Author: ghetran

Christmas mood

Today was a good day. After a busy weekend of waking up early every day, today I could finally take it easy. I had a couple of work assignments, but other than that I mainly slept and enjoyed myself. It´s mid November already and I feel Christmas is right around the corner. This year I´m not going to overdo anything, I promised myself I´ll have realistic expectations of both myself and the others. My plans are to ease into the Christmas mood by mid December and have lots of energy for Christmas parties and the likes. With that in mind, I started reading a magazine and listen to Nat King Cole singing about the Yuletide season. 😉

I feel lighter these days, I managed to give away pretty much clothing I wasn´t wearing anymore and the bedroom is finally up for an update, hopefully in January. We need reading lamps but being both very particular, it takes ages to decide upon anything, really. Today I was browsing through some web shops and felt so happy when I saw  this one from Restart Milano! It´s just perfect! The slim lines, the golden touch, I was sold! And the fact that it´s simply called Wall Lamp Long makes it even more alluring. Anything that beautiful was made to last, I figure.;-) In Norway you can purchase it at Bolina, but I´m sure you can find it in an cool designer store near your home, too.

Continue reading →

A Sunday with mom

My mom got home safe and sound today and the “kids” were happy with their gifts and the funny stories from the big “abroad”.  The white bunny and the pink body went straight home with my niece, but the fur collar beat them all. I decided to give up wearing fur, unless it´s sheep skin, it makes me uncomfortable and my husband embarrassed. It doesn´t make things better by giving it away, but I can´t undo the purchase and at least they won´t risk getting sprayed on in Romania. Enough about that.

1911142_346388285533902_2151311784883558616_o

Continue reading →

Mom´s visiting

Living abroad means seeing less of the ones we love. I meet with my family 1-3 times a year. This year I was in Romania for a week in February (when my father was mostly in the hospital for a minor intervention) and 2 days in June (we were in Belgrade for a friend´s wedding ), when I didn´t get to see my brother since he was working and we didn’t have time to travel all the way to Bucharest.

A couple of weeks ago I started feeling seriously homesick. I´m in the middle of a trial now and I´ll need a couple of weeks after that to do my accountancy and put my affairs in order, so it wasn´t the best time to travel. Besides, I didn´t feel like leaving V alone with Sammy for a week since the dog needs his walks and he´s a full-time job if you have him alone. Thus I decided to ask mom if she wanted to come visit. After persuading pops that he would make a wonderful nanny for my niece for a couple of days, I bought the tickets and started counting days. 😉 You see, mom is babysitting my two-year old niece while my brother and his wife are at work; you have to be three in order to be accepted at a regular kindergarten in Romania.

Friday was my day off so I woke up early with V in order to tidy up a bit and prepare the apartment for my mother´s arrival. 😉 I then worked for an hour, bought a nice bouquet of flowers and went to the airport to pick her up. She hasn´t travelled a lot on her own, my father usually leads on, so I didn´t want her to find this journey any more stressful than necessary. 😉 We found each other and, overwhelmed with joy, took the train back to Oslo, going straight home to unpack and unwind. She brought us wine, smoked ham and cheese (cascaval), baked eggplants (ready to turn into a salad by adding mayo and stuff), pretzels (my fave!) and some pufuleti (snacks made out of maize flour). I was so happy I started dancing the moment I put Aretha Franklin on the turntable. 😉

10514434_10152429594616711_7819895708199767783_o Continue reading →

Kumi Yamashita

Born in Japan and living in New York City, the artist uses the most ingenious means to create a masterpiece. I was enthralled the minute I set eyes on those laborious portraits made out of only three materials: a white wooden board, galvanized nails and sewing thread. Take a look!

Continue reading →

Apartment with personality

The most important thing for me while decorating an apartment is taking my time. This is our 4th apartment in 11 years and the second one we bought. (In Norway you buy, reside a while, improve/renovate and sell. Then you buy bigger, nicer, and so on, until you hopefully land the property of your dreams, at least within your financial range.) I studied for a long time and now it´s my husband turn to break through as a designer, meaning we´ve been living on a tight or semi-tight  budget for many years. At the same time, both of us have a strong need to surround ourselves with beautiful things, so we don´t want to compromise too much when it comes to quality. We bought too many crappy Ikea things that broke and ended up in the trash, so now it´s either design, vintage or inherited stuff. My recipe for an original interior is as such: you need a couple of beautiful and sturdy pieces of furniture, like a leather recliner, a dining table and chairs, a coffee table and a sideboard, a couple of artsy pictures and lots of fond memories (shells and sand or small candle holders and figurines). Throw in a beautiful kelim rug and a couple of gracious pets! Voilà!;-)

The rest you can get along the way, from flea markets, discount stores or second hand designer shops. 😉 We haven´t been able to keep the same couch since the cats have scratched it or it has turned soggy, but next year´s treat is a big, comfy designer couch from Andreas Engesvik!

What do you think?

 

Continue reading →

Christmas gifts suggestions

Christmas is around the corner and this year I´m in the mood for treating my loved ones with fancy things. I´m generally a bad gifter, since I tend to offer what I myself would be glad for receiving, but if you by any chance have a luxurious taste, you´re in luck!;-) I love anything that´s natural, the simpler, the better. I get high on silk, wool, leather and marble. This is what I´d love to get this year!

Continue reading →

Santa baby

It´s already November, so winter is practically knocking at our door. And since I love Christmas, boy am I looking forward to it?! I´ll be done with the 6 weeks´ trial in just 2 weeks, leaving me lots of time to put my accountancy in order, do some Christmas shopping and make my traditional biscotti and lemon curd. And because I´m a slave of all things pretty, this is my wish list for Santa:  😉

1. Max Mara dress

Continue reading →

Saturday treats

Yesterday was harsh on my granny self. Had I not known better, I´d swear I was born tired!;-) We left the party at 11, after drinking some coffee, so I wouldn´t embarrass myself too much by leaving at 10, when the others just started to arrive. haha!

I was Morticia and my husband and Sam were Dexter. My friend, Dragana was a holy cow and her husband, Alex was Cardinal Sin. 😉 We had Nicki Minaj, a beduin, a lion (who Sam fell in love with!), a creepy doll, Marie Antoinette, a scary clown, pretty much the whole range of cool costumes. It was lots of fun, but I´m so much of a couch potato that when everybody insisted on standing and dancing, I started feeling out of place after a while. 😉

Today we woke up late and I treated Sammy to a really long walk in the drizzle. The reward for walking that distance in the rain was the prospect of buying a big cup of coffee on our way home. 😉 When the time finally arrived, however, it turned out I had the wrong pin (it´s a card I never use). I was feeling so embarrassed and angry with myself that the barista said I could get the coffee and pay for it another time. 😉 Now that´s what I call a true Samaritan! 😉

Fire in the fireplace, a snoring cat beside me and lots of magazines are today´s recipe for a perfect Saturday. Tomorrow I´m baking American pumpkin pie, stay tuned! What are your plans for the weekend?

Continue reading →

Halloween stress

Halloween kind of freaks me out. Maybe it´s because I´m not American and I haven´t grown up with it, maybe it´s ’cause using money on costumes you´ll only get to wear once in a while still makes me cringe, or simply because I suck at facial paint. Last year we actually dropped Halloween party just because we didn´t come up with anything to wear and couldn´t bear having the worst disguise ever. 😉 Haha!

This year is no better. Since I´m a freelancer and a luxury slave, I often run out of money at crucial times. Today was one of those days and I was so angry with myself I could have cried. Not only did I not buy key pieces that could have lifted any character, like a witch hat, a vampire cape or a broom, but I couldn´t even afford spray paint for Sammy. :-/

10606423_10152415110091711_8882382689860578605_n

This being said, I´m definitely not missing out on Halloween this year, I´ve worked too hard this fall to chicken out on a party! I´m going to be either a high end witch without a hat and with a designer broom, a pirate with a Hermès scarf, Morticia in a black Max Mara dress or simply a prostitute. (I´d rather be the latter, but I think it´ll be overruled by the mister of the house. ;-)) Sammy will probably need some eyeliner and a scarf and he´ll be good to go as a crook. My man will probably be a sexy zombie. Voilà!

What are your plans for the evening?;-) Inspiration for next year is welcome!

xxx, Alina

 

 

Copenhagen part II

Yesterday it rained all day and my depressive state of mind would have prevented me from doing anything at all had I not been on a city break and had a frisky husband and friends. 😉 We started with a cup of latte and some tea buns typical for the Copenhagen area, took our umbrellas with us and made our way to Østerbro gade for a walk and, hopefully, some shopping. 😉 We entered several cool shops- toy stores, Norman Copenhagen´s design haven, a French brocante so overpriced not even I could justify buying anything there and some vintage stores. After buying a soft white bunny for my niece, I was left breathless when we entered Second, a luxury vintage store like the ones I can only dream of in Norway! Moreover, they had a gorgeous pair of burgundy stiletto heels from Stella McCartney in my size! I was sold! I also found a lovely knitted jacket with silk lining and managed to bargain for a nail polish as a free bonus!;-)

Continue reading →