Photo of the Week: #5

WEEK 20:

The Magnolia trees have been flower in Botanisk Hage for the last few weeks, and last Monday I finally got round to taking an evening walk to see, smell & enjoy them. Ah, a sweet-smelling experience, and the perfect inspirations for the second week of May.

Perfect Sunday

For as long as I can remember Sunday has been my favorite day of the week. While Fridays and Saturdays might be fully packed with fun & games, Sundays always seem special no matter what I have planned. For one thing it's the one day of the week where I really allow myself to take time off and relax without a guilty conscience. And that's a pretty nice feeling when you're a student and more or less permanently stuck in study modus.

Also, for me Sunday has always been the one day when you make it a priority to do things one wouldn't think of doing or haven't got the time to do any other day of the week. Sleeping in, having a late feast of a breakfeast (we're talking eggs & bacon here!); visiting a museum; taking a stroll in the park, around the city or in Marka, the wilderness surrounding Oslo; drinking coffe with friends for hours on end (or even coffee shop marathon); reading a good book or magazine, or just attacking the stack of newspapers you've collected over the week (gotta keep up on what's happening, you know); lazying around the house etc... I'm pretty sure there's loads more.

Now, today has been as good as Sundays get. I slept in and caught up on sorely need sleep - only got 4 1/2 hours shuteye the night 'cause mum wasn't here before almost 4 am. Met up with Erle for a tour of the bric-a-brac marked at Birkelunden (every sunday from 12:00-17:00). This is definately a marked with a variety of stuff on sale: furniture come clothes & accessories come powertools. Erle got a jacket perfect for sping & summer and a blue ceramic mug, I didn't buy anything, though I came across a few nice things around the marked. For instance, I found several pairs of cool second hand shoes, but unfortunately none were my size. Champagne flutes with painted flowers on them, 2 small plates with a funky pattern, vintage (?) sunglasses (I'm regretting a little that I didn't buy them, but I'll survive), a set of draws from around the 1950's ...

AC joined us later on, and it was time for coffee. The weather wasn't up to scratch for a nice day out so we enjoyed our caffeine boost indoors at Parkteateret, and seated by the window gave us a good view of the life on Grüneløkka. E also happened to be looking for fun this Sunday, and it didn't take long before she'd joined us too. Lunch on the go from Sultan (børek & chocolate covered almonds with cinnamon - yum! - this is like the only sunday open grocery in the area, I think) and then we headed off to the weekly marked at Blå. This marked is more of a handcraft/design marked, though there's usually a few tables selling vintage clothing, shoes & bags, usually of a very high quality. Lots of funny little things to look at, such as postcards which looked like an optician's eyetest but had witty sentences instead of random letters. I ended up with a laminated illustration from an old magazine refering to an adventure in Paris. Cool drawing which caters to my wanderlust.

Group photo of AC, E, me & Erle, reflected in a car window

Dinner with F & hours spent lazying in front of the TV finished the day up nicely. Not really anything worth watching on (no different from any other day...), but it was just what was needed (BTW, really crappy programs showing these days. What happened to fun, enjoyable & braindead TV - and I don't mean reality shows 'cause they're just brainless).

The one - and only - negative thing today was the weather. It was totally unpredictable; sun, clouds, wind, rain, cold, warm - not exactly a perfect spring day...

Arrr, this be pleasin' to me eye

SATURDAY

I've had my eye on this sweet piece for quite some time, but sort of resisted buying it so far. Pretty sure I'm going to give into the urge come Monday (and the only reason I didn't do it today was because I was too lazy to bother getting all stress up shopping on a Saturday - I mean, the centre of Oslo was packed with people & joggers, plus I cup of Joe & good company beats shopping any day!). It's so sweet and cute, and would definately look perfect on me and in my closet (never mind my lack of clothes to coordinate with it, that we can fix later on ;P ).

This floral skirt is from Cubus (!) and it's ca 200kr - nice deal, hey? And on their website I also came across a few pretty nice basic pieces in the colour of choice this summer (and an annual fave), white:

Friday Fling!

WEEK 19:

Happy Friday!

This week you find me at home, still nursing a cold, trying to do a spot of studying, but partly torn between that and the junk on TV.... so far the TV's winning! I'm a naughty girl...

Anyway, no plans worth mentioning this Friday. Mum's coming back from Tuscany (Toscana) late, late this evening and she's going to sleep over here by me. Home alone this weekend so plenty of space :D. And I think there's at least one present in her suitcase ;D.

Working tomorrow evening. Holmekoll stafetten (relay-run around Oslo) this Saturday, and I know the restaurant is fully booked this evening - crossing my fingers for nice weather = no jackets in the coatcheck! Maybe a litte bit of shopping tomorrow before work (I desperately need new jeans, socks and would really like a new summer skirt/dress). I know I'm off to Barcelona in less than a week's time, but a girls got to look good, hey? About time to get a haircut too, I think.

On Sunday I think I'd like to sit an hour or two in the sun drinking coffee and reading a non-study-related book.

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!

Photo of the Week: #4

WEEK 19:
"CAN YOU FIND THE LETTER YOU NEED?"

I'm letting letters, computer keys & technology in general be my inspiration this week in an attempt to reinvent self-discipline and work-ethic in my studies. So Shekira, ignore your cold & snivels, ignore the sunny, warm weather outside and ge back to work. Pronto!

The last days of April

MONDAY 27 April - SUNDAY 3 May:

Well, more like the past week actually. Here's a quick summary:

SICK: I've had the cold for over a week now. Still feeling tired, coughing, sneezing & still got the snivels, though I must say the absolute worst part is feeling as though all energy has been drained. But, can't keep using the cold as an excuse to not do what I should, and that's studying. Especially since the cold hasen't prevented me from doing other stuff I want and like to do. Now, get to it!

I ALMOST SHOOK HANDS WITH THE KING(!!!): courtesy of my ex-roomie & fun-loving friend, Jeni D! "Why?" you might ask - the story goes like this:

Jeni's been working as an intern at the Canadian Embassy here in Oslo since last October, and this week the Embassy hosted the official visit from the Canada's Govenor General, Michaëlle Jean and her husband. They were visiting Norway in connection with a conference in Tromsø on artic matters. Well, Tuesday morning they met with the King and Queen at the castle, and embassy staff had been issued invitations to attend the welcoming ceremony on Slottsplassen - and they could bring guests! So lucky me, I got an invitation from Jeni (thank you, darling!). So ca 10am tin the morning we we're ready to view the official visit, and probably for the first and last time in my life, I'd be standing on the grounds by just outside the castle, on the inside of the fence separating the common folk from the visitors.

The king, queen & crown-princess (the crown-prince was excorting the guest from the hotel) came onto the palace square at ca 10:20am to inspect his troops (never seen that many Gardister "on show" before), and at exactly 10:30 the car with the govenor pulled up onto the square. Meeting and greeting government officials and other representatives, before the Governor actually guided the Royal family over to the "Canadian" public, alas us! Jeni and I were standing as #2 & 3 from the left, and here it comes: the king shook hands witht he first person, and jumped over the next few (us + a family) before the talked to an artist. Unlucky maybe, but they did say hi to us. And though some might think Mette Marit's hat (the crown-princess) is ugly or stupid, I really liked it (arg, should have asked her where she bought it ;P),

Okey, so I have to admitt that while I'll never be a royalist, it was pretty exciting. And yes, I was a bit starstruck!

1st of MAY: was celebrated according to tradition - appeals & speaches at Youngstorget, followed by ice cream/coffee/food/beer throughout the day. For the first time in years I actually didn't head to Blindern to spend the day. And, because it was Friday & T had the weekend off (husmorsferie/ housewife's vacation) we decided to go out to check the life on the town. Pretty dead the first few places we tried - we were after action, good music and space to dance - but that was probably just because the weather was so nice and people were still hanging out in the park. Luckily Mono's always full of action and there we found exactly what we were looking for. Needless to say we danced until we couldn't stand any more!

SATURDAY: A bit of shopping as T needed to buy a present for a birthday party she's going to next week, and I had to play the role of consultant as she really didn't know what to buy. Her friend didn't really have anything specific she neither wanted nor needed so it was a hard buy, but in the end I must say we ended up with a very nice gift.

Later in the evening we were at E's for dinner - she makes a mean lasagne & foccacia bread! Y.U.M.M.Y! Second time to play consultant, and this time fashion advice was needed as she was spring cleaning her closet (out with the old & small, in with the new ;P). We had quite a few laughs at some of the clothes (we're talking dresses and jumpers almost 10 years old), but mostly she's got a very elegant closet - I don't think I've seen so many beautiful pieces in a long time. Food, drinks & good company aside a Saturday wouldn't be complete (?) without a bit of dancing, so we headed off to Mono for a night out on the town.

SUNDAY: Lazy day mostly spent on the couch in front of the TV watching bad re-runs of TV-series or movies, but the day wouldn't be complete without a bit of fresh air & a take-away latte. There has been marked-days & tivoli around Grüneløkka all weekend, so we did a bit of browsing around the stalls (mostly junk being sold), had a few Thai springrolls, coffee and a walk around the tivoli with the 4-year-old. It was good to get out of the house :D

Name game

SUNDAY

Found this funny, little name game on A latte in the morning by chance when roaming the net the other day. It goes something like this:

To find your Librarian's Alter Ego you need to take the first letter of your first name and the first letter of you surname, and then you compare it to the charts below. Voila, you've just got an alter-ego!
Okey, so, my first letters are S & L, making my Librarian's Alter Ego: "Honey Rhea-Listik".

First Name:
A - E: Bubbles
F - J: Cookie
K - O: Pepper
P - T: Honey
U - Z: Pebbles

Surname:
A - E: Featherbottom
F - J: Ivanabee-Queen
K - O: Rhea-Listik
P - T: Anitacocktail
U - Z: Mona-Lott

Now, what's your alter-ego?

Friday Fling!

WEEK 18:

Happy Friday! And this friday is a special one - it's the 1st of May which means it's International Worker's Day. Thus, this friday fling was a given: I met up with Erle to listen to the appeals & speaches of labour movement reps, activists and politicians at Youngstorget. It's a yearly tradition, and this year another study-buddie, Ingvild, also joined in on tre fun. After "food for thought" we headed to Aker Brygge to eat ice cream, drink coffee and just plain catch up. Luckily the weather was absolutely fantastic today - ca 20 degrees, sunny & clear blue skies - and it was pure joy sitting by the water hours on end chatting & enjoying the view.

Later we we're joined by my roomie Tonje joined us and we were off to Spikersuppa for a bite to eat. Asian food served fast, that's Asian Express for you - basically this tiny box of a kiosk come fastfood joint serving easy and delicious fastfood. Cheap & you definately get your money's worth!

While we were hanging out here Elisabeth decided to join us, and after a quick meet & greet with Hanne & her Arbeiderparti-people at Peoples, it was time for a celebratory beer. My first "utepils" this year! We were desperate for a cafe/restaurant with seating outside in the sun, but naturally all those places were already full of people enjoying a day off. Even though it was almost 6 pm by this time, the temperature was still very comfortable and we ended up in the same place were the day starter, at Youngstorget and a eatery called Politiker'n. Quite fitting, don't you think?

BTW, stupid as it is I still got to brag about it. I got sunburnt from spending all day out in the sun, so now I've got a bright red half moon shape burn on my neck, a sort of triangular red spot on my upper chest/through and luckily only slightly red cheeks! Note to self: buy sunscreen.

Happy 1st of May comrades!