And then there was snow...

Last night we had this winters first snow in Oslo. Today we woke up to a lovely cold and clear day with the city dressed up in a cake frosting-look.. beautiful! It's time to put the sandals and the shorts into the storage, and check if we have a decent amount of wollen socks left from last winter. I absolutely love the change of seasons... Colder weather and less daylight means I can spend more time with some of my "friends"..

I'll have a breakfast platter with a side order of self deception, please

If I look out the window on to our balcony, and add a few plants in the foreground, it almost looks like summer. Almost.

Laid back..

I've taken two days off from work. At this time of year the schools and kindergardens close for one week (winter vacation), so that the residents can go skiing and visit their cabins up in the mountains (-or desperatly look for babysitters if they have to work). It's only about a month away from the Easter break, but we love our holidays over here!

Anyways, I don't have a cabin, I've got skis, but this winter I have'nt used them at all. Instead I've decided to enjoy my little vacation at home, making wonton today, taking pictures, explore this great asian food store I've discovered, go for walks in cold wintery Oslo, -which is really pretty! I'll be making more stuff for our store (that goes without saying), tidy up out storage room, pack orders .... and I must try not to watch too much Tori & Dean, I guess!

A good week

I had a pretty good week. It's been snowing like crazy and been quite windy since Wednesday, but today it finally stopped, and everything was pretty and white again. And cold.. On Thursday I went to see Rammstein playing at Valhall. Completely cold out. 13000 fans from all over Norway, by the sound and look of it. All though I've never been a huge fan, I've got to say that it was pretty spectacular to watch those guys! They play a tight show, and the numberous explotions, all the smoke and flamethrowers can make ones jaw drop to the floor. I think being Rammsteins pyro technician must be the coolest job in the whole, wide world. Nothing wrong with my job, but really...!


Today I helped Sigrid with a little demolition work on her kitchen. She's bought a new one at IKEA, and since it's being delivered tomorrow, she had her work cut out today. We managed to tear down most of the cupboards, and I especially want to give her credit for her way of seeing all items in her kitchen as potential tools. Her bread knife together with the hammer served as a handy tool to remove the things that really stuck to the wall.. Who needs a man, or a carpenter-demolition-guy right?

Mew concert

We (Sigrid, Ane, Dylan and a small gang of other friends), went to see the Danish band Mew performing last night ar Sentrum Scene. I think I've said it before, but I'll happily say it again: They Are Truly Great! If you have not, for some reason checked them out yet, you should. Their music is beautiful, dreamy, clever, weired and all that is good. The guy who's singing never once sang off key, and the band is playing everything so well, making it look oh so easy and fun, and really: there is nothing about their music that says "simple". Part of their show is these really weired videos of strange animals and characters doing even stranger things, projected on to the backdrop. I read somewhere that this is partly because the guy who's singing is really shy, and does'nt crave the attention that other singers might. It's a clever way to relieve him from some of the focus, and also help underline the music, and making the experience even greater. I think I must have been smiling the whole concert, because when it was over, my cheeks were hurting.


Here's their MySpace site And here's one of their newest videos Repeaterbeater

So there it is. Recommendations of the day.

Desserts and beers

Last night D and I went to Sigrid's for dessert and some wine. Sigrid made dessert from rasberries and blueberries, and topped the whole thing off with marshmellows and gratinated it in the own. Two words: Sugar Rush! Very good!

We ended up going out, and tricked one of D's friends to come with us. We went to Olympen, which is a good place for drinking a few beers or having a glass of wine. When I come to think of it, the food there is quite good too. Aesthetically wise it's a dream. It kinda reminds me of an old theatre.

Later today we're going out for one of my favorites; Dim Sum!

O glede

I dag kom beskjeden; Vi kom med på årets versjon av
designernes eget julemarked! Hurra!!

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Today we got some good news; We are amongst the lucky
ones who will be in this years Designers Christmas market
in Oslo! Woohoo!

Wish list part 1

Jeg trodde ikke jeg var typen som kom til å gå bananas sånn rent interiørmessig, men jeg skjønner nå at denne "fallgruven" kommer jo jeg til å ramle oppi. Med et brak.

Så fint at the big 3-0 for meg finner sted i slutten av November, og overtakelse av leilighet er i begynnelsen av November...

Disse to kommer i klassen "ååå! disse ønsker jeg meg så VEEldig at jeg tror jeg må kjøpe dem selv..!"

1. Ikea's PS Maskros

2. Veggdekal med telefonstålper og fugler fra Decorette

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I never concidered myself to be the kind of person that talks about interiour design with a stuttering voice , jumping up and down excitedly whenever seeing some furnitural treasure somewhere, but now whenever thinking about moving to our new appartement and making it ours.. I can't help myself!

Luckily the big 3-0 for me is in the end of November, and we're moving in the first week of november, so my wishlist if now offiicially "out there"!

1. The fabulous Ikea lamp made in paper is garanteed to be a success over our dining table.

2. The amazing wall decal from Decorette is a must-have for me

Nytt hi

Også skjedde det bare; vi fant en drømmebolig og kjøpte den!
Jeg gleder meg som en unge til å flytte inn i over dobbelt så mange kvm, og til å få mitt eget hobbyrom (heretter kalt "limerom"!)

Okay.. så er kanskje bildet en anelse misvisende, men den nye leiligheten er i sammenlikning med den gamle mer slott-aktig i størrelsen..

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And all of a sudden we found an appartemet that we loved, we put in an offer -and got it!

I am so thrilled to be moving into a place that's over twice as big as our old appartement, I'll even get my own gluing room.

We'll live in boxes for some time now, so everything is a mess.

The house on the picture is the home of the royal family in Norway, by the way, so I'm not moving in there... yet! But the new appartment feels like a spacious castle you can get lost in.. yippii!

Mmmmaling..

Siste uke med ferie. Dager med dårlig vær (..eller i alle fall uten den store gule klumpen på himmelen.. har helt glemt hva den het.. ) har ført til økt aktivitet i butikken, samt maling av vinduskarmer, dører, små reparasjoner og rydding av boder (!). Det høres muligens en anelse desperat ut, ja, men alt dette gjøres for at panikken vil bli noget mindre når vi etter hvert selger og flytter.

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We are spending our last week of vacation doing up a little in our appartement, so that when we sell and move (preferably sometimes before Christmas), the 'to-do-list' will be some what shorter and the amount of panic will be at a minimum..

Nytt hjem

Jeg kaster meg ut i norskskrivinga etter Sigrid. Norsk er stas det.

Vi (jeg og mannen med verdens trolig raskseste skjeggvekst) er på utkikk etter en større bolig. I tre år har vi klart oss på 44 kvm, hvor vi vel har bodd i et slags kollektiv med gitarene hans.

Kan ikke si annet enn at jeg gleder meg utrolig til å få mer plass. Oslo kan være litt trangt.

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Me and my soon very bearded manfriend are looking for a bigger appartment, and I can't wait since the place we have now has been invaded with his guitars..

By Japaneese fanatics..

Just saw this sign and thought it was funny.

Easter

I spent most of last night coughing, so now I've given up trying to sleep any longer. Besides, the longer mornings I get, and the more quality time I get to spend alone with my coffee pot, the better the day will be! It's like in The Sims, when your Sim is doing something she/he/it enjoys, you see a giant green pluss sign over their heads. We'll.. Right now that's me.

Yesterday I went downtown with Sigrid to do some shopping before everything closes for the Easter. It was raining and a little bit chilly, so we bought coffee and set off. We went to Panduro (a large, wonderful, and scaringly expensive crafting supplies store) where I no longer am surprised when I hear the large sums the cashier wants me to hand over. It's almost like a ransom. Yes. I do buy a lot whenever I am there (which is not too often anymore). Amongst other things I bought this bird:

It looks good, ey? It's in metal, so I guess it's a Metal finch. I had to get it.

Our livingroom window sill, now with a little bit of Easter flare. I bought the nest earlier at Panduro, thinking I would use it as a prop when taking pictures of our jewelry for Everyday Glory, but it turened out a little tacky I think. Would'nt want to put off customers by having them think that the jewelry has bird fleas on them.. I might be paranoid here.

Some yummy Anthon Berg chocolate eggs are now nesting here. Too bad they won't hatch. If I found a way for chocolate to expand I would be rich.

Snapshots of Oslo

On Sunday I went for a walk. I brought my camera.

On our neighbour block there's a second hand shop with all kinds of things. It's a small shop, but every corner of it is filled with stuff. It has the oddest opening hours.. How about a cow skin backpack??

A mind fish.

Now that has to be reversed psycology..

Luckily there's a lot of concerts and shows in this city. Looks like they all came and went..

Number nine.. Or 9th of April if you like.

Klunk on the dunk

Yesterday I went where all Norwegian citizens go when they want to buy their wine, liquor, or strong beer. The “winemonopoly” (which sounds a bit like a family board game) was established here in Norway in 1922, since the citizens were drinking too much and too strong. There was little wine, more spirits, and about 1830-1840 the average adult was pouring down 13 liters or 3.4 gallons of pure alcohol every year. The Winemonoploy now hold the exclusive right to retail wine, spirits and strong beer in Norway.

Buying your wine here takes a little bit of planning. The Winemonopoly closes earlier than other shops, it closes at 4 or 6 on Saturdays, and it’s closed on Sundays.

The age limit for buying wine and beer with less than 22% alcohol is 18 years of age. For the stronger stuff you need to be at least 20 years.

I am now getting to the core of this presentation. Yesterday, when I was buying my wine the lady in the cashier asked me for ID! Really! This year I will be celebrating my 30th birthday, and the nice lady wanted to know if I had turned 18 yet. A little flattered and overwhelmed I handed her my ID, she looked at it and handed it back to me saying “thank you!”. I replied “No, thank YOU!”. There was a little giggling in the line behind me.

Later on I was contemplating what had happened and why the nice lady suspected that I was under the age of 18. Do I really look that young?? Was it my sloppy clothes? Did I behave like a teenager? What?

I think I found the answer. I bought a carton of Gato Negro. I made a decision while looking at two different types of wine. I thought “why spend 400 kroners when I can spend only 300?” No offence to the brewers of Gato Negro, it’s a nice wine that works with almost anything. The nice cashier probably made the conclusion “Okay, here we have someone who buyes large quantities of cheep brewery, she must be underage!”

(The phrase “Klunk on the dunk” means when your wine carton is almost empty, but you assume you’ll be able to squeeze another two glasses out of it. “Klunk” is the sound of wine being poured into a glass. “Dunk” is carton. “Å klunke på dunken”; To split the leftovers on your wine carton with a friend. Large quantitiesare not important in this context.)

Snowy Oslo

Some photos from wintery Oslo..