The last days of summer..

Det er fortsatt sol og varmt ute, og siste rest av sommeren henger fortsatt i lufta. Nettene er kjøligere og morgenene har en skarphet som bare kan bety at høsten er like om hjørnet. Men sommeren gjør sitt beste med å stritte imot, og det betyr at jeg fortsatt kan svinse rundt i en av mine prikkete sommerkjoler så lenge solen skinner. Jeg gleder meg til høsten, til kjøligere dager, til varme jakker og luer og skjerf og høye vinterstøvletter. Jeg lengter mot høsten på samme måte som jeg alltid lengter etter vår i februar. Og mens jeg venter på høsten drikker jeg te (den nye Chocolate Flake teen er en favoritt!) og leser Alan Bennetts Untold Stories og drømmer om varme sommerdager i Frankrike, hvor vi traff disse herlige damene:

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Happiness is.....

.......when Husband gets up before I'm awake and makes pancakes that he serves me in bed.

.......when the doorbell rings and it's the postman, who has a packet full of lovely tea from Teapigs that was a present from Mother- in -law.

......reading 'The Wind in the Willow' in bed with Husband, and looking at E. H. Shepard's amazing illustrations whilst drinking a cup of Chocolate Chip Tea.

Finally Friday!

It's finally Friday! And today I'm wearing my favourite lipstick at the moment: Chanel Rouge Coco Vendôme. It's perfect. Red, but not too red, so can therefore be worn everyday with everything! (The very red lipstick I save for special occasions. To keep it special!)

And this pretty tea dress:
And these earrings, that remind me of Alice in Wonderland:
And I'm drinking tea from my favourite tea cup (I say that about all my tea cups, so that noone feels left out..)

Hope all of you have great plans for the weekend!

I'm looking forward to lots of reading and breakfast in bed.

Early mornings..

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not a morning person. I can hardly do anything but grunt before I've had my coffee, and I'm not the best company either. But I still like early mornings, somehow. I like watching the world wake up, particularly if I have the day off to do whatever I want. Like today, I got up when my husband left for work, and had coffee whilst watching the day gradually get lighter, then watched some Gilmore girls. I am now waiting for the bread to bake in the oven, and I have set the table for lunch, which I'm having with a lovely friend of mine who's coming over. I love days like today. So full of potential.

New joys

So we picked up our new furniture yesterday that we bought from someone we know's parents who were moving house. Perfect! Cheap and eco- friendly. We got this French dresser, a beautiful wood sewing box-table and a little cupboard. This dresser has room for all my pretty tea cups and pots. Yay! Our first proper furniture, apart from our Ikea bookshelves. And now we're looking for an antique armchair to put in our 'reading corner'... To be continued!

Happy Sunday!

Inspiration

Jessica Silversaga is a wonderful photographer, and I find her photos so inspiring. You can find her blogg here and her Flickr profile here. Her photos remind me of childhood, of dreams, fairytales and candy. Take a look!

Finally Friday!!

I started work again yesterday, and after two days of work (meetings, coffee and more meetings) I'm very happy the weekend is finally here!! Starting work after a long holiday is hard.... I didn't know who or where I was when the alarm clock woke me up yesterday at 6.20. But there are still things that make me happy:

- the sun is shining, and it's still lovely and warm during the day, even if the evenings are getting a little crisp.

- my husband and I are picking up lovely new furniture that we bought very cheaply off the parents of someone we know. Pictures will follow shortly!

- I'm looking forward to packing out warm jumpers and scarves from the cupboard. I love autumn...

- I will explore the country park that we've discovered not too far from where we live. It also has a Farm with a Farm shop and a proper English tea room! Yay! I have been looking for one for a very long time!

- my 'new' tweed jacket that i bought on Ebay will arrive in the mail! Perfect for autumn!

- our new best friend 'Kenwood Chef Titanium' has arrived, and I will make bread, cakes and cinnamon buns! Mmmmmmm.......

- putting on a lovely dress, red lips and dance, dance, dance..

Do you have any exiting or lovely plans for the weekend?

Hope you'll all have lovely weekends filled with lots of smiles!

Happy Sunday!

So our holiday is also coming to an end, only a few days left before we start teaching again.. Things that make me happy today:

- being served cappuccino in bed, that has a milk heart in it (the cappuccino, not the bed).

- eating the rest of the amazing chocolate and raspberry mousse cake from last night's dinner.

- drinking tea from a nice tea cup.

- looking at photos from our wedding and honeymoon.

- reading John Donne's beautiful poetry.

- lighting candles even though it's still light outside..

- enjoying having the house to myself whilst my husband is out on a stag- do.

- anticipating the arrival of my new kitchen friend: Kenwood Chef Titanium, that we got as a wedding present.

- listening to Yves Montand and dreaming of Paris....

Rain rain rain rain...

It's raining today....again. Seems like summer has finally come to an end. And what a fabulous summer it has been!

Love

The best friends

Before our wedding I had a wonderful hen- do with the best friends in the world. They had planned the perfect day for me, and we drank lots of champagne, laughed all day and had so much fun I shall never forget it. I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends, that have stuck together for a very long time. We don't see each other so much anymore, as we all live in different parts of the world, but I miss every one of them all the time. They know me so well, and we have shared so many things over the years, that they are almost like family to me. Hopefully it won't be too long until we move back to Norway so I can see more of them!

Photos: HJD

Honeymoon and lovely things

I am finally back, after a wedding that was even better than we had ever dreamed of, and a honeymoon in France with the man I love. We went to Alsace, a region in France near the border to Germany, which is famous for its cheese and wine. It is a very small region in a mountain range named Vosges, and consists of lots of very small villages not far from each other, separated only by miles and miles of vineyards. Their wine is fantastic, and so is the cheese. The most famous cheese is Munster, a very smelly cheese, which is absolutely divine.

I have spent the last ten days in these surroundings:

The courtyard outside our flat.

The vineyard we stayed on was very beautiful. They had a dog called Cayenne, who spent most of her time sleeping outside our flat.

Our courtyard.

Almost every hill in Alsace has a castle (or three) on it.

Wedding!

I'm sorry things are quiet here on the blog, but with our wedding coming up this Saturday (yay!) there are so many things in my head that I can't seem to concentrate on anything else. I promise I'll come back after it's all over!! Hope everyone's having a lovely summer!

Norwegian summer

Summer is a slow time. Have finally arrived in Norway, after a long drive though Europe (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark) and I'm enjoying all the things that a Norwegian summer is:

- strawberries

- eating fresh mackerel only a couple of hours after having caught it

- Norwegian country side

- picking wild flowers

- walking in the pouring, but warm, rain

- drinking coffee outside

- sitting outside despite it being a little too cold to do so

- drinking 'cherry drinking yoghurt'

- enjoying the long summer evenings that never get properly dark

- listening to the rain dancing on the roof

- seeing amazing sun sets

- taking long walks and bicycle trips around the beautiful landscape

- drinking white wine

- picking berries in my grandfather's garden

Oh, Norway, how I love thee....

Picnic

To celebrate that I've finally graduated from college (yay!) we decided to have a champagne and strawberry picnic in our garden..

And even our pet Oscar got to enjoy a strawberry on the happy occasion!

Can you help me?

I need your help. As you know I am getting married in a month and I'm currently looking for shoes for the big day! As I'm quite tall, and my fiancé is the same height as me, I don't want shoes with too high a heel. I also want comfortable shoes that I can dance in. The thing is that I don't want to buy 'wedding shoes', as in white shoes that I'll only wear once in my life. I'd prefer something in silver or pale pink, but so far I have only managed to find shoes with too high heels, and that are really uncomfortable. Does anyone know where I can buy comfortable, pretty shoes with middle- high heels, either in London or somewhere in Norway? I'd be ever so grateful if anyone could help me!!

Hen-do

I had my first of two hen-dos yesterday (I'm having one in England and one in Norway). It was such a great day, and just like I wanted it to be. My lovely best friend had organised it so nicely, and decorated trees with balloons, under which we sat and had a perfect picnic. She also made the best chocolate and raspberry cake- a definite favourite with the girls! I'm so lucky to have such wonderful friends..

Lovely summer!

Summer is HOT in London. But lovely when you have a garden you can sit in, reading book, having a glass of wine.. Life is busy and full of end of term things, wedding plans and concerts. Here are a few things that make me happy today:

Our vegetables are looking very good, and I can't wait to start harvesting! We've got broccoli, spinach, radishes, chillies, mange tout, lettuce...

I'm also waiting for the strawberries.. Hoping that they'll be ripe before we go away on holiday!

Not long now!

Lavender. I love the colour, the smell and everything about it.

The sun is shining, life is easy, I'm in love and there's an ice cream van in close walking distance from our flat. Blissful summer!