Never Stop Doing What You Love

Four months ago my husband urged me to keep doing what I love. Writing. He knew I was out of my element when I moved to Sweden and out of the groove. He suggested to start a blog. To keep me inspired, to keep my skills sharp, my mind alert, and my passion burning. It’s hard to get back into my old rhythm, but I know that I miss it and I need it.  This is to inspire myself and others – a reminder. Moving abroad turns your life upside down and inside out, it takes time to find yourself again, but never stop trying. Take the time and do it. Take your new life and use it as ammo, fuel, momentum.

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Life changes. Things get harder just because they are different. It doesn’t take much.
You’re not where you thought you would be. Time flies. People change.
Adjust.
Make the best of it. Find balance. Never Stop Doing What You Love.
Don’t say you’ll do it later. Or that you have more important things to do now.
Even if life is perfect and all the pieces aligned, don’t neglect your passions.
Sometimes we forget we have them.
Sometimes we adapt new ones and forget the ones we had.
Remember the way they made you feel.
To write. To read. To knit. To play an instrument. To throw a ball. To dance. To sing. To draw.
These things built you. Made you who you are today, wherever that might be now.
Sometimes we feel empty and can’t figure out why.
Life can be great. You love who you are with, where you are, and what you do.
Though something isn’t right.
It’s those passions you forgot about, pushed away and neglected. Priority elsewhere.
Bored, fading, and tired of waiting, they reach out to you and beg. Tugging on your sleeve.
Pick them up. Dust them off. And start again.
Don’t think it. Or say it. Or promise it. Or plan it.
Write. Read. Knit. Play. Dance. Sing. Draw.
Now. You haven’t forgotten how.
Only how they made you feel.
Complete. Calm. Skilled. Proud.

Tack Så Mycket! : “Thank you so much!”

A few weeks ago I entered a give away contest on the LostinStockholm blog, celebrating her 5,000th comment- Grattis! The grand prize was generously donated by a local Swedish shop  Happy Hedgehog, which has a wide selection of unique products from both England and Sweden! With a lovely arrangement of items as incentive the give away was a great success and people had their eyes on the prize! Third place prize was a set of cards donated from FikaTown which has a cute collection – more winners the merrier! The contest was to write something about Hedgehogs and Sweden – it could be a story, a poem, a haiku, anything of any length that has “Swedishness” and “Cuteness.”

Those who do not know me might not know this but I have a thing for Hedgehogs. And Poetry. And free stuff- especially house items and soaps and candles. So naturally my ears perked up and I jotted down a poem immediately! First contestant!

A contest containing cuteness you say?
Celebrating hedgehogs, there’s no better way!
Years ago the difference between porcupine and hedgehog I learned.
Ever since then, for a hedgehog I’ve yearned!
I love how in water they swim or do an upside-down float,
showing off their pink bellies, as if to gloat!
Their curiosity is as high as a cats,
never resisting getting stuck in this or that.
Always wanting one for a pet,
I knew I wanted two instead!
But alas the timing could have been better,
as I was moving away the very next Winter.
And so I had to put off getting this adorable creature,
not knowing that hedgehogs are one of Sweden’s cutest features!
To my gleeful surprise while walking down a cobblestone road,
I spotted a hedgehog trotting along.
I carefully followed with camera in hand,
never seeing one in person, Sweden must be a magical land.
He hid in the grass along the riverbed,
I resisted my urge to pet him and took a photo instead.
Every so often I’d see them out and about,
resisting my urge to giggle and shout.
When my family came to Sweden this Summer,
they spotted a “rodent,” took a photo and murmured.
I confirmed it was not a rat or a mouse,
but a cute little hedgehog you can have in a house!

As the days went by more people participated, so I crossed my fingers and waited. Then there was news: There was a tie between my poem and one other so the polls went to Facebook for a vote which was almost tied for the duration as well.

And so I am a “special Runner up” – I’ll take it!! It was fun to write and enjoyable to read all the other entries about Hedgehogs! I am excited to see what my Special runner up prize will be! I will keep you posted when it arrives!

Huge thank you to LostinStockholm and Happy Hedgehog for hosting this contest! Great things happen when an awesome blog and an amazing store come together- everyone should check them out!!

Annual Country-Wide Booksale!? – “Bokrea”

I have fond memories of the school book fairs when I was younger. Rummaging through the bins of books, searching the shelves, adoring the posters, figuring out how much I can buy. The school library was transformed from a place to study and required classes to a place of magic. I’m not sure what the difference was, they were still books. This was a long time ago, when I would read any and every book that was authored  or starred by anyone with the variation of the name “Meghan,” the spelling was never the same but for some reason I felt connected and a desire to read books by or about them. Or at least own them.

When I moved to Sweden I left most of my books behind. Thankfully my kindle is here for withdrawals, but it’s not the same as looking at my bookshelves filled with such history, wisdom, adventure, fantasy, tragedy, and culture. Side effect of being a literature major I guess. I know that hubby and I will rebuild and create a collection of books together, but I didn’t count of prices of books to be so high in Sweden.

The other day I noticed book sale signs in the window of one of the bookstores, assuming it was an average sale I thought nothing of it. A couple of days later I saw a book sale in a department store, which seemed abnormal. Then when walking with hubby I spotted another book sale with a huge colorful sign at the other book sale. I asked what the heck is going on. He explained the book sale phenomenon and we went to check it out. Apparently he had told me about this before but I didn’t understand that it was every year, country wide, or such a big deal.

The book sale was so large that it took place in another building, where a store next door had just closed 4 or 5 months ago. We assume that Bokia (the bookstore) rented the space since the Bokrea was coming up soon. Hubby said that the book store used to hold it’s Bokrea at this location before another store opened there- about ten years ago. He was disappointed as soon as he walked in and saw how much smaller the sale is now, remembering when he was younger when this sale was a much bigger deal (Although, it was already a week into the sale). He compared it to “Black Friday” in the U.S., stores opening early, people waiting on long lines early in the morning, and the sale being packed with people searching for books. The discounts are still very good, but the demand and popularity has decreased over the years pushing this from the largest sale date to the second largest next to Christmas sale. In this age of technology, e-books are replacing the need for frantically purchasing books at the bokrea every year. Additionally, people are ordering online instead of going to the sales.

Bokreans started in the end of the 1920′s, as a way to sell a large surplus of old books. Since then bokrea has become regulated by the Swedish Booksellers Association, creating rules and regulations in the 1930′s. Every year it is strictly coordinated which day for every store and online participant to start the sale, so that no bokrea starts too soon. It is always in the end of February, carefully situated far enough from Christmas and hopefully around vacation week from schools. Anticipation is key. It is heavily advertised and some places send out catalogs. The sale lasts for about two or three weeks, this year it started on February 22nd and when I asked they said it would end in another week. The first day is always the busiest, when the doors open at midnight or very early morning. As of 2009, you are no longer allowed to pre-order your purchases, as it is seen as “cheating.” The specific books that will be on sale (reaböckerna) during this time are not allowed to be sold before the bokrea. In the 1970′s Bokrean started to lose customers due to repeat titles being sold every year, as a result price cuts were made larger.

And so we shopped. I can get lost in a book store, apparently even if it isn’t even my native language and there is only a small section for English. We bought a pile of books,  most of them reference books, three for fantasy and two for language and then one book to read. I’m excited about the “Rimlexikon” which is the Swedish Ryhme dictionary. Of course itt will be some time before I can use it but it’s really nice to have for the future and was over 50% off, paying 99kr ($15) instead of the original price of 269kr ($40).

The next day I was scared that the sale would end soon so I visited a department store that was also participating. I decided to go another direction and buy some Swedish books. Not any Swedish books, but children books. I found a decent range to read starting with two very simple books that have pictures and very small sentences for kids who just start to read (I already learned that “husdjur” which I read as “house animals” is the same as “pets” which of course makes sense but I was only making a literal word for word translation instead of trying to make sense of it). It is a bit embarrassing to read “baby books,” but its the best place to start without getting frustrated and giving up. And the pictures are super cute!

Next there is an “in-between” book with less pictures and much more text, “Nils Holgerssons Wonderful Trip Around Sweden”. This one is actually a Swedish classic and my hubby was pretty happy that I picked it up and said it was the best one I could have found. The language is simple enough, but it will take a long time to get through. It is about a little boy who rides a goose all around Sweden. (I thought it was a gnome, which reminded me of a book from my childhood). I’m actually very excited to read this one for a lot of reasons.

Lastly I picked up three “teen” books, which will take awhile to get around to that level, but its nice to have them around.

The great thing about going back and buying these books was that it was “slutrea” (endsale) since the sale has been going on for a week and a half, the sales prices are cut. I bought all 6 of these books for 150kr, where as we spent 450kr on the 6 other books (of course different quality, but the “slutrea” cut off about 200kr from my purchase)

Not exactly the books I had in mind for our bookshelf, but it is a start to other goals. I would love to start reading more again, but I need to concentrate on reading Swedish instead of books I have on my “to read” list. I will find a balance for both, both time wise and mentally. I’m just glad to have learned about bokrea and had the chance to pick up a few cheap finds.