so lovely

I got a newsletter from Pure Style today with a lovely photograph (seen on top here) by Vanessa Courtier. The images above are from her website. Lovely, isn't it?

So, before I leave for Italy next Sunday I have a few things I have to finish. Articles that is. I'm writing about Svalbard, different ways to warm up your home, art theraphy, Stavanger, and a Norwegian design agency who has done something really cool for an international webzine. I'll tell you more about that when the article has been published. I hope you're having fun at work too :-)

relax, look back

My weekend was just as relaxing as I needed it to be. I left the office early on Friday because I didn't feel so well. I planted myself in the sofa, deep down in an ocean of pillows, Ludde and a blanket. I lay there, oh so quiet, watching season two of Desperate Housewives until my husband picked me up some time in the evening when he came home from (another long day at) work. After a quick visit to the grocery store to get supplies, we both got really comfy on the sofa, watching several episodes of Weeds, season two. Saturday and Sunday were spent organizing cupboards, doing laundry and tidying up the apartment in general. It's weird how the apartment gets so messy even though we've hardly been home lately. You know what I mean? I also got time to read magazines, make lasagne, and watch Eastern Promise, Annie Hall and Eddie Murphy Raw.

After a relaxing weekend my work week has a slow start. This Monday is a day of planning and getting into the right work mode. It's also time to look back on things I've already done - like the photos above show. Coop Medlem is a free magazine that you can pick up in the Coop retail stores all over the country (Norway that is). I've written about interior design, DIY, gardening and travel stories for Coop Medlem since 2004. In the latest issue you can read my story and see my photos from Greece and you can see my photos from one of the Hurtigruten trips, specifically the king crab experience. Sometimes I find looking back inspiring and motivating.

we were in Paradise

Fogn. To me this is the name of Paradise, with a capital P. Like I mentioned last week, Fogn is where we spent last weekend. It was everything you want a perfect weekend to be; filled with the bestest friends and their kids, sun and a lovely feeling of summer in autumn (including a couple of baths in the ocean!), a dreamy beautiful location (a small red cabin in a big garden overlooking the sea on a small island which has one narrow road in between the farms and fields), hanging out in the grass under the huge oak having great food and drinks, and an unforgettable hippie themed 30th birthday party.

FYI: I shot these photos with my analogue Canon EOS 500N using a 50 mm lens and Kodak Portra 160VC film. I've never used this film before, and I must say it's truly amazing! Click on the photos to see them larger. See the rest of the photos in this set.

PS: We have no plans for this weekend but relax. Ever since the wedding all weekends have been filled with birthday parties and a wedding. All this celebration makes me exhausted! But also so very happy. How about you, do you have any fun or relaxing plans for the weekend?

a modern classic

Like I already told you, I simply love Royal Copenhagen's Blue Flute Mega! Download the new and beautiful brochure here.

weekend plans

This upcoming weekend my friends and I are going to an island a little north of Stavanger. My friend Jakob's family has a cabin there, and it's the most idyllic place! It's the perfect place to go fishing, catch crabs, do all kinds of sea sports, pick blackberries, or just hang out under the big oak in the garden. The weather forecast for the weekend is all sunny. Yay! It's a tradition for us to go there in August/September each year. Here are some photos from our first visit, and here are some photos from last year. The photos above are from this island called Fogn. As a bonus this year, we are celebrating Erik's 30th birthday. The theme for the party is hippie. Yippee!

I feel good about work this week. I'm not buried in deadlines like I've been the past month. I'm pretty much a jour and I've had a chance to look forward and plan ahead - wish feels really good, you know what I mean? I met up with a photographer today and we are eager to start working together. Mostly we'll do food related stuff, maybe even for NORD. I also did my accounts today, which I normally detest. Today it wasn't too bad.

farm life

Last Saturday we flew from Bergen to Rygge to celebrate our friend Eileen's 30th birthday. You might already have seen the photos in my Flickr stream, but I want to highlight a few of them here. Eileen comes from a rather big farm in the eastern part of Norway. Her birthday party was held here, and it was such a wonderful setting for a party. I didn't know how much of a city girl I am until I got there. The only pet I have ever had was a goldfish and my stuffed animals, and I'm not the typical animal lover. I'm even a little scared of cats... It felt so good being there with the kittens (I held them!), Chili the dog, the rabbit, the horses, the fields, flowers and barn. Too bad I was too tired (...) to go horseback riding on Sunday...

fine finnish

I'm still working on that article about Finnish design. An article about Finnish design has to include Marimekko, right? The photos above are from Marimekko's autumn/winter 08/09 collection, design by Samu-Jussi Koski. Photos by Juliana Harkki.

sleep is good

This morning I slept in and I decided to work at home. The simple pleasure of a little extra sleep. It feels so good. But before I start working, I'm going to make our home shine - which it hasn't done in a while...

Flickr favorites photo links:
1. well …, 2. 07/13/08, 3. film.117, 4. Eldorado ARCADE

Today's Flickr favorites should be of sleeping people, but then I remembered I had already posted a few of those favorites a while ago. Take a look. (A few of the photos have been set to private or deleted since I posted the links.)

pretty yellows

On my mind today; shoes. Pretty shoes that don't fit.

I have gigantic blisters on both heels after my silly new shoes walk yesterday. So today I'm wearing lots of band aids and comfy Birkenstock slippers that are open on the heel. Not very practical in the rain, but we drove to the office this morning, so it's nothing to worry about.

Last week was a busy, busy with work. I think this week will be a little slower. Yesterday started off with a phone interview with a leader in a power company, I wrote the article that I did the interview for, and I finished the article about autumn coziness that I mentioned last week. Today I've worked on an autumn campaign for a local bakery with some guys in the advertising firm that I share my office with + I'm continuing the work with my articles for no.

Flickr favorites photo links (including one of my own photos that is not really a favorite, but it fits the theme, right?):
1. mistress of procrastination, 2. Bananza, 3. {yellow}, 4. Untitled

tag your photos

This is a short story about why you should add tags to your photos on Flickr - you might get published. I did! And I bet others have experienced the same, am I right?

The programme manager at The Lighthouse - Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City - sent me a Flickr mail and asked for permission to use one of my photos from my Scotland trip last year. Of course she could.

Today I picked up the result in my mail box at the office: Where We Are - Design Guide to Scotland's Six Cities, with my (tiny) photo from Beauly on page 104. The book is really nice - great design and paper quailty.

I got an invitation to the launch party, which said the following:

“Where We Are” features the people and places that are creating Scotland’s new design landscape. Introductions to fifteen of our best designers reflect the increasing success of designers who choose to live their lives and build their design businesses in Scotland. These are accompanied by contributions from design-conscious locals, who know their cities inside out, telling you the unique places to visit, sleep, eat and shop.

The guidebook focuses on design and architecture alongside the strengths and successes of the Six Cities Design Festival 2007 . Created as a practical legacy document, the book promotes the work of the best of Scotland’s designers through a series of insightful essays and photography. It includes opinion pieces on current design issues, profiles of the most original and inventive Scottish designers, full city listings of where to go and what to do alongside detailed maps.

Designed by Marque Creative the book is a beautiful example of what Scottish graphic design companies can produce. Specially commissioned illustrations are included alongside a series of photographs that have been specially sourced and selected from Flickr. These create visual portraits of the cities illustrating the listings which have all been compiled from recommendations received from architecture and design aware citizens creating diverse and personalised selections.

The book is available from 3 September from The Lighthouse shop (online and in-store) as well as all good book stores.

Swedish style

Sofie Andersson is a Swedish interior design stylist. She works for magazines like Swedish Elle Interiör and Hus & Hem + IKEA. I like her style. (Via flittiglisene.)

Today I'm finishing the article about Stavanger that I mentioned yesterday, I have done a few changes to an article about a firm working with road construction, operation and maintenance, after lunch I'm doing a phone interview with a leader in a power company, and then I'll continue the work on the article about Finnish design for no magazine.

And then the weekend starts. Do you have any fun plans? We are celebration my friend's 30th birthday tomorrow. The theme of the party is headgear.

water words

When I had breakfast at about 7:45 am this morning, it really poured down outside. I said to Sølve, sitting in the green chair beside me with his head behind today's finansial newspaper, "today we need full rain gear and boots", and so we dressed. When we walked to the office the rain had stopped.

Talking about the wet element; one thing I regret about this summer is that I didn't go swimming in the ocean; I only did it in Greece in May. I had a few dips in lakes though. But it's not too late to go swimming, is it?

Today I'm writing the article about Stavanger that my sister and I worked on in July. Stavanger is situated on the southwest coast of Norway, it there are excellent beaches nearby.

Flickr favorites photo links:

1. Bath, 2. our memories are golden..., 3. Untitled, 4. to the left

a taste of summer

I have already said that I'm ready for autumn. But then again, August is still officially summer, and I wouldn't mind just a tiny taste of of those warm, lazy days before the autumn rain starts pouring down for real. You know what I mean?

Flickr favorites photo links: 1. peaches, 2. Saturn Peaches, 3. more yummy snacks, 4. Apricots

autumn coziness

I love how varied my job is. Today I wrote an article about a girl who is trainee in the Norwegian telecom company Telenor, I did a few changes in the article I wrote last week about the guy who wrote his landscape architecture master thesis in South Africa, and now I'm doing research for an interior design article about autumn coziness - hence the lovely autumn inspired photos above (found here). I already said it last week; autumn, I'm ready for you!

I hope your Monday is treating you well.

magazines and other news

I sure like to read magazines. Not so surprising maybe, as it is also my job - I'm a journalist writing for various lifestyle magazines. I read magazines both for pleasure and business. They are my one of my biggest sources of inspiration and they keep me updated in the fields that I work in - design, art, gardening and food.

As of today I subscribe to 13 magazines: Wallpaper - Vogue (US edition) - Vanity Fair - Nord - Livingetc - Elle (Norwegian edition) - Elle Interiør - Dwell - Costume - Rom123 - Gourmet - Bon Appetit - Norsk Hagetidend

There's also a few I buy on a regular basis: Boligmagasinet - Eurowoman - Insideout - Nytt Rom - Elle Interiör - Elle Decor

Puh! Did I forget any? I bet I did.

Well, you other magazines addicts out there, have you seen this? It's a website where you can flip through several magazines for free. The site is of course a bit controversial. I wouldn't want to see real paper magazines go out of business because of this, but I will enjoy this site - as long as it lasts...

Besides loving magazines, I also love watching movies, and so does Sølve. Consequently we watch a lot of movies on our home cinema system. I don't know if you have noticed, but on the right side of this blog I continuously list films that I like and dislike. The last film I saw was The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. You should see it too. Btw, there are heaps and heaps of other films that should be on the two lists, but it's not so long ago I started the lists and I'm not going to try to remember everything I have seen before to complete the lists.

In other news, there's an interview with my over at Cathrine's Frilansjournalisten blog today. If you read Norwegian, you can read it here. In short I'm telling about my work as a freelance journalist and copywriter. Cathrine is a freelance journalist too and that's what her blog is about. I enjoy reading how she combines the freelance role with being a mum. You might remember that I mentioned her blog earlier this summer.

we did it

If you are a regular visitor to my Flickr photostream (which btw is updated e v e r y d a y, in case you didn't know) you already know the simple yet biiig reason why it's been so silent in this space for almost a month - we got married! This bride was of course a little too busy smiling to the photographers, so she didn't take many photos herself. But my sweet friends did, and I'll share a few over here when I get the time to sort through them.

The photo above was taken by my friend Jannicke, who also did the graphic design for our wedding. She's the best!

Cecilie Melli is the Norwegian designer who made my dress.

pretty pictures

These two ads are beautiful.

keep my time

On my wish list: the ball clock designed by George Nelson.

The photo is a page in one of my favorite interior design magazines; Living etc.

boats

I just realised I have quite a few photos of boats. There must be something about the colors and shapes I really like. I'm a little ambivalent about being in small boats though. I get easily sea sick... But I love swimming!

See all the boat photos in this new Flickr set simply called boats.

dress tree lamp

I found this flyer in my e-mail inbox today. Such a beautiful photo. In fact, I love it so much I instantly bought the poster. Now there's only 14 left in stock (of 500). I should go to London and see the exhibition. Or maybe I should just buy the book.

More info about the Tim Walker exhibition on the Design Museum website.

slow work

Even though it's raining and it doesn't feel much like summer, it definitely feels like my head is on vacation. Most people at my office are gone fishing or what ever, and it's hard to focus on work. Yesterday I did a lot of planning and today I'm updating my work website.

Some of you might remember that I was in Moscow for work last year. If you didn't get hold of the international issue of no magazine, don't worry, you can read my Moscow story here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and download the pdf - it's in English!

I don't know why, but I didn't take so many photos in Moscow. Maybe because I only brought my small Olympus mju point and shoot (with film). The two photos above are my favorites. See all the Moscow photos here.

Speaking of travels, as the rain continues to pour down, I long to go back to this place and have meals like this and this. I also wonder were we should go for our honeymoon. Any suggestions?

freelance life

I really enjoy being a freelancer. As long as I don't have any appointments, I can do what ever I want. Sleep in, read magazines all day and call it "research", go thrift store shopping with my friend M, bake cakes and eat them too - also "research". It's summer and I don't have a lot of deadlines at the moment. In fact, this whole week I have done a lot of "research" (= I didn't plan to take the day off, it just happened). Also, I can take the day off (on purpose) and drive home to my parents one day before planned to have dinner and talk about our wedding. That's what I did yesterday.

Today I'm home alone in my childhood home while my parents are at work. I should work too. Although I don't have a lot of deadlines these days, I have one on Monday. Time to write the article about the local artist I interviewed a little while ago. I have had the whole week to write this article, but the big procrastination bug bite me... So, today I slept in, had breakfast while Flickring, photographed around the house, talked to my maid of honour for about an hour on the phone, and read blogs.

The blog reading is the reason I wanted to write this in the first place. I have come across a couple of Norwegian blogs about freelancing. I know of a few similar English blogs, but the Norwegian blogs are just so much more familiar to my work situation. When I started freelancing in 2003 (oh! it's already been almost five years!) I had NO idea what I was doing. I wish these freelance blogs existed back then. Even now, with a few years of freelance experience, these blogs are really inspiring reads.

Frilansliv - Frilansjournalisten - Frilansinfo

organic cool

I like this pillow from Danish Mow Living. I'm not a big fan of yellow, but it works so well here. The bonus is that it is made of 100 % organic cotton.

wedding preparations

Today our wedding is 1 month and 2 days away. We are getting more and more ready, but there are still preparations to be done - like getting Sølve an outfit. Since our garden wedding is in my mother-in-law's childhood home (photos here), we have to do things like prepare the garden (it is big!), paint the flag pole (it hasn't been done in 30 years, so the wedding is a good excuse to do it), and clean the house (we might have to go inside during the party). Some of the projects have been going on for a while, and some of them we started this weekend. I spent some hours high up in a ladder painting the flag pole in the sizzling heat. At least I got a slight tan.

One preparation we did this weekend, that I especially enjoyed, was the hike to Stalheim. It was our first time there, and it was truly amazing! Most of our wedding guests are coming the day before the wedding, since none of them live at Voss. We want to have a fun, informal meet up before the big day, so we plan to take them on this hike to Stalheim, and have a traditional meal at the Sivle gard (Sivle farm) on the way back.

See the photos from our Stalheim hike here.

PS: Click on the image above to view it bigger (and better).