Christmas is all around us...

So..we had a great Christmas dinner with my coworkers. It was at the nice place with some great traditional Icelandic/Scandinavian Christmas food. Here are some pictures, so , here it goes:

First, is the picture of myself...the beautiful Marina :)



Here is the picture of all our staff...we are very few, only 7 people at the moment, 3 of us were working for the company more than 7 years already...such a long time...



This is just a picture of Helga, myself and Magnús.

And here is a great picture of the food...

It is the second hot/cold appetizers course. Includes nicely baked beef tongue, reindeer pate, chicken salad, swedish meatballs, beef carpaccio, pork and smoked lamb.


And then - here is the picture of the main hot course.
It included - turkey, salted baked cod, baked pork with the glaze, and beef. Plus some gratin potato, red cabbage and salad.
And then was some dessert but I was too full and almost was not able to move any more... :) So, it was a great dinner party, put me in a very nice holiday spirit.

Month of December

So..as I promised..I am making a new post each month! Wow...such an achievement...

Anyways...December is here, snow has arrived to Iceland and the cold weather as well...So..real Christmas weather outside, makes you not want to go outside but sit home in front of the computer and waste the time on Facebook.com...And I was doing it for some time now :) Not too proud of myself.

A year is almost over..time flies so fast...And there are still so many things to do before Christmas - finish buying all those gifts, sending the cards...But it only makes things better - I already baked some cookies - called "the mother's cookies" and a great thing is that I am a mother now, so it really suits me!!!!

So..next to another post..this one is finished. new topic new post :)

The 4 things

4 Random Things About Me:

1. I was born in the country that doesn’t exist any more– Soviet Union.
2. Lived, studied and worked in the United States for 5 years.
3. Took driving tests and exams and - passed in three countries - Russia, the USA and Iceland.
4. Had a 12-hour stay on the nice island of Cyprus.

4 Guilty Pleasures:

1. Chocolate fountain!
2. Swiss chocolate.
3. Hot Icelandic drinking chocolate.
4. Grilled Icelandic lamb.

4 Things I Am Drawn To Buy Even When I Don't Need Them:

1. Nice boots/shoes for myself
2. All types of clothes for my girl :)
3. Clothes for myself
4. Accessories.

4 Challenges I Face On A Daily/ Weekly Basis:

1. Patience with the little child and the big one called my man.
2. Keeping up my friends' busy lives.
3. Keeping up with house cleaning.
4. Not knowing what to cook for the little child and the big one as well :).

4 Books That Have Helped/Inspired Me This Year:

1. Harry Potter 1
2. Harry Potter 2
3. Harry Potter 3
4. and so on…all seven of them.
   Ok, it was not that inspiring maybe, but I was quite impressed and entertained.

A girl is 17 months old...

So, time is flying..people are being born, some are getting older....There is this woman in the west part of Iceland that just turned 100 years old...she had a friend visiting her who is 104 years old..man..some people are living it all....

Anyways, our girl just turned 17 months 2 days ago...I bet the time will go fast and soon she will be 17 years old :) We are very proud of her...

Here are some new pictures, taking just this last weekend. She is wearing a Russian costume that her grandma brought from Russia.:

SO, next month she will be already 1,5 years old..wow..and it will be Christmas too...looking forward to some nice meal sharing and celebrations...

Iceland in crisis

Just a little update to the world - we are still surviving...

Nowadays..it's all about the financial crisis...In Russia, in the US, and of course, in the little country of Iceland.

It is weird how bad news always travel the fastest...I have friends from all over the world, from some far away places like Kamchatka :) asking me if I am planning to leave Iceland, since the situation is not good any more...

But luckily, I am taking it well and try to not take it too closely. We are surviving, we did not have any shares in those banks that almost went bankrupt...I do though have a savings pension fund there but it is insured by the government, so no big worries...

The only big problem is that if someone wants to take some currency out of the bank, US dollars or Euros, it is not possible at the moment...banks just don't have it....

Of course, I could never have imagined that after surviving the crisis in Soviet Union, and then Russia...I would witness something similar...well....Economy is bringing us some unpleasant surprises...

Some people say that it might get worse, so we just wait and see....meanwhile, we will try to live and be happy with only just what we have at the moment.

An update of a girl's well being

Time is flying fast as always and our girl will be 15 months in 2 days and her Mom will be 34 years old after 4 days....Wow...life is taking it's turn....

So, the girl is walking, running, not jumping yet though :), dancing, singing, playing piano in her own way and talking her own way too...plus some words in Icelandic, very few though yet.

While I am typing on the computer and listening to the Icelandic singer Bubbi, she is hanging around me, checking the cables:

Her teeth are coming out all the time almost now, with some small intervals. She had some bad days, when 4 teeth were coming out at the same time...it was not a fun time. Now it is all right for a moment.

The other day we had bought her some cool winter boots. All children clothes here in Iceland are so outrageously expensive and the boots were not exception either.

So, here is the picture of the cool expensive boots:

While I was taking a picture of her boots, she was happy that she could sneak out and take something while I was not watching her, so she stole a mouse pad and was eating it:

I speak Russian to her and she understands everything, and when Raggi asks her the same things in Icelandic, she understand them too..it is amazing...

So...from now on I will try to update the blog at least once a week and see how it goes:)

Vacation is over

So, our vacation has finished for a moment...we will have some more of course...at least a Christmas one...will be coming soon...hehe

So, time on Crete was great. WE enjoyed it, the girl took some time to adopt to a rather high temperature but then it was fine. We swam in the sea, sunbathed and ate lots of fruits...so, Marina's program for the vacation was fulfilled :)

Here are some cute pictures of us...

Tamara Lind's posing for Daddy:

An evening in Xania:

So..for now, we are enjoying the time in Iceland, our home and looking forward to a new vacation...thought have not decided yet where :)

Vacation is here

So, finally the days for my vacation arrive..I am on my holidays now....

And tomorrow, we will be flying to Crete, the beautiful Greek island. So, lots of packing today and thinking and planning. We will spend there two weeks without any computers or Internet connection...I feel so free already...no Facebook for awhile :)

Here are some latest photos of the girl and her cute mother....

So, enjoy the summer while it is here...

A record temperature for Iceland

We are having an amazingly great weather in Iceland.....indeed globalization can be good!

I have changed the main picture - so people can see the human-made beach in the city of Reykjavik...it was +26 degrees....water was about 15...but still, people were swimming...it was great indeed...lots of fun.

So, it looked like the entire Reykjavik was on the beach....

It was a great day to prepare ourselves for the weather on Crete :)

Girl is 13 months already

Wow...time flies fast...

I have not been updating yet.....I mean, I am on the Internet every day for hours...but not on the blog..Facebook is really eddicting..That is where I spend my time..But fun to read other people blogs....

Anyways...girl is growing...so cute..Always enjoying meeting new people, especially women...Men are not her favorite yet :)

here is the latest picture of her..in a cute dress...

can't wait until we are going on vacation...will get some sun and the beach with great sand...counting the days...here we go.....

Girl's walking

So, in less than two weeks our girl is turning 1 year old..Unbelievable...how fast the time is flying...Mommy is trying to prepare the party, guest list, etc. Fun fun....lots to do for a mother as always.

Our girl has started to walk, more and more..she started standing first when she was about 10 months, first steps came when she was 11 months and now, she is walking better and better.

It is so much joy to see her walk, move those cute legs of hers...

She is quite a character, always knows what she wants and gets it...otherwise...beware :)

Trip to Blue Lagoon

So,
Finally...yesterday we had a chance to enjoy once again one of the prettiest and fun place in Iceland, the Blue Lagoon.
Last year, Raggi has won a gift certificate for the restaurant in the Blue Lagoon, so we finally decided to use it. Our girl is still too small to enjoy the Blue Lagoon but is big enough to stay with the trusted babysitter, so we were lucky and used the time to have some "couple time".

It was not a great outdoor day but still, was good to go away for a while and do something different...So, here are some photos...

Then, after we were done bathing there, we went to a restaurant to enjoy the wonderful meal.

The background looks cool - almost like the snow...but it is actully water and part of the Blue Lagoon itself...It was a little bit foggy and rainy.

Here is one of the latest picture of our girl who is exactly 11 months old today. She did three steps on her own yesterday, a miracle...great...she will be running soon...

Singing with Vladimir Milller

So..last Sunday on May 11th, I had a great experience of singing the Liturgy church service with one of the great professional Russian singers - Vladimir Miller, you can find all the info about him here.

He came to Iceland to sing with the Icelandic choir, he wanted to check out the service in our church, so I picked him up and we went to the service. I was hoping that there would be more people from our choir "Manasija" (Choir Manasjia) but unfortunately only one person showed up later during the service...

So, it was Vladimir and I singing, I was singing alto voice and he was singing basso profondo...it was fun, as he described it later to me :). I was a little bit nervous while singing but then it was a great experience for me as well. He was surprised to meet so many Russian people here and was happy to have a chance to participate in the Russian church service.

Russian Easter

So, this last Sunday as you know it..was a Russian Easter...
I did not go the the service since usually - it starts at 23.59 and goes on for 2-3 hours until 3 in the morning...Since we now have a little girl, so it is a good excuse to stay at home :)

But, I did manage to paint some eggs on Saturday and take them to the church for a special ceremony to make them holly...Though nobody wanted to eat the eggs afterwards except myself :)

Here is a picture that was taken by a reporter from a local newspaper...I am the second person from the right..

People at work all recongnized me and were happy to see me there I guess.

So..Easter season for us is over and the choir season is over for some time...we were lucky that we did not sing for the Easter service this year, there was another choir from Moscow...But we did sing for a Palm Sunday and it was very nice.

Jón Aron's Confirmation

So..here in Iceland, all the kids are baptized when they are babies...then comes the time, when they are 14 years old - then can choose to have a confirmation of their faith...Some kids do it, some don't and there is even an option to have some kind of confirmation but not a religious one...

Anyways, Raggi's son, Jón Aron, has turned 14 on April 7th and he wanted to have a confirmation. He had to take a special course at his local church for that...Raggi and Jón's Mom planned and organized the big celebration. Usually, the whole family, relatives and friends are invited...Mostly people give money instead of presents or open some saving account for the kid...Jón's party had about 90 guests...It was great...

There were some other kids that had confirmation that day - total 3 boys and 3 girls, so some images from the church:

I was not at the ceremony myself, so I can only guess how it goes...Here we can see Jón's parents on his sides - I guess the family participates as well...
It was a first summer day, some small church in the little town on the East...

And here is another photo - you can see the church and the priest (not sure how they call them at Lutheran churches...)

So.

Then, Last Sunday, we went to another confirmation (ferming - in Icelandic) to Jón's cousin. It was great too..but not a religious one...But we didn't go to the ceremony but enjoyed the great party and the food.

A ten-month old anniversary!

So..the day has arrived..our girl is 10 months old...Just only after 2 more months we will be celebrating a big 1-year old birthday...
This is how she looks when she is sleeping: very cute:



Then, when she is awake, she is looking pretty cute too...playing with the tape :)
She is taking that task very seriously...

Then, the most recent picture that was taken today - I tried to make her stand up but she was so involved in trying to get some cable out of the computer...

So, then finally she just sat down a little bit and I managed to take a better picture...But there is something wrong with the server at the moment so I cannot upload it..just be patient and I will set it later tonight I hope...

Weekend

So..last weekend we had a nice sunny weather...almost the Spring weather....

We have decided to go for a nice walk on our Icelandic beach in the city of Reykjavik - Nautholsvik. It was great....We walked, enjoyed the view of the waterfront and hoped for the warmer weather so we can go swimming there in the hot pot. There is a special hot pot, where people can swim a little. It is possible to find some info here for people who are interested.. I personally have not tried it yet, but plan to this coming summer with my young family.

On Sunday, we had a small celebration for Jon Aron, Raggi's son - his birthday is today, on Monday, April the 7th...So, everybody went to the movies and then I joined them at Pizza Hut while Tamara Lind was at her granny's.

So, it was a nice family relaxing weekend....

New Internet Obsession, girl's standing, 8th of March...

Well..
I have not been updating my blog lately since I got into a rather new social network for me, the FACEBOOK....yes, I have finally discovered it and am now spending a lot of time there...

First, I was just into the Russian social network - which is a complete copycat of Facebook, but the Russian version - Вконтакте (Vkontakte)....So, I joined in but was rather passive..Then I decided to try FACEBOOK...and let me tell you..it is much better than the Russian version....Well, as they say, the original is always much better....

So..of course, I am trying to compete and see how many friends I can get..but I am in the low profile...Some of my friends already hit the limit of 100 friends....!!! So. there is always room for improvement...

Some other great news...
Our girl has started to stand up...She is using everything which can be used to support herself while standing up..And from that position she can sit herself down..it is so cute and so great...I am proud of her!

We have got a new nanny, she takes care of our girl for the first half of the day...A Russian woman (well, actually, she is from Moldova) of a grandmother's age, but looks like maybe she is 60...But she is very good and our girl seems to enjoy her company...So, we are very lucky to find that nanny and lucky that our girl likes her as well....

So...Easter is coming...but first, as always - the International Woman's Day...The 8th of March...

So...Happy Holidays and a great beginning of a SPRING!!!!!

Just another Sunday

Just another day in Iceland wonderland....

Here in Iceland, if people have nothing to talk about, they usually talk about weather...
So, I have really nothing to say today but did feel like I should update and write something, so I will write about the weather and then maybe my thoughts will form in my head for writing something more fun....

Lately we have had some real winter weather....it was cold, -12 C..... But now it warmed up a little bit...But they promise lots of snow again starting next week...So, lots of snow means that when I go out of the house to my car and drive to work, I first has to clean the car, defreeze the windows and be cold...Ahhh...so tired of it at this point and not looking forward to snow.....

But, it is February already and then March - the Easter holidays...yeah..and then close to summer....So....I hope that since the winter is snowy and cold, then summer will be dry and hot :)

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

SO...
The day that I have been waiting for has arrived and gone already and I have not written about it yet..so..better do it now...

Christmas celebration...I was very excited and happy to celebrate this time of the year - for the first time with our daughter....
It was nice and cheerful, we dressed her in a cute outfit that Daddy got her in Denmark...

We had a dinner on Christmas Eve with my side of the family, so went to my Mom's house in the evening.

Then opened the presents. Most of the presents were given to Tamara Lind, of course....And the lucky mother got to open them all :)

I was lucky as well and got some nice gifts...

Next day - we went for a dinner again and had some more extended family quality time. Tomusik (this is how I call her in Russian) had fun and enjoyed spending time with her aunts and uncles...

But first she enjoyed the nap time sleeping outside in a normal Icelandic weather:


So..
Hope that all of you had a great Christmas and are looking forward to summer now...We are!