Siv Cotton one of the Norwegian Hollywood Wives

Academic Shortcuts.
The new series Norska Hollywoodfruar (Norwegian Hollywood Wives) show the lives of some Norwegian trophy wives in Hollywood. Among them is Siv Cotton. In her introduction we're told that she - among other things - has earned a BA in the US. Then they show the diploma... it's from the University of Phoenix. The University of Phoenix has widespread reputation for being a diploma mill. A place where you can earn your degree with very little academic achievement and skills. If I were Siv Cotton, I would never have shown that diploma. As a matter of fact... I would not even put that on a CV or mention it to anyone. It's nothing to be proud of. It would have been interesting to see how Siv would fair at a real University.
More reading: http://www99.epinions.com/review/educ-Colleges_and_Universities-All-University_of_Phoenix/content_262282120836"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Phoenix#Controversy"

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Crazy sign number one, note the red light and the white sign saying Stop on Red Signal, do drivers not know that a red light means stop anymore?  Another sign (note the pun) of the dumbing down of America.

Driving in Florida is certainly an experience. The drivers here are not as well educated and predictable as the drivers in Sweden. One has to be prepared for crazy maneuvres from drivers all the time and the speed is quite high. My daughter went through drivers education in school and did her drivers test as a 16-year-old. Compared to the education and tests I went through as a teenager, I can say that the Florida teen drivers are not enough educated and prepared for being good citizens on the road.

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Why not get out of the Florida heat and humidity in September 5 and participate in the Scandinavian Fest in New Jersey. This is a grand party for Scandiavians including Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This is the 26th year the Fest is arranged and judging from the photos from last year, they seem to have a lot of Scandinavian fun. For more information go to www.scanfest.org

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Yes, you can! Claims the new online store Swedishness.com. The store offers high quality Swedish souvenirs and gadgets, everything shipped from Sweden, but they do take orders from the USA.

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Guess what is hiding im my Don Juan rose? Look closely and you will see.

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The Swedish version of Elle Interior made a reportage about Alice in Wonderland inspired home decoration. And what do we see here, yet another pink flamingo. This big version can be bought from
Coctail Deluxe for 590 SEK from their web shop www.coctaildeluxe.nu but only if you live in Sweden.

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The other day one of my daughters went to Lowry Park Zoo for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. Honestly I do not know if she found any plastic eggs filled with candy, she did though take some cool photos of the pink flamingos at the zoo.

The flamingo s like Scandinavians, are not native Floridians. The few that can be spotted in the wild, flamingos not Scandinavians, have escaped from zoo or a park and they are not believed to nest in Florida. Many species of exotic animals that are being brought here thrive in the wild, pea fowl for example, the Indian bird used as live lawn ornaments are living in wild colonies here so do pythons and parrots. The Flamingo that gets loose though tends to leave the sunshine state as soon as they can.  The flamingos kept in Zoos and private gardens all over Florida has had their wings clipped and cannot fly, just like their plastic replicas.

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Two episodes of the second season of Svenska Hollywoodfruar (Swedish Hollywoodwifes) have been broadcasted by TV3 in Sweden. The women appearing in the docusoap obviously do not have to be wifes neither Swedish. Let us begin from the left of the photo above,
Paivi Hacker, 51 years old, born in Finland, moved to Sweden as a 9-year-old and to the USA at the age of 24.
Paivi is married to an American businessman, and it is obvious that she has spent more than half of her life in the US, she is not so Swedish anymore, she speaks with a Finnish-Swedish accent and her general appearance is as blank as her botoxed forehead. Paivi is a wife, but she is not Swedish.

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Swedish/American couple needed for new Reality show
Do you want to be the next star of Sweden’s new reality show?
One of the world’s leading production companies, Eyeworks (The Biggest Loser, Beauty and the Geek, Bingolotto) is NOW CASTING three young and beautiful Swedish women who are all married to super successful American men. We are looking for outgoing women with strong personalities who have found love in America.
We want to invite our Swedish viewers to your exciting life that differs from their normal Swedish living. We are particularly keen to find couples with a “May/September” love story so if you are a beautiful Swedish woman married to a wealthy or powerful older man you could be the star of our show!
We want to hear your story! Please contact us with your contact details and some very brief information about you and your husband.  The filming will take place in the US and there will be substantial payment for our stars!
Email hellstrandannika@gmail.com
Web www.eyeworks.tv

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Yourlife was launched today, web site yourlife.nu, seminars and a magazine focusing on slowlife instead of quick fix. I like the content of the web site very much, style, travel, reading, cooking with class and quality. This site really delivered what I need. This will be my everyday destination on the web.

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Photo from Horne

Mint bowl by Karin Eriksson. For more beautiful Scandinavian design available online here in the US go to shophorne.com

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The Central Connecticut State University has published its annual literacy rankings for 2009. The rankings include major US cities with more than 250 000 citizens and focuses on six key indicators for literacy newspaper cirulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources. The number one ranking city in the US 2009 is Seattle, the highest ranked city in Florida is Tampa, ranked as number 20 followed by Miami ranked 33.5 and Jacksonville ranking 55 out of a total of 75 cities. Read full report http://www.ccsu.edu/page.cfm?p=5392

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While Scandinavia is covered in deep snow and roofs are caving in from all the snow that has been falling lately, we can enjoy the best strawberries here in Florida.
Many food stores and markets offer low prices on fresh Florida strawberries now. There are also several pick-your-own farms around. Check out this link to farms where you can go and pick your own strawberries http://www.pickyourown.org/FL.htm

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I have been married for more than 10 years and I am not really the romantic type. I was thinking about planning a different but yet entertaining Valentine's Holiday as Valentine Day this year is on a Sunday. So Saturday afternoon is already booked for a birthday party, we are lucky because this birthday parties are known for having the best food in town. Anyways my plan is to check out the Bloody Valentine's Death by Derby in the evening. I have never visited such an event and it sound awesome. Read more on http://www.tampabayderbydarlins.com. Valentine's Day is in my mind a very American tradition so the perfect Valentine Holiday must be non-Scandinavian. I have not figured out the plan for Sunday yet. Needs careful planning.

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A sinkhole has been discovered underneath a house in our neighborhood. Horrible news for the owners that now has to dig up all the floors in the house and fill in the sinkhole. It had been a lot of talk about sinkholes since the freeze a few weeks ago when a lot of sinkholes appeared in areas where vegetable growers where irrigating their plants non-stop for days to avoid frost damages to their crop.

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Yesterday I was having breakfast in bed and was watching the news. Normally I do not watch the local news here in Tampa Bay as they seldom report on news but merely minor events of no interest for me. However I was flipping between CNN news and 10 Connects and on 10 Connects morning show I got to see another example of thoughtless encouraging of irresponsable dog ownership.

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It was cold this morning indeed. A cold hail came down and created this little snow drift on our screen. Plants have been covered but I fear that after this cold spell there will be some casualties in my garden. This weather is great for hot home made soups and several cups of hot tea. Will venture out today to get  a whole chicken and veggies to make a hot and hearty soup.

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After a wonderful two weeks of cooking and having new and old  friends over from all corners of the world I feel inspired and ready for a new year. Cooking is the best therapy for me and to have good friends come over and enjoy my food is so much fun. Obviously a slight weight gain is to expect from all the social eating but I think that one week off carbs will make me lose most of the extra water I gained by eating a little bit to much.

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Let me start with one of the the good things that happened in the year of 2009. It was the opening of IKEA in Ybor City. I think I have visited the store for more than ten times already and always found something cool and useful to buy besides the Swedish coffee and Kalles Kaviar. This year I have as every year met a lot of new, friendly Scandinavian people, it is great to be a part of the Scandinavian community here in Tampa Bay.  We do have a lot in common and it is great that we can support eachother in so many ways.

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We had a wonderful three days of Christmas this year. Sharing great food with friends and family combined with nice and cool weather so that we could use our fireplace made this Christmas a great end of a gloomy year.

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                            Photo by: www.localfitness.com.au

Since I moved to the USA I have found another meaning of Fox Mulder in the X-files "trust no one".
Consumer protection in the USA is almost non-existant and corporations are allowed to prey on consumers with very little risk of being caught.

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                                                               John Bauer Christmas Goat

My family is Swedish-American, I am Swedish and my husband is American. We lived together in Sweden for 17 years and we have lived in Florida for 5 years now. Christmas is a very important time of the year to maintain family traditions, we like our children to experience the Christmas traditions of the American as well as of the Swedish part of the family.

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Mosquitoes are as much a part of Florida as the sun and beaches. Unlike their Swedish relatives, myggor, the Florida mosquitoes are not only an annoyance but also a vector for viruses, deadly to humans and animals.

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There are some unwritten rules surrounding dinner invitations in different countries. Here are a few tips on how to be the perfect guest in a Swedish home.

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Black snakes, like this gentle giant the Indigo snake will keep the poisonous snakes, such as rattlesnakes off your property by eating them!

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