sweden adventures - katieandboo
boo and I have moved to sweden for the next six months to play the sport we love as our job!

first week
Karlstad, Sweden
When I landed in Stockholm I was greeted by my coach for our 3hr. drive to Karlstad. The next day I was overwhelmed when I met my new teammates for lunch. I just smiled as they spoke swedish with an occasional english sentence here and there. At about 8pm we had our practice which was fun got alot of shots, my legs were definitely jet legged but it felt good to play.
On monday morning we headed for Stockholm again for my first game, I was really nervous but played ok, I got scored on, It was a 1v1 I made the first save and there team was there to finish it. The level was decent they have alot of quick foot work and play the ball pretty quick, very aggressive. We ate three times that day it was great!! At our third meal I was seeming to bond the most with the youngest kids which isn't that big of a surprise im sure.
THe past couple days I have been kept busy with training and getting all the things I need for my apartment, everybody is really nice and very helpful here. My apartment is pretty small a kitchen, bathroom, and living room which is my bedroom also. Boo arrives on sunday so it will be like freshman year in the dorms again. ha We have our first league game on saturday so I will try to post after that.
written by  katieandboo on April 16, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures

joy and pain
Karlstad, Sweden
Ok so lets see where I left off...oh I know at one of our practices we had like two or three media people come. It was kinda cool cause they were taking pics and getting interviews but got kind of annoying because they kept pulling me out of drills and warm-ups to get pics and statements. But all in all a cool first time experience to encounter my teammate and I were in the paper the next I guess. The trainings went well (except that I jammed the shit outa my middle finger I can't even fully extend it and its pretty bruised) alot more chill than in the states not really fitness heavy and more relaxed on defense.
So we had our first league game on saturday which was really cool we get to games 2hours early. So we get off the bus just walking over to the locker room looking at the Field a little nastalgic.(sp?) Then we have our warm up go back to the locker room area until both teams walk out so totally like a playoff game but its just league. Things were going good we scored first were playing pretty well I was directing my backs ok then lil slip up on got through and sliced me far post. Then maybe 10min later a communication error with my center back sent me off the Field in a stretcher. haha (relax mom im ok) So what happened was I told my back away but she just kept shielding the forward so I came out for a 1v1 tackle I got the ball and the girl went cleat up into my knee, extremely painful. We ended up losing like 5-1 so not a good game after all but now we have two weeks to train and get ready for our next game.
Oh I almost forgot boo is coming in tomorrow morning Im super excited for her to get here and figure out how were gonna fit another bed in here haha. Thats all for now ciao
written by  katieandboo on April 19, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures

fitness fun
Karlstad, Sweden
Ok so I know im bad at keeping it updated and I will put some pics up soon, promise :)
Knee is doing good should be back in time for the next game. Boo has now arrived and we somehow managed to fit a bed into our room so its a very cozy place ha. We got to to go to this sports store and pick out new cleats and for me new gloves I guess I'll get like 4-5 pair this season super cool!! We also got some other training gear, like shirts and shorts.
We finally met our fitness coach his name is Jonas and he is a small guy but is gonna get us pretty fit. We train with him twice a week besides practice. On mondays we just stay after practice and he does running things with us and on wednesday we do a leg lifting and medicine ball routine and also some running. He said he is gonna give me and boo our player specific weight lifting program on friday. (Every player kinda has there own specific program due to there size age and position)
The trainings have picked up intensity wise now and we do a lot of shooting which I love except I keep reinjuring the finger. Oh boo and I made a lil net with a piece of wood and a lil stand so that we can play soccer tennis in the street! We try to dribble tennis balls around the house and she brought a mini soccer ball so we are really working on getting a better touch. Time for dinner, enjoy your days
adjo
katie
written by  katieandboo on April 23, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden
from the travel blog: sweden adventures

weekend fun
ok so the past couple of days have been a blast...boo and I have been obsessed with the show the L word and are watching it from the beginning of season 1, kinda couch potatoes. She of course just kept procrastinating her paper to watch it, friday we stayed up till about 2am watching it. Oh got our work out plans and I love it its like all body weight stuff we only use two machines, were gonna get ripped living here. Saturday I met the team down town and we did a lil team bonding with bowling, it was kinda fun actually got hamburgers too. Then we went to the captains house and started the party, when we went out all the babies had to go home the club was cool though it had 4 different dance floors with different kinds of music. I actually saw my fitness coach there. Oh but really quick so we ordered pizza too and they put this like coleslaw/saurkraut on it and it is soo good. Anywho got home at like 4am pretty surprised I was able to find my way home cuz I had no clue where I was. All in all it was a great weekend, today was my recovery day just walked around and layed around haha. Oh so boo and I decided were gonna make a dream/inspiration wall and its going to have a list of our goals for what we want to work on and where we want to be by the end of the 6 months. Then surrounding that is gonna be a bunch of inspirational quotes or pics, anything that will help inspire us. Our main goal with this is the pro league in the states, so were gonna decorate our place with inspiration.
adjo

catch up
on our street
us and linnea
ok so to answer some questions...Yes I make all my own meals unless we are with the team then they supply all our food. Before games we eat this pasta salad thing and bread, pretty good. After we usually eat some meat and potatoes. I pretty much wake up whenever I wake unless I have to be somewhere, which is rare. If you can believe I have found a love here...hahaha just kidding, no, no boys yet but boo does have a boy back home. She is loving it here and we are quickly learning how to deal with eachother. She knows to ignore me in the morning and just not talk to me, and I know how to just tell her to be quiet if she is talking too much. Its a good match for 6 months pretty stoked. We are slowly learning new words boo can count to 10 I can't say 7 really hard for me. But most of the girls are speaking English to us, some are a lil more shy and don't talk to us that much because there not as confident with there English but they understand. I am pretty used to practices being all in swedish now, coach will talk and then I just kinda guess from what he said what we are supposed to do. (and I follow the girls)
It's starting to warm up, so boo and I are finding ourselves outside alot working on juggling or 'catch' (with our feet). Oh were starting to think of places we might go for our 2 weeks off in july, thinking about lebanon and possibly greece. Anywho here are some pics and I'll keep trying to take more.
adjo

game update
Hej sorry for long time no entry...Lets review the game this weekend, well we lost. The first goal was pretty good side netting but I still think I could have gotten to it if I had been a lil further out. The second goal was all my fault, high ball got lost in the sun light only caught part of it and it continued back to the goal, very upsetting. So we lost 2-0 to one of the best teams in our league but honestly I think we could of had them. We had some good missed opportunities and held the same pace as them. I know what your thinking dad "well it wont matter in 5 years and they didn't score either soo" but I was still bummed. I didn't play horribly though I have finally got my full voice back so now im talking the whole 90min telling everybody who to mark and where they need to be. I made a couple of really good high ball saves where I had to come out in alot of traffic. One of em I got flipped around and smashed to the ground but I still had the ball! Oh and I think I was part of the tearing of an ACL on one of there forwards. It was a loose ball I was coming out for and she was challenging me for it but her leg went on the inside of mine, got stuck, and I just kept pushing forward with the ball. Then I hear a little pop and
her screaming and crying on the ground. I felt soo bad, it's crazy how quick your career can just be done.
Oh there was this cool coming of Spring celebration on thursday, with huge bon fires every where and fire works, it was super cool.
Im getting really good at making up good food concoctions. Alot of the concoctions involve pasta, like yesterday for my pregame meal I had left over pasta so I used that added some spices some chicken tomato onion and lettuce..very delicious. Any who it is now lunch time for me so I must go eat.
written by  katieandboo on May 2, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

trainer
So we met with our fitness coach went for 20min run in the woods. Then inside which was like gym/track area where we Split up into 2 groups. One group was doing hangclings, weighted squats, double leg high box jumps, and star jumps. Then the other group does plyos, which involved a bunch of hurdles, hoping over this rope double leg and single leg, then quick foot work for the hamstring and then a different one for the quads, and my favorite which was like different sizes boxes that you jump up higher and higher and jump onto a huge mat. Oh and we did bobsled races(pushing huge gymnastics mats) old vs young kids and of course the old guys won all 3 times!! All in all today was a great day at the office we are for sure gonna be tired tomorrow. Here are some pics from our recent game.
written by  katieandboo on May 3, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

boo graduates
So Boo finally finished all her papers and officially became a college graduate. And of course that means we need to celebrate so we invited 2 of our friends over played some soccer tennis and then made a really really good dinner. Dala and Malin brought chicken salad stuff bread and Dessert, I made pasta with a fresh tomato sauce. Dinner was bomb but dessert was even better! They made brownies with warm raspberries and fresh whip cream!! Needless to say it was amazing and as you can tell we have chosen the right friends who like to eat too! Oh ya the girls decorated our house with balloons and a banner they made for boo that said congrats graduate...it was really cute. That was a very fun night Dala stayed till like 11pm and we were just watching soccer games.
Earlier in the week we met up with some of our friends downtown to watch the Barca vs Real game in a pub. That was fun too the game was incredibly good with very good goals.
Oh the weather has taken a turn to washington weather the past couple days have either been really windy, rainy, cold or all three! Which has made practice interesting (at times fun at times frustrating) We are leaving today to go to an away game, we are having our first spend the night I'm excited because the girls say this hotel has the best breakfast!
well wish me luck and I'll write soon
written by  katieandboo on May 8, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

road trip win
We had our first spend the night road trip and we got to stay at this really nice hotel and the breakfast was bomb!!! There were crepes, eggs, sausage, meatballs, bread, fruit, yogurt, sandwich making things, and of course cereal and juices. I stuffed myself so much I was full until the game at 3pm.
We drove down friday then some of us went for a walk before we went to bed. I shared a room with the other keeper and we got the best room, on the corner of the hotel with double windows. Saturday we had breakfast went for a walk then drove 2 hrs more to our game. The weather was decent sunny but very very windy, but we came out and within the first 10min scored a goal. Maybe 10 min later they got a pk (which I almost had dove the right way and was close but my foot kinda slipped on the dirt trying to dive) and that was the only goal they scored. We continued to capitalize on our opportunities making it 4-1 at the end. I made one key save in the last 5min, out stretched one handed tip around the goal. It was a pretty good game the play was going both ways we just took control. We drove back after the game so I am glad we won, it made the ride alot better!
We have today off and then tomorrow we train and then meet with our fitness coach to do some running yeaaaaa! Oh I forgot to say boo got hurt think she pulled her hip flexor she can barely walk or lift her leg. So that sucks but Im hoping maybe a week or two then she is back at it!

work permit
The past couple of days have been fun pracitices were a really high level so it was good training. On monday me and a couple of teammates went to the gym after practice. Oh boo and I had a lil ice cream date with our new swedish friends before practice the other day.
Boo found out that she pulled her psoas muscle and rectus femoris...which is the quad and part of the hip flexor. The doc said he's 95% sure I broke my finger but is waiting till next week to get an x-ray. Other than that we are both doing well our inspiration wall is really coming along, for the back drop I made and american flag and then on that I drew the FC Gold Pride emblem. So I think we will start adding other things to it soon, I'll be sure to put up a pic.
We have a big game on saturday...pulling for the win again of course. Oh and apparently for home games the club posts live web feed. Although I think our games are mostly at 3pm which is about 6am west coast time.
Oh so today we officially got our work permits stamped into our passports. It took us about 3 hours today to go to 2 differnt places and get the work permit and fake swedish person social security number. That way we can get paid the big bucks haha.
well gotta go run later

random
We lost sore subject so Im not going to talk about it.
On the other hand had a great time out last night went to a team mates house then we went out to the bars. Me and one teammate just danced the entire time it was fun because as soon as we started dancing other people came out ( We were moon walking and I taught her how to C-walk).
The weather has been beautiful the past two days, today I was up by 8:30 and was out playing in the warm sun. But with the weather here it might be windy and rainy by late afternoon.
Boo and I have a food shopping addiction. Not only are we buying food about every 3 days but we have gone to just about every supermarket trying to find which one is the cheapest and where has the better deals on certain foods. I mean we know our way around these supermarkets better than the girls that live here!
Oh so very exciting I believe boo and I figured out where we are going for our two weeks off! Were going to fly into Greece spend a lil over a week hoping around the islands and then were gonna head up to the north east of italy train over to France and then back home! Im so excited we might even get our teammate erica to come with us.
Well enough rambling have a good day blog ya lata

recap
So I am starting to slack off a little bit on the blogs, it is looking more like it will be once a week unless I get around to it quicker. This past week has been fun boos boyfriend and I have been playing alot of soccer tennis. We all went out for a dinner picnic at about 1030pm for his bday dinner. We had olives salami cheese, capresse salad, tortellini, choc covered cherries, garlic bread, and soup! It was soooo much fun probably the best night I have had here or even better than some back in the states, we sat on the river as the sun was setting it was really cool. We tied our game today 3-3 despite the score I actually played really well made about 6 key saves. We have another game this saturday so we better start winning :)
Boo and I have officially bought out tickets and are going to Greece for 2 weeks! We are planning on island hoping, mykanos, santorini, Ios, and maybe Rhodes. Really excited we leave the 5th of july and get back on the 18th. Boos is quickly recovering too, she has started to jog and possibly pass so hopefully back in 2 weeks for the game.
Kinda tired right now but I'll post more after our saturday game
ciao

memorial weekend
We won our game on saturday 4-0 I actually had some action and had to use my feet alot, which boo said I did a good job considering they passed back some sketchy balls.
Friday night we had a lil pregame dinner party with our friends. It was boo and my turn to cook so we made breakfast burritos and for dessert made crepes with chocolate strawberries and raspberries with frozen yoghurt!
Sunday was a nice day the sun came out so we went on a run in the woods and a nice bike ride. We met up with our friends downtown to ride back to there house where we watched my new favorite Swedish mens team GAIS! They made us regular burritos for dinner, but no dessert ha. By the time we started dying Malins hair it was raining outside, but by the time we left at 10:25 it was pretty clear again. All in all a pretty fun weekend, oh ya and boo and I got up to 7 in catch!
Monday we met with our fitness trainer did a bunch of agility and strength training. It was really pretty out we stayed after training to watch the younger team play a game. Tuesday we practiced at the game stadium work on crosses with sticks as traffic. Kind of a rough day was in my head alot today so gonna flush it and hope its better tomorrow and just dominate.

ice cream and sun
after our win
Well first off the pictures of the blooming trees and bushes are down the street. They were beautiful when they were blooming, so much color.
Game update: We won on friday 4-0, but didn't score our first goal until the end of the second half. I actually had to make a lot of saves throughout the game best ones in the second half. Came out on crosses and won air balls, made a 1v1 save, 2 diving saves to the right, and one airborn tip over the cross bar. It was a great game over all with some good goals and boo scored one of the goals.
Saturday was gorgeous here blue skys and 77 degrees. We layed out on the dock for a lil bit strolled around downtown and got ice cream and sat on the river. We went over to one of our teammates house that night met alot of there friends, kinda felt like we were show and tell cuz they kept introducing us to everyone. I for once was the exotic girl that people kept talking too, everyone was blonde. Today was pretty much the same as yesterday beautiful even warmer so I just read on the dock. Then boo and I met up with friends downtown before our training at 5pm. Might be playing beach volley ball tomorrow before practice but well see...ciao

is it winter?
Lo Siento have kinda had some things on my mind not able to write on here.
First I would like to give a bday shout out to my wonderful cousin Meagan Happy bday girl luv ya! Second to one of my besties, happy bday trizza!
Ok so this week has been kinda shitty, we had 3 lovely days of summer weather and now apparently were regressing back to winter. It has been rainy cloudy and WINDY! And what comes with winter weather but winter sickness. Boo and I both got some cold, which im glad we got at the same time. So we have just been trying to nurse ourselves back to good health. She bought chicken and veggies and made homemade chicken soup, I bought 7-up rice cakes and smoothies! We still have been going to the gym everyday trying to burn the cold off, we also sat in the sauna after one of our workouts felt really nice after. Tomorrow we travel away for a game that I don't believe I am playing in because I have some slight rib damage..oh and 2 of our friends will be coming to stay with us on saturday till maybe next satuday not really sure. BUt super excited there bringing me peanut butter cranberries and bunny! Well gotta go eat talk later
written by  katieandboo on June 5, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

friends
Our friends showed up and it is soooo great to see them kinda unexplanitory. Boo and I had been noticing how much easier it is to to talk with them than with our swedish friends so we have just been having a blast. We have been learning alot of new juggle tricks kinda limited on the ones I can do but still fun. We had a big pizza party yesterday and on wednesday we and the team are throwing sam a bday party, she'll be 21! Oh and tonight we are going to take pics of our younger teammates going to there prom. Im excited to see them all dressed up, like a proud lil mamma. HOpe all is well back home keeping it short and sweet this week gotta go entertain!
written by  katieandboo on June 9, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

swedish tradition
Ok so this week has been a blast so far we are constantly laughing our asses off. We also got to go to the prom like I mentioned earlier which is sooo different from ours. They all kinda parade around the town in these old school cars then to the dance hall. There were hundreds of people there watching all the cars arrive. We then took some pics with our teammates, they looked so beautiful! Then on thursday we went to there graduation which is also totally different from our style. What happens is each class has about 30 in it and they announce the class open the school door and they just come running out! The girls are wearing white dresses and guys wearing black and white suits and they have captain hats on.
graduation
All the familys have picket sign type things with pictures of their kid as well a kid ha. That was so fun to see, after they take pics with the fam they all load up into this big tractor or truck and drive around town yelling and screaming soo cool to see. On wednesday we had an early bday celebration for sam, we made burritos and chocolate cake with strawberries and raspberries on top. It was a lot of fun sam boo and I ended up staying up till 5 just talking and laughing we for some reason had decided to have this crazy session in the bathroom! Needless to say with the sleep deprived delirium setting in it made for a very entertaining night!
Ok so I also have some bad news. 2 games ago I forgot to mention that I got knocked by a forward after coming out of the box to clear a loose ball. I thought I had just got the wind knocked out of me and had some spasiming muscles so played on. Yesterday I got the news that I broke my rib and am going to be out for 5 weeks. Just wanted to tell you that because now what I talk about in my blogs will change.
ciao
written by  katieandboo on June 12, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

weekend
First off I want to say HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all the dads, especially mine I love you with all my heart and am so greatful for you fred!
Second I wanna say belated congrats to my cousin will and katie on their new baby girl she is adorable, and congrats to paul and emily on their new baby girl, I can't wait to see her.
Ok so our friends have now left us, so were sad but so glad they came. We tied our big game and after it we had a team dinner at the qbik club house, tacos, then started the party. We were dancing and playing games then we walked downtown to the bars. Malin came home with us and we had a big slumber party 5 people in our place very cozy. We ended up staying up till 5am taking funny pics and just talking. The girls left at 8:30am the next morning. I must say my twin bed felt like a queen size bed with just one person in it, it was so nice. Yesterday we had our buddies come over for our monthly dinners and once again it was soooo good. I made pasta with tomato onion garlic mushroom zucchini and shrimp in a glarlic lemon sauce. Boo made a salad with feta sundried tomato avacado spinach sunflower seeds and black olives. We had garlic bread and foccacia with olive feta and sundried tomato. Then the girls made us this blueberry cobbler for dessert with vanilla whip cream. Incredible.
Boo and I started our coaching job. Its only 2 hours and we go to this field and whoever shows up is who we teach. We don't even have to teach them soccer we can just play games. Dala coaches with us too so its fun since we know her so well.
We are just wrapping up mid summer celebration. It started on friday and lasted until today although friday was the big celebration day. People just hang with family eat and party alot of things are closed down. Yesterday boo Malin and I dressed up in crazy clothes with crazy hair and makeup and walked around downtown, it was a blast cuz people just stared at us. It was the longest days of light so you would go out to a club it be bright out at 11pm and come out at 2am and the sun is rising, really crazy. I'll post some more pics soon
Weather has been crappy, rain and cold but today its actually sunny so maybe summer is coming. ciao

weekend
Ok so our friends have now left us, so were sad but so glad they came. We tied our big game and after it we had a team dinner at the qbik club house, tacos, then started the party. We were dancing and playing games then we walked downtown to the bars. Malin came home with us and we had a big slumber party 5 people in our place very cozy. We ended up staying up till 5am taking funny pics and just talking. The girls left at 8:30am the next morning. I must say my twin bed felt like a queen size bed with just one person in it, it was so nice. Yesterday we had our buddies come over for our monthly dinners and once again it was soooo good. I made pasta with tomato onion garlic mushroom zucchini and shrimp in a glarlic lemon sauce. Boo made a salad with feta sundried tomato avacado spinach sunflower seeds and black olives. We had garlic bread and foccacia with olive feta and sundried tomato. Then the girls made us this blueberry cobbler for dessert with vanilla whip cream. Incredible.
Boo and I started our coaching job. Its only 2 hours and we go to this Field and whoever shows up is who we teach. We don't even have to teach them soccer we can just play games. Dala coaches with us too so its fun since we know her so well.
Weather has been crappy, rain and cold but today its actually sunny so maybe summer is coming. ciao

food
Ok so I have to tell you about this sandwich I made the other day, dad this is for you. Ok so I had oven roasted some chicken so I put that on a toasted bread with melted feta some avocado sundried tomatos, and marinated grilled artichoke hearts!!! with the juiciest honey doo melon ever, Soooo good! Things are going pretty good here still no kids have shown up to our coaching job, so we continue to juggle and work on our individual things. Boo and I have had really off sleep patterns lately with it being light till 12am dark then light again at 2:30am so sometimes were waking up at 12pm and racing to work. But the other day I forced myself to wake up early and went to the gym I felt good after, oh and I made the best breakfast. I made scrambled eggs with avo onion tomato all stirred together with pan fried potateo pieces and melted cheese. It was oh so good! The past couple of days have been very beautiful outside today was the first real hot day here. It is so nice its 8:30pm still sunny blue sky and probably 70 out. I think tomorrow we may go float down the river or go to one of the lakes because we have the day off.
Boo and I are also helping coach a younger QBIK team tomorrow so that will be alot of fun. After that the mens team plays so were going to go watch that, should be pretty good match. Oh we play the number 1 team in the league this sunday so hopefully we win we easily could. We are apparently 6th but honestly I don't think we have lost to a team that was worthy of beating us.
ciao

summer
our sugar high day in midsommar
Summer is finally here the past week has been so warm and beautiful. We have been making a lot of smoothies after work, or going to the docks and reading. I am pretty sure we are eating some sort of ice cream everyday just because its so warm out.
We made crepes again for dinner had a yummy combo of lemon juice raspberry jam and powdered sugar. I have been working on my touches and my left foot lately but still am not practicing or running.
Not too much to talk about although we are headed for greece in 5 days so really excited about that. We are planning on camping on the islands to save money and planning our day excursions. Hope every one has a great 4th of july we are throwing a little one here to try and celebrate. Somebody eat some blooming onion or choco dipped ice cream rolled iin nuts for me. ;)
ps I probably won't write anything until I get back from greece which isn't until the 20th. ciao
written by  katieandboo on July 1, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

greece
Athens, Greece
Oh boy do I have so many things I could say, I'll keep it to the really good stuff. First off Greece was awesome and im so proud of myself for going alone, until the last 4 days that is. I started in Rhodes which was really nice there was an old village small streets close houses lots of little shops, I would let my self get a little lost in there everyday, then there was new town which was on the outside of the wall that surrounded old town. More modern streets lots of food shops and clothing shops. THen there was real Rhodos which is where i stayed outside of new town with this guy george. He was super nice offered to show me around but i just prefered to get lost. Had some good greek cuisine there lots of baklava some gelato and of course some gyros souvlaki and some good cheap crepes. After that island I headed for santorini. And I heard that the sunsets were amazing but really how good/better can they be from the states? Oh so much better maybe its cuz you way above the water and feel like your floating or its just the endorphines pumping through you after trecking around exploring all day. Either way both the nights I was there for sunset I treated myself to a nice little spot with a great view and got a little snack. One place was a pool bar at the most north end call Oia, I just had a brownie there, the second night i actually had made friends with one of the guys so he reserved me a table in Fira on the edge of the cliff overlooking the water and volcano. I had pasta and some wine there, probably my favorite spot. And of course some of the perks of traveling alone the guys give you an extra drink or two. So I had another glass of wine with sunset. One day I rented an ATV and drove around the whole island, all the way to the most south by the light house and all the way to the most north, Oia, east and west. I also found smaller quieter beaches which was awesome I found this one with this small lil restaurant on the water so I decided to stop and have a bite it was so nice there very peaceful and yes here I got a free frappe. haha
After Santorini I got the ferry to Paros which was very touristy didn't like it that much until we rented a scooter and went to Nauossa, small fisher village less tourists very cute. Oh so this is where i was supposed to meet up with boo the only problem was neither of us had phones we just knew the day we were arriving and a possible place to be staying. Impossible others thought, but boo and I knew we would find eachother and sure enough one night I hear LOOMIS! And it was boo we were so excited to see eachother with so many stories we forgot to check her in. We walked around paros a lil but mainly swam then headed for athens. We stayed with Giorgos who was super nice and took us to see the temple of posidon which is an hour away from the center. He also took us to the main square where we could walk around the shops. We had so much fun with him boo and i both connected with him relaly easy it was like he was one of our close friends already. Found out he is the basketball manager for the womens team in greece, he told us he would try to help us get picked up in austrailia if we wanted!! Great connection to have made, over all great guy. Finally I returned home to Sweden where surprise suprise its raining haha. So hopefully tomorrow work begins! Ah but what a great trip :) I will post some pics later
written by  katieandboo on July 19, 2009 from Athens, Greece

IM BACK
sunset
Sorry for the slow writing, ok so the first week back from greece it was still painful to dive so I trained just working on foot work and hard volleys to work on my hands. I went to the doc on wednesday and she said the 5th rib is completely healed and the 6th one hasented calised fully so thats why it will hurt to dive but it wont re-break so im cleared! So thursday I went out full speed and this practice was so much fun because it was dumping. The field was so flooded that when id dive to make a save id probably slide 2yds before I stopped. It made for some frustrating conditions but sooo much fun. Felt like a lil kid again running around in the rain and splashing in the puddles. So I played in our game on saturday which we tied 1-1 I got scored on by the cheapest pk ever, ridiculous call. Before break we lost 3-0 so that was a good com back and we totally could have beaten them. I played pretty well stayed high able to pick up alot of the threw balls, also made a 1v1 save.
There was a youth team tournament this weekend called sun cup. Our team was supposed to go and work it, its one of our big money makers. Oh I had forgotten to mention boo and I helped coached this u12 team during the week so we went to watch and cheer the team on on sunday. They got 3rd place winning by penalty kicks I was so proud the keep anna made 2 saves. We went out on saturday which was fun we just kinda hung out down town and planned a painball day for the team and blueberry pie day as well. The next two games are gonna be the biggest ones because this weekend we play Malbacken which is our biggest rival we get hundreds of fans at that game. Then the week after we play the first place team Jitex so Im stoked for some good trainings.
Oh one other thing we are getting a new keeper shes a greek-american played for greece national team and played in Damallsvenken for a couple years. I think she comes this week sometime so we shall see how that goes hopefully I get back quickly.
written by  katieandboo on August 3, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

mountains
haha Ok so first off I just gotta say soccer is such sport of adversity and mental toughness well any sport in general but especially soccer. So of course my first game back I get this HUGE raspberry burn cuz we played on turf and oh what happens get systemic and now im on penicilin hahah I mean really you do just gotta laugh at it.
infected wound
Im trying to put alot of padding so it doesnt hurt as much to dive thinking I should just wrap on a pillow :) I do notice myself hesitating a lil to dive to my right (since its on my right thigh) so im hoping I am able to play this sunday. Ok so positive things this week has been pretty fun boo and I coached our little girls again. The lil keepers and I are starting to get close there trying to make me say bad things in Swedish haha but there a fun lil bunch. Very shy I'll ask them questions and they'll just smile back at me, then i'll say something goofy (bring up aliens for example) then they laugh and someone will say an answer. Ill break them of their little shy shells just wait they'll be yelling in no time. Hung out with dala the other day we went down town mainly to go to the drug store boo and I totally mom'd her because she was sick the past couple of days so we made her soup got her throat lasengers.
Boo and I are getting really focused again going out a bunch to work on left foot stuff, juggling and for me especially my kicks and getting my muscle memory back for diving. Working alot on my upper body lost sooo much muscle since I couldn't lift Its ridiculous how weak I feel. But it is all coming back with time I just need to be patient. Thats all for now good night
written by  katieandboo on August 6, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

hiccups
Ok so I decided on friday that it would probably be better for the wound to not be diving so I didn't play on sunday and we tied 1-1. pretty good game we actualy had some good oppertunities but just couldn't finish. Oh boo's mom has arrived and it has been so much fun having her here with us, she has made dinner a couple of nights. She is super cool fun lady and its fun cuz its kidna lke part of a lil family here. Anyways we went shopping downtown the other day and got a cool new running jacket haha.
Important stuff tho practice was fun on monday we just played fun games where we scrimaged but there were rules like we had to hold hands and could only walk then limited touches while running and holding hands. Then just had fitness with jonas. Tuesday i played but played horrible, so I was pretty upset all night, like the worst I have played in a very long long time. So this morning when I woke up I went to the Field did a bunch of sprints and did some shuffle keeper oriented stuff and finished with kicks. Getting myself really focused now cuz I can't believe I only got two months left!! I gotta get cracking. Oh ya so today we had team bonding so we went to mirandas house and and the forest is in her back yard so we all went blueberry picking, I also found some chantrels, then we made blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream. Sooo good And we played this funny swedish game where you pretty much throw a stick at a block and try to knock it over first team to knock em all over wins. It was fun cuz our team won but the other team had been kicking out ass so good come back victory! Other than that pretty low key here just getting ready for the game this weekend. Oh ya another american is coming on saturday she is from arizona and is a center back so it will be interesting to now have 4 americans. Ok well dinner time ciao
written by  katieandboo on August 12, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

boot camp?
Ok so first off congrats to my cousin ben and his new wife alicia, welcome to the fam licia.
Second, we tied again on this past sunday 1-1. It was insane how many times we hit the post or the cross bar. Pretty good game def. shoulda won oh and they have moved boo to outside mid which is a bummer. We got a new american who arrived on saturday, she played for the chicago feeder team and seems pretty good. This week boo and I have been trying to do boot camp where we just work super hard on fitness and ball work. Was going pretty well worked out earlier in the day then had training and fitness on monday. Tuesday had a super hard training at the gym then evening training which was alot of fun. There were only 10 players cuz there was a U-18 game that the rest of our girls were playing in. But then on wednesday we had set out all the stuff at the Field and decided to go into the club house real fast for a snack and coffee but then go so hyper and decided to go down town. I mean it was our day off and your not supposed to work on your day off right? haha We ended up going to some stores then meeting some teammates at this bar too watch a few soccer games. A good day off I think, so this morning im gonna go do some Field stuff then rest till prac. I am starting to get my technique back which feels so good. Oh and realized I only have 54 days till I come home its so crazy how fast time has gone by!

catch this
Alright so been a lil while sorry about that got pretty caught up. Boo had her dad cousin and cousins husband here so we were kept busy. We actually went out to a restaurant for the first time with them here haha maybe we went out once before. Had alot of fun while they were here boo her dad and I took a trip to Gotenburg on one of our days off. Was alot of fun took a little tour and just walked around cute city everything is pretty close together. Didn't get to go to the amusement park tho because it was closed :( Boo and I have decided to stop being such penny pinchers and really just enjoy our time here not worrying about what were buying. Its been good we have gone to this one bar to have a glass of wine while watching EPL games so that has been alot of fun we also saw the Sweden vs Norway game. The new american has showed up shes super cool from chicago center back. Its fun having another american cuz now its more talk on the field.
Oh oh I forgot to mention this so a lil while back baby lobsters were on sale so I bought a bunch and made risotto with lobster crimini mushrooms chives and chevre cheese was sooo good and if you cook the risotto in the lobster broth makes it so much better!
Anyways oh our friend sent up a care package full of goodies (oreos goldfish, ritz bitz sandwiches, cereal, and red vines etc) So nice and was sooo good boo and I killed almost all of it already!
All our lil kids have started school back up so kind of a bummer we dont have as many people to play with but boo and I are still working out. Oh last night we went to Malins house to watch the Gais game (malin and my team big fans!) and her mom made taco pie and blueberry pie traditional swedish thing if you can believe it but soo good. The taco pie was a crust then with like ground meat tomato cheese sour cream.
boo and I are both getting a little sick you wouldnt think right cuz its the end of summer. Oh but not here its been the end of fall weather here ugh! But today was actually very beautiful and quite warm so I cant complain. Ok I think that is all for now ciao
written by  katieandboo on September 1, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

bday
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER MIKE!!!
Ok so we won our game last weekened. On monday we went to a bar to watch a game but watched extreme sports instead was alot of fun. Yesterday we went to watch our girls play in their final. Let me explain so all the under 19's had this tournament and about a third of our girls were on the team because there under 19, and they made it to the finals so we decided to go watch. However we thought it was going to be at our Field but it changed at the last second and the Field we had to go to was 45 min bike ride away. Oh and I was in the middle of making my pizza with pesto chicken (cuz i bought a rotiserie chicken and took all the meat) broccoli and cherry tomatoes. So as soon as that came out of the oven I just threw it in tuperware and we started pedaling up these huge hills, but after our trek we made it in time for half time. The girls were happy to see us even tho they ended up losing in pks, which sucks cuz they were clearly the better team with more scoring opportunities, but thats soccer.
Oh and today boo and I found this cute caffe hidden between buildings down town so we had a coffee and a lil snack known as a ficka. Oh and im super excited my parents are coming tomorrow and the weather has been super nice recently. :)
off to work lata
written by  katieandboo on September 10, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

parents
Alright so my parents were here for a week and that was fun especially because the weather became so nice! The first night here they came to prac and I made them quesadillas, they were pretty jet legged. We went on bike excersions all around Karlstad especially out to the lake, biggest In Sweden! Took them to score to watch some premier league games and grab some dinner. One of my friends parents invited us all over for dinner so we went there after out game for some delicious food. Had salmon chix and pork with potatoes and 3 diff sauces (peppercorn, chantrell, cheese) and some salad. With two very swedish desserts, one was a cake thats very hard to explain with cream and toffee like things. this other one also too difficult but think of a giant canolli and that is what it looks like although not at all. ha That night was alot of fun stayed there pretty late just chatting and shooting the shit. Then next night mom made some classic italian for some of my friends which was delicious regardless of what she says. Some pasta with roasted veggies alfredo pesto sauce parma chix and capresse salad oh and bread! Everyone had a blast.
We also went to Stockholm for, well I went for a day, they for two before they flew home. Was really cool city big but was fun to walk around got to see the palace and the smallest street could barely walk down it! ha
I had one day of training, thursday, then had 3 days off so saturday night is when we celebrated Malins birthday. She had a pajamas party before we went out. Fun weekend worked out with jeffers did kettleb ell lifts. So excited to have boo back we watched peaceful warrior, which was good, very philosophical dad youd prob love it.
Today two of our friends boo and I are doing a day of training ha. Were going to meet and do shooting then go to the gym then go to training. Big game this saturday were traveling so get to stay in hotel woohoo.
thats all for now ciao
written by  katieandboo on September 22, 2009 from Karlstad, Sweden

We advance!!
Kopavogur, Iceland
Our second game we won as well. We played against Romania which were much tougher team, faster and more aggressive, but we came out on top. I actually had to make 3 big saves when the score was still close and then the team took over and we won 7-0. Our next game eve same routine with practice in the morning then lunch then at night I our team bonding was massages. It was nice our third and final game was against France who was by far the best in our group with us. And we tied them 3-3. ended the first half 1-0 us, I made some big saves and got hit real hard on a ball sent into a mix of people that I went up for and caught and saved. Felt like I was gonna throw up the rest of the game but the flack jacket kept me playing :) Even though we tied we found out that we have enough goals that we will advance and find out who we play next week. We wont have another champions game until sept. sometime and next season game is end of aug. So now I am here in Sweden and trained with the girls yesterday, so weird but fun to be back. Today boo and i are gonna go downtown and maybe grocery shopping :) and the 16th i'll head for Italy. Oh and were gonna go watch there game on saturday and leifake who is qbik equip,emt guy is gonna get me an extra salad for the bus ride :) ciao for now
written by  katieandboo on August 13, 2010 from Kopavogur, Iceland

out with the girls

after our win