MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As you can tell from the lack of blog posting recently it's been a busy period. I've now got a few minutes to tell you (the world) about what's been happening over the last couple of weeks.

On the 15th we had our Christmas meal with work. We all had to go to a vorspiel first, and then went on to where the party was after that. It was a good night with a lot of food and happy people!

Sunday 16th we spent the day with Christmas sweets making at Irene's house. The twins did their best to help too, by crawling around and investigating the plug sockets. We had a really good time, and made a lot of nice sweets. We also decorated their gingerbread house :)

Since then we've been spending Christmas in Enebakk at Torkjel's parents house. We went there on the 23rd. During the day on Christmas Eve we went ice skating on Vågsvann (lake) which was great fun! I can't remember last time I went iceskating on a lake. Normally it's only an ice rink. My legs were knackered to start with, but they got better. Obviously a long time since last time I used my skates.

In the evening we had the traditional Christmas meal (Pork ribs) and opened a ton of presents. It was a lot of them although we were only five of us. Think we were all pretty happy with our presents. I certainly was as I think I got everything I wanted!

We spent another two days in Enebakk eating more nice food, playing games, going for walks and generally enjoying the holidays. 27th and 28th we had to go back to work. That was pretty hard after days off. And Friday we left for Lillehammer. We've been there over the weekend eating even more food!!!

Today we've been sledging by the skijump in Lillehammer. It's great fun as you rent a sledge that can be dragged up by the button lift, and go back down again stupidly fast!

Only one day until New Years Eve now, and then we're off to Hemsedal for a week of snow and skiing!

Skiing at Hafjell

Last weekend Torkjel and I went to Lillehammer to see my mum. On the Saturday we went to Hafjell skiing. As you can see from the photos it was great! Hardly any people and nice sunny weather most of the day. Even got to see a nice sunset. It looked even better with orange ski goggles on! Hehe.

On Saturday night we had ribbemiddag at my mums house, a sneaky taster of the Christmas meal really. It was nice though! On Sunday we went to see Ann Mari and the boys. First time Torkjel has seen the boys, and they loved him. Didn't leave him alone until we left really.

This week has gone really fast. Not done much more than work and relaxing in the evenings. Went to Peppes with MO and Russ on Thursday which was nice. And tonight it's julebord with work. We've been invited to a vorspiel first, to someone I've not even met. Could be interesting. The location of where the julebord is supposed to be is secret too. Should be a good night :)

Tomorrow we're going to Irene's house to make sweets. Should be great! Just hope I'm not too hung over.

I've added some photos from work too, Odin and Lene drinking from our huge glass we got from AFK (one of our partners). Notice the text under the glass where Odin is drinking. Hehe. That is actually written on the wall at work, and when I took the photo I didn't even notice the setting!

Advent

Here we are again, and it's suddenly become December! Time flies! Feels like only a few days ago we were sat in Frognerparken having a BBQ... I wish, with all this rain these day. Not fair.

Anyway, I've finally been allowed to put my Christmas lights up in the window, and it's great! A lot lighter inside on these rainy days. And tonight Torkjel and I have made a gingerbreadhouse! Woohoo! (We didn't cheat - honest! ;) )

The weekend was really busy with a lot of family stuff. Met my parents on Friday night. On Saturday I was working, and we went out for a meal at Arakataka with my parents in the evening. On Sunday we had the whole family business for coffee and cake. My parents, T's parents and his sister and boyfriend. Pretty full flat really, but it all went well I think. In the evening we went out for an Indian and saw Superbad at the cinema.

Last week went by with not doing and awful lot really. Went to see Irene on Thursday, and gave her a hand taking the twins to the nurse to get weighed and measured. They're certainly growing. In the evening we were a few from Danvik that met up at qba for a chat. Really nice seeing people again!

Another week has just started. I don't like to brag, but have to say that I was rather surprised today when I got awarded "the employee of the month" at work. Didn't expect it at all! Means a bit of extra cash in the next wages which is nice :D

Looking forward to the weekend with Lillehammer snow (the window pic is one my mum sent from LIllehammer today) and skiing. Woohoo :D

Skiing - woohoo!

Finally - winter! Well, almost anyway. We went skiing at Tryvann on Sunday as you can see from the photos. It was a great day! We've still not got any snow in central Oslo, but just outside Oslo there are snow.

MO, Russ, Torkjel, Edgar and me went and tried out the skiis, and it seemed like none of us had forgotten how they work. All good really :)

Other than that Ann Mari came to visit us on Saturday night, and we also went to Enebakk to get Torkjel's skis on saturday.

Last week was pretty busy but it went fast. Didn't really do an awful lot worth mentioning, other than the skiing obviously!

Warming up for Hemsedal now, here we come! :)

(Had to steal some photos from Torkjel's phone, it takes better photos than my phone!)

Almost ice skating and babies

Weekend is almost over again! How on earth does it go that quick???

Yesterday we went for a walk on the outskirts of Oslo. It was great sunny weather, and fresh. About 0 degrees I reckon. We took the t-banen to Skullerud, and walked to Manglerud from there, via Rustadsaga and Østensjøvannet. When we got to Østensjøvannet people were iceskating on it! So we decided to walk across it! Great fun :) (See photo of Torkjel) A bloke was telling us off and saying it was dangerous, but the ice was at least 10cm thick, and as long as we stayed away from streams and moving water it's fine.

In the evening MO and Russ came to visit, and we had waffles. Nice to see them again, and it's great to have them nearby! A bit strange to get used to that again really.

We've had a pretty relaxing day today. Not been outside the door at all. Irene, BE and the twins came over for dinner, which was nice. First time they've been to our flat. The twins are growing really fast, not far off 7 months old now.

Back to work tomorrow. Hoping this week goes just as quick as last week really...

Weekend :)

I'm so relieved the weekend is here, so I just want to make a post because of that.

It's been a long and hard week at work, but I've got a lot done, which is good! Hoping to go for a walk tomorrow. And Irene and Knut Eirik are visiting on Sunday for dinner. The twins are coming too, but think they'll get served another type of food...

Been looking at websites for skiresorts, and I'm really pleased to see that the majority of them are opening tomorrow! Which means we're now planning downhill skiing in Oslo next Saturday! Woohoo!

But first, this weekend with two days off work :)

For Odin's sake

I'm uploading this photo for Odin's sake ;) The ones who know what this is a photo of will probably get the idea.

Nothing more said...

Relaxing weekend

Last week we were a bit more back on track at work - not as chaotic, and the new people are starting to settle in which is good.

As far as the week went, we didn't do overly much. Tuesday we meant to go climbing, but I wasn't feeling up for it. Wednesday Torkjel managed to fracture a rib (at least he thinks he has) whilst playing hockey, so there the climbing on Thursday went down the drain too. Oh well. Meant more relaxing though.

Friday night MO and Russ came for dinner and a chat, and Saturday we trawled round town to see if we could find a painting to go on the big white wall. No luck yet, but we've got some ideas. Sunday was yet another relaxing day. Slept in, then went to see Anniken and Guro at a cafe. MO came and joined too. For dinner we tried out San Leandro once again, and it didn't disappoint this time either. Lovely tapas :)

To end the weekend we went to see Michael Clayton at Colosseum. Mo and Russ joined us doing so :)

It was not fun to get out of bed this morning, but work was calling. Another week has started...

Cold weekend

We're just back from a weekend in Lillehammer and a visit at MO and Russ' new flat.

We left pretty much straight after work on Friday on a packed train to Lillehammer. Had to stand up until we got to the airport as it was full. The rest of the weekend we've spent eating a lot of nice food cooked by my mum, and finding a few caches as well as going for a walk near to where I used to live today.

It's been nice sunny weather, but pretty cold. When we came back to Oslo today we got the t-banen up to MO and Russ and had a look at their flat. It's really nice, and it seems like they're settling in ok.

Other than that we've had a pretty relaxing week, not doing overly much. I went to see Martine and Kassander on Thursday which was nice. A long time since I last was there. Was impressed that Kassander seemed to remember me.

New week tomorrow. Hoping to get back into climbing as we've had a three week "holiday" from it now. (I did try to upload some photos here, but no luck.... Not sure whether computer is too slow or whether it's the website that's slow...)

Rome - Fantastic!!!

It's Saturday morning and we got back from Rome yesterday. I can still feel my feet aching slightly from all the walking. I'm sure we walked 15k at least every day!

Rome is a fantastic city. There are soooo much to see. We didn't manage anywhere near all the stuff we wanted to see, but what we did see was great! We saw the Colosseum (passed it several times too as it was on the way back to our hotel), The Forum, Palatine hill and everything around that area in one day. A lot of ruins and reconstructed buildings. I wondered for a long time how they managed to build such massive buildings, and then found out they made scaffolding out of wood, but sort of built it into the structure, and took it out again when it was finished.

We did everything from Colosseum, St Peters basilica, St Peters Square (even saw the pope!), walked along the river, saw lots of pillars, archeological sites. Every time they knock down a building they find something underneath it from the roman times or similar.

We also ate a lot of lovely icecream (YUMMY!), pasta, meat, seafood, pizza and drank a lot of great wine! One of the nights we went to a lovely restaurant. We ordered a four course meal. Every course was pretty much as much food as I would eat in a main meal! It was fantastic food though, although I didn't manage to finish it off.

I've put an album out on Facebook so you can have a look at photos there. And I'll put a few up here. If I speak to you, ask me about the Gucci incident ;)

Really do not want to go back to work on Monday, but guess that's life! In a week MO and Russ are coming over, so new exciting stuff is happening!

Ratatouille and Østmarkatur

Went to see Ratatouille at the Cinema on Saturday and it was brilliant! Well worth watching! If you're considering it, make a plan out of it! Everyone at the cinema was applauding after the film. Very funny :) We went out for a meal after, which was nice.

Sunday the weather turned gorgeous! It was about ten degrees in the shadow, no wind and not a cloud in sight. We went for a walk in Østmarka, and found a few caches. One of them we were sat on top of but couldn't take cause of mugglers. (For non-cachers this means people sat around, being able to see what we were up to, so we couldn't dig the box out so they saw it). We walked from Ulsrud T-bane station to Mariholtet for a bolle, then to Oppsal. Probably about 12-13k walk. Nice :) Lovely autumn colours everywhere too! (See pictures - from my mobile though so the colours are not great...)

Monday I went to see Irene. Saw the twins for a bit too. They're five months old now, and growing fast. Really cute!!! Was nice to have a girlie night with Irene, gonna have to do that again soon!

Well, back at work this week. Pretty much chaotic as we've now moved to the places where we're gonna sit. But most of the phones are not working... That's useful at a customer services centre....

Woohoo! MO and Russ moving here!

A few days ago Russ got offered a job in Oslo, so now they're moving here. Yay :) About time really!

Been a really busy week at work, because a few people has gone to other jobs at IKEA so we're waiting for three new ones to start. They've been employed, and will start in a couple of weeks time. This means there are more cases to handle for us that are left behind. I get really annoyed with how much people expect from us. We give them really good deals and they're still arguing with us. Saying they're gonna get lawyers and stuff. Oh well!

The film we went to see on Sunday (Tatt av kvinnen) is worth seeing. Got some really funny quotes in it!

The week has gone fast. Been working every day, and been climbing twice and cycling once. So a pretty active week. Going to have a relaxing weekend with shopping tomorrow (need a fan in the kitchen) and hopefully a nice walk on Sunday. Just over a week until my holiday now! :)

Two weeks to go until Rome!

Tomorrow morning it's two weeks until we leave for Rome. Woohoo :) Booked a hotel the other day too, so it's getting sorted now!

I worked this weekend, and before the day was over a few people came to move half of the customer services centre (all the desks etc) to the other half because we're having a carpet put down. This resulted in my poor little desk being left all by itself (with me working on it) in the massive office! (See photo).

The week just gone we've managed to go climbing twice which has been good. Want to carry on doing that! This morning we met my mum and dad for breakfast, and had a walk through Oslo watching the Oslo marathon. A lot of knackered people there! Something had happened so the road was full of what I believe was oil. Was like walking on ice up all of Karl Johan! No idea what had happened and I can't find anything about it on the news either! I'm sure I'll find out soon enough!

Off to cook some dinner now before we're going to watch Tatt av Kvinnen (Invaded by the woman) at the cinema.

Day off and back to normal

Another week has gone. Got a day off work today, so just planning to relax and do a couple of things I've been putting off for a while. I'm also going to meet my dad a bit later as he's finishing work today. Had a more relaxing week last week, after the busy times with moving and visitors. Thursday I went climbing with Russ and Torkjel, which was great! Been waiting to do that for a while!!! Intending to keep it up  now, and at least go once a week, hopefully twice.

Saturday Lene celebrated her Birthday, so we went along to her houseparty. It was an entertaining night with a lot of new people - think we were about 40 people in their flat! As a result of Saturday night we slept in on Sunday and had a lazy first half of the day. But we spent the afternoon tidying the flat - so now it's nice and tidy here! Finally got it sorted. We then went to see Bourne Ultimatum at the cinema - Colosseum 1. I liked it, specially since it's the third Bourne film, I think they've done a good job in making it.

Guess this week will go fast too... Got a course to draw kitchen worktops on Wed and Thu, then I'm working Friday evening, and also Saturday. But first I'm going to enjoy my day off today and go climbing tonight!

Busy couple of weeks

Just realised it's two weeks since I last posted something here. That reflects the fact that I've been pretty busy.  Managed to pack all my stuff, and move. I handed my keys in last monday, so now I'm officially living in Oslo with  Torkjel. Poor flat has got a bit fuller than it was in the first place.

I've also had visitors from England which was nice. Ben and  Ros has been here this week. Yesterday we went out for my Birthday meal - seven of us. Russ and MO came from England too. Great fun, and way too many drinks. Had a very lazy day so far today... But need to go out and find some food soon...

Last weekend I went to "Lederløft", a scout leader weekend at Norways international scout centre. That was good. Went to see Liv Arnesen telling about her skiing to the south pole, and attempt to climb Everest. Also had a three course meal in the evening, and did a few activities. All in all a good weekend.

Now I'm looking forward to a "normal" week with climbing and cycling and work. Should be good! :)

Moving...

The guy I'm renting from rang me yesterday and told me he's managed to rent out the flat to someone else from the 15th! Woohoo! Means I can stop paying my rent. Only got one challenge now... It's called packing and moving. Guess I better start properly on monday. My aim is to be out by Friday... Should work out I guess.

Weekend now. I worked yesterday which was boring. Long day at work, but we made up for it in the evening. Lene came round to see me and Torkjel, and we drank a few beers. Afterwards we went out in Oslo and drank a lot more beer! Generally a brilliant night out. Had a great time! I'm sure there will be photos to follow...

Thursday I had the day off, and decided to cycle from Hvalstrand to Oslo. My bum still hurts, but apart from that I'm surprised my legs weren't aching. It's about 24k after all...

Anyway. Maybe I should go and wake sleepy Torkjel up. We're off to Enebakk for a Birthday dinner soon. Getting Får i kål for the first time in years! Yummy!

Langevågen and future Birthday plans...

It's been over a week since I posted something here now. Time flies, and I forget to keep track!

Went to Langevågen (near Ålesund) to visit family over the weekend. Apart from the weather being rather horrible we had a good time. Shame to think that the weather in oslo was gorgeous though! Friday we got up at 4! in the morning and got a flight from Gardermoen. Spent the morning in Ålesund walking up to fjellstua, visiting Atlanterhavsparken (looking at fishies and spiders) and having a wander round the city centre. The rest of the weekend we spent in Langevågen visiting family, eating lots and going for a walk where we got soaked! Was hoping to go fishing for mackerel or crabs, but unfortunately the weather didn't allow it.

Trying to plan my Birthday now! Decided to go out for a meal and a few drinks. Think a few people will tag along which will be cool! Even get a friend visiting from England! Woohoo :)

You've probably noticed that I'm not posting a lot of photos on here. Hopefully I'll have my own computer moved next week, so it'll be easier to post photos, as I struggle to understand this computer (Linux). Don't know how to download photos...

Yesterday Torkjel bought a bike, so intending to get a bit more active now. Hopefully going climbing twice a week, and cycling once a week. Went to see the climbing wall on Monday, and my fingers were itching. The bouldering wall there is really good. Climbing wall isn't overly big, but it all looks good anyway :) Climbingwall here I come!

Finally weekend!

It's been a long week at work with a lot to do! I'm looking forward to Lene coming back to work on Monday so I don't have to be on my own on the team any more!

Was pretty knackered after work most days, but managed to do a little bit anyway. The beginning of the week is a bit of a blur, and I can't actually remember what we were up to. Wednesday morning I went "home" to check post and a few other things, before going off to work. I also wrote my notice for the flat, as I'm moving in with Torkjel. :)

Thursday some of Torkjel's colleagues had to leave work because of cut downs, so we went out for a few (or a lot of) drinks with them. Some of them got slightly more drunk than others. Fortunately it wasn't overly late, so still managed work the day after ok.

Friday was a looong day at work, before we went out for a few beers again. First time I've been to Justisen, and I quite liked it. There was a lot of people there! Sat outside drinking beer and eating pizza, before heading home for an early night in bed. 

This morning we wanted to do something active, so we got
the bus to Enebakk and went for a walk there. It was lovely weather, and we saw some nice views. Managed to find to geocaches too! We met another geocacher by one of them. He looked a bit nervous that I'd spotted him trying to look for the cache, until I told him we were cachers too. Had a chat with him, before we headed back to the bus (walking about 6km an hour to get back in time!).

There were an awful lot of blueberries out in the woods today, and we got inspired. Unfortunately we didn't have anything to put them in. So when we got back to Oslo, we went to the supermarket and bought blueberry jam and had pancakes for dinner. Yummy!

Fortunately there's one more day left of the weekend! :) Think we might go to the cinema and watch a new Norwegian film that's come to the cinemas.

Long week, IKEA furniture and cake :)

Going back to work on Monday was not much fun! In fact, it wasn't great being back this week at all. Was more keen on having more holiday really! But hey, work is life, and that's what gives you money to do other stuff. So I'll just live with it I guess! Didn't really help that Torkjel had the week off, and I had to get out of bed on my own in the morning...

Didn't do too much during the week. Went for a bbq on monday in Frognerparken, because the weather finally decided to turn nice. Wednesday morning we went walking around Oslo to find some furnture (which we did :) ), and when I went to work at two, Torkjel came with me to buy a wardrobe and bookshelves. Thursday they were delivered four hours later than planned, because the car that was supposed to deliver them managed to crash. Doh!

Thursday night I went out to meet Anniken and some of her friends, and  Torkjel went to a concert with strange music (my opinion... hehe). Someone came home very late and was very chatty. :p Up again early on Friday morning for the last day of work for the week. Woohoo! Friday night was spent relaxing as we were both knackered (for different reasons... ;) ) and built a couple of bookshelves. Finally the weekend was here! Did some shopping on Saturday before we started building more IKEA stuff and I made a massive chocolate cake! Wondering how on earth we're going to finish it off... Think we both need to bring some to work...

Anyway, it's sunday now and we're finishing off the building work. Not looking forward to another week at work, but then again it's weekend again soon... :)

Back from Scoutcamp!

It's Sunday night and I've been back from scoutcamp for about 24 hours. And I'm still knackered! It's hard work sleeping on a therm-a-rest in a tent for a week!

It's been a good week though. Been playing around with abseiling for kids, tried a zip wire that was 170 meters long (wooooohoooo!) and generally had a good time with friends. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as nice as we hoped, but it wasn't raining all the time... Just every now and then. We also had sun a couple of days - enough for my nose to get sunburned.

I don't feel overly ready to go back to work tomorrow, but guess I just have to. Been to see the Simpsons movie today, which was good. Also went out for a nice chinese after.

Guess I better go and hang up some clothes and head for bed as work starts early tomorrow.