The Little Pleasures In Life

I'm not dead!

2008-10-20T20:59:00.003+02:00

I'm back in Cyberspace, baby! It's been quiet in this corner of the web for a while. Inspiration has not been a commodity. I've been a total couch potato (at least nearly) for two weeks as Prince Charming was climbing in Sardinia while I had to work. Bummer. Today we had some quality time out running together. Neither of us are avid runners but I enjoy spending time with him to such and extent that I didn't mind running. Actually, I've traditionally been running more often than he has. But now! Maybe this is the start of a new and better life - again?!?

Bohuslän, Sweden

2008-09-02T09:29:00.004+02:00

M photographing Ø on Umulius (7+). Photo by me.

Ø sends Birgers Börst (6+). Photo by LMV

M sends Muffins (7-). Photo by LMV.

Ø sends Adrenaline (7). Photo by LMV.

It's been a while since I posted anything now. Sorry for that.

Here's pictures from our weekend in Sweden just now. Climbing are Ø and M. The grades quoted are Swedish. Enjoy!

Decorating a bedroom wall

2008-08-19T10:56:00.004+02:00

The Glamorous Librarian wanted ideas for decorating a wall in her bedroom, so I thought I'd give some examples here. I decorated my livingroom wall with a giant sticker over a year ago and am quite happy with the result. What's great about these vinyl stickers is that you can take it down when you're bored of it, and it won't leave a mark (they claim - mine's still up)! Just remember to be thorough when you put it up so that all the little parts stay in place. Some of the small parts (like the grass) at the bottom of my design have started letting go. But the small bits higher up are still ok so I guess I was a bit sloppy at first. All the designs below are from http://www.veggpynt.no/:

This is what's decorating the wall above my couch (to the right hand side to make a more interesting space):

For a bedroom a simpler design might be the way to go:

Or maybe something funny?:

I like these two guys:

Or maybe filling the whole space with wall posters? Like a wall paper, but then not:

Being a librarian, why not sleep next to books that won't fall off their shelves?

Tosca

2008-08-17T23:49:00.004+02:00

When Prince Charming suggested to go see the opera Tosca being played outdoors, at Oscarsborg Fortress, I was a bit surprised. Not that him wanting to go to the opera surprised me - I just hadn't considered seeing an opera an option. I don't know why, I don't hate opera or anything like it. On the other hand, I didn't love it either. I had never been to see an opera before and didn't have much of a relationship with it at all. But I thought it was a splendid idea, and off we went.

Oscarsborg Fortress - photo found here.

The experience was very rewarding, and I thoroughly enjoyed the play. Can't say much about the singing apart from it being very impressive since I don't know anything about opera. I don't think I'll start listening to opera in the car or anything, but I'd like to see more operas in the future. Since I haven't seen any, the ending is a surprise too... But first we'll introduce ourselves to the world of ballet, I think. I hope there's still tickets available for The Nutcracker in December.

Sirens And Us

2008-08-06T10:35:00.004+02:00

Went to Øya Klubb-natt yesterday at Parkteatret and saw three bands I hadn't seen before. I was the most impressed with Sirens And Us who I've been told have only played together for four months! It was so tight and professional and VERY VERY good. I'm definetly going to keep an eye out for these guys!

Earring Day!

2008-08-04T14:12:00.003+02:00

Today is my first day with real earrings since I was about 12! That's 16 years without, folks! After six weeks of wearing little gold studs today I'm wearing black rose studs, similar to the blue ones pictured above. All the earrings pictured above I ordered from Forever 21 last week and I can't wait for them to arrive!!! I've displayed all the earrings I've purchased over the last six weeks on the wall so I can enjoy the sight of them every day.

Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!

Batman - Oh Yes!

2008-07-28T08:20:00.003+02:00

Poster found at http://www.filmweb.no/

We saw Batman - The Dark Knight yesterday. And it was great, just great! I've always loved super heroes but now it's actually also a VERY good movie. Go see it! And if you haven't seen Batman Begins yet, see that one first. This is actually one of the very few sequels that's better than the first movie in the series. The only other example I can think of is Terminator 2. I'm so seeing this one again!

After Work Picnic

2008-07-25T10:10:00.001+02:00

I took Prince Charming for a picnic by the waterside yesterday. We played cards (I won 4 times!), had sandwiches, cold beer, cookies and espresso. It was a lovely evening.

More photos from Nepal

2008-07-22T23:02:00.002+02:00

As promised a long time ago, here's more photos from our Nepal Trek.

My Favourite Place On Earth

2008-07-15T22:00:00.002+02:00

Romsdalen is the best place I know. You can hike, climb, ski, kayak, boulder or do anything else you can think of when it comes to outdoorsy stuff. But I'm not really ready to leave the city yet and relocate. Maybe in 3-4 years? I'd love a summer house though. To afford one I'd have to win the lottery. And I'm trying real hard to do just that. Once a week, every week. I can't believe I didn't win this Saturday either!

Vacation Weather!

2008-07-04T09:27:00.003+02:00

Today is my last day at work before my vacation. I have next week off - feels great! We have been wondering where to go because we want to go to the mountains but the weather forecast has been depressing. The weather is great now, though! I just received an SMS from Prince Charming telling me to check the forecast for Romsdalen (where the Summer House of My Dreams is located too!). The weather seems very unstable these days as the forecast changes all the time. But it promises great weather now - so off we go tomorrow morning. We spent last night packing our camping and climbing gear. But first there's Oslo Live tonight. We'll see Clutch amongst others at this festival tonight. What a great way to start the vacation!

Summer house of my dreams

2008-07-03T07:45:00.005+02:00

Photos from Finn.no

Prince Charming and I looked through real estate ads for houses in our favourite mountainous area of Norway. We can't afford a summer house so it's just dreaming. Something like this would be perfect! An old house with a view, situated somewhere quiet in Romsdalen. This one has only got cold water installed, though. It would be so nice to have a summer house like this for the first years and then when we feel grown up and ready to leave the city we could move there. We'd have to have the plumbing re-done, though. I'd just paint the walls white and keep a lot of the old furniture. A summer house should have old furniture, I think. Something very modern would feel wrong in a house like this. Or maybe a mix when we move there full time. But we can't afford it and it would be too much work and hazzle to maintain a house so far away from Oslo. I'm still dreaming, though...

Happy Birthday, JP!

2008-07-02T16:29:00.005+02:00

Photo by his wife, I think.

JP's birthday was yesterday - we'll keep the age to ourselves, but it was a "round day". We had a great time, drinking champagne and munching our way through Colombian delicassies and birthday cakes. The photo is from our trip together in October to Indian Creek, Utah.

I sadly discovered that my Bottega Venetta Intreccatio copy peep toe pumps were a size too big. I couldn't walk without my heel popping up from the shoe. So I gave them away to someone with slightly bigger feet than me. I loved those shoes! Below you can see what Bottega Veneta's signature vowen leather looks like - Intreccatio.

Photo from Net-A-Porter

Me

2008-06-30T21:49:00.004+02:00

If you're wondering what I look like, here's a photo of me and my lamb Ulle Krulle Jon Andrè.

An Lifechanging Event

2008-06-30T20:54:00.005+02:00

Six days ago, I had my ears pierced. To me, this is an lifechanging event. That sounds a bit over the top but it's actually true. I had my ears pierced once before, at the age of six, I think. When I was twelve I had developed an allergy to Nickel so bad I had to stop wearing earrings alltogether. I would react to anything - gold, silver, surgical steel. My friend Y, whom I went to Nepal with had the same problem but had her ears pierced again two years ago, very successfully. The girl who did my ears this time even said gold bought from a Fine Jewellers can have traces of Nickel. So if you're very sensitive only wear "medical steel" (supposedly even purer than "surgical steel"), titan and plastic. I'm planning to buy plastic hangers from Panduro and a few titan hangers so I can replace the ones originally on the earrings. Since what you desperately want is what you can't have, I've longed for earrings for years and years. I've felt handicapped since for no party can I adorn my earlobes with beautiful, dangly thingies. And now I'm free! I'm planning on becoming the Imelda Marcos of earrings. My collection got off to a good start today with the Sales going on - I got the five pairs pictured above with a 75% discount. And I even found some plastic covers or tubes that you can slide over the stud of stud earrings to make them safe. Now there's only five weeks and one day until I can replace the little ones...

Travel Diary

2008-06-30T09:48:00.002+02:00

Photo by Ylva

My travel buddy, Y, has started publishing a Travel Diary from our trip to Nepal. You can go read it here. Unfortunately for you people who are not Scandinavian, it's in Swedish. The captions to the photos are in English however. And she has posted a LOT of photos. So it's worth checking out anyway!

Lack of glamour?

2008-06-29T15:36:00.004+02:00

I wish there were more glamorous occasions in my life so that I could justify these Chloè peep toe pumps. Yes, they are on sale at Net-A-Porter but they're still £ 195. And I can't find any knock offs!

Happy Happy Music!

2008-06-26T14:45:00.001+02:00

Yes!

Update:

I see now how it might seem strange to call this song "a happy song" after having watched the video. I actually hadn't seen the video before. A few years ago I used to attend "Dance Aerobic" sessions and this was the all time favourie of one of the instructors. That's why it is a happy song to me, and always will be. When I hear it I start smiling and I feel like dancing.

Until today when I heard it played on the radio I didn't even know it was Yes!. So although it seems like a strange coincidence that Nina mentioned Yes! as one of the things she likes the other day, it actually is!

Here you can see the another version by Max Graham vs Yes! I believe this must be the version played by my former aerobics instructor.

Redecorating Prince Charming?

2008-06-24T12:27:00.007+02:00

Photo found here

It's amazing how you spend a big sum of money at IKEA without flinching. Those guys are good at getting your money out of your wallet! Anyway. My reason for going there after work yesterday was, among other things, getting some boxes for storing Prince Charming's CD's. He has a LOT of CD's . The CD-book-case-thing is full and there are CD's floating everywhere in his (now ours) bookcase too. So I thought it's time to get things organized. We don't have a lot of space in the apartment so freeing a shelf or two would be great. And it would look better. Got 8 of these at IKEA and thought they would take care of the CD's not fitting into the CD-bookcase.

Photo from IKEA

We started out sorting the A's and B's and then the C's and D's. After a few filing errors from my side (Like filing Alanis Morrisette under A, but not Tori Amos) we quickly had one box of A's , two boxes of B's, one box of C's, two boxes of D's, one box of E and F and one box of "Various Artists"-CD's. The CD-bookcase was still full and there were still CD's covering the floor and floating about in the bookcase. He obviously had more CD's than I thought. We'll have to get some more boxes and another shelf for my (now ours) (IKEA) bookshelf.

In the middle of this process I asked myself - am I redecorating Prince Charming? Changing him like we girls have a tendency of doing? So I asked him:

"Am I changing you by making you alphabetize your music collection?"

PC: "Yes"

Me: "But aren't you enjoying finding all those CD's you forgot you had or thought you'd lost?"

PC: "Yes, but that's not what you asked me."

He played me the recordings of his old band, including a song he made. And made a point out of playing me a record I hadn't heard from each letter as we were sorting that particular letter. So we had a pretty good time. I just hope I don't change him into someone I don't want anymore.

Perfect for a rainy Sunday!

2008-06-22T13:03:00.002+02:00

The weather forecast Saturday night said it was going to rain the whole day from 10 am on Sunday. So we got up late and fixed little things in the house until noon. Still no rain. We checked the weather forecast again and now the rain was postponed until 5 pm and onwards. Even though we left the house late we got to climb a little bit. I got to do my usual testpiece at Fetsund. I guess I'm not THAT out of shape, since I got up it on the first try. It's fun to see progress after discovering how rusty I was. It did start raining after we had climbed two routes but Prince Charming tried an overhanging project so we stayed at the crag for a while still. Prince Charming hanging up in the wall and I belaying him on a Gri Gri (a device for securing / belaying the climber) munching down Norwegian strawberries. No offense, but strawberries doesn't taste as good anywhere else. It's got something to do with our climate that grows them slowly.

After a very quick frozen pizza and a shower we went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Scull. Fun to see Harrison Ford as Indy again although I think it was the poorest of the Indiana Jones films. I enjoyed myself, though, and it wasn't a waste of time.

Back on track...

2008-06-21T23:14:00.002+02:00

...or a least starting the track again. I've started rock climbing again after very close to no climbing since October last year. My skills and moves and last but by no means least my psyche are very rusty. Today was my fourth time this summer and I feel like I'm at least starting to get back into it. The first time I toproped not even 10 meters on a too hard route before it started to rain. Second go I toproped one route and came only half way on the second one that was too hard. Third time went better with two completed routes - one lead and one on toprope. And today I sent a route known as an easy classic crack climb on gear (Pinus 5+, Fjell) - sceared as hell and hyperventilating toward the top. But I did it!

Prince Charming also had a good day. He sent a project he has wanted to do for years (Fenriss 7+, Fjell). This route was also a gear climb. I'm so proud of him! A friend of us got his camera out for the occasion so I'll even post a photo of it when I get my hands on one. The photo above is from last summer at a crag called Hellerud.

Staying in shape

2008-06-18T23:07:00.002+02:00

Photo found at Running Past Vintage Photos

Wednesday I convinced Prince Charming to go running with me. I'm not an avid runner but I try to stay in shape by periodically running a couple a times a week, mostly in summer. I thought I should be able to keep up with him after having spent five weeks at high altitude. I must have been born with extremely small lungs. Not only did he outrun me easily, as usual. A really fat guy kept up with us up the steep hill. Demotivating? You can say so.

The good part is Prince Charming's promised to go running together again. If it's wet outside tomorrow we'll go, as long as it's not raining.

Rollercoasters

2008-06-15T22:38:00.000+02:00

Photo found here

On Sunday we went out to the local amusementpark Tusenfryd to ride rollercoasters. It's a pleasure when you discover it's just as much fun as when you were a kid. If you haven't taken a rollercoaster for a while, now's the time!

Foo Fighters!

2008-06-12T22:34:00.001+02:00

For my birthdayy Prince Charming gave me tickets to see the Foo Fighters concert on June 12th in Oslo. What a great present! The tickets were sold out one hour after they were released so he planned it for months.

The concert was great! The Foo Fighters played for two hours and we got to hear all their hits. I had a real good time, grooving for the whole of the show.

2008-06-11T11:27:00.003+02:00

This natural spectacular is just fitting on my birthday! The video I recorded in Chituan in South Nepal.

Finally some photos

2008-06-09T22:04:00.006+02:00

Here are the few first photos from Nepal, as promised. More will come. I have over 1000 photos and I think Y has almost as many. Hopefully we'll be able to put together a good album.

2008-06-09T18:08:00.003+02:00

This elephant we met in Chituan, early one morning when out on our canoe-trip. I love elephants. Imagine being able to pick stuff up with your nose!

Leadbelly

2008-06-09T17:28:00.002+02:00

I'm now back home but have however brought with me a mean Nepalese stomach bug. I'm therefore leaving you with this great version of In The Pines. I'll try to post a version the lovely S did for us in Nepal if Blogger will allow such a long clip.

Back in Kathmandu - again

2008-06-03T14:08:00.002+02:00

After 39 degrees Celcius and high humidity yesterday, followed by a spectacular thunderstorm last night in Southern Nepal we're back in Kathmandu. A six hour busride earlier today, Nepali-style got us here. Well, not really. We didn't sit on the roof of the bus...

A totally different adventure!

2008-05-31T16:51:00.002+02:00

Now we've arrived in Chituan National Park after a 5 hour bus ride from Kathmandu. We're staying here for three nights and will go back to Kathmandu on June 3rd. We have a full itiniary while here, including elephant ride and bathing of the elephant, canoe trip and jeep safari.

The temperature is 32-35 degrees Celcius and humidity is high. A total change from down jackets and bivouac boots in the mountains, but oh so nice! If you're going trekking I recommend taking a trip here afterwards. It only takes four days in total and is a complete contrast to what we've done earlier. Photos will come when I get home!

Kathmandu

2008-05-29T06:35:00.006+02:00

Now we're back in Kathmandu, flew in from Lukla yesterday. Since we only brought mountain-clothes we spent the day shopping in the tourist district of Thamel. The pendulum has swung and I'm now wearing red nail polish on both my fingers and toes!

We're back earlier than exptected so we're going to Chituan on Safari the day after tomorrow. It will be a total change from mountains to elephants. We're staying there 4 days and 3 nights and return to Kathmandu on June 4th.

You can see a few pictures from our trip here but I'll post lots of pictures when I get home.

Back in Namche

2008-05-26T10:47:00.002+02:00

We're now back in Namche Bazaar (3400 meters above sea level) and are going to fly back to Kathmandu on May 28th. That's a little earlier than we reconned but three weeks in the mountains is ok with me. We've had a great time but I'm really looking forward to some modern day comforts like a real shower (I'll tell you about the ingenious ones we've had up here) and clean clothes. Since we'll have extra many days in Kathmandu we've decided to go on a small safari for four days or so before we get on the plane destined for Stockholm on June 6th. Sun, warmth and riding on elephants sounds like the perfect contrast!

Take care, everyone!

Hello from Dingboche...

2008-05-21T13:41:00.002+02:00

... the world's highest internet cafe at 4400 meters above sea level.

We have so far been up Gokyo Ri, crossed the Cho La pass and summited Kala Pattar (5550 meters above sea level ) and visited Everest Base Camp yesterday. What a strange place that was with all those tents perched on top of piles of gravel on top of the glacier! We even had apple pie at the Everest Base Camp Bakery.

Things are going well, we haven't experienced serious altitude problems. Y had a headache on the couple of highest days and I've gotten a cold that makes breathing a hazzle when going up hill in the thin air. Apart from that we haven't had any problems at all, really. Stomachs and all have been fine, but I do recommend a vegetarian diet in this area. We have been strongly advised not to eat meat because chances are it's been carried up from the airport at Lukla even if it says 'yak meat' on the menu.

We'll probably be in Kathmandu again on May 31st or so.

We're acclimatizing pretty well

2008-05-12T16:35:00.003+02:00

We met our guide / porter P yesterday. He's a nice guy. We went on a small acclimatization trip today to Khumjung and back to Namche. P was walking a small distance in front of us with his hands on his back or in his pockets, humming, most of the way. So the atmosphere is good. We're coping much better with the altitude than yesterday morning, and the hills we walked today weren't much of a problem. You can see a few photos here.

I probably won't be able to update until early June, so have a nice month of May, everybody!

Namche Bazaar

2008-05-11T10:09:00.002+02:00

We were coping pretty well with our backpacks for the first day but were repeatedly told by people we met we should hire a porter to carry our load. The second day, on our way from Phakding to Namche Bazaar, we met our contact here in Nepal. Our contact in Kathmandu was his manager, we now met F himself. We have a lot of respect for this guy and when he told us that maybe our packs were ok down here (around 2500 - 3000 meters above sea level) but they certainly wouldn't be higher up. The smart thing to do was to take his advise, and we did. We accepted his offer to send a guide who could also carry for us from Lukla the next day. We also left our tent and the cooking equipment in a safe tea house we'll pass on the way down again. We realized in the hills up to Namche Bazaar that we had made the right decision. Today we're taking an extra rest day here in Namche. We'll be back on schedule tomorrow and do an acclimatization trip before we spend one more night here in Namche. On Tuesday we'll head for Dole. We're doing fine, just a little bit tired. Since we don't have a head ache, altitude sickness shouldn't be a problem.

Take care! We will. We now even have someone to take care of us!

Mount Everest Base Camp

2008-05-08T17:22:00.002+02:00

We heard yesterday that Everest Base Camp was closed to trekkers because of the Chinese bringing the Olympic Torch to the top of Mount Everest from the Tibet side. Today we saw in the newspapers that they succeeded last night (photo above). Our contact here in Kathmandu also told us today that they will open Base Camp for trekkers again on May 10th - in good time for our expected arrival there around the 20th. I'm very glad. Of course it is one of the highlights of our trek to visit Everest Base Camp but even more important is the fact that from Everest Base Camp we're hoping to be able to contact those at home and let them know we're ok.

Now we have to go back to the hotel to finish packing. And then, tomorrow morning, we're off to Lukla!

Take care, everyone! You'll here from me again as soon as I have the opportunity!

Life in Kathmandu

2008-05-08T10:04:00.002+02:00

I already feel quite accostomed to life in Kathmandu. Things don't feel so caotic anymore and the volume here doesn't bother me like it did the first day. We are receiving our trekking permit from our contact tonight and are flying to Lukla tomorrow morning. I felt more prepared to go to the mountains when we arrived here than I do now. It's quite warm here, probably 27 - 30 degrees Celcius and people absoloutely everywhere.

What strikes me most is the poverty. People are saving money in ways I never have imagined, like only turning on the lights in your shop window at night if someone stops to look at your goods. We're comfortable here now but it I am very much looking forward to going to the mountains. And very excited and nervous too!

Kathmandu

2008-05-06T16:02:00.002+02:00

We have now arrived in Kathmandu after three flights: one from Oslo to Stockholm where I met up with Y, then from Stockholm to Doha (Quatar, Arabic Peninsula) and from Doha to Kathmandu. I've never visited a non-western country before and was quite overwhelmed at first. Y has fortunately been traveling in similar cities before so I'm leaning on her.

We're flying to Lukla (the mountains) on Friday May 9th. Our contact picked us up at the airport and will drive us to the airport on Friday. I was really happy to have someone waiting for us as there was a crowd of taxi drivers trying to get a hold of us outside the airport.

Our adventure doesn't start for real until Friday, but I feel quite adventorous here anyway.

Take care! We will.

I'll see you all soon again!

2008-05-05T10:08:00.003+02:00

It's now mere hours until departure. I have a few select things to fix before I go but will be on my way very soon. Hopefully I'll be able to put up a post while in Kathmandu before we leave for the mountains. Until next time I leave you with this classic of a song. I'll be back before you know it! Take care, everybody!

The Day Before Departure

2008-05-04T15:50:00.004+02:00

I have been escaping my Travel Fever most of the day by wandering around a sunbathed Oslo. Spring is truly here! In the collage of our day above I've even included a picture of myself wearing the blue, stripy dress Mum and I found while searching for treasure a while ago.

I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow!

A Wonderful Card from a Wonderful Friend

2008-05-03T20:20:00.002+02:00

Today I received the most wonderful card from an old friend.

You always know how to make people feel great, M! I'm so grateful to know you and I hope everyone around you knows what a fantastic person you are. I'm sure they do! Thank you so much for such fantastic wishes for a safe journey. I'll write you a card. Promise! And I will blow you "a kiss from the dizzy heights!!"

The shopping monster won't rest...

2008-05-02T22:10:00.004+02:00

...not even now that I leave in three days for a month in Nepal. Not even now that I should be saving all my money for spending a month in Nepal. Not even now that I won't be able to wear what I buy until early June. Then again, look at the wonderful stuff I found 2nd hand today. To the left is a skirt and the green, floral thing is a floor length dress. The dress even comes with a cute see-through shoulder-cover-thing. I hope I have the guts to wear that too. I seldom shop second hand but this time I found heaps. I guess my taste has changed a bit and I've got UnderbaraClara and Stylebytes to thank for that.

PS. This is the first published photo taken with my new camera!

3 days to go; Fixing Day

2008-05-02T20:36:00.004+02:00

I've spent the whole day wandering around, fixing things. The main objective was not getting stressed out and just take things easy. Apart from an angry work-related email received this morning I have succeded my calm plan. The email mentioned was due to my lightheadedness at work the past week. I had totally forgotten to fix the poor guys issue. Still a very bad start to the day. It ended better though.

Having exchanged my Norwegian currency to US $ (great exchange rate these days!) and shopped the last little things I now feel almost ready to go. There's still some things to do, though. My new multifuel stove was sent express today and will hopefully arrive tomorrow. I ordered it weeks ago and they claim it was sent Tuesday last week but it's not here. I have a couple of hours in the morning on Monday before departure to pick it up at the post office if it fails to arrive tomorrow. So I won't let myself freak out about it - yet.

I among other little things purchased the sunglasses pictured above. They are the exact same glasses I've had for six years now; Adidas Elevation Pro. I'm so happy with my old pair I just bought the same ones over again. The old ones are so scratched up it always seems foggy when I wear them. An old friend once said to me; "I'm so glad you're not too vein to wear those glasses". "Well, thank you", I thought. "Or?!?". Coming from one of the most down to earth people I know it was a compliment. And I've taken it as a funny one. And yeah - I do look redicolous in those glasses but they are the best fitting glasses for mountaineering ever.

Backpack-sending day

2008-05-01T14:19:00.003+02:00

Above you see my backpack, ready for transportation to Sweden. Y is picking it up in a few hours to take it to Stockholm by car. That way I don't have to worry about it getting lost on the flight from Oslo to Stockholm. Checking in for Kathmandu in Stockholm without my backpack would be a total nightmare. It now weighs 19,9 kg's and the baggage limit is 20 kg's. I'm hoping it will weigh 18 kg's when we leave for the mountains. Even though not everything is coming to the mountains we'll have to do some rationalisation when in Kathmandu. I'll bring some stuff in my hand luggage on Monday, like my camera, some toiletries, an abundance of pills and sunglasses. And probably some more stuff that I have forgotten. We have some tough decisions to make.

Rockabilly Bon Voyage

2008-04-30T23:26:00.005+02:00

Here's a photo from the 50's themed Bon Voyage party we attended on Saturday, as promised. I stole it from Y's blog. I'm to the left, in the middle is Y's flat mate - it seems in a dangerous mood. Sweet Swedish is to the right. Below you an see the rockabilly "tattoo" that Prince Charming painted on my left arm with kids's 'tattoo markers'. It had a scull, an 8 ball, stars, flames - the works!

I've started piling my gear on the living room floor. No big surprises yet - thank God. I'm flying to Stockholm to meet up with Y on Monday. We'll check in for Kathmandu together. She's bringing my backpack to Sweden by car tomorrow so I only have to worry about hand luggage on Monday. I'm now past the stadium of cracking up and have entered survival mode. What will be will be. I'll probably go into full blown panic on Saturday or Sunday.

6 days to go

2008-04-28T22:11:00.005+02:00

Photo found here.

Today Y very generously offered to bring my backpack to Stockholm by car on Thursday. I'm first flying to Stockholm from Oslo to catch up with her and then we'll check in to go to Kathmandu. I've been so worried that my pack will get lost on the flight from Oslo to Stockholm so her offer was very welcome. It does however mean that I now only have 2 days to pack instead of 6. I'm numbed. Panic is lurking in the back of my mind. I can't wait to leave because then this horrid stress with packing and preparing will be over. Since we're planning on carrying our own packs and not hiring porters (weird Scandinavian cultural thing) I've weighed nearly everything on my kitchen scale. The goal is weighing the packs in at under 20 kg. Preferably it'll be 20 kg including water. So if I can get it to 18 kg I'll be satisfied. I'll post my packing list later - maybe someone doing something similar later could use it?

I also bought a new camera today. It was 50% more than I had planned to spend - without an extra battery and new memory cards. But it was exactly what I was looking for and I was sick and tired of being in that shop. So I just closed my eyes to the price and swept my card. Luckily, Y thinks it's a really good camera. I hope so. It's a Canon Ixus 82 IS and the girl in the shop said it had arrived earlier today. My old camera is so lousy it must be a major improvement either way. The important aspects to me was battery life and being able to turn the screen off to save even more battery. And Y recommended Canon. So now, before I've even turned it on, I'm happy with it. Happy and a bit more broke than before.

Snakes and Ladders

2008-04-27T16:26:00.003+02:00

The battery on my camera was nearly dead at the party yesterday so I don't have any pictures. Sorry. If any of the others got any good shots I'll post it then. I've spent the day weighing toiletries and drawing 'Snakes and Ladders' on my sleeping mat. I had no idea one toothbrus can way 20 grams and another one 7 grams!

Bon Voyage

2008-04-26T17:38:00.005+02:00

Every voyage requires a proper Bon Voyage-party! Y and I decided to have a 50's theme to ours and we've prepared for weeks. Today Prince Charmng and I have been in style the whole day. Above you see the essentials. I'll bring my camera so maybe I'll post some photos from the night tomorrow. It's now only 8 days until departure for Nepal and I'm really starting to freak out...

Prince Charming's home!

2008-04-24T22:03:00.002+02:00

After spending 10 days in France Prince Charming finally came home today. When I got home from work he was making me dinner. And he'd brought wonderful gifts. He truly is Prince Charming! *sigh*

Spring in Oslo

2008-04-23T23:15:00.001+02:00

The weather was really good today. I didn't take any photos while wandering the streets this afternoon doing different errands but I'll post a few I took last week. On the walk to the van in the morning I decided to show you a little bit of Oslo. The result you saw above.

PS. The money spending shopping monstre has escaped quite a few times the last few weeks. I'll update you on the wonders and horrors of that some other time.

No pictures today...

2008-04-22T21:34:00.002+02:00

I was planning on posting photos from spring time in Oslo today but Blogger won't cooperate and upload my photos. It'll come later!

So for now you can look at Agathe's great outfit (so easy and so cool!) over at stylebytes.net.

"Things don't get any better than this"...

2008-04-21T20:55:00.008+02:00

...was my mantra this weekend. The first real weekend of sun and warmth and I was so lucky I spent it in the mountains. My friend invited me up to a ski resort called Hemsedal for the weekend. When I saw the weather forecast reported 8-10 degrees Celcius and a big sun symbol I had no doubts about going.

I drove up on Friday night and arrived as my friend King S started making dinner. What a luxury! We didn't start Saturday too early since the night before saw many a glass of red wine and discussions about life. But it's now day light nearly 'till 9 pm so we weren't in a rush. Started off on the ski touring in the slightly wrong place so we ended up in rough terrain. It didn't matter that much because the weather was so great anyway!

Once we were above the tree line things were just so easy! We cruised all the way to the top even though it was a bit further than expected. And the ride down was fantastic! Watch King S ski Telemark (free heel) below!

The next day was even better. Another late start due to our After Ski but it turned into another amazing day:

(All photos by King S or me.)

Nothing's like spring time ski touring!

2008-04-21T07:58:00.005+02:00

Came back from the best weekend ski mountaineering with my friend King S. I'll tell you more later, now I have to run off to work. Enjoy the photos for now!

Pickpockets suck!

2008-04-17T22:05:00.006+02:00

A few weekends ago a pickpocket stole my MP3 player on my way home from work. It was suddenly gone and I've looked every likely and unlikely place. It has evaporated. So I have reported it stolen to the Police. Today I received both the confirmation letter on the report and the letter saying the case is closed due to lack of evidence. I'm sending the confirmation on the report to my insurance company as my home and / or travel insurance will cover theft on the way to work / school. Can't remember which but I have both in the same insurance company so I'll find out.

What else arrived in the mail today was my new MP3 players. I actually went ahead and ordered two. The one pictured below is the exact same as the stolen one. A Creative V Plus 8 GB. I'm very happy with it and didn't want anything else. It's small and it's easy. 8 GB is enough for me since it was only half full when it was stolen. The web shop I ordered it from also had Creative Zen Stones 1 GB on sale for only NOK 199,- ($ 40 with the crummy exchange rate on USD these days). It's so small and lightweight i thought I'd bring it to Nepal. It's pictured above. And since it's cheap it doesn't matter if I loose it, break it or it gets stolen while I'm away.

20 meters in 2 hours

2008-04-15T22:32:00.004+02:00

This is the tale of how I spent 2 hours to go 20 meters today. Well, strictly I drove and walked way longer than 20 meters. But you'll see what I mean.

17:45: I have dropped some stuff off with the Workplace Van since my colleague broke his leg the other day. 20 meters back in the One Way street is my building. Easy to get home? I don't think so!

I was very illegaly parked to unload the boxes and paranoid about the traffic officer I saw two blocks back coming our way. I pulled out into the street, thinking "Now I just have to find a parking space and I'm home." That was the trouble - finding a space. Driving around my block I realized they had reserved all the spaces around the neighbour block for a movie set shooting inside the abandoned school I live next to. I'm sure it'll be developed into fancy apartments when they're done. Anyway, I started to extended my search realizing that the rest of my neighbourhood had temporary signs up, saying No Parking Tuesday from 18:00 to 07:00 due to street sweeping. They do this every spring. The few spaces left were full long ago and the streets were full of cars looking for a space to park in. Everybody had to move their cars at 6 pm, ie. now!

I then came to think of my boyfriends car, parked 8 blocks from our building (nearest free 24 hour street parking). A lot of the streets in the area had temporary No Parking signs up. I started panicking. They were going to tow the Ford and I had promised to look after it! Stuck in the van with no parking in sight, I started sweating. I decided to go home, park the van illegaly on a reserved spot belonging to an office building across the street and go move the Ford, hopefully in time. It was now 18:10. I had to go home to pick up the Ford car keys anyway and the dread of driving over to check on it with no place to leave the van was too much. I had to get rid of the van and walk over. It was either a ticket or being towed. Easy choice.

Walking the 8 blocks was a nigtmare of anxiety. What if they had just towed it? What if I was too late? I had my boyfriend on the phone from France to pinpoint the car's location so I could get to it as fast as possible. Luckily, when I got there, the temporary signs on that exact street stated No Parking Thursday 18:00 - 07:00. In other words, I have to go move it on Thursday. Crisis avoided for today.

When I got back to the van I hadn't gotten a ticket. I was almost disappointed because now I'd have to move it to avoid getting one. Not that I wished for one, after having awokened to a parking ticket on the darned thing this morning. Darned movie set!

I decided to drive over to my colleague to drop off the charger for his phone, as promised. I parked there, on the first legal space I could find. The only legal space I could find, actually. It took me 25 minutes to walk home. I could have taken the tram but wanted to stop for food on the way, so the walking was my choice. No complaining there.

When I got home, there was a free legal space on the other side of the street. It was now 19:45.

Heard this in a while?

2008-04-14T21:41:00.000+02:00

Tina rocks!

An Eventful Sunday

2008-04-13T15:14:00.004+02:00

Photo found at Jupiterimages.com

It's already been a very eventful Sunday. Prince Charming left for France at 6 o'clock this morning. He's off for 12 days bouldering and I sure will miss him. I can't go since I'm taking all of May off to go to Nepal. Around lunch I got a phone call telling my my colleague at work broke his ankle last night. So I went to see him at the hospital. He's himself, although a bleaker version. Poor guy.

Picture found at Jupiterimages.com in the Old Visuals Everett Collection.

When I got home I delivered my tax report. Looks like I'll get a little bit back and not have to pay any extra tax, so that's good.

Picture found here.

What's that doing in there?

2008-04-11T16:23:00.005+02:00

Picture found here.

In a compartment of my bag I never use I found the charger for my old mobile phone. The phone I don't use anymore and therefore don't carry around. But the charger has obviously been coming to work with me for three to four months now.

If you take a look in your bag / backpack or maybe wallet I bet there's at least one thing in there that makes you think: "What's that doing in there?" Tell us about it!

Wool here, there and everywhere

2008-04-10T23:02:00.005+02:00

More stuff are now fixed and ready for going to Nepal. I got a new Smartwool Microweight T-shirt and Boy Brief and Smartwool socks. I like always having wool next to my skin in the mountains. It feels the safest. Since we're carrying our own packs the weight is a major issue. We can't take many different items of clothing so the ones we do bring have to work in all conditions and layered with each other. I also got a new Wool Fleece Bra from Devold. I have one just like it from before and really like it. It's probably been in the washer 50 times now so I doubt how much wool there's actually left in it.

Great jacket, great concert

2008-04-10T22:51:00.002+02:00

The Nouvelle Vague concert yesterday was great! I had so much fun and enjoyed every minute of it. My friend S hadn't heard them before and also thought it was really good. The jacket I'm wearing in the picture above was sown by my Mum back in the 80's. We found it while searching for treasure at my parents a month ago. I felt SO cool in it! Thanks Mum!

Nouvelle Vague

2008-04-08T19:42:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow Nouvelle Vague is playing at Rockefeller here in Oslo. Prince Charming and I are going out for dinner first so it'll be a great evening! I'm really looking forward to it. You can hear some of their music here.

Gnarly gaiters

2008-04-07T21:59:00.008+02:00

We decided from the start not to buy new gear for Nepal if we have stuff that is good enough already. Removing my old full gaiters from my old boots and putting them on the boots I'm bringing has been my intention all the way. Wearing full gaiters in stead of regular ones gives more warmth. You can see my plan for footwear here.

But nothing ever runs smoothly. Well, the first gaiter did come off quite nicely. When I first put the gaiters on my boots I had to glue them on. This is to prevent them from sliding off the tip of the boot. I first glued them with the kind of glue you fix bicycle wheels with. This didn't prove to be a very good idea. The glue became brittle in the cold and the right gaiter popped up after a while. I can't remember what I glued it with after that but it might have been super glue. Whatever it was it surely worked. It worked very well, as a matter of fact. This evening I spent 45 minutes carving my gaiter off my boot. I did manage to save the gaiter. The photo above shows what the boot ended up looking like.

I haven't glued the gaiters on to my favourite boots yet but this is what it's going to look like when I'm done:

Sunday in the City

2008-04-06T23:27:00.005+02:00

Starting out the day with tidying up in the basement. Now everything's neat and organized in boxes reading "ski" or "cycling". I feel like we are good people, doing things we should do. We've even photographed the lot to document our belongings.

Following that, we strolled down in the rain to the new Opera being built here in Oslo. It's a very impressing and beautiful building. I can't wait for it to open so we can go inside and have a look around. The band "Seigmen" are playing there but it is of course sold out. A great band reunioning in the new Opera, now that would be an experience!

To finish a good day off, we had burgers at Harvey's and saw "Sweeney Todd". Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter never disappoints!

Double sick

2008-04-05T22:37:00.004+02:00

Picture found here.

Since I've now caught a cold in addition to my red and sore eye, I've spent parts of yesterday and today on the couch watching Futurama. Things could defintly be worse. Things could definetly be better too. I could be skiing this weekend as I had planned. But still, things could be worse.

Kiss my shiny metal ass!

The Irony of Life

2008-04-04T14:54:00.002+02:00

Photo found here.

After having visited my physician on Wednesday I felt pretty good. Everything was normal and I felt one step closer to the departure to Nepal in May. The next day I woke with my left eye red and sore. So today I had to spend another half a day, including 1,5 hours in the waiting room to get a prescription for my eye infection. I can't believe I got it the day AFTER having visited the Doctor! Now, if that's not the irony of life, then I don't know.

Searching high and low

2008-04-02T22:58:00.003+02:00

The third pharmacy I tried had Diamox in stock. In the end it felt like a hunt! "Does anyone have Diamox to sell me? Any Diamox-pushers around?" Having gotten hold of it now means one more thing to cross out from the list. The Doctor by the way said I was as healthy as can be. He gave me a prescription for Trimetoprim against Urinary Tract Infection, just in case. I also picked up Ciproxin against Severe Stomach and Bowel infections when at the pharmacy. You can also see Paracetamol against headache and Rhinox, for runny noses pictured above. And this is only the start of our first aid kit! Y was in charge of first aid in her group when she attended The Army so I'm leaving what our first aid kit should consist of to her. We're definetly bringing a lot of pills, though!

Medical attention

2008-04-02T08:56:00.007+02:00

Photo found here.

Today I'm going to see my Doctor for a full check. Wouldn't want any surprises popping up while away! I'll especially get him to listen to my lungs since I've had a cough for a couple of weeks to make sure it's nothing serious brewing there. And I'm going to the farmacy with our prescriptions to buy Diamox.

Photo found here.

Diamox is used to treat Altitude Sickness and we're bringing it just in case. We are aware that some people take it prophylactically (forebyggjande) but have been recommended by several guides and doctors to use it if we need it. So that's what we're bringing it for. Hopefully we won't need it but it's comforting that we're able to buy some time to descend it one of us should experience acute severe Altitude Sickness. We're not climbing any of the "really high" mountains but it feels good being prepared for any eventuality.

Another great weekend skiing but now...

2008-04-01T09:10:00.004+02:00

...back to work!

The weekend was perfect with two long days skiing. It snowed the whole of Saturday and Sunday. We were four of the maybe ten people off piste on Sunday. The resort is very small and the off piste great so there's seldom a long line waiting to take the lift. Most times you can just ski straight onto the lift. The picture above is another one from our Easter trip, taken by Y. I only took one photo the whole weekend and that was with my mobile. And since I'm not very nerdy (I hope) I have no idea of how to get the photo onto my computer. I suspect there was a cable delivered with the mobile phone to start with. But I got it from my colleague who didn't like it so that kind of stuff never made it through. I've never missed it before so it's not that big of a deal.

Phtoto found here.

And now it's back to work!

Vaccination - check!

2008-03-27T20:21:00.002+01:00

Photo by Jack De Lorme

Today we received our vaccinations. It was good getting one more thing on the list checked. The list still goes on and on and we have only got 5 weeks until departure! We have to get a better travel insurance, buy a burner and a tent lantern (I'm working on that one, though), scan our passports for buying flight tickets to Lukla, buy first aid supplies and so on. Oh my. I very much look forward to leaving but at the same time I fear how quickly time will pass these last few weeks. We have to get everything settled very soon. Oh my.

2nd Half of Easter

2008-03-26T19:43:00.009+01:00

Saturday the weather was stunning. We decided to go ski mountaineering in spite of my cold. The summit for the day was to be Vorfjellet / Vårfjellet, a local mountain near my parents' house. The photo above is by Y, you can see the summit behind the cottage. We skied both up and down the slope to the right. Not too long a trip but a very nice hill back down. This is actually the first mountain I ever ski mountaineered to! Y used snowshoes to carry her snowboard up, Prince Charming had Randonee equipment and I Telemark (loose heel skiing). Y had a bit of trouble snowboarding out the valley after the descent but you come a long way with a little help from your friends (and my Dad)!

Sunday looked a bit gloomy in the start but the weather only got better and better. A very thin carpet of clouds was covering the sky, creating a magical light. The snow covered scenery was like a fairytale land!

2nd day of Easter (Easter Monday) is a public holiday here in Norway. We wanted to get more out of the day than being stuck in traffic trying to get back to Oslo. So we decided to go skiing in the morning before the ride back. The woods were really fun to ski in with the trees spaced perfectly and with funny moss hanging from the branches. And the snow - oh, the snow! I don't think I've ever skied in such perfect conditions in the mountains before. Powder to the knee. What a great way to end a great vacation!

Back to work

2008-03-25T09:48:00.003+01:00

A weekend in the mountains is over and it's back to work. I'll tell you more later but for now you'll have to settle with a photo from our ski mountaineering trip. Pictured is Prince Charming on skis and Y with snowshoes, carrying her snowboard.

Easter in Western Norway

2008-03-21T22:01:00.010+01:00

Even though I have a bad cold we decided to go visit my parents like we had planned. Y, Prince Charming and I stuffed the Prince's Ford full of equipment for sleeping outdoors, cross country skis and ski mountaineering equipment. The drive normally takes 6-7 hours in the winter but this time the weather on the mountain was really bad. We had to wait 2 hours before we were allowed to cross. All the cars had to drive slowly with the hazard blinkers on, following the plough. We ended up spending 10,5 hours on the trip.

We quickly realized I was too sick to sleep outdoors in a tent and decided to stay based at my parents house and do day trips instead. The weather today was unstable and I didn't get much sleep last night so we decided to go skiing at the local resort. We had a bit of a rough start on the day but things turned out well and we got two excellent runs at the end of the day.

We ended a good day by training with our avalanche beacons. It's been a while since I trained with it so it was a good experience for all of us. All the photos above are by Y.

Murphy's Law

2008-03-19T20:51:00.004+01:00

Tomorrow we're going to Western Norway for a two-night tent trip. Or - that was the plan. I have of course managed to catch a cold. So typical that I'm now on the couch with fever and a runny nose. Climing the stairs feels hard. AARGH! It's SO annoying that I always fall sick during vacations. We're leaving tomorrow anyway to stay with my parents. So if I can't move from the sofa at least Prince Charming and Y can go skiing and get something out of the Easter Weekend.

Happy Easter!

Summer Dreams

2008-03-18T10:00:00.007+01:00

Spring is now definetly here. Today is another lovely day and I am once again locked up in the office. In just a couple of days Prince Charming, Y and I are hitting the mountains - I'm really looking forward to that!

This year I've actually been pondering what I'd like to add to my wardrobe for summer instead of impulse shopping the sales racks with bad consciense. I'm always trying to save up money for a vacation but always failing. And then I go anyway. Well, well. Somehow I survive every time. I'm very lucky as things always seem to fall in place in the end. I can't say I don't worry about it, because I really do.

Anyway, the things I am dreaming of adding to my summer wardrobe are exemplified above. What I end up getting will definetly be low-street versions but it's more fun showing you what I'd get if I had a lot of money:

Patterned summer dress: Emilio Pucci
Perfume: Miracle by Lancome
Top: here: H&M Organic but what I'd really like is a Vera & William one. Just couldn't find a picture with a white background. You can see a picture from the Vera & William collection for Spring / Summer 2008 at the bottom of this post.
Shorts: Stella McCartney
Biker Jacket: Mike & Chris
Sandals: Sergio Rossi (I'd actually get brown ones but I liked these too)

Photo borrowed from Henne

Spring Sun of Past Times

2008-03-17T19:14:00.002+01:00

The sun was lovely again today. I had to stay indoors to work. In other words not very good photo material so I'm posting a picture taken two years ago. The feeling of the sun finally warming is just great. Pictured above is FM relaxing at a crag in Sweden.

Dog Dreams

2008-03-16T22:01:00.005+01:00

Picture borrowed from The Norwegian Rhodesian Ridgeback Club.

Picture found here.

I'm dreaming of a dog. I love dogs! But right now it's too much responsibility and besides, I can't have pets where I live. I'm too often away for the whole of the day and days off are often spent off ground. It wouldn't be right to a dog to have it locked up in the apartment all day and chained at the bottom of a crag on the weekends. If we move out from the city and I spend my time off hiking and skiing, then maybe. One day.

The Secret Garden

2008-03-15T15:59:00.003+01:00

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett was one of my favourite books when I was a child. I had trouble sleeping last night and found it in the bookshelf here at my parent's house. This is such a wonderful story of hope and new beginnings.

Spring Sun

2008-03-15T13:37:00.005+01:00

My parent's oldest dog's enjoying the Spring Sun. He's nearly 13 years old and almost deaf. But he still seems to enjoy his life and shows no signs of being in pain. When they let him run freely he shoots off like he always has. After 50 meters he can't keep the speed up and acts as if that was a surprise to him him every time. This autumn he attended a week long hunting trip for grouse with my Dad and their other dog. She's 10 years old and only marginally fitter than him. He's old but there's no reason to put him down since he's not suffering. Here he's resting his head on the railing of the balcony. He loves standing there, watching over his kingdom.

Searching for treasure

2008-03-14T21:49:00.004+01:00

When I'm visiting my parents I always enjoy searching for treasure in closets and drawers. I always find something memorable or stylish to take home. This time Mum and I searched through an old cardboardbox in the basement storage room. Each garment brought out memories from this or that occasion or experience. Our comments ranged from "Did I really wear THAT?" to "I remember you in that dress. You looked so stylish!" We pulled out the suit my Father wore for his confirmation when he was 15 and the shoes he wore when he married my Mum. My findings this time is pictured above. What I like the most is the stories behind these items. I hope I will get around to wearing them.

The black, short jacket is sowed by my Mum. There is also a black skirt to go with it but I'm leaving that for next time. I think this jacket will look great with blue jeans and a white tank top. The blue dress with black diagonal stripes my Mum wore to my Little Brother's baptism in 1984. The green dress with the flower motif I had laying in the closet. It was my Grandmother's and she gave it to me several years ago. I didn't like it that much back then but luckily I kept it. It's made of raw silk and was expensive when it was new, I think. The tag says Danish Art & Crafts, Belinda Næssing. I googled the name but got no hits. It would have been fun seeing what else she made and who she is. The purse I borrowed from Mum the last time I was here. It was a gift to her from my Dad when she was pregnant with me. I've used it several times and really like it. The leather has a red hue to it and the strap is a bit too short but I enjoy wearing it diagonally.

I like that my closet is full of memories and things that mean something to me.

Winter atmosphere

2008-03-12T19:33:00.001+01:00

I haven't posted in a few days and today's post won't be great either. But I'm hoping to come back with grandeur soon. For now I'll let you enjoy this winter photo from some years back, taken at Oppdal by A.

Why the weight freak is taking over

2008-03-09T12:32:00.005+01:00

Me on our recent winter tent trip in Rondane.

This morning I discovered a comment to my post The weight freak takes over concerning the purchase of my bivouac boots. And as I was typing my answer I realized I never told you what I decided to do. And if you haven't followed this blog for a while the post alone was pretty mysterious. So I decided to make my answer and explanation the post of the day.

kpriss:

so what did you do? kept them after all? I'm sorry for being such an ignorant, when seeing these, I thought they're for kids (have seen some of those for cold weather and I thought it was the case) sorry for mistaking. Why is the weight so important (i mean like 40g of difference?)?

Me:

The reason why I purchased the bivouac boots in the first place is that in May my friend Y and I are going trekking in Nepal, all by ourselves. You can see the other posts on the subject here. Since we're carrying our own load and not using porters ("Sherpas") the weight is very important. If our backacks are too heavy we might not be able to get to Everest Base Camp. We're planning to do a very nice route that takes a bit longer than the straight-in-straight-out variant. Spending more time is also good for adjusting to the height and lessen the risk of Altitude Sickness. We're planning to spend 23-24 days in the mountains so we're carefully planning what to take and what not to take. And since we're both girls and easily get cold feet insulated "loafers" that we can wear around camp are great.

So over to the boots themselves: I've decided to keep them but swap the inner soles for thick woolen ones. The inner soles currently in there are some sort of plastic foam and they seem a bit too large. So they'll "eat upwards" as you walk in them and you'll end up treading on the blue fabric that isn't watertight, thus becoming wet. With other soles that are smaller I'm hoping to solve the problem. I have kept the receipt, though, so I can take them back if it doesn't work.

Ingrid Olava

2008-03-08T12:22:00.001+01:00

This up and coming Norwegian talent is one of my favourites these days.

(Nina, I'm sure you'll love this!)

In loving memory...

2008-03-06T18:16:00.003+01:00

... of the world's coolest grandfather.

I will always be so proud of him. The world is a poorer place without him.

Rest in peace.

Back to work

2008-03-04T22:41:00.004+01:00

Here's another photo from our Rondane trip.

After having worked all day and evening to catch up that is all I can give today.

Have a nice day!

Mr Freeze

2008-03-03T18:52:00.008+01:00

Our camp

Just back from a three day trip to Rondane, I'm lounging in the sofa, catching up on my favourite blogs. Friday evening, Prince Charming and I drove up to Rondane with skis and a tent. We arrived at the parking lot around midnight and pitched the tent right there as we were too tired to start the work of treading the snow to make a camp spot nearby. After a night of not very good sleep we got off to a bad start of our trip. I had been in Rondane four years ago but couldn't for my bare life recognise where the track started. As this is a very popular crosscountry area there were tracks everywhere! We looked at the map and decided it had to be the track going east. After about 30 minutes we realized we were wrong and a nice lady told us we had to ski all the way back to where we started from and then take a right. Oh shame! The weather was great and skiing conditions perfect so moral was still high. We found the right track and had skied another 10 minutes when we discovered we were three minutes from the far end of our parking lot. Had we walked across it (instead of skiing around it) the distance was only about 500 meters from our car... Well, well. I then realized why I didn't recognize the track to start with. We were standing by the upper parking lot (yes, there are two) which was obviously the one we had parked at four years ago. So, we had just spent over one hour to get to where we could have parked. The rest of the trip went along well, though.

We planned to ascend Rondeslottet on day 2, but the conditions for summits weren't great, as you can see below.

Prince Charming and the shadow of my big, black mitt.

We ended up skiing down in the valley for a short trip, stopping to have lunch and chocolate (yummy!). There, we met 10 British people on their first ski trip ever. It was their second day skiing and they had a considerable way to go to reach the cabin of their destination. All though we had to laugh a bit of their (lack of) technique I have to say I am very impressed with them. When skiing with no technique at all, skiing is very tiresome and these people were skiing a normal days distance for an experienced skier. They must have been so tired only half way. That is a true feat!

(The dots are the group of Brits)

The next day we awoke very early - 5.20 am. Since we went to sleep just after dark, probably around 8 pm the night before we decided to go up and by the time we had finished breakfast it was light outside. We took down the tent and packed the camp up and started skiing back where we came from. After having crossed the lake (see the stunning view below) we stopped for a short break at the tourist cabin the Brits were going to the night before. And yes, they started the leg of the day just as we sat there. They skied on the other side of the valley so we never actually passed them. But after a while they disappeared in the distance behind us. All of my respect goes to these people. True success only comes through ordeal.

Me. (The thing on my stomach is a map case.)

Discovered!

2008-02-28T08:25:00.005+01:00

Nina, you really made my day! I am incredibly honoured by receiving the Excellent Blogger Award. It feels great that someone's actually reading my daily ramblings (apart from Prince Charming - I've made my blog his starting page and I'm not sure if he knows how to change it). The moment I realized I knew that the award must go on to the blogs I visit on a daily basis. And it's extra fun to have an award like this come from someone who's blog I read every day. So I hereby award the following blogs the Excellent Blogger Award (in addition to Nina, of course :) :

UnderbaraClara (in Swedish)

StyleBytes (in English)

The Glamorous Librarian (in Norwegian)

Haustljos (in Norwegian)

Ylvan (in Swedish)

The top four already have tons of readers - they are really good blogs. Y I write about all the time here. She's the girl I'm going to Nepal with and she's much better than me to write about our preparations.

Have a great day - I will!

Queens Of The Stone Age in Oslo

2008-02-27T10:49:00.002+01:00

Yesterday Prince Charming and I saw Queens Of The Stone Age in Oslo Spektrum. It was fun but I got the feeling it was just another job for them. They did what they were supposed to do, and that was it. The whole concert had a feeling of being very professional. The songs were the ones I expected (hadn't heard all of them before, though - I'm not a blood fan). The extra number was of course their biggest radio hit. It was all just what we expected. And nothing else. So I think the concert was a four out of six. A good concert, but nothing mindblowing. You can see OsloPuls' critique here (in Norwegian).

The weight freak takes over!

2008-02-26T19:24:00.003+01:00

Today I purchased these Bivouac Boots (Camp boots) from 40 Below. I expected them to be 285 grams but when I got home and weighed them they were only 246 grams! I'm not sure if I'm going to keep them, though, as I heard it's very easy to walk around on the blue fabric instead of the sole since they are so soft around the ankle. I don't know what to do.

A typical walk

2008-02-25T22:12:00.003+01:00

I had decided on going for a little stroll in the city to try to soften up those sore muscles in my legs mentioned earlier. Of course I ended up in the shopping centre that is open until 22:00.

But when can you find a Triumph bra for kr 49,- (US$ 8.50)? In the correct size? I got a black t-shirt bra too, for the same price. I feel that the bargain here justifies the shopping. Actually, I don't. But I'm telling myself this.

Forward! To the pole!

2008-02-25T17:47:00.003+01:00

Today I got a hold of two pairs of these babies, Leki Carbonlite, for Y and myself. I weighed them as soon as I got home (I'm turning into a freak! Help!) . 368 grams. Now I'm very pleased with myself, especially since I got them cheap.

My legs ache from using unusual muscles crosscountry skiing yesterday, so tonight I'm just going for a walk to try and soften things up. Or maybe it's the cookie monster in my head finally getting an excuse for not going spinning this evening. Well, I don't care. Or rather, I'll try not to worry about it.

The weight of things

2008-02-25T09:53:00.010+01:00

Photo by Y

Y came over to my place on Saturday and we had our first go at packing our backpacks. I've never been a weight freak but now I dragged out the kitchen scale and weighed every little thing. Y has also a post on this session here (in Swedish).

I knew the Sloggi Hot Hips underwear I purchased earlier was light, but at 14 grams I'm very impressed. The wool Icebreaker ones I received from a contact in the outdoor business weighed in at 28 grams. Still acceptable.

I haven't completely resolved the sweater / jacket issue, though. The softshell jacket mentioned earlier is definetly staying at home, with it's more than 500 grams. The Icebreaker sweater I can't make up my mind on. It's 366 grams, which would mean I could take 26 underpants instead (I won't), or bivouac boots (they'll come anyway). Some things were however determined by the kitchen scale. My Gore Tex Pro Shell Jacket is not coming. When that weighs over 500 grams, and a Paclite weighs 300 there's not a doubt in my mind I have to invest in that.

Healthy Norwegian Youth (Sunn Norsk Ungdom)

2008-02-24T18:02:00.002+01:00

Today Y and I went skiing in the woods around Oslo. You can take the subway for 40 minutes and you're in the woods. Oslo is a small city. Neither of us are any good at crosscountry skiing but we had a nice couple of hours skiing. It's really fun to watch all the other people out skiing so close to the city on a Sunday afternoon. The man pictured above is very classic and with that certain old style. You meet lots of old people out skiing on such a day. It's great that they keep in shape and spend time outdoors!

To come of age

2008-02-23T11:48:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was Prince Charming's birthday and we had a nice little birthday party for him. The apartment was packed with people but it's not very roomy here so we weren't that big a crowd. We were however able to seat everyone and birthday cake and coffee was served. I just love those occasions where you end up still sitting at the table, drinking beer, at 2.30 am. Not that we had anywhere else to sit... And then we went out to the neighbourhood pub with the few remaining guests. A great way to celebrate ones birthday!

Decisions...

2008-02-20T13:21:00.003+01:00

I can't figure out what sweater / jacket combination to bring. This comes in addition to a Gore-Tex jacket. I've decided to bring two woolen sweaters; one crew neck (probably Smartwool Midweight (1.)) and one zip (probably Devold Expedition (2.)). That way I can wear one on top of the other. So far so good. The problem is what to bring in addition:

a) only a microfiber wind jacket - Norrøna Off Track (4.)

b) a thicker woolen sweater - Icebreaker 320g (3.) AND the wind jacket (4.)

c) a softshell jacket like the Arc'Teryx Gamma MX (5.)

Ylva and I are doing our first attempt at packing on Saturday. We don't have everything yet but it will be interesting to see what we have weighs and what room it takes...

Another question I've been pondering lately is how much toilet paper to bring. The luxury oriented part of me despairs over trying to make three rolls last three weeks...

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/object/4639111_no_toilet_paper.php?id=4639111

Mannen som elsket Yngve

2008-02-18T10:01:00.004+01:00

"The man who loved Yngve" premiered last week. This is a film I recommend especially if you were 14 to 19 in 1989 when this film was set. I was only 9 myself so I didn't recognise that much of the time vibe but I hear it's excellent. The film is a good film but I felt it was a definite advantage knowing the story and why things go as they go. The story is a strong one and I guess you have to make things go faster and without that full understanding of the reasons why when adapting a book to the screen. "Mannen som elsket Yngve" (The man who loved Yngve) is all in all a good story that I recommend. So read the book and see it afterwards. Or maybe the other way around. And you get to laugh from the outfits when seeing the film.

This is the life

2008-02-17T18:17:00.003+01:00

Hege Dons Samset's exhibition at the GAD Gallery is called "This is the life" and illustrates the feelings of hopelessness our daily lives sometimes leaves us with. The photos have humour and are very esthetic. It looks like she has captured these persons in that exact moment where they realize that their assignment is impossible and hopeless. I like the absurdity of the situations and the expression of the persons in the photographs. The exhibition lasts until May 8th.

Little Old Lady / kjerring

2008-02-16T15:37:00.007+01:00

Another post in Norwegian, determining whether I am a Little Old Lady. I'm not sure if our Saturday brekfast pictured above is urban or oldie...

Her er iallfall Kjerring-testen. Eg går laus på den med bange aningar. Eg fann den hjå Haustljos som er ei oppegåande dame med bein i nasen som skriv på nynorsk. Reglane er iallfall slik at dersom ein får meir enn fem ja-svar er ein i faresona for å vera kjerring. Ti ja-svar syner at ein er ei skikkeleg kjerring og tjue tyder på at ein burde vera på gamleheimen. Spanande! Så no får me sjå:

Du bruker meir penger i veka enn i helgene:
Som du sikkert har sett her er eg ikkje så flink til lata vera å handla ting. Og det er fleire dagar i veka enn i helga. Ergo: JA

Du har duk og blomsterpotte på TV-en:
Nei, me har flatskjerm. Den er forresten lånt.

Du rydder jamnleg i djupfrysaren:
Nei, me eg veit sånn nogonlunde kva eg har der. Har berre sånn frysar under kjøleskåpet så den er jo ikkje så stor.

Du synes det kunne vært gøy å prøve “ein sånn hurtigvin”:
He he. Nei. Verkeleg ikkje. Drikk ikkje opp vinen eg kjøper på polet ein gong.

Du veit kva du skal ha til middag på søndag allereie på onsdag:
Aldri. Dersom eg har bestemt det og handla det eg treng på laurdag synes eg at eg har vore flink.

Du syns fersk gjær er betre enn tørr gjær:
JA. Eller. Eg har høyrt at det er det.

Du synes middag kl 19.00 er seint:
Nei. Eg synes middag klokka 19:00 er tidleg.

Du har fem kasser med julepynt:
Nei. Eg har ein.

Du kjøper julepynt på salg i januar:
Nei. Eg kjøper alt mogleg anna på sal i januar.

Du snakker helst med kvinner på fest:
Nei. Eg skjønar meg ikkje heilt på kvinner. Alle venninnene mine har flest gute-vener. Slik som eg. Eg har med andre ord ikkje veldig mange venninner. Men dei eg har er gode!

Du blir lykkelig over ein ny kjele:
JA. Eg ynskjer meg ny kjele. Men eg treng det ikkje. Eg blir lukkeleg av alt nytt, forbrukar-monster som eg er.

Du lager pudding eller grateng av alle middagsrester:
Nei.

Du spiser Kongen av Danmark eller Honningkamfer:
Nei.

Du et alltid rekecocktail til forrett:
Kva er det?

Du begynner å bruke de broderte dukane som du har fått av svigermor:
JA. Eller - arva dukar frå eks-sviger-mormor. Sjå bilete øverst.

Du har ferdiglaga middager med på påskeferie:
Gjeld Real Turmat? Reknar eigentleg ikkje med det.

Du synes dronning Sonja har mange artige hatter:
Nei. Men ho har mange hattar, har eg inntrykk av.

Du går med lysebrune nylonstrømper til skjørt:
Nei. Eg har mørkebrun strømpebukse og DET er vel skikkeleg kjerringete? Så JA. Eller forresten; nei.

Du har tellekant på trusene:
HA Ha Ha!

Du har bretta plastposar i veska i tilfelle du skal handle noko:
Eg har BAGGU! Ulempen er at det blir voldsomt få søpleposar i huset etter kvart. Så JA.

Du sjekker kølappen på polet kvar gong det plinger:
Nesten. Men ikkje heilt.

Du tar bilde av din praktfulle balkongkasse og viser det fram på jobben:
Eg har ikkje balkongkasse. Blomstene mine dør som oftast.

Du synes det er for seint å gå på nier’n på kino:
JA. Men eg gjer det nokon gonger likevel.

Du får såpe i julegave:
Nei. Eg fekk skihjelm.

Du plukkar bort støv og hår frå andre sine klede utan baktanker:
JA. Eg plukkar på folk og. Stakkars Draumeprinsen. Han påstår at han er vant til det.

Du bruker samme tepose to gonger:
Nei.

Du har med pute når du skal kjøre langt i bil:
Eg hadde det ved ein anledning. Men kollegaen min beholdt den fordi han har vond rygg. Gjer det HAN til ei kjerring?

Du melder deg inn i bokklubben berre for å få kaffeserviset:
Nei. Eg meldte meg inn i sminkeklubb då eg var 12 for å få eit slikt skrin. Eg trur det ligg heime hjå foreldra mine fortsatt.

Du har våtservietter i bilen:
Nei.

Du soler deg i vanlig BH:
Sjeldan eg solar meg. Alt for sjeldan. Men det har hendt at eg har klatra i vanleg BH. Så JA, vil eg anta.

Du danser swing til all slags musikk:
He he. Eg kunne gjort det sidan eg kan å danse swing. Litt. Men eg gjer det ikkje.

Du svømmer som en hund for ikke å bli våt i håret:
HE he. Nei.

Du kjøper “gode” sko:
Eg tenkjer at eg burde gjera det. Men eg gjer det ikkje. Eg berre seier til meg sjølv at skoa eg har lyst på er fornuftige.

Du har paraply i håndvesken:
Nei.

Du tar sjølv initiativ til slektsstevne:
Nei.

Du tar vare på tomme rømmebokser og syltetøyglass:
Nei. Eg tek vare på syltetøyglas men det er for å levere dei til attvinning. Dei har ein tendens til å bli mange før den tid.

Du bruker sukkerbit til kaffen :
Nei.

Du serverer fyrstekake, rullekake, smurt lefse eller smultringer når du inviterer til kaffeselskap: Nei. Eg bakar kake dersom me har invitert til bursdagsselskap. Men ein må jo ha kake på bursdagen!

Åtte ja! Med andre ord i faresona. Det blir nok verre med åra. Eg føler at eg er kjerring med twist!

Draumeprinsen fekk fem. Han synes kino klokka ni er seint, at Dronning Sonja har mange artige hattar og at fersk gjær er best. Han snakkar helst med kvinner på fest og brukar meir pengar i veka enn i helgane.

Oh my. Here we go again.

2008-02-14T09:31:00.005+01:00

As I was shopping for something for my Do-It-Yourself project yesterday (you'll see it when it's done!) I came across these. On sale for NOK 49,- (US $ 8). They weren't expensive to start with but I've been wanting shoes like this since last summer so now that they were 75% off I couldn't help myself. I don't care if some people think they're "last summer". I like the edge it gives to an outfit, especially a dress. Here are some examples:

From left to right: UnderbaraClara, Anna Thomas, OsloStil, The Sartorialist. The Anna Thomas photo is from the Spring / Summer 2007 collection and the two pictures to the right are also from last summer. I don't care. Hah!

For no reason at all

2008-02-12T18:59:00.000+01:00

When I got home today Prince Charming (he really is Prince Charming!) had this surprise for me. And they're even Fair Trade roses! Ah!

Alexander Wang Fall 2008

2008-02-12T09:38:00.000+01:00

Just a little bit more fashion, as I'm in that mood these days. I guess Fashion Weeks everywhere can have something to do with it... Anyway, although I think it's fun to see what comes down the catwalk I very seldom feel it has anything to do with me and the way I dress in daily life. I find inspiration, but I would never dream of walking around in what you often see in the designer brand shows. So Alexander Wang was a nice surprise. I can actually wear this! Or I actually want to wear this. If I could afford it. But I will definetly try and copy some of these looks. Above are my three favourite looks, with the sweater on the far right something I have to try and make myself. If I could only find a (cheap) grey crew sweathshirt!