Cecilies blog

Winterboots

2010-11-17T10:51:00.000+01:00

Winter is here, and Theo started nursery a few months ago. So far he's had some Viking gore tex shoes at nursery - after he stopped wearing trainers that is. They have been brilliant, and we still use them when we just go for car rides etc. They're not really warm enough to play out in anymore, so I've now got him some new shoes.

They're Timberland ones and are lined with wool and fleece. They're quite high up on his ancles, and got two welcro straps on. You can see what they look like here. We've got beige and red ones for Theo, but they're exactly the same boot.

I have some more opinions about play suits, mittens, hats, wool clothes and more, but will save that for later.

Carrying

2010-03-12T23:14:00.001+01:00

When Theo was born we lived on 4th floor without a lift. I knew I needed something to carry him in, because carrying your baby on your arm together with shopping and probably other stuff too is a bit difficult. I was searching around a bit before he was born, and ended up deciding on an elastic sling. This is the one I decided on in the end. It's called Babylonya Tricot Slen, and is a 5 meter long elastic sling. It took a bit getting used to tying it, but I sorted that out pretty quick. Theo was very happy in it until he was about 3 months old. There's a lot of advantages with the sling, as it's very comfy to use, and it works as an extra clothing layer for the baby. I never used it in the summer, but I would expect that particular type to be a bit warm. If I was to get a sling for summeruse I'd probably buy a thinner one.

I would probably have used it longer if it wasn't for buying a Manduca. It can be used from birth to 20 kilos, but is best from 3-4 months (65 cm ish). As Theo wasn't overly keen on lying down in the buggy after 4 months, it was great to have the Manduca to carry him in when he was fed up. We carried him on our tummy to start with, and when he rounded 6 months, I started carrying him more on my back as it's easier for me. Torkjel still carries Theo on his tummy, although he's about 11 kilos now. I love the Manduca. The only thing I'm slightly disappointed with is the sleep hood, as it seems a bit tight. It's also difficult to get it up on my own when he's on my back. This is however my only drawback with the Manduca, and we're still using it daily! The fact that it's got clips makes it slightly easier to use than a Meitai. I've also bought this Meitai called Concerti. This was bought as a substitute for the sleep hood that doesn't work very well with the Manduca. So if I need to carry Theo when he's supposed to fall asleep on my back, I use this one. The main differences between the two is the fact that the Manduca has clips and a waistbelt, very much like a rucksack, whilst the Manduca needs to be tied on. I love both of them, but generally use the Meitai if I'm carrying Theo for a longer amount of time.

Before we bought the Manduca, I also bought another pappoose thingie made by Vaude. It looks very much like a Baby Björn that a lot of people use. You can see it here. It was ok to use until Theo reached 5-6 kilos, and after that it was just uncomfortable. Probably won't recommend that one unless you only want to use it to get to the shops in and out of the car, and at airports. The sling, Manduca and Meitai does the job for us!

Chair from Skeidar or IKEA?

2010-03-10T21:58:00.000+01:00

For almost three years we've been looking for a chair to have in our livingroom. The main purpose of the chair is to sit and read books in it. It also needs to be a chair that friends and family can use when they visit. We've been looking all over the place. Every time we've been to a furniture shop, we've tried every chair in the shop.

A few months ago we found this one in Skeidar, and pretty much settled on it. The only problem was the price. It's not overly expensive, but we decided to wait for a bit. We've also been to IKEA numerous times to see if they've got anything nice. Today we went there again, and found this one, and decided within two minutes to buy it. It is comfy to sit in, and a third of the price of the chair in Skeidar.

We've now got a nice chair to read books in. We just need to find some time to read them now...

Stonz, pretty genious!

2010-03-09T22:40:00.000+01:00

As kids are not supposed to wear shoes before they learn to walk, it can be hard to find something to put on their feet whilst being outside. Stonz was our saviour! Specially since we carry Theo on our front/back a fair bit. He need something to keep his feet warm in winter cold Norway. They are fairly waterproof too, so there's no problem with kids walking on snow with them.

A huge thanx to the people who suggested buying Stonz. Although Theo has learnt to walk now, we still use them as they're lovely and warm. They're like a small bag you put on your babie's feet, and tighten with straps.

Have a look at http://www.stonz.no to see what they look like. They are made in Canada, and a lot of people use them in Norway.

Kids winter boots

2010-03-08T15:13:00.002+01:00

Just over a month ago we bought Theo some winter boots. They were called GT Tex MIKI. For a month we were really happy with the shoes, until Theo decided that he wanted to walk on snow. The shoes worked like ice skates, and he could not stand up on the snow at all! I went back to the shop and complained, cos when shoes can't be used as shoes, you kinda don't have any need for them. The woman behind the counter said "that's just what they're like" and offered me a discount on another pair on top of obviously having to keep the shoes that didn't work! I didn't agree with this, so in the end she said she could call head office the next day. Torkjel went in to see how that went the day after, and without a word she gave him his money back.

A couple of days later I went to a shop and bought him a new pair for 129 kroner. The first pair cost 499 kroner, so had a big saving. And the new shoes are really good, and he can walk on snow with them too :)

My question is, do you agree that when yo pay 499 kroner for a pair of baby winter boots, you should expect your kid to be able to stand up with them?

New era...

2010-02-14T21:50:00.000+01:00

Hmm... well it's a long time since I last posted anything on here. Maybe I should try to start blogging again?

Tommorrow a new era starts for us. Theo is having his first day at the childminders. I'm happy that we've got somewhere for him to go, at the same time as I really want one of us to look after him! I know it'll be worst for me though, and he'll probably love it! He is going to be with one other girl his same age all the time, and they're also going to visit the open nursery (playgroup) every day.

He's now a year old, walking around and also started to talk. He's very cute when he's walking around here. He also shows his temper every now and then, and is good at telling us what he wants and what he doesn't want.

Today has been a good day. The weather has been gorgeous, and we've been for a walk to Sandbakken. Our "local" forrest cafe. Felt like the rest of Oslo was there too, and it was packed with people outside. Eating waffles, skiing, sledging and generally enjoying the lovely day outside. Theo has decided that walking on snow is a bit too strange, so he ends up standing in one place watching what's going on around him until he sits down. I bet he wonders what all that strange white stuff is.

Almost summer

2009-05-22T11:57:00.000+02:00

I've just realised how quick the time goes. In a week Theo is four months old which is pretty mad! Can't believe it's that long since he was born.

The weather has been a lot nicer recently, and I've spent a lot of time outside going for walks, a couple of bbq's, picnic and generally enjoying the sun. Hoping it carries on like that, and that we get a nice summer.

The last couple of weekends was spent at Torkjel's parents cabin in Strømstad, and 17th May was spent in Lillehammer with my parents. Both weekends were really good. I even managed to use my national dress (bunad) this year, as it sort of fitted.

We are planning Theo's naming day party these days, and are looking forward to 26 friends and family all gathering on 13th June. Should be a good day, and we're obviously hoping for sun!

Babyswimming

2009-05-06T19:51:00.000+02:00

We've taken Theo to babyswimming five times now, and he absolutely loves it! It's quite interesting to see how the little ones react when we duck them under water, and they smile when they come back up again. Theo is a bit like a wind up toy when we put him on his back. His legs go mad, and he tries to swim. Good boy!

During the last month we've been on Easter holiday to Stockholm which was great. Went to see the Vasa museum and spent a lot of time walking around the city which was good. We were lucky and had really good weather. Looking forward to proper summer weather now. We've had a bit of a taste during the last week or so, with sunny weather.

A few months later...

2009-04-04T17:34:00.000+02:00

Well, here we go again. It's taken me some time to get back into blogging. My last blogpost was before my life seemed to take a big turn - with a little one added to our small family. We're now three people, having welcomed little Theo into our lives on the 28th January. He's a gorgeous little boy who's now two months old. My life these days consists of looking after Theo, going for walks, and generally meeting friends etc.

I do enjoy life as a mum, and don't really miss work for the time being. I will try to start blogging again, now things are becoming a routine.

Another week has gone...

2009-01-19T17:39:00.001+01:00

... and here I am still at home waiting for something to happen. I might sound very impatient, but I'm surprisingly calm and not really impatient at all. I know the little one will pop out when he's ready, so I just have to wait. Seems like everyone around me are more impatient than I am really!

It's back to being Monday, and I've had a good weekend really. On Saturday we decided not to sit inside all day, so took T-banen up to Nydalen to find three caches there. From there we went down to forskningsparken and found another, before we sat on the Trikk and went home. It was nice just to be outside, although my walking pace is more like a 90-year old these days.

Yesterday we decided on another day out, and thought that a trip to Rustadsaga would be nice. Got T-banen to Bogerud, and walked the massive kilometer from there to where the cafe is in the forrest. We found one cache, before walking up to Nøklevann where Torkjel put his ice skates on. At this point I went inside for a hot chocolate, before he carried on to find another two caches. The cafe was packed with people having been out on various walks in the area. Whilst sitting there, it started snowing really heavily outside. By the time Torkjel had got back, we had eaten a couple of boller (buns) and had a bit more to drink (non-alcoholic obviously), it had snowed about 4 cm outside. We walked back to T-banen, and looked like two snowmen by the time we got there. I wondered what happened to Christmas at that point. It felt right to celebrate it all over again because of all the snow!

I've got another week ahead at home now, and hope that I manage to fill it with a few things to do. Meeting Anita for lunch tomorrow, then Irene is coming for dinner, so that's a start :) Just hope the week goes as quick as last week if I've got to wait for that long before meeting the little fella in my tummy.

(the picture is stolen from the website www.rustadsaga.no)

Ice skating conditions

2009-01-10T18:08:00.000+01:00

We're now 10 days into the new year, and so far I've finished working, and had time to have to pregnancy controls. The first one the midwife was unsure about which way the baby was in my tummy and the second one a scan that showed that he's turned around. So that's all good :) Just got to wait for something to happen now.

Today we went to Sognsvann and had a wonder across the lake. Lots of people were ice skating and skiing across the lake. Ice skating wasn't brilliant as there were about an inch of snow on the ice, but Torkjel tried anyway. Think it was a bit hard work, but fun anyway. I'm staying on my feet for now really. It's a bit of a shame as it is brilliant conditions for ice skating around the Oslo lakes now.

Yesterday MO, Russ, Tom, Laura and Abi came round for dinner after they came back from Hemsedal. Had a good time sat around chatting and being entertained by Abi.

Gonna enjoy the rest of the weekend now, having Torkjel at home :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-01T18:02:00.000+01:00

It's 2009! Wonder how many times I'm gonna get the date wrong and write 2008 before I realise that's the wrong year? Always the case, hehe.

Had a good celebration last night, with pinnekjøtt (lamb/sheep ribs) and all the trimmings at MO and Russ' house. Really enjoyed the night, although it was a quiet celebration! With 21 days left until my due date it suited me very well.

Today has ben spent doing ..... nothing. Been on the sofa in front of the computer most of the day really. We did make it outside for a cup of coffee/hot chocolate briefly, but that was it really. Hopefully I'm a bit more awake tomorrow. Torkjel is going to work then.

Guess this is when I'm supposed to sit down and write down all my New Year resolutions. Well, I've not really got any apart from being open to all the changes in my life this year! Only a few weeks until it's all starting now!

Happy Christmas

2008-12-27T20:39:00.000+01:00

... althought it's almost New Year now. Hope you all have had a great celebration and got lots of lovely presents. I certainly did. We left Oslo for Ålesund and the island Sula on "little Christmas Eve", and spent Christmas eve at my uncle's house eating lots of lovely food and unwrapping mad amounts of presents. With 11 people present, there were a lot of presents to open! Think we got everything we wanted.

Yesterday we drove to Lillehammer where we are now. Torkjel has spent the day cross country skiing whilst I went shopping with my mum. We have eaten lots of lovely food, and spent a fair bit of time relaxing. I'm just recovering from a boring cold, and hope I'll stopp coughing soon.

Only got 25 days to go to mye due date for the birth now too, so time is flying! Going for another check up at the health centre over New Year. I am certain the baby is in breech position, but on the last check the midwife reckoned he's turned. We'll have to see who's right I guess, but I'm not convinced. Obviously hoping he's turned though.

Got three days to go at work now, before my maternity leave. New Years eve is my last day of working. Guess I'm celebrating the start of my maternity leave with a New Year. We're off to Marianne and Russ' flat to celebrate which will be nice.

Knowing myself there won't be any more posts before New Years Eve now, so HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!

Tragedy

2008-12-15T19:42:00.000+01:00

It's not been a great weekend here in Oslo. At least not night until Saturday. I got woken up at about 3.30 in the morning, hearing people shouting in the streets. I thought it was people on their way home drunk, making a lot of noise, so turned around and thought I'd go back to sleep. But it didn't stop, so after a couple of minutes I got up and had a look outside. I then saw some people across the street, crawling and jumping out of their window. After a few seconds, I realised the building was on fire, and several people turned up in the windows across the block of flats. There were more and more smoke coming out too.

After a couple of minutes, the fire engines turned up, and got their ladder up and helped people out from the windows on the higher levels. It was all really scary and I got pretty shaken up. Eventually there weren't any more people in the windows, they were all rescued out - I thought. I went back to bed after some time, and slept for a couple of hours. In the morning, when I watched the news, I found out six people died in the fire.

51 people were in the building, six died and another 12-13 were sent to hospital. Not much fun watching that, but I realised pretty quick that there weren't anything I could do to help. Now they're speculating whether someone started the fire deliberately. It started in the stairway, which is why people couldn't get out that way, and had to be rescued out the windows.

The picture attached, I took on Saturday afternoon after they'd closed most of the windows. But it shows how near I was. Really hope I never experience that ever again!

13 days until Christmas eve

2008-12-11T12:42:00.000+01:00

Okay, it's 11th December today, and my last post was 2nd November. I'm officially becoming lazy when it comes to blogging. It's not that I haven't got anything to write about, just that my brain seems to have problems remembering to actually go into this site and tell the world what's going on.

It's now 13 days until Christmas Eve. Officially that's not long at all. Fortunately I've bought most of the Christmas presents I planned to, which I'm very happy about. The thought of fighting through busy Oslo shoppers nearer the big celebration is not particularly tempting with a growing tummy and feelings of almost fainting whilst queuing... So I've been pretty good for once.

I honestly can't remember everything that has happened since last time I wrote. Who would? I've not done as much travelling as before last time, but a few things has been going on in Oslo too. Last Sunday we went to Gamle Logen in Oslo to see "Piken med Svovelstikkene" (The Little Match Girl Passion). Torkjel's sister did the main act, and she was impressive as always. After the performance we went to Enebakk for dinner and a chat with T's mum.

There has also been girls evenings and other happenings in the last month. I've been busy doing stuff a lot of the time really. Guess I have to use my chances to do stuff like that now before the little one turns up. Less than six weeks to go until the due date now, so time is flying!

First of all it's Christmas though. We're flying to Ålesund (Langevåg) to celebrate there, but got to be back in Oslo to work from the 29th. Looking forward to Christmas now. Other than that my maternity leave starts 1st January. We're celebrating New Years at MO and Russ's which will be good. Sounds like a nice evening is in plan, so looking forward to that too!

Anyway, that's a mini update from my exciting life (or not?). Hopefully I'll remember to write some more before Christmas. If not, HAPPY CHRISTMAS to you all!

Busy with travelling

2008-11-02T16:00:00.000+01:00

Once again I've been a lazy person when it comes to update this blog thingie.

Quite a lot has been going on since last time I wrote, but there's no chance I'll remember it all, so I'll stick to the last two weekends.

Last weekend we went to Edinburgh for a long weekend and holiday. Left on the Thursday from Oslo and came back Sunday. Possibly a bit short, as we wanted to do more stuff than we did. We had a great time doing sightseeing of the castle, seeing the strange parliament building, visiting one of the hills in gale force winds, shopping and everything else tourists do. We did eat our fair share of nice food too.

This weekend we went to Kiel with Color Magic which was nice too. Friday night we had a six course dinner in the restaurant where my dad works. Always nice. Saturday was spent shopping for baby stuff (got a car seat) and some relaxing on the boat. In the evening we went to see showtime and had dinner in the a la carte restaurant. Once again we got lovely food! I don't really mind these weekends away. Not many weekends planned ahead though, apart from hopefully a trip to Sweden in the next few weeks to buy some more baby stuff.

Unfortunately I've got a full week of work ahead. Wouldn't mind some more holiday ;)

Back to normal

2008-09-23T22:27:00.000+02:00

It's nice to be back to normal after a couple of weeks off work. I've got my energy back too, whehey! Ages since I last wrote anything here now. Not because there hasn't been anything to write about, just because I'm lazy.

The things that has happened is Lederløft, a scout weekend with leaders from all over Norway. Had a good time there meeting up with old friends as well as meeting new people. I have also been asked to be in charge of external press for the National scout camp in the summer. It took me some time to think about that, but I ended up saying yes. Gonna need someone to do a great job besides me though, as I'll have the little one to look after from January. (see pics)

I've also had a weekend in Åndalsnes meeting up with the committee that's organising the scout camp (www.landsleir.no and www.visitutopia.no) It was a busy weekend with a lot of meetings.

The weekend just gone I've been to Denmark with MO and two of her friends from Fredrikstad. We took the boat to Copenhagen, and spent one night there. Had a great relaxing weekend and really enjoyed it. As well as being social on the boat we did some shopping in Copenhagen, visited Tivoli and also Christiania. That was really interesting. Felt like we walked into a film set... No pics from there though as we weren't allowed to take any.

I'll attempt to update my blog a bit more often from now on :)

Not much fun....

2008-08-17T16:15:00.000+02:00

... being back at work the week just gone. Would have been nice to have another week or two with holiday, but guess that wasn't gonna happen!

It's Sunday and we've spent the day being lazy at home. T went out last night, so he's been asleep most of it, and I've spent it in front of the TV and computer really.

Yesterday we went to Østmarka to pick blueberries. Found about two kilos, so now we're making some jam. Yummy :) Had pancackes with blueberry jam yesterday.

The week has gone fairly quickly, although it was boring being back at work. Just have to make the most out of today now, before another week starts. Anniken is coming for dinner tomorrow night though, so got something to look forward to :)

Mountain walking

2008-08-09T20:46:00.000+02:00

Just got home after six days in the mountains and a couple of days relaxing at my parent's house in Lillehammer. I must admit it's nice to be sat on the sofa in front of the computer again, although we had a fantastic trip doing a lot of walking.

We set off to Lillehammer last Saturday after dinner at Torkjel's parents on the Friday. When we tried to book train tickets to Hjerkinn for Sunday or Monday the website said it was fully booked. Luckily Magne was going the same direction on Sunday and had offered us a lift, so we took him up on the offer.

Sunday: Day 1
Arrived at Hjerkinn at six ish in the evening, and walked in the rain down to Hageseter. About 3 kilometers to walk. Got to the cabin/campsite, and the rooms were fully booked. We put our tent up and slept there.

Monday: Day 2 Hageseter to Grimsdalshytta 15 kilometers
We set off after a burger with egg on bread breakfast about half ten in the morning. It was raining, so had to pack a wet tent before we set off. Leaving without waterproofs was not an option as the weather looked pretty wet. The trip started uphill for a few kilometers. I think we met two people the whole way that day. It was still really nice to walk, despite the constant rain. We used 6 hours on the trip, and didn't stop for lunch. It stopped raining for about 15 minutes all day. The best part of the trip was when we got down to a small stream to cross it, we saw something move. When we got closer we realised it was an Ermine (Røyskatt). We're not sure of it's behaviour, but it was constantly running around us, up and down the rocks. Looking at us, then running again. We watched it for about five minutes before we carried on walking. Torkjel was afraid it would have a heart attack because it kept running. When we got to Grimsdalshytta the rooms were fully booked, so we slept in the self service cabin with about ten other people. We got a bed and duvets though, which was nice :) It was lovely to sit inside that evening, as it had been a wet day. We had a three course dinner, before relaxing and going to bed early.

Tuesday: Day 3 Grimsdalshytta to Haverdalssæter 10 kilometers
We got up in the morning and had breakfast before getting our stuff from the drying room. The weather looked a lot better, so we set off without waterproof trousers. We started off walking down to a river, before crossing it and setting off uphill. We had a slow uphill walk for the first few kilometers. About half way we sat down and had a lovely rest boiling water for "rett i koppen" and eating our sandwiches. The rest of the walk was very easy and we took it slow. We didn't meet a lot of people, just saw three people walking whilst we had our rest, and an elderly couple having a rest by the path as we walked past about two kilometers from Haverdalssæter. It was a lovely entrypoint to Haverdalssæter. We looked down on a house with a few older buildings surrounding it. It was furthest in in the valley of Haverdal. We got down and was met by a Thai woman who showed us to a bedroom and told us when dinner was to be served. We relaxed until then, and went down to eat sharing a table with the elderly couple we had seen earlier and another couple. It was nice food, including cream from local produce. The "farm" is known for a certain type of cheese they produce too. The rest of the evening we sat in the "peisestue" and talked to the other couples.

Wednesday: Day 4 Haverdalssæter to Dørålseter 11 kilometers
We discussed what to do that day, and initially planned a two day hike to Høvringen. Torkjel was more keen to walk to Dørålseter, so I tagged along. That turned out to be the most knackering but also the best day on the trip. To get to Dørålseter we had to walk over Dørålglupen which is a fantastic gorge (juv) that stretches several kilometers through the mountain. The highest point was about 1300 meters. The day started off very easy with flat terrain for the first six kilometers. Then we started walking uphill towards the gorge. It looked pretty impressive from the bottom, but that was nothing compared to what we could expect when we got up there. It was really steep on both sides, and very rocky with masses of big boulders we had to walk on. It was hard to find the path sometimes. Fortunately there were red T's to follow. After spending four hours passing the gorge, we got down to Dørålseter and got a room. We spent the evening there eating dinner with four other woman and relaxing in the peisestue.

Thursday: Day 5 Dørålseter to Rondvassbu 10 kilometers (18 for Torkjel)
The walk from Dørålseter was nice and easy. It was uphill the first seven kilometers, but not very noticeable. My last three kilometers was downhill, but one kilometer before my walking ended with a boat trip across Lake Rondevatnet, Torkjel and I went separate ways. He wanted to walk across the mountain, whilst I wanted to be lazy. I got the boat over to Rondvassbu (20 minutes ride) and Torkjel set off walking. When I got to the cabin we got the last twin room which was great :) T got there about three and a half hours later, soaking wet. He hadn't just walked across the mountain, but decided to go up one of the 2000 meter peaks too - Veslesmeden 2015 meters high. Crazy boy. He was really happy though. It has to be said he did carry his 13 kilo rucksack on his back most of that way too. The rest of the evening was spent eating dinner, sitting in the peisestue and going to bed early.

Friday: Day 6 Rondvassbu to Mysuseter 10 kilometers
Friday was our last day of the trip. We had two options to get to Lillehammer. There was a bus at 10.45 or 16.20. We decided to get on the first one. At eight we had finished packing and were ready to enter the world of mountain breakfast with another 50 hungry tourists. In 17 minutes we had breakfast, paid for the cabin, made our lunch and set off walking. We walked 10 kilometers (mainly dowhill on a road it has to be said) in about two hours! We got the bus, and then the train to Lillehammer where my mum picked us up. We were back in the sivilized world, and had a fantastic trip across the mountains. You can see some of the pics on here, and I think T will put the rest up on Facebook.

Lazy Sunday

2008-07-20T18:50:00.000+02:00

It's Sunday again, and it has been pooring it down with rain outside all day. Due to this, we have had a lazy day in front of a computer each. At least I've been a little bit productive, making 16 pages of the Greece picture book we're making from our holiday.

Yesterday was a bit busier. We had a relaxing morning, before going to the Opera to see T's sister and her boyfriend perform. She was singing soprano and he was playing the grand piano. There were about 200 people I reckon, and there were no free chairs and people standing. It was really good. They're looked upon as some of Norways biggest young music talents. Afterwards we went for lunch with them in the restaurant outside the opera house.

In the afternoon we went to the cinema and saw the new Narnia film, Prince Caspian. I really liked it. It was worth watching.

The week gone has mainly been spent working and watching the development of the new water pipes in the kitchen. It is all done now, and I think they've only got left to do some paint work tomorrow. Due to this we have been eating out all week, which in theory is great :) Means I don't have to cook. On thursday Lene came to Oslo with me after work and we went to eat sushi and did some shopping. Had a really good time.

Another week starts tomorrow. It looks like the rain is disappearing and we're getting summer again! Yay!

Busy July

2008-07-16T08:58:00.000+02:00

Wow, it's 16th July already! Time flies! So far July has been a pretty busy month, enjoying the nice weather and seeing friends. Think I can count on one hand the amount of nights we've just had at home in front of the computer.

The last week has been the busiest. We were pretty active climbing and doing outdoor stuff. Last Tuesday we went indoor climbing, which we have consistently done on Tuesdays now.

Thursday was time for our first outdoor climbing session of the year. Russ, Torkjel, MO and I set off from Storo to Grefsenåsen to find the crag. It was easier said than done. You can read the full story on Russ' blog www.eatmymonkeydust.com. Well worth the read! We had a BBQ on a lovely viewpoint before we finally found the crag and did three routes before the sun set.

Friday I went to the cinema to see Sex and the City with Irene, which was a good laugh. We spent most of the film laughing at the people around us though. They were really engaging their lives in the film.

On Saturday me and Torkjel set off to Sværsvann to go walking in Østmarka. We had a great sunny walk on Saturday afternoon, passing Sandbakken and saying hello to the tame sheep at Vangen before finding a nice deserted "odde" by a lake in the middle of the forrest. We enjoyed a quiet evening watching the animal life and even getting to see a Beaver swimming in the water! We spent the night in our little tunnel tent, before setting off again on Sunday morning. Unfortunately it started to rain, but that didn't stop us. We walked from the lake to Mønevann and Losby, before ending the trip in Finstadlia having to run to catch the bus! We made it though. When we got home, we were knackered, but had a great trip!

Another week has now started, and it's still as busy as it has been. Monday I met Katrin and MO for a meal at Lompa (Olympen). That was the first time the three of us have done anything together since 2002! Can't believe it's been that long!

Yesterday was climbing time again, and today I'm working late. We've been thrown out of our kitchen this week, as all the water pipes in there are being changed. Means eating out every day, but I'm not complaining about that :) It's interesting being able to look all the way down to the basement through a hole in the floor though... Specially since the basement is 5 floors down...

Summer?

2008-06-24T21:01:00.000+02:00

Nah, more like autumn really... When you need a waterproof jacket, umbrella and sunglasses in your bag when leaving for work, something is a bit odd... That would be the weather...

Been back for more than a week now. The weekend we spent fairly relaxed. Friday we went for sushi after work, and Saturday we slept in. Went for a meal at T's parents house in the evening, celebrating his upcoming 30th Birthday. Sunday we decided to go for a walk. Took T-banen up to Frognerseteren, and as soon as we stepped outside the door, the rain started. Typical! Despite that, we walked to Skjennungstua and back, and found one geocache on the way too.

Another week has started, and it's a pretty busy one. Went climbing last night, and today we had my side of the family over for coffee and cake. It was nice to see them. The rest of the week will be spent making cakes and celebrating Torkjel. Someone doesn't want to admit it, but he will be 30! :p

Back to normal

2008-06-19T20:36:00.000+02:00

Well, it's five days since we got back from holiday, and life has settled back into its normal routine again.

The holiday was great! After spending a few days on Rhodes, we went to the two small islands Tilos and Nissyros for five and four nights. People were really friendly there, and we did a fair bit of walking and sunbathing. We also visited the massive vulcano craters of Nissyros. They were really impressive! See pics.

Wonder where the sun went though? Since we got back home it's pretty much been either overcast or raining. As long as it rains while I'm at work I don't mind though.

Another weekend is coming up, and apart from dinner at T's parents on Saturday, we have not got any plans yet.

Holidayblog from Rhodes island

2008-06-03T18:54:00.000+02:00

It's all Greek! Well, my blogging page was when I entered it anyway. Good thing I know where the login link is. Got it back in a language I understand now :)

Well, here we are, sat on a roadside cafe in Rhodes. We have spent the day in Lindos, which is about 40k from Rhodes town. Great little town, but really really hot. Also met up with Sharon from The Outdoor Group in England for a drink. Haven't seen her since before I moved back to Norway, so it was great to catch up! We have also been down to the beach here in Rhodes town, testing out the seawater. No complaints there!

Yesterday we had a look around the old town, and if you ever come here, I advice you to go there. Nice town with narrow streets. must be a nightmare in the tourist season though, with the shop owners trying to drag you into every single shop, and lots of tourists bumping into you. But it was great now, not too busy.

Before that we spent a day in Iraklio on Crete and on knossos. Iraklio is ok for a day, but not that much to do, so move on after that. Knossos was good, but very hot.

Tomorrow we've got the day here in Rhodes town again, to catch up on some of the stuff we've missed, before we catch the boat i the evening to the small island Tilos. Looking forward to a few relaxing days there on desert beaches and walking around in the countryside of the island, before we probably move on the the vulcano island Nissyros.

Really not missing work. This is great! :D

Greece!

2008-05-30T23:01:00.000+02:00

My bag is packed and I'm ready to get on a plane to Greece. We're leaving tomorrow mid-day, and I can't wait. It was great to leave work for two weeks today!

Been a busy week preparing for holiday and working. Also went on a webcourse Thursday night to learn how to update our coming website for the scout district. It was nice and easy, and soon we will have a new website!

I'll be gone for a while now, but will be back with holiday stories and pictures when we get home.

17. mai

2008-05-20T22:46:00.000+02:00

Another week has seen two days gone already, and it is 11 days left until we're on a flight to Crete looking forward to two weeks of island hopping. Would be nice if time went slightly quicker if you ask me...

The weekend just gone we celebrated 17th May. For the ones that have managed to avoid hearing about this day, it's Norway's constitution day. The constitution was signed 17th May 1814. The day is celebrated with children parades, Russ (not the Russ you know, but the ones about to finish school!) running about and generally being Norwegian whilst waving our flag.

We had champagne breakfast for Russ, Mo and two others at our house, before we left the house to join the rest of Norway in the streets of Oslo. Unfortunately it was a very cold day, with the thermometer showing +1 degrees in the morning. Brrrr! After walking around the streets watching people in Bunad (Norwegian national dresses) and eating icecream, we went back to ours for more cake and champagne. Later on we invaded Kaia's flat, and had dinner there. BBQ was kinda out of the question as it was freezing!

Monday nigh we had a girls night again, with only three of us this time. It was a nice quiet night with a lot of chatting :)

Sula

2008-05-13T23:55:00.000+02:00

It's Tuesday today, and Witsun (Pinse in Norwegian) is over. We had a long weekend with a day off work on Monday too. We went to Langevågen on Sula by Ålesund for the weekend. A lot of my family lives there, and we spent time at my grandmothers and my uncle and aunts house. We also did a few walks around the island. On Saturday we arrived and went for a walk around a lake. Sunday we spent walking up a mountain, starting at 0 meters and got to 540 at the highest. In the evening we were invited for dinner at my Uncle's house which was nice :) Monday was lovely weather, and we did a couple of walks along the sea.

A taste of summer...

2008-05-04T23:47:00.000+02:00

The sun has been out pretty much all weekend which has been great! We have spent the weekend doing quite a lot of active stuff, which has been good. Saturday morning we got up early and got the bus to Enebakk. After checking one of our caches and doing some maintenance on it, we stopped by T's parents house to make a packed lunch. We then headed off towards Høgåsen (high hill) to place a cache there. On the way we stopped to eat our lunch and enjoy the lovely sunny weather! In the evening we had a BBQ with T's mum which was very lovely!

Today we got up pretty early again as a result of going to bed pretty early last night. We went out and had breakfast in a cafe, sat outside enjoying it in the sun. I've also been on the Royal Icing course with Cacas today, which was good. I now know how to make icing decorations for cakes.

Another week at work starts tomorrow.... Not sure I am ready for it...

Mayday

2008-05-01T23:14:00.000+02:00

Mayday mayday! Hmm... sounds like I'm in a plane that's about to go down, or in a burning boat. Well, I'm neither. It's 1st May today, hence the title. I've had the day off work which has been great. It's been spent climbing with Torkjel and Russ and putting photos in a photo album mainly.

The week has gone pretty quick so far. Monday I was working late, and Tuesday we spent the evening at Irene's. The twins celebrated their 1st Birthday, and we were invited. It was a great evening with happy kids, and nice people. Some of BE's friends were there too, and we sat for a while talking and eating lovely home made chocolate and marsipan cakes.

I realised yesterday that we've not eaten dinner at home for a long time. I've been working evenings and eating at work, or been away. Pretty much the same with Torkjel. Once in a while we've been eating out because of lack of time to do anything else. Best do something about that shortly!

There's only one day left at work now before the weekend. Looking forward to another two days off!

Geocaching - great fun and highly frustrating!

2008-04-27T20:29:00.000+02:00

It's Sunday and dull weather, so we decided to take a walk around Oslo to find some geocaches. I spent a bit of time this morning finding the ones we wanted to take, and we set off, with the intention to be back home in time for a climbing session in the afternoon/evening.

Well, how wrong can it go? The first one we got to we couldn't find, followed by two easy ones. After that we got to the new Opera house. No luck there either, due to stupid amounts of people, or mugglers in geocaching language... Once again we had to mark as not found.

The next one was once again stupidly easy, and I found it straight away. We then went to Stortinget, where we looked for the cache for some time without any luck. The next one we knew was not going to be easy, so we had prepared ourselves looking at logs etc, but still no luck! Think we spent 45 minutes looking for it!

The last one of today we've tried to find before, and we actually managed today! So in total we found four out of eight caches. I've added a screen shot of todays walk. It might not have helped that the GPS wasn't cooperating.... The yellow dots/line shows where we have walked. And as you can see, we have become very good at jumping far! Hehe.

So that's todays update about geocaching. I'm sure this isn't interesting for the majority of you, but if you fancy taking a look at what this thing is, see www.geocaching.com or www.gcinfo.no in Norwegian.

Where did the sun go?

2008-04-26T22:40:00.000+02:00

The weekend finally arrived, and the sun packed its bags and left! Typical! Saying that, I have had the opportunity to get a little bit out of the nice weather over the few days though. On Tuesday I spent the day with my dad in the nice sunny weather. Wednesday I had the morning off work, so I did some shopping and walked around in the sunny weather outside :) Somehow I got inspired to buy a new waterproof jacket whilst walking in the sun! I desperately needed one as last time I used mine, I was more soaked inside the jacket than on the outside.

Thursday I met MO after work. We went to Aker Brygge for some coffee (well, I still don't drink that stuff, so had a hot chocolate), and sat outside in the sun. A bit later we met T and had dinner at Friday's which was nice.

Friday and Saturday I've been working. It was nice weather when I left for work today, but it stopped being nice about half way through the day, and on my way home I needed to find my umbrella.

I've now spent the evening watching the last few episodes of The OC, and now there's nothing more to watch! I need something else to watch, suggestions please!

Time to breathe

2008-04-22T21:38:00.000+02:00

Over the last couple of days I have finally had time to sit down and breathe. The last two weeks have been really busy with fun stuff, which means not a lot of time to update my blog, tidy the flat or anything else sensible for that matter...

We have been climbing a few times, went to a cabaret to see T's sister perform, been out for a meal at Baltazar, seeing friends, working and more work...

I have also made my first cake using the stuff I learnt from the cake decorating course. See picture! :)

The weekend just gone I spent at a gathering for District Commisionaries for the Norwegian Scout Association. We discussed a load of things and walked up a ravine/gorge on Saturday afternoon, getting soaking wet. But it was great fun!

The lovely hot weather has finally hit us, and yesterday we took our first bike trip of the year. We cycled to Bygdøy, and found five geocaches on the way too. I've spent my day off today with my dad, looking at cruise ships, shopping at IKEA and generally walking around Oslo in the gorgeous sunny weather!

Cakes :)

2008-04-06T23:25:00.000+02:00

It's Sunday night and I should really go to bed. I didn't wake up until one this afternoon though, so don't feel particularly tired... We went out for tapas and wine last night, followed by a friends 30th Birthday party. So bedtime didn't really happen until about four this morning. Did have a great night though. Yesterday Irene and I went on a cake decoration course which was great fun. I have now learnt some skills on how to decorate cakes with butter cream and marzipan. Doing an Icing course soon too which will be good. Last week went pretty fast, doing climbing a couple of evenings, went for a meal and eyetoy playing on PS2 at MO and Russ' and worked in the evenings. I can't see this week being any less eventful. Not ready for early Monday morning yet though...

Choices...

2008-03-31T17:50:00.000+02:00

How come there are so many choices to make? I'm really struggling with some of them. Wish I'd know the consequences of my choices before I made them... Oh well.

Had a week with a lot to do at work last week. T flew off to Seattle, so had the flat to myself. Used the opportunity to catch up with some friends which was good.

The weekend I spent in Lillehammer, celebrating Ann Mari's birthday on Saturday night. Other than that I've been to see my parents and a couple of other friends. Glad to be back in snow-free Oslo now though! I'm dreaming of outdoor climbing, bbq in the park and hillwalking. Not long now! :)

Back to work!

2008-03-26T10:11:00.000+01:00

That's Easter over and done with, and I was back at work yesterday.

Had a great Easter though, with a trip to Dublin. We did all the obvious stuff like visiting Guinness, Jameson, Dublin Castle etc. We were also lucky enough to experience St Patricks day in Dublin. It is what you can call a buzzing city on the 17th March. We saw the parade and experienced the life with live music in the pubs which was great!

Over the weekend we took it easy. Took a few walks around Oslo, made nice dinner and took some geocaches.

Now Torkjel has flown off to Seattle (I hope...). They left Oslo yesterday morning, but hadn't made it further than Amsterdam in the evening as they missed their connection flight. They were taking the rest of the journey today.

Busy busy busy

2008-03-23T14:32:00.001+01:00

Just realised I haven't updated my blog since 1st March. Well, that doesn't mean nothing has happened in the meantime. In short I have been working, seeing friends, had girls night with Irene & co, and last but not least been to Dublin.

I am now enjoying relaxing days before work starts again on Tuesday. It's fantastic weater in Oslo, and we're now off to do some geocaching up akerselva in the sun. Got to do something when I'm not out skiing with the rest of the Norwegian population.

I'll be back with photos from Dublin shortly. :)

Enjoy what's rest of Easter everyone! :)

Spring soon?

2008-03-01T23:44:00.000+01:00

Well, it's first of March and February is all over. Does that mean we can expect spring yet? Guess not, I do live in Norway after all.... I'm sure we've got to expect some more snow before it all disappears.

Realised I haven't written here for a little while. It's Saturday night now and we've had a good day. Been for a long walk up to Frognerparken and roundabout other places. Then we went to the Cinema to see Sweeney Todd before heading for Sushi. Great fairly relaxing day.

Tomorrow Irene and co are coming to visit. Looking forward to a day spent with them. We did however see them last week too. Went iceskating with them, Laura, Russ and MO on the Saturday before we all headed to Peppes for dinner. Had the twins and Laura's 2 month old daughter with us too. On Sat night we went to a party at Torkjel's x colleagues house. MO's friend Heidi turned up there which was odd, as we didn't know we both knew the guy having the party. Sunday morning was spent in bed before we went to T's parents for Goose dinner.

The week gone has been busy with climbing at Torshov twice, and MO, Russ and Laura for dinner one night. Work is not as busy now, but still more than enough to do. Looking forward until we get the three new people working for us!

But now I'm gonna enjoy the rest of the weekend before work starts again on Monday.

Korketrekkeren = madness!

2008-02-18T21:43:00.000+01:00

The video explains it all:

Work party

2008-02-15T10:36:00.000+01:00

Another period has passed, and a lot has once again happened. Last week went by with usual stuff like working, climbing etc. At the weekend we had my work party in our flat. About 12 people from work came, and everybody brought some food. We had tapas and drank a lot of wine. It was a great night with a lot of entertainment. A quiz was made, and in teams they had to guess stuff about our colleagues. They also had to build IKEA furniture blindfolded. All good fun!

On Sunday we got up at 12 and went out for breakfast. Torkjel and I walked to Grünerløkka to eat breakfast. After that we did a two hour walk around Oslo in gorgeous weather. When we got home, Anniken came to visit, and helped us eating some of the food from the night before. Generally a great day.

The last few days has gone by with climbing on monday and yesterday. Tuesday we went to the cinema to see Juno. A really good film. Yesterday I spent the day with Irene and the twins. Had a good time there, chatting a lot, and playing with the girls. They are 10 months old at the end of the month.

Working on Saturday, but looking forward to Sunday now, sledging in Korketrekkeren!

Kids party and skiing

2008-02-03T22:08:00.000+01:00

Another busy weekend has gone by. Managed to fit in quite a lot once again.

We were supposed to go climbing on Friday night, but when it got to it we were too tired from the week at work so we stayed in.
Saturday we took the bus to Vollen go celebrate Kassander's 2nd Birthday. It was really nice weather so we had a wonder round Vollen centre before going to the party. There were a lot of kids who seemed happy playing with each other. Kassander seemed to have a great day! His favourite phrases for the day was "Ja" (with a big smile) and "Min" (mine) when the other kids borrowed his toys. Hehe.

In the evening we went to Cafe con Bar and met up with Lene and Russ. It wasn't an overly late night, but a good one. One of the reasons we didn't stay too late was because we wanted to go skiing today. And we did! It was snowing a lot when we got up in the morning, but stopped by the time we started skiing at Tryvann. It was a bit foggy though, so sometimes it was a bit hit and miss with what you were skiing on. Couldn't always tell until you hit it - hehe. Russ and a girl from his language course came too.

Since it's fastelaven today (no idea what that is in English) I've made fastelavensboller. Basically buns with cream and jam in them. Nice :) We also went out for a sushi. Really not ready for another week at work tomorrow! How come the weekends go so fast? Anyone up for three-day weekends instead?

Off climbing in the evening tomorrow, so here comes another busy week!

Lazy but busy

2008-01-30T11:46:00.000+01:00

Once again it's taken some time before I've managed to update my blog. It's a bit of laziness involved, as well as bad memory, and partly because I've been busy. That's not an excuse though as I've been in front of the computer a fair bit anyway.

So what's happened since last time I updated this? Good questions. Even I can't remember! I know we started climbing again last weekend (just over a week ago) and managed to go again yesterday, so that's twice in a week and a half. Not bad really! Over the weekend I went to Lillehammer. We had the scout district yearly meeting, and once again I got elected as ADC (Assistant District Commisionary - Visekretsleder).

I have also bought a new camera!!! Woohoo! Finally. I've now got a Canon EOS 400D. Really happy with it, and busy taking photos now :)

Yesterday I got great news at work. As a result of taking part in some some surveys, I will get free food from the cantine for the rest of the year :)

Enjoy some of these photos, and I'll try to come with another update in not so long.

TP - hard stuff!

2008-01-13T17:17:00.000+01:00

Another week has gone. Went back to work on Tuesday, and I was not very motivated for work. Got through the week ok anyway though.

We went to see I am Legend at the cinema with MO and Russ one day, and went out for sushi after. That was a nice evening. Other than that it's pretty much been work, home, work, home, work, home... Yesterday was a nice relaxing day. Spent some time tidying the flat, and removing the christmas decorations. In the evening we had some friends round for pizza and a game of Trivial Persuit. Really hard, and it took us several hours to finish it! Which island was the first one to get a motorway Torkjel?

Relaxing day today. Not done anything but watch a film and sit in front of the computer. Reckon I should make some dinner now, and then go out and get some air. Find a cache maybe?

Back from Hemsedal

2008-01-07T15:35:00.000+01:00

New Year celebration and Hemsedal is now over. We got back last night from a great trip! New Years Eve we spent at Lene's flat with Turkey dinner for 19 people and quite a few drinks after. It was a great night, and we had good fun. The next morning we got up early to get the bus to Hemsedal that left 09.20. It was hard work being half sober having to pack the last bits and haul all our stuff down to the bus. But we made it with 10 minutes margin. Was pretty knackered when we got to the bus station though! At Hemsedal we stayed in a big cabin, and were 15 people at the most. It snowed all the time whilst we were there, but it was good fun. Did quite a bit of downhill, and one day of cross country skiing too. In the evenings we either made dinner in the cabin or went to eat Tex Mex. Most people had a go at downhill, with various luck. Andi managed to hurt his knee, and got sent to the doctor. I went with him as I cut my foot on ice outside the cabin whilst getting out of the jacuzzi. I think everyone had a great time, and most people would like to do this again! I certainly will!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2007-12-30T20:12:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-15T11:36:00.000+01:00

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

2007-12-03T22:52:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-11-26T23:01:00.000+01:00

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

2007-11-18T18:41:00.001+01:00

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 :)

2007-11-16T19:12:00.000+01:00

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

2007-11-14T21:42:00.000+01:00

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

2007-11-12T17:47:00.000+01:00

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

2007-11-04T23:02:00.000+01:00

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!!!

2007-10-20T11:58:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-09T19:11:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-10-05T21:09:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-09-30T18:25:00.001+02:00

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

2007-09-25T11:00:00.000+02:00

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

2007-09-16T19:39:00.000+02:00

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...

2007-09-02T13:51:00.000+02:00

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...

2007-08-29T09:46:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-08-18T22:15:00.000+02:00

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 :)

2007-08-12T13:44:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-08-05T23:02:00.000+02:00

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.

Nevelfjell and caching

2007-07-22T21:03:00.000+02:00

It is Sunday evening and the weekend is pretty much over. Just got back from Lillehammer.

We went up there on the train on Friday and didn't get time to do much more than have some dinner, chat with my mum and go to bed. Saturday morning (well, that's if you call 12 o clock morning...) we drove to Nordseter and walked up to the top of
Nevelfjell. It's a great view up there! Weather was lovely too. After that we drove
across the mountain to Hafjelltoppen, and down to Hafjell. There we took the new gondola to the top (well, I was a bit disappointed as it wasn't actually the top...) of Hafjell.

We then proceeded home to search geocaching.com for caches in Lillehammer, had some waffles and lovedly lamb dinner. After that we tested the nightlife at Nikkers, before a late night in bed.

Sunday we drove up to Vårsetergrenda and walked from there to the top of the skijump, down the skijump and down to Lillehammer city centre and found a few caches. Dinner tasted really lovely after that! :)

But now we're back in Oslo, and five more days at work are waiting before holiday! Woohoo! :)

Fed up with rain...

2007-07-19T22:52:00.000+02:00

Last weekend we went to Enebakk to visit Torkjel's parents. On the Saturday we intended to go for a walk to place a geocache. Unfortunately it started to rain before we'd walked 500 meters, and we hadn't brought any waterproofs! I know, stupid thing to do these days... So we ended up placing three geocaches not overly far away from his parents, and going inside to relax.

Sunday we went to see Harry Potter at Colosseum, and afterwards we walked the streets of Oslo finding ten geocaches.

The rest of the week has been spent at work and pretty much relaxing in the evening. Went to Frognerparken on Monday to BBQ as it was nice weather for a change.

Just one day and one week left at work now, before I'm heading off to scout camp. Doing abseiling there, so should be fun. Just hope the rain stays away!

Off to Lillehammer tomorrow, so please let us see the sun, or at least keep the rain away!

Blog is working!!! Woohoo!!!

2007-07-14T09:21:00.001+02:00

Yay! I fixed my blog! All I had to do was change the template. Doh!

So guess I'll be updating again now. I've just seen that my last update was 25th April... Well, that's a loooong time ago! Don't think I'll attempt to write what I've been doing in the meantime.

Short story:
- Went to England to visit in may (great time there, got to see loads of friends!)
- Been working
- Taken quite a few more geocaches
- Been working at Skogmuseet in Elverum
- Taken a few walks around Oslo
- Taken a few walks outside Oslo

That's about it really.

Getting ready to go to Enebakk now. Going to go for a walk (maybe publish a cache!), and have dinner at Torkjel's parents. I'm so glad the weekend is here!!!

That's it for now! I'll post again very soon!

Busy bee!

2007-04-26T00:18:00.000+02:00

Life has all of a sudden got very busy, and I love it! :)

I reckon my flat feels slightly neglected at the moment. Not spending a lot of time here. Monday I went out for a meal with Torkjel, then to see the recording of Golden Goal with Lene from work. Had a good time there. Always fun to see people do things wrong on TV.... hehe.

Tuesday I went climbing with Magne, then out to eat sushi with Torkjel. Really nice food! Could eat that a lot more often if it was easier to get hold of and not as expensive! Yummy!

Got day off tomorrow, so going to see Irene. Think she's got about five weeks left before the twins will definately be saying hello now. Then I'm spending the evening with Anniken. So no rest for the wicked!

Good weekend!

2007-04-22T23:11:00.000+02:00

Oh well, that's the weekend over! Why can't it be weekend all the time? Well, weekend without me working that is! Don't particularly feel like going back to work tomorrow!

Friday night I spent at home not doing much more than watching telly, talking on the phone and spending time in front of the computer. Saturday I was kindly introduced to Oslo Østmarka by someone nice. Did a great walk there! Really enjoyed getting outside again! Weather wasn't bad either, nice and sunny. I also went out for my first Indian in Norway on Saturday night! Food was great, service is not worth mentioning.... Think they had a "let's just serve one table at any given time"-policy! Hehe.

Sunday was spent not doing much more than chatting, apart from going to a pizza place in Oslo, before travelling home. What can I do to make the weekend last longer?

Weekend!

2007-04-20T20:49:00.000+02:00

That's another week finished and the weekend has started!

Having a quiet night at home in front of the telly and computer, preparing for the next few days. Off for a walk tomorrow and cinema or something similar in the evening. Sunday I'm not sure about yet, but there is a charity comedy show on in Oslo I really want to go and see. Monday night me and Lene (from work) are going to see the live recording of the TV2 program Golden Goal, and Tuesday I'm climbing!

The last week has been a bit more active than I expected it to be. Tuesday I went to Oslo and went out for a meal. Wednesday I worked late, and Thursday I had a visitor and cooked dinner.

Cycling to work is going well so far! Still haven't chickened out once :)

Signs of summer...

2007-04-16T18:32:00.000+02:00

Yay, summer is here! Well, at least summer is pretending to be here!!! Yesterday was gorgeous. Went to Martine's on my bike, and played with Kassander for a while outside their house. Then we went down to the beach and had this years first BBQ! Woohoo! We weren't the first people to have that thought, so we were joined by a fair few other people too. Later on we went back up to the house, and sat outside in the sun for a while, before Martine's landlord invited us up for waffles. Very nice of them :) Kassander then had his bath, and went to bed, before we decided to play a Game of Thrones. Remy spent three hours explaining the game, but should be able to play it properly next time. (Yes, there will be a next time Remy :) )

Struggled to log in

2007-04-15T11:29:00.000+02:00

Hello I'm back again!

I've had problems logging in to my blog over the last couple of days... Not sure why, think I was trying to log in with the wrong password. But now I managed! And I've written it down - just in case!

It's been an active week. I had Thursday off work, so I went to the scout head office in Oslo to see a friend who works there, and had a chat with the general secretary (head of scouting in Norway). They've moved into new offices, and it looks really nice there. Slightly more modern than the old ones.

After my visit there, I caught the train to Hamar and had a wonder round the high street before Dagim and Hermine came to pick me up. We went to a couple of scout meetings, which was interesting. Now been dragged in to organise abseiling and crate climbing with Hermine at the summer camp. Could be fun!

After the meetings we drove to Elverum, and after dropping Hermine off Dagim wondered if I wanted to find a couple of caches. And who can say no to that! They were both pretty clever, but one of them was brilliant! We then went back to his to play some Nintendo WII, great fun! Struggled a bit to start with though, kinda strange having a thing in your hand that makes stuff on the screen move...

The next morning I had to head back to Oslo and work. Saturday was also spent working, before Magne came to visit, and we went out to find a few geocaches. Think he's been hooked on the game too now! Well, it's Sunday now, and gorgeous weather, so better get off the computer and go out to enjoy the sun! Think I'm going to see if I can find the cache we struggled with last night.

Ps. The pic is taken from Hvalstrand last night. It was no wind, warm and gorgeous!

Kassander walking

2007-04-11T23:30:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was back-to-work day. Was pretty hard to get up early again, and I wasn't overjoyed to back at work, but it could have been worse.

Went to Martine for dinner after work, where I met one of her friends too. Nice to see them again. Kassander has learnt to walk since last time I was there, and he was really excited to have visitors and was really active. He even let me feed him his porridge, whilst running around with a cheeky grin on his face!

Other than that, not a lot has happened since Monday. I'm off work tomorrow, so going to give the scout head office a visit, and catch the train to Hamar for a couple of meetings. Should be a good day I guess.

Fantasy

2007-04-09T14:26:00.000+02:00

That's the weekend over, and so is the Easter Holidays!

Been to celebrate my mum's Birthday at Color Fantasy over the weekend. All good fun having a weekend with my mum, my 19 year old cousin (okay, she's almost 20) and my grandmother. Spent the weekend eating gourmet food (9 courses!), swimming/jacuzzi, walking in Kiel, watching a live show, shopping.... I was surprisingly awake on Saturday too, considering the small amount of sleep I had.

Tomorrow is Tuesday, which means back to work. Oh well, could be busy, lots of people ringing us who have had furniture problems over the weekend.... Not complaining though, having a short week at work, and not too many early mornings. :)

Dinner and monopoly

2007-04-07T00:25:00.000+02:00

Easter Holiday is great!

Been to Irene and BE today for dinner. To start with we were just sat around having a chat whilst BE prepared the food. The talk included some gossip about BE's friend who was coming later on that evening.

He later arrived and we had a delicious lamb dinner.
Despite kindly telling BE not to hint at him giving me a lift home, he ended up offering me a lift after all, when we decided to play monopoly after dinner. We played the shortest Monopoly game in our history (about two hours!), and sat around talking for a bit. Irene won, for the first time in history too!

I then got a lift home in a little two seater sports car (don't ask me what it was, can't remember...) (BMW Z4 according to Bjørn Eirik :) )

Oh well, I survived... Hehe.

Tomorrow I'm off on the boat to celebrate my mum's 50th Birthday.

"Det du ikkje veit, er du ikkje klar over" sa Dagim...

HAPPY EASTER!

2007-04-05T12:35:00.000+02:00

Yep, it's Easter Holidays here now :) Sunny weather too!

Not much has happened the last couple of days. Mainly been to work, cycled a bit and been sat in front of the computer. Got a couple of days to see friends now (the ones that haven't gone away on holiday), before my mum turns 50 and we're going on the boat (Color Fantasy) to celebrate.

Just had to add the photo of Dagim asleep on my floor.... Think someone is happy I've now got a sofa to sleep on ;)

Enjoy your holidays!

Could have done with a strong man!

2007-04-02T20:53:00.000+02:00

But there aren't really many of them around...

My sofa arrived today! Woohoo! I didn't realise how litterally the transport people took their job description though! It says carry it inside the door, well they did! And left it in my tiny little corridor.... Me home alone = only me to get the sofa where it was supposed to go. Well, I managed!

Went for a little bike ride around the area afterwards, gorgeous weather again! Took a few photos in the sunny weather. Two more days to work now, then Easter holiday!

Busy weekend!

2007-04-01T22:35:00.000+02:00

Well, that's my weekend over! Rather interesting and eventful if you ask me...

It all started while I was still at work on Friday, with a text to check my email. Well, some of you know what I'm talking about, and you know even better how frustrated I was when I read it - since I'm not the only one! All that can be said is: Why on earth don't people give up before they make a fool of themselves???

After work on Friday I got the train to Lillehammer. Saturday I spent shopping with my mum and relaxing, before Ann Mari's birthday bash on Saturday night.

Had a really good nigh! Started off with a girls party with Ingvild, Ida Katrine, Ann Mari and Live first, then we went out. I always forget hos busy it gets at Brenneriet. Sunday morning I attempted to sleep for a while, following the fact that I didn't go to bed until late.... Or early! Your choice...

Dagim, Hermine and Anne came round for a Hardhaus meeting, and various other discussions. When we got too hungry to talk, we ended up in Egon for pizza and more talking. Was a good social gathering, and I think we managed to come to some conclusions regarding Hardhaus too.

Well, now I'm back in Asker, and three days of working is ahead of me, then it's EASTER HOLIDAYS!!! Woohoo!

New sofa!

2007-03-29T19:35:00.000+02:00

Working at IKEA is dangerous business.... Definately when it comes to spending money. I went to recovery (the department where they sell x display stuff) to have a look today, and found the sofa I've been looking at really cheap! So I bought it! I'll get it delivered on Monday after work. Guess I've got somewhere to sit when I've got visitors now, don't have to sit on the chairs anyway... That's if it goes through the door....

Off to Lillehammer this weekend to celebrate Ann Mari's birthday. Should be good. Just one more day at work first!

Hope you all have a good weekend, and for those of you that don't work at the beginning of next week, hope you have a great Easter Holidays!

Sore bum...

2007-03-27T18:32:00.000+02:00

Yeah, that comes with sitting on a bike for the first time since June last year! Tested out cycling to work today, and it was not bad at all! Kind of helps that the weather couldn't be any better though! I can even park my bike indoors!

Slept in this morning, was a bit tired after a late night on the computer. Really should have will power enough to go to bed earlier, but it doesn't always work that way...

Just been down to Hvalstrand beach, and it's gorgeous down there. Been sat on a rock watching other people and just enjoying the hot sun! Lovely spring weather!

Woohoo! Bike!

2007-03-26T17:44:00.000+02:00

Yay! I've finally got the bike I wanted! And I've just cycled home on it too! I can imagine my bum hurting over the next week or so, but that won't stop me from cycling to work! (Trying to convince myself more than anyone else here....) I'm off to the shop now, to try my bike out further in the lovely weather!

Scout leaders... hmmm.....

2007-03-25T18:33:00.000+02:00

Well.... I thought this weekend was gonna be pretty dull. Turns out I was completely wrong! Went to Irene's house last night, for their housewarming. It was mainly scout leaders on the guestlist, and I expected it to be a fairly quiet night. Hmmm.... how wrong could I be?!?

They decided to fill the kitchen table with majority of the alcohol that existed in the house, and we might as well have been in a bar! So the rest of the story tells itself... Me (being pretty much sober) and Irene (being very sober) had fun watching the blokes having fun.... If they can remember anything today is a different question!

Anyway, it was a great night. Was fun to meet all the leaders that came to England last summer again. Today we've just spent on the sofa chatting. Needless to say, Bjørn Eirik got up, had some food, and went back to bed for a bit....

Guess this is the last time he'll get that much alcohol down his throat. In two months time he's a dad to two little ones!

Music and lyrics

2007-03-24T01:10:00.000+01:00

Well, it's late again. I've just got home from a social night with Anniken and also Helga. Went to the cinema to see Music and Lyrics with Hugh Grant, and it was a good girlie film. Had a good laugh, and even the bloke in the chair next to me laughed a lot, so must have been a film for blokes too ;)

Went to a bar after the film and had an interesting chat about stuff I don't particularly feel like repeating here.... Got very depressing, so we changed the topic.

Yay, no work in the morning, so I can sleep in! Having another shot at trying to get the bike I want tomorrow.

Well, sleep tight, I certainly will!

Not going snowholing after all....

2007-03-22T22:50:00.000+01:00

Oh well, not going snowholing this weekend after all... There's only one person to blame, but he claims he'd have to leave his nose behind at home if he was to come, and that would have been silly, so I'll let him off since he's got a cold. Better luck next time!

I won't be wearing out my new chair anyway though, since I'm going to the cinema to see Lyrics and Music or something like that, the film with Hugh Grant, with Anniken tomorrow. Then Irene is having a party at their house on Saturday night, so I'll show my face there too! Should be a good weekend. Looking forward to a couple of days off work.

New chair!

2007-03-21T21:34:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm just about to open a box with a chair in it, and attempt to build it. If I succeed I'll be sitting a bit more comfortable in front of the computer from now on...

Went to get the bike I want today, but they didn't have it yet. Shame, really want to start cycling to work now! It's not often I can use the fact that I haven't got a bike as an excuse. I'll be using the weather as an excuse next...

Geocaching - fun!

2007-03-20T01:29:00.000+01:00

Okay, I admit it! Now I've been bitten by this bizarre hobby - geocaching. Found my two first two tonight (with a tiny bit of help from Dagim...) You get some coordinates, find something at that spot, leave a mark, then write a log. It's like orienteering, just slightly bigger scale (having a car is an advantage...). Now I need a bike and a GPS to start with! Then I'll be off to the adventures of geocaching all by myself!

England 18th to 21st May?

2007-03-19T17:06:00.000+01:00

Just looking at prices for flights to England that weekend, and at the moment they're really cheap! I can get a return flight from Torp to Liverpool for 446 NOK! Think I'll be asking for time off work on the friday and monday...

So maybe I'll be there for the Eurovision party! I'm hoping so anyway!

Not much happening today. Looking at applying for a job (yeah yeah, I know I've just started a new job!). Won't let you know just yet what the job is about, but I will if I find out more. Don't want work to know I'm applying as I've just started. Don't misunderstand me though, I'm really enjoying the job I'm doing now, but this other one is more in the category of dream job.

Dagim is coming down for a visit later on tonight. Think we might go out hunting for geocaches, but it depends whether he had enough yesterday when he found 19 of them in one day!

Windy walk

2007-03-19T00:37:00.000+01:00

Yay, it was Sunday today! Which meant I could sleep as long as I wanted... That's when I decide to wake up early, 8.15! Why can't I sleep a bit more on a day off?

Anyway. Martine, Kassander and Remy came to pick me up at 11.30 and we went up to Semsvannet to go for a walk. Kassander decided to fall asleep just as we set off walking, so he missed the joy of seeing the horses. It was a nice walk, although a bit windy. Because we spent less than an hour walking round the water (which is situated next to where the Norwegian crown prince lives), we decided to walk back to my house. Half way there Kassander found out it was too boring to sit in the buggy, so we let him walk for a little while. After just over an hour we got back to mine, where Magne met us.

Remy came to pick up Martine and Kassander, and I went climbing with Magne. My arms are not working the way they should any more! Never mind. Got to the top of a few climbs, and promised myself once again that I want to go climbing more often!

The evening was spent cooking dinner and some cakes, whilst Magne kindly put some lights up on my ceiling :) And now it's late - again! - and time for bed!

Customers - oh joy!

2007-03-17T19:59:00.000+01:00

Got this email at work today and found it really funny! Unfortunately it's in Norwegian. Let me know if you require a translation!

Hei igjen

Jeg prøver igjen å forklare. Kan vedkommende som leser dette hente seg en kaffe og stresse ned i mer enn 2sek så skjønner du nok hva jeg skal ha.

Stolens (altså Gilbert) ben er i metall, bena går fra setet og ned mot gulvet, fordi føttene er laget i metall og har veldig skarpe kanter har produsenten naturlig nok satt på føtter på stolbena slik at man ikke skal ødelegge gulvet. Disse føttene er konstruert som følger: En plastikkdings er dyttet litt inn i stolbenet (red.anm. stolbenet: den blanke rørliknende saken under setet på stolen som går ned mot gulvet) slik at den skal sitte fast i stolbenet, vi kan kalle denne dingsen for Bjarne Hylse hvis dere vil.

Bjarne som sitter klemt fast inni stolbenet har normalt sett på seg sko, disse er svarte og i plastikk. Fordi Bjarne er litt av en festløve har han desverre mistet noen sko, slik man ofte gjør på fest! Jeg vil regne med at hvis man skal skaffe noen nye Bjarne Hylse så må man nok bestille hele Bjarne, det vil si at Bjarne Hylse som er presset opp i røret og skoene hans nok er i en del, hvis jeg skal gjette på et internt navn dere bruker så er det nok noe sånt som "føtter gilbert".

Jeg takker for denne gang og håper dere får ordnet meg noen nye Bjarne, eller føtter om dere vil.

Det skal sies at dette ikke er en reklamasjon, jeg hadde tenkt å kjøpe disse, henter dem gjerne på varehuset på slependen.

OBS: Dere trenger forøvrig ikke å kalle meg de eller dere, bare kall meg du.

Vennlig hilsen,

Kunde

Spring is here - I think!

2007-03-15T20:57:00.000+01:00

I think it's spring now! Well, until we get more snow that is! It's spring enough for me to want to buy a bike and cycle to work anyway!

Had my day off today and spent it mainly outside. Went to see Martine and Kassander, and we bought some food from the bakery and went down to the beach to have lunch. Then I was lucky enough to look after Kassander for the afternoon, so we took a walk, and went to feed the ducks. One of the ducks thought Kassanders cake looked nice, and decided to nick it out of his hand! Kassander responded with a giggle, then chasing them back into the water.

I spent last weekend at a scout gathering with the District Commissionaries from all over Norway. That was really inspiring, and we've now got a lot of ideas for the year to come in our District. You can see the photos from the gathering here: http://www.speiding.no/dokument.php?dok=2350

Well, that's it for now really.

New blog!

2007-03-15T20:07:00.000+01:00

Hello!

This is an attempt to keep you up to date with what I'm up to. Since moving back to Norway, there's a lot of people to talk to and keep in touch with, so I'm hoping that a lot of you will use this blog to keep in touch with me!

Cecilie :)