Think House Hunters International backward — On the show, people are often shocked by the sizes of European homes, whether it is apartments, townhomes, or single-family homes. No king bed? Oh my. No walk-in-closet? Where will I put my clothes? My goodness, did you say no garage?! Well, then I’m out! I thought about this show…

And how they can improve your quality of life — It looks adorable, doesn’t it? The charming old, quaint houses on a cobblestone side street. Almost like a colorful puzzle. This is an old photo I shot years ago when visiting a town in the northern part of Denmark. These homes are unique in American eyes, but for a Scandinavian…

Day in, day out. — You might wonder: Why? Why eat this, every single day? The Norwegian tradition for this meal, called packed lunch goes way back. A slice or two of whole wheat bread, with cheese, jam, or liver paste topping it. Traditions This lunch actually originates from a breakfast initiative named The Oslo Breakfast…

It’s as simple as it gets — We don’t have a ton of options. It’s not often I reveal the point of the story in my first sentence. I’m pretty sure this one’s a first. Sweden is a country with just over 10 million people, Denmark has 5.8 million, and Norway has just over 5.5 million people…

Without the buzz — The minimalism I strive for is just as visible on the inside as it is on the outside. It’s the kind of minimalism where I put just as much effort, if not more, into decluttering my head as I do with decluttering visible stuff. Because minimalism with just the outer…

All of it — This week is quite special for me. It marks five years — five whole years; 1826 days—since our family packed our lives into a dozen suitcases and moved to the United States. “You know, you’ll get double of it”, one of my good friends told me at our goodbye party…

Who has the time? Oh, right — To get to my son’s summer camp, I have to drive through a golf course. There’s this narrow road, a speed limit of 15 miles per hour, that takes me through the course and to the summer camp located in the township’s park. …

We get to pick and choose — Happiness isn’t constant. Happiness is also different from joy. I like this comparison from Diffen: Joy and happiness are both emotions where a person has feelings of contentment or satisfaction. But both these feelings may differ from each other based on the reasons causing the feeling and the nature of…

Change is normal, yes? — Isn’t it gorgeous? This picture is taken from the area where I went to high school. As you can probably tell, it’s located on a hill. Each morning around 7 am, I would start the trek. The school bus stopped in the city center, and we had to walk from…