Friday Fling!

Friday, welcome to another one. A different one as it's not quite turning out like I thought it was when I first started formulating this entry in my head yesterday. I was going to tell you about my plans for the weekend: that I was working tonight and tomorrow morning, that I was going to a friends birthday party with a 90s theme, and that E is celebrating turning 25 tomorrow too. However, there's been a change. Yes, I'm still working tonight and early tomorrow, and I might meet up with E & the girls for a celebratory drink. The diffierence lies in my plans for the next 10 days.

My granny's very, very sick. She's had a brain hemorage and they think she will pass away within a few days time. So on Sunday me & Mommy Dearest fly out to South Africa via London & Dubai. Berni, my dear aunt, is meeting up with us in London. Good meeting up with the S.A.-branch of the family, though I dearly, dearly wish it was under happier circumstances.

I'm hoping for dear life that granny will pull through, though like I said, the prospect is grim. In any case it will be good to see her again as I haven't seen her since March 2007. Even if it is just to say good-bye.

Good thing I'm working tonight. At the moment I'm feeling empty on the inside and utterly useless.

Hope you have a nice weekend.

Empty

Games upon games of mindless playing of Mahjong sort of took the edge of the pain away & lulled me into a stated of emptyness. Tired, worn-out and completely empty. No more thoughts in my head nor any more tears to cry. It feels somewhat comforting...

Photo of the Week: #16

Week 47: "The Delicious Smell of Streetfood"

Time for a Photo of the Week update, and this week's photo is from my trip to Hong Kong in August 2007. What an experience, 4 days in this hustling & bustling metropolitan. I spent most of my time exploring the main island: visiting the museums, window-shopping + real shopping, exploring the many criss-crossing streets, and the delicious smell & tantalising sight of food being prepared in the street. Wow!

Here's my fondest memories from the trip:

• It was raining for 3 out of 4 days, so basically I was either wet from the rain or damp from the high level of moisture in the air. Hello mowldy shoes!
• Getting lost on my first venture out of the Hotel Cosmopolitan (located near the horsetrack) while looking for an ATM. Very interesting experience
• My fascination with all the tall, tall buildings literally tripped me up once in a while. I don't recommend looking up while walking down a street.

No Choo

Rather than getting up at the crack of dawn to head downtown to queue for Choo's, I went for the comfortable solution and set up the computer to try to get the Choo Zeebra-print bag online. Pandemonium!

Because of the lines popularity, it was impossible to even get on the site until a good 15 minutes after the launch. Probably not helped by the fact that half of Norway was pressing the refresh buttion every 2 seconds. When I at last go onto the shopping site & found the bag, it was impossible to buy it - no button to press, and no where to find on the rest of the site. A deep suspicion that something was wrong started to surface. Pushing this button and that, about 10.35 I finally found the right spot - it turned out that you shopped via the ad-campaign, by viewing the whole collection...

Luckily the bag wasn't sold out, so into the shopping cart it went & off to pay. Just after pressing the button to complete the sale, a box saying "order cancelled" pops up. It turned out it was sold out by the time I'd put all the details in. Arg, the frustration! Not because I didn't get a bag, I always knew the chance was slim either I queued in the cold or went only, but because the site just didn't make sense. For one thing the "Jimmy Choo"-photo/button took me to the wrong page, but mostly because nowhere - including the instructions on how to buy Choo - did it say that you needed to go to the ad-campaign to shop. Arg!

Friday Fling!

Happy Friday! Hope you're having a fabulous Friday so far. It got pretty late by the time I crawled in to bed last night, so I've been enjoying a lazy morning so far. I've decided it's well deserved as it been pretty hectic at work (x-mas season has started, you know).

So, what's up this Friday? When I'm finished writing this, I've sort of planned a rapid (or should I perhaps say rabid?) spot of cleaning. T's folks are coming to visit this weekend so the flat needs to look great. And afterwards I'm meeting up with Elisabeth for some shopping. We're going to a party with work tomorrow (the books store), and apparently I'm not the only one in need of some new threads. I've decided to allow myself a clothing budget of about 600 kr this month, even though I should be saving for London in January, simply because there are certain things one needs. So far half the budget's spent on a jacket from H&M. It's the one I wrote about back in September. Found it in my size and it was on sale - it was meant to be!

No plans for later this evening. Probably meeting up with the beau - haven't really seen him all week even though I hung out with him yesterday when he was working from home. It's going to be nice.

Tomorrow, the parents arrive! No problemo 'cause I've planned an early start. There's this Jimmy Choo for H&M clutch I have my eyes on, and the launch of the line starts tomorrow! Oh shit, there goes the budget! And as mentioned, later in the evening there's the work party, this year located just around the corner from where I live - nice! I wonder when that starts?

No plans for Sunday. Ah, my favorite kind of Sunday, the one's where I'm free to do whatever I want! Perhaps a nice & long walk around town (I'm not really a forest girl) or a trip to a museum. I still haven't been to Astrup Fearnley to see the Nate Lowman exhibition, though that might have to wait 'cause I promised AC that we'd go together. Anyways, there's loads of stuff to do in Oslo and I'm pretty sure it'll be a fab day!

Have a ridiculously fun weekend!

Does an Apple a Day Keep the Doctor Away?

I went to the doctor earlier this week and the news is dire.

I'm the lucky "winner" of a high blood pressure (think I mentioned this earlier this autumn). In fact it's so high that a lifestyle change is desperately needed: more excercise & a drastic dietary change. No salty foods/products; no sweets, treats & snacks (bye-bye licorice!); no rice, pasta and potatoes (what on earth do you eat with your dinner); less fatty dairy products (not a problem except for my love of cheese), and no red meats. Most likely more stuff on that list... Basically the change is designed to make be lose a pound or more. It's no secret that I'm a bit overweight and it seems my petit full-figure might just be the death of me - ha ha, as if! I'm sure it's all for the better!

As I'm way too young to have a hight blood pressure, so they're running a whole load of tests (the doctor was literally crossing out test at random), and there's probably more appointments & tests to come in the near future. That's not a good thing 'cause it's notoriously difficult to get a blood sample from me (can't be more than twice, at the most, that they've drawn blood on the first prick). This is where the photo comes in. The latest attempt left me with 3 pricks and only 2/3 of the blood sample needed. Well, at least it's better than the last score with the same technician: 6 pricks, major bruising and no blood sample at all.

The point being (note to self): Never, never ever let them draw blood from the back of my hand again! I was told it would sting a bit, but I'd have full use of my hand afterwards. Man, was she ever wrong! Typing on a keyboard for a couple of hours combined with coat-check duty (evening shift at the restaurant) left me feeling like I'd really damaged something inside my hand - Ouch!

Luckily the pain's gone now, and I'm just left with purplish marks on the right arm and a bluish skintone on my hand. Nice!

Pardon

It's been quiet here for a few weeks now. I apologise for that. Let's just say my life isn't very interesting at the moment. Sleep, eat, read and work ... that's about it. Sort of feel bad for not even having posted my so-called mandatory updates (FF & photo), but there's been a lack of inspiration & motivation. Will strive to do better - if anything for my own sake (so that I can pretend to be interesting ;P).

On a good note: had a nice & quiet weekend. Worked both Friday & Saturday, but it was easy-peasy. Very social weekend despite my roomie cruising Skagerak. AC was in town and we hung out. Dinner on Friday evening (thanks for the dinner!) and milkshakes @ Ryes on Sunday. Even managed to squeeze in 20 minutes of quality time with E before work Saturday afternoon - a walk to Aker brygge and a quick look at H&M.

Best of all: WE'VE BOOKED OUR TICKETS FOR LONDON IN MID-JANUARY!!!

I'm SO excited I'm just about to burst with anticipation!