Pondhoppin': Absence makes the heart grow fonder...G's month-long stay in Oslo

Earlier this year, Grant packed up his bags for a month-long project in Oslo. As the saying goes, "absence makes the heart grow fonder," and two weeks in I flew out to Oslo to spend a Scandinavian weekend with G.

It brought back memories of when we first started dating...Grant living in Dallas, while I remained in Austin. I think we managed to see each other every weekend. Back then, the "Sunday blues" were no joke, and took on a whole new meaning.

There's also those feelings of excitement though, when you've almost reached your "meeting spot" on that Friday, and it was fun for the both of us to experience that again.

Since Grant had already been there for two weeks, he had plenty of time to talk to the locals about what we should get up to over the weekend. Gotta love free (and local) tour guides.

It was off to the perfect start when we had the best sushi we've ever had at Alex Sushi! Seriously, it was that good. As I'm typing this, I'm foaming at the mouth thinking about that amazing meal. It was so good, that we went there twice in three days.

On Saturday, we set out on a proper Norwegian adventure...cross country skiing! Now, most of you know that I'm not the best downhill skier, so you can imagine my hesitation to try cross country skiing for the first time, in the county most famous for this sport. I think children start their cross country training before they can even walk!

And to make matters worse...it was VERY icy!

My favorite part of the day was skiing over the frozen lake behind us!

So, after a number of face plants and a few instances of walking with skis in hand, I survived! In between face plants, it was fun to get into the rhythm a bit, and take in the beautiful surroundings. Grant was a pro, of course, so I'm sure he's looking forward to doing it again sometime soon (I think I'll opt for a day at the spa next time around!).

On Sunday, we were lucky enough to snatch up tickets to the FIS World Cup Nordic Ski Jump competition. After seeing it live in person, I have a new found respect for ski jumpers. I'm not sure why anyone would want to start a career in ski jumping after seeing it up close and personal, but more power to ya! Seeing them fly through the air is an amazing sight!