Hair

I have a very full head of hair. It's naturally curly, it's blond (most of the time, when it isn't gray), it's long and it's very thick. Wonderful! Wonderful, that is, until I have to have someone cut it and get rid of those pesky grays. I'm a wash and go girl - do not give me any style that requires the use of a curling iron, straightening iron or even a hairdryer. Cut my hair in such a way that I can put in some product and poof, done. If you put a hairdryer to my hair, I will then resemble a lion, rather than a woman, not something I particularly aspire to.

Since moving here in November 2006, I have not yet ventured into a Danish hair salon. Instead I have opted to get my hair done each time I have returned to the states. Eventually I must face my fears and today MAY be the day. The problem is that I'm incredibly bad at explaining what I want to the person responsible for making it happen. Now, to add to that, while the vast majority of Danes do indeed speak English, will they understand my wacky descriptions of what I want and don't want. Will a Dane understand the meaning of "it's too poofy here". (Note to EK - I could do the Texas 'do but if I do, we'll need to get out the pageant dress and talk world peace!)

Coupled with that fear, I have the overall fear of style. I've seen some Danish 'do's and I'm not so sure they're for me. It's the same issue I had in finding new glasses - Denmark has a thing about skinny rectangular frames and since I don't resemble the model wearing it on the poster in the store - they're not for me. But alas, it's pretty much ALL that's available. (An aside... Denmark is not big on variety - you either like what everyone else likes or you're out of luck).

Anyhooo... if I do manage to get up the courage to venture into town and face the scissors, I'll let you know what happens.

Off Topic

We interrupt this blog to bring you a special announcement...

You see, I am still addicted to certain American television programs. I watch them via the web or I wait until they air here in Denmark but regardless, I still watch them. In a way, it's my connection to home, so to speak.

So if you're wondering why I have the little "What would Riggins do?" graphic over there ---->>
it's because NBC is threatening to cancel one of my absolute favorite shows. If you haven't seen it, you should. Friday Night Lights is, by far, the most entertaining, compelling show on air right now. It's different from all the rest, which is probably why it's something I look forward to. I have many other favorites but this one is something special. It's not a law firm, or a hospital, there aren't any crime scenes (most of the time) and there isn't a long, drawn out mystery in sight. It's just a show - and a very, very, good one at that.

NBC - if you're listening - please don't cancel my show!!

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

How much is that Doggy in the Window?

Came out of my office one day a couple of weeks back to find this.

It was cute - had to share!

Every Dog has her Day

What was once this cute little 3 month old puppy has now become....

This big one year old puppy!

On February 12th we celebrated Zoe's first birthday, and like every deserving sweet child, she had a little birthday party. I thought of inviting every one that I knew that had a dog, but perhaps we'll save that for another year. It may be too early in my Danish life to spring a doggy birthday party on my foreign friends!

The recipe with the honey that I mentioned in my previous post? Well, here it is - Doggy Birthday Cake! Peanut butter, shredded carrots, and honey. For the frosting, cream cheese with more shredded carrots and doggeroni candles!

I'm sure she had no idea that it was her birthday, as most one year old's don't, but as proper puppy parents, it must be celebrated! We chose not to go overboard on the birthday presents, mostly due to the limited doggy toy selection at the local Super Brugsen but also, because just 2 days prior, our sweet innocent Zoe chose to claim her own form of a birthday gift. That would be the day she stole an entire homemade pizza off the kitchen counter, without knocking the pan to the floor!

Ever see what a snake looks like after it eats a rat? Then you have a good idea of just what Zoe's fat belly looked like after consuming the entire pizza. When her parents finally realized that hmmm, she was much too quiet... there was nothing but a few crumbs and some tomato sauce stains on the kitchen floor. She, of course, thought we had just left her the best treat EVER and wish to thank us profusely for our generosity. So, call it a birthday gift!

I did it!

I know it's not a HUGE deal, but to me it was quite exciting. "What" you ask? I went to the local Super Brugsen and managed to get in and out of the store without speaking a word of English. This is something I have tried several times before but inevitably, just as I'm heading out, the cashier has to go and say something to me that I don't understand and then I have to fess up to my lack of ability to actually comprehend spoken Danish.

But not this time! This time I did my usual wandering through the store looking to see if there is anything new, either an import from the homeland, or perhaps something Danish that I haven't yet had the guts to try. In my hand was my little shopping list for a recipe I would be making. Danish grocery stores don't use the same logic as US grocery stores when it comes to where things go in the store so I was left wandering the aisles looking for the honey. But, there in front of me, was the store manager and so I gathered up my courage and said to him, "Hvor er honning?". The eureka moment occurred when he actually understood me and took me to the honey :).

I then made my way to the cashier (okay, same guy) and said my usual - "på beløbet" - and off I went!

As I said, it wasn't alot, but hey, it's something!

War in Viborg?

So, it was Sunday. My wonderful hubby was in Athens, Greece for business and I decided to do my capitalism deed for the day and go shopping! I love December - shopping exists on Sunday in Denmark in December!!

For those who are not familiar with the laws concerning stores in Denmark, the rule is, they are never allowed to actually be open. Okay okay, maybe SOMEtimes they are open, but never when you need them, and never when anyone who actually has time to shop can go shopping. On the average Saturday, you know that day when you don't have anything to do and have time to shop, you'll be hard pressed to find a store open past 1 pm. Now perhaps that's fine for most, but we tend to be late sleepers, or more accurately, while we may be awake, we are not showered, dressed and presentable for the general public.

But.. come December.. weeee... Jul is in the air and the Søndagsåbent signs go up all over Denmark. Truly a joyful time of year!

Off to Viborg I went, and I shopped. It is my firm belief that if I ever hope to see stores open at more reasonable shopping hours that I must always attend said stores when they are open at unusual times. We have the same philosophy about particular products we would like the stores to continue to carry. For example, Rema 1000 had good old Lay's potato chips on sale, so we bought some. Okay, we bought a whole case of them. But now they know people will buy them so hopefully (fingers crossed) they will continue to carry them. Every other potato chip sold in Denmark is burned and just odd tasting - so the Lay's thing is kind of important to me.

Okay, okay, okay. Making a short story long here! Anyhoo.. driving home from Viborg, this is the view I have in front of my car...

Ummm.. what is that - a tank? Well that's what I thought it was, and there were 3 of them, and a big army truck. My husband tells me it's a PMV - whatever that is. It's not every day you pull up behind a bunch of vehicles who appear to be heading straight for the front lines. Perhaps they were charged with keeping the shopping throngs in order? Could be - Bilka can get a bit crazy on a Søndagsåbent day!

Brrrr!

Yesterday the temperature never went above freezing and it just made everything look soooo cool. All the trees, grass, etc., had this nice layer of white frost. Very pretty.

But the coolest thing I could find, in a frozen state, definitely has to be this: