Fourth of July

For the holiday, Claire, Nathalie and I attended the Freedom Fest at Fort Hood yesterday. Kyle has started guard duty, so his schedule is dumb and he had the night shift (basically working from 3 yesterday afternoon until 5 this morning, and then he had PT until 7:30. yeah.), so he could not celebrate with us. But we all went on post for lunch and then parted ways. The fest started at 1 and we were in the gates by 2, so it wasn't too crowded, but people were arriving through the day and as it got closer to concert time. The event was free and open to the public, and the main event was a Kelly Clarkson concert in the evening before fireworks. There was a carnival set up and lots and lots of classic (read: fried) American food for the foreigners (and myself) to try for the first time. Fried oreos? There is a reason to that madness. It was a really warm day, but at least not as hot as the previous week, and there was a breeze and shade available. Somehow we were there from about 2 to 10, people watching, taking laps around the whole event and returning to the shade, drinking water with a hint of lemon that someone decided to pass off as lemonade. And did you see the moon last night? Crazy. I hope you enjoyed your fourth!

S.

Dinner with a Few Old Men

If you could have dinner with any five people, who would they be?


I came up with my list largely with my husband in mind, as obviously he would be one of the five. I thought of some folks that we would both be interested in chatting and eating with, and apparently we have a thing for older men with facial hair. 

Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Darwin

Kyle (I didn't have a cool, intense black and white photo of him, and he is not an old man, otherwise he would fit right in!) and Liam Neeson

and, Mystery Family Member

Teddy Roosevelt is one of Kyle's favorites. Kyle knows much more about him than I do, but when his list of achievements include hunter, soldier, naturalist, author, explorer, and president of the United States, I am not surprised that Kyle is fascinated by him. I think he would be an extremely interesting person to talk to. Charles Darwin is a no-brainer for us. I love evolution, talking about it, learning about, getting frustrated when people don't believe in it (it's not even something to believe in or not, it's, you know, fact). I would love love love to chat with Darwin about it. I hope he would be pleased that we named our cat after him. Liam Neeson is on this list because I figured I should have one movie/music star, and Liam Neeson is awesome. He has his own genre of movies (called "Liam Neeson movies") and an awesome accent, so that is good enough for me. The last person I'd like to have to dinner would be someone whose name I don't know, a person I really don't know anything about, because I don't know who they are. My mom was adopted and my curiosity about her and half of my biological family has been on the rise. I am half black (mom) and half white (dad), and I know that the Havilands (my maiden name) ended up in Canada as they were loyalists during the revolution (I know I know, Independence Day just happened and I did in fact partake in festivities), but I know nothing of my other half. So I'd love for someone along the family line to come to dinner, and learn a little bit more about where I came from. 

S. 

Day 4

What's your favorite childhood memory?

Times like these you really have to focus on the good in your life. My family at home is in an unexplained and sudden state of unwraveling, and I am just glad that I've got my brothers and sister, and my own little family started here to depend on and keep me sane. I don't think I have the emotions or energy to spare sorting through my childhood to come up with my favorite memory, but here is a picture of little ol' me, on my fourth birthday in July 1992. We had just moved from Canada to California not too long before, and we were celebrating my birthday in Sunnyvale.

I'm looking forward to tomorrows prompt, so I'll be back with a more substantial post then! I may have something wedding related for you later today, also. Happy Fourth of July, friends!  :) 

S.

Day 3

Tell about an article of clothing that you're deeply attached to. 

kinda sorta like this. 

With this prompt, nothing immediately jumped to my mind. I went through my closet and Kyle's closet in my head; I think I'm attached to anything that smells like him (especially when we were dating/engaged/married and didn't live in the same state or country) . I thought back to the past and quickly a pair of pants formed in my mind. I used to have a pair of black sweat pants that I got on a high school theater trip; they said BACK STAGE on the butt and they were the best sweat pants ever. In high school I worked back stage, starting with front of house and costume crew, painting sets, and ending up assistant stage managing and stage managing a couple productions senior year. I also stage managed five productions at American University in my two years there. Anyway- these pants! I wore them around the house all the time, had them in Finland and after, and sewed up the legs more than once when they started splitting at the seam from the bottom. I think the final blow to them was when I spilled a candle on them in my room in Pittsburgh. Their time was up. It's not very like me to wear butt pants, but that's what I liked about them. Kyle and I made it our quest to get me a pair of Pitt sweatpants with paw prints on the butt, and I have a comfy pair, but they're not as perfect as my theater pants were. 
S. 

Tattoo

Yesterday I got a tattoo (my first)! My friends Nathalie and Claire (the German and Australian who came out to our wedding and are taking a Greyhound bus trip around the USA) arrived in town at 8 in the morning, so we decided it would be a good day to take a trip to Austin. We weren't really sure what we wanted to do there, but Nathalie wanted to get a tattoo here in the States to represent their trip, and so Kyle and I figured we could take them to Atomic Tattoo, where Kyle got his last year. I also had a tattoo in mind that we thought we'd ask them about, and maybe set up an appointment to actually get it around my birthday. We had breakfast at IHOP first, of course, and arrived in Austin before 11:30. The shop opened at 11 and we were the first ones there. I guess there weren't any appointments booked, because after talking to the artist Nixxin about our two ideas, he started drawing and said we could do both today! So we did!

I found this design for the Finnish soulbird "sielulintu" not too long ago, but I loved it right away. The design is from Sanna Annukka, a Finnish designer and printmaker. I had been considering a couple other tattoo ideas for a spot above my ankle, but I wasn't set on anything until I saw this bird. Kyle and I had actually discussed a possible Finnish bird tattoo before, as one of my host families gave me a cool Finnish bird necklace. With this little bird, the design was pretty much right there, so I wouldn't have to tweak anything. The actual meaning of the soulbird didn't matter to me as much as simply the design and that it was a piece of Finnish folklore. My year in Finland was one of the best experiences, so a tattoo to represent my second home was a not a hard decision to make. Nixxin drew a design out with details from pictures of a few different sielulintu I brought in, and as he worked on the actual tattoo he added in more detail. When I first showed him the pictures he thought it was possibly a  Māori or Egyptian design. He also thought I was some sort of Pacific Islander (people have a hard time figuring out what makes me look the way I look. half black, half white, if you're wondering). Getting the tattoo hurt, but it didn't take too too long. The worst parts were the long lines and the part of the bird closer to my shin; it felt like a little tiny knife cutting through. But I love my little birdie! I said to Kyle that I should probably name it, and he said "Jarkko," which I'm sure he knows is a Finnish name as he has heard it in hockey (the guy is not even on our team!), but we kept calling it that so I think it has stuck.

Swedish crepes with lingonberry (lots of lingonberries in Finland)

Nixxin's custom Triumph

Claire and Nathalie

Nixxin said Kyle could have a beer, but had to drink it from a cup. A beer pong kit had the only cups he could find at the convenience store down the street.  

Nathalie's takes some explanation, but it is to represent her trip to the States! Included are: squirrel tail, converse, knife and fork. 

After we were all done we headed to 6th Street for an early dinner. I had fish tacos for the first time! 

I wanted to post about the tattoo today, but I also want to work in the 15 Day Challenge prompt, so here is my Day 2 six word memoir. July 1st was also Canada Day; I wore my best red and white polka dotted dress for the occasion.

Canadian born, Finnish soul bird fly. 

S.

15 Day Challenge // July 1

Friends are visiting and we spent the day in Austin; sorry for the late post!

List 15 fun facts about yourself.

1. I got a tattoo today! More on that tomorrow. :)

2. The first CD I owned was Alanis Morissette "Jagged Little Pill." I got it for Christmas with my first CD player. The first concert I went to was also Alanis Morissette. Looking back, I have no clue how I as an eight year old had any connection to her music, but I loved it.

3. I had surgery on my left wrist senior year of high school (2006). This after years of physical therapy, a month in a cast, a handful of different braces, a shot, and several doctors. I think it is mostly OK now.

4. If I eat something that makes me sick or I am for some reason sick after, I won't eat that thing for a long time. This happened with pizza and chocolate when I was in elementary school. I was that weird kid that brought a lunchable to class on pizza party day.

5. When my family was moving from Canada to California, I was 3. Our upstairs apartment neighbors were tossing down candy or something to us, we took a limo to the airport, and I threw up in the limo. Classic Sarah (I threw up for the first six months of my life).

6. Celebrities I've met: Al from Home Improvement, Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and Toca, BJ Novak. I feel like I am forgetting someone else. Also I grew up in CA in the town that MC Hammer did, and his daughter was on my sister's softball team. He wore all black and sunglasses.

7. We almost adopted a boxer/lab puppy July 2010, but half an hour before the foster family was supposed to bring her over, they called and said they were keeping her.

8. I am not a picky eater, but I generally do not like zucchini that much.

9. I hated the feel of lotion until college, and now I use it every day.

10. The book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is part of the reason I switched from being a business/international studies major to an anthropology/psychology major. More on that on Day 7 I suppose!

11. In July 2010 I slipped getting into the shower and hit my left shin on the tub. I still have a lump and bruise there.

12. I mentioned this in one of my very first blog posts, but we are planning on naming our first baby boy Apollo. :)

13. I don't get how people drink sweet tea as is. Way too sweet!

14. I have Osgood-Schlatter Disease. Didn't grow out of it, unfortunately.

15. I think baseball and golf are the worst.

S.

Because It's Saturday and We Have Cats

 {above} Hux {below} Darwin

Yes that's a Settlers of Catan bumper sticker on our fridge.

 Happy Weekend!

S.

Photo Preview

Yesterday our wonderful photographer Jana posted a preview of our wedding photos! I didn't get much accomplished for several hours after that. I can't wait to see the rest! I've been thinking of how I should go about blogging about the wedding. I've seen some people take an alphabetical approach- A, talk about accessories, B talk about bridesmaids, etc. Whether I do it like that or not, I wrote out an alphabetical list of possible topics to cover (which was helpful for organizing and not forgetting things to write about), and if I do it that way, some posts would certainly be busier than others. For example, under B I have: bagpipes, beer, bridesmaids, bustle (aka the "buzzle" from hell), babies (there was A LOT of talk of babies considering there were none present or in the works. our future babies are in high demand), C: caricature, ceremony, cake, cocktail hour, colors, and for O all I came up with so far is open bar. :) 

Have a great weekend! I'm excited to have my husband back after a hectic Army week. And my friends Nathalie and Claire, my exchange friends from Germany and Aussieland respectively, will be staying with us from the 1st through the 4th; our first house guests! And they'll be here for Canada Day and Independence Day! 

S.