Steamboat Trace

So, the Steamboat Trace Trail re-opened recently, and I've been spending a lot of time on it -- walking, running, bike riding.....Here are some pictures!

Can you spot the deer? She's very tiny!

Picture of the Day: Paris

I am so thankful that Amber and Audra dared wake me from my nap (all who have tried this know the frightening terror that ensues when one wakes the monster) to drag me out of the hotel to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up at night. We actually missed the twinkling light show (mostly because we didn't know it happened at all!), but we enjoyed sitting on a bridge in the cool night, enjoying the lovely sight.

Crafty, Crafty, Crafty....

How do I entertain myself when I am an ocean (and half a country) away from my fiance? Well, I keep my hands nice and busy by cross stitching, of course!

I haven't cross stitched for quite a while, but while marathoning Grey's Anatomy episodes on Hulu, I needed to do something with my hands. After exhausting my enjoyment of FreeCell and a Care Bears coloring book, I thought I'd give cross stitching a go. But what pattern to make? Well, Megaman had been the topic of many a conversation of late with Rasmus, partially because Megaman X on Super Nintendo is pretty much the only game I've ever beat on my own, and mostly because Megaman is pretty freaking awesome.

So I found a pattern online and whipped him up over a couple of episodes of Grey's:

The Megaman cross stitch I made...sorry....I'm too lazy to rotate the picture...

And then I caught the fever. It didn't take long to determine that our future apartment would be littered with cross-stitched 8-bit. Rasmus sent me a website filled with patterns of video games, cartoons, anime, and more (http://spritestitchpatterns.wikispaces.com/), which is where I found this gem:

Work in progress....

Finished!

But I was whipping through these small patterns too quickly. i needed something bigger, more long term. The Sprite Stitch site had many long-term projects to undertake. Rasmus suggested this one, and it seemed just about perfect:

The Challenge

 I found the pattern for it on Sprite Stitch. It is 512x512, which equals 262,144 cross stitches!! The pattern has 26 colors, and with the type of cloth I'm using will end up being about a 37-inch square. Mom, Audra, and I went up to Lincoln to pick up my supplies, and ended up at three separate fabric stores, and finally found cloth big enough at the last one -- 5 minutes before it closed (there was an awful moment when I pushed on the door to go into Hancock Fabrics only to find it wouldn't budge.....and then I read the beautiful 'Pull' sign, and managed to make my way in somehow....).

We made it home, and I got organized (the pattern covers 60 pages!!!!). And then, I started!

So it begins.....

I am now pleased to report that I am 0.1175% done. 308 stitches down, 261,836 to go. Well, don't those numbers sound daunting!? And they will for quite a while -- for months, possibly even years. How long before I get disheartened, or bored? Perhaps I will give up on it in frustration. But Rasmus has offered to lend a helping hand when he can, and  hopefully, one day -- some day -- I'll stitch the last stitch of this project and look back in utter amazement at the blood*, sweat, and tears** that went into its creation!!

* I forgot to buy dulled needles, and I tend to poke myself with the pointy ones once in a while.....ouch!
** Over knotting threads, screwing up the pattern, and pricking my fingers with pointy needles

Picture of the Day: Aran Islands

Aran Islands, Ireland -- July, 2011

Ahz, the cute puppy dog that followed us around on our last morning on the Aran Islands! SOoooo ador-ABLE!

Picture of the Day: Helsinki

Helsinki, Finland -- May, 2011

Rasmus' first race number!!! At the Helsinki City Half-Marathon. He kicked some serious a$$ on this, his first race, and made sure I didn't slack too much either (even though I hadn't trained as much as I should have...).

Pictures of the Days

Galway, Ireland -- July, 2011

Well, since I've been slacking a bit, this post gets two pictures for the day!

 Look at all of those Petunias!!!! Lucky Galway was so rainy last year! I'm sure mom's petunias are wishing they were getting such showers. We were pretty lucky, as well, that we didn't get poured on while we were there....I suppose mostly because we stayed inside quite a bit.....we also had fish n chips in Galway, which was delish :p

Florence, Italy -- August, 2011

DUOMO! I had Italian lessons in Florence during August of last year. My school was just down the road from the Duomo, so I was able to see it every morning, before too many people started mulling about.

Picture of the Day: Paris

Paris, France -- July, 2011

Happy [late] Bastille Day! We weren't in Paris for it last year -- just a few days early. But we saw them setting up for the parade along the Champs-Élysées.

Picture of the Day: Tallinn

Tallinn, Estonia -- April, 2011

A slightly different window view -- from our apartment in Tallinn. The unending winter of Estonia resulted in a great deal of piled-high, dirty snow. And this caused the snow to stay around a lot longer than should be allowed......

Picture of the Day: Tromso

Tromso, Norway -- December, 2010

The view from our hostel room in Tromso in the North of Norway. As there is still some light on the horizon, this must have been early/mid afternoon (while we were there, the sun didn't rise at all!). I love the lighted building on the hill.

22

Copenhagen, Denmark -- July, 2011

This is actually a cemetery north of Copenhagen, near a museum we almost visited :p Isn't it beautiful?

Video of the Day: Paris

WOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! it's my birthday, gonna party like it's my birthday.....May not be quite as exciting as last year, when we flew into Paris from Dublin...but I'm sure I'll manage to make it memorable :p

Picture of the Day: Florence

Florence, Italy -- August, 2011

Oh, how I loved sunset in Tuscany! I love how the light reflects off of the River Arno -- and you can see the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio.....and The DUOMO is off to the right, but it isn't lit up yet, so it is hard to see.

Picture of the Day: London

London -- August, 2010

In honor of Wimbledon -- St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

Picture of the Day: Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher, Ireland -- July, 2011

It was rainy and windy and cold, but we really enjoyed the view of the Cliffs! Took a while to dry off after our day trip out from Galway that day.......probably should've brought something waterproof.....and worn pants....

Picture of the Day: Frankfurt Airport

 

Frankfurt Airport -- July, 2012

Beaver Potts enjoying the delicious lunch Rasmus packed for us. Mmmmmmm, pitas and cucumbers!!!! AND CHEERIOS!!!!!!!!!!!! Beaver couldn't be more excited. (especially since he - and I - slept through both in-flight meals over the Atlantic!) Lucky Beaver for having such an awesome Rasmus.

Picture of the Day: Venice

Venice, Italy -- October, 2011

Happy Birthday, MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was our first day together in all of 2011! And it was in beautiful Venice!!!!! And I'm on my way home to you right now!

Picture of the Day: Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark -- July, 2011

MOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's Hans Christina Anderson! In the flesh....or, well, in the statue.......My elbow is kind of hiding it, but he's holding a book. And look at that hat! Classic! This is right outside the amusement park, Tivoli, in the center of Copenhagen [Part II of II]

Picture of the Day: Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark -- July, 2011

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! were we excited to be in Copenhagen! On our way to see Harry Potter 7 Part II I believe :P WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Part I of II]

Picture of the Day: Italy

Italy -- August, 2011

Look at that lizard! The walls of Italy were literally crawling during the summer. Strolling next to a wall like this, you were likely to hear many a rustling and busting as the little guys scurried away to hide. Hehe, it seemed very magical for some reason, perhaps because I'm not used to such things.

Picture of the Day: Copenhagen

Copenhagen, Denmark -- July, 2011

Woo! Look at those Whisler sisters go! This was the last leg of our European adventure last summer before Amber and Audra headed home -- and I headed to Italy. Rasmus was kind enough to act as our tour guide :p

Picture of the Day: Berlin

Woooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goodbye June! Hello, Joo-Lie!!!!

Amber and Audra at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, listening to the awesome audio guides, and very excited that I am taking their picture, of course!

Picture of the Day: Geneva

Geneva, Switzerland -- November, 2011

 As I may have mentioned before, Rasmus really likes documentaries. However, I don't much like watching depressing things, especially when they are true, so he generally invites me to watch only the lighter ones now, and occasionally even seeks out such documentaries just for me.

One of these was Exit through the Gift Shop. It was supposed to be a documentary about Banksy -- the mysterious British street artist, but actually ended up being about the rather crazy guy who was doing all of the filming.

Anyway, in the film, you meet several other street artists, including the Monsieur A, or Andre, who is known for his stick figure smiley face with an x for one of the eyes (and usually a top hat). And we were very excited to see one of his 'masterpieces' on a wall in Geneva!

Picture of the Day: Bergen

Bergen, Norway -- October, 2010

What a charming lamp post! I know!!! Almost feels like you might see Mr. Tumnus strolling around. Except for the big house in the background.....and the total lack of snow.

Interesting fact, in Norway, a very common saying it that it is "always raining in Bergen." And from what I've heard, it is pretty true most of the time. Of course, while we were there first semester, it fluctuated between a light drizzle to the occasional heavy rain, but we were only there for a couple of days.....it could have just been bad luck.

Two of my classmates stayed there for a month last November to complete their internship. It rained the whole month.

And this past week, our program administrator told me she lived there for three years, and when she moved to Oslo, she was pleasantly surprised to find that her feet could stay warm and dry for significant amounts of time. While she lived in Bergen, by the time her feet properly dried, she would have to head out again!

So if you every chance upon Bergen, be sure to bring an umbrella....and waterproof shoes!

Picture of the Day: Oxford

This is the nice little path along the river that I came across in Oxford. I liked the boats :)

Picture of the Day: St. Petersburg

YAY 'Like'-ing our time in St. Petersburg!

Picture of the Day: Tallinn

 

This was outside a hotel between our apartment and school, so we walked by it often. And thought it was cute :p (the Danish and American flags are next to each other! Yay!) I found it very important to always walk between them. 

Picture of the Day: Helsinki

I have no idea what this tower is, but I liked the ominous shadow it was casting on us. And it reminded me of Super Mario (specifically the SNES one with all of the Yoshis).

Picture of the Day: Tallinn

The very messy living room set for the Man About the House episode I participated in. The final for a class at the film school in Tallinn consisted of putting on this one episode production. They built the whole set in like a day. I was very impressed. They were very tired.

Picture of the Day: Copenhagen

Wonderful Whislers in Wonderful Copenhagen!

Picture of the Day: St. Hanshaugen, Oslo

Oslo, Norway -- September, 2010

The view from the thirteenth floor fire escape of my old dorm building, St. Hanshaugen. Where Rasmus and I once huddled under blankets and gazed up at the stars. Where he handed me a small flower and asked if I would go out with him. Where, with the sky brilliant blue and the sun shimmering off the sea, he knelt and asked to marry me.

The most wonderful place in Oslo.

Picture of the Day: Florence

*Sigh* The slow, beautiful sunset over Florence. I would run up to this viewing point in the morning to see the sunrise, which was wonderful because it was quiet and empty. But while at sunset there were always throngs of people, it was also a quite superior sight.

Picture of the Day: Geneva

Isn't that clever and absolutely adorable? It's a clock, made out of flowers!!! I love how the numbers are scattered about. If you look to the left, you can even see part of the poor, lonely number eight hanging out all alone in the grass.

Picture of the Day: Paris

He's there....the Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Picture of the Day: Florence

Happy Father's Day!!!!!!!!!!

Nip and Beaver, enjoying the movies

Rasmus and I have been rather spoiling ourselves with movies this semester. We went to far more movies in Tallinn last year, of course -- but then, we could get tickets for any movie (nights and 3D included) for about $5, so we went to random movies just for the experience (including one memorable day when we went to see Yogi Bear in 3D the afternoon, and followed it with The Rite).

But here in Oslo, movies are far from cheap. More than double what we would pay in Nebraska, plus, we had to buy our own 3D glasses, to boot. However, the experience is just so worth it, especially when it is a movie we really want to see. While paying for our own glasses annoyed me at first, I was very pleasantly surprised at how comfortable they were. It was so easy to forget they were there (the one's in Tallinn tended towards slightly uncomfortable).

There were just sooo many good movies coming out these last few months, how could we resist? From Cabin in the Woods to MIB3 to The Avengers to Prometheus! Definitely movies worth seeing on the big screen, in nice, comfortable seats! They even have two-seater couches in the back. And something really cool about movie theaters in Europe (at least in the countries where I've attended the movies) is that you get to pick out your seats when you buy your tickets. That means there is no worry about arriving extremely early and saving seats -- you know exactly where you will sit, and you can stroll in when the movie starts.

The movies we've gone to had a lot of commercials instead of movie trailers, which was more of a let down than an annoyance -- because I like seeing 5-6 movie trailers instead of 2. But the commercials can be a lot of fun......mostly, I think, because I don't understand most of what they are saying....to me they are just people acting silly :p Or this one, which made me smile :-)



Except, it ended with "Red Bull giver viiiiiinger!" hehe

Anyway, I digressed a bit there. Basically, movie theater = Wooooo!!!!! And while we may be spending more than usual on them, I justify it by reminding myself we went to no movies at all in Italy (we lived right next to a movie theater, but, unfortunately in Italy, they dub their movies into Italian, whereas in norther Europe, everything but some kids' movies just add subtitles -- which is only a problem during the occasional scene when the bad guys start speaking, say, Russian :p).

Picture of the Day: St. Petersburg

We noticed these guys on one of the buildings near the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg......or girls......rather masculine girls? rather feminine guys? we'll never know :p

Picture of the Day: Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre, Italy -- September, 2011

Ooo, the towns of Cinque Terre were incredibly adorable! With their narrow, meandering streets and colorful buildings. But which way to go??

Picture of the Day: Paris

Paris, France -- July, 2011

Picture of the Day: Tallinn

Tallinn, Estonia -- Spring, 2011

:-) The street we lived on in Tallinn. And it almost looks warm.....but it probably wasn't :p

Picture of the Day: Bergen

Bergen, Norway -- October, 2010

Signposts aren't particularly helpful if you don't know what any of the places are.......luckily when we were hiking outside of Bergen, we didn't much care where we went -- wander wander wander!

Picture of the Day: 21

Tallinn, Estonia -- June, 2011

4:30 sunrise over Tallinn's harbor

Picture of the Day: Helsinki

Helsinki, Finland -- May, 2011

Enjoying sunny, warm Helsinki before we go run our half-marathon. :)