Stuff

I've meant to write at least a post a day this last week - been lots of things happening... but I've been busy :

1) Planning the works in the pink bathroom. It's amazing how much time I've spent choosing the style of toilet, bathtub and not at least the furniture/sink! I still need to decide on the tiles. Can you imagine that for the first time I have actually received a decent of not great service in 3 shops??! I'm at loss for words.

2) We've bought a sofa! Yay!

3) I've been babysitting Noé. His dad is moving to our neighbourhood this weekend so I've speant to days learning new vocabulary from a 2 year old while daddy was packing- how bad is my french still?? A few examples of the new words: camion à poubelle (truck for the rubbish), camion à merchandise (lorry transporting stuff) and pelleteuse (digger). There were a lot of other toys too but I will not bore you with that!

4) I'm packing the cat into a cage - she's going to a cat hotel. I'm packing our mittens and scarves because we're going to the mountains for a long weekend. Of course we're off to the Italian alps - try persuading an Italian that the French alps might be just as good... I'm crossing my fingers that it'll snow before we get there so we get at least one day with powder snow and not only icy pistes.

Anyway, I wish you all a lovely weekend and I'll be back next monday! :)

Saying the Right Thing

It just happened like that, without any notice. He started off on a sentence, then another and another and by the end of it I was bursting with happiness and love for him. I could have smooched his whole face there and then but had to wait. He had said the right things to the right people at the right moment. And I just loved him for it. So very much!

To Milan and Back

Finalmente (!), I've met our new tiny, cute angioletto of a nephew, Gabriele. Now he's just over two months old and is here together with his proud but slightly uneasy uncle... lol. We're not used to handling tiny creatures which have no fur so there you go. Who knows, maybe that will change with time?!

Apart from seeing the family we also had to go sofa hunting. That's a pure joy when your husband hates shops in capital letters but he has been adorable. We found one which has the right shape and colours but is just too tall (1 mt). We did a simulation last night at home and if we buy it our livingroom will become the extension of the chinese wall. Now we're putting our faith in the shop/factory being able to modify it for us. I would put a picture of it if it wasn't for the awful orange/brown colour it's presented with in their website... You might be lead to think we have bad taste :)

Saturday night my mother in law made a feast with so many dishes (all homemade, no cheating!) that I was unable to walk afterwards. Seriously.

Then sunday came and we celebrated L's birthday - hurray! He's now one year older, even more handsome and is my lovely husband :) Aaaah...

You Know You're Norwegian When...

You assume that a stranger on the street who smiles at or greets you is:
a) drunk.
b) insane.
c) an American.
d) All of the above.

You vigorously defend whaling and enjoy consuming whale meat.

You enjoy the taste of lutefisk (jelly-like, bad-smelling fish) and cod prepared in any way, including fried cod tongues.

You can prepare fish in five different ways without cooking it.

You don't question the habit of always preparing a "matpakke" (sandwich in paper).

You have two cars, a cabin and a boat, if not more.

You think there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

It feels natural to wear sport clothes and backpack everywhere, including the cinema, bowling alley, and to church.

You are think it's weird if a house isn't wooden.

You know at least five different words for describing different textures of snow.

You don't fall when walking on ice.

You earn more than you spend.

You associate Easter with cross-country skiing with friends and family in the familys mountain cabin.

You are shocked if it's not 2 months of snow every year, at least!

You can see mountains and the ocean, no matter where you are.

You expect all dinner parties and meetings to start precisely on time, if not before.

***

I found this on a translation forum and it gave me a good laugh! True so true...

Happy St. Valentines Day

Estoril & Cascais

Estoril is a tiny seaside town. In the summer it's surely invaded by tourists and townies from Lisbon but in mid-January there were hardly anybody around. The temperature was lovely, the beach stretch all the way to Cascais 5 km away and you can walk it all on the wide promenade. The sidewalk was covered in stonetiles which mostly all of them had fossil shells in them and they created beautiful patterns.

What surprised me a lot was the immense love for fish the portugese had because when lunchtimed was near a strong smell of grilled sardines spread out as a lid over the town. We ate a lot of fish that week and it was the best freshly grilled fish I've ever had.

Secondly was all the tiles. Some houses had the whole fasade covered and some only framed their windows. Now I understand why it's a luxury to have a portugese "carreleur" when you're redoing your bathroom.

When Lorenzo was working I spent my days in the sun, walking on the beach, eating my luch in small resturants while getting by speaking italian - it was worse understanding when the portugese answered back in portugese... ay ay ay!

Are the fishermen trying to scare the fish into the boat??! Creepy!

I Just Ordered...

a new feminine, stylish camera bag from a tiny shop in Chicago. Joy Suzanne sent me a link to Etsy, a website where they sell all kinds of handmade crafts and where they had many beautiful bags. I can't wait for it to get here!!

And the coolest detail is that you can personalise it with a fabric of your choice!!

Here's one example which you can find here also:

Bo Kaspers Orkerster

My new widget in the left column is for one of my bestest friends, En Liten Blå Høne... The radio plays music similar to (and) Bo Kaspers Orkerster which is a swedish band my friend has been torturing me with for years :) LOL... and that out of principle I cannot admit I actually appreciate now...

We'll be playing Bo Kaspers' together soon babe!

The Indonesian Bank Notes

This afternoon I suddenly remembered where I had put the Indonesian bank notes I had put aside for my dad on our honeymoon. He collected bank notes from all over the world and had done so for years and years during his travels.

In November he asked me about them. I thought I had already given them to him so I left Norway promising him I'd find them. I didn't, back in November. Today I remembered I had left them in the book I had bought in Singapore, read on Gili Trawangan and then put the notes in to stay flat.

I wish I could tell him that I've found them and that he could get them while on his next visit.

A Business Idea?

I just spent some time searching for a camera bag. And I don't want any kind, I'd like a stylish feminine one. One where I can also put the minimum necessary things like wallet, keys and phone and not look like a mule with 2 different handbags. Shouldn't be that difficult you think??! I dare you to do to a googl'ing!

Naha. Nope. Nix. Can't be found.

With the SLR market exploding there must be other girls out there wanting something looking pretty, no? Who want's to start up a business with me? I've got a sewing maching collecting dust at the moment so now I just need someone with great style, imagination and a flare for fabrics...

The Holy Spirit's Banc

On my first day in Estoril I noticed this green big banc sign and started laughing out loud at the name! Maybe they offer their clients some divine security??!