The smoke monster really shouldn't have left the Iceland

Curtailed by a volcano cemented in a region with a name that no one on earth can pronounce. Seriously, Eyjafjallajokull, could you have picked a more INCONVENIENT time to express your feelings?
Joe and I were supposed to leave for Sweden yesterday afternoon-->we've rescheduled for tomorrow at 9pm. So far in the battle of Joe and Sarah vs. the Volcano, Volcano: 1, Joe and Sarah: 0.

Fika

In Sweden there is a daily tradition, if you will, of taking a break from one's activities, whether it be construction, applied physics, or say, writing a novel, to sip on a hot caffeinated beverage and munch on delicious pastries with your friends and/or family. This tradition, known as fika would be an easy transition for me.

Spongebob wine pants

Wine glasses and champagne flutes are the red headed step child of my Sinkdom. The rims never retain their immaculately polished finish and a little pond of alcohol constantly bevies out of my sponge's reach. This is why a queue of glassware gathers militantly next to my sink until my hand can no longer find a wineglass on the top shelf of my cabinet and defeated, I'm forced to tackle the defiant soldiers.

Alas, CASABELLA, seems to have solved this precarious predicament. BEHOLD, a sponge designed to spotlessly clean the rims and easily scrub the bottom of even the sveltest of champagne flutes.

Life just keeps getting easier.

Herring Meatballs

{Swedish meatballs}

{Belgian painter, James Ensor's painting of Skeletons fighting over pickled herring}

Sweden. Meatballs. Meatballs and herring. PICKLED Herring. Gorgeous, skyscraper tall women with white blond hair and blue eyes. These are just a few things that come to mind when I think of this Scandinavian country.
{Swedish Bikini Team...is there really such a thing?}
{Gothenburg}

My lover has an interview at Chalmers University, in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. While the interview is on April 19th, we'll be leaving next week to explore the seaport city as a potential relocation destination.

OH wait. I can't forget Bork, the Swedish chef from the muppets.

{Bork}