Tomorrow!

I leave for Atlanta tomorrow at 10:20 am Stockholm time. That's 4:20 am east coast time. I fly to Chicago and then after a 3-ish hour layover I get to Atlanta at 7:08 pm. I am so excited I can hardly stand it!
Coincidentally Juan travels to New Jersey for work tomorrow. His flight leaves 20 minutes after mine and gets there about an hour earlier. If things go well with that job he'll be able to spend the weekend with us in Atlanta.
Just thinking of going home and of all things i have to be grateful for makes me realize that we really are just so blessed.

1 More Week

I leave for the USA exactly one week from today. I am feeling all sorts of excited and anxious. I really can't wait to get home and see my family and puppies. And I can't wait to find a job and a new apartment and feel settled again. Also, I'm a little excited about this:

Sweden Wins

Ok so that's it, Sweden has beaten me down and I can't take any more. I've booked my return ticket and I'm going home January 27, 2010. This place is just too miserable. I feel simply awful about abandoning Juan in here, but he's promised me that he'll be just fine. And seven weeks later he will triumphantly return to the good ole USA.

During the time that we're apart I'll be spending time with my family and cramming in as much Atlanta as humanly possible. Then I'll go to Raleigh and look for an apartment, and I'll have everything moved in and unpacked before he gets back. The new apartment is going to be sooooooo much better than the "luxurious Walnut Creek" apartment of last summer. This time no mice! And no loud stomping people in the apartment above! I really am super excited to get back to the States and finally settle down in one place for a little while. I'll still be counting down the days to March 17, but something tells me they'll go a little faster once I'm home and have stuff to do.

Ireland

View Larger Map

Above is a map of the road trip we took through Ireland. Basically we were in the car for the better part of 24 hours starting in Dublin, crossing to the Cliffs of Moher, heading south to Cork, and returning to Dublin the next morning. En Route from Dublin to the Cliffs we stopped at Rothfortbridge, which was the hometown of the O'Connells' ancestors who immigrated to America.

pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2223665&id=12816218&l=ddc8b5cc93

more pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2223669&id=12816218&l=66c4fbfdcb

Happy New Year

I'm really just over it with all of this cold weather. Thus, I have changed the blog background to something a little more pleasant. The day after Christmas we left for Ireland. It was beautiful and Dublin was definitely a great place to ring in the new decade. We found a restaurant that had beer taps right at the table, and then went to Temple Bar after midnight. At midnight juan and I were talking about things we have to look forward to, and it seems like 2010 has a lot in store for us.

Some things I am looking forward to in this new year are:
going home!!
seeing family and friends and puppies!
finding a new job
Juan taking the GMAT and applying to MBA programs
Wickham/Nelson/Fleming family vacation
world cup

It seems like 2010 will be a big year with lots in store for us, and I, for one and very excited about it!