I am not ashamed to say that I love my birthday.
I celebrate that I am alive :)
I will, this week, celebrate every day in some way that I turn the big 30.
Why not celebrate that you have survived 30 years of life?

I start my week by going to a type of spa to relax. I am excited!

30 here I come

We all go through hard times for diffrent reasons.
A loss of a friend or family member, a broken heart, being away from the person or people you love, betrayal, being sick, broken down, the list can go on and on and on and on.

In the middle of these hard troubles we can feel very alone. But the thing is we're not! That is the beauty of the down side.
We have family and we have friends.
We have people that want to take care of us and help us.
The question is do you let them? When times get dark do you really let people in?
I have always found it hard to let people see me at my lowest point. I want to come of as a strong person that can take care of myself.
Reality, everybody needs someone. Alone isn't strong. Together is stronger.

Next time you go through hard times ask someone to be by your side.
Let a friend hug you until you feel a little better. Put your head upon your parent's lap and let them brush your head, no matter how old you are. Let your partner listen to your problem and help you figure out how to solve it.
Call somebody, anybody that you trust and just talk, talk until words make sense.

As a friend, daughter, sister and wife I wan't to be there for the people I love.
So I bet that the friend, daughter, sister or partner you have in your life wants to do the same for you.

Sometimes...just sometimes I surprise my self.
People think it's strange that I can bake a cake but not boil an egg...I guess it's a little strange.
And now I have almost masterd the art of pain au chocolat. Almost, because I didn't make the dough.

Me and my husband Erik went to Paris about a month ago.
And every morning we would eat pain au chocolat with my amazing aunt.
So yesterday, naturally, I had cravings for just that.
Erik found a recipe online and I excepted the challenge :)

When I took them out of the oven I got sssssssoooooo excited that I jumped up and down and hit my hand, hard, it hurt.
But it was worth it cause they looked amazing and they were totally tasty.

I often forget that I can do what ever I set my mind on doing. That is a side of me that I like.
I am super proud of myself.
Some of you might think that that is a silly little thing to get so excited and proud over but for me it's like I have climbed Mount Everest all the way to the top:D

Just a little reminder:
When you succeed, no matter how big or small, you should get excited and be proud of your self.

Good night world

Her name is actually Mina Maria.

Mumu...

Mumu is what I have called my sister (and still do sometimes)  and what I called Mina the first time I met her.

Mina is my niece and god daughter she remindes me so much of me sometimes.

The love I hold for her is endless.

She is the reason I moved to Sweden from America.

She is the reason I decided that I needed to take control of my life.

She is the reason that I sit here today in my appartment at peace.

I owe her so much and she dosen't even know it.

When she gets older, 18 maybe, I will tell her the story....My story.

The story about a lost girl that found her way thanks to a magical creature.

I have always loved traveling and today I am on my way!
I am going somewhere I have never been before:) I am going to see things I have never seen before:)
Experience things I have never experience :)
I am sssssoooooo excited!!!!!!!
And I have Erik by my side and that makes this so much exciting:)

Good bye cold cold north I will be back with spring

I have been searching for a home for a long time.
When I met Erik and everything just klicked I knew that he was the foundation to my home.
The walls that surround me are my family and my friends.
Some rooms are filled with joyfull memories, like the room that got buildt when I became a wife and the lovely memories from our weeding day.
The newest room is my faith. I have been a believer all my life but over the years I drifted away. And then one day I could no longer deny that I missed my faith and with some help from a lovely women I got guided back.
I can see my home taking shape more and more.

It takes time and patience to build a home and I am ready to invest in both.
I am super excited!

Something beautiful happen yesterday at work.

My job is to go to different nursing homes and sing and play the guitar to them or with them, depending on how alert they are.
I have been doing this for a year and a half and I have seen a lot of stuff.
The hard part is when all of a sudden someone doesn't show up anymore...
The awesome part of the job is seeing what happens to them when they hear a song that triggers memories. A song they recognize and someone that doesn't really talk anymore starts to sing! That is awesome and I get goosebumps every time.

Yeasterday I was at a nursing home that there is a mixture of how alert they are. One women that use to come (and loves music and to sing) cant get out of bed anymore and even if we keep her door open she can't hear.
After I was done singing a women from the staff asked me if I could go in to the woman's room and just sing a song to her. I said yes, took my guitar and went in to the woman's room.
I went to her bed and sat down by her bedside.
-hi
She looked at me and said
- hi
- I was wondering if you wanted to sing a song with me?, I asked her
- yes, I would love to
I asked her if she wanted to sing a song that I remembered that she liked. She lit up and said that she loved that song and for a minute and a half we sang together and that was the most beautiful thing I have ever been apart of.

I love my job and feel extremely blessed to have it.
My job helps me get perspective and it is humbling.

Everyday I writet down at least 3 things I am thankful for.
It helps me get some prespektive and actually see all the stuff I do have.
You might think to yourself " Cathy, really? Is that the best thing you can me advice about, to be thankful?"
Yes today that is what I want to remind those who read this.
How often does it happen that you sit down take the time and write the things or people you are thankful for.
Take a pen and paper today and write down at least three things.

It makes me happy and sometimes it helps a sucky day turn into a good day
Happy Monday everybody I hope it's a good one