Lately I´ve been a sucker for jewelry! I ordered some gold plated earrings in a Tallin Gallery, I just had to have them! Saw them in december and had to think the purchase over for a day and when I finally decided to buy them, they were gone! These are just an illustration, the real ones are waiting for me to pick them up at the post office!;-)
What do you reckon? It´s Friday again! Or Friday at last! Whichever one suits you!
I for one am very happy it´s nearly weekend and Valentine´s day on top of it, maybe thanks to the glass of wine and the flowers I bought myself, but I´m not so romantic anyway, so I don´t mind.:-) I´m done with translating the silly Work and Work Place Protection brochure, I´m done traveling for a week or so, happy to be at home with man and pets, not needing to check in or check out, catch any planes or any trains. And it´s just where I want to be. We´re celebrating Valentine´s with Sam´s girlfriend and her parents, who live just down the street, dining and wining.
During the course of the weekend I need to finish some boring accountancy stuff, but first and foremost get lazy with the pets, drink lots of coffee, see a friend or two and take many naps. Haha! Just by reading that I realize I sound like a granny, in fact I used to be teased with that at my former work place, just because I like silk scarves and 60s cut. 😉
I hope you have a lovely day, whether you celebrate Valentine´s or not! And now a couple of pictures from my last days´wandering.
I promised you a couple of pictures of Stavanger, so here they are! Quaint wooden houses, old pavements and even flowers. It really felt like an early spring. Enjoy!
It´s nice to leave home along with one´s comfort zone once in a while. It´s so refreshing to get some new impulses from the change of architecture, dialect, food and weather! And I don´t know about you, but I love sleeping in hotels! And Nordic Choice was really nice, it really felt like something else! Concrete, modern art, brand new. Had it not been for the haunting mirrors that added 10 kg to my normal weight, I wouldn´t have anything to complain about. 😉
I enjoyed 7 degrees outside and with the sun peeping out today it felt like spring! Stavanger is a small and intimate town, so you get to really feel the holiday mood.
I went to Stavanger to interpret in court and instead of rushing to and from the airport, I decided I should book a hotel room and travel a day in advance. So I had time for dinner with a friend yesterday and lots of time to do whatever I pleased today. Except for the hour at the court house. It was the best idea I´ve had in months!;-) Not only did I get to relax a bit, but I also found time to do some work at a brochure translation. I ate lots and took many scenic pictures, unfortunately I didn´t think of bringing our camera with me, since this was like a “business” trip- haha!
I also did some shopping, shops still had sales miraculously enough! The bargains were peach leather trousers from Alexander Wang at 7% of their original price, as well as Tommy Hilfiger deux-pieces (jacket and skirt) at 50%. Yey, me!;-)
I should do this more often. You don´t need a whole weekend to visit another place, sometimes a day away is enough.
xxx, Alina
I´ve had another exhausting weekend, but I´m starting to come to my senses today. With only two weeks left till my oral certifying exam, I attended an interpreting seminar both Friday and Saturday. Both dialogues and monologues had to be interpreted and I was in the same group with persons that had nothing to do there in the first place. Needless to say I wasn´t on my best behavior. It felt like high school all over again and that cost me a lot of energy, ´cause I´m dead beat now. So beat that I had to go back to sleep an hour after having woken up. I only managed to do something sensible now- put together a veggie soup. We´re having a couple of friends over and I´ll pick up where I left off yesterday with more dialogues and monologues and note-taking technique.
Saturday evening lifted my weekend spirits, we celebrated a friend of ours´40th anniversary. We had dinner at Smia, an intimate eatery with great food. We had salmon for starters, reindeer for mains and a fancy brownie with ice-cream. And too much wine. The best thing about the dinner was nevertheless the welcome drink- calvados, apple juice and prosecco. Yum! I´ll be sure to try it at home next weekend!
A long, lazy day is coming to an end and I don´t feel like it. Tomorrow I´m flying to Stavanger to interpret in court on Tuesday. But first have dinner with a friend. And shop a little. Meanwhile I´m having some delicious noodles that my husband prepares to me now. 😉
Have a good week!
My baby boy is growing with each day that passes. He has a girlfriend now- a shiba- and some human friends he´s very fond of. One of them is Kjersti, a cutie pie that studies photography. And she loves him back. Whenever she visits it´s Christmas and birthday at the same time, as we say in Norwegian. 😉 Here you have a couple of pictures!
February started with a pang- a whole Saturday of training for the my oral examination in order to become a certified interpreter. We were three Romanian interpreters, two role-players and a certified English interpreter who volunteered to help us. It was really tough and I have to admit I had to swallow my pride a little bit at the end of the session. Everybody has stuff that need working on, but one never likes being reminded of that.
Sunday I was so beat I couldn´t lift a finger. I had to take a nap for a couple hours after waking up because everything was blurry and I was feeling both nauseous and dizzy. I was so exhausted I almost got worried, but today I was ready to resume my normal life course.
I had a day off and although I spent most of it on accountancy, I got to enjoy the rays of sun piercing through our window. And so did our cat. He was so happy observing the birds outside, probably sensing spring in the air, he wouldn´t move for ages, eating some leaves from my favorite plant (that makes him throw up) and warming himself up.
In the afternoon a friend dropped by for coffee and we found ourselves reminiscing about our youth over a biscuit or two. I´m now making mousakka ´cause I need to get rid of all those organic potatoes and eggplants. Meanwhile, I´m sipping some wine and looking forward to Californication. 😉 Have a lovely week!
If you ask me, I think winter should only last one month- December. It´s heavy on my feet, it ruins my shoes, I don´t get to wear my dresses and my hands are always freezing! Besides, there´s a limit to a girl´s guilty conscience! I constantly feel I should be more outdoors, learn to ski, walk in the woods more often or go sledging. But I never feel like doing anything else than sit by the fireplace. Now that´s what I call a challenge since Norwegian winter lasts for ages.
I should probably start traveling to a warmer destination, like many Scandinavians do, but I kind of try to stick to our European seasons. I sometimes imagine myself being happy in a place where it´s never cold, but then I think I´d miss winter. Or maybe all my wool scarves. You see, I´m not as shallow as I like to give the impression of, but I´m positive I was some sort of diva in another lifetime. 😉 haha!
Right now I´m tucked in a blanket and have just finished watching the 3rd season of Mad Men. I´ll make myself a cocoa and hope for milder weather next week. Have a good one!
I feel very chatty today, I hope you don´t mind. In fact, I´m a very chatty person any day of the week! And since I take myself very seriously, God forbid the world should miss on anything that has to do with ME!;-)
As an interpreter, I mostly communicate other people´s thoughts and ideas and I´m always on the run. I don´t have an office, nor any steady colleagues. I just rush from one place to another, waving and smiling and trying to keep up with my tight schedule. Or the lack of it. And that in a world where most people work from 8-4. So I don´t get to talk as much as I´d like to, you see.
How are things with you? Did January live up to your expectations? My January has been nice and easy. I had a couple of things in mind, New Year´s resolutions and such, and I feel I´m slowly getting there. It´s nice to be given a new chance each year and even nicer to be able to cut yourself some slack every once in a while.
This year I was going to eat better, work out more, spend less, travel farther, be nicer and work fewer hours. In the health department, I get a case of organic fruit and vegetables delivered to my door once a week and it makes cooking much more simple and fun! I have to admit it´s a big improvement, although we´re constantly battling with all the apples and the kiwis, or whatever fruit that doesn´t really cut it for us.
I also started swimming, for now I´ve only been there once, but the plan is to do it once a week. I´m having a hard time getting out of the house with all this snow and winter, but I do my best. And my best will have to do this year.
Travelwise, I´m going home to Romania for a week in February and taking a 10 days´ holiday in Serbia in June. I´m not sure if I get to see NY this year, but it´ll be there next year, too. I´m trying not to rush things, but I´m not any good at that. I search for houses even though we´re not moving, for apartments in France, although we don´t have a house, and so on.. I have a father who measures success in real estate, so it´s hard to keep up.
But since today is Chinese New Year, I wish you a happy one! I´m so glad I can start anew again in February!;-)
xxx
Now a 100-acre organic farm, Community Culture Retreat was a former ruin, restored by Pedro Ressano Garcia to reflect the Community Culture concept. The courtyard has two houses and it concentrates on sharing a culture of organic production, hospitality and gastronomy. The key achievement of the project was redefining already existing buildings and making do with what materials were available.
Community Culture Retreat has 7 rooms and a library and hall for seminars, concerts and workshops. Relax by the pool, enjoy a secluded room or take part in a harvest. Don´t mind if I do!
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