While cooking dinner

 I like to listen to books on tape cd, we don't have a tape recorder, and I always cook after a recipe. A few times I have made good dinners with out one, but they are far and few in between. Tonight I am making Chicken from good old Martha:

and I am listening to:

And today I looked like this:

The Sun was so bright I couldn't keep my eyes open.

Tonight this lovely couple is going to join us for dinner and movie. A well needed middle of the week brake:

Coffee at 8?

 It's not late but I can't stop yawning! I'm not sure why I'm so tired, perhaps it has to do with a late night in the city last night or the fact that Ethan chatted my ear off with some great ideas for our blog. I shouldn't be because the late night was only until 12, the Ethan chatter is rather normal and work wasn't more than what it usually is. Perhaps it has to do with us always working evenings. I just made coffee and with it I am hoping to lure Ch to the couch for some conversation and coziness. Shall see if it works. I love the fact that I am always excited to just sit and talk with Ch, it is I suppose how our relationship started. We use to talk for hours about everything from French(he use to correct mine) to Root beer(I tried to get him to like it) to Traveling(We both still love to travel) to God(We both still love talking about what God is teaching us)
 I am so blessed.

After Saturday comes Sunday

A weekend of cleaning which was highly needed and rather fun. Christofer mostly played around with his cables, but he did vacuum and helped with dinner. He asked me later if he was the exception to the rule, he said that perhaps he should adapt more to American culture and not help out as much, you can imagine what I thought of that. He always tells me that he married me because he didn't want a Swedish girl who was so focused on being independent and rebellious, it was my chance to say I married him because I didn't want to marry an American boy who was so focused on himself and demanding his wife to wait on him hand and foot.  We ended the discussion with the fact that we really are perfect for one another ♥

 Sunday, so far we've went to Church, talked, ate the Chili I made yesterday that is wayy too hot, I didn't think one extra green chili would make that big of a difference, I was wrong. We took a long walk with Adam and Lindsey, went to Philz, yum, and are about to order pizza and watch a movie.

 Over all a perfect weekend. Except for the fact that I missed my sisters baby shower, can't wait to meet my little nephew!

 Thank you Lord that I can dwell in your shelter and your blessings.

/Eliza

Little brother

 This whole week Ethan and I have been discussing our promo video. We've watched a ton of them and decided we need something new and fun, which means we need money, but that will soon be remedy. My by far favorite promo video is:  Path, they truly capture the loveliest moments and pull on, for me at least, heart strings. Since I don't have an iPhone I can't try them out, but people have been bitterly disappointed since it is for private use and not social, meaning you can't post to Facebook and Twitter, but they brought in a hack of a lot of money and compared to instagr.am they are a lot prettier so perhaps they'll win over the  crowds in the end. We shall see.

 Besides working we haven't done much more so Ethan and I have gone a little crazy. We started talking about his acceptance speech while making dinner, if he would win the Tour (For those of you who don't hang out or are not cyclist, the tour is their pet name for Tour De France)

 Anyway, I told him he would have to thank Ch and I, and he started practicing his speech. I bet you can guess what he said :

 "I would like to thank E...Ethan for encouraging me and to c...can't leave out myself again for pushing me, and last but not least m..myself for always being there for me."

 Sometimes having Ethan leaving with us can be a pain, but it's mostly just a lot of fun. I love my little brother.

Tuesday

 Our neighbor is practicing his piano, he's actually an amazing pianist and who seems to favor Mozart above the rest, so while Mozart dances through the house, Ethan is cycling in the garage, Christofer is working and I am watching Så Ska Det Låta while writing down ideas for our Zerply blog, oh and chatting with Lindsey on gchat ♥

 It's been a quiet day. Ch and E were at meetings, I worked on some important and some not so important Zerply stuff, and we ended the day with Crossfit.

 A few pics:

Spring!

playing around with colors

cookies 

cookies and work 

 Despite the crazy, crazy rain which knocked down a tree and filled our windows with water, we had a really great weekend. Nothing much to do except spending time together, eating good food and enjoying good company. Adam and Lindsey had us over for dinner on Saturday and Ethan brought Bec, the Australian cyclist whom happened to beat us all in Settlers. We watched 'The Fighter' ate pizza and brownies while wookiee, A and L's dog, lay lazily and comfortable on our laps.

 Sunday we woke up late for Church but we were still able to make it semi in time.We spent the afternoon sleeping and talking, Ethan biked, Christofer made Flygande Jakob, so good and fattening, I made peanut butter cookies, the rest of the evening was devoted to tea, cookies, and reading.

 I finished svinlängor, a book from my sister-in-laws, depressing and frustrating but also very eye opening. It told the tale of a young Finish girl who grew up in Sweden in a complex called Svinlängor, the neighborhood consisted of mostly foreigners who were always poor and often drunk. Her Father and Mother went from partying sometimes, to always partying, to completely forgetting about their children and falling deeper and deeper into drinking and drugs. It was fascinating to hear it from a child's perspective and heartbreaking to hear the pain and shame she felt on a daily bases, not only for herself but for her two siblings and pets. It was not what I would call a redemptive book, but more of a reflective book and a tale of real situations. So many children have parents who drink until they are drunk, weekend after weekend, it's an unacceptable no child should have to suffer because their parents are 'having a bit of fun.' Unfortunately our World encourages parents to put themselves first and as the movies lean more and more towards 'having a bit of fun' even if it's illegal fun (terrible movie not worth your time) it's no wonder families are so dysfunctional, it's awful and we are in need of a change. Families need to re-gain security, trust and love and we need God's help.

 It's a late night.

Off to bed.

/E

It's raining men..

 Not really, but the rain has continued through the night and now into the afternoon. They predict rain all week. I don't really mind we've had more than our fair share of sunshine and warmth. The fog is thick today, the clouds hang below the mountains which makes us feel like we are caught in a endlessly grey mass.

 Now, we are off to do shopping, Ethan needs clothes desperately, and I need jeans. I'm not sure how much shopping you can actually do with Ethan, but at least we can get some coffee :)

 Until later

/E

Oh Auntie Em, Oh Auntie Em...

 It's calm now, but about 20mins from us this afternoon a tornado touched down on the ocean, water spout, is what it's called, here is a short clip. I was home alone and the wind was so fierce, it felt like the windows where going to blow in, but all is safe and sound again.

  I've been listening to 'If you love me really love me.' by Esther Phillips (YouTube seems to only have the Brenda Lee version available, if you have Spotify look up Esther Phillips version, it's much better.) while finishing up the day of office work, I've been semi productive and I am really looking forward to a weekend of bliss, or at least a cosy Friday evening.

 I also read some updates on what's happening in the Senate, you've probably heard the uproars throughout the internet, the Republicans are trying to vote out funding for Plan Parenthood. The stories I've been reading really do point to them abusing their power, forcing abortions and aiding sex trafficking. I must admit I haven't read too much of the other side and I hope to during the weekend, but any organization that recommends abortion above anything else, should be shut down. 

 Off to make dinner.

 Until next time

/Eliza

Saint Patricks Day and more.

 Christofer and Ethan have two big meetings today, Christofer just came home from one and now they are off to the city. I'm praying for them! So nerve raking, but I am sure they will do fine.

  It's a cold day in Mountain View, the sun is shining but I'm wrapped in a blanket while I answer e-mails and think of my next blog post. Yesterday I blogged about Zerply's infographic and so many people responded with wanting their country on the graph, so funny how people care so much. It, of course makes me happy, but I hope they remember to give to Japan, that was one of the reasons we posted it. This one in fact made me laugh:

  We didn't intentionally leave out Ireland, it's just we don't have that many users there. Ahh, I suppose Luke will have to fix it. Despite being only 0.6% Irish I still feel a kindred soul with the Irish. I've always liked Ireland and two years ago when Christofer and I spent two weeks there I really feel in love with Ireland. My mom use to always celebrate Saint Patty's Day with corn beef and cabbage, I suppose I shall have to continue the tradition.

 Saint Patrick was an amazing man, if you don't know the whole story I recommend reading it. It's so encouraging.


 Some of my favorite pictures from our trip:

Temperamental day

A temperamental day that went along with the temperamental weather. It was cloudy then sunny, cold then hot, hot and raining, cold and clear...a bipolar day. It was also a bit of a bipolar day for me as well. I woke up later than I wanted to, didn't get everything done that I wanted to, and had a bit of tiff with Ch. Right now I just helped Ch finish a sentence he's been staring at for almost two hours. He's such a dedicated worker, but I keep trying to tell him that things will make more sense and click better if he steps away from it. I have availed nothing. I asked him to take a few hours off tonight. It's 10pm and he isn't nearly done. Perhaps I should be more supportive. Perhaps not. He did help me send the taxes and we grabbed coffee on our way back, but still... I guess I just want more time with him. He doesn't understand and probably never will.

 On a different note I've been thinking a lot about Japan. How devastating it is to see millions without homes, food, or proper clothing. I can't begin to imagine how they are suffering. Many people on twitter are designing posters and adding red cross buttons to their sites. One of my favorites was by signalnoise.com, unfortunately all the posters are sold out, but you can always donate to the red cross. I highly recommend it, even if it's only a few dollars.

Poster from signal noise 

A beautiful thought

I am waiting for Christofer to come to bed. It's 11:30 and he is still working. It's not that I mind, well I do a little, but I can't really sleep either. I was trying to get caught up on my blog reading. I follow too many blogs and I don't read them as often as I should, but when I came across this absolutely breathtaking picture. I couldn't help but post it. It's from Lindas blogbok, she posts such lovely pictures, this is such a creative, beautiful idea:

Translation: 'Indeed, it does hurt when buds burst' 

Swoosh...

The weekend went by like a plane on steroids, dragging us after it so fast that I woke up today thinking it must be Sunday, but it wasn't Sunday it was Monday and I am glad to admit that we got a lot of things accomplished. Though the boys, Christofer and Ethan, are still working and I'll join them after I finish my blog post. I think it's important, at least for me, to take time to stop working and do something that I enjoy. Like writing, not that I don't get to write working for Zerply, indeed I write often, which is why I love working on a start-up, but it's more the fact of taking time away from the rest of the internet, it can otherwise be all consuming. Our work is never quite done and probably won't be for a few more years. I also have a tendency to check Facebook, Twitter, and blog posts a little too often. It is a part of my job, but I should be better at spacing out my time.

 Right now I am drinking tea from my sister-in-laws, Swedish tea, and listening to a worship band that we had the pleasure of hearing live yesterday evening. It's easy to forget that I no longer live in a tiny town and that local bands can be better than the average band. I had very low standards, but I was very happy to find that they were incredibly talented and entertaining. Highway band created a collect of hymns old and new that they had made it into a album. It was such a wonderful atmosphere at a wonderful coffe house called RedRock with dear friends Lindsey and Claudia plus husbands Adam and Jesse, which, of course, made for a grand night!

Smart phones galore!

Lead singer

The magazine was about LOST, which she loves

Take one

Take 2 Lindsey putting on her gangsta move

Christofer and I then walked home, since Ethan was still at his race. It rained on us, but the California rain is often so warm that we didn't really mind at all. I know I am constantly talking about the amazing Cali weather and flowers, and perhaps I should be less enthusiastic, but I figure I might as well enjoy it while it lastest, besides it's my first winter in warm climate. I promise to be better next year =)

 Goodness, it's already 10 pm. I might just head for bed instead.

Godnatt!

Two bikes and a Sunny day

Just another Saturday

Ethan took the car to a weekend race, so Christofer and I are left with our bikes, well Christofer bike and a bike borrowed from Lindsey Winn, my dear friend and recent neighbor! WOOT!

 It's a sunny, sunny day in CA and since I'm sitting in our backyard sweating, I must say that Summer has arrived. The bees are humming, the sun is blistering, and lilacs are blooming. I know I talk incessantly about blooms, but I just can't get over it! Yesterday I ran into town, well ran three quarters of the way, to meet Christofer for Coffee and the lilacs, magnolias, apple trees and cherry blossoms enraptured me. I am so amazed by Californias beauty, it never ceases to astound me. Christofer just came out  and we are going to read the Bible together and then take a bike ride to Philz, the World's best coffee shop. I shall post some pictures later.

I love Saturdays.

Lots of work and so little time

 Zerply is growing and when Zerply grows so does our work load. My dear husband has been getting up bright and early and going to bed dark and late. He is all stressed out, not good, but he seems to strive on stress and I've never seen him happier. I, however, am not sure where to turn. One day I was complaining because I felt like I wasn't doing anything and now there isn't enough hours in the day. Yesterday we went to a meetup through udemy, an extremely smart startup that lets you build your own courses. The topic was how to utilize social marketing. Oh my goodness, little did I know so much effort and skill went into me clicking on certain adds or responding to different articles. One of the speakers was from I site I've grown to love mint, they make personal finance cool. He talked about how much effort went into their blog. How they targeted those who started reading the blog and what they liked. They tried a bunch of different tactics, funny stories, interesting topics. They wrote infographics and then sent them out to The Wall Street Journal, Cnn ect. Mint went viral in a  matter of months. So fascinating.

 Well, it's late and I should be heading to bed. No more internets for me...at least not until 8 hours =)

Adjustment Bureau

 Today we went and saw 'Adjustment Bureau,' I have to say I was bitterly disappointed. The tabloids shouted 'Bourne meets Inception' and the trailer represented a fast pace, heart racer, love story. The movie was far from fast pace and the love story was a water downed version of what sacrificial love actually is. They never really had the chance to get to know one another because the 'men in hats' kept them apart and the fact that she trusted his hysterical declaration of love and excuses makes you wonder if she was perhaps a little insane. The ending left you feeling like you had missed something. Though I think all and all it had to do with the fact that I had too high of expectations...

Today...

I did Yogalates. Pilates and Yoga mixed into one. Ethan and I came in late, not able to find a place to park, and entered into a crowded room with everyone already in the downward facing dog postion, to make matters worse I didn't have a mat with me and had to go borrow one at the front desk. By time I came back they had already started a new positioning, I quickly jumped in acting like I knew what I was doing. I inhaled and exhaled loudly, just as any expert yoga/pilates person would, but I think my silent neighbors quickly realized I had no idea what the heck I was doing or should be doing. I couldn't help but laugh several times as our instructor kept telling us to deepen the stretch or what the postion should look like. In other words, I wasn't even close. I did, however, manage to act like I knew a litte and received quite a workout, the only complete fail was the Bakasana pose. I fell smack down on my face onto the hard wooden floor and my yoga companions didn't even bat an eyelash, I suppose they were too busy in the moment. Yoga people are extremely stuck up, Ethan claims they are merely focused. I don't really believe him. Ethan is, however, quite good at Yoga, way better than I. Yet despite the picture perfect Californian yoga doing peeps,  it is a nice way to stretch and get a hard work out at in at the same time, also with the twist of Pilates in the mixture, no talk of sun gods or meditation was mentioned! Joy! May my Yogalates days begin!

from socialearth.com

Musing

 I tried signing up for tumblr since it is obviously where all the cool people have blogs, it is really cool. Yet, it's a little too cool, which means the site is down a lot of the time. I finally made the decision to just go ahead and switch my blog and then I couldn't register. The green monsters came out and warned me that they were busy working, I love those little green monsters, such a brilliant idea by the oatmeal. Yet, still very annoying. I suppose I shall have to stick with good old blogger for the time being. Did you know the story of blogger is rather interesting, before the owner sold it to google, the company was in dire need, they had to lay off employees. Evan Williams, one of the founders of blogger and of Twitter ;) stayed on and took a dramatic cut in pay in order to keep it afloat. Rather amazing to think how far he has come since then, and he isn't very old. Fascinating. Startup stories really are so inspiring. A recent site we are using for Zerply called uservoice, the two founders lived in a car out her in San Fran before they were able to get it up and running. I am grateful that I get to spend my days reading great stories and being a part of a product that I believe some day will be very successful. I of course struggle with feeling inadequate and wishing I had more skills to bring to the table, but when I take my eyes off myself, I am amazed on how far Christofer and Taaniel have come. From a dream that started in Taaniel little room in Tallinn Estonia, to a site that is now up and running and has reached many users, almost 4 full time employees and soon to open an Office in Prague! It's mind blowing and the most wonderful part of it is so many people love the site. I had a rather upset e-mail from a user that was logged out after only a short time during the sign up, Zerply has been acting strange sometimes. I felt really bad, but there isn't much we can do about it. I told him I was sorry and that we would do all in our power to re-create the problem in order to fix it. I think he felt guilty because he then wrote back that he had just had a really terrible day and took the frustration out in the e-mail. I told him I was sorry for his bad day and I really hoped the next day would be filled with all good things. He then wrote that he was so AMAZED to find a PR person that took time to actually care and that he supported any product that took good care of their users. He said I should write to my boss and tell him that he was very impressed, I sent the e-mail to the guys :) I really love being able to connect with people, give an encouraging word, make someone laugh even though they are strangers. The internet is an amazing tool.

Photo of the day: Me clueless at work, graced by the Californian sun.