SQUARE ONE

Happy new year!

I love how a new year is synonymous with a fresh start, a new beginning, back to square one. We all know that in all honesty it’s not really true. What we did, ate, liked and hated last year is still kind of “here”. However, our wonderful little minds tell us that this is it, this is your chance to change and be awesome! I like it, it’s like a personal coach you get each January. Too bad that coach usually leaves by February. Oh well, I’m gonna try again!

I had a wonderful Christmas that I got to spend with the love of my life and my family. I had a great time and got AWESOME gifts, one of which was a crock pot I will try to share my experiences with right here on the blog. I also got awesome food, mama’s food. I think that says it all. After living with my boyfriend for 6 months, emphasized by Christmas, I’ve realized that I’ve fallen into that comfortable state in my relationship. In just the time I have lived in Oslo, I gained 22 lbs and got stretchmarks from the fast gain. Not even having turned 20 and never having had kids, this stung.
Now, thanks to my inspirational mother who has been doing super good since she started working on her weight and my supportive boyfriend who is trying to keep me “at bay” from snacking and such; I feel highly motivated!

Also, some exciting news! Me and Paul are moving to a bigger apartment! Our current apartment is 322ft², with no bedroom, a tiny bathroom and an even smaller kitchen. It’s been cramped. The new apartment, however, is 592ft2 with a seperate bedroom, slim but bigger bathroom and this wonderful kitchen in the picture above! We’ll be moving in February and there WILL be interior decorating pictures, I promise.
Last news of what is to come on this blog in the year 2013; I am travelling to Vienna, Austria in February. I am very excited, with high hopes for some spectacular pictures of that beautiful city.

What are your plans for the first months of 2013?
Sarah

Long time, no see

I haven’t blogged since September 25th. In the time since then I haven’t been able to think of anything to blog about. I’ve contemplated shutting down my blog, change my angles, shut it down again, start blogging every day, blogging just once a week. I guess we all have those times when we just don’t want to blog, we don’t know what to blog about. I sometimes wish I had something exciting to blog about, like fashion or great recipes. Posts about all the places I’m travelling or about great causes I’m working for. That I took more pictures and shared my “photography”. That this would be the blog people went to for where to travel, where to go when out on the town in Oslo, or how to cook awesome food. However, I have no fashion sense, I rarely follow recipes while making food. I’m a student, so there is no time or money for travelling, I suck about going out on the town and when I do I never bring my camera so all that “photography” is never taken.

We’ve been seeing others lately…

I think to myself: what can I blog about? There is school, but being a student doesn’t have much more excitement than books, lectures and coffee addiction. I have my work (which I have neglected to tell anyone who reads my blog that I’ve gotten) at Lindex which is fun, but again limited as to what I can write about. The new clothing we get? Cool customers I meet? Maybe.. Then there is the living-with-your-boyfriend-for-the-first-time experience which would be fun to write about, but then I think that maybe the simple things that make us laugh are kind of weird and not completely understandable to others…

Then there is those deep thoughts. They’re easy to share, but also so easy to change. I notice myself writing that I want to do this and that, then the next moment I’m writing that I want to do that and this. I’m a month away from 20, I’m going to change my mind a lot in the next years. Maybe it’s ok though? Maybe my blog should simply be a place to air my thoughts, write it out and figure out if it makes sense or not. It’s not like I’m good at writing down my thoughts. I have a diary I’ve had since 2004, and I barely write 2-3 posts a year in that. But I like blogging. It might not be my deepest thoughts and secrets, it might not make any sense, I might write posts as rarely as snow falls in Texas and that are in no way exciting to anyone else but my boyfriend (who better be happy about the fact that I actually finally blogged). But it’s my blog, it makes me happy to write about things in my life and that is probably the only reason I always keep coming back to it.
I love you blog, thanks for being here no matter how long it takes for me to come back.
Sarah

Come in for a cup of tea

Again, as I’ve written not long ago at all; I love fall. Absolutely love it. So this weekend, when I had a nice visit from my sister, I bought some fall decor while we were out shopping. In the dark and cold evenings, I feel it just makes everything so cozy and warm!


To top it all off, tea. A nice, big, warm cup of tea can warm the heart like nothing else.

Have a great Sunday evening!

Tomorrow, ‘tis the season of warmth and color.

I follow a general rule of thumb; winter is December, January and February; spring is March, April and May; summer is June, July and August; and last but not least, fall is September, October and November. Tomorrow is the 1st of September, so in my mind then it will officially be fall; and I’m very OK with that.

Fall, or Autumn for those who call it that, is my favorite season. That might not make sense to some, but I love almost everything about it. This season feels so warm, despite the temperatures slowly going down. Nature explodes in reds, oranges and yellow; you start wearing big fluffy sweaters and scarves to keep warm; you start wearing slippers inside, instead of walking around barefoot..

You can drink hot chocolate and tea without going past the point of that comfortable warmth you seek when drinking it (if I drink any of these in the summertime I end up sweating like nobody’s business), evenings become just dark enough that you can light candles for a great atmosphere and you can make delicious, warm and comforting soups..

Though this might sound quite crazy, I don’t mind much catching a cold in the fall either. I don’t like it in the spring, definitely not in the summer, but colds and fall kind of go hand in hand.. And colds aren’t so bad when you can actually do the things above; wear big comfy sweaters, drink a cup of tea and eat yummy soups. Not to mention, fall leads to one of the best Holidays of the year: CHRISTMAS!
Have a great last day of summer!

Day two; Good morning!

I’m an old soul, so I tend to wake up earlier than I’d like for the simple reason that I’m awake. Paul however, could sleep all day. So instead of waking him with me I let him sleep in while I got myself a little breakfast and a cup of coffee.

I love this for breakfast. I’m rarely hungry in the morning so this little thing is just the right stuff to get you going without having to fill up. Greek yoghurt, müsli, blueberries and honey – easy peasy.
One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most when I’ve been here before and that I’m enjoying a lot right now is the people-watching possibilities from my apartment. We live on a high first floor, and the view from our window is this:

Right outside this picture on the left is some traffic lights, so most cars driving past here end up stopping. Little do they know that creepy little me is watching them from my window while eating greek yoghurt and drinking coffee. It’s very funny, people do a lot of weird things when they think they’re alone in their car. I’m pretty sure this will be how I keep myself entertained whenever I get sick from now on.
Have a great day!

Hello City Life

Yesterday I moved to Oslo! We got in late so all I “unpacked” was my bed, the rest we’ve worked on today. I’m still using boxes as dressers because we need to get more storage for clothing, but otherwise I got everything unpacked into my new little home!

To get some fresh air and some food for this week we took a little trip on the subway to an area in Oslo called Grønland (Greenland). Our mission: to find a good foreign store. These stores tend to have the best quality on fruit and vegetables, however the quality of this differs from place to place. Luckily we googled a little and found a GREAT place!

The selection was big and the quality was fantastic. Not to mention there was tons of people there, obviously a popular place. We were even able to get some fresh corn, yum! Can’t wait to find more great places like this. It’s fun.