Celebrating Halloween, Norwegian style

We’ve made it through our first Halloween in Norway. These past few weeks, I’ve been wondering how it was going to be because Norwegians have only celebrated All Hallows’ Eve for the past 15 or so years.

There’s a holiday near the Christmas season called husbukk where kids go around knocking on doors asking for treats, but it’s not the same.

Since my husband didn’t grow up trick or treating, when we lived in the US, he was ga-ga for all things Halloween and it … Read more ...

Visiting Yellowstone National Park in less than a day

When it was clear Hubby and I were going on what felt like a once-in-a-lifetime road trip, I checked our route for any “must-see” spots from Portland to Chicago and Yellowstone National Park was incredibly close.

Since I’ve always wanted to go and saw this as my chance, I laid it on thick with the hubby: “Yellowstone is one of those things that if I’m on my deathbed and I’d never seen it, I’d say, ‘I wish I had gone to Yellowstone.’”

His response: Blink. … Read more ...

Road triiiiiip! Our adventure from Portland to Chicago

I’m feeling like I’ve got a little transcontinental whiplash. It was only weeks ago that I moved to Norway, and now I’m back in the U.S.

I returned largely to help my husband wrap up our lives in Portland, then we decided to take a cross country roadtrip to our beloved Chicago to visit family and friends. Plus, we’re finally and sadly getting rid of our Audi TT. Some of you remember how much I love Hubby’s Other Black Beauty.

A view of the road traveled so far in eastern Oregon.

A view of the

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Moving To Norway: Why we did it

“Whuck!?!? You’re moving to Norway? What’s in Norway?” was generally the reaction I got when people heard our big news.

Yes, why would someone uproot their family of four and travel 4,690 miles away to a small Scandinavian country? The short answer is to find a better quality of life and be closer to family.

Everyone's all smiles in anticipation of the great journey ahead.

Everyone’s all smiles in anticipation of the great journey ahead. Except for the woman who had to fix our seat assignments.

For those who don’t know, my husband is Norwegian. … Read more ...

This is what friends are for…

Sometimes it takes a good friend to bring us back to ourselves.

I’ve been really quiet on my blog the past year or so and though life has got me quite busy, the silence is not because of my busyness. I haven’t been writing because I just have not been able to bring myself to do it.

For someone whose blog’s name is She’sWrite, who has loved writing all her life and considers writing as fundamental as breathing, that’s saying something. Not sure why I’m … Read more ...