pumpkin carving and farewells

This week has been bittersweet with both Amy leaving and the Futbol boys (Toby, Vlado, and Jesper) leaving too.  Henna, Amy, Z, and I played pool with the boys today and enjoyed some last laughs for a while.  And yes Toby, there is always a next time. :)

Thanks for the game boys!

We welcome Zivilie Gaizutyte (Z) to the Umea Comets.  She comes from Lithuania, but has been in the States for 5 years! Atta girl :)  I have high hopes for us this weekend playing a home match at 1:00 on Saturday.  We play Visby Ladies and they have a post player who is 203 cm tall!  Let's get our first win of the season Comets.  I know we can do it.  We just need to believe in each other and have confidence in ourselves.  

So tonight, Ida, Johanna, Janett (with 2 t's), and I carved our very own pumpkin for Halloween this weekend!  It is pretty much the best pumpkin I have ever done and probably the coolest pumpkin in Sweden.  His name is Patrik and he is perfect in every way.  He is very happy because he gets to sit at the kitchen table all the time and has a wonderful family environment from us girls.  We are all excited about him being the newest member to our family and it will be nice having a boy in the house. (don't get jealous babe :) He is harmless).  Here are some photos to capture the fun time we had making him a new face.  

Thanks for being you, Patrik the Pumpkin!

easy with the knife

concentrating so hard to make him perfect

what a cutie

hard at work

shine Patrik shine

I hope everyone has a great Friday!

Happy Halloween weekend!

boo~

Game tomorrow

Game tomorrow vs. Sallen Basket in Uppsala kl. 16:00.

Lookin for the first win of the season!

Come on Comets!
Do work! Rip City!


Time for a movie and bedtime!

fika friday

Today, Amy and I are going to bake traditional chocolate chip cookies for the team tonight.  We are having fika at Amy's apartment after practice and I am looking forward to baking for the first time since I have been here.  I know I should have been baking before now, but in my package that I received from my parents last week, they sent me some of my favorite recipes so now I can get around to baking them!

It should be a fun time and hopefully they will turn out ok.

P.S.  Mel's knee surgery yesterday went well and she is feeling good.  She is quite the trooper.  Get well soon sister and take it easy!! I love you and miss you lots!    

I hope everyone has a fun filled weekend!

I will write soon. promise

another tough one

Comets 58-64 Dolphins

We had our first home match yesterday against the Norrkopping Dolphins and ended up losing by 6.  It was a close game in the end, but we couldn't quite finish in a win.  It didn't help that Amy got hurt in the first 7 minutes of the game and we didn't have everyone in their most comfortable positions.  We were down by 12 points or so at one point and had a good 3rd quarter to take the lead by 3.  We traded baskets with them too much and they got some crucial offensive boards down the stretch.  It is good to know that these games are close and we aren't getting beat by 20 or so, but we just need to learn how to win the close games.  It will come with time and experience and we just need to keep working that much harder each day in practice to get better individually and as a team.

Other notes:
* my package arrived on Friday! whoo hoo (computer dying days are over)
*I have been enjoying the wonderful cookies my mom made...Thanks mom!!! xoxo
*mom, dad, and I are still trying to figure out the flight home for CHRISTMAS!!!
*It is getting colder and colder every day here.
*I have Halloween window decorations in my room (a little holiday spirit)
*We are going to watch some futbol today and cheer on the boys who cheered for us last night.
*I am thankful for a day off.  My body is tired from yesterday's game.
*We had a good turnout on the number of fans that came to our game. (Bra job on passing out tickets girls!)

Hope everyone is having/had a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

                                     ~boo~

Gameday!

Game today at 15:00 at Gammlia.  It is our first home match against Norrkopping Dolphins!
Get ready to kick some butt and play well team!!

Lets get ready to rumble...
Go Comets!!!

#12

Lucky!!!

My new favorite song.  It expresses exactly how I feel all the time.

That I am lucky to be in love with my best friend!

forever and always :) I love you Dave!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acvIVA9-FMQ

SNOWWW

The first snow of the season in Umea, Sweden today: October 14, 2010!  It was like a blizzard, slushy, and wet snow, which melted by the end of the day. I couldn't believe it when I looked out my window this morning and saw it coming down hard!

I hope my package comes soon so I don't have to be running on 10% battery like I am now.  That is why this is such a short post.  I will write more soon. I promise.

Hope everyone's week is going well.
Bye for now!

sad monday

And this morning when Henna, Amy, and I were on my way to basket class with the 2nd graders, I realized that:

SOMEONE STOLE MY BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I found the lock twisted and cut by the door this morning.  I miss my undersized/clicking/too small for me little kids bike that I possessed for LESS than a month!  Unbelievable. people these days. I believe in Karma. i hope...

that is all. 

close final seconds

Our first season game played in Norrkoping on Saturday was a close game in the last few minutes/seconds.  We played the best basketball that we have played yet, I thought, but couldn't pull away with a W.  The frustrating part was that we were up by 19 at one point and lost our lead.  We had glimpses of good basketball and then other times where we were bad and made poor decisions.

The score ended up 61-59 final.  We came out at the start of the game fired up and ready to play and it showed.  We got on them early defensively and the score was 10-0 with Stockholm 08 calling the first timeout.  They are the defending champions in the league from last year.  We extended the lead to about 14 or so, but let them back in it, going into halftime with only a 7 point lead.  The second half was decent and we it was looking like we were going to win (so some of us thought).  The last few minutes of the game was panic city and we couldn't handle their full court defensive pressure that they gave us.  Too many turnovers (29 to be exact) and bad decisions led to their easy baskets, and in a matter of seconds they were back in the game.  They tied it up with about a minute to go and we call a timeout and don't execute the offense, which lead to their ball and with a one possession game they get a shot off and miss.  We don't box out on the back side and they get a put back layup. 08 up 2.  A few seconds left and we throw up a prayer hoping for a buzzer beater.  It was told to me long ago that 'its not the first shot that beats you.  It's the second/rebound that beats you.'  This proved true on Saturday for us, ending in a close loss.

A loss isn't entirely a bad thing because if you, as a team, can learn from the mistakes you did and get better the next time, then it doesn't make it as bad to lose early.  Yes of course I HATE LOSING and so does everyone else, but if it means that we got better as a team, then we move on from there and make each other better in practice.  

Some statistics:  Amy had 19 pts, 10 boards.  I had 16 pts, 9 boards. Henna had 10 pts.  Carro had 4 assists. 29 TO's to 11 assists as a team (needs improvement) We shot well from the field, 3 point range, and 93% from the pin stripe!

After our game, we had a banquet at the Scandic hotel with all 12 teams in the league.  Sunday afternoon  we watched the rest of the teams in the league play and scouted our next opponents: Norrkoping Dolphins.  Our next game is at HOME yaya!!! We play at 3:00 on Saturday at Gammliahallen!  

Lets Go Comets!!

Rip City!

random ideas at random times

So yesterday I was in the bathroom, brushing my teeth and started thinking about the most random things.  In a span of about 45 seconds (i know i should brush my teeth for longer), I thought about everything from ideas about Christmas gifts to what I would be for Halloween (if they celebrated it here) to how I wish I had a photographic memory, and didn't have to write every little thing down in order to remember it.  Does anyone else ever have those moments? cause I do.

Anyway: this week.

Well it has flown by for one.  Amy, Henna, and I have taken full advantage of this store called pocket price (Thanks to Christian!).  It reminds me of a dollar store.  basically a 10 crown store where they sell everything! ok maybe not everything, but pretty close to it and it is so cheap.  We got excited the first time we went there because everything is twice as cheap as a regular store.  Perf!  So needless to say, I have become a regular customer shopping at pocket price.

I talked with the rents today and they are sending my care package equipped with my new computer charger right now as we speak!!  I can't wait until I have a charger so my computer doesn't die in the middle of something. thats the worst.  So I will be eagerly waiting for it to arrive.  Thanks mom and dad!

Earlier this week, Henna and I watched the movie 'Serendipity' on my computer.  It is a 2001 chick flick with John Cusack and Kate Beckingsale. classic and one of those put you in a good mood movies.

To go along with my random blog.  I randomly get 'I miss Dave' moments.

Fall is officially here and winter is right around the corner.  I can feel that the snow is coming soon and I think there will be snow here for Halloween.  Granted, I am no meteorologist, but my predictions are generally pretty accurate.  The leaves here are beautiful right now and in so many different colors.  The weather back home is totally opposite, I have been told.  It was a record for hot temperatures for the month of September and the weather is still pretty warm for being October.

I have been thinking a lot about Christmas, even though it is a ways away.  I don't think I will be coming home this year, which will definitely be a change for me.  I hope my family, and Dave can journey this way sometime in December, but that is still up in the air at this point.  I have also been looking at this website of an Ice Hotel, located in Jukkasjarvi; 200 km north of the Arctic Circle.  Talk about cold!  Check it out!
http://www.icehotel.com/

I am currently reading Stieg Larsson-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  It takes place in Sweden and I know some of the cities that are talked about in the book.  It is starting to get really intense and I find it hard to put it down at times.

So now that you are up-to-date.  Tomorrow the Umea Comets travel to Norrkopping for our season premier against Stockholm 08 in our first game of the season!  Game time is at 5 and we will stay Sunday and watch other teams in our league play.  Lets kick some butt and rip city!!!

Go Comets!

Time for me to catch some z's!

goodnight
godnatt

Slackin'

So I have been bad with keeping up on my blogg.  Some of that has to do with my computer having limited charge.  I ordered a new charger because my old one pooped out.  So it arrived at the Mackey household last week and now I am eagerly awaiting the package that my mom will send.  I hope it gets here soon. cant wait.
Thanks Mom!!!! Love you.

Hope everyone had/ is having/ will have/ a wonderful Thursday!

Cheers~

just smile

So after skyping with Dave yesterday evening/morning for him, I realized how important it is to smile.  He informed me that babies smile on average 450 times a day, while the average person smiles 19 times a day.  Thanks Dave for making me smile.  I love you!

This week Amy, Henna, and I have gotten the privilege of teaching basketball to 2nd and 3rd grade at a few of the local schools in town.  These kids have never played basketball before and get extremely excited about it.  It makes me smile to think that they are so happy about learning something new.  It makes it that much more fun to teach them and brings out the fun in sports that we all started with as little kids.  So in whatever you do, make sure you are having fun and don't forget to smile.

So think about all the times and the people that make you smile and enjoy those moments.  Have a marvelous day and keep smiling!  It brighten's everyones day.



Hejda

Skelleftea for weekend fun!

Just a little update.

So this last weekend, Amy, Henna, Ida, and I went on a road trip to a little town called Skelleftea about 1.5 hours north of Umea.  Ida's family lives there and we had a nice relaxing weekend with excellent food and even better company.  I absolutely loved her parents house, full of old basketball stories from her dad and Swedish design decorations that filled the house.  It felt kind of like a home away from home.

I got a fantastic taste of Swedish food with salad, lots of different sauces, cheese quiche, and a wonderful dinner.  And of course DESSERT!  A wild raspberry meringue cake, ice cream, and cloudberries (natively grown in the northern swamplands of Sweden).  It makes me hungry just thinking about it.

So needless to say, the food was excellent along with the fresh autumn air of Sweden!  We took a walk behind their house, down by the river, and saw the different trees that were gorgeous with their changing colors.  We talked about Swedish culture and history, family traditions, and shared some laughs.  The coolest part, I thought, was the sauna that they had in their home.  It is a common Swedish tradition to own a sauna (similar to a hot tub in America maybe..).  It felt so good and was very relaxing. We played a few intense games of spoons and enjoyed quality family time overall.

I am learning more and more about Swedish life, culture, and history.  I get the privilege to not only try and learn Swedish, but Henna helps confuse me with some of her Finnish words.  Love you Henna! :)
The weekend was a success and we had a great time in Skelleftea.  Thanks Ida and family!

Here are a few photos taken from this weekend.  Some are compliments of Henna, the photographer of the group!

The pose!

Ida's sister Sophie and I

Giant cheese cutter!

Henna, Ida, and I

Thanks girls!!  

Hejda