Tuesday evening I had my final exam time for my evening class – Introduction to Motion Media. Since we had animated short movies, we brought a bunch of snacks to class, and watched all the animations while snacking. This is what the snack table looked like. My classmates laughed at me when I was taking this picture and loudly said that it was soooo American. Oreos, Goldfish, chips, soda…and so on.
Today, I had my second final exam in my New Media Art and Design class. We presented our final projects we’ve been working on for a few weeks, and after about 2.5 hours we were done, and I headed home to…
…this. I have my final exam in History of Design tomorrow. So much to memorize..and I’m so bad with names on a daily basis, and now I have to remember almost 70 names of different designers/artists, and who belong to different time periods, styles plus all the facts about the various styles. I’m overwhelmed. BUT at this time tomorrow, or actually a few hours earlier (like 5.30-ish, hopefully earlier), I’m done.
Two pretty dark and blurry photo booth pictures of me, taken a min ago, as I’m heading to school (yes, at 6.30pm – ca 8.30pm) for my first final exam of this semester. Gotta go!
Liz and I love the TV series The Walking Dead and a few weeks ago we took a mini weekend trip to Atlanta, Georgia, where we know some friends, but also where they film the series. Before we met up with our friends, we drove around to different film locations – oh, yes, we’re that nerdy about this show. We used the Walking Dead Location Website, check it out → here, and we also used Google maps with the different locations marked out, which you can find → here. You can also read more about the whole series on imdb, → here.
Downtown Atlanta!
South west of Senoia, GA is the roadside bar where Merle has a drink and uses the loud music from the car to lead the walkers toward the Governor’s ambush site. (Season 3 Episode 14)
Really close to the road side bar (like 2 min by car), is the prison. Unfortunately, you can’t see anything of the building since it’s now Filming Studios as well, and you had to pass to get in because it was private property…But this is the fence around the area, which is where they have been filming (sort of).
This, my friends, this is Woodbury, or Senoia which is the real name of this town. This is the town of the Governor. (Season 3)
They even had a store where you could buy the Walking Dead merch. The cool thing, once you walked downstairs in the store, they had several things they used in the series!
Daryl’s bike!
The doors from the hospital in the very first episode when Rick wakes up…Some of the prison cells!
This is the house where Carl finds some chocolate pudding and sits on the roof eating it.
The entrance to Hershel’s Farm. Guess they’ve had a few visitors since they’ve now closed the road for the public.
The railroad tracks that are supposed to lead to Terminus. This place is when Glenn and Tara are entering the tunnel. This is also the same area where Tyreese, Carol, Lizzie, and Mika find a Terminus sign.
Atlanta skyline which you see several times in the series.
The Terminus building, which is located in Atlanta!
Will post more about our trip to Atlanta within a day or two, so stay tuned!
Just been at home today, studied for my final exams, baked an apple pie and fixed hot chocolate for the girls (Liz and Paige), listened to Christmas Music and have had Christmas movies on TV. A pretty relaxed and cozy day. I’m finishing up my review pages now, and then I’m heading to bed, I believe. Tomorrow is a study/reading day, and finals start on Tuesday! The end of my school time is so close now…
We drove the car about 30 min west of Asheville early this afternoon with the goal of getting a Christmas tree. The American tradition is to get a Christmas tree way earlier than Swedes in general usually get one, I would say. But I don’t mind. Then I get to enjoy it longer..and I’m usually ready to move on pretty early in January, once Christmas has been anyway. My look today. Wearing hat and stuff.
The day and the view was gorgeous.
Christmas trees!!
Us.
Craziness at home when trying to straightening things out (a mess with the lights, water from Zola’s water bowl all over the floor etc.)
The lights up.
Ornaments up.
Celebrated the finished decorated tree with the Christmas Edition White Wine from Biltmore Estate. Yum.
Gosh, have been totally busy today with one of my final projects in school – a short 3d animation movie. It’s been taking pretty much the whole day to render (what the computer software do to make the file look like a ready product – like a finished look). Hard to explain. Anyway, it takes hours and hours…but I’m pretty much done with it now. Have edited some, added my music, intro. etc. Not gonna look at it for a few days now so it’ll be easier to see any possible changes to make later on, since I’m too tired of it now.
While rendering on both my computers, I decided to play Christmas music, light candles, and light the star which we have put up in the windows now, and go through my studio stuff (read old school papers, notes, office supplies etc.). Feels good to go through it in several different phases so I really get rid of the things I don’t need. Gaaaah, the charm of moving from one continent to another.
Liz and I are getting our Christmas tree tomorrow so be prepared for Christmas Tree hunting pictures along with pictures of us decorating the tree!
My beloved niece FaceTimed us today, and she was baking gingerbread cookies together with my mom, my sister, and her nice’s three siblings. Since we were FaceTiming, we got to be part of the Swedish traditions as well. Gotta love technology.
Liz has been cooking Thanksgiving food like crazy here today, and it has smelled delicious! I’ve gotten to taste some too. YUM. Can’t wait to eat all the yummy food tomorrow. Thanksgiving food is on my top list of Holiday foods. I love it. I don’t eat the turkey since I’m vegetarian, but everything else. Our friend, J, has spent the afternoon with us and it has been cozy times with a lot of good conversations. Tomorrow, we’re heading over to Liz’s parents’ place in morning, and will spend a cozy day there. Once Thanksgivng is over, it’s time to decorate for Christmas, so prepare for a lot of Holiday pictures on the blog in the near future.
So first of all, not related to this blog post, my portfolio is apparently not showing up. I had a theme update the other day, and suddenly the links won’t work, but everything looks correct and it should work. However, since I’m changing my design here in a week or two anyway, I won’t put too much effort in trying to fix it right now. I have some new school projects I’m planning on posting on my portfolio as well which I’ll wait till I have the new design ready and up, so we just have to deal with this as of right now, I guess.
Yesterday, we had some a m a z i n g weather here (well it’s pretty nice today as well, but not as warm). It was 20 degrees Celsius, clear blue sky, and I could just wear my simple Toms shoes, pants, and a thin sweater. Crazy. I hung out on the balcony some in the morning and just relaxed. I’m not used to this kind of weather when it’s the end of November. However, I loved it!!! Gotta soak up the warm weather and the sun whilst I can since it will not be exactly the same in Sweden during the winter months…
I also finished one of my final projects and turned it in before class was over and got to get out early. Liz picked me up and we decided to drive around a little bit just because it was so beautiful outside. We ended up on a small mountain and had an amazing view of Asheville with the mountains in the distance as the sun was setting. It was breathtaking and hard to capture it completely in the photos. But I think you can get an idea of what it was like.
When it got darker and closer to 6pm we headed over to meet up with a friend at French Broad Brewery and drink $2.50 beer on draft. Yay! I didn’t take any pictures there, but Liz did, so I’m totally using hers below. Credit to her.
Today is Tuesday and it’s my last day of classes ever at UNCA…we’re having finals next week, and then I’ll have a break (between school and work) until I start working in Sweden in the beginning of February. Can’t believe this school phase is over soon, and a completely new phase is starting. I’m going to soak up the lecture and take it all in 110% today.
WOW, Liz and I posted our news about my job and us moving back to Sweden, not only on our blogs (which you can read about here and here), but also on Facebook as well. And holy cow, what a great and awesome response we’ve gotten from friends and family. If you are reading this – a huge thank you for your support and for your care. We’re lucky to have so many amazing people around us ♥.
Liz and I are spending our weekend at home, just being and relaxing..and it feels so good! This is what my view has been like today. I have also accomplished finishing up a project for one of my classes (it will be critiqued on Monday with possible changes to do afterwards), finished a paper in another class, and baked an apple pie!
Gonna move over to the couch now where my love is sitting, and just enjoy another cozy movie night!
Guess what?! I have gotten a job! And not only a whatever job, it’s as a graphic designer!
Guess what again?! It’s in Uppsala, Sweden!
My wife, our cat, and I are, therefore, moving back to Sweden in less than two months. This is, of course, a bittersweet situation where I’m over-the-top excited to work within the branch of what I’ve been studying, but also to be close to my/our Swedish/European friends and family. On the other hand, we’re truly sad about leaving the States, Asheville, North Carolina and all American friends and family here…
The good part, though, is that all my benefits at work will allow us to go to the States every now and then! So now, we’re in the middle of planning a big moving out party, contacting moving companies – geting quotes from them, organizing our things, finding somewhere to live in Uppsala…and the list continues.
But before all of that craziness starts for real, we’re going to celebrate a really cozy Thanksgiving next week, prepare for the Christmas Holiday, and my parents are coming in less than a month to stay with us for some weeks. We’re going to have a cozy Swedish Christmas Eve celebration (Swedish tradition to celebrate on the 24th) and of course an American Christmas Day celebration. The perk of being in an international relationship ♥.
So I guess it will be mix of blogposts here from now on – all the catching up posts I’m doing right now from fall happenings, our preparations/updates in the process of moving, end of school year posts, and Holiday celebration posts.
Last night we headed over to → French Broad Brewery and listened to → the Wilhelm Brothers who played there. This band is made up of Chris and Cristof, a guitar player and a cello player, who not only play, but share their souls with you as you listen. They sing and play with such amazing feeling/emotion and express such pure happiness so that the only thing you do is to smile from the inside out. I love it. Their style is, as they describe it, is Folk Rock with Cello Infusion. The best thing is that I’m fortunate enough to have gotten to know these guys, so when we heard they were back in town from their two week long tour in the northeast US, we of course headed over to the brewery wheere they were playing last night.
Cristof on the cello (and vocals) and Chris on the guitar (and lead vocals).
It was actually the first time I was at this brewery, which is funny since I do have a favorite beer (Kolsch) from here that I always order when I’m out eating (and not eating at another brewery). We talked a lot with the girl who worked there last night and she told us it’s only $2.5 pints on Mondays, so I guess we’re heading back there then to experience it some more and drink cheap beer!
Liz is talking to our friend, Andrea, who also married to the guitar player, Chris, in the band. Oh, she’s a Multimedia Artist and has her own studio in the → River Arts District here in Asheville, called, → Studio A. She designs, lamp shades, prints/cards in collaboration with her mom, and Ukrainian Pysanky Eggs. She has an etsy shop up and running now → AshevilleStudioA on Etsy
We decided to head over to Rosetta’s Kitchen after the show to eat a delicious dinner. Rosetta’s Kitchen is all about vegetarian/vegan food. Sooooo good!!!
They also have various local artists’ work on their walls, which is for sale. I love that concept.
Me, Liz, Andrea, and Chris.
It was such a great night and I just love to be surrounded by positive energy people, artists, and creative people and friends in general. Such an inspiration in life, and I’m so blessed to have gotten to know amazing people here. Yes, I’m having an emotional moment right now. More about that in another post…
Ps. If you would like to listen to the Wilhelm Brothers, you can check them out on Spotify. Just follow the links below. ↓
As of today, I finished up my last whole week of school!! I only have two more regular school days left (this coming Monday and Tuesday), and then we’re having Thanksgiving break. After the short break, we have a couple of reading days, and then finals week starts on the 2nd. This semester I’m done with all my finals within the first three days, which means I’m out on the 4th! ONLY FREAKING 2 WEEKS FROM TODAY!!! Crazy. Anyway, this is one of my classrooms where I’m taking History of Graphic Design, and a typical time when I’m first in the classroom, being bored.
The music playing in the background in the video I made and posted on the blog yesterday (link → here) is, the Avett Brothers – an American folk/bluegrass-ish kind of band from North Carolina made up by two brothers Seth and Scott Avett, Bob Crawford, and Joe Kwon. My amazing wife, Liz purchased tickets and she, together with Paige and I, went and saw them at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville some weeks ago. I thought they needed a little bit more space here on the blog. To be honest, I haven’t really been listening to them a whole lot, just through Liz, but I’ve started getting into them more and more lately. It’s not my typical kind of music, but after being to the concert and seeing them live, I’ve gained a huge appreciation for their musical talents and generous positive energy they shared with their audience. Let’s check out the concert some through my phone.
My favorite song is → The Once and Future Carpenterwhich is also the song I used as background music in my Camping video. Check the group out, if you are in the mood for some new music! You can find their latest album → here (opens in Spotify).
In the middle of October, we packed our camping stuff, and together with the rest of the family, headed to Hot Springs here in North Carolina. It was a beautiful and relaxing weekend, filled with campfires, yummy food, a lot of laughter, and the celebration of Liz’s dad who turned 70!!! I decided to make a video of it all, so if you would like to tag along on our camping adventures, afterwards, check out the video below. It will only take about 4 min of your life 🙂
Some of the things I wish for Christmas 2014 (not in a specific order).
1. Speck 13″ SmartShell Satin Case for MacBook Pro with Retina Display (from Best Buy or Apple Store). 2. Herschel Supply Co. Little America Backpack (from Urban Outfitters/ASOS/Hershel). 3. Black Cashmere Scarf (from H&M). 4. Full Exposure Palette (from the brand Smashbox at Sephora/Ulta Beauty). 5. Mini Diana Camera Flash Case (from lomography.com). 6. Marc by Marc Jacobs Blade in Silver(from marcjacobs.com). 7. Brewing Kit – American Pale Ale (from craftabrew.com or Barnes & Noble).
My October/November album, has been/is for sure, Damien Rice’s My Favourite Faded Fantasy. It’s really chill and relaxed music, and perfect to listen to while studying, walking to places, traveling, or pretty much whatever. Favorite tracks are: My Favorite Faded Fantasy, I Don’t Want to Change You, and Colour Me In. Check out the music, down below, or simply click on this link → Damien Rice – My Favorite Faded Fantasy (it will be open up in Spotify then).
Liz and I fixed really good halloumi burgers last night. We totally haven’t seen any halloumi cheese anywhere here in the States, but yesterday afternoon, Liz texted me and told me we were having a fantastic dinner. Curious as I am, I begged her to tell me what her plan was so I could be excited the rest of the day too. She told me, and I was totally freaking out, since I’ve been missing halloumi cheese like crazy – such a perfect cheese to have in salads, sandwiches, and also make a veggie burger out of. We read a blog post from Julia, about her halloumi burger, so credit to her for such good food inspiration!
We used: cherry tomatoes
avocado
lettuce
red onion
halloumi cheese
fresh baked buns
mayonnaise
mustard & ketchup
We also peeled potatoes, cut them into fries form, put them on a oven pan, drizzled fresh garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. We finalized this delicious dinner with drinking Highland Brewery’s Winter Ale – Cold Mountain. YUM.
Of course, it was dark outside, so the light inside wasn’t optimal, hence the bad quality. Oh, well. If you happen to not know what to make for dinner tonight, this is a really good tip!
My cousin answered some questions on her blog that she received from another blog girl. Thought it could be fun to tag along with this on the Internet. Here we go.
1. What are three pieces of your favorite candy? Depending on mood. Sometimes more chocolate, sometimes more sour ones etc. But I do have several ones that usually make it every single time, for example, Center, Lysmelk, Bubblizz, Sura jordgubbsbananer, and Häxvrål.
2. If you were an animal, what would you be? A hard one. I thought of a bird first so I could soar around, but I’m scared of heights. Haha. Perhaps a cat so I could chill everyday, and get a massage whenever someone was around.
3. Where would you like to go on vacation right now? Anywhere in the Caribbean. Or San Francisco, CA. I’ve never been there.
4. What does your bed look like? Amount of pillows, covers, colors, and patterns etc. No head or foot board, thick mattresses directly on the floor, plenty of pillows (6), gray and white covers and pillowcases and the European way of making the bed – loose covers, not tucked in, one down comforter.
6. If you had to choose: Never eat carbs or just wear clothes from Desigual for the rest of your life? Crap. I LOVE pasta, potatoes, fresh baked bread etc..so I don’t think I could live without that. On the other hand, I truly don’t like the style of Desigual, but hopefully there are some clothes there, less intense..so I would go for Desigual.
7. What’s your favorite word? Archipelago. It’s fun to say, and the place itself is wonderful – specially the Swedish archipelago on the East Coast of Sweden. Can’t think of a favorite Swedish word right now.
8. Three pages you always visit when having your web browser up? Blogs I’m following, Pinterest, and the news.
9. What has been your favorite year, so far? I like to think, as the Swedish singer, Håkan Hellström, sings; “I believe that the best is yet to come”. Not in a depressing way that I’m not happy now or haven’t been happy at all. But…if I have to choose a year, I would say the later part of 2013 and the beginning of 2014. I was out of the hospital, moved to the US, started school, and pretty much started a new life (without sickness and in another part of the word, together with my wife and our cat). We went to the beach on fall break, I enjoyed school (even if it was stressful a lot of times), we celebrated Thanksgiving at the beach with family and extended family, spent a really cozy Christmas at home in our apartment, and went to Disney World the first week of 2014. However, it was not only the travels that made it up for a good time in life, it was my health, living in a “new” city, exploring everything here (Asheville), meeting all new friends etc.
10. Five things you always have in your fridge. Half and Half (Swedes, think milk with more percentage of fat, like “red milk”), eggs, garlic, onions, and beer.
Feel free to answer the following 10 new questions and spread it further!
1. What’s your morning routine? 2. Which part of the year is your favorite, and why? 3. What’s your favorite drink? 4. What would you do on a day off? 5. Where would you like to go at this moment? 6. What’s your favorite dish? 7. What are the first five things you would save out of a fire? 8. What’s your favorite book, movie, and tv-series? 9. What’s your favorite music right now? 10. What are you looking forward to in the next week?
Yes, I’m here, and yes, I’m still alive..It’s just crazy busy right now in my life. The school semester is coming to an end which means a ton of final projects and turn-ins. A lot of things have happened in my life lately as well..But I have to let you wait even a tiny bit longer for a more detailed update. But for right now, here’s me, sitting at a pretty funky cafe in West Asheville, working on my paper for one of my classes (and a guy’s ass photobombing me). Photo credit to Liz.
Guess what?! My beloved friend from Sweden is here, and I’m being busy showing her around! Thank goodness for fall break coming up so I’ll have even more time to spend with her! Anyway. These are a few glimpses what I/we’ve been up to lately. A lot of food, beer, shopping, sightseeing, and hanging out. Today, we’re heading to a big shoe store and then checking out the River Arts District. She’s also going to tag along to class with me so I’m gonna show her around at school a bit too. Exciting! Anyway, I’m being busy. So much fun!
She’s not only my wife, she’s the person I never get tired of, who makes me laugh like I’ve never laughed before, who teaches me to see and explore life in a way I’ve never explored it before, who shares the passion of travel, listening to music, taking photos, eating good food, drinking yummy wine/beer with, discussing everything in life, and enjoying to just be. She’s the most important person in my life, and I love her so much. Today, my love, is your day. Today we’re celebrating your life even more, that just you were brought into this world, that I got to meet you, that we fell in love with each other, and that we get to share this amazing life together. I love you so much. Happy 40th Birthday, Liz!!!
Liz made me super yummy chai latte so if you happen to pass by Target (if you’re in the States), a tip is to buy their chai latte mix, where you just need to add some milk. She also added some whipped cream and cinnamon, which made it just perfect. So here I’m sitting, sipping my latte, and I’m about to do some homework. I also premiered today wearing long pants! Haven’t worn long pants in weeks or months. However, it was still around 25 degrees celcius out, but that’s at least cooler than 30 something. Hope you’re having a great start of the week!
There’s a really cool antique barn here in Asheville which I think everyone should give a visit if you have any interest in older things. Last weekend actually was my first time there, and I truly love it! I will go back there in a heartbeat and I wanna buy several things. My favorite, for sure, is the Herman Miller chair! Gaaaah, love it! The place is called Antique Tobacco Barn and is located on 75 Swannanoa River Road. You can read more about it here (link), but let’s check it out, here below. I took plenty of pictures (more or less good since I didn’t bring my camera). Enjoy!
