yes, I got comfortable

Yes, I got plenty comfortable on Thursday night.

As expected the ride home was wet. Raindrops dripping from my nose kind of wet. But I wore rubber boots and rain gear (I have been a girl scout for many years and I know how to dress in bad weather), so it wasn't too bad.

I came home to candles, roses, a lit fireplace, chilled Chablis and a super delicious salmon dinner. Sølve arranged a surprise date. How can I possibly ask for more?!

In other news:
Some of you have already seen this, and if you haven't, you should: Jen of Simply Photo has made a beautiful simply breakfast book.

My sister and I finally got a chance to work together again this weekend. I'm writing an article about bananas, and my sister took photos. Here is a couple of behind the scenes shots. At last I got to try mav's famous banana bread. Oh yum!

comfort

The image above is from Domino Magazine. I saved it on my computer a while ago, and I stumbled upon it again today. I like the colors and the rustic, comfortable atmosphere.

Comfort is something I need today. My workday has been busy yet fun. You know those kind of days when so much is happening at once, you just have to take a time out, breath, and make a list of to dos for the rest of the day. I made the list and it calmed me down. I only checked one item on the list, but now I know what to do tomorrow. New things are happening and I enjoy it.

Now, at 5:50 pm, I'm getting ready to bike home. Local media says Andrea, which the storm has been named, will hit Bergen tonight. Sounds like "tonight" is now. It is going to be a very wet ride home. No doubt I'll light the fireplace and have some red wine when I get home. I'm sure it will make me plenty comfortable.

Sophie Conran

You all know Terence Conran, right? Designer, restaurateur, and founder of Habitat. His daughter, Sophie Conran, has also a lot going for her. Her beautiful home was recently featured in Norwegian Elle Deco, which is how I kind of "found" her. Her website is lovely, and there are some tempting recipes there.

I'm online!

With great help from Mathias and Jördis the writer Astrid Hagen is finally online. Here at astridhagen.no those of you who understand Norwegian can read stuff I have written, and you other guys can have a look at some of my photos.

the wishbone chair

A long time favorite of mine, the wishbone chair by Danish designer Hans J Wegner. Photo from the manufacturer Carl Hansen & Son's website.

Deborah Bowness

Lazy Sunday in front of the fireplace. Reading magazines, eating Grandiosa (we kind of forgot to buy "real" Sunday dinner) and drinking red wine.

I came across Deborah Bowness' great wallpapers while reading the newest issue of the Norwegian Elle Deco.

I hope you are having a great weekend too.

Poul Kjærholm

I like PK8 and PK58.

PK8 was designed by Poul Kjærholm in 1978 and has never been in production before. The PK58 table is inspired by the PK54 but in a different material, the top is a strong white polyester composite and base is aluminium. The PK8 chair is made of plastic material and a aluminium base. Part of Fritz Hansen's Autumn/Winter Collection 2007. (Photo and text from the website.)

A few Friday Flickr Favorites - photos of and by people I know: hi! - flower girl - me - jump - untitled - Me :) - Thinking - Inspired by Tedfoo - Just me again - My travel companion - Astrid and Jakob

on my wish list

While working on an article for no magazine earlier today, I came across Design Supremo.

The website says: DESIGN SUPREMO is a creative hub, a playground for carefully selected designers, a constantly evolving collection of innovative contemporary design, illustration and photography. Our website is continually growing to showcase objects of desire for you and your home, providing a boutique of chic that you can visit frequently and see what’s new.

There are some great stuff in the web shop, and several things are now on my wish list. For example the Potting Shed t-shirt and the postcard pack. And I want to get the Peas on Earth t-shirt for Sølve.

happy, rainy Wednesday

There are certain things that make this girl happy on a very rainy, very wet, very grey autumn day. Crisp bread with Philadelphia creme cheese, Provence ham and cucumber is one thing. I have already had 8 of them today (!). Buying tickets to Berlin to meet up with a certain German couple and a certain Canadian couple is another thing. Knowing that she is going to lounge on the sofa with her boyfriend tonight and watch more episodes of the West Wing on DVD, is even another thing that makes her happy.

And then there is the one thing that makes this very magazine addicted girl super happy - 25 % off all foreign magazines at Narvesen for three weeks. Knowing that most foreign magazines usually cost around $22/£9/€13, you might understand why this gets me so worked up. I'm ready for magazine galore!

Boligmagasinet

The other day emmas designblogg reminded me of the website of one of my favorite magazines, Danish Boligmagasinet. Click "boligreportage" on the left hand side, and you can see photos from some great homes featured in the magazine. Me likey!

Thomas O'Brien

Today I have fallen in love with Thomas O'Brien (via Design*Sponge).

Friday Flickr Favorites: Birch trees (and Jördis and other whiteish trees) are so photogenic: untitled - Birch Trees 2 - birken - Spring - Den fula skogen - winter imsielbecker moor - untitled - Birch and lichen 3 - in the bacground - untitled - timber - Winter sun

I'm off to buy a cake. It's Sølve's birthday today.

Have a great weekend guys!

Paul Smith

I have fallen in love with Paul Smith.

I have uploaded the rest of the roadtrip photos. Hope you enjoyed the trip.

The last photo in the "October Roadtrip" set will probably be my last new digital photo for a while. Seems like my camera decided to die in the middle of the Lærdal tunnel. It's been with me since June 2004, so maybe it's time to upgrade...

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 too 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.

THE front page

Have you heard of the Norwegian band Turbonegro? The band's vocalist Hans Erik Husby, aka Hank von Helvete (meaning Hank from Hell) is on the front page of no magazine's newest issue. What do you think? I love it!

Take a look inside the magazine, and you will find me presented as one of the magazine's contributors. Oh! The shameless self promotion! ;-)

There will be a new international issue of no magazine coming out before Christmas. I'll let you know when it's out.

Last Friday I showed you photos I like of people sleeping, this week I will should you my Flickr favorites of empty beds.
rest - wyken - bed - untitled - 302.jpg - morning sun - vera pillows - keegan's bed - homage to eshu - morning 2 - DSC00605 - Morning - untitled - fresh - Det aller helligste IV - brightness - winter light

I'm off for a roadtrip for a couple of days. See you again next week.

Blankets

It's cold today and I'm in the mood for blankets. I like the blankets from Røros-Tweed. They have nice traditional design (some of them are more modern) and they are 100 % pure wool. Take a look at their catalogue, it can be downloaded from the website. It says "Last ned vår katalog her" on the left hand side of the front page.

Sara Skotte

I like Sara Skotte's ceramics designs. You can buy it in Pur Norsk's web shop.

festvimpler

I love festvimpler! I don't know the word for "festvimpler" in English, but you know what I'm talking about when you see the photos above, right? I want to buy some, but these that I found at the Danish web shop Design Delicatessen are beautiful but a bit pricey (ca NOK 400/ca $76/ca £37/€53 including shipping). Does any of you know a place online where I can buy festvimpler?

Today is Friday (already?!) and here are my Flickr Favorites for the day. I like photos of sleeping people: day 2 of motherhood - Sleeping chefs in Shanghai - sloth - harbor seal rob. - nataliandyael - untitled - Sun on Sunday - untitled - untitled - asleep on the sofa

home is where the heart is?

Today I have another book I want to share with you - Home is where the heart is? by Ilse Crawford, who also wrote this book that I showed you earlier this week. The cover of the book is really eye catching; red and silk like. I haven't read the book yet, but I took some time and flipped through it during lunch today (leftover homemade pizza - yum!). It's a beautiful book and I look forward to spending more time with it.

See more photos from the book here.

girly long johns

It's been some cold autumn days lately and I have woken up in the morning with an ice cold nose (I always sleep with the window open). I guess it's time to start wearing wool.

Speaking of wool. Looking for good looking, girly long johns? Take a look at this website: Kari Traa. Kari Traa is a Norwegian mogul skier from Voss, who has launched a sport clothing line. There's even a web shop!

Haltenbanken has done a lot of fabulous work for Kari Traa, including the shop interior (together with interior architect Ørjan Djønne). See more photos on their website.

cabin life

I had a nice relaxing evening on the sofa with a couple of magazines last night. One of my favorite past times! I found an article that I wanted to share with you. It's from a family cabin nearby Oslo. So lovely and evocative. It instantly made me want to go hiking and spend time at a mountain cabin.

See the rest of the photos here. Enjoy!

Sensual Home

Some of you may remember this book from my Flickr photostream, but it's so great it's worth taking a second look at it. Sensual Home by Ilse Crawford is beautiful and inspiring.

I forgot Friday Flickr Favorites on Friday, so here we go with my Flickr Favorites on a Monday. They all fit the theme "beautiful nature".
Baltic sea - 8 - seriously - after the storm - :: - untitled - ocean - song - autumn sun - Mt.F

I'm Boo

I simple love the shape and name of this carafe. I'm Boo. It's by the great Norwegian design group Norway Says for Danish Muuto.

On their website it says that Muuto is striving to expand the Scandinavian design tradition with fresh and original perspectives. The name Muuto is inspired by the Finish word "muutos", which means "fresh perspective".

Norway Says about I'm Boo: Boo is like the skin, or a balloon surrounding the water with openings that tell the simple story of fluid motion in and out of the glass. The carafe exudes a strong personality , as if it's saying: "I'm Boo, who are you?".

Wallpaper likes I'm Boo: "Norwegian triumvirate Torbjørn Anderssen, Andreas Engsvik and Espen Voll are preoccupied with things that speak. As a collaborative they call themselves "Norway Says", and now they've designed a carafe for the Danish design group Muuto called "I'm Boo". The carafe, which comes in blue-grey or purple glass, is a design classic with a twist; a side pourer lends the elegantly curved oblong a quirky irreverence."

from Russia with love

Hei! I was in Moscow this weekend, and it was simply fabulous. It included great sights, fascinating architecture, Faithless playing with the Russian chamber orchestra Musica Viva, Kelis, Mark Ronson playing with Daniel Merriweather, Tom Middleton vs. Kissy Sell Out, interviews, lots of vodka, little sleep and great people. It was a huge Smirnoff Experience. Read more about it on smirnoff.com.

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!

magazine inspiration

Earlier in September mav of port2port showed us inspiring books and magazines from her coffee table. I love the idea, and I want to do the same. I have heaps of great books and magazines just waiting to be shown of to more people.

I'll start with a magazine I have shown on Flickr before - Scandinavian Living. It's really beautiful, and I wish it was still out. The front page photo is my favorite. I wish I could have a big print of it on my wall. When Sølve gets home from France with our digital camera, I'll take some more photos of the magazine.

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

sex and the city

Yes, I'm one of those girls who love Sex and the City. I can't wait for the movie! According to dagbladet.no filming started yesterday. Yay! Now excuse me while I get myself a cosmopolitan...

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.

Stardust

Have you read the fairytale novel Stardust by Neil Gaiman? Sølve made me read it, and I'm very glad he did. It's such a beautiful story. I just found out - when watching tv while flickring and editing photos - that a movie of Stardust is out (opening in Norway on September 21). It came out earlier this year. Has anyone seen it? I'm curious if it is as enjoyable as the book.

Wikipedia says that some of the filming was done on Isle of Skye in Scotland. I was there in June :-)

Scandinavian Surface

Some of you might remember Scandinavian Surface from when I posted this on Flickr a while ago. Since then a lot has happened for the talented design group. The four designers in Scandinavian Surface will be present at 100%design in London September 20-23. If you happen to be at the event (lucky you!), say hei to them at stand K4. There you can take a closer look at the new collection of pillows (top photo) and ProPiece (bottom photo). Take a look at more great stuff on their new website. Btw, the beautiful chairs in the bottom photo is from fjordfiesta.

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!

a week of exploring Norway

Hei! Hope you had a lovely weekend. I sure did. It involved great food and wines, a long walk in the rain, a little bit of redecorating, and a brand new laptop. Now I have just finished packing my backpack, cause I'm off for the whole week to see some wonderful parts of my country. I'll be back with lots of photos.

hoss intropia

While working on an article last night, I came across the Spanish brand hoss intropia. You simply have to browse through the photos on the website. I love them all!

feet week

I'm joining Shash's feet week. I have a whole set of feet shots on Flickr, so this will be fun. Today's photo was taken a little while ago, when it was still warm enough to wear no socks.

American Retro + sun

Today I found out that the lovely French brand American Retro is being sold at Vrimmel in Bergen. Hurra. Take a look at the brand's website, it's updated with the autumn/winter collection. I like it a lot.

It's sunny in Bergen today. Beautiful.

food + magazines

A new Norwegian food magazine hit the newsstands today: Smart Mat. I flipped trough it and it looks promising. Nice articles and photos. What I didn't like, and especially not for the first issue of a new magazine, is the price - 79 kroner, which is about $14/£7/€10...

Harald tipped me about GOOD magazine. I'm curious about it, so I'm going to check out the website when I have finished all my upcoming deadlines. Do you know this magazine?

The photo above was taken a while ago. It's king oyster mushrooms from Den blinde ku (the blind cow). Here is a similar photo.