April Adventures and our American Wedding Reception!

I have been trying to write this blog for a couple days and have written, deleted, written, deleted so many times that I scrapped everything and am starting over fresh. So much has happened and I struggled with what to share with you. I have been exhausted these past few days and just haven't been able to pull myself out of bed other than to go to work.

Then I was on the phone with my mom tonight and it occurred to me that I am depressed. I had to say goodbye to my husband on Tuesday and we don't know what is to come next. This goodbye was super hard this time and I'm trying to pull myself out of this funk. Looking back on the fun times of the last few weeks might just help...

SO

In favor of brevity (and privacy for certain people) here are just a couple snapshots of what has happened recently.

Yep, that's an aircast. I had been feeling pain in my ankle for a couple weeks and, as a dog walker, limping all day gets very tiresome and painful. I went to a podiatrist and it turns out I had partially torn my Achilles tendon. Yay! This photo was taken over a month ago...I'm so ready to be out of this thing! But I see the doctor again tomorrow to see if I can lose the boot. Fingers crossed!

Then I was matron-of-honor in my sister's wedding in Branson, Missouri! I had to wear my aircast down the aisle but both she and her husband are in the medical field so they were very understanding! This picture shows off the quackers I bedazzled for the wedding party because we rode a Ride the Duck vehicle from the church to the reception site. It was a blast! Congrats sister and brother-in-law!!

April 13th Svein Arild and I headed down to the National Mall so I could experience the Cherry Blossom Festival one last time before I move. The trees were in peak bloom and we couldn't have asked for better weather! As such, here are a few photos of our day.

Amazing blossoms.

The Jefferson Memorial framed in cherry blossoms.

The trees drape quite dramatically over the railings into the Potomac basin.

We also paid a visit to the Museum of Natural History

The Don Pedro Aquamarine...breathtaking!

National Museum of Art - Sculpture Garden

Me and my lady.

I had to say goodbye to my favorite statue at the National Museum of Art. She is "The Reading Girl" by Pietro Magni and can be found in the East Building of the museum. Every time I go downtown (District of Columbia) I stop in, if just for a moment, to say hello to my girl. I took tons of pictures of my favorite details but I won't bore you with them here. I do, however, encourage you to pay her a visit if you get the chance. She always instills a feeling of calm, comfort and quiet meditation for me. I will miss my lady!

AND NOW TO THE NORWEGIAN REFERENCES!

So, yes, this blog is about the process of moving to Norway and my adaptation to the culture etc. Well, what better way to start than with a stateside wedding reception themed on our favorite Norwegian reality show!? 

"Alt for Norge" is a Norwegian reality show where Norwegian-Americans travel to Norway and compete in cultural competitions in order to meet their living relatives in Norway. So we decided to introduce my American family to Norwegian traditions using a casual potluck picnic in the park with some Norwegian foods, quizzes, tasting contests etc. We had a great turn out and everyone *loved* the Norwegian treats we had!

I wanted the party to look like a vintage 1950's picnic/patriotic party since both the USA and Norway use red, white and blue for the flag colors. My mom visited in February so we could find decorations and I'm proud to say that this party was furnished by thrift stores and dollar stores! Pretty much everything was handmade and the big surprise was that the tablecloths were actually vintage twin bed sheets we found at the thrift store. Everything came together so well!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Invitation

The rosemåling painting was done by Svein Arild's grandmother on a small chest for him when he was three. The logo for the tv show incorporates a similar design so I used our nickname and made this for our invitations.

The covered patio

The food tables before they filled up with potluck dishes!

Cake Table!

 We had two cakes! A traditional "American" cake and a traditional Norwegian kransekake! I surprised Svein Arild with finding a recipe and borrowing kransekake molds from someone in the Sons of Norway! He was shocked! I'll make another post about the process of making a kransekake later. It's a delicious cake and a lot easier to make than you'd think!

Guest Book Table

 An old travel case for gift cards, a guest book, photobooks of our relationship and literature about Norway from the embassy! We also had a little crate with slips of paper in it. We asked our guests to write an anecdote, quote or advice on the slips of paper and we will make a paper chain out of them when I get to Norway. Once a week, or so, we will tear one off and read what is written!

I made over 20 "medallions" to decorate the room and I LOVE them!

 There were two stone fireplaces in the building so on both mantles I had printed out pictures of Svein Arild's family (and included their names!) so they could be present at the party as well as be "introduced" to my family and friends here!

Is that a photobooth on the right? Um, yep!!

Svein Arild's parents on their wedding day and a fun tintype of Svein Arild and I from a couple years ago!

More pictures of his family!

Gombe, lefse and rømmegraut!

Sursild, gjetost, tytebærsyltetøy (pretty sure I spelled that wrong)

Norwegian or Not?

One of the games that is played on Alt for Norge is one where the contestants are presented with pairs of images and they have to guess which one is Norwegian. We did the same thing. They are velcroed to the board so our guests could remove them to see if there was a red dot (wrong) or a green dot (correct) as well as some history about the items. Svein Arild did a great job laminating the images!

And, of, course, I had to make my boot look nice :)

Well, that's enough sharing. So much more happened but that's enough for tonight. I may post later about recipes or other specifics but I need to get to bed. My doctor's appointment is near Baltimore tomorrow so I need to get my beauty sleep and hope that this boot is a goner tomorrow!! Fingers crossed!!!!

Hadet bra!