Going to the Zoo!!

I am excited. I have been here for two years and have never been to the Finnish zoo. You have to take a little ferry boat to get there as it is on an island. Tomorrow when my younger SIL gets here we are going to go. I am really looking forward to it!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Wish I could be at home to spend Father's Day with my dad, but I can't so I gave him a call! Kai and I also bought him a nice new Chap's shirt before we left. As you can see below, he just had to try it on and model it so I could take a picture! Love you dad! Happy Father's Day!

Going To The Chapel...

Today my little brother is getting married! Congratulations!

Shedding Extra Pounds

I am not going to make any excuses. I know that I have gained weight over the last 8 months and I know why. Winter here was brutal to me. I loved the snow, but when it is really cold outside I do not want to venture out into it. So I ate normally and gained weight because I didn't move around as much as I would have living back in good 'ole NC. That is just the way the cookie crumbles. Live in Finland, deal with Winter weight. Going back home for a visit was good for me, except for the fact that we decided to eat all of the things that we cannot get here in Helsinki (not all bad, there are tons of veggies that do not get imported here)! Needless to say I packed on a few more pounds because of it. I'm sure it didn't help that Kai and I were inviting all of our friends out to eat either. We counted it up and discovered that we ate out 23 times in 3 weeks. That is more than we eat out in a year here!!!! So you see I have gained some weight. Over the Winter I gained almost 13 pounds. Add that to the weight I gained while I was at home and the scales are telling me that I now weigh 138 pounds. To be honest, 138 is not a bad weight, but with my height it is very noticeable. SO, I have decided that I want get off at least the 13 pounds that was gained over the Winter. I have been walking more since I've been back (which has only been a week), and now I would like to buy myself a weighted hula hoop and a jump rope. Why? Because they are things that I find fun to do. I LOVE to hula hoop and I am quite good at it to boot. It is something that I can do while watching tv or listening to my mp3 player, and the same goes for the jump rope. I have found that I won't stick to something that I do not find fun, so I am changing my routine up a little. And why not? If it works it works! If it doesn't work I will still have fun!!

What Should I Write About?

My hubby seems to think that I should blog more. He feels that whether or not I have anything to write about I should log on and come up with something anyway. He also seems to think that I should be more controversial. Hm...for the most part my blog is just ramblings to begin with. What more do you want from me man? Be specific!

Employment Office

Tomorrow hubby and I will be heading over to the employment office to see what they have planned for me. If the electronic message they sent me was correct I should be getting money again after the 19th. So much for a big penalty. I will not be complaining!! I guess we'll find out for sure tomorrow. Right now I am still looking for Master's degree programs and language courses from the University. I would much rather go there for my classes. I feel like there I would be in a much better learning environment. I absolutely NEED structure!! I will take what I can get though.

On another note, hubby and I went and saw his parents today. His mom seems to be doing well a week after having her breast cancer surgery! The doctor said that things are looking good, and that as far as they can tell the cancer hasn't spread. We're just hoping that things will continue to go well for her.

Still haven't got my trip pictures on the computer, although I did manage to find my camera's usb cord. I have just been lazy. I think I am getting caught up on my sleep and will have more of an update sometime this week!

Cheers!

Updates Coming

I am back from my trip to the U.S. (as of yesterday) and I have a ton of updating to do. I have a bunch of pictures from the trip and will upload them just as soon as I find my camera's usb cable.