Successful Meeting + Awesome Weekend

There is nothing more rewarding after working super hard all week than going out of town for the weekend. Last week Tove and I burned the candle at both ends getting ready for our presentation to MTV on Friday, and it ended up going really well. Don't want to put a whammy on it, so I won't elaborate too much but there was some laughing and even some clapping.

Hard work behind us, we headed up to Idre, a small town about 4.5 hours north of Stockholm to do some snowboarding, snowmobiling and other rad activities.




Saturday I took my first snowboarding lesson from my friend Lina who also works at DDB. Lina is an amazing teacher! She use to give lessons professionally, spending 8 hours a day coaxing first timers down hills on boards. Her patience is limitless. She is optimistic even when you have just become a yard-sale in the middle of the hill. As for the snowboarding, I'm stoked! I got pretty good at traversing and even did a couple turns on my own. I don't see any extreme boarding career in my future, but I can imagine getting down the hill at some point without so many bruises. Just need some practice.

We stayed in the ultimate Swedish cabin while we were there. It was super cozy and had some authentic Swedish decor. I also found out that different parts of Sweden have their own milks. For instance, Milko is the main brand for Dalarna milk. I love the folk design they used for the packaging. It seems very at home in the cabin.









Outside the cabin was winter. The real winter, not all those faux winters I've experienced in Dallas and SF. I've never seen so much snow in my life. On Sunday we took the snowmobile across a huge frozen lake to small campsite where you can BBQ. Well, Swedes call it having a BBQ, I see it more of a campfire type situation. Tove, Lina and I took a walk along the lake to an old wooden bridge. We went across, took a break to lay in the snow. Seriously, if you have never done this, you should at some point in your life. You just plop yourself back in fresh soft snow and be quiet and look at the sky. It is a quality life experience that cannot be missed. Remember to put on your hat or hood first though.





View toward the town of Särna



Lina, Tove and me waiting for the hotdogs to cook. Lina is the one with the killer sword poking stick. Minutes before she was roasting a hotdog on it, but it fell off so she decided to fling it out onto the lake where some wild animal will probably eat it and become dependent on humans, ruining the ecosystem permanently.



Hot dog monitoring.



Everyone got a turn on the snowmobile, driving and riding in the sled. I liked driving much better than sled riding. The sled is like riding in the back of a pick-up truck, but with non-existent sides and snow flying in your face. It was tons of fun to drive on the big expanse of frozen lake (don't worry mom, I went slow-ish).