We are in Stavanger, Norway!

We reached Stavanger yesterday at noon (5 AM C.S.T) and promptly checked in to the tiniest hotel room ever. The room is even made smaller with the thousands of bags we have (we actually have 11 bags, including our backpacks, but it feels like a thousand). I hope we find a place soon.

The flights from Houston to Stavanger were pretty uneventful, except for an fire alarm incident at Newark airport. It went off for about 15 minutes, and no one seemed to care. I wonder what the fire evacuation plans are for security sensitive areas like airports. Oslo was a short trip and the customs and immigration was a breeze. All of it - from the de-planing to security for our connecting flight - took exactly 20 minutes, and we didn't even have to take off our shoes!

We haven't seen much of Stavanger. We did take a short walk along the sea side last night to get dinner. Stavanger seems to have a lot of restaurants, at least in the areas close to the hotel, which is good for us because we like to eat out a lot. Last night's dinner, however, gave us a sticker shock - we paid about 300 NOK or about $50 for a meal of two coffees and cold wraps. We were kind of expecting it, but I still felt guilty for spending all that money. It will take me a while to get used to the prices here, just like it did when I moved to the US from India.

We had dinner at a coffeeshop called OsteHuset, which apparently means the cheese house in Norwegian. The food itself wasn't very impressive, but the restaurant was really unostentatiously pretty. There were lots of candles and huge vases filled with apples as table centerpieces. The place also seem to sell knick knacks like vases, (from what I could see decor) books, and scarves and wicker baskets. If all coffeeshops and restaurants are like the OsteHuset, I think I will be very happy in Norway.

It has been raining non-stop since we got here, and I am already kind of missing the sunshine in Houston :-/

All our bags are packed and we are ready to go

Bye, bye Houston! So long and thanks for all the (craw) fish.

 XOXOXO
Ms. and Mr. Sunshine

T minus a few hours

We are almost (so not) ready to leave. I am writing this in our hotel room in Houston, with all of our bags taking up every available space on the room floor. The last few days have been interesting (read crazy) and we have been running around Houston like headless chickens. Most of it is because of bad planning - we never planned for extra luggage, dealing with left over furniture, forgetting things that we were supposed to give friends, returning things to stores and giving ourselves a few hours of rest (gah!). So here we are, 7:30 in the morning, two hours before we need to check out of the hotel still trying to make sure all our bags are no more than 50 pounds heavy (fun!). 

Yesterday was a fun day. We spent the morning waiting for the shippers to arrive and take our entire life filled in 29 boxes. They were supposed to come between 8 and 10 AM and finally came at 2 and left at 3PM. We sold our car (bye, bye Phantom), cleaned up the apartment (bye pink house, you shall be missed!), mailed packages, and then at 11:45 PM realized that all our bags were ridiculously over the weight limit. So, we made a trip to Walmart - only in the US can you run to a store at midnight to pick up a suitcase - came back with a bag that wasn't enough for our excess baggage! Yes, we are a family of a Phd and an almost Phd and we still can't figure out how much stuff we have :-/ Finally, we woke up at 5 this morning to go get another bag and that wasn't enough either! We now have 7, 50 pound bags, or in Mr. Sunshine's words "7 f****ing bags" (he does have a way with words ;-)). I am NOT looking forward to paying the airlines a fortune for all the excess baggage. 

Our life in 20 boxes and a few crates

When I get to Stavanger, I am going to sleep for 3 nights and 3 days. 

We won't have a phone for a while after we get there, but we will keep everyone updated through emails and the blog. 

XOXOXO 

Ms. and Mr. Sunshine

The Sunshine Household this Week

This week we are: 

Reading: Sweet Paul. This is one of the prettiest magazine on the WWW.
Watching (TV Series): Up All Night. I think I might have a tiny crush on Will Arnett and Maya Rudolph. 
Watching (Movies): Blitz. Ugh! 
Eating: The Santa Monica from Pink's Pizza, Seafood from the Boiling Crab (yummmm!), homemade food at our friends' homes (we do have the bestest friends!)
Drinking: H2O 
Doing: Packing, cleaning, packing, cleaning, running around Houston tying loose ends like chickens with their heads cut off

What a weekend!

This weekend was bitter-sweet. We got our visas, had the best going away party, drank ourselves silly, had a bad hangover, found out that Mr. Sunshine's big brother, M got engaged to N and then heard about the passing away of Mr. Sunshine's aunt, N-mhave.

Congratulations, M and N  - you guys are so cute together! We are really happy for the two of you!

We will miss N-Mhave. She was a beautiful, strong and kind woman, and we have the most amazing memories of time spent with her.

We have the bestest friends!

On Saturday, our dear friends N and D threw us a going away party at one of Houston's best restaurants - Branch Water Tavern. Most of our closest friends were there, and there was so much love around us. N gave the funniest speech about why we shouldn't move to Norway and there were some tears, but we had the loveliest time. We are so blessed to have such wonderful, inspiring, generous, kind and smart friends and we will miss them all. We also know that we have built everlasting friendships in Houston and that no matter where we will be in the future, we will still be friends, and they will continue to bring sunshine in our lives. Thank you everyone, we love you!

XOXOXO

Ms. and Mr. Sunshine

Biking

I came across this quote by a John Howard (not sure if it's the bicyclist or the Australian PM, though I would think it would be the cyclist) while ago, and it made me giggle - "The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine". Mr. Sunshine and I bought shiny new bikes a few months ago with plans to bike around town (as much as it is possible in a concrete city like Houston). We took them out once and then when we got news about Mr. Sunshine's jobs, the poor bikes were the first things we put for sale. So much so for our grand plans. Hopefully, we'll be able to bike around in Stavanger, though I am not too keen on biking when it snows or rains. We shall have to see. Until then, I can always dream about the perfect yellow bike, with a black and white polka dotted bell that I have always wanted :-)


Here are some of my favorite bike related things:

Row one, from left to right:
Image1: Yellow bike from CB2. It is so cheery! I wish they had one for women too.
Image2: Handmade bike shelf by Etsy seller UrbanCityBikeShelves

Image3: Bike bell from Etsy seller dringdring

Row two, from left to right:
Image1: Water bottle from Modcloth

Image2: Yellow bike basket from Petra Cycles

Image 3: Write a bike by Juri Zaech. Someone needs to start manufacturing these, NOW!

Row one, from left to right:
Image 1: Tandem bike print by Etsy Seller thedreamygiraffe
Image 2: Bike type print by Etsy seller annasee

Row two, from left to right:
Image 1: Bike print by Blanca Gomez from Poster Cabaret. Also by Blanca Gomez, this pretty print
Image 2: Recycle print by Etsy seller ilovedoodle

Row one, from left to right:

Image 1: Bike booties (So cute!) by Etsy seller GrowingUpWild

Image 2: Bicycle messenger bag by Etsy seller happyfamily

Image 3: Bike brooch by Howkapow

Row two, from left to right

Image 1: Color wheel tee from Threadless, designed by Ross Zietz   

Image 2: Bicycle socks by fredflare.com

Image 3: Bike onesie by sweetpeanut from Poppy Clementine

Row one, from left to right:
Image 1: Cyclepedia: A Century of Iconic Bicycle Design by Michael Embacher and Paul Smith
Image 2: Retro bike notecards by Inkspotworkshop. Found via papercrave

Image 3: Bike print paper by Paper Source

Row two, from left to right:
Image 1: Bike journal by Etsy seller alittlelark
Image 2: Bike Snob by Christopher Koelle
Image 3: Paper bike model from uponafold. They have the best paper products!


Have a sunshiny weekend!


XOXOXO


Ms. Sunshine

The Sunshine Household this Week

This week we are:

Reading: A Storm of Swords, the third book in the A Song of Fire and Ice series by George RR Martin  [Ms. Sunshine]

Watching (TV Series): Breaking Bad

Watching (Movies): Bridesmaid, Paul

Eating: Fried Chicken from Church's Chicken 

Drinking: Louis Jadot Beaujolais, Red

Listening: NPR

Shopping: Etsy

Stavanger!

This is where we are moving in about two weeks!

Why are you leaving the US?

A lot of our family, and a few of our friends have asked us this question when we broke the news to them. Not everyone understands why a young, immigrant couple that has almost everything going for them - a good job for Mr. Sunshine that he enjoys, green cards in the near future, a pretty apartment and the ability to buy a decently nice home, prospects of a good job for me, lots of wonderful friends around us - would want to up and move to a completely new continent, country and city where they know no one, and where everyone pays about 40 % of their income as taxes. We also do not speak the language. To be fair, all our family and friends have our best interest at heart - they love us, and want the best for us. And right now, the best things for us is to move.

We love Houston and we love living in the US. Both of us separately came here as students with the intention of making a better life for ourselves and living the American dream. We met, fell in love, moved to different parts of the country, Mr. Sunshine finished his doctorate and moved to Houston, we got married, and I moved to Houston last year, and over the years we realized that while the dream is still there, it has just changed in content a little bit. We have both learned so much about ourselves, about our unique Indian cultures, about the world and humanity during our time in the US. We have made wonderful, warm, smart, inspiring friends from all over the world, and have learned to appreciate and understand cultures, customs, foods, thoughts and views that are unlike ours. We have incorporated some of these in our daily lives, and thrown out some archaic ones we brought from our home country. And on the way we have realized that we want to know more about the world, that we want to meet different people and experience their food, their culture, their customs, and their way of life. This, we believe is eventually going to help us become the people, the couple, and the family we want to be.

Norway is going be a stepping stone for us for adventures in Europe and the rest of the world. We hope to make a new home in Stavanger, meet new, interesting and inspiring people and make lasting friendships like we have made in the US and in Houston.

Have a sunshiny day!

XOXOXO

Ms. Sunshine

These are some of my favorite things on the web right now. Each of them will make such lovely gifts for friends and loved ones!

                                                       

First row, left to right:

Image 1: Not all those who wander are lost luggage tag by Etsy seller OfTheFountain

Image 2: I want to have adventures with you print by Etsy seller n2design

Images 3 and 4: I would like to travel somewhere tote bag by Shinzi Katoh

Second row, left to right:

Image 1: A ship is safe in harbor print by Etsy seller littlethingsstudio

Image 2: Wherever the wind blows print by Etsy seller ilovedoodle

Image 3: Where you were print by Etsy seller spreadthelove

Image 4: The best routes print by Etsy seller TheWordShop