Routine...

Yes, I'm falling into a routine here --- so, I guess that means I don't have much to post from last weekend's blog.

Monday was a typical day of work and then Monday Night Skate Night!  This week, we really did skate a lot too.  (Last week, we were in the midst of the 8" of snowfall and ended up playing soccer (futboll) instead of bandy on the rink....yes, we still skated in the 8" of snow, but not as much as we did this week.)  I really enjoy our practices.  I'm noticing that I'm capable of more, therefore I expect more of myself, and when I don't perform as I think I should, I get frustrated with me.  That led me to doing more shooting practice later this week! :)

Tuesday more of the same - work and skate.

Wednesdays we don't have structured practices - it's more of a "train on your own night", so I decided to get my physical exercise in by going for a 5k run...that 5k run ended up being an 8k run through Hagaparken.  It's so beautiful there.  I will find a trail and decide to "see where this one leads" and I just follow it.  One of the trails I decided to follow took me up a hill to the

 highest point in the park, giving way to a beautiful view of Solna to the north and Stockholm to my south.  I didn't have my camera with me (I only anticipated running a 5k!), so I will have to make that adventure again (darn!) and take my camera with me to share the views.  

Thursday was more routine of working and training....

Friday I did manage to break away from work for a little bit (at 4:00) when I went to go hit some balls at the rink and then have a little more recreational fun after that...by heading to Gamla Stan with the equipment managers and one of my teammates.  We were going to go to

 a Medieval bar, but that was booked for some special event, so we went to an Irish pub instead - O'Connells.  I had a yummy dinner (fish and chips), and we all had some yumm

y adult beverages.  There was an authentic Irish band that came and played as well, and it was interesting how they could get everyone in the bar to quiet down when it was time for a slow, sad song.  (I learned that the Irish songs that were being sung were all about life experiences)  It was a fun (and late) night!!!

Saturday I got up to go take to the rink, but when I got to the rink, there was a game going on, so I came back to the apartment, cleaned a little bit, and logged into work for a little.  Sunday - woke up to get to the rink early and when I got there, Elin and I joined into a game of pick up 'hockey/bandy'.  Some of the guys had hockey sticks, some bandy sticks and we were playing with a ball.  It reminded me of the pond hockey tournament back in MN.  

The guys were some ankle benders, so I was trying to not go all out as I didn't want to take a stick in the shins or get tripped by someone else.  After we did that for about an hour, I took some shooting practice!  Then we were both starving so we took the skates off and headed home.  Laundry beckoned and relaxation was on the agenda for the afternoon.  As you can also see from the pictures, I managed to sample some of the beers here...I liked them all :)

Next week, I will FINALLY get my hair cut on Monday, head to the office on Tuesday to lead a meeting and pick up a package that was mailed to me (Thank you Thom! ---although, we are

 perplexed as to why the package was delivered to the office instead of my address --- you see, "SJM" was written on there, but the address was my apartment address....strange!).

  Wednesday and Thursday will be routine, Friday back into the office (if needed), and then we have a game this weekend!!!  yeaye!  It will be a big match as it is against one of our

rivals.

Thom is only about 10 days away from being here now!  The countdown is on...and I'm making a list of the things we will do once he gets here.  So exciting!!!