members to call in sick in protest when the bill was first introduced, and thousands of school employees did, forcing many public school districts throughout the state to close for a day or more, and I would not be surprised if it happened again now that they are moving forward with the bill.   

Is this really the United States of America?  I am very sad for my state, and cannot believe that a thing like this is able to happen in our country.  It has ripped the state of Wisconsin apart and who knows when, if ever, the state will be united once again.  One thing is for sure - the public education system in Wisconsin is going to hurt big time as a result.  Looks like the hubs and I better start saving for our unborn future childen's private school tutition ASAP!  (or we could just stay in Finland forever? kidding, family & friends! ;) )

It's a sad day in Wisconsin.

For the record, I do not define myself as a Republican OR a Democrat.  I don't like to debate politics, and most definitely don't like to argue about them.  I just want what is best for my city, my state, my country... whatever that may be.  But THIS, is certainly not it.

wednesday's words to live by

Anyone who knows me knows how much I cherish music, lyrics, quotes, poetry, sayings, and basically any words that I can relate to or that touch me in some way.  I thought it would be fun to express this area of my personality here on my blog and hopefully inspire you all (as well as myself!) so I am going to start posting different "words to live by" each Wednesday.  I have a collection of hundreds of quotes, sayings & lyrics, so it will be hard to narrow it down to just one or two each week, but I'll start off with these: 

Heard Lee Brice's song for the first time in a while last night (Finland isn't exactly big into country music, so I have to use the TuneIn Radio app on Android... if you don't have it, you must get it!  You can listen to pretty much any radio station anywhere in the world!)  The words touched me just as much as they did the first time I heard them.  They are most definitely Words To Live By!

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!!

 

new camera... woo hoo!

We've been in need of a new camera around here for a while now.  The plan was to wait until we got home for the summer since everything is much cheaper there than it is in Finland.  But... we caved and got one here.  Between some frustrating camera experiences lately (the Winter Classic, Stockholm trip... among others) and the fact that not getting it until we got home meant that we wouldn't have a good camera to use for our EuroTrip, we decided that it was worth the little bit extra that we'd spend on it here.  Plus we know it will be a great investment for the future, with all of the traveling we will be doing and for when we have children :)

We had a fairly good idea of what we wanted (a Nikon) and have several friends who have various cameras in the Nikon SLR series... so we price shopped around a couple places and bought one the same day.  The same place that had it on sale also had it with the dual-lens set, which is almost always cheaper than buying the 2nd lens separate.  The biggest challenge was asking questions about it- most sales people do speak English, some better than others... but aren't always ready and willing to explain the whole camera and it's features to us (understandable... I don't exactly have my Finnish camera terms down either!)  But, we got really lucky, and the guy we asked to help us was from the UK.  SCORE!  We picked his brain for a while and ended up taking home the Nikon D3100.  The manual, on the other hand... is in Finnish.  Thank goodness for the PDF file on the website (what would we do without technology these days... seriously?!)

After taking many pointless pictures around the apartment, of the dog, the half dead flowers on the table.... I decided to take it to the game Thursday night to give 'er a try and test my skills.  I can't tell you how much fun I had taking all of the pictures and editing them on the computer.  Looks like I may have found another new hobby!! :)

Here are some of the pictures I took.  I'm pretty proud of how my first sets came out considering I barely knew how to turn the thing on 5 days ago! ;)




Helsinki Cathedral




Senate Square in Helsinki




A row of colorful apartments on a street in Helsinki




View of the sun setting over the Baltic Sea
along the Helsinki coastline




Our precious pooch, Maddie




The hubs at work




Who knew I was a sports photographer?




Lots of cool action shots




#2 in your program, #1 in my heart <3



fill in the blank friday

I followed along last Friday when Laura @ There she is participated in the "Fill in the Blank Friday" hop hosted by Lauren @ the little things we do and enjoyed reading what she had to say.  I've recently found several new and interesting blogs through linking up, and I thought it seemed fun and a good way to share a little bit about myself so I decided to give it a go this week :) 

1.  The phrase or punctuation I overuse the most is :  definitely the smiley face.  I don't know why... but I can't help it.  Seeing that little guy always puts a smile on my face though, so I guess I just do it in hopes that it does the same for other people :)

2.  Today I am thankful for : our new camera.  I am only just beginning how to use it, but it's already becoming a fun hobby for me and it's fun to think about all of the memories it's going to capture over the next several years :)  (check back tomorrow to see some of the pictures I've taken with it so far!)

3.  My best friend is : most definitely my husband.  We share so many moments together- romantic, funny, special, memorable, sad, happy, angry, random.  No matter what it is, I know that he's always by my side and will always do everything in his power to protect me and keep me happy & safe.  I feel so lucky to have been blessed with such a wonderful man.

4.  A quirky thing about me is : I love lots of ice in my drinks.  I fill my cup up with ice & fill the cracks in with my beverage.  I hate coffee.  I almost always grab items from the back of the shelf at the store- never the front one.  Oh, and I have to have things left on even numbers (like the volume on the tv or radio), unless it ends in "5".  Then for some reason it's okay in my book...

5.  This weekend I : will be cheering on J in his game on Saturday, getting chores & errands done, and possibly checking out a place to live for next season... and the usual Sunday evening Skype dates! :)

6.  Something that worries me is : that my horrible month of February will continue into March... but it's looking fairly optimistic so far :)

7.  On my night stand you would find : a lamp, a book, lotion, lip balm, & at night - my cell phone.

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. 

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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! 

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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!

stylish blogger

So... apparently I'm late to the party.  While catching up on some of the blogs I enjoy reading, I noticed that 2 bloggers (and fellow hockey wives) have awarded me the "Stylish Blogger Award" a little while back.

Thank You Mrs K and HM !

I'm new to this award thing, but I guess I'm supposed to share 7 random things about myself and pass it on to other "stylish" bloggers, so here goes:

1)  I love Mexican food.  Not sure why, I'm a white-girl from Wisconsin.  But something about the taste of spiced & seasoned tacos, burritos, nachos, salsa, guacamole, rice et al really gets me going.  Okay... now I'm hungry...

2)  I went to boarding prep school for 8th, 9th & 10th grade.  And it was the best experience of my life.  I know my parents were sad to see me go (and I'll admit, I got homesick at times too), but it is probably the life experience that has had the largest impact on my life so far, and probably always will be.  Many times I regret not finishing high school there, but I know that all of my choices and decisions have made me the person I am today.... and if I had not stayed home my junior year, my husband and I never would have met.

3)  I have lived in 6 different cities, yet my parents have not moved zip codes throughout my 24 years of life.  I guess that goes to show my independence and need to be a "free bird"!

4)  I have a degree in Early Childhood Education, and have worked as a preschool teacher and nanny prior to moving to Finland.  Children are truly my passion.  It's amazing what you can learn from them and such a rewarding thing to be able to teach children and watch & help them grow and develop.  Plus, they don't lie when they say that "kids say the darndest things"... I could write a book of all the stuff kids have said to me!

5)  I also played Lacrosse in high school.  Hockey isn't the only sport this girl has played!  While at prep school, we were required to play a Spring sport as well.  A bunch of us hockey girls got together and the school started a girls lacrosse team (they already had boys) and we were actually pretty good!  Except for the part where we almost got kicked out of the league because we played "too rough".... what do you expect when you put a bunch of hockey players who are used to wearing full equipment out on a field together with sticks and hard rubber balls? :)

6)  I wear a size 5 shoe.  Or 3.5 if I buy the kids sneakers.  So in case you wanted to buy some for me... now you know :).  It is almost impossible to find shoes that fit (that don't light up or have Dora the Explorer on them).  Thank goodness stores like Nordstrom come to the rescue, with their wide selection of small sizes in sophistocated and stylish shoes... and if they don't have them, they'll ship them to your door for free.  On the bright side... I can buy the kids Nike's and they cost half the price... :)

7)  16 is my favorite number.  I don't know why, but it is, always has been, and always will be.  I think I "borrowed" it from my older brother who always had 16 as his hockey number... must run in the family.  I try to get Jeremy to change to 16 every season, and each year, no such luck ;)

Now, for blogs that I feel deserve the "stylish" blogger award (what does that really even mean anyways? haha)... even though I know many of you have already recieved it, I still want to let you know that I think the same :)

Face off: The Life of a Hockey Wife
Following a Fox
Mrs K
TexaGermaNadian
There she is
The Yotes Diva
Travel Babbles: Living the (hockey) life
A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life of a Hockey Wife
Escaping the Single Life
Now that I'm no longer 25
100 MILES HIGHWAY
Tales of a Hockey Wife

I truly enjoy reading each of these blogs... whether you put a lot of time and effort into it or just jot down your experiences and life updates every few days, they are all wonderful to read.  Keep it up ladies :)