I feel different. I feel happy, relaxed and like I have more energy. First time ever and I already feel yoga changing me. It wasn’t as hard as I expected but the lunge poses did hurt after a while but I think I did pretty well for my first try. I went there with Sarah and she really liked it too. So we looked at the class schedule and decided to go again on Monday but do a whole evening at the gym. She is not a member of LA Fitness so she had to pay $15 as a daily fee. So on Monday we are really gonna use those dollars. At 7pm we are gonna go for an hour of Zumba, first time there too. And then one hour of yoga and some relaxation in the Jacuzzi/sauna afterward. Feels wrong to say that I long for Monday, but I do.

After dropping off the kids at school I went for some grocery shopping and bought fruit and vegetables. Back home I took a shower and did some laundry. Talked to mom, added the new books mom got me to my eReader, had a really good salad for lunch and then talked to Dzejna for a while. It was a long time ago we talked and it was nice. I miss her! So I asked her if she wanted to come here and visit me in January and go to Hawaii with me. Hope she says yes, that would be awesome!

My freetime today disappeared a little too fast for my liking, I didn’t have time for a nap… But on the other hand, this whole week disappeared super fast. Just one more day and then a nice weekend awaits.

Tomorrow night Jessica will have her goodbye dinner. She is moving to a new family in San Francisco on Saturday. On Saturday it is a beachvolley tournament and beach BBQ after. I will work in the evening on Saturday and I was thinking about taking the kids out to dinner. I wanted to go to the movies but the movie we all wanted to see, Monsters University, doesn’t show anymore… And on Sunday I will go to SeaWorld with Sarah and the French Jessica. A full weekend indeed!

In my freetime tomorrow I will try and go to Cycle in the morning. I miss all the classes at my gym back in Sweden, they had millions. Here they only have like zumba, yoga, cycle, aquafit and something called body works plus abs. I might try that out on Wednesday next week, it sounds nice.

Time for bed, goodnight/goodmorning!

Not much going on today. I didn’t go to the gym again, surprise! I had to get my B12 shot and then I decided to go to the post office to finally send those two packages to Sweden. I really hope they like it!

It was early release day today and because it was so hot we went for ice cream at Cold Stones instead of going to Starbucks. I had watermelon sorbet which was really awesome in this weather. An iced Chai latte had been nice too, but since I had a hot on from The Coffee Bean (finally! The Chai at the Coffee Bean is so much better than at Starbucks, but I haven’t been there since mom was here in June) for lunch I thought ice cream fit better today.

In the afternoon I did some homework with the boy, we read for 15 minutes from a first-grade-book. He did really well! He also had a friend over for a while and they were running around the house playing Star Wars I think.

The girl did a very nice bracelet for me from her new rubber band kit.

I made them dinner, made sure they brushed their teeth and took showers. My hostmom had to go to a late meeting tonight again so I just got off work. And now I’m so tired I will head to bed as soon as I’ve asked mom to download some more books I found today. Suzanne Collins, the author of the Hunger Games, have another series called the Underland Chronicles which seems really good. It’s about a guy who finds a city under New York. Humans live down there among supersized animals. There are so many books I want to read! I want to marry rich so I can stay at home all day and read :).

This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Oh, I am so tired right now I am almost falling asleep on my keyboard. Don’t know why though, I didn’t go to the gym, the only thing I did was being a beachvolley coach this morning for an hour. It was pretty hot, but I shouldn’t be this tired because of it. My legs also feel like spaghetti. I will take it easy tomorrow. I think it’s finally time to go to the post office.

So, this morning, after I dropped off the kids, I drove to Moonlight Beach and read while I was waiting for Sarah and Christin. I tried to explain everything as good as I could and I think they understood what I meant. I showed them how to properly take a bump (also called bagger), a set and where to place those when playing. I also showed them the serve. I thought it was really fun and I hoped they liked it too. Since they wanted to do it again I guess they did.

After our hour we went into the water and then watched Sarah’s 16 month old hostkid playing in the little stream up on the beach. There we found a seagull just lying in the kelp. At first we didn’t understand why it wasn’t flying away when the little kid was playing right next to it. Then we saw that he was stuck. He jumped like a feet away and we saw that a lot of seagrass was stuck to his foot. And soon thereafter we saw that the seagrass was stuck in a fish hook, which line were twisted around his foot and then up around his head. I hate seeing animals in pain, even if it’s “just a seagull”, so I sat down and removed the seagrass and then tried to take away the fish line. I got it away from his foot so he at least could stand up straight. I didn’t dare touching his face, even if he was super nice and still while I was working on his foot. And he flew away with that line and hook dangling from his neck. I hope someone else sees it and takes it away!

In the afternoon I drove the girl and her friend to soccer practice and after that it was just me and the boy until my hostmom came home at 8pm. We looked at his rock collection and then he wanted me to play Mario Kart. He wanted me to win new guys for him because I’m so good, haha!

It will be so awesome going to bed now!!

It was really nice spending the morning of a weekday at the beach. But it was hot! Hot, sunny, and foggy. And a lot less people compared to Saturday. You could hardly see any sand that day…

I can’t believe it is already September, but I’m glad it doesn’t mean that the summer is over, like in Sweden. It’s now that the warmth has arrived, some days even a little too warm with the high humidity. Today it wasn’t particuarly warm, the sun wasn’t even out, but still the beaches were full of people because of this American holiday called Labor Day. I spent four hours at Ponto Beach today. My original plan was to play beachvolley, but I ended up just sitting facing the water finishing my book, City of Bones. It took six days to finish, but probably because there were 350 pages instead of Percy Jackson’s 200. And it was just in the beginning it was confusing with different perspectives. The rest of the book was written from the same person. It was good and now I’m ready to go to the cinemas and see the movie.

My morning was really nice. I watched the rest of the movie from the night before, Identity Thief, while he tried to study for his next test on Wednesday. After that he made me breakfast while I was sitting in the couch with one of his brother’s two Chihuahuas. From the first time I met that dog, Sadie, she has been all over me. Always following me around, barking and playing. This morning she was laying on a pillow while I petted her and after just a few moments she moved to my lap instead. So cute. Then the other dog, Logan, who never really showed any big interest in me, came up and pushed Sadie away so he could be in my lap. But in the end Sadie won and got her spot back. When I tried to stand up because the breakfast was done she started attacking me. Dogs are cute!

Yesterday was another day at the beach. It was very warm and the sun burned  when it wasn’t hidden behind clouds which it was most part of the day. Me, Sarah and Christin spent a few hours at Moonlight Beach. It was soo crowded. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a beach that crowded. I’ve seen pictures of worse, but it was one thing to experience it. Moonlight Beach is a very nice beach, but I think I prefer Ponto here in Carlsbad, not as much people.

I had to leave the beach at half past four so I would have time to cook dinner for Chad. He must be the first person who really wanted to try fish pudding when I told him about it. His brother had caught some fish on Friday so I used that. It took around 2 hours as usual and when I was in the middle of cooking, out of nowhere, his parents were there. I was surprised and I think Chad was too, but he had told his parents about me so I guess they weren’t as surprised. They seemed really nice and I don’t think I embarrassed myself, haha!

The only thing I haven’t written about yet this weekend is the visit to Phil’s BBQ on Friday night. There was a huge line in, but after those 40 minutes it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like a normal restaurant. You went up to the counter, ordered your food, paid for it, got one of those beeping things and then sat down at an available table. I had baby back ribs and corn-on-the-cob. Really delicious! But I think I prefer Famous Dave’s because of all their options. And I can’t get their cornbread muffin out of my mind!

It was really nice with a three-day-weekend. That should be standard! Tomorrow I will once again be a beachvolley coach, that will be fun!

This day was one of the better I’ve had here. Waking up in a very nice way, playing a lot of beachvolley, swimming in the ocean several times, and reading. For once I played really well! My passes and sets were perfect almost every time and I was better than usual at placing the ball on the opponent’s square. It felt so good and the only thing keeping me from playing until the very end was the extremely hot sand. I don’t understand how the other people could keep playing. I could hardly walk in the sand without burning myself.

I don’t know how warm it was, but it was perfect, there was a sea breeze, and the water was cool. It was pretty humid though so I was sticky all day, but I didn’t mind. It was the perfect day at the beach!!
It was definitely not as warm as yesterday when the temperature hit 90F, but then it’s always a little cooler at the beach. Even in the evenings it’s still very warm, so no hoodies needed anymore. Awesome!

BUT!, when I was leaving I had some troubles… First of all some stupid RV blocked the parking lot exit so no one could leave. The cops were there and a lot of people were annoyed and wanted to leave. Some people tried getting out where the entrance is, but all of them got stuck in the sand so it wasn’t worth it. After 45 minutes the right car drove away so everyone could leave through a hole. A random guy was standing by the road making sure no one parked there. Very nice of him!

And then something else happened. The car beside me was driving out before me because he had a smaller car. He drove out and then backed a little to make room for a turn (it’s always tricky getting out of those spots, hardly any space at all) and he totally backed into my parked car leaving a mark. I knew that I had to get the guys information, but I just froze, blacked out. It wasn’t any big damage, but I get nervous when something I’ve never experienced before happens. The family in the car on my other side realized that I wasn’t from here and told me what to do. So I took a photo of the damage and then of his insurance and drivers license. I hope I didn’t miss anything. I talked to my hostmom as soon as I got home, sent her all the pictures and she will take care of it. I’m glad it wasn’t anything bigger than one, maybe two scratches.

I realized I got a little burned on my left arm today, took a shower and then put on some aloe after sun cream. Should be gone by tomorrow. Now I’m waiting for time to go by so I can have my longed-for bbq at Phil’s BBQ with some friends.

Nothing is gonna stop me from seeing Maroon 5 this time. I missed it last time in March because it was on a Friday and in LA. I would never have made it in time with the traffic. But this time, it’s on a Saturday down in Chula Vista. So I bought a ticket today for $45. It’s gonna be awesome!

My day was really lazy today. I worked in the morning as usual and when I got home I was so tired (I didn’t sleep like a baby last night…) so I napped for a couple of hours before lunch. I had lunch and then I read for a little more than an hour before I had to pick up the boy from school. I had more than an hour extra because I didn’t pick up the girl from her school, she was being picked up by a friend for a playdate. And the boy had a playdate over the whole afternoon so I didn’t have too much to do. I read some more while keeping an eye on them. I remember when I was a kid and didn’t want my parents to interfere when I was playing with a friend.

The last thing me and the boy did was playing Mario Kart on Wii. And now it’s weekend!

This post used to contain pictures, but due to new storage limitations from WordPress, I had to fix the problem and decided to create a new blog that works as an archive for all the posts from my two years in California. This full post can be found here.

Today something mysterious happened. It hasn’t rained in months and it’s not supposed to now in the summer according to my hostfamily. But at 6pm, apperantly just in our neighborhood, the rain all of a sudden started pouring down. I’ve never seen it rain that much here before. In Sweden we have those showers, but here it just drizzles when it “rains”. It only lasted for like five minutes also.

I’m feeling good now so I decided to go to the gym as soon as I got off work at 7pm. I started with 15 minutes on the stair machine, then a strength routine of four excercises, and I finished with 35 minute on the elliptical. I’ve heard that’s not a good machine to use, but never why. So until then I will keep burning 100cal/10minutes.

In my freetime I went to the doctor’s office because I’ve had kinda like a bump on the side of my but for two weeks. In the beginning I thought it was a pimple, it was a really big bump. After a few days the swollenness went away and it started looking like a bug bite of some sort. And it was fine (but red and kinda nasty) for a week. But then, two days ago it started hurting like crazy! I woke several times a night because it hurt so bad. So today the doctor said it probably was a cyst or a pimple that got infected. She gave me a antibiotic cream to put on twice daily and told me to come back as soon as it got worse in any way. In which case I would need real antibiotic for the infection. It’s gross… and it hurts!

I read a little too and I have to admit, this is the first time I’m having difficulties reading an English book! There are a lot of new words and I have troubles following what’s happening. I guess the new terms for all their weapons and group of people makes it more confusing also. I’m one third through the book, not used to this many pages so it will take longer to finish all these five books.

Tonight I also finished the last of my shopping for the package I will send home to my three cousins, finally! Hopefully I will have time to send it next week. Hope they will like it :).

Now the time is nigh for some sleep. My muscles are starting to ache so I will probably sleep like a baby tonight, awesome!

This is what I saw when I drove to the gym. Much prettier in real life though!

I’m feeling okay now but I didn’t want to try my luck and go to the gym today so I spent my morning at home, reading a little, watching Two and a Half Men, talking with mom. No nap though, so I was a little bit extra tired this afternoon. I am starting to stress out a little. I can request my flight home to Sweden already but before I do that I have to talk to my hostfamily and I really want to book Hawaii before I request anything. And I don’t have anyone to go there with… Maybe I can convince my mom to come back, don’t think it will be too hard, I mean, who doesn’t wanna go to Hawaii?!

I finished the last Percy Jackson book today and started reading The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. I have been wanting to read them for a while now, and since the movie came to the cinemas five days ago I felt it was time to do it now. The last eight books I’ve read (except Narnia which is so easily written it’s ridiculous) have been written from a first person perspective and this is from the third. Not used to it and it’s very confusing sometimes, especially when they switch person just like that.

Hmm, what else… The boy is starting to get sick. His nose has been super runny these last two days, his eyes are a little bloodshot and he is exhausted. Poor thing. But I guess this is what it’s like having kids in a family, when school starts they get sick. And with the girl’s pneumonia and my fever and their love not keeping them away from me and each other… Hope it’s just a cold!

Oh yeah, they title. Starbucks Wednesday is back. Today it was way too hot (I’m sure it was at least 85F) for a warm Chai Latte so I had it iced. I’m still surprised how good that one is.

Dinner was spaghetti with meatsauce, my favorite dish here. Right after my hostmom picked up the girl from soccer practice and I stayed home with the boy helping him getting ready for bed.

And now it’s time for me to go to bed. I’m slowly getting used to the early mornings, but I know myself, I’m not a morning person so I need to be asleep by 11pm at the latest to be able to get out of bed at 6am!

I was still feeling very crappy today, so no gym. Instead I spent all my free hours in bed skyping with my sweet cousins (who are getting too old, I can’t believe they are already 16, almost 15 and 13 in just a few days!), reading and sleeping. One moment feeling cold and the next super warm. It’s a little bit annoying to take off and on a hoodie all the time. Most of the times I’ve felt like I’m burning up though. I hate feeling like this. I picked up the kids from school and was prepared to take both of the kids to soccer practice, but my hostmom said that she could take them so I could rest some more. Very sweet of her! So I slept almost the whole afternoon too until the boy rang the doorbell a million times when they got home at 6pm. The girl told me that he was crying in the car because he wanted me to go with him to his practice. Next week I promised him!

I’ve also talked to one of the Swedish girls, who arrived the same day as I did in January, about going to Vegas together in October. I’m trying to convince the Swedish Sarah to come with us. It would be so awesome to have a Swedish party weekend in Las Vegas!!

We’ll see if I will be able to get some sleep tonight, last night I had a really hard time falling asleep. But now I will at least go to bed and continue reading the last Percy Jackson book (there are more, in  series 2 but I won’t start reading those until October when the next book comes out). Or maybe I will just keep watching Rise of the Guardians.

This day was really crappy. First I found out that the couple renting my apartment back in Sweden put stuff down in the storage room which was flooded last week. Everything got destroyed. Mom will be an angel and call my insurance company and help me with everything.

Then I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I was freezing like crazy so I slept the whole afternoon and was super unsocial with our guests. My hostdad came in to me right before dinner asking how I was feeling and when I say not too good he felt my forehead and told me I was really warm… Just typical. He gave me two Advils and an hour later I was feeling better. I’m still very warm though.

We had leftover from the party for dinner, almost as yummy today. Then we gathered around the fire table they bought just a few weeks ago and grilled S’mores. Katta and her boyfriend Tobbe are really nice and it’s too bad I couldn’t hang out with them more, they are leaving tomorrow.

When the kids went to bed I refueled the car and bought some ice cream. Since I slept so much this afternoon I figured it would be hard sleeping early tonight, so I will watch some True Blood while eating my favorite Ben & Jerry’s, Phish Food. It’s okay, I’m sick!