Linnéa Nordlund & Quick Quest

This morning I got to be a mannequin for a new collection for one of our customers. It was so much fun, getting to help out and see how the clothes are designed and how they are profiled towards the customer. As this is something I can see myself doing in the future it was extra fun!

I rode in the paddoc yesterday. The ground was ok so I felt that I had to take the chance. And I'm so glad that I did!
It went so well and Vasara did so good, and I could really tell the difference from just two weeks ago. Vasara is stronger, and I'm stronger, so she could work through her back.
I did the classical starting-up training; intervals. We trotted for 4 minutes, walked for 4, etc, then the same in a canter.
It is really great riding in a bareback saddle becaus I can really feel her working under me, and correct it more quickly. Plus I get such a good balance!
So I was euphoric after the ride, which I desperately needed. IT FELT BLOODY AWESOME! Anna was riding at the same time and she told me that she could also tell a differene from two weeks ago, which was nice to hear. Now I really do feel the inspiration and motivation to do the best of my last month at Lunda, and I will continue working like this whenever the paddoc allows. I really hope that I can use the walking ma…

I desperately need to see a chiropractor. My ischia is back and I am in so much pain today that I'm having trouble walking. Fuck. It will be interesting to see how I can ride today....
The chiropractor didn't have time for me until Friday, and by then it's normally ok again, it comes 4 days in a row normally before going away for a week or two.

I have crocheted together 5 rows out of 11.  After I've done the remaining 6, it's only the border left. I have five more weeks before deadline, so I should be fine.

Teresa was so incredibly nice and gave me one of her old blankets as splash tore Vasaras fleece and rain blanket.
Thanks SO much Teresa, you are just too nice!!

I will be moving to Berga on the 30th of November. The girl who's stall in taking over had to keep it until her 2 months notice is over due to a serious injury on her horse. I feel bad for her but also sad that I have to stay at Lunda one more month.

I had a really nice day at the stable today. I rode with Bella and we galloped on the fields and climbed some hills. The weather was really nice and Vasara and Elvera so happy.

After the stable I went to Mathias who was working with the boat; it's time to bring it up on land. 

On Friday I had to go to the emergency room as I suddenly lost sight on one eye. It was really scary, I was at work and suddenly without warning a kind of gel  started spreading in my right eye, which I could not see through.
I lay down in the kitchen and the gel transformed into a cracked shape with colors flashing. Then I started seeing shapes moving around, and I gradually got my regular sight back. Tomas drove me to the ER where they let me see a doctor straight away. He did a neurological examination but couldn't find anything wrong. I then told him about the assault I went through a few years ago and he had a loot at those exrays and eye examinations (they thought that my eye might have been badly injured back then) but he didn't find any connection there either. I aske him if this could be related to stress, but they didn't think so. 
As they couldn't find anything to explain this mystery they told me to go to st:Erik if it happened again.
Saturday I felt reall…

Christmas present to Marre: doneChristmas present to Anna: started  Christmas present to mom: started Christmas present to Tomas: done Christmas present to Vasara: started Christmas present to Mathias: stated 
Looking good! Well ahead of time, as always :)

... Before I move into my new stable.
It seems like time is standing still :(

Yesterday evening I started to play the new Nancy Drew game, the silent spy. It's always so extremely exiting the first time you start a new Nancy game!
Unfortunately, I encountered a bug just 2 minutes into the game which made me miss quite an important piece if information...
I am playing as a master detective, which is a silly thing to do as I will not have the time to play the game continuously, so I will have to take really extensive notes to have a chance of making it. This is the reason why I almost always play as a junio detective; you get a task list added in the game. But this time I couldn't resist the challenge.

My time at the stable this weekend has been spent in the forest, climbing up and down hills. Why? Because it's great training for Vasara!
On Saturday I used one of the few hills I know, but on Sunday Bella showed me two really great hills I had no idea existed, since you had to ride on small and weir trails to get there. But now I have a great place to go to next weekend! Because of course, on weekdays, it's pitch black.

Yesterday I bought the new nancy drew game; the silent spy!
It was released some time ago, but so far i havent had the time to even order it. Butt now it mine, installed an ready for playing!
As I'm away from home between 7.30 AM and 9.30 PM on weekdays, I won't be able to play until next weekend. 
My expectations? Not very high, due to two things: 1) the plot of the game seems to be going against a main background fact from the books. 2) the last game was not ready to be released when it was, utterly disappointing. I am afraid this might be the case also for this game.
Well, time will tell! But really: keeping a game series going for 29 games... That's an achievement.

We got the pictures that the riding center sent us!

Weekend:


Weekday:

Splash has ripped Vasaras rain blanket. It was a huge tear that exposed her whole butt. So what did I do? Brought out the duct tape and started working of course!

I'm already looking forward to this years Christmas crafting an baking session with Anna and Marre!
The 8th of December it's time, and it will be so great :) I will wrap gifts, make candy, make decorations and just enjoy being with my two wonderful friends.

I'm relieved that I've finally decided what to give each and everyone for Christmas, and am starting to buy/order/finish making all of these. I will for sure be all ready by the end of November.

I've sewn together 6 rows of squares, 5 to go.
The these rows should be sewn together.
Then it's only the border left. I can do this!

Yesterday I was tired, angry and sad.The hay is moldy again, it's impossible to ride in the paddock due to lousy ground conditions, the walking machine is still locked, it's too dark to ride on the road or in the forest.
I was so angry that I called Birgitta and asked if I could move in on the 1st if November instead, and she said that she thought it would be ok, she would check and call me back. I'm eagerly awaiting her call.
I just can't take it anymore. I can't loose what little muscle we've gotten back.

This Sunday me and Mathias went to hööks to buy pellets for Vasara, and I then took the chance to buy new pants as my favorite ones got ripped on a nail on the wall.  I also bought a new fleece blanket for Vasara, that she can have out in the pasture (the one I had before is too nice, I dont want it ruined) and a new halter.

I spoke to Yvonne yestarday and got such relieving news: she will count my 2 months notice from the day I told her I wanted to move (October 7th) and not from the 1st if November as it says in the contract. This means that I will only have 7 overlapping days, as I move to Berga on the 1st of December. This saves me over 2000 SEK!!

Yesterday I rode for one hour, 20 minutes warm up, 15 minutes trotting and cantering in sets, and then 20 minutes out on the field to cool off.
Vasara loves every minute of it, especially cantering. But I have to hold her back as we cannot overexcited ourselves. 
Her stiffness in her left hind leg is really clear when she has no muscle, and I will make an analysis in a week to see how much better it has gotten by then.

I have ridden Vasara about five times since I was was allowed to start riding her again and we got our saddle.
It's so different.  On one hand she's so energetic and eager to work as she thinks that it's so much fun to get going again; she loves to work and play.  On the other hand she hasn't got the muscle strength to much but walking yet, obviously, so when we're cantering she looses he's footing on her hind legs after a short while, she gets out of breath fast, etc. basically we're back to where we were when I brought her home. And this is so disappointing as we spent so much time, money and hard work on getting to a good place.
The key word here is patience. I have to start working her gently and slowly and keep a keen eye out for any troubles with her back or left hind leg. The tactics for doing that is patience and step-by-step workouts.
So far I've ridden in the forest, climbing and just walking, with a short canter just to get a feel. I also spent on…

Yum yum yum!

You will never be able to reach what's in front of you until you let go of what's behind you.

In the future, when me and Mathias will be naming our child, it will be so hard. 
Why? Becuase all the nice names are tainted by bitches and assholes you've met throughout your life.
Damn!

I'm so eager to get started with serious trainings again and competition that in almost sad and disheartened.
I need to find a way to turn this around, so that the longing is something positive! It's just hard when it feels so far away, we have such a long way to get back to where we were.

I've noticed that two of the older ladies in the stable started to let their horses out into mine and Teresa's pasture in the evenings. This is not very nice as 1) one of the horses has issues with parasites 2) we spend a lot of time mucking out that pasture every day 3) it very muddy as it is so with two heavy horses extra in it... 4) they give them hay right beside the opening, mening even more mud becuase that's of course the worst spot, and the hay gets stuck deep in the mud so our horses will eat mud trying to pick this up the day after. 5) it's common curtesy to ask the owner of the pasture before using it.
When I asked them to stop using our pasture (theirs is 100 meter away) becuase of the above reasons they were so angry with me. But I stood my ground.
I hope this will blow over soon, I hate conflicts. And I've always been very good friends with both these ladies. So I think they'll forgive me. If not, I'm moving in 1,5 months and at Berga this would…

Yesteray was a great day; Anna and Marre came by and we had one of our beloved "syjunta" - which is like a crafting circle.

I have been working my ass off with this blanket, croqueting all sqaures, and after a 5 week long breeak, I have finally founf the will to start assembling them. So Anna showed me how to do it, and it actually was a pretty quick job, I finished 3 rows in about 3 hours. There are eleven rows and then I have to knit all the ros together, so I'm roughly counting 17 hours left........

Most of all, it was great seeing Anna and Marre again. It seems like there is never time to get together so visits are rare, but much appreciated. :)

Below is the schedule for the FEI 13/14 show jumping world cup.  The swedish network SVT will broadcast it all live on the web, and summerize it into a one hour tv broadcast in the evening.
13 oktober   Oslo, Norge                       (17.00 SVT1) 20 oktober   Helsingfors, Finland         (17.00 SVT1) 10 november  Verona, Italien                (18.20 SVT2) 17 november  Stuttgart, Tyskland          (17.00 SVT1) 23 december London, Storbritannien   (17.00 SVT1) 30 december  Mechelen, Belgien         (17.00 SVT1) 2014 19 januari     Leipzig, Tyskland              (17.00 SVT1) 26 januari     Zürich, Schweiz                 (17.00 SVT1) 9 februari     Bordeaux, Frankrike          (17.00 SVT1) 2 mars          Göteborg, Sverige              (17.00 SVT1) 23 mars     ’s-Hertogenbosch, Holland      (17.00 SVT1)
The finale will then be held in Lyon.

The first competition of the 13/14 worldcup takes places today. Of course I will see it live, as always.

Yum yum yum!

Yesterday I went to Berga and signed the contract!
I will move in around the 1st of December.
Ooh I'm really looking forward to it!

Vasara got her final botulism shot today, so now we're all set when it comes to vaccinations and we have 11 months until next time, and then we can do the general vaccine and the botulism at the same time. Great!

Yesterday I told Yvonne that I want to move. And I'm heading to Berga to sign the contract this week, haven't set a date yet. I might go there tomorrow to attend their half-year stable meeting.

The crazy early day. We had to wake up at 4, rush to get ready and grab a cereal bar to eat on the bus on the way to the airport.

It felt so good to come home! But it's been an amazing trip and I'm so glad I got to share it with both Mathias and mom.

The free day.
Today we had no planned group activities besides for dinner. So while everyone else went on either a wale watching tour or on a Icelandic saga based history tour, me and Mathias went horseback riding. Of course you can't go to Iceland without riding an icelandic horse in its natural setting.
We had booked the riding at Reykjavik riding center which was located just 15 minutes outside Reykjavik. We were picked up in the morning and went out to the center where we met our horses and a Norweigan family that were to ride with us. The horses were so sweet and well-cared for.

After some coffee and gearing up, we headed out into the beautiful Icelandic nature. I rode a really sweet horse called Hrynjandi, who is an old tölt champion. Mathias rode Steðji.
The ride was so nice! We rode thought lava fields and formations, and even got to cross a stream!



After the ride me and Mathias got to do some tölting on their competition track, and it was amazing. It's so different co…

Today we headed into the bus once more, for a guided tour of Reykjavik. It was nice to see all sides of the city though the tour was a bit too long, 3 hours. Our stops included the beautiful church and the presedent residens.





After the tour we were let loose to spend the rest of the day as we wanted. So we went for lunch at a small and quirky restaurant that had absolutely delicious food! Then we spent 4 hours browsing the shops on the two main shopping street. Unfortunately we didn't find anything we wanted to buy, so it was a cheep trip.
We had dinner at the hotel bar.

After a nice sleep and breakfast consisting out of Icelandic and international food, we once again filled the bus (quite a long and tedious process due to the average age of the participants...) to take the traditional golden circle tour.

First stop (not part of the golden circle, just random) was a Viking cottage built by a single man. I didn't really care about the cottage as I was busy saying hello to all his horses.


Second stop was also random, but much more grand: a gigant waterfall.




Third stop was number one of the golden circle attractions; the waterfall Gullfoss. We had lunch at the restaurant situated just beside it, where we ate the traditional Icelandic stew.





Fourth stop was the amazing Geysir, a geyser that is number two of the circle.






Fifth stop held the third and final part of the circle, Þingvellir. This is the site of the first parliament and is also situated between two continetal plates.



Sixth stop was the old home, turned museum, of litterature giant and nobel p…

We landed at 1.30 and were collected by our tour guide together with 35 other passengers, aka our group.

After scrambling on to our bus we headed for theblue lagoon, a completely natural thermal lagoon turned into a spa. The water is around 40 degrees with lots of sulphur in it, and the mud is used for facial masks. We had a drink in the water and enjoyed the heat. It was truly an amazing experience!





After the blue lagoon we headed into Reykjavik and to our hotel, Radison Blu Saga.The hotel was four star but a bit worn so I wasn't really impressed, but it was ok.
After settling in we went down to dinner and then to bed, loading for the full day after.

Me and Vasara rode down to the water :)

It's really strange when you think of it; a few hours ago I was walking the streets of Reykjavik, Iceland. Now I'm in Stockholm, Sweden.
The world has gotten so small.

We're back in Sweden! Home sweet home, but dear god I am tired, woke up 4 am this morning to go to the airport.
As soon as I get home, I'll drop my back, grab the car keys and drive to Vasara.

I went to Berga to meet the owner this morning. We sat down and had a chat in their cafeteria/course room located in the riding ménage so you can look at the riders. Then we went and had a look at the stable and everything.
The deal is: - rent is 4300/month, which is what I am already paying. In this, the following is included: - 1 bal of peat a week - putting on one blanket in the morning - out to pasture weekdays - breakfast, morning meal, lunch weekdays. - free access to the ménage except for course days.
This is  - 1 evening every 20th weekday when all horses should be brought in and fed. - 1 morning and 1 evening every 20th day on weekends. - 1 weekly area of responsibility to keep clean 
I get: - one locker in a locker room to keep my personal stuff and clothes - 1 locker in a tack room to keep Vasaras stuff - access to a shower and bathroom - 2 saddle hangers - access to a room for drying blankets - once every 14th day a girls comes to pick up blankets to be cleaned (extra payment) - 12 kilos of …

This time tomorrow, I'll be at the blue lagoon, Iceland...!

Just talked to Birgitta at Berga, and I'm number 1 in line and I will meet her at 9 tomorrow to have a look at the stable and get information about everything. I still don't know any details, not even price, but it will all be cleared up tomorrow.
Exciting!

Today I have lived in my appartment in Solna for 4 years. 

I love my appartment, escepcially living in it with Mathias.

Birgitta from Berga emailed me... They have an opening in their stable...!
She will call me and we will discuss further. Omg I hope this can be the right place!

Yesterday Emilia joined me in the stable and it was so great! She is a wonderful person and we had so much fun!
She had never ridden a horse before, and who better to start with then Vasara? :) 
as winter is coming so is the darkness and even though we hurried out to ride it was pitch black, so for Emilia it was such an adventure! For me it was also exciting and very muddy as I didn't see where I stepped.
Turns out Emilia is from the countryside (but no horses) so she was a great help mucking out. 
Afterwards we went to my place and has dinner, before we have her a lift to her hotel. Wow I hope she comes back soon, this was super fun!!

Im so happy; my absolutely wonderful and loved colleague from Finland is coming to Stockholm for a whole-day meeting, and afterwards she'll come with me to Vasara!
It's her first time riding so I'll let her sit in the saddle and I'll walk beside, leading her, and we'll take a walk in the forest.
I looooove Emilia, she is so great and I'm always so happy when I get to see her.

Yesterday was a full day.
I arrived at work, wearing comfortable clothes and without having fixed my hair, knowing that I would be in a meeting with Tomas a colleague from Borås.
So I start to work, when Tomas calls me and says that he'll be working from home, and asked if I could take the meeting alone. Of course, I said, when suddenly Birgitta walks through the door, dressed in a suit. Then Fredrik walks in, also properly dressed. I ask them what's going on and they look at me like I'm insane and says that it's for the meeting with *censur customer name*. WHAT?! I said. Are they coming here?!......
So I had to improvise a 2 hour long presentation on the fly, trying to map our budget system to their company needs.  And I'm proud to say that it went very well and I'm really proud!!
2 hours later, and very tired, I resume work when a mayday comes in; a customer can't reach the system. So quick actions were taken, before we could conclude that the problem was loca…