a travel story

Let me take you to Greece. I have uploaded all my photos from my recent travel to Halkidiki, Greece. See them all in this set. The photo above is from the last day, when I packed my backpack to leave.

dinner time

I've been away from this space for too long. Time to do something about it.

I'm cooking dinner and waiting for Sølve to come home from work. I'm making the same thing we had yesterday, which turned out to be super yummy. This is it:

- green asparagus
- snow peas
- fresh fillets of salmon with salt, pepper and olive oil
- spring onion
- little gem lettuce
- lemon juice
- feta cheese

The ingredients are listed in the same order as I put them in the frying pan. The asparagus needs more time to cook than the little gem lettuce. Keep the temperature on medium, and make sure you don't over cook the vegetables. I prefer vegetables to be "al dente". The heat will make the feta melt a little, and with the lemon juice (from half a lemon) it makes a nice kind of sauce. Quick and healthy dinner - which is now served!

everyday stories

I had a photoblog called stories, which for a while I found hard to define. What kind of photos will I have here? I already show my photos on Flickr. I started a few projects, which are now (some of favorite) sets on my Flickr - traveling and lights. lamps. But I wasn't really happy with it.

Then 2008 came, and I found out that I wanted to do a "a photo a day" project. The stories blog became the place where I shared my daily photos - the ones that I didn't upload to Flickr. My rule was, and is still, that I have to take and post a photo each day. Even if it's a crappy photo.

But then I needed change again. So I decided to delete the stories blog and start a new Flickr account instead, called everyday stories. This is my new place where I share my daily diptychs. One of the photos is uploaded to my Astrid. photostream, and can be found here, the other one is new. Please visit if you are interested. By the way, the photos can be viewed bigger if you click “all sizes” above the photo.

Everyday stories is inspired by a few lovely ladies, which you might know: 3191 and mebetweenyou. It is also inspired by my own fondness of everyday life – the group that I started some time back in 2005. I also wrote a little about everyday life photography here.

I must say, I really like this kind of photo journaling. How about you?

Imperfection and contrasts

I love clean-cut, minimal interiors. There is something with it that I’m instantly attracted to. It pleases my eyes as I flip through the pages of glossy interior design magazines and coffee table books. On the one hand the interiors are elegant in a glamorous, high class, expensive way. There are shiny objects, fluffy fur and champagne galore. On the other hand these interiors can be elegant in an understated, subtle, back to nature way. Large white surfaces add a backdrop to wood textures, woollen blankets and an otherwise muted colour scheme.

As much as I love the look of these clean-cut, minimal interiors I could never live like that. Mind you, I’m an organized, tidy, champagne loving girl, so it’s not that I would make a complete chaos with my presence. But I think that just me being in a scene like that, would make me feel like I ruined the perfect picture. Like being underdressed for a fancy cocktail party, if you understand what I mean.

I love homes where you never feel underdressed. Unpretentious yet style conscious homes where you can sip cocktails in your sweat pants. Well, no, hang on. That is taking it too far. Sweat pants is never ok unless you actually work out. Hanging around the house wearing sweat pants is just too cosy comfortable and so darn unsexy. There are other loose-fitting, comfortable alternatives available, like cotton dresses, linen pants or even a silk bathrobe.

Let’s get back to the cocktails. I’m not taking about the multicoloured, super sweet cocktails with little umbrellas in them. I guess they are ok if you have an itching sweet tooth and a love for kitschy food and drinks accessories. Think classic, timeless cocktails a la Dry Martini, Margarita, Mojito and Manhattan. I prefer a Cosmopolitan, with an extra dash of cranberry juice. Most of all I prefer champagne, but that is a whole different story.

The best place to enjoy the Cosmopolitan is sometimes dressed up at a fancy cocktail party and sometimes in a crowded big city bar, but most times it is best enjoyed on a Friday night in front of the fireplace in my second hand orange sofa, that was bought for 450 kr at Fretex, while resting my feet on the wooden, stained stool, that was rescued from an abandoned mountain cabin. I listen to anything from the Magnetic Fields and Zero 7 to Detroit Kobras and Violent Femmes, while I catch up on international lifestyle magazines with light coming from candles, IKEA and Artmide lamps.

I like to think that an unpretentious yet style conscious home is a place you can enjoy Cosmopolitans, champagne, beer, wine and other juices. It is the home of someone who has great interest in anything visually good, like arts, design, architecture, film, and also music and literature. This home is an eclectic yet elegant contrast of styles; old design classics, prototypes from up and coming design students, vintage grandma-like nick nack, walls filled with big print photographs and book shelves brimmed with films – classics and blockbusters. The CD collection is a nice mix of contemporary pop music, underground hip hop, experimental jazz, violin concertos and old school rock and RnB.

Pierre Bourdieu would have loved to do a field study in this imperfect mix of high culture and popular culture. Ugly stuff meets pretty stuff, and we love it.


This is a little something I wrote recently, for a new international magazine that unfortunately didn't hit the shelves after all.

skål

Yesterday the Norwegian Design Council handed out the annual Award for Design Excellence.

The Award for Design Excellence is the leading award for design in Norway. It's purpose is to stimulate the industry to use design as an important tool in product development and market communication. The Award for Design Excellence is a recognition for design quality and a visible proof that companies and designers jointly have developed a good product. Good products are distinguished by the consideration of it's functional, technical, economical and esthetical aspects, in addition to marketing and environmental considerations.

One of the magazines I write for, no, was given the Award for Design Excellence in the category visual communication. Read what the jury says (in Norwegian). Halvor Bodin and Claudia C. Sandor are the magazine's designers.

Another company that I work for as a copywriter, Haltenbanken (mentioned in this post), was also given the Award for Design Excellence in the same category, for the visual profile for the accountant firm Vassdal & Eriksen. Who would have thought an accountant firm could look this fresh and cool? It might explain something that the firm was established by a guy who loves skating, snowboarding and music, and that the firm's customers are mostly in the music, film, design and architecture business. Read what the jury says (in Norwegian).

Congratulations and cheers to no and Haltenbanken!

break

This post by mav today made me order three magazine subscriptions; Bon Appétit (I too want to read more of Molly's great work), Gourmet (as a foodie and food writer how can I not want a regular portion of this mag?) and finally Vogue (I need a regular dose of great fashion too). Happy days for the magazine addict. Good thing that the dollar exchange rate is really good now compared to Norwegian kroner. Thanks for the inspiration mav, and also congrats on your new blog.

My recent travels to the north have been very inspiring, and I have a lot of photos that I will share with you in my Flickr photostream. The photo above is from my second day at Svalbard. We had just started the day's snowmobile trip, and took a break just to see the sun rising over the mountain. Our guide told us because of the polar night it was the second time he saw the sun for the last four months.

winter and spring

March is officially spring, so I have changed the blog header to get in a bit of spring mood. Although my mind is still very much set on winter. I had a truly amazing weekend at Svalbard. I have never before experienced an Arctic winter so far north. It is so exotic and unique. It really took my breath away. I am going north again for the weekend. On Thursday I fly to Finnmark, close to the North Cape.

The Svalbard set will be filled with more photos when I get the time to sort through them. And I will of course bring home lots of photos from Finnmark.

Here are a few projects I am really excited about. Be sure to check them out if you don't know them: Lines & Shapes - before and after - 44 times two

I also want to welcome Nicole back to blogland. Welcome Nicole! And finally, check out this. A lovely meeting between two people I admire; Jenifer of Nectar & Light and Matt of MattBites.

I'll be back in this space next week with new bits of inspiration.

baby you can ride my bike

This morning while eating breakfast, I flicked through an issue of Australian Donna Hay magazine (thanks so much Deborah!). I instantly fell in love with this bicycling story. Such a lovely summery feeling. And so different from my own bicycling experience today. One word - snow...

I'm off to the mountains to celebrate a friend's 30 years birthday this weekend. Have a fun weekend - whereever you are in the world!

PS: Click on the images to see them a little bigger.

Christmas

Just checking in to say hei. I've had a great week of Christmas celebrations home in Sandnes with my family and my in-law family. Now we are back in Bergen, getting ready for a fabulous New Years party on Monday.

There will be more activity here in the new year. Thanks for stopping by this space. I really appreciate it.

Hope you are all doing well.

Pure Style

Beautiful book. Some more photos over here.

Paris je t'aime

Hei guys! I am back from my Paris weekend. I think I am in love. Such a beautiful city. I know I have to go back to explore the city more. We took about 500 photos, so guess what kind of photos will be dominating my Flickr stream the next days...

Did you see the movie Paris je t'aime? I saw it when it came out in 2006, and I liked it. I think I want to see it again now that I have actually been in Paris.

Some new things (yay!) in the photo above:
- New toy: camera
- Leather travel bag bought in Paris
- Cool print t-shirt from Poketo
- Skinny jeans from H&M

I hope you all had a great weekend and that you are doing good in this holiday time. Can you believe it is only one week till Christmas?! Note to self: Buy presents!

work and food

Hei!

I have a plan to post here every day, but sometimes life takes over, and there's less time for online fun. You know how it is, don't you?

I was quite absent from this space the last week, which was filled with lots of work and great food. For those of you interested in what was on the menu, take a look at my Flickr photostream. It seems like this week will be as busy as the last, so I'll probably not be around here much this week either. When life slows down I'll take some time to write about Scandinavian design, which I got a question about in a comment on one of my recent posts. I also have a couple of other things planned to share with you. In the mean time I'll probably find time to upload photos on Flickr daily, like I normally do.

Have a great week friends!

a long workday

You all know the feeling of a long working day, don't you? The first part of the day, when it's still daylight outside, your energy and spirits are high. At lunchtime it drops a little because you are hungry, but after a quick bite you are ready to go again. Then, at about 4-5 pm, it's time for another meal. At least for me it is. I eat small meals often. This last meal was an organic sunflower seeds whole grain roll from Godt Brød with a homemade spread of mayonnaise, eggs and scrimps bought at Kjøttbasaren. It was so, so good. But it did not lift my energy level at all. I'm so tired; all I want to do is sleep. Its dark outside, so why not?

What is your trick to keep going the second part of a long workday, when it's dark outside and all you want to do is go home?

The photo above was taken some weeks ago when I biked home from work. Close to my home there is a steep hill through a church yard. I never bike up the hill, it's too stressful. As I walked up the hill, I saw the moon shining through the tree branches. It was pretty nice, so I took this photo with my old analog slr. It's not the best moon shot in the world, but who cares?

That's all. Now I'm going to work.
Astrid out. 6 pm.

bits & pieces

Some bits and pieces from autumn Bergen today.

I found a fantastic photostream on Flickr today. I totally neglected my work for a while and took the time to browse through all of feels just like home's photos. You should do the same - I know you will enjoy it!

I love the Fullum & Holt bags! (via hoping for happy accidents)

I'm really excited about the upcoming lifeiscarbon publications.

I'm falling in love with the lovely clothing of wiksten (via here).

A big thank you to all of you who visit this site. I'm not so good with replies to your comments, but they are always appreciated.

PS: I posted a few more roadtrip photos today, the last batch will be up tomorrow. The photo above (which I think Sølve took) is from the mountain crossing called Valdresflya.

roadtrip notes

I'm back from my roadtrip, and you can see the photos here. I uploaded some photos today, there will be more later. It was a really long drive, 10 hours on Saturday and 10 hours on Monday, almost 1500 km all together. Sølve is a great driver and I try to be a great passenger - serving him snacks when ever he wants some, being DJ Astrid who plays great music (nothing to slow because that always make us tired in the car) and audio books, telling him the names of the places we pass on along the way, telling him how much I love the sights and nature we drive through... You know how roadtrips are, don't you?

The photo is from Lærdalstunnelen. Pretty cool tunnel.

Scandinavian Living

Yesterday I promised you more photos from Scandinavian Living magazine. I've uploaded some photos on Flickr, and they are all in this set. Enjoy!

rainy sunday

The dinner party on Friday was a success, and meeting up with a group of girls last night was a blast. Today it's Sunday and time to relax. It's real autumn weather outside, with wind and rain hammering on the windows. I want to light the fireplace, but I don't want to go outside in this weather to get the firewood... Sølve is i Cannes, France with his job, so I have to do it myself. Big challenge today ;-)

Since I'm home alone, I'm making something Sølve isn't a big fan of; rice pudding. Yum! More photos here.

Hope you have a good Sunday.

festivity and balloons

I'm in a festive mood today. We are having a dinner party tonight.

My day started at about 8 am with the apartment being filled with the lovely smell of rosemary, garlic and mustard. Sølve was preparing two legs of lam for the dinner tonight. Yesterday he prepared the base for the fish soup that we are having as a starter. It will be so perfect with the Alsace he bought. After a slow breakfast and some tidying and cleaning, I made chocolate mousse for dessert. Recipe here. It's going to be a great start of the weekend :-)

Autumn is lam season, which reminds me of this that I found over at simply photo earlier today. Seasonal eating is a good thing.


Today's Friday Flickr Favorites are all about festivity - I love balloons!

party time - untitled - 4th Birthday - goodnight - cheo's party - trapped - balloon - the wedding party - balloons - party trace

lovely Croatia

Just a quick note to tell you I (finally) uploaded the last photo from my 10 days holiday in Croatia. If you are curious to see them all, take a look at the Croatia 2007 set. All the photos are there, in chronological order and with describing tags. I'm an organized girl I tell you! Hope I didn't bore you too much with my holiday (snap)shots. Now my mind and photography is set on different things.

The photo above is from our favorite restaurant in Milna on the island of Hvar. While I type this, I'm enjoying a delicious red wine from the same island - Zlatan Plavac - and listening to the fire burning in the fireplace. Autumn is definitely here.

I'm back!

Hei guys! I'm back from my Norway travels, and I've had a fantastic week. I was in Oslo for a couple of days, then I travelled with Hurtigruten from Tromsø to Trondheim, and the weekend was spent at the island of Fogn in Ryfylke with my friends. Now there is lots of catching up to do - on Flickr, in blogland and work wise. You know the drill.

The photo above is from Saturday, when I picked blackberries at Fogn. Bliss!