Frosty the Snowman!

This year, since we had an abundance of snow, my little kid brother & I decided to revert back to our childhood years and build a massive FROSTY! After 3 hours of snow packing, rolling and a few snowball fights, we had ourselves Frosty the "Big DUDE". He stood tall at 7 ft. and was quite the crowd-stopper with his bug-like aluminum can eyeballs. One of Bobby's childhood friends drove by and yelled, "Aren't you too old for that?" That was when we realized we were the envy of the neighborhood kids & adults...!

Christmas, Weimer-Style!

After 3 days of true cabin fever with the parents, we shoveled our way out of the blizzard and I was out of their hair. Time to shop and get lost in the hustle & bustle of the commercialized American Christmas. Here are a few fun photos of the Weimer's Christmas Vacation...not to be confused with the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, even though there was a fair share of wacky family dynamics. Someone in the Weimer family needs to have babies soon...the adults are having too much fun opening white elephant gifts (re-gifting something that is useless and otherwise repulsive) and waking up early to see if Santa ate the cookies.

More Blizzard FUN!!

We officially had 28.5 inches...this was a measurement yesterday.

Snowshoed to the grocery store!

Mom, shoveling!

Colorado Blizzard of 2006!

WOOHOO! I could not be happier right now, it is
snowing like crazy and windy as ever. When I woke at 8 a.m. it was already snowing and it has been blizzard conditions all day long. We are expecting about 24 inches of snow...my Euro friends, that translates to 61 centimeters. My father and I have been shoveling, making snow videos and snowshoeing. I think we are going to have a white Christmas afterall

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Colorado Rocky Mountain High!

I arrived back in SUNNY Colorado Monday, December 11 with my smiley sister jumping up and down at the airport. Headed up to Breckenridge for some sick early-season tele-skiing, alpine skiing & nordic skiing with Mark & Karen. The snow conditions are amazing!! Did some girl-power, booty dances for the snow gods at Keystone with my girls'; Dr. Lizard & Ann Sully (see photo).

I think the dancin' worked...we've got a blizzard in full effect right now. WOOHOO!!








Photos: (LEFT) You can take the girl out of Norway, but you can't take the Norway out of the girl!
Leasa donning the Norwegian National team jacket before a nordic ski. (UPPER RIGHT) Marky-Mark waxing some ski's. (LOWER RIGHT) Mark & K-dog with some Norweigan gifts.

Trondheim & Lillehammer!

Trondheim is a quaint town up north, with many canals, bridges, and steep streets reminiscent of San Francisco with a pinch of a metropolitan feel. The Nidaros cathedral, dating back to 1300, truly feels like a real European cathedral...with ornate details, spires, and splendour. My favorite was the 'old town', old colorful wooden houses along the canal and narrow streets and alleys dating back to the Middle Ages. The architecture in old town gives you the distinct feel that you must be in Scandinavia. Love that!



Lillehammer...cute, tiny & NO snow. I may be a little biased but Lillehammer has NOTHING on Breckenridge, Vail, even Keystone. I was expecting delicious ski mountains when all I got was some rain and forested hills. No skiing, bummer! The 1994 Olympics were hosted in Lillihammer. I only stayed here for a quick 3 hours and that was enough to see everything...including the Olympic park. The one thing I enjoyed about Lillehammer was the feel of small ski town community, they haven't sold their souls to big corporate conglomerates.

A whirlwind tour of NORWAY!

Hopped on the boat at 10 p.m. for a 10:30 p.m. departure through the fjords and had a tiny little cabin (quite cozy)! 2 nights on the boat and about 1 full day, then I disembark in Trondheim. So, the boat was nice...a bar, a lounge, a cafe and it sleeps about 70 passengers. However, I was the youngest and the only one who spoke conversational english. Low season on the fjord can be very dark! The sun sets at 3 p.m. and the sun rises at about 9:30 a.m.--therefore, bringing a book along is crucial or you can choose to entertain yourself by trying to dance in your tiny cabin. The second day on the boat, we ported in Alesund, for 3 hours. Alesund is a cute little town, known for the Art Nouveau architecture, and the best part was the snow capped mountains on the horizon. I hiked up to the overlook, walked around and found a cute little cafe for lunch and watched the sunset. Then, it was back on the boat for some more tiny cabin dancing. Woohoo! Arrive in Trondheim at 6 a.m. tomorrow.

My favorite Norwegian city!

Here I am in Bergen, Norway. I truly love it here...even with the rain and the wind (it was so windy...it tore apart my umbrella). Couple a scenic port with a mountain backdrop (seven hills) and you get the second largest, yet quaintest, city in Norway. There are just a few things that make this my favorite and special Norwegian city...the colorful architecture, the hostel, the euro cafe culture (Godt Brod-my favorite!) and the norwegian feel. Bryggen, the old city from the 11th century, is on UNESCO's world heritage list and you never get tired of winding around and taking photos of the colorful, preserved wooden buildings. I walked the entire city, without an umbrella, and discovered the area by the University which is so cute...little cafe's, a beautiful church, (JohannesKirken) and narrow cobble stone streets surrounded by the bright clapboard houses. Bergen is the gateway to the fjords and tonight I hop on the hurtigruten and head out into the fjords...I won't see much of the fjord tonight but I will see a good deal of my paper that is due December 8. Woohoo...this IS my life!! Pinch me...

A party I won't forget!!

My dear friends in Colorado, Mark & Karen (a.k.a. Marky-Mark & K-Dog) hosted Gunn-Rita Dahle, a Norwegian mountain-biker, in their Boulder home a few summers ago. This past summer, before heading to Norge country, I was fortunate enough to meet Gunn-Rita and her husband, Kenneth, in Breckenridge and they told me to hold the date...December 1 for a party in Oslo. Cool! They invited to the Stians Sport 30th year anniversary Christmas celebration. First of all, Gunn-Rita isn't just a mountain biker, she is the goddess of Norwegian mountain biking! Stians Sport is one of her sponsors and they have billboards of her all over the place (see photos). She has a women's bike with her signature on it and her face is even on the packaging for yoga mats and fitness balls. She has won many 1st place world cup races...see the Merida Bikes website to see her stats. The best part, she is incredibly genuine and her husband is a kick.

Second, the Norwegians know how to party-Norwegian girls singing 80's rock music (all english), the endless glass of wine, freestyle bike tricks, and the traditional Norwegian Christmas (jul) food--pigskin!

FINLAND or bust...JANUARY 1!

I just received my Finland VISA!!
Here are a few things to look forward to:

WIFE CARRYING CONTEST! You better believe I will be there for this annual competition in SONKAJÄRVI, Finland.

Good thing it's not a wife-throwing contest...like the MOBILE PHONE THROWING CONTEST ...

ALL LIT UP!

Woohoo! My paper is nearly done and I'm about to move out of my room. Then I'm off to TRAVEL!! So, check out my itinerary...
December 2-Train to Bergen
December 3-Board Hurtigruten boat & set sail!
December 4-Boats ports in Alesund (for some Art Nouveau architecture)
December 5-Boat ports in Trondheim
December 6-Bus to Lillehammer (home of 1994 winter olympics)
December 7-SKI- if there is snow...
December 8-Oslo

Photos: Oslo is lit up! I love going downtown and being lifted by the Christmas spirit. Mom, these pics are dedicated to and your relentless hours of Christmas-light blood, sweat and tears. Enjoy!

The JOY of writing a paper...

I just received the topic for my last paper of the semester and it is a tough one; the history of the university and why the legacy of teaching & science belong hand in hand, in perfect harmony...or not so perfect. Do teaching & science belong together? From my experience, professors are either passionate about and excel in just one of these areas. When you find a professor who is passionate about science & teaching...it is magical! In theory it is a great strategy, but in practice it is rare that a true synergy materializes. 3000 words...with references. FUN!

In addition to writing my paper, I'm packing up my room. I move out November 30 and will temporarily live with my little Brazilian sister until I head to SUNNY Colorado. Honestly, I am so excited to come home and experience SUN! The weather here has been something to desire, daylight starts at 9 a.m. and then you get this grey overcast rain cloud for 6 hours and 45 minutes and before you know it daylight ends at 3:20 p.m. You don't realize how lucky we are in SUNNY Colorado until you live in Northern Europe in the winter. But hey, now I can say I have experienced affective seasonal disorder, yippee!


Photos: A family of swans in Gronland, Norway...not afraid to take your finger with the bread.