Friday Fling!

Happy Friday! The weekend is upon us once again, and as far as I'm concerned it's my last week of holiday too. As of Monday it's back to the good, old rutine. But before that there's this last weekend ready to fill with fun & action. Ah...

So far today has been a lazy Friday. I've slept in, had a delicious omelett for brunch, and just been hanging out in the lounge watching really, bad daytime-TV. Gotta get some ideas for dinner, before it's time to head off to the cinema to catch "Public Enemies" at nine. Seen the trailer and the cast is full of talent, so really looking forward to this one.

Tomorrow I'm meeting Erle & the gang for drinks and then, perhaps, some dancing. Gotta shake that booty, you know! ;)

Now, what are YOU doing this weekend?

Well, no matter what it is, I hope you have a great one!

Photo of the Week: #10

Week 31: "A Feast for the Eyes"

Nothing like a beautiful display of fruit and vegetables to build up an appetite. This beautiful display was found at the fruitmarked just of La Ramblas in Barcelona during the mother/daughter-trip in May.

Bold is Beautiful

I felt the need for a change, so the last two days I've been gradually changing the layout & look of my blog. About time if you ask me, though truth be told it's first now I've had the time to sit down & figure out how to change the layout. No drastic or too bold changes, just small adjustments that make it work better for me. I hope you like it!

Friday Fling!

Happy Friday! Another week's over and I must say I digg the feeling! Friday's always a good day, in fact so is Saturday & Sunday too. And this weekend I've got some good things planned.

At the moment I'm at work, but things are still quite quite here. I guess most of the residents in Oslo are still on holiday (yet another week left of "fellesferien"), so not a rush for reservations, and mostly tourists visiting the restaurant. Still, no rest for the wicked, and I'll be here ready to take your booking the rest of the weekend. Now back to my plans...

After work I'm most likely meeting up with F for a bite to eat, and later on this evening I'm off to see the long-awaited Harry Potter-movie at Saga kino with Tonje & AC. Yes, I'm a fan of the books, and I'm quite exited to see the adaptation to the silverscreen. If anything the movie will be quite entertaining. Elisabeth had, unfortunately, other plans, so we'll be meeting up with her for a drink afterwards. Fun, fun, fun!

Saturday evening we'll be hitting the town. First time in over a month that all the girls are in town & free, so we'll do our best to make Oslo a dangerous place! Lol... A few cocktails at home (I've got some new recipes to try out) and then we're going out dancing. Ah,It's going to be great!

Only thing though, what am I going to wear?!? Perhaps a bit of shopping is in order after work today ... the sales are still on so there's definately a bargain or two to be found out there. I know 'cause I've already hit the jackpot (sale-wise) several times the last two weeks. And on that note, rumour has it that TOPSHOP has now started shipping to NORWAY! Woho, time to check out their website!

Now, let the Friday Fun commence!A

Preview of what's to come...

Just posting a few scenic photos from my trip to Mandal. Sort of a preview of what's coming as soon as I get organised and have the time to post some photos. I'm way behind 'cause I still haven't posted photos from neither Barcelona nor Helsinki. Well, soon. I promise...

Living close to the sea on Skjernøya

A fishing boat ankered downtown

Summerflowers thriving by the side of the road

Friday Fling!

Happy Friday! This time coming to you LIVE from Mandal - the pearl of the South of Norway ;)

Lots planned for this weekend. After a spot of housecleaning (!), we'll probably head of to town to visit Mommy Dearest's shop (Dizzie's in Øvrebyen), and then probably a trip down the beach. The weather is really, really nice out today, and I've even got a bit of a tan from sitting on the verandah eating breakfast. Later this evening, Elisabeth & Terje will arrive, and then we're all going to a book launch. My father's officially launching his latest book "Cowboy Karlsen" at Kulturfabrikken tonight at 8pm; cowboy-style supper & concert. Fun, fun, fun! ...or should I say, YI-HA!

Tomorrow, Tonje's having a garden party - sort of a late celebration of her 30th. Rumours say her parent's have a fantastic verandah & garden, and I know they have the most fantastic view of Mandal. Yet another great evening - I'm sure of it.

The rest of the weekend? Who knows. Just going to relax & have fun - can't ask for anything more. Have a great weekend! I know I will! :D

Mandal, here I come!

Holiday time! I'm heading down south to spend a long-long-weekend visiting my parents & hanging with friends in the beautiful & idyllic southern pearl, Mandal. Haven't been down there since Easter, and that was only for a few days, so it's going to be good to spend some more time there. Not the best weather forecast for the next week, which is a little sad 'cause there's nothing like a sunny day on the beach in Mandal. Well, lots of plans for the weekend, so I know it's going to be a blast no matter what!

Good bye old friend

On this day, Monday 13th of July, my old & once thrustworthy blog at yahoo.com was closed down. Put to death. Deleted.

Though I haven't been using it for a long, long time - there were some major hang-ups and it hadn't been functioning for almost a year prior to my last update - it will be dearly missed. It was my trusty companion throughout my studies in S.A. and fieldwork in Indonesia, and housed o' so many post of good & bad times. So, there were certain function that just didn't work for me (like the lack of easily accessible archive, photo-posting difficulties...), but it had such a beautiful layout (I love that funky background), which also was easy to adjust according to my preferances, and the nice & wide space to write on, and the handy calendar in on the leftside, and...

Adieu!

Photo of the Week: #9

Longing for those beautiful summerdays in Oslo, so I once again can take the ferry out to the islands to go swimming & sunbathing! Here's hoping they'll come again soon!

Friday Fling!

Coming to you a day late (it's Saturday...) so here's wishing you a HAPPY WEEKEND!

Unfortunately I had no time to post anything whatsoever yesterday. We'd invited people over for dinner (a friendly mixer ;D), so we were more or less stuck in the kitchen most of the day making tapas. Tapas for 8 people turned out to be surprisingly time-consuming (daaah) and it was quite hard work too, but it was sooo worth it 'cause the food turned out great (even if I say it myself)! I simply LOVE tapas, though I don't enjoy it often enough. Luckily we'd made more than enough food: fried scampi, albondigas, potato wedges, aioli, green salad, marinated mushrooms, tomato-mozarella-basil, yakitori skewers, olives... and Elisabeth brought yummy home-made foccacia (2 types!) - Thank you, thank you, thank you ... You're a darling!

And all the guests were so gracious, we (aka me) weren't quite ready when they arrived, but they all gave us a hand with the final preparations. Totally not expected, but I'm very thankful. Things definately went more smoothly. My only regret is not taking any photos (I completely forgot to do it), 'cause I really want to show you all how much fun we had! Next time...

Now, how to have a great evening. It's an easy equation:

Tidbits of everything on a plate

+ Great company

+ Entertaining conversation

+ Good wine

= a superb evening!

The rest of the weekend? You'll find me behind the desk at work ready to assist you! Have a great weekend, folks! And next Friday I'll be reporting from lovely, little Mandal!

P.S.

OPS, TWO FF's IN A ROW - NOT GOOD!

PROMISE TO POST SOME PHOTOS FROM MY TRIP TO FINLAND + A SHORT UPDATE VERY, VERY SOON!

Friday Fling!

Happy Friday - this time coming to you LIVE from Helsinki, Finland!

Ah, Helsinkis a fantastic city: beautiful & somewhat quirky architecture (like the hotel that looks like a medieval castle - must take photo of that); cool & funky second hand shops; fab shopping in general; informative museums: great food & drink! Think that sums up the last few days pretty neatly. Haven't quite got the time for a long post ('time' is apparently the most used noun in Finnish), nor the inclination (iow, the mac is driving me crazy) to write a long piece. The most important part is that I'm having a great time in Helsinki with the oh so grand Jeni D. And there's more fun due before I'm sitting on the plane and on my way back home on Sunday at 6pm. So, see you later- this time in colour and picture!