The ocean and my pet peeves

So this week's topic is to write about pet peeves and something we love. I'll start with my pet peeves like Nicky and Sarah did, it feels so much better to end the post with something nice. :)

Pet peeves: 

- People cracking their knuckles: or any of their joints really, it just sounds so painful!

- Intentional bad spelling/text speak: I'm usually not a grammar nazi at all, but this is something that really annoys me. :) In Swedish it's becoming increasingly common (at least among young people) to just spell words the way they're pronounced rather than the way they're actually spelt. I'm going to sound like an old granny now, but ahh, I think it looks so so horrible, haha :) I find it really hard to take a text seriously when it's written that way.

- My hair: it just never seems to want to behave, it never wants to lie the way I want it to. On the rare occasion when I get it to look alright, something always happens that messes it up as soon as I step outside the front door, like a sudden rainstorm, or a massive gust of wind from a passing car. Argh


Now on to something I really love, which is the ocean!

My hometown, Stockholm, is located really close to the sea, you're never far from the water there. I think that's one of the main reasons why I love it so much :) When I was younger my family and I also used to spend every summer in northern Sweden at my grandparents house by the sea. Every year, when we arrived at the house and my dad stopped the car, I'd fling the door open and rush straight down to beach and just throw myself into the waves. It was like being reunited with an old best friend, haha :) Then I'd feel the freezing water wrapping me up, and for a few seconds the cold would always shock me, and I'd struggle to get out of it, haha. My family would all be watching me with their arms crossed, shaking their heads. I think my grandpa understood me though, he loved the ocean too. Every year he tried to teach me what he called "sailor things", and it was always stuff like how to build a stable wooden pier or how to tie complicated knots. When I was about 14 he decided I'd make an absolutely awful sailor (I wasn't too sad about that ^^), and that was the end of my rope-tying lessons, haha :) But he continued to take my sister and me out in the boat and taught us how to drive it. He died a couple of years ago now, and I haven't tried to drive a boat since, but I still love being out on the water. I just think the ocean is so amazing! It's so full of life, and I love how it can be so ruthless and so gentle at the same time. I even love how endless it seems and how small it makes me feel. It has some strange calming effect on me. When I'm feeling down, or have a tough decision I need to make (I'm a really indecisive person), I always go down to the water and sit there for a while. It helps me clear my mind. :) And this is going to sound really strange, but if I'm ever feeling lonely and I go down to the water, it actually helps, haha. :) I don't know why. I find the sea such a lovely thing, and I hope I'll always be able to live close to it. :)

I'm really looking forward to reading your posts, Erin and Holly! :)