Like I mentioned in the last post, we went hiking in the morning. It was so nice to go for a walk before breakfast. It was good for Thor too to get some energy out right in the beginning of the day. There was a lot of hills up and down which made it fun. There are a lot of different trails to explore and we will definitely go back to that park:)
We’ve had an awesome weekend. Saturday morning started early. We dropped Thor off at the pet spa, bought coffee on the way home and had a nice morning just the two of us. After three hours, we went to get T. We weren’t very clear on what we wanted when we dropped him off, part because T was freaking out and we couldn’t hear each other, but we showed her a picture from his last haircut and then asked her for longer hair in the face. On the picture he has about an inch long hair but it’s hard to see so he actually kinda ended up shaved. He got a super cute fluffy tail and a fluffy face, so now he looks like a lion:) He looks a little weird, but I don’t mind. He has a sweater that he normally doesn’t fit in when he’s fluffy that now is perfect for him. He’s so cute. The spa lady was very professional too and really wanted to make sure we were happy. We will go back there, I liked it.
Right after haircut, we drove to a beach. Super windy! This was the first time Thor went to a beach and met sand. He wasn’t actually allowed on the sand, but since the season hasn’t started yet we thought we could just quickly introduce the sand to him. I hope we can find a beach where dogs are allowed, at least in the morning, so that Thor can really enjoy it. His short haircut is perfect for it too.
In the afternoon, Jim and I walked down to the city center for food. We have been wanting to try a place, Lucky’s, since we first saw it the first time we were in Stamford. This place is what I pictured restaurants looked like before I came to America. I put ¢5 in the jukebox and picked a song but it never played, maybe it didn’t work, but it was still fun. The burgers were awesome. I chose gluten free bun and salad with my bacon cheese burger. Suddenly Jim pointed at a kids meal that they were carrying out. Mac and cheese served in a paper Buick. I got so jealous. That looked so cool! Of course, when our waiter came, J asked if I could have one. We were waiting for fried pickles and when they were done they got served in a car. I was like a little kid, excited and couldn’t stop laughing about how awesome this was. I sent pictures to my dad cause I know he will love this pace and I’m sure he would want a car too:)
With my paper car in a bag (yes, I saved it of course) we walked over to the mall. The only time I’ve been to Stamford before we went here to look at apartments, I went to this mall (in 2011). It’s huge. We only checked out parts of two floors out of 7. Somehow I ended up buying two puzzles and a coloring book. I really was a kid that day, haha. Back home, I just couldn’t wait to begin to puzzle. 1000 pieces. Eventually I stopped and we watched a movie before we went to bed. On Sunday morning I got up, all excited, made coffee and went back to puzzle while J did our taxes. Our Sunday afternoon wasn’t too exciting. We went grocery shopping, took T for a long walk around the city, watched baseball, I colored in my new coloring book, continued my puzzle and we ate dinner at our bar for the first time. Our new chairs came on Friday so now we can enjoy dinners for real and not eat at the coffee table.
Right now I’m waiting for the maintenance guy to show up. The outlet on our terrace seemed to be switched off or something so he’s gonna come and take a look. We still haven’t found any patio furniture but we bought lights that we wanted to put up out there. I’m really looking forward to summer!
When I was finishing my breakfast, I got a text from my husband. “Attack in Stockholm”. I immediately checked facebook, which was the only place I could think of, to see if people I know was ok. I read on some Swedish news sites to see what actually happened. A truck drove into a crowd on the same shopping street where a bomb went off near me in 2010. I love that facebook has this thing where you can mark yourself safe when things like this happen. I don’t know who still lives there and not, but I’m glad to see friends marking themselves safe♥
Too much hate in this world. I used to believe (or, I wanted to believe) that we were going towards more love and goodness but so far it does not seem that way. Or maybe it’s the same but we have more access to what’s going on around in our world..?
Picture of a different part of Sthlm, from May 2014
Last week when we finally had some nicer weather, I took Thor for a walk north west of our apartment. When I want to explore new areas, I start walking in one direction and see what happens. Today we all have a map on our phones, but when I first came to NYC I didn’t have a phone with internet, the phone could barely even text hahah, so I walked around Manhattan with a tiny map in my pocket. I love that and in many ways I hate carrying a phone on my explorations. Anyway,.. With the sun bright on my phone I didn’t really see much more than a green area on google maps in the end of the street we had ended up on, so I thought we could check out if it was a park we could enjoy. The street got cuter and cuter. Houses got bigger and bigger and more nature around them as we kept walking. Quiet, no cars and some birds singing. We came to the end and saw that two lots where blocking the green area. A woman with a dog came and I asked how I get to the park. Well, it was apparently a cemetery so I couldn’t go there. Oh well. The spot I was standing on there was peaceful enough. Cute little forest area with a stream. I was definitely not on Manhattan anymore:) Yesterday, all three of us walked on the same street. I think my husband agrees that it was very cute and there is a lot of nice houses there.
Thor and I went for a walk to downtown one day last week. No specific destination, just walk around and see what we find. The city center isn’t very big so it didn’t take us much time to walk around it all. It’s a cute little town and people are friendly. Of course they all love our smiling little fluffbutt. One thing my husband and I noticed the first time we visited Stamford though, is that stoplights Makes. No. Sense! You can stand there for a good ten minutes having cars from all sides just passing by (even when you press the button). It’s the same when you drive here. Forever red stoplight on all streets of the intersection. Drives us a bit crazy actually. But, Thor and I chose streets with less traffic for the most part. I found where the ballet and yoga studio is and there are plenty of bars that Jim and I can check out. On Saturday evening we went to an Irish pub that had a very European style. We sat next to a fireplace and the food was awesome. Yesterday, Jim and I walked down to the center to check out a furniture store and then we had a fantastic lunch at a tiny place that didn’t look like much but had real good Mexican food. So far, the food in Stamford is great. We walked around for a bit and found some more places we can try in the future and on the way home we got coffee at a place I got recommended the first time we visited this town. They for sure knows how to make coffee there!
There has been opportunities to enjoy our terrace too. Our apartment is facing the morning sun, but we are kinda in the corner and the sun is so high during the day, so right now, we have sun on our terrace until at least 4pm and in the summer I’m sure it will stay longer in the evening. Perfect! Now we just need some patio furniture so we can enjoy it for real:)
So far we like it here. We call it the suburbs even if it’s not that small of a city because of the mix of nature and the small and cute city center.
Picture from our first day in Stamford last week
It’s a nicer day today. It’s been raining and been cold, so Thor hasn’t really got any good walks in a few days and I feel bad for him. But this morning I put my sunglasses on and took T for a real walk. I think we might have found our morning walk. It took about 15-20 minutes in a faster walk and the last bit is an uphill (unless we walk the opposite way of course), a good walk for T before his breakfast.
Our neighborhood is cute. There are two churches right by our apartment, lots of grass areas, cute little houses, apartment buildings and it smells fresh:) We need to take T to the vet and get him protected from ticks and fleas so that we can go for more forest explorations too. Now when we have a car we can go on adventures and see more of the country. Not sure our little pom is the best hiking dog, haha, but it will be fun to bring him along.
