In Norrland

So we all got here, Husse, Enoc, Jazz, Hell, Becky, Sarra, Cheryl and me.. by the fire waitign for the sun to never set.

Going North.... for MIDSUMMER

And Husse told me the theme for Midsummer is beach... I am ready... 

So it's how it always is... I am terrible at planning for the actual Midsummer: because I'm never home for it! I really am not! Last year I was coaching a bootcamp in Germany, and the year before that, I was in Phill, skating at the EastCoast Extravaganza with Gotham (my first bouts with the Allstars).
And the year before that... hm... EastCoastExtraVaganza with Rat City... yeah... I live a rought life... So rollerderby has really gotten in the way of celebrating midsummer... but this year... we will be REAL Swedes... and sicne I been a little distracted by different reasons... I totally did a terrible job of packing... I did remember outdoor wheels for Husses girlfriend - and she's bringing me a DRESS for midsummer and a bikini for whenever...
I guess things will sort themselves out... I might need this break from Stockholm! We'll see how it all goes...

The derby hair in STRD

Becky and Only has it...

Lonni is a hipster and keep it short on one side

You cannot deny Ice going all the way

But to be fair - Jazz really is the all that

And Husse for sure does it...

They all do it... shave a side, two sides, half a side... something is at least shaved... and they play derby... I really tried to find photos of the ladies in the full hair glory - but apperently shaving your hair also entails wearing something on the head... bummer...

And everyone are for sure not pictured... I just got to lazy to find pictres... but also Saliva, Amy, Red, Ryssen and probably someone else that I have missed has it too... and I see more of them in the future... summer and shaving is easy...

Not to miss that our referee has joined forces...

Back in Stockholm with fancy beer

Sun is also comming out in Stockholm - so after-work was spent in the sun with a beer, Jazz, Husse and Enoc and when the sun settled we all headed to Monks House of Porter to drink some really amazing beer. Me and Jazz shared 50 cm of dark beers, and it left both of us relly excited and satisfied but still urging for more. I am so happy that Jazz and Husse are my friends, sometimes it feel like we don't get enought time to hang out - even if we do see each other at practice twice a week!

For you who do not know me, I'm sort of a beersnob - I love beer, but I'm more or less specific about what beers I drink. I want them to have lots and lots of taste - and most of the time I'm all about the porters and the stouts - I don't really like IPA's, but that doesn't mean I exclude any beer without trying it.... and on a VERY hot summerday I will drink PBR or any other shitty beer if I get offered...

Later on a whole bunch of beerthirsty Stockholm Rollerderby girls showed up, had a beer and then all wanted to head to Roxy to win some bet about picking up the most phonenumbers... in the end of the night I ended up at the derby collective eating popcorn and cake since it was Becky's birthday...

Today we are gonna go see Royals scrimmage - it's not a bout it's a scrimmage... i don't know why, but I am really curious to see a public scrimmage with them. Royals is the other leauge of Stockholm that was founded about 9 month ago... 

The derby non-derby life and food

So yesterday me and loony went over to Jazz and Toxic place to have dinner with Hell, Husse and Husses girlfriend Enoc. I have been friends with Husse and Jazz waaaay before derby, and I really enjoy to hang out with both of them outside of skating. One of our freshies came by later in the evening and was really supriesed that me and Husse have known each other for over 13 years...
Jazz is totally amazing at cooking, she made us all halloumi burgers, with homemade salsa and guacamole. Jazz is what we like to call a ''kocksvin'' and very particular about cooking, and I'm NOT gonna complain, because everytime we go over for dinner, we leave happy.

I do love cooking, but my foods are more comfortfoods, soups and stews, me and Loony have started to to start to pack lunch bags for work too. Every week we get a box of ecological produce delivered to our appartment - and it tends to last us all week... it is aaaamazing!

New Years in Dalarna 2011/2012

Me and Loony partner skating

Me, Loony and five of our close friends (Husse, Jazz, Enoc, Amy and Only) went to Sågmyra, where my mother grew up, and celebrated New Years in my grandparents old house. It totally became another lesbian boot-camp - but this year we had no straight friend to harass... we missed Sarra and Kris from previous year!
We downloaded the 'Truth or Dare' app and went skiiing, snowboarding, ice-skating, cooked, chatted and just spent time together.
We were a little nervous there would be no snow there, and it was not as much snow as last year, but it was better than none at all, as it is in Stockholm right now.

Loony doing piruettes in the sunset

It got colder during the days we were there, and we even dared to skate on one of the local lakes (totally freaked me out for a bit) and we went for an amazingly beutiful walk in the sunset (sun sets arond 16.00).
We are currently trying to talk Enoc into starting derby, she is tall and blonde, so we think she might fit really well for the task...
A new addition to this years celebrating was putting make-up on each other, while the person putting the make up on was blindfolded... Oh, yeah - and a sauna... and a sauna and snow can never go wrong!

Jazz cooked us an AMAZING New Years dinner... it was nice and tasted amazzzing! 

Jazz going for the best make-up job on me ever

Happy New 2012 to all of you! 

Mixed practice and life in general...

Me and Jazz stopping to shop on the way from practice

Stress, stress, stress... but except the stress everything is fine... I try to battle it out with Bank of America - it is not the easiest from Sweden, I am also still trying to figure out what is appropirate to wear to office. Work-out clothes are not, dark jeans with a button down V-neck is. I am wearing heels, making me taller than most people - except from my brother and father that I happen to work with.
I am considering getting my brother into reffing, I think he would have fun reffing, I would just have to find skates in boat-size (a 14 or something).

Yesterday we had practice in Subtopia, that is a hangar that usually has circus preformances, it was my first time there. It is really big, but it has pillars in unfortunate places. But as I have gotten used to saying here in Stockholm - beggers can't be choosers...

Yesterday me and Loony led practice - I was superstressed when I got there - but after the first 15 minutes it felt much better. It was a mixed practice - so we had both our girls that haven't passed minimum skills togehter with our advanced skaters. It was the first time we did this, and it went very well, we focused on strides, crossovers, form, stops and did some small falling and skating close to each other. It is one of my pet-peeves, that girls have to learn to skate close to each otehr and NOT grab anyone when they fall. We all like our own personal space - but as a derbyplayer - there is not such a thing. And you cannot be scared of falling - that is why we wear all those pads!

When I get back from Toronto - it will be time for our fresh meat to pass their WFTDA minimum skills... oh and on the subject of Toronto I got nominated butchest of Team Sweden in this one blog...

Rollergirls in the Nature

Exploring the world without the skates.... Me, Krazy Kris, Jazz Ass and Malooney went on an adventure in the nature.... We almost got eaten by a sheep and we fed a horse som grass, and some mosquitos totally fed on us... we felt VERY accomplished...

The sauna re-visited

Two Danes and parts of Team Sweden

So yesterday was my annual Midsummer non Midsummer party - and as it always tend to happen, everyone ended up in the sauna with beer, rosé, gin&tonic and me and my wineschorle... the up and downs of the drunk... we had a beer relay where Jazz crashed into the grass and we did semi-nude jumping into the lake... Krazy Kris and Enoc were our play-leaders and made us play merrily in the sun... we even had a game of soccer going for a while...

For some reason I volonteered to get all the meat for the the party, I don't think why I thought I was qualified to do that, considering I was vegetarian for 10 years and Loony still is... so we walked around the supermarket aimlessly and just picked up some random meat... and of course I ended up being the BBQ girl too... yeah... I don't know why people want to get food poison so badly that they let me be in charge of those things...

Chillin in Stockholm

So one day we spent in Malmö, before we headed up to Stockholm (that is a seven hour drive) to see friends and family, but also to host the annual ''non-Midsummer but Midsummer party''. So yesterday night was chill, since the party is tonight, so we just hung out at Jazz Ass place with CalaVera, Smashed and Twisted, had a beer or two, made the very Swedish dish tacos, almost went to a dive dyke bar to watch dive dykes, but ended up watching Fight Club... I fell asleep on the floor despite the fact that I made the strongest coffee (and most disgusthing)...

So we have 24 people coming over to my mothers house - to eat drink and celebrate that we are going towards darker times... and of course the law of alla jävligheters jävlighet - the water pump has broken, and we have no water... So now we gonna pretend we are little scouts and do what Tim Gunner would tell us ''make it work''...

Stockholm vs. Hamburg - bouting time

Picture of STRD warming up stolen from Facebook

Stockholm arranged their first bout this weekend, and it was amazing and fun, me and Loony were announcers and Hamburg got beaten by Stockholm. Stockholm did start off a little shaky the first jams, until they ended up in a powerjam situation, and capitalized MAJORLY on it, and htey never looked back. Hamburg was never even close to catching up during the entire game. Hamburg only fielded 10 girls for the Stockholm trip and they started to look tired in the second period - I must make an extra shoot out to Heavy Miss Gale, who I think was in more than every second jam, and was by faaar the most effective Hamburg blocker, until she fouled out with a few minutes left on the clock.
Stockholm played tight and you could tell that they been working harder on some aspects of the game, such as bridging, stringing out the pack keeping the Hamburg jammer in play and hitting her over and over.
Stockholm really is one of my favorite teams, probably because I feel like I have always been a part of STRD and it made me so happy to see them skate so hard and smart. Ahhhh Stockholm - you guys are great.
Exactly a year ago on the day of the game was when I dragged HussInsane to her first Stockholm practice, and in this game she was for sure one of Stockholms most effective blockers, but also made a few successful attempts with the star on her helmoet, but not only that she was also wearing the captain C on the arm, and just frankly looked great. HyperNova looked as great as ever jamming, fluidly getting through the pack and Twisted T is really turning out to be quite a double-threat.  Stockholm has lots of talented and hardworking skaters, and that makes me happy and I am looking forward to see lots of them next weekend for Team Sweden try-outs.
Oh, and the final score was 150 - 55 to Stockholm....

Leaving home to go home

the barn next to the barn

Me, Kris and Loony are all sitting at Husses floor eating breakfast and drinking coffee... Soon we are taking off to head back south to Malmö. It has been a great vacation and it has been so nice to be at Stockholm Rollerderbys practice and not having to coach all the time.  Stockholm is just a leauge with so much heart and focus, and I love being up here, but I also have a great connection with lots of girls in the team, some of them were even my friends before I started derby.
Jazz just joined Stockholm a few month ago, and we been friends for quite a while, and I am happy to see her on skates. Yesterday she invited me, Loony and Kris over for dinner, and she made the most amazing meal EVER... like no kidding!

It has also been great haning out with my family, my mothers house is truly amazing, and my family is totally welcoming and loving. It is so calm and nice, and my stepdad cooks the most amazing meals!

Hanging with friends in the sun - with skates on side

Spreading gears and girls in sun

I went outdoor skating (again) on my new purple Pure wheels together with, SpeedSlut, Twisted, Jazz, Crazy Kris and my beloved Mad Maloony and we only skated for about 30 minutes before we found a piece of grass in the sun and chilled. It is nice to take it chill once in a while - so we sat around - snacked and had a tiny bit of sparkling pink wine. Yayaaa...
After working on our tans for about an hour we got up and skated back to the city where me and Loony picked up CallaVera and my future wife to be Smashed and hauled them to Ekerö (where my mother lives) so we could just chill and look out over the water.
Stockholm is so different to outdoor skate in compared to Malmö, in Stockholm there are hills everywhere, while Malmö is flat like a pancake. I am still getting used to being outdoors again and hills make me a tiny bit nervous - while Loony and Kris just bolts right down them, her and Kris are both crazy, I guess that is why they have Mad and Crazy in their derbynames....

Oh, oh, oh, and there was a bunch of older people singing/interpetating Fjäril Vingad syns på Haga right behind our little picnic spot... it was odd, but for SURE entertaining.

I love Stockholm - it's something special about the place you grew up...