Tall girl's fashion

The charms of Antibes, France

2011-10-24T10:00:00.001+02:00

Juan-les-pins and Cote de'Azur, France

2011-10-23T21:47:00.004+02:00

Our neighbourhood ~~watch~~ hungry dog

Finally, I've arrived in France! We are staying in vieil (old) Antibes, exploring the region of Cote de'Azur. Having never been in this part of France before, I'm in awe of the beautiful beaches, charming streets and QE2-sized yachts!

Today, on our first full day in Antibes, we timed our outing with the sieasta, so everything was closed. Still, we managed to do a fair bit of window shopping, identifying shops we "need" to go back to later in the week. We took Les petite train, a charming little three-cart street train, through to Juan-les-pins, a small city just south-west of Antibes. In the 1920s, this was the first resort in Cote d'Azur to stay open in summer, with visitors such as Coco Chanel, Pablo Picasso and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Sadly, neither of these were around today, but we saw our share of overweight Europeans in gawdy track suits, through the haze of our very boozy lunch!

Handy mode of transport. Added bonus: VERY flirty driver!

The charming streets of Juan-les-pins

Juan-les-pins' boardwalk, great for people-watching

Nok 150/20 euro sunbeds, but too cold today

Massive seagull ~~taking off~~ picking up a fishing vessel

"Let's call for the chopper to bring us back to the ship!"

Enjoying the good life

Beautiful sunset

Sirmione, Lake Garda, Italy

2011-10-13T17:00:00.002+02:00

Last summer I had the holiday of a lifetime, visiting Italy and Corsica, France. While counting the days until my next holiday - only eight days away now! - I thought I'd revisit Sirmione, an incredibly charming town on Lake Garda. Click on the photos to enlarge. Enjoy!

Bag lady on safari

2011-10-12T23:01:00.000+02:00

Bags: Longchamp, Mulberry, Marimekko. Coat: Reiss. Boots: Gabor. Scarf: HM.

It's a well-known fact that I have a handbag obsession, but normally I try not to carry all of them at once. No such luck today, as I had to lug home my computer + workpapers, as well as my massive handbag and my (unused) swimming gear (forever the optimist). AND they were filled with my latest Amazon order. Needless to say, I was relieved when I finally reached my flat, after climing the hill and three flights of stairs!

I thought I'd be a tad more ladylike today, after yesterday's bright and comfy outfit. Combining my leopard shirt with a green skirt and black tights and top, my goal was to achieve just the right amount of safari. I tried it with leopard flats, but that was overkill! I could have added a necklace to create some interest up top, but I ran late this morning...

A pencil skirt is a wardrobe staple, as it looks good on all body shapes - just vary the cut and length. At the moment, skirt lengths are getting longer, but a shorter skirt like mine is generally more flattering, as you are showing some leg. This makes you appear taller and slimmer. Try and think outside the box when you shop for a pencil skirt. A classic black skirt is versatile and will last a lifetime, but a more unusual skirt like mine might actually get more wear, as it is easier to mix and match with other styles.

Shirt: Zara. Cardigan, skirt and tights: HM.

Rainy days

2011-10-11T22:19:00.000+02:00

Parka: HM. Blouse: Zara. Scarf: Cos. Jeans: Zara.

So what do you do when the weather is horrible for the tenth month running and you are feeling...under the weather? You put on your brightest trousers and your comfiest cardigan and head out the door, gritting your teeth!

Wearing bright colours always cheer me up. Keeping warm is quite pleasing, too, and today was my first day wearing wool since spring. And wedges ensure that I can feel elevated without my toes getting too wet from the rain. Needless to say, the shoes are dripping in water repellant...

Wedges are a girl's best friend, tall or short. They are perfect for women (like my mum) who think heels are not for them. Heels need not equal pain. Wedges equal comfort and joy.

Try on a moderately high wedge and feel how they change your life - ok, maybe just your style and posture, but that's good enough for me. No fear of tripping or twisting your ankles, as wedges are both stable and comfortable. They also come in all heights, just like heels, so choose a low one when you are first starting out. Even if you are tall like me, a little heel is both elegant and feminine.

Wedges: Bianco.

Cardigan: Day Birger et Mikkelsen. Bag: Mulberry.

Should I?: Christopher Kane crochet skirt

2011-08-13T10:00:00.001+02:00

Credit: www.net-a-porter.com

Above, Christopher Kane's 1.690 euro crochet skirt in patchwork style.

Below, my woolly blanket, handmade about 15 years ago by moi, in the softest baby wool by Dalegarn:

So, should I make myself a skirt right now? Or even better, should I start taking orders? I could save us about 1.600 euros, I reckon. Per skirt.

Anyone interested?!?

New craving? Not so much...

2011-08-12T10:00:00.001+02:00

Credit: www.net-a-porter..com

Is it me, or is 1.760 euros a tad much to pay for a pair of pyjamas?

I love Lanvin as much as the next woman, but this is overkill.

What is your pyjama budget?

Must-have: The classic trench

2011-08-11T22:28:00.000+02:00

On Saturday I was out shopping with my mum, as she wanted to get herself a classic trench coat. This proved to be quite an adventure: I'd thought there would be trench coats all over the place, as they are a classic that's relaunched every season. However, we are now right smack in between two seasons with nothing to choose from.

The total opposite of her daughter, my mum is not too keen on shopping, and she almost gave up after the first two stores. I had to do the motivational shopping speach: We have just started out, lots of stores left in the mall, not hungry yet, etc. This was actually the first time I've been shopping with/for mum and I had a blast! She, not so much...

We - or rather, she - tried on a couple of ill-fitting but on-sale trench coats at some smaller stores before we decided to check out H&M. And we fashionistas know that you are never between seasons at H&M. The store is always (over) packed with merchandise, both new season and on sale.

In the Trend department I found this amazing trench coat which fit her - and me! - amazingly well, so we both came out with new coats. And the best part? It was only Nok 399, despite it looking really well made!

Løp og kjøp!*

I love the details in the back, with the pleats, the flap + button and the many belt loops. It gives you a great hourglass shape.

*Translation: Run and buy!

DvF's wrap dresses: The stalker dress

2011-08-01T18:50:00.001+02:00

I'm still struggling with taking my own photos, so I thought I'd make make a fool of myself so you wouldn't notice how fuzzy the picture really is!

Just last week, I told you how much I love a wrap dress and how it makes everyone look good, no matter your body shape (see here). Today, it was time to bring out a dress from the queen of wrap dresses, Diane von Furstenberg. Check out her Wrap Shop here!

As the then wife of Prince Egon of Fürstenberg, Diane started her fashion company in 1970, to "be someone of her own", and already in 1973 the sale of her knitted jersey wrap dresses took off. She sold more than FIVE MILLION wrap dresses over the next few years! She was a regular at Studio 54 and the wrap dress came to symbolise the free and independent woman we'd all like to be.

Then the market lost interest in the wrap dress and she was forced to sell her licenses to avoid bankruptcy. But DvF is not a quitter and in 1997 she started the company Diane von Fürstenberg Studio and relaunched the wrap dress, apparently more moderately priced this time around. Slowly, the company has grown and today she carries women's wear, sunglasses, shoes and accessories, while also designing high-end jewelry for H. Stern and funky carpets for The Rug Company. She is mentioned as one of the 26 most fascinating entrepreneurs on Inc. here.

My white and pale blue DvF wrap dress, in the softest silk jersey, is several years old, but the great thing about her dresses is that they never go out of style! Most of them have a retro print anyway, which will always be in fashion, as long as you don't choose one that is too loud or too busy.

There is a funny story to my dress: I "forced" my boyfriend at the time to attend Daily Candy's first (and one of few) sample sale in London. He surprised me by saying yes - I think he was dying to see what a sample sale was all about. Anyway, as I like a good lie-in, we didn't get there until over an hour after it had opened and there was no DvF to be seen. The people who came first had grabbed as many as they could carry and hung on to them until they had seen everything in the sale, and then made their final selection. While I was trying on other stuff, my BF took it upon himself to stalk the DvF horders around the sales floor, catching any dresses that any of them put down. Soon, he got hold of one in a ridiculously small size and managed to trade it for a larger size with another woman! He was so proud when he came back with the dress - and we quickly named it the stalker dress...

As per usual, it was freezing this morning, so I teamed the stalker dress with a fitted denim jacket and my floral scarf. I like how the denim dresses down the dress and makes it more casual. On my arm is my Longchamp tote:

On my feet were incredibly comfortable pale blue heels from NoaNoa - the perfect heel height for us tall gals at about two inches:

And just in case you're interested, here are my never to ripen but very pretty cherry tomatoes:

Raspberry smoothie

2011-07-31T17:00:00.004+02:00

I'm quite hooked on the smoothies these days and this morning I made a refreshing raspberry smoothie, inspired by this recipe on www.ehow.com

I made some small changes to the recipe, so here is my raspberry smoothie, enough for 2-3 glasses:

Ca 2,5 dl raspberries
1/2 banana
2 tablepoons honey
1 cup ricemilk
1 tray of icecubes

Mix it all up in the blender until all the icecubes are crushed, drink and feel the energy - and the C vitamins! - soring through your body!

Enjoy!

How to: Pencil skirt + mixing trends

2011-07-31T12:26:00.001+02:00

Yesterday, I was wearing my (rather boring) military inspired pencil skirt from Oasis. I bought this skirt when the military trend was big a few years ago, but it is not exactly an exciting piece of clothing: If I'd worn the skirt with a regular t-shirt, it would have looked really boring and conservative - and quite masculine.

To add style and femininity, I teamed the skirt with a lace blouse (Zara) and my blister-inducing sandals from H&M. And yet again I decided upon the floral Longchamp bag, a current favourite of mine, since I can bring the kitchen sink and still have room to spare!

To create an interesting outfit you should mix the styles of the garments you are wearing together. Here I mix military and romantic lace. A businesslike pencil skirt would also look great with the blouse, as would a pair of wornout jeans. Think that opposites attrack and bring out the best in each other, just like elsewhere in life!

Today, I continued the mixing of styles, as I was off to an appointment that at the last minute got cancelled. Normally on a Sunday, I'm more about staying in bed until late and lounging around in jeans and a t-shirt... But today I wore black trouser from H&M and a peasant top and gladiator sandals from Zara. I added African-inspired jewelry to emphasise summer and the exotic, with gold hoops and a mix of bangles from Botswana and the highstreet.

In my hand in the next shot is my Menu water bottle in stainless steel, a Christmas gift from my friend Åshild. I've got an unbelievable amount of use out of this bottle, bringing cold water along in the car on longer trips. It keeps the water cold for several hours and more importantly, it looks very chic, too!

I can't find the bottle anywhere online, but the Norwegian store Kitch'n has a large selection of Menu's products, as do Til bords.

Lazy morning with a chocolate smoothie!

2011-07-30T14:11:00.001+02:00

Meet my current addiction. And it's really HEALTHY as well!

I stumbled aross the recipe for this delicious Chocolate peanutbutter smoothie on a blog two days ago - but I can't remember which one... Luckily, I also came across the recipe on the Glitter Guide, along with a range of other tempting smoothies, here.

When I first found the recipe I immediately ran into the kitchen and made it. I was so excited that I actually had all the ingredients in the house. How often does that happen, right? Normally, you need to hunt down some ancient spice from the back shelf of the international food shop or buy some type of alcohol you don't even like to add two teaspoons to the dish. But in this case I got instant gratification - and it's delicious!

The only change I made to the recipe was to use rice in place of almond milk. It should also be mentioned that you won't die if your cocoa powder is two years out of date. I'm the living proof.

Enjoy your healthy treat!

Now, can anyone tell me where I can buy kale in Bergen - and what it's called in Norwegian?

Denim skirt

2011-07-30T10:00:00.060+02:00

Today was casual Friday in t-shirt and denim! This Stella McCartney lookalike skirt is from Zara. I love the length and the aline cut - it hits at the knee, which is a good length for us tall girls. The only catch is that the skirt is sewed slightly crooked - it veers towards the left! This reminds me that I should check the garments over before I buy them to make sure the quality is right. Cheap shouldn't mean faulty, don't you agree?

To give the skirt some punch, I wore it with an orange t-shirt (H&M) and a purple Zara cardigan. This cardi is great for us tall girls, with its longer length. It's in the Basic collection and is available in a range of colours, new ones being introduced every season.

This morning it was quite chilly, so I added purple tights and a floral scarf from Indiska (they have a great and colourful scarf collection!). These came off later in the day as the sun came out. Imagine, we actually have sunshine today!

The floral handbag is by Longchamp, bought in the sales at Steffen in Oslo. This is my favourite handbag store in Norway (and the only one to carry Longchamp and several other midpriced brands), second only to the Mulberry store further down the road (in a different league all together).

Prada sunglasses and Bronx wedges

Colourful and soft scarf

My usual bangle collection and wannabe Thomas Sabo bee from Beijing

The accessory collection!

Prawn stirfry. Yummy!

2011-07-29T12:00:00.003+02:00

At the weekend at my parents' house, I treated my mum to dinner. She is a great cook and isn't used to anyone cooking for her, so she kept popping into the kitchen to check that I was doing alright and to ask if she could help!

But if there is one thing that I can cook, it's a stirfry. Normally, I make them veggie, but my mum was craving tiger prawns, and what she wants, she will get.

Here's the recipe:

Put on a pot of rice. I prefer brown rice, but any kind of white rice will work equally well.

Chop and fry the following vegetables in peanut or sunflower (NOT olive) oil in a large wok. Begin with the vegetables that have the longest cooking time:
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 red pepper
1 cube vegetable stock (crushed)

After about 10 minutes, add:
1 packet of mangetout
1 small packet of tiger prawns (cleaned)
2-3 tablespoons of coriander

Cook until the prawns have all turned pink, then add:
2-3 tablespoons dark soy sauce, more if you like it spicy
2-3 tablespoons oyster sauce, more if you like it spicy
Some sesame oil
Salt, if needed

Add the rice to the wok and mix it all up. Pile high on large dinner plates and devour!

This recipe is enough for 2-3 people, depending on how famished you are. We had enough for dinner + mum's lunch the following day. Velbekomme!

How to: Use colours to lengthen your legs

2011-07-29T10:00:00.039+02:00

I'm on a roll here with wearing colours, so I thought why stop?

This grey skirt from H&M is one of the most comfortable things there is - and it's the perfect length for us tall girls. Not too short so we can't sit down, while still short enough to show some leg. It's also ultra strechy all over, so you can let your hair loose in it. H&M also does a dress in the same fabric, still in stock.

To keep the outfit elegant rather than bright, I used three different greytones on the bottom part of my body and pink and purple up top. The different greys create one long line and elongate my legs - and the heels help too! - while wearing black shoes or tights would have made my legs seem shorter by breaking them up.

The purple jacket is also from H&M - not the greatest quality and about as stretchy as key, but it will get me through the season. The top is Marc Cain Sport, but H&M has a great selection of vest tops, too. Finally, the shoes are a souvenir from Le Havre, which I visited on my cruise back in June. Everything was closed - shops. restaurants, you name it, but trust me to find the one and only shoe store in town that was open. And actually buy something! No wonder people call me Carrie... The shoes are by a brand called Maripé, of which I know nothing, but I love them!

After deciding what to wear, I decided to play around with other colours with the skirt. Here's a party take on the skirt with pink tights, the same shoes and a black sequined top (Oasis), to give som sparkle. Remember the four elements of an outfit when deciding what to wear: Colour, texture, shine and pattern!

Craving: Skyler Zoe's wardrobe

2011-07-28T20:22:00.003+02:00

This short video shows the insane gifts little Skyler has received from all the fashion houses of the world. Just check out the size of that kid's wardrobe - both the amount of clothes and the size of the walk-in closet! How can I be jealous of a baby?!?...

Dubai and the desert

2011-07-28T17:00:00.003+02:00

Dubai, February 2010. Driving full speed over the sand dunes in a jeep is up there with rafting, RIB boating, quad biking and snow mobiling. In other words AMAZING!

Craving: Sitting in one of these...

2011-07-28T17:00:00.002+02:00

Sirmione, Lake Garda, Italy (2010)

More colourblocking

2011-07-28T10:00:00.016+02:00

Unintentionally, today I ended up with almost the same outfit as a week ago, which you can see here.

But what to expect when you wear the same Zara jeans as then AND every other thing in your wardrobe is purple, because you are obsessed with the colour?

Today, I jazzed up the orange with (another) purple top, a black suede jacket from eons ago and leopard accessories - Mulberry bag and Donald Pliner ballet slippers.

I'll try and be more adventurous with the jeans the next time, promise. And I will say some wise words about the colour wheel and which colours go together and not. But for now, I've got to hit the sack, as I've had one of the longest days in ages and I'm off to Oslo tomorrow morning. This will be my first time over since the terror attacks. Visiting the bomb site and the memorial site by the Domkirke is sure to make me cry, but I feel I need to see it all with my own eyes to fully understand the atrocity that has happened.

Architectural detail

2011-07-28T00:38:00.001+02:00

Duomo di Milano, July 2010

The perfect Italian pigeon...

2011-07-28T00:33:00.002+02:00

Milano, July 2010

The wrap dress

2011-07-27T10:00:00.130+02:00

A woman's best friend is the wrap dress! It works for all shapes and sizes. Even better, you can loose or gain a couple of kilos and the dress still fits - you just tie it slightly tighter/looser!

The queen of the wrap dress is Diane von Furstenburg, who has the most desirable collection of wrap dresses a girl could ask for. Here's a cute one from her last collection:

I'll talk more about DvF some other day - today I want to talk about another great designer, the grand dame (quite literally, she is a Dame) of deconstruction and unbelievable shape, Vivienne Westwood:

Borrowed from top-people.starmedia.com

Famous for her pirate inspired clothes, Westwood cuts her clothes amazingly. EVERYBODY gets a great figure in her corset tops and dresses, nipped in jackets and cowl-neck dresses and tops. She also has the most incredible pirate boots, that I am dying to get my hands on:

Borrowed from givemeabow.blogspot.com

But I digress. What I want to talk about are Westwood's dresses. Today I'm wearing a dress from her label Anglomania, a sales scoop from my-wardrobe.com last year (I'm quite the bargain girl - I often succeed at buying things I've been lusting after for an entire season at half off in the sales. Quite fortunate that I'm lucky in this ONE area of my life, since I've got NO luck what so ever in love or gambling...):

This dress is pure genious, cut like a big square piece of fabric with armholes and buttons at the neckline to create the draping (by attaching the corners of the square).

The miracle of a wrap dress is that it gives you a natural hourglass shape, since you'll be tying it closely around your waist to close it up. This gives focus on your hips and chest, which is very flattering and feminine. Also, most wrap dresses have a v-neck, giving you a great cleavage. The split will also give your legs a lot of attention, maybe showing a glimpse of thigh as you are walking or sitting down.

With the draped neckline, my Westwood dress is creating volume at the top, which makes my hips seem slimmer. To me, this is always a great bonus!

I wore my dress with black tights, leopard print shoes (Russell & Bromley), black leather jacket from Bzr by Bruuns Bazar and Mulberry leopard print bag:

So go out there and find the perfect wrap dress to give you shape and elegance! I can recommend DvF's soft silk/wool/cotton jersey wrap dresses, which you'll find in boutiques in the larger cities in Norway, and online in higher-end stores.

Also, British catalogue company Boden (US website: bodenusa.com) normally has a few nice wrap dresses in their collection, launching new patterns every season. Check out this one, that comes in five different colours and also in longer length.

Boden is actually a favourite of mine, as most of their skirts, dresses and trousers come in Long, and they fit really well! Also, their shoes often go up to size 42. Their bikinis are also brillliant - you can choose from several different bottoms and tops in the same fabric. You will normally be able to find some great bargains in their sales. Just remember that if you shop internationally, customs is added to your bill. And they don't offer free return like net-a-porter.com and my-wardrobe.com. Ouch.

PS (ie Photography, the Sequel): Sorry about the darkness of the photographs. I've been trying out a new lense and needless to say, it isn't working. Will do more tests tonight with another spot and another camera and/or lense. Neverending stoooooryyyyy, dadada, dadada, dadada... I did a do-over, as the Americans say, and shot new photographs in the bedroom with a different lens and a flash. It'll have to do until I persuade someone to be my personal photographer!

Craving: Mulberry Carker handbag

2011-07-27T10:00:00.000+02:00

I first saw this bag at Oslo airport a couple of months ago and have been admiring it whenever I fly through there ever since. It is just the most gorgeous handbag in a really luxurios, soft leather and with really cool details. It's also quite roomy, so I'll have no problems fitting in the kitchen sink and its immediate surroundings.

Unfortunately, the price is way up there (Nok 10.000,-), so it won't be coming home with me any time soon. Or let's be realistic - EVER. Unless it goes on sale, which I never think it will.

For that kind of price I can get 60 % of a Chanel 2.55, and that would be of more value to me than this beauty. But I still get a kick out of dreaming about it!

How to: Shirtdress and stripes

2011-07-26T17:00:00.000+02:00

The shirtdress is one of my favourite garments. So easy to pull on and so comfortable to wear. It fits all shapes and sizes - you'll just select different lengths and accessories that fit your shape, like jewelry, belts and tights!

Since my dress is quite short, I decided to go for stripy legs today. I know, they remind you of a bumble bee. But bees are cute, right? Admittedly, my mum was quite surprised when she saw them and referred to them as "pretty wild". Then she tried to make up for it (or row herself out of it, as we'd say in Norwegian) and said she guessed they were fun. Those mothers, ha?!?

If you are shorter, you might want to avoid horisontal stripes and go for tights in charcoal or another dark colour, which will make your legs appear longer.

Unless you are really curvy and your shirtdress is tailored (and even then), you'd want to wear a belt with your dress to create an hourglass shape. I went for a fun Sonia Rykiel belt with a lips clasp, matched with a brown heartshaped necklace from Lola Rosa. At work I wore this with black platforms, but since I didn't bring those shoes home, I put on my espadrille wedges for the photo.

To bring the animal theme totally over the top, I added my giraffe print raincoat. This coat reminds me of wearing one of those plastic wipe-off table cloths. Not that I have ever worn a table cloth - I'm not that avantgarde! - but the feeling must be the same: Sweaty back within ten minutes!

Oh, I should probably say something about my new photo location. I keep moving around my flat, trying to find the spot that will give me the best lighting. Now I've moved about 1,5 meters to the right in my kitchen. Not exactly a leap for mankind, but it brings me closer to the windows. However, despite the lovely view you now get of my pride and joy - my orchids - this space is clearly not it. That lampshade had a thing for my head! Maybe someone could just set me up with a decent photographer?!?

Craving: Wardrobes

2011-07-26T10:00:00.016+02:00

New wardrobes is all I can think about these days. I'm planning to turn my spare bedroom/home office into a closet/home office. It's not like I have tons of guests sleep over all the time anyway, right? And my sofa in the living room is a pullout, and a lot more comfortable than the bed anyway.

So there, done with the justification.

Now I just need the money to buy the wardrobes - plus delivery and installation. I normally assemble furniture from Ikea myself, but from experience I know the wardrobes will be too heavy to erect and move on my own, so I better invest in some help so I don't injure myself - or my flat.

I've already planned out what I need on ikea.no. Actually, I've done this several times and keep changing my mind about how much space I need for hanging dresses/skirts/tops and whether I want the new chest of drawers or not. These are some of the most important decisions of my live, you know, so I need to ensure that I think everything through!

One thing I know for sure, is that I need at least a couple of open shelves for shoes. I'm sooo tired of searching for the right pair in the Pisa towers of shoe boxes!

And some nice pullout drawers for my gym clothes and my tops.

And a trouser hanger.

And some space for my handbags.

And what about my jewelry?...

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Paris - again

2011-07-26T00:12:00.000+02:00

To cheer myself up on a rather blue evening, I decided to post some of my favourite photographs from my last trip to Paris. Notice how many of the pictures are food-related...

How to: Short dresses on tall women

2011-07-25T10:00:00.016+02:00

I can't count the amount of times I've tried on a cool dress only to discover that it leaves my ass out in the open. This is never a good look, unless you are working the streets. The general rule is: If your bum is touching the seat - without dress underneath - your dress is too short! This rule gets more important the older you get. By old I mean anyone past 25.

It is generally not only the lenght of the dress that might be the problem: Often the fit will also be off. In a fitted dress, your bum will be way below where the dress wants your bum to be. This can be tailored if the bum is only off by a few centimetres. If it is way off, the only solution is to take the dress off and move on!

If the dress is on the short side, but the shape looks good on you - it's a shift style or a-lined - it is time to consider how you can wear it without exposing your bum. Here are your two options:

Put on the thickest tights you can find. Wear with flats for a more casual look and conservative heels for a sexy nighttime look. Since your legs are long anyway, you can afford to wear the dress with contrasting heels. If you want your legs to look even longer, wear with shoes that are matching your tights. Leave the most vampy heels alone, as there is such as thing as too sexy.
Buy a pair of leggings in a colour that brings out the best in the dress. The leggings should preferably hit you mid-calf. That way they break up the length of your leg and ensure that you don't look too tall. If you would like to add length, however, wear with long leggings. Pair with a nice pair of heels - here they can be as tall as you'd like, as you are already breaking up the leg with the leggings.

In the picture you see me wearing a floral dress bought in the Warehouse sales last year - I've made some of my best purchases in the Warehouse sales! The dress as an empire, which works on me since it only has a very slight flare (not enough to emphasise my tummy).

Since the dress is too short to wear with bare legs, I have teamed it with cropped green leggings. My jewelry plays up the pink flowers of the dress, as do the H&M sandals. Ideally, I would have like to wear heels, but I was driving to my parents' house today and didn't want to cause an accident in my wedges...

Floral dresses and empire waist

2011-07-24T23:18:00.000+02:00

Flower power! On Friday it was time to take this floral number out for a spin. It's a cotton dress with an elasticated tube top that I just pull on over the head.

Normally, I'm careful with empire waists with a lot of volume in the skirt - this can make you look pregnant, which is not a desirable look. Unless you actually are pregnant. But here I think it works, as the longer length makes the skirt less poufy than if it had been shorter.

To fend off the A/C in the office, I put a cotton cardigan from Sportmax over the dress and closed it with a 50s-inspired flower pin. To reemphasise the summery look, I teamed the dress with turquise jewelry. On my feet are comfy suede espadrille wedges.

And the finally layer before I headed to the bus - a black leather jacket to roughen up the look. As they say, oppsites always attract!

Let the legs come out and play

2011-07-22T10:00:00.005+02:00

Today's outfit was all about the legs. As for many tall gals, my legs are my best asset, so they need to come out and play every now and again. This was the first time I took these H&M shorts out for a spin and when putting together my outfit, I immediately thought of Marni - the colours, the necklace. The Zara starprinted blouse, clearly inspired by Chanel a few seasons ago, was matched with blue-grey tights and grey suede wedges from Bianco (Norwegian shoe brand).

To keep warm, I put on my green leather jacket from St Tropez. This jacket is lined, so it's perfect for spring and autumn - and non-existent Norwegian summers. Sorry about whining about the weather again, but it was back down to 10 degrees this morning...

But that's why we have tights and layering - for those days when it's just too cold to bare your legs. Or your arms, for that matter. When wearing shorts, and in particular shorter versions, during the day, possibly to the office, it's important to choose the correct footwear. Thigh high boots can only be pulled off by Pretty woman. At night. The same with stilettos. Choose flats or a wedge, or even some cool lower boots if the weather is really horrible, which will play down the shortness of the shorts.

Also, since bare legs make your body skinny at the bottom, you can wear something more voluminous on top to balance out your body shape. If I'd worn these shorts with a tight fitting top, I would have looked more like a beanpole, less like a fairly proportionate person.

While in Oslo yesterday, I had some time to spare after my meeting and decided to check out the sales. Never check out the sales. You'll ALWAYS end up with something NOT on sale. Like this cool robot necklace below. It's by Norwegian designer Cecilie Mellie. I thought she only did formal and wedding gowns, but she also has a large selection of jewelry, ranging from popart pieces like my necklace to sparkly bracelets and rings. If nothing else, check out this cute mouse bracelet!

The necklace is pictured with my new 70 % off booties from NoaNoa. Yes, I DID manage to find something on sale. I have been lusting after these beauties since they came out this spring, but suede is rather impractical in rainy Bergen. But who am I to resist at that discount?!? I'll just drown them in Collonil Waterstop every time I take them out for a spin...

Colour blast!

2011-07-21T10:00:00.002+02:00

Summer = painted nails AND toes!

While I normally wear more subtle nail polish on my fingers - my favourite is Chanel in Particulere - I hunted down the Mimosa in Dublin (sold out all over Norway). I have to say, this is one of the most diffcult colours to put on. I had to do three layers before I got it even remotely even. My nail polish remover pen came in really handy (if you don't have one of these already, run and get one at your nearest makeup store. Once you've tried one, there is no turning back!), as I seemed to have spilt polish all over my fingertips...

I really like the finished result, even though it doesn't match my unsunned skin tone that well. But until we have sunshine in Bergen and I can work on my tan, I'll wear my Easter yellow nails with pride!

Now, does anyone know where I can get hold of the turquoiseish blue Chanel?

Laundry time

2011-07-20T10:00:00.000+02:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, the only housework I'm actually keen on doing is laundry. But the laundry room in my flat is rather small and can't accomodate a clothes horse. Since I don't like having the clothes horse in the middle of my living room, I decided to check out what kind of drying solutions Ikea had.

And boy did they have many options! I decided upon these handy wall racks, that simply fold together against the wall when not in use. If you do a lot of laundry or are a big family, two of these might not fill your needs. But for a single person - who does do a lot of laundry - these fit perfectly: I can fit two loads of towels OR one+ load of clothes on the two racks. Now I only need to navigate around the clothes horse when washing sheets or playing laundry catch-up!

Accident prone

2011-07-19T10:00:00.000+02:00

According to... well, just about everyone, most accidents happen in the home.

I've had a few, mostly cooking related: Chopping my fingertip off with my new knives, burning my hand in the stove, burning my tounge on hot food (greedy wench).

Some of the most serious accidents have been outfit-related, however. Here is the most recent:

Yes, that is a rather large hole in my new top. The result of making popcorn. That is, popcorn gone wrong.

You see, in addition to burning* a large hole in my top, the heat was on too high and the popcorn didn't pop and what did was burnt.

So you can imaging how grumpy I was when both the top and the popcorn were ruined!

Now, do we think H&M still has this top left in stock?!?

*Beware when cooking in clothes made of viscose! The fabric actually melted from being in contact with the hot saucepan. This has happened to me before, so I should have known better...

Pyjama trousers, anyone?

2011-07-18T17:29:00.000+02:00

Today I'm wearing my colourful trousers from H&M. Yes, they remind us all of pyjama trousers - and they are just as comfy!

To offset the busy pattern and wide shape, I paired the trousers with something black and more tight-fitting - a black top from Warehouse and a black longline waistcoat from Zara. On my feet I wore rather dowdy black shoes - I thought it was going to rain and didn't want to wreck my espadrilles. At least my feet were comfy! The bag is an old classic from Mulberry in a funky colour. When I first bought this bag about three years ago, the colour was not quite in fashion, and I felt like everybody gave me a funny look when I wore it (but when has that ever stopped me?). This summer I've worn it loads!

I've been moving around my flat, trying to find the most ideal spot to do my outfit shots. It was not this corner, either... The light from the balcony doors wrecks the lighting in the photograph. I'll try the kitchen next.

Craving: Acne biker jacket

2011-07-18T10:00:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, I died and came to heaven. The big event happened when I tried on this new Acne oversized biker jacket, made of the softest sheepskin I have ever touched. I just felt like curling up on the floor and taking a nap when I had it on, it was so comfortable! Actually, if I had it, I think I might wear it in bed in place of my duvet.

The jacket is severely oversized, so a size 36 gave me the fit that I want.

I wonder if I have an unexpected inheritance coming my way from a rich aunt in Australia?

If not, I'm afraid I'd only spend that kind of money on a classic, like a Chanel 2.55, Burberry trench or Birkin.

Housework? No...

2011-07-17T10:00:00.030+02:00

I hate housework. The only housework which I find remotely interesting is laundry, all the rest of it can be left to all the Monicas of this world. Laundy I like because it's all about clean clothes folded in pretty piles and put away in their right place, ready to be worn again. Ironing, on the other hand, is a different story. A story very similar to other housework. That is, all housework except from laundry. The kind of housework Monica just looooved.

Unfortunately, there are no Monicas in my family or among my friends.

My way of cleaning is to wait as long as possible, until I can bear the dust bunnies no more. Then I drag out the vacuum cleaner and pray that I won't find any stains under the dust, forcing mr to wash the floors as well. I prefer waiting to the following day to day that, so I don't exhaust myself.

Now I've probably made you think that my flat is disgustingly filthy, and that is not the case. I just wish it was a degree or two cleaner and that I didn't have to clean it myself. Or that I enjoyed cleaning only 10 % more than I do, which would just about make it bareble. I don't have to love it, just like it a tiny bit.

I blame my hatred of cleaning on my mum. She is just like me. Only more clever. She has invested in one of those tiny vacuum cleaners, so she doesn't have to bring out the big guns every time a dust bunny drifts across the floor.

One clever solution might be to get a cleaner. But then I hear of all the tidying people do the night before the cleaner is due. To me, all that tidying cancels out the advantages of having a cleaner. Maybe I could find a cleaner who would do both? And I could spend more time writing my blog. Nice.

Now I've got to go and vacuum.

Colour blocking

2011-07-16T10:00:00.005+02:00

I love the bright colours that are in fashion right now and use every opportunity to wear some of them! The good thing is that the high street is filled with cheap options, so you won't have to break the bank to buy into the trend.

I'm particularly keen on purples, royal blues and oranges, as this outfit shows! Most is from the high street, like trousers, belt and cardigan from Zara and top from H&M. The handbag is a souvenir from the sales in Edinburgh last month, while the necklace was picked up on a summer holiday.

Bright block colours look great pared with neutrals and I have used black, which accounts for approx 90 % of my wardrobe. Tan or white would also look good - the point is to provide a neutral background to the the bright colours do the talking. You don't want to mix too many colours in one outfit - you want one or two focal points were your eyes will go, and the rest of your outfit needs to support and play up to the bright colours, to let the brights shine.

My shoes are Pretty Ballerinas, my go-to flats for narrow and large feet. They have an elasticated style that goes up to size 42 - last summer I bought them in bulk and have them in black, tan, two-tone (like Chanels) and grey suede . I love them all and highly recommend them to anyone with narrow feet!

Come to think of it, maybe I should do a separate post on which shoe styles and brands that I have found to fit large and narrow feet?!?

The bangles

2011-07-16T10:00:00.004+02:00

I love the current trend of wearing several metal cuffs at once, mixed with a few other types of bracelets. Ideally, I would like to add a couple of Hermes cuffs in the mix, but for the time being I'll make do with my Mint and Tokyo Jane cuffs. I think both brands are made at the same factory: After getting up close and personal with the bracelets, both brands seem to have the same machine/tool marks.

Please note that I don't normally wear all these bracelets at once! That would be rather uncomfortable... I normally mix the string bracelet (Ole Lyngaard knock-off from the Silk market in Beijng) and the stretchy metal bracelet (don't remember where from) with one of the metal cuffs. The black cuff used to be furry like the blue one, but all the hairs have fallen off because I've worn it so much. The beige and white cuffs are my most recent additions, to go with this summer's white-on-white trend.

Craving: Acne Cypress boots

2011-07-15T17:00:00.008+02:00

Photo: acnestudios.com

My current craving are these cool Cypress boots from Acne. I want them with a brown sole, but I couldn't find a picture of them online. The boots are to die for, the only problem is the price. Which can also make you die, hungry and cold.

To get or not to get?

Summer on the balcony

2011-07-15T10:00:00.034+02:00

Two summers ago my dad, mum and I built the decking, table and flower bed on my balcony, and every summer I get to appreciate the fruit of our labour!

My dad and I drew and planned the construction, and went to the timber shop and got all the materials. It was a hard job getting all the boards up to my fourth floor flat, but once it was finished it was worth every drop of sweat!

My plan is to paint the deck this summer - if it will only stop raining for three days! - to try and keep the maintenance at a miminum. We had so much rain this winter that is has taken me hours to get all the green goo off the boards! Several plants didn't survive the cold weather, like my rose bush (totally dead) and two lavender plants that so far only have grown a few green leaves, even though we are halfway through the "summer".

I am so grateful to my parents for helping me out with the balcony. Thanks with all my heart!

Btw, my ex boyfriend nicknamed my dad McGyver, as he can fix and build anything with a piece of string and a screwdriver!

In my flower bed is a mix of flowers and herbs. While cooking, I frequently pop out to cut off some herbs to put in the dish. I just love being able to do that! Back in May my neighbour kindly gave me a small tomato plant that she had grown herself from seeds. I have been taking really good care of the plant these past few months, and my TLC has paid off: My tomato crop is currently a total of ten green cherry tomatoes. I can't wait for them to ripen!

More Mulberry

2011-07-14T17:00:00.007+02:00

Since I've already mentioned Mulberry, my favourite hangbag brand:

I simply love their ad campaign for autumn! I was quite in love with their spring campaign, but Tim Walker has outdone himself with the gorgeous colours in the new campaign! Here are some of the shots, borrowed from footluxe.com:

What the heck, let's post them all:

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

2011-07-14T16:13:00.001+02:00

While in Botswana two years ago, we took a day trip to Victoria Falls i Zimbabwe. Even though it was sad to see how poor the people of Zimbabwe are - they sold their old currency for dollars, in order to get money for food! - the water falls were just amazing, even better than Niagra falls.

We quickly decided that a helicopter rtide across the falls would be a good investment, and boy were we right: It was only of my top five life experiences! After an unusually rainy winter season, the falls were the largest they had been in 30 years - most of my time on "dry" land was spent hiding my camera under my rain coat so it wouldn't get wet in the "rain" from the falls!

The mist in the photograph is actually water from the falls - soaking you to your skin!

The bridge between Zimbabwe og Zambia, popular among bungee jumpers!

Off we went in the helicopter and what a view we got over the falls:

When the water in the falls is lower, excursions go out to the green islands in the delta. You can also do various break-neck acitivites in inflatable devices in the falls. These were all off-limits when we visited, due to the large amount of water.

Below the actual falls, the river is winding beautifully through the landscape.

If these photographs didn't persuade you to type your way to the nearest travel agent website and book your holiday to Africa, here is another nudge: Book a trip to Botswana asap, and I promise you one of the best holiday of your lifetime! The scenery is breathtaking, the people are friendly, the food is delishious, the wildlife is incredible - and you'll catch a good tan while you are there!

What more can you ask for in one single holiday?

Mulberry love

2011-07-14T10:00:00.000+02:00

In a previous post I mentioned that I have purchased a new Mulberry bag, and here it is in all its glory!

It is quite frisky with its leopard print, but I really like that the print is subtle and low-key. Bright animal prints tend to look a bit cheap, me thinks. The bag is quite room and I've already made the mistake of filling it up with everything but the kitchen sink - I could barely lift it when I was in Oslo last week, filled with my computer, papers, makeup and 45 other "necessities".

I bought the bag in the dutyfree in Oslo airport. When comparing the price with the Mulberry shop in Oslo, I had saved 500+ kroners. I also have my eye on the matching toilet bag, as my current freebee from Clinique is falling apart after 10+ years of frequent use. Unfortunately, I'll only save about 200,- by buying this in the airport store... Still, money saved is money earned! My dad would totally disagree.

Summertime!

2011-07-13T18:57:00.001+02:00

Today, we are finally experiencing some sunshine in Bergen and I can feel the energy running through my body!

I have already had an efficient day at work, made dinner, done laundry and taken lots of photographs for the blog. God, how I wish I felt this energetic and happy every day!

Ironically, I'm very affected by poor weather. Ideally, I should be living in southern Europe, where the sun always shines. That is the plan for my retirement - to sell up in Norway and move to Spain or Portugal. Italy would also be lovely. Anywhere with few other tourists. I want to blend in and feel like a local. It's nice to have this dream when the rain is pouring down outside...

Back to the sunny weather: It was difficult to get dressed this morning, as despite the sunshine, it was only 10 degrees outside. I opted for an ethnic theme with bright purple tights to fend off the cold. The dress is from Indiska, while there is a rather good (and frugal) story to the waistcoat:

I had been searching for a denim waistcoat for about six months, but I couldn't find any that were the right length, the right shape and the right price. Most were cut really short and cost a fortune! Inspired by the blogs What I wore and B. Jones Style, one Saturday morning I headed off to my local Salvation Army store. After trying on each and every denim jacket in the store, I ended up with this jacket from H&M, at the nice price of about Nok 100,-. Off I went to get the scissors, and five minutes (and a one-hour wash in the machine) later, I finally had the perfect denim waistcoat!

I particularly like this bag, which I got at Zara last month. It has a detachable pocket inside so it doesn't feel totally bottomless, like most large bags. Still, I prefer using smaller pouches to hold some of my smaller stuff, otherwise I can never find what I need without pouring everything out on the table. And that is embarassing. In particular around men, who only carry their wallet. In their pocket. I'm quite the bag lady.... Zara was undoubtedly inspired by Valentino for this bag.

I almost forgot to mention my sunglasses! While on a cruise last month, I purchased these Prada sunglasses - and a pair of Wayfarers - in the shop on board. You wouldn't believe how tacky most of the merchandise in the cruise shop was! It was "handpicked" for the American cruise guests. Apparently, they have no taste what so ever. The only products that were half decent were the sunglasses, hence my two purchases. Checking my bank statement when I got back was actually quite a pleasure, for once. The exchange rate was really favourable, so I got both pairs for the price of one in Norway!

PS: The dress seems to make me look pregnant in the last shot. I'm not.

Birdy namnam

2011-07-07T10:00:00.003+02:00

While on holiday, my favourite pasttime is photographing what I see. I've got this from my dad - we once spent an entire weekend losing him to Kodak moments in Paris!

Here is the wildlife of St Stephen's Green in Dublin - I just love photographing birds. My duck is one heck of a clean fella' and quite the contortionist!

Back by popular demand

2011-07-07T00:02:00.002+02:00

This photo just about sums up the weather on my cruise: Schizophrenic!

Yes, I'm back by popular demand. That is, the demand of one single person, my good friend Kristine of the wonderful blog Halvveis til 100, with whom I had some very inspiring talks today about life, the blogging universe and everything. Thanks a lot for being such a good friend, Kristine, always giving me pep-talks and making me feel like I can conquer the world!

I didn't actually intend to be gone this long, but fulltime work + going to school didn't leave me much time to blog. Still, I managed squeeze in time to read some fashion magazines and do the necessary shopping to keep me up-to-date, so I have a lot to share with you!

Here's a quick summary of what I've been up to:

Got a hard-earned B on the first exam of my MBA
Acquired a hard-earned Mulberry bag in leopard print!
Achieved a rather disappointing result attempting to bring back to life the plants on my balcony. The winter has just been too hard...
Paid back a credit card in full and cancelled the card!
Had several friends over for dinner. My flat currenly smells like a curry house
Made(!) and devoured lots of delicious sushi at a friend's house!
Been on a week-long cruise to Normandie and the British Isles
Booked another holiday: A week in Nice in October. Fingers crossed the weather's still warm
Almost reconnected with an old lover, but unfortunately it was false alarm
Been to the doctor's about three times, still counting

So, you've been up to anything fun lately?

Paris: Notre Dame

2011-05-01T17:37:00.001+02:00

One of my favourite places to hang out in Paris is Notre Dame on Ile de la Cité and neighbouring Ile Saint-Louis, in particular when the weather is good and the streets are buzzing with people. This time around, the weather was really on my side, and I actually ended up - purely by chance - visiting Notre Dame twice, on the two warmest days of my stay. On my second visit I took the time to sit on a park bench, watching the children play amongst the trees while I enjoyed my delicious baguette lunch - with macaroons for dessert. Mmm, that's what I call pure happiness!

Shoe dream

2011-05-01T17:16:00.000+02:00

While in Paris, I managed to resist the temptation to fill my suitcase with new shoes. Not for the lack of trying, though. I just couldn't find the ones that I loved in my size! Same old story when you have big feet...

Yesterday, I couldn't visit the second largest shopping mall in Norway without checking out one of my favourite shoe stores. And there, amongst gorgeous heels from DKNY and Michael Kors, I fell in love with these platforms from Fonnesberg, only in grey rather than tan. Despite their height, they are surprisingly comfortable to wear and the colour will match beautifully with...well, just about everything in my wardrobe, come to think of it.

Alas, the high price tag means that it will be either shoes or food next month, and I think I know what I will be going for. While waiting for my secret and much overdo trust fund to arrive, I will enjoy perusing the great heels I already have in my wardrobe!

Flowers of Paris

2011-04-19T12:00:00.001+02:00

While it is still late winter/early spring in Norway and few flowers to be seen, the trees and flowers of Paris were all in bloom. Here are some photographs to cheer you up!

Paris - je t'aime

2011-04-18T12:11:00.001+02:00

Yes, to me Paris is the city above all cities, and I've been to a few! Next on my list are London and NY, but more on those some other time.

Though I only came back home from Paris yesterday, I already miss the sunshine, the cherry trees, the amazing macaroons, the delicious sandwiches in the bakery, the out-of-this-world spinach ravioli in Montegrosso, the summery dresses in the window display in Collette, the happy birds in Tuleries, the larger-than-life Monets in L'Orangerie and the incredibly stylish Chanel-clad people dining in Les deux Margot.

It's a good thing that I can relive the week when editing my many photos - whilst wearing a wool cardigan and thick socks, listening to the rain pouring down outside...

Here's a taster of Paris. More photos to follow in the next few days:

And finally, some daredevil eyecandy with a view of Paris:

Nifty thrifty

2011-03-07T21:03:00.000+01:00

This weekend I made a trip to the nearest Salvation army store to drop of some books and clothes that I no longer need/use. When there, I always make a tour of the store to see if anything catches my eye. And look at the cool hat that I found! It looks like fur, but is made of a mohair blend. I love the feathers and the trim - all Robin Hood! I hope the weather dries up so I can wear it soon. Today, it has been about 2 degrees with wind and rain - a perfect evening to stay indoors and listen to the rain on the windows...

The hat will go really well with the coat that I got at the same store just before Christmas:

I wore it today with leggings from Gestüz, scarf from Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, bag from Gucci and boots by Airstep. Underneath I had my cosy sweaterdress from Stella McCartney. Only problem, it is so soft that it pills - a lot. Every time I wear it I find myself picking on it. I've definitely evolved from chimps, no doubt about it!

My accessories today - I had a nature theme going here:

Scarf: Noa Noa
Bag: Gucci
Bangle: Warehouse
Leather gloves: Warehouse

Bag love

2011-03-04T16:03:00.000+01:00

This is my new love! It will look perfect on the beach, in my parents' boat or simply prancing chicly around town. I just hope Net-a-porter doesn't sell out before I have the means to buy it. Being a part-time student certainly puts a toll on your finances...

Fashion tips for your frame

2011-03-04T10:00:00.002+01:00

Surfing for the US What not to wear website, I came across the British version. Turns out they have a "fashion calculator" - choose the right parametres for your body and, voila, you get a list of rather suspect tips on what to wear or avoid.

While some of the tips are OK, some of them are extremely vague. But they'll probably have to be, this being an automated service and not a personal styling session. Still, it's fun to see whether you are on the right track, so try it out for yourself!

To check it out, click here.

Wardrobe malfunction

2011-03-03T17:00:00.002+01:00

And I mean this in the most literal way. My wardrobe is falling apart.

OK, it was just a drawer, but it was equally annoying.

Many months ago I proudly changed most of the shelves in my closet for pullout drawers from Ikea. Though the drawers are narrower than a shelf and there now is a lot of folding involved to fit the clothes in, drawers make it so easy to find what it is at the back of your closet!

I've been enjoying - and admittedly, sometimes admiring - the drawers for about six months now, until yesterday, when, without warning, the bottom one just fell down. There are now two big holes where the screws used to be and the drawer is sitting on the floor, forcing me to step over it every time I want to get to the windows.

Intentionally, I had left a large space between this drawer and the one above, to allow for topping off the drawer with my large collection of longsleeved t-shirts. Being tall and all, I use these under sweaters and cardigans to ensure that I'm both decent, warm and non-itchy (when wearing wool). This top-off was probably the reason for the "accident" - the drawer become too heavy.

Right, off I go to drill new holes and reattach my dear drawer. Darn, how I sometimes wish there was a man in the house who I could presuade to do this! Well, come to think of it, my ex was totally useless around a drill, so I'm probably better off doing it myself. I could still do with a man, though...

More colours

2011-03-02T17:00:00.001+01:00

This pink sweater has been out of my closet for quite a while, as I've been trying to find out how to wear it. Since it's rather short, I had to find a way to wear it without exposing my paunch. I think I was won over by its colour and softness when I bought it, and didn't consider its (lack of) length.

Anyway, being inspired by the current fashion-world colour bonanza, I decided on a shirt that's equally pink and colourful - and most importantly longer. It is also a tad shiny, which works well with the wool skirt and sweater. We should always listen to Stacey and Clinton in What not to wear and bring together texture, shine, pattern and colour (did I get that fourth one right?) in our outfits!

Sweater: Hobbs

Shirt: H&M

Necklace: Les Néréides

Skirt: TopShop (I apologise for the wrinkles)

Tights: Probably H&M

Boots: Bianco

Misty morning

2011-03-02T12:42:00.000+01:00

Film: Black swan

2011-03-01T10:00:00.001+01:00

Picture borrowed from imdb.com

I've wanted to see this film ever since I first read about it months ago. I've seen the ballet performance twice, once in college with my then-boyfriend, when I had a bad day and barely managed to stay awake. Several years later I saw it with my ex at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh and it was one of my top ten experiences in life. It was performed by a Russian ballet company and the prima ballerina was just out of this world.

So it was with great anticipation I sat down to watch the film and I was not disappointed. Natalie Portman did an amazing job, blurring the line between what was real and what was a product of her imagination. I kept getting startled (read: gasping quite loudly) by the unexpected turns of the film, patricularly her reaction to people approaching her while she was in her own world. The Marchesa costumes were also amazing, of course.

It was nice to see an American film that didn't spell the enitire storyline out in words, like they tend to (I believe British directors are better at letting you use your imagination). You were left thinking about the film for a long time afterwards, as you had to figure out which scenes were real and which were imaginary. I love films like that - I don't want the director to tell me everything, I want to figure it out for myself. Actually, one thing I still don't know is if her mum was kind and caring or just a controlling bitch, and I never will!

Sundays outfit

2011-02-28T18:00:00.000+01:00

On Sunday I went for minimalist biker chick in my thick leather jacket. While on Saturday the temperature reached 8 degrees, I woke up to sleet on Sunday. I long for spring...

Leather jacket: Saint Tropez

Scarf: Katrine Uri

Longsleeved T: Katrine Uri

Vest: Cubus

Trousers: H&M

Boots: DKNY

In case you thought I had forgotten all about colour blocking - my laundry!:

Denim blues

2011-02-28T10:00:00.001+01:00

At the Levi's store the other day, I also purchased a pair of 613 pale wash skinny jeans. I already own a pair of 613s in a dark wash and they are by far my favourite jeans!

I first went to the store to check out the new curve jeans, but soon realised that the waist was too low for me. I was recommended the 613s instead and immediately fell in love.

My new pair of 613s where a little shorter in the leg than I would have liked - the cost of shopping in the sales. I asked the shop assistant for any anti-shrinkage advice, and he told me to wash the jeans by hand in lukewarm water without detergent the first time. This would prevent them from shrinking. So here we go - jeans in sink:

I'll have to get back to you in a couple of days with the results, when the jeans are dry. And I have been to the gym a few times...

Note: He also told me to skip washing my jeans all together, as then they would form to your body. He puts his in the freezer for a couple of days to kill bacteria and spot cleans as and if necessary.

Does this give anyone else than me the creeps?!? And a sudden itchy feeling...

Thanks

2011-02-27T18:07:00.000+01:00

...to my good friend Å who dragged me along to the gym today. I've been a member for years - she is just trying out the gym for a week. I am lazy and lethargic - she bouncy and energetic.

The class she dragged me along to was zumba. I had seen it on the schedule and assumed is was one of those coordination classes, where you spend all our time counting steps and the only part of the body that gets any exercise is your brain, and I exercise my brain every day at work, thank you very much.

Boy, was I wrong. This was as much fun as the boxercise classes I used to do in the old ages, where my boss was a constant inspiration and target. Zumba is latino-inspired dancing moves that are really quite simple, get your hips moving and gives you loads of energy. Add one super-inspiring instructor and you have a firm commitment from me to join every single zumba class available!

Thanks so much, Å!

YSL tribute

2011-02-27T13:42:00.002+01:00

No, it's not about the most beautiful shoes in the world, but the label my Benetton tunic is lusting to be. This is a perfect cold weather outfit, as the tunic is made of a really heavy tweed which only can be worn when it is less then minus five outside.

I wore it to work last week, and though it worked really well in my slightly cooler office, it pushed me into menopause in the management meeting... For once, I was the one opening the window and fanning myself!

Tunic: Benetton
Necklace: Warehouse
Belt: LK Bennett
Turtleneck: Gap
Snakeskin print leggings: ??
Boots: Gabor

Tea time

2011-02-27T13:29:00.003+01:00

When in Beijing in December, we ate a lot of good food. Every lunch and dinner was a delicious sampling of about 14 different Chinese dishes, from veggies to pork, from sweet to savoury. And with every meal we got gallions of thirst-quenching jasmine tea. I love a cup of peppermint or rooiboos tea, but I was a bit suspicious about this warm-tea-with-dinner concept. But you know what, it was a brilliant idea! Jasmine tea is very weak, yet flavoursome. It is warm, though not hot. This means that it works really well with food, as it doesn't cool down your mouth or overpower the flavours of the food. In fact, it worked even better than water!

The Chinese have figured it out food and drinkwise, I'd say!

Naturally, being hooked on the jasmine tea, I had to go and buy some. Off I went to the silk market, just a three minute walk from our classy hotel. On the fourth floor was the tea and I found a booth that looked tempting (read: nicely displayed tea tins and big containers holding the tea). I hadn't realised there were three types to choose from, but as the sales woman explained - and most importantly showed - me the difference, I immediately went for the most expensive one. The grading was: 1. Crushed jasmine leaves, looking much like regular tea. 2. Rolled leaves. 3. Rolled leaved with pink rosebuds.

You'd think that being in China and all, tea would cost next to nothing. Not so! In China, they don't really sell bad tea, much like Norway doesn't sell plonk (= really cheap and foul wine). Hence, all the tea is expensive relative to the pittance you pay for anything else.

While bargaining, the woman kept saying that for the price I was asking,I could only get the cheap variety. I had to threaten to walk away twice before she agreed to the price, and she was rather grumpy when she prepared my three small tins of jasmine tea.

The photograph shows my tea in its jar: Each jasmine leaf is rolled up into a ball and pink rose buds are added. Isn't it preatty? As you add water, the leaves unroll! And the tea will last me forever. A 1/4 teaspoon is enough for half a teapot. No wonder she was such a hard bargain - she knew I would have enough tea for a decade!

Fancy a cup of tea, anyone?

And here is a photograph of one of my most practial Christmas gifts, a set of jars for my nuts and jasmine tea. At least one of these jars is in use every single day!

The cost of a job interview

2011-02-23T16:49:00.001+01:00

Bildet er lånt av samfunn.info

This might be a new concept to most of you, but it is actually possible to put a cost on a job interview, that far exceeds the possible cost of the lie you have to make to your boss about your absence and/or the cost of the bus or taxi fare to the interview location. A job interview can indeed be an extremely expensive affair.

Case in point 1
You are elated about the positive feeling your are left with after the job interview, jump in the car, plug in your earplugs and call you friend to announce that the job is going to be yours, no doubt about it. Screech! What the heck was that bright light you just passed in the tunnel?!? A speed camera.

Cost of job interview = Nok 2.600,-
No. of new jobs acquired = zero
No. of invoices sent to your best friend for not warning you about the speed camera and telling you to be less excited = zero. After all, she is still your friend

Case in point 2
My (still) friend parks her car in the usual street and happily runs along to a very exciting job interview. She is elated by the positive feeling she is left with after the interview, and is secretly hoping that the job is hers. She gets her car keys out and heads over to where she parked the car. But there is no car. The whole street is empty. There is a new sign at the end of the street: No parking today - the street is being plowed. She calls every conceiveable public office in town, including the police, in the hunt for her car and her husband shares the joke with the entire office when she tells him to pick up the kids from nursery school.

Cost of job interview = Nok 2.500,- + ridicule at husband's workplace and every public office in town
No. of new jobs acquired = possibly one. A second interview is sheduled for next week
No. of invoices sent to her best friend = zero. This one she managed all on her own!

See, a job interview can be an extremely expensive undertaking. Be warned!

Vintage gem

2011-02-22T23:45:00.000+01:00

A couple of months ago I dropped off a few things at the local Salvation Army. As always, I made a quick tour of the store to see if they had anything useful. Of course, this totally defeats the purpose of decluttering the house and donating things to the Salvation Army in the first place - you either end up with the same or possibly even MORE stuff than you had to begin with.

Anyway, this time I found my way to the coat rack in the back of the store, where I tried on every single coat that looked even remotely decent - and there were quite a few to choose from. OK, I had nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon. I am really glad I took the time, though, as I found this amazing camel coat, made of a really heavy wool. It has a really nice pleat in the back and I love the bell sleeves. I've been on the lookout for a camel coat for ages, but since it's not the greatest colour on me, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on it, so this was perfect!

Here is a closeup of my handy Botkier bag - its size means that it fits a whole lotta stuff, including the kitchen sink:

Say hello to my new cardigan!

2011-02-22T23:29:00.001+01:00

I have been looking for a new, chunky cardigan for ages and finally found the one on Saturday! I was looking for my friend the department store manager, and happened to pass a Levi's store on the way back from her empty office. And there it was, on the sales rack, calling my name. And it was 70 % off! I just hope I helped my friend reach her bonus target, despite the huge discount...

I had to dig my parka out of storage to wear over it, as the cardigan is so thick! And that parka is thin, so this is not an outfit for the coldest winter days. But it was perfect for the drive to my parents' house on Sunday. And isn't my bin nice? Not.

I wore:

Cardigan: Levi's

Top: HM

Leggings: H&M

Boots: Gabor

Scarf: Katrine Uri

Belt: H&M

Parka: H&M

Bag: Botkier

Bracelets: Mint, Ole Lyngaard lookalike, ??

I also bought these amazing earrings by Snø on Saturday. As you might have picked up on by now, I love anything purple... I wore these today and managed to pull one off while taking off my scarf. This made the beads fly all over the place and I had to crawl around on the floor for them. In the store...

The mile high club

2011-02-16T17:21:00.001+01:00

Believe it or not, but I'm actually posting this message on the flight from Oslo to Bergen, 10.000 feet in the air, totally free of charge!

We were quite a few geeks who got our computers and phones out as soon as the message came over the PA system that the airline was testing the system. I wonder how long it is going to be free? Just for the test period or always?!?

I'm also quite surprised that it was Norwegian that offered this first, and not my personal favourite SAS (more legroom, free breakfast and tea/coffee). Many people travel to Oslo several times a week for business and this service means that you can actually get some decent work done on the plane.

I've been struggling to find internet access for my computer all day, visiting my company's HQ in Oslo, so it's quite ironic that I got access on board the plane, of all places...

I'm in love

2011-02-15T11:09:00.001+01:00

Photo borrowed from apple.com

And yet again Apple is my object of affection!

I've finally got my hands on a iPad and though I've not had the time to use it as much as I'd like, I'm already hooked!

Just like the iPhone - and probably any other Apple product - the product is really intuitive to use and you are just amazed by how quickly you get online and find the information you are searching for. By keeping it within reach when reading newspapers and magazines, it's so easy to grab it and check out a website or blog that is being referred to. While I previously used to do this on my iPhone, the iPad has a much larger and more user friendly screen, so you don't have to squint to read the page - great for those of us who are coming of age!

Since I just got the gadget and haven't really had much time to play with it yet, I don't have much to say about cool apps and magazines yet. Though I've already downloaded Whole Foods's app, which is great for planning your dinner menu for the week. You can even get recipe suggestions based on the three lonely ingredients you have left in your fridge!

Someone also told me about a cheap and brilliant gps app for Norwegian navigation maps, saving you Nok 30.000 on the regular marine gps. Apparently, Clas Ohlson has a waterproof sleeve for the iPad, so you won't risk it getting wet either.

Next on my download list is the game Angry birds. Apparently, this is one of the top games for women and takes most of the "blame" for why there are now more women than men perusing social media and other online features. Fingers crossed that I won't get hooked, as I have lots of reading to do the next 24 months...

Colourful Sunday

2011-02-13T21:02:00.001+01:00

Today was another colourful day, visiting my parents. It turned out to be quite cold wearing a skirt, but luckily it was warm in the car!

I'm wearing:

Coat: Monsoon

Scarf: InWear

Bag: Mulberry Alexa

Boots: Geox

Sweater: H&M

Blouse: Benetton

Skirt: Topshop

Tights: Falke

I think I'm gonna don colours for another couple of days, before I explore five ways to wear a black motorcycle jacket. Or maybe seven?

More colourblocking

2011-02-13T11:57:00.000+01:00

As promised, I've been exprimenting with colourblocking the past few days. Only problem is that I forgot to take pictures of my outfit on day one, so we are left with this rather sad recreation on my bed, which I'm embarrassed to post... I wore this outfit with brown tights and brown riding boots:

The crinckled clothes you see above are:

Cardigan: H&M

Silk blouse: InWear

Tanktop: Marc Cain Sports

Skirt: Weekend by MaxMara

Necklace: Hoss Intropia

Yesterday, I chose a more casual outfit with darkwash Levi's jeans:

The clothes are:

Sweater: Uniqlo

Shirt: H&M

Necklace: Ole Lyngaard via Beijing...

In the mirror in the photograph above you can see the blouse that I'm planning to wear today, on day three of this colour experimentation. You'll see the entire outfit later today!

The last three colourful days, I've notice that using colours makes me stand out in the crow. More than usual. Most people wear mainly dark colours, and seeing someone colourful actually brightens your day ever so slightly. Considering we are in the dark season with early nights, I'm for all the encouragement I can have, so bring on the colours!

Colourblocking is big

2011-02-10T18:38:00.000+01:00

No doubt about it.

Wherever I turn, fashion know-alls write about all the bold colours we'll all be wearing comes summer.

But how do we wear these bold colours? A tan would help, I'm sure. Also, we might need to buy ourselves a whole new wardrobe, as I've realised I have hardly anything that can be colourblocked in the house, apart from my tupperware.

I love black. And grey. Charcoal. Maybe navy. White is good. And purple is divine. Finally a bright colour! But no, I tend to choose a calmer purple.

For several years I've been trying to buy more colour, but this fashion resolution has been all forgotten once I've hit the stores and seen a beautiful dress or a cool skirt in classic black. "It's so versatile and goes with everything I have," is my response to this rather predictable, though admittedly classic, colour.

But this season it shall be different. I will identify all the colourful clothes in my wardrobe and combine them in the most interesting and beautiful ways. No grey-and-black outfit combos, but purples and pinks, oranges and greens. No, definitely no oranges - it looks awful on me! But purples, pinks, greens and blues are good.

Today, I stumbled up the blog What I wore for the very first time, and Jessica is going to be my colour model! Looking at her colourful outfits quite literally puts a smil on my face.

I can still wear black, but at least one piece of clothing has to have some colour! Let's see what I can come up with for tomorrow.

To be continued...

The great wall of China

2011-02-10T18:20:00.000+01:00

Recently, I spent an amazing week in Beijing! I visited the city about 19 years ago and it was incredible to see the change the city has gone through. From low houses and hutongs to skyskrapers and digital boards, from 1 million bicycles to what feels like 1 million cars! And the ironic thing is, I thought the pollution was a lot worse 19 years ago than this time around, which doesn't make sense.

One of the highlights of my trip was the Chinese wall. In December, there are hardly any tourists around, which made the visit a very relaxing experience. Also, we visited a more distant and more beautiful part of the wall than the more popular spot closer to the city, thereby avoiding the crowds. Apart from a few stray tourists and some Chinese visitors, we were the only tour group on the wall. We also had amazing weather, particular considering that the previous day was so foggy we could barely find our way around the Forbidden city!

The entrance - and like anywhere else, the Chinese see a business opportunity!

The amazing state of the stairs leading up to the wall. Far better than most public staircases in Norway...

The view at the top of the stairs, standing on the wall.

Up and down, and all around...

...and up the hill on the other side. I wouldn't mind knowing what the letters are saying, something suitably communistic and nationalistic, I'm sure.

And the wall continues over the mountain tops far in the distance!

Stairway to heaven...

Visiting in the off-season = no tourists = bad for business = time to play cards

An Obama bag, anyone?!?

Lentil soup

2011-02-09T14:22:00.003+01:00

I really love a good soup and have already shared with you my delicous spinach soup, which I make about once a fortnight when I can find fresh and reasonably priced spinach in the store. Ironically, when the spinach is all wilted-looking it is also really expensive - a good case of cause and effect?!? Having tried making it from frozen spinach and been disappointed by the limp taste, I prefer fresh.

Anyway, I'm also one of those people who cut out recipes from any magazines, newspapers and other paper products I can get my hands on. Admittedly, I have not even tried a tenth of these recipies, but if I come across a good soup or salad, I'll get my knife out.

This was how I stumbled upon the spinach soup and just last week, I came across another soup gem: A delicous and dead easy lentil soup. Here we go:

Lentil soup

4 portions

1 carrot, sliced
1 good chunk celery root (add more if you want to, as it brings great flavour to the soup), chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 dl red lentils
1 l vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
1/2 ts tumeric
Fresh coriander

Gently fry all the vegetables in a regular metal saucepan (that can take the stick blender) until the onions are clear. Add lentils, tumeric and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Use a stick blender directly in the saucepan until the soup is smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

PS: I believe I found this recipe in a Norwegian fashion magazine, possibly KK.

I long for summer...

2011-02-01T18:35:00.001+01:00

Guincho beach in Portugal, spring 2010

Funniest comment of the TV week

2011-02-01T18:30:00.000+01:00

Gordon Ramsay to one of the contestants about his Indian dish:

That is going to taste like Gandhi's flipflops.

Another year

2011-01-31T18:05:00.000+01:00

Photo from filmweb.no

Yesterday, I saw the lastest Mike Leigh film with a friend. Having seen a few of his films before - most notably Secrets and lies and Vera Drake, I expected it to be a good, but very realistic and film. For which I would most likely need a fair supply of tissues.

My friend insisted that it was a comedy, which I did not get at all. Yes, there would probably be a few amusing comments or even scenes, but it would most likely show people from a less fortunate background and their struggles through life.

I was correct.

"This film is never going to take off, is it?" was my friend's very appropriate comment halfway through the film.

This time she was correct.

The film was over two hours long, which I found a bit excessive, though I never had to look at my watch to see how much time was left. It is a film that makes you reevaluate your own life and friendships, and ask yourself if you would be equally kind and accomodating towards people you obviously have very little or nothing in common with. In a way, the couple seemed to surround themselves with slightly dysfunctional people in a one-way relationship, where they gave a lot of themselves and their happiness to make these people seem loved and part of a family, but received very little in return. Since they were very content with their life - both with their jobs and their hobby: The alotment - maybe this provided them with an abundance of energy and happiness that they could then share with others.

Even if the plot was a tad heavy, the actors did an incredible job in their respective roles, in particular Lesley Manville - she is just brilliant as the lonely and highly strung Mary! - Peter Wight and Ruth Sheen.

I would definitely recommend this film you are looking for a serious and realistic film that's going to make you contemplate life, the universe and everything - but not as light entertainment or on date night. Also, the ending is very bizarre - it just abruptly ends in what seems like the middle of a scene, as if Leigh ran out of tape or had to go to the loo or something...

My winter fuel...

2011-01-28T21:53:00.001+01:00

Cagliari in Sardinia, summer 2010

Incredible Alberobello

2011-01-28T21:23:00.001+01:00

In D2 today (the magazine of the Norwegian financial newspaper Dagens Næringsliv, Norway's pink paper) was an article about Alberobello, a beautiful, but rather unusual village in Puglia, Italia. I was immediately brought back to my wonderful holiday last autumn.

On an MSC cruise in the Mediterranean from Venice, we visited many of the Greek islands, Dubrovnik - and Alberobello. While I on numerous occasions had been told that Dubrovnik, Mykonos and Santorini were beautiful, I had never herad of the amazing - and highly unusual - village of Alberobello, Bari. I was totally mesmerized by the town's incredible houses, called trulli. The whole area is full of circular trullis with pointed roofs, just like in a fairy tale! The area is on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites, and isa major tourist attraction of Puglia and Bari.

In some of the outskirts of the village, people have built a new and more practical - and square! - house in adjunction to their round abode, but in the actual village of Alberobello all the houses are trullis, clinging to the hillside and to their neighbour's round house.

This is the sign leading the way into the area, followed by a board giving more details:

On your way up to the village, you only see a round outhouse or two:

Then you turn the corner and see this amazing view up the hillside:

And here are some of the houses:

This is the beautiful main street - which can be an exhausting climb for rotund cruise passengers...:

Look at the amazing signs on the roofs and the spires:

These houses are really only made for short Italians, not tall Norwegians - I could only walk and stand in the middle of the rooms:

And lastly, some of the pretty flowers in the village:

...and a very pretty post box - I want!:

...and hopefully this will be me when I get old(er), knitting on my stoop while discussing (and solving) world problems with my mate:

Skirt lengths

2011-01-28T15:25:00.000+01:00

Isn't this a gorgeous dress?!? But a tad short for daytime...

Photograph from hollyscoop.com.

My questions of the week - month? Maybe even year?!? - is: Who actually wears the incredibly (and ridiculously) short dresses and skirts that every fashion label launches every season?

OK, I know that at just over 6 feet I'm taller than the average woman (hell, even the average man!). This means that the skirt lenght will be about 10-15 cm shorter on me than an average woman. Still, in order to sit, bend over and just look presentable at work, on the bus, in the grocery store - anywhere else than on the beach, on the pull, on holiday, with a tan, around strangers - your skirt needs to be of a certain length.

So my questions is, do the fashion houses' skirt lenghts only cater to celebrities, models, actors and teenagers - the only people who can wear these short dresses without looking indecent? Oh, I forgot the Geordies and other British women who wear skirts the length of a wide belt - but this is not a good look, so I really shouldn't include them in the Yes-list.

I have lost count of the amount of beautiful dresses I have tried on that fit like a glove everywhere else than in the length. I have also lost count of how many dresses I have relabelled as tunics and consequently purchased - and only ever worn with leggings at the office and with opaque tights on a night out. There is actually a limit to how many socalled tunics a girl should have in her wardrobe - and I have reached mine.

My plea to the fashion houses is to please make longer short dresses, dresses that normal people can wear on a normal day with normal tights. The dress can still be fabulous - but it needs to be a decent length! I wish my body was like Gwyneth's and I attended film and store openings every night of the week, but my life includes the office and grocery store, meetings and cinema, planes and trains, colleagues and friends. And they don't necessarily want to see my bottom.

French ballerina

2011-01-27T15:57:00.000+01:00

God knows how many fashion newsletters I subscribe to, but every day I get to drool over the most gorgeous bags and clothes - before I quickly delete the email before my creditcard have the chance to leave my wallet...

Last week, it was Beat the January blues e-mail from Matches Fashion that caught my attention. I still haven't managed to delete it - I want just about every piece of clothing in that newsletter!

Today, Matches caught my attention yet again with MaxMara goes monochrome - all white, black and a mix of the two in gorgeous shapes and fabrics.

I want to be French this summer. Last summer I bought Pretty Ballerinas in three different colours (what can I say? They finally had size 42 with elasticated edges, which never happens!) and I want more clothes to channel the French vibe. These two dresses are just perfect for that! And they are long enough to wear in public on a normal day without pulling out the leggings - I will get back to this theme in a later post.

Come to think of it, I prefer Matches's newsletters to many of the other online stores': They are always themed, and don't just list all the new products in a hodgepodge kind of way. I also like My wardrobe's newsletters for their amusing videos and more affordable price range. I can actually afford to get the bank card out once in a while with them...

Queen of beauty

2011-01-27T15:26:00.001+01:00

Photograph from clinique.com

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a product junkie! I love new beauty products and in particular those that friends or beauty editors recommend as their own favourites.

I was quickly intrigued by the new lip balm from Clinique that has been advertised in all the fashion magazines - the cutely named Chubby stick. I was surprised to see that the product actually was launched a long time ago - it has never caught my attention before and it has never been available in Norway. Maybe it's new to Europe?

Anyway, first I tried to find it in cosmetics stores at home, to no avail - it wasn't out yet. Yesterday, I made a day trip to Oslo, and I always swing by the duty free on my way back to check out all the new products (I still believe I can find the three khaki nail polishes from Chanel there, if I just look hard enough. Never mind the facts they were only ever sold in Chanel stores...).

And wouldn't you believe - there it was, on top of the shelf, looking pretty and colourful. I soon fell in love with shade 07 super strawberry, but it seemed to be sold out! Luckily the sales woman managed to find a new supply in the drawer, so it came with me home.

I have been applying it all day and I'm totally hooked. This colour is a very sheer pink that gives your lips a natural pinkish sheen. It is also fun to apply - it looks like a normal pencil, but no sharpening needed: You just twist the base to get more product out.

Off I go to check out more new products - I just received an email from Goop with Gwyneth's favourite French products, and some of them look amazing. Got to get my shopping list ready for my trip to Paris in March...

2011 purchasing ban

2011-01-16T23:22:00.000+01:00

Yes, the financial crisis has finally hit me and I have introduced a purchasing ban for the year. Only the bare necessities are allowed, like food and the odd dinner out, in addition to tights and the occasional accessory.

I believe I introduced a similar ban about six months ago, without any success. But I'm not one to give up, so I'll try again. This ban follows a rather expensive December and January, thanks to getting a tad carried away Christmas shopping, both in Norway and Beijing (I'll tell you more about my wonderful holiday some other day), followed by a great birthday party in January. I have also managed to buy a few gifts for myself these last few weeks, so no need to feel sorry for me. I have a HUGE warderobe to peruse, and my goal for 2011 is to make better use of and have more fun with my extensive clothes collection.

The very last thing I purchased before the ban was introduced was a beautiful sweater dress from Stella McCartney. I love her clothes, but have only ever bought one of her scarves due to the collection's rather high price tag. When I saw this sweater on sale, I just couldn't resist.

A few weeks' ago I also purchased these funky shoe boots from Asos. I can't wait to wear them tomorrow, now what the snow and ice has finally disappeared. I probably have a window of about a week to wear before we are snowed in again!

Back in action

2011-01-13T18:49:00.001+01:00

After a long break I am back in action, thanks to a good friend whose enthusiasm for her newly published blog woke me up from my sleep, and also the simple question an anonymous person left in my last entry: Why don't you continue?

To be honest, I have no good reason why I had such a long break, other than that it can be lonely in cyber space. But I'm back, and I will keep at it for as long as I think it's fun!

A lot has happened since my last entry: I'm yet again seeing date # 3. We are slowly getting to know each other and things are going well. We have led very different lives up until now, which can be challenging, but learning about and accepting each other will make us stronger.

I have also been on a couple of trips since July, travel bum as I am! First, I took my mum to Rome for a nice long weekend. While the weather at home was freezing cold, we enjoyed the sunshine in the Vatican gardens. Rome is one of my favourite cities and it was so exciting to show my mum all the sights she had only seen on tv or read about in books! We stayed at the same hotel I used back in July, Hotel Julia in via Rasella 29 (Tel. 06 488 1637, info@hoteljulia.it). This is a reasonably priced hotel just 5 minutes from the Trevi fountain and about 10 minutes from the Spanish steps - in other words PERFECT for sightseeing.

The hotel also recommended a local restaurant about three minutes down the road that had absolutely delicious Italian food, as you would imagine an Italian mama making it. We ate there three times in four days...

Here is a collection of photographs from the trip- Enjoy!

The beautiful spiral staircase in the Vatican

St. Peter's bacilica

The Pantheon has lighting in the autumn - this was new to me, as I've only ever seen it naturally lit up by the hole in the ceiling

Laziness + gullible tourists = cash?

As always, the Trevi fountain was packed with tourists and locals alike (and just 5 minutes from our hotel!)

A cute girl chasing the pigeons in front of St. Peters' basilica

The Capitol

Foro Romano seen from the entrance side (which had moved since my last visit and took us forever to find!)

I don't dare writing where this picture is taken - I will be arrested...

More Foro Romano. The first time I saw this sight I was left speechless - people tend to focus on Colosseum and forgetting all about Foro Romano, though it is just as impressive.

Colosseum is always impressive and there are hardly any lines when travelling in the autumn! I managed to capture two of the "actors" in the picture - unless you pay up, they are normally very camera shy.

These last two photographs were taken when I was in Rome back in June. As you can see, there is only natural light in the Pantheon - and it looks much cooler!

This is my favourite statue in Rome, though I can never remember what it is called...:

On a break

2010-07-27T10:07:00.001+02:00

I'm afraid getting to know date # 3 has kept me very busy lately, but now I'm back - and yet again single. I find it really hard to meet someone who is at the same place as me at the same time, and who shares my values. But I will just keep on looking - after I've had a short break from dating.

And break it is, though it is more long than short! I'm currently in Cagliari, Sardinia, on a 2 1/2 week holiday that will take me from Milan in the north to Rome in the...middle. Cagliari is a buzzing city and Sardinia's capital - it's old city centre is a fortress with two tall towers that give you a great view over the city. About 4 km outside the city there's a 8 km long white beach, where I spent a few relaxing hours yesterday.

I will write more about my wonderful holiday tomorrow, starting from the beginning! Now I'm off for a run before I pack up my suitcase and head out into the sunshine. Tonight I'm taking the overnight ferry over to Civitavecchia and the train onwards to Rome. Only two more Italian nights for me, and then my holiday is over...

I'm back

2010-05-09T11:46:00.000+02:00

And in my long absence I've decided to change the direction of my blog.

I will still write about fashion and travel, incorporating my travel photography, but now it will happen in English. The reason is that all the blogs I follow are written in English, and I want to share my writing with these bloggers.

Also, I have embarked on a new project that hopefully will keep me quite occupied this year: Project partner.

Yes, I no longer wish to be single and I wish to have a baby next year. So I've set myself the rather unusual goal of finding myself a man and suitable father of my future child by December 31, 2010. If I'm still single by then, I will travel to Denmark and have a baby of my own (living in Norway, I can not receive help conceiving a child as a single woman, hence Denmark).

During the upcoming months, I will keep you posted on my various efforts to land myself a man.

Wish me luck! I think I'll need it...

Ready, steady, go

2010-02-05T02:34:00.004+01:00

Bildet er lånt fra etapley.com

Endelig er jeg pakket og klar for turen til Dubai!

Jeg er våken midt på natten fordi jeg skulle ta meg en liten lur på sofaen før jeg pakket ferdig og våkne helt forvirret fem timer senere. Ikke visste jeg at jeg var så trøtt... Og nå er jeg lys våken, så jeg kommer vel ikke til å bli trøtt igjen før jeg skal gå på jobb.

Som vanlig har jeg tatt med meg mer enn jeg trenger. Jeg er glad kofferten min ikke er større, ellers hadde jeg tatt med enda mer og ikke klart å løfte den!

Når jeg er borte skal jeg prøve å ta bilder av både arabernes og cruisepassasjernes mote. Regn med både jalabaer og bling - det er utrolig hva enkelte italiener tar på seg i 30 graders varme! I tillegg kommer selvsagt bilder fra alle stedene jeg skal besøke.

Dubai, here I come!

2010-01-31T23:39:00.000+01:00

Bildet er lånt av amazon.co.uk

Dette er lesestoffet mitt for tiden. Om under en uke drar jeg til Dubai for å ta et cruise rundt i Emiratene. Jeg gleder meg som et barn allerede! Jeg har aldri vært i denne delen av verden før - bortsett fra en ukes badeferie i Sinai da været var så kaldt at vi måtte bruke badehåndkleet som teppe for å holde varmen - og gleder meg utrolig til å oppleve en så eksotisk og annerledes kultur.

Som jeg har nevnt elsker jeg å reise og møte nye kulturer, og Midtøsten kan virkelig bli et kultursjokk, i positiv betydning. Det siste cruiset jeg var på besøkte de greske øyer, Italia og Dubrovnik, så overgangen blir stor! Men rederiet er det samme - Costa Cruises - så komforten og maten om bord blir nok bra. Værvarselet lover 26-30 grader og delvis overskyet = perfekt vær for sightseeing. Må bare huske solbrillene...

Endelig min!

2010-01-31T23:31:00.001+01:00

Når jeg er i Oslo går jeg ofte innom veskebutikken Steffen i Akersgata og sikler på de flotte veskene. Jeg har lenge ønsket meg en ny Botkier-veske, og denne sesongen har valget stått mellom en stor svart veske og en mindre veske i en uvanlig grønnfarge. Lommeboken sa derimot at det ikke skulle bli en ny veske sist jeg besøkte butikken.

I forrige uke var jeg i Oslo et par dager og stakk innom Steffen for å se om kanskje veskene "mine" var på salg - og det var de jammen! Etter mye fram og tilbake - og hjelp av den hyggelige betjeningen i butikken - klarte jeg å velge mellom de to Botkier'ene og en flott grå skinnveske fra Longchamp.

Her er min ny stolthet. Akkurat passe stor, kan bæres i hånden eller over skulderen og i en uvanlig flott grønnfarge! Og alt det til 50 % rabatt! Jeg elsker salg...

Bonnie Edinburgh

2010-01-29T10:00:00.002+01:00

I september var jeg tilbake i Edinburgh, en av mine favorittbyer, for å delta i bryllupet til et vennepar. Været var nydelig denne helgen og jeg benyttet anledningen til å ta bilder av byens store landemerker!

Når jeg ser på bildene kommer jeg alltid på eksen min sitt favorittutsagn, som også gjerne er en skål:

Was' like us? Damn few and they're all deed

Hvem er som oss? Veldig få og de er alle døde

En glimrende - og veldig "elitisk" - skål, spør du meg!

Ender i vinterlandskap

2010-01-28T17:48:00.001+01:00

Det er fremdeles vinter i Bergen - selv om det har vært litt mildere et par dager er det lovet ned mot syv minus i helgen. Da er det godt at noen tenker på de sultne endene også! Disse bildene ble tatt en fin solskinnsdag i romjulen.

Ny tidsalder

2010-01-19T19:06:00.002+01:00

Bildet er lånt fra apple.com/no

Inntil desember 2009 forsto jeg ikke hva venner og forretningsforbindelser snakket om da de lovpriste sin iMac eller iPod shuffle. Hva var vel så spesielt med dette amerikanske produktet? Designet har jeg alltid satt pris på, men siden jeg alltid har jobbet på PC, har jeg aldri sett behovet for et Apple-produkt.

Inntil jeg holdt min første iPhone i hånden. Da begynte en annen tidsalder!

På et jobbarrangement hadde sidemannen min første generasjon iPhone i metall og jeg synes telefonen var den stiligste jeg hadde sett.

Så kom siste generasjon iPhone og jeg var solgt. En stor del av overskuddet på julelønnen gikk med til en 16GB 3GS, som jeg endelig fikk i hånden etter nesten en måned på venteliste. Og du skulle sett den kule esken telefonen kom i, mye lik de svarte eskene til Net-a-Porter.

Innen to dager var gått var min kollega drit lei mine stadig utbrudd: Nei, så stilig! Se hva den gjør når jeg snur den sånn. Har du sett denne fantastiske funksjonen? Og slik er jeg fremdeles den dag i dag til alle som vil høre...

Jeg har aldri opplevd et produkt som har så mange kule løsninger. Touch-skjermen er bare helt utrolig, menyene kjempelette å navigere, funksjonslisten uendelig - for ikke å glemme de utrolig applikasjonene en kan få på telefonen helt gratis eller for en slikk og ingenting, som jeg enda ikke har kommet i gang med. Der jeg til slutt ga opp å legge inn yahoo-eposten min på Nokia-telefonen hadde jeg gjort det på iPhonen innen 3 minutter.

Nei, nå er jeg hektet på Apple og går en dyr framtid i møte. Microsoft kan bare ha det så godt med sine irriterende automatiske formateringer og lite logiske filbehandling. Neste investering blir en MacBook... Noen som vil kjøpe en ettårsgammel LG PC, pent brukt?!?

No 1 Ladies' detective agency

2010-01-18T21:50:00.000+01:00

Bildet er lånt av imdb.com

Jeg er helt vill etter Alexander McCall Smiths bøker om Mme Ramotswe og No 1 Ladies' detective agency, og gleder meg til hver nye bok kommer ut. Perfeksjonist som jeg er må jeg vente helt til paperback'en kommer ut, så alle bøkene har samme design... Det tar noen måneder ekstra!

Helt siden jeg hørte at det ble laget en TV-serie om Mme Ramotswe har jeg gledet meg til serien kom til Norge. Og nå er den her! Eller hos naboen, rettere sagt.

Hver søndag kveld kl 21.15 går serien på SVT1. Det er bare to episoder igjen, så løp og kjøp!

PS: Det kommer visst en serie 2 også! Og DVDene kan du kjøpe her.

Tidsklemma

2010-01-18T21:25:00.000+01:00

Bildet er lånt fra imdb.com

Jeg har en følelse av at alt skjer i 100 km i timen for tiden! Det er utrolig travelt på jobb og det blir derfor liten tid til annet enn å spise og sove... Jeg hadde jo et forsett om å få trent litt også i det nye året, men det har vist seg å bli en utfordring å få tid til. Men jeg liker utfordringer, så nå sitter jeg her i treningsklærne og venter på at middagen skal synke ned. Og at Cougar Town skal begynne - og bli ferdig... Jeg kan jo ikke gå glipp av en mannegal Courtney Cox!

Popeyes favorittsuppe - og min!

2010-01-18T21:17:00.003+01:00

Denne gode suppeoppskriften har jeg delt med mange venner - venninne E og mannen endte opp med å slåss om restene! Suppen smaker godt dagen derpå også.

Spinatsuppe fra Menys oppskriftshefte
Stekeolje
1 purre i tynne skiver
1 fedd hvitløk i skiver
1 potet i små biter
1 liter grønnsakbuljong
300-450 spinat (en stor pose fersk eller en pose frossen)
1,5 dl fløte
Pepper og salt

Stek purre, hvitløk og potet i oljen til purren blir myk. Tilsett grønnsakbuljongen og kok i 20 minutter. Tilsett spinat og kok i 4 minutter til spinaten er oppløst. Ta pannen av platen og bruk stavmikser til å gjøre suppen klumpfri. Sett pannen tilbake på platen, tilsett fløte og kok opp på nytt. Smaksett med pepper og salt.

Bon apetit!

PS: Resten av fløten kan du bruke til å lage pasta i fløtesaus med sopp dagen derpå. Nam nam!

The sartorialist av Scott Schumann

2010-01-10T23:48:00.000+01:00

Som mange moteinteresserte følger jeg med på bloggen til Scott Shumann, The sartorialist. Bildene han tar er utrolig inspirerende og har gitt meg noen gode ideer til nye antrekk. Jeg synes også det er flott å se bildene hans fra NY - jeg er veldig fascinert av denne byen og har en hemmelig drøm om en gang å bo der for å kunne kjenne byen skikkelig på pulsen. Jeg må sikkert nøye meg med noen flere ferieturer over der, tenker jeg!

Schumann ga ut boken The sartorialist tidligere i år og denne ble med i handlekurven min hos Amazon. Boken viser et utvalg av bildene som ble lagt ut på The sartorialist fram til 2008 og viser både kvinner og menn. Jeg har bladd gjennom boken et par ganger nå og funnet mange gode bilder. Siden jeg bruker bildene som inspirasjon blir det mange sider å bla fordi, siden Schumann har inkludert minst 50 % bilder av menn. Han har vel heller kanskje ikke samme smak som meg, så mange av mine favorittbilder er ikke med i boken. Inkludert er derimot en god serie bilder av Giovanna i italienske Vogue, som er veldig inspirerende, i tillegg til et par sjarmerende bilder av kjæresten Garance Doré.

På tross av for mange menn (hvor ofte kan jeg si det?!?) er boken en god inspirasjonskilde for oss som liker bloggen hans og hvordan han fotograferer.

Les mer om og bestill boken her.

Fretex

2010-01-10T23:42:00.000+01:00

Skål! Jeg sitter her og koser meg med en liten tokaj i mitt siste varp fra Fretex: Et elegant lite likørglass med stett. Skulle bare ønske de hadde hatt flere enn tre...

Jeg stakk egentlig innom Fretex fordi jeg rett før jul hadde stått i mot 12 flotte småglass med dekor som jeg nå hørte kalle meg tilbake. Dessverre var disse glassene allerede solgt og dette beviser bare teorien min om Fretex: Løp og kjøp, ellers er det solgt!

Andre ting jeg kjøpte var en serveringsskje i sølvplett, to smørbrødskjeer, en blå-og-hvit tallerken fra Porsgrund, en liten løvformet skål fra Porsgrund og en artig grønnsaktallerken fra Figgjo. Jeg liker å kjøpe norskproduserte porselensprodukter som ikke lenger er i produksjon. Føler liksom at jeg får litt historie da, i motsetning til masseproduserte og sjelløse ting fra Ikea. Selv om jeg har mye Ikea i leiligheten også...

Dagens antrekk

2010-01-10T21:03:00.001+01:00

Dette været er bare helt utrolig! Det har nå vært nede i minus 17 grader i nabolaget og jeg var uten vann i tre dager i forrige uke. Det var ikke en hyggelig situasjon å være i - måtte hente inn vann fra naboen i bøtter, panner og mugger for å ha nok. Måtte til og med trene bare for å få meg en helt nødvendig dusj etterpå! Jeg truet til slutt med å ta inn på hotell for borettslagets regning hvis de ikke fikset rørene.

Tre mann fikk endelig tint opp rørene igjen fredag kveld så jeg har kunne tatt et par deilige dusjer i helgen! Nå springer jeg rundt og renner vann hver annen time for å forhindre at rørene fryser igjen. Det er bra vi ikke har vannmangel i Bergen...

I dag hadde jeg på meg:
Skjorte: HM
Strikkejakke: Ull - HM
Skjerf i halsen: Vivienne Westwood
Smykke: Ekte plastikk fra en kjedebutikk i Skottland
Bukse: Ull - MaxMara
Støvletter: Ruskinn - Arche
Veske: Skinn - Coccinelle

Årets magasinomslag 2009

2010-01-06T22:47:00.001+01:00

Bildet er lånt av models.com

Gå inn på models.com og se hvilke magasincover de har kåret som de ti beste i 2009! Jeg liker spesielt godt Vogue Italias grungecover og Acne Paper. Jeg har forresten aldri fått kloa i en utgave av Acne Paper - noe sier meg jeg må stikke innom Acnebutikken til Pepper så snart som mulig...

Nye støvletter

2010-01-06T20:45:00.001+01:00

Bildet er lånt fra http://www.davison.com/

Som jeg har nevnt tidligere ble det en del handling på meg i Berlin, både julegaver og til meg selv. En av de første butikkene jeg gikk inn i var Bruno Magli på Ku'damm. Det viste seg at denne butikken ikke bare hadde dette merket, men også mange andre flotte skomerker. Første impuls var å kjøpe et par småsko fra Bruno Magli, men det var ikke jo ikke det jeg trengte, midt på vinteren som det er. Det paret med Magli-sko jeg måtte returnere til butikken for å få nok til husleien da jeg bodde i Skottland som student er nok grunnen til at jeg ikke klarer å gå forbi et par Magli-sko uten å få intens kjøpetrang...

Denne gangen var det støvletter jeg var ute etter. Et par svarte, varme, klassiske støvletter med lav hæl som går til alt, særlig skjørt/kjoler vinterstid. På tross av gode intensjoner - og at jeg sto imot skoene fra Bruno Magli - kom jeg meg ikke forbi hinder nummer 2: Alle de andre flotte støvlettene i min størrelse som var på salg! Siden jeg bruker 41-42 i sko er tyske skobutikker rene nirvana. De hadde rekke på rekke med sko i 42 og det var bare å velge og vrake!

Jeg falt for et par semskede svarte støvletter med en liten hæl fra Arche. Dette var så absolutt ikke hva jeg trengte, men de var så fine at jeg ikke kunne stå i mot. De varme og klassiske ridestøvlene i et fantastisk skinn, som jeg kunne hatt de neste 10 årene, hadde ingen ting å stille opp med.

Never mind at Arche-støvlene er uten fór, at semskede sko er VELDIG upraktisk i Bergen og at mine svarte støvletter fra Next, som har fått ny såle minst fem ganger, begynner å falle fra hverandre...

Nye forsetter

2010-01-06T20:30:00.001+01:00

Vakre steiner i Lerwick, Shetland

Vanligvis har jeg ingen nyttårsforsett, men i år tror jeg et par punkter er på sin plass. Here we go:

Komme i gang med bloggen min
Trene regelmessig
Fikse leiligheten
Finne meg en mann
Reise like mye som i fjor

Punkt en er allerede i gang, kan man si! Jeg må bare finne ut hvordan jeg kan ta bedre bilder av dagens antrekk og få spredt ordet om at bloggen min finnes.

Ang. trening så var jeg tidligere veldig aktiv med jogging og egentrening på helsestudio. De siste årene har treningen derimot vært veldig uregelmessig eller regelrett fraværende. Nå er det på tide å stramme opp rumpa og få kondisen tilbake! Jeg begynte bra denne uken, så få vi håper at fortsettelsen blir like god.

Det tredje nyttårsforsettet er om leiligheten min. Jeg har bodd her i vel to år nå og trives kjempegodt. Problemet er bare at med et par enkle og ett kjempestort grep hadde leiligheten blitt helt perfekt! Oppussingen har blitt utsatt fra sesong til sesong - eller var det feriepenger til feriepenger? - men i år skal jeg endelig få fingen ut. Begge soverommene skal få ny tapet, maling, nytt golv og nye klesskap. Tenk å endelig får oversikt i jungelen av klær! Jeg drømmer meg bort allerede... Når soverommene er på plass er badet neste punkt på listen. Dersom det er penger igjen...

Mannepunktet på listen trenger vel ikke videre forklaring. Jeg vil ikke lenger være singel. Dermed basta. En kløktig strategi må klekkes ut og initieres. Mulige møtepunkter må evalueres. Legger må barberes og øyenskygge legges. Følg med på fortsettelsen!

Reising er det siste, men langt fra det minst viktige punktet på listen og jeg må si at i 2009 var jeg skikkelig heldig på dette området! Jeg har faktisk kommet ut av tellingen på hvor mange flotte steder jeg fikk oppleve, men kan nevne Botswana, Berlin, Baskerland, Hellas, Edinburgh, Venezia, Russland, Færøyene, Shetland og Orkenøyene. Jeg håper inderlig at jeg er like heldig i 2010, for reising er min store lidenskap. To ferieturer er allerede bestilt, så da har jeg bare... 7-8 igjen?!?

Botswanas fugler

2010-01-03T20:52:00.000+01:00

A fox looking for dinner

Tid for å telle sauer - god natt!

2010-01-03T01:42:00.001+01:00

Snakk om øyenvipper...

Sant hun smiler?!?

Jeg må bare lure inn noen lundefugler også, mine favoritter!

Bildene er tatt i nasjonalparken Hermaness helt nord på Unst, Shetland. Det bor over 100.000 fugler på denne øya!