Heat wave

These days have been so hot it´s crazy! Luckily, I spent them either at the beach, in the shade of the garden or sipping an ice coffee at the terrace. I can never tell you enough times: There´s no place like Oslo in the summer!<3

If in Oslo, you need to check out Delikatessen, they now have 3 locations, but the best one is still in Grunnerløkka, if you ask me. Generous salads, yummy tapas and cool cats serving them to you.

I´m still on low-carb, 8 days to go, on Monday I´m starting yoga and pilates again, after a couple of years´laziness.

I hope your July is FAB and feel free to leave a message if you care!:-)

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Healthy inspiration

Oh, it´s so inspirational to eat good food and to see the results so fast!;-) Oysters, shrimps, mayo, salmon tartar, mussels, asparagus, salads, you name it! I´ve been eating so healthy and so diverse, made some delicious quinoa yesterday, getting my oatmeal cottage cheese and raspberry dose every morning and I´m starting to get in shape again, in 10 days´time I´ll be weighing as much as I did as a 18 years old! 😉 Can you believe it?! And all this time I´ve been letting myself get depressed over a little weight instead of actually doing something about it.

Anyway. These couple of days have been wonderful. Lots of walks with the doggies, reading Jonathan Franzen´s “The Corrections” in the garden, my orchids have blossomed and lots of white wine. Enjoy a couple of my pictures! xxx, Alina

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Living is easy

Although this is not always true and we stumble and fall more often than we can pick ourselves up, it should be summer´s general rule. Less clothes, less work, more spare time to do whatever we enjoy most, eat lighter, drink more, you name it!;-)

These days have been strange for my part, without needing to go into details. Today however I feel better than in a very long time. My thoughts feel clearer and I can breathe without restraints. I´m listening to the feel-good `Smart is the New Sexy´playlist on Spotify, drinking green tea, the cat purring beside me and life is simply good.

I´ve been dieting on low-carb for 9 days now and I´ve lost 3 kg, my skin hasn´t been this radiant in ages and I feel fit. 3-4 more kg to go and I can start eating what I want again, as long as I work out and stay away from buns and tarts on a regular basis.

We´ve been having amazing weather, although a bit too hot if one works or is too lazy to go to the beach. 😉 We went to the beach twice, though and it was so much fun for the dogs! I realized I´ve become a bit of a chicken, couldn´t bring myself to swim although the water must have been 19-21 degrees. Brr! Otherwise I can’t wait for Santorini, 5 weeks to go! Three more weeks of general staff holiday, better hurry and enjoy it! Prosecco is still on my list of groceries, even though I´m on low-carb!;-) haha! Have a lovely week!

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Summer wear

These are my favorite pieces this summer! I can´t wait to wear them on chilly evenings at the Oslo marina, on hot afternoon strolls to the nearest taverna in Santorini and on pleasant Parisian nights from a French brasserie to a jazzy bar. Come along!

I just bought these beauties from mytheresa.com, they´re from Ancient Greek Sandals and I simply adore them!

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Lazy days

Oh, how I missed these lazy days of July, thought they´d never come! I´m working a couple of hours every day, a little more in between, leaving me plenty of time to nap, read, walk my Sammy and make all those fresh summer dishes that´ll turn my body into a 20 year old´s all over again. 😉 Haha! Not to mention how nice it is to have my husband around, have a walk in the warm summer evening and rediscover the neighborhood we moved to almost 3 years ago.

I usually stay in Norway in July since I adore the summer pace, the possibility to go straight to the beach from work or whatever errands you need to run before Norway shuts down in the general staff holiday. There are sales everywhere and the city is warm with beer and joy, people strip down and wiggle their toes, oh it´s an entirely different town! The weather seems to be getting better and better, so tomorrow we´re going to watch the World Cup in the park, beer and burgers parked in front of us. Saturday we´re off to the beach, if the weather allows and the beach makes both me and Sam besides ourselves with joy.

Today we´re having shrimps mayo and later we´ll probably have a walk to Sørenga and sip some Prosecco on the new marina. Hope your July is just as awesome! xxx, Alina

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Traveling

I love my work, I´ve always held a vivid interest in languages and human behavior and my job encompasses both of them. I just wish sometimes I were paid to travel around the world and write about it. And maybe spread some style. haha!;-) I find it hard to work in the summertime or accept the idea that I will not have a 3 months holiday until I get pregnant (if ever!) or retired (depressing). I simply miss my childhood holidays,  a whole summer of glorious weather (there´s been a recent study showing it never rained in our childhood, or at least that´s how we choose to remember it), running around, reading a lot of books too advanced for my age (about people hooking up and men having hairy legs- yikes!), discussing the meaning of life with my friend Irina, the only girl in the village my grandparents felt was good enough for me to socialize with. Haha!

As you have probably guessed, our 10 days in Eastern Europe were not enough to calm the holiday fever, especially since the weather has been crappy ever since we returned last week. So we ordered a week in Santorini in August not bearing to think that we won’t get the chance to wear sandals this year! Now I´m back to counting days, something I´m very good at!

Otherwise July is a chill month at work and I´m hoping for half days and some days off, as well. Today we celebrated 9 years of marriage, we had oysters and white wine, pasta and some rosé, too. In August we´ve been together for 11 years and my husband turns 35 so I´m thinking hard of a present worthy of such an occasion. 😉 Any suggestions?

Meanwhile, I´m on a diet (not a very strict one, there´s always room for wine!) and I hope to turn into a diva by the end of the summer, so I can shine in Greece in my Princess Tam Tam bikini. 😉 Enjoy some pictures from Instagram until next time!

xxx, Alina

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Salvage the Bones

If you only read one book this summer, make it Jesmyn Ward´s “Salvage the Bones”! What a gripping, heart-breaking novel! I loved it from the very first sentence and didn´t want to go to bed before finding out what happens to the characters. It´s set in the New Orleans area in the wake of the Katrina hurricane and it depicts the life of African American teenage siblings, their poverty ridden days due to their alcoholic father who stills mourns their long-dead mother. It´s a book on friendship, forgiveness and family values. It´s a book on redemption and love. You HAVE TO read it! And have some prosecco while you´re at it!;-)

Belgrade II

Finally I get the chance to tell you more about our lovely stay in Belgrade. I couldn´t wait to do that, but the first two days after returning were chaotic, especially since our luggage hasn´t arrived yet and I keep remembering all the things we had in it that I don´t want to lose. In addition to that I spent 3,5 hours at the Romanian embassy (for the very last time!) waiting in line for a piece of paper and getting frustrated, it was as comic and tragic as a Kusturica movie.

But let´s leave it at that and let me take you back to the Balkans and demistify the area for you. As I mentioned last time, we were there for the wedding of our friends Dragana and Alex and since we´d already taken a couple of trips each in May, this was also our summer holiday. Meaning we splurged a little on our hotel and eating out budget to compensate for the fact that Belgrade isn´t a coastal town and that the weather was either too chilly, too hot or too rainy to make the best out of it. And boy was that a good idea! We felt so spoilt in the end we couldn´t wait to get back home and cook our own food and fill our own fridge!

Jevrem restaurant in the lovely Dorcol area

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Belgrade

Missed me, yet?! I´ve been away for some time now and I apologize. I´ve been going through a sort of a 30 years´old crisis, working too much, sleeping too little and questioning my priorities. That´s no joke, I tell you! Luckily, all that´s gone now! I´m on a fabulous holiday in Belgrade with my husband, staying at a 5 stars hotel, eating our way through Serbian and international cuisine and discovering whatever this surprising mix of East and West has to offer us. We came here to attend the wedding of some friends of ours, a lovely Serbian-American couple and it was such a show! For now I´ll let the pictures talk for themselves, details when I get back home, on Thursday!

Old building in the old part of Belgrade

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Summer wardrobe

Holiday is just two weeks away and I´m dreaming of perfect outfits to wear in the mild summer evenings. I love fashion, but summer is my absolute favorite season for dressing up and pimping my wardrobe. This is what I´d wear if money were no issue!

Sophia Webster sandals

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