Yesterday was great. The sun was shining yet again and our friend, Hege, celebrated her birthday with a picnic trip in the woods. We took the subway and met the crew at Frognerseteren, a venerable restaurant on the top of the hill. After enjoying a coffee or a glass of wine in the sun, we started walking towards Songsvann, our final destination for the picnic. We were 6 adults, a child and a dog. Sammy was happy to explore the surroundings, he jumped up and down, drinking water from small creeks, engaging us in his silly schemes and sniffing every dog we couldn´t prevent him from meeting.;-) On the way I picked some blueberries and served them to the others from Sam´s drinking cup. 😉 They were sweet and tasted like summer. When we finally arrived to a table in a sun, everybody started unpacking the goodies. Food never tasted that good, I tell you!;-) We had bean salad, cheese and bacon pie, cheese and fig jam, chocolate cake, banana bread, chips and drops. Yummy! After filling our tummies, we tok the subway back to the city. We were tired and our feet had started aching when we realized we´d been outside for 6 hours! Now that´s what I call a Sunday trip!
sam the samoyed
Weekend
This week has been busy and exhausting in terms of work, so I couldn´t wait for the weekend to come. The joy of having a couple of days off was only spoiled by my juice detox diet. I don´t think I´d ever realized how much I enjoy the idea of food, its social connotations, the physicality of it all. How else can I explain why I´d feel so robbed of the pleasure of eating, although I´m not really hungry?
Hiking with Sammy
You´re probably fed up with my baby boy by now. Well, that´s too bad! `Cause I love him so much I don´t care to write of nothing else today. 😉 We went on a small hiking trip, you see, so I need to brag a bit about it, since I´m such a lazy wanna-be diva on a regular basis. 😉 haha! I had a coffee date with a good friend of mine I don´t get to see as often as I´d like to, so I suggested we should go for a walk in the forrest and get our coffee on the top of the hill, at Frognerseteren, an imposing café where you would meet you grandma for lunch a while ago, but that´s managed the transition between tradition and innovation well. So we talked and Sam ran and bathed and chewed on sticks and ran some more, we lost our way and we found it again and in the end we were on top of the hill savoring a cup of coffee with cream porridge (because I´m halfway back on my low-carb diet and I don´t want to turn into a heath freak!).
Busy summer days
Hi y’all! These days have gone too fast and I haven´t had time to catch my breath, let alone write anything on my blog. Summer has come to Norway and I´m enjoying every bit of it. And so is Sam. There are flowers to smell, rivers to dive into, fresh air to breathe in. If you haven´t been to Oslo yet, you should! It´s such a jolly town in summer! Take a look!
I hope you´re all well and promise to write you more when I feel more inspired. Hugs, Alina
Tales of spring and hope
Although it´s still February, we´ve seen the sun a couple of times, it snowed and the snow melted again, in a few words- I´m in the mood for spring. Thought I´d share with you a couple of pictures of our apartment and our life while waiting for spring. 🙂
2013 in pictures
2013 was a good year in many ways. I established myself as an interpreter and worked hard, so hard that I needed almost a month´s break to realize how burnt out I was. I won´t repeat that mistake in 2014. Besides, I alienated many of my friends because I didn´t even have time for myself, let alone for others.
On a personal level, we´re still going strong, trying to have a baby one way or the other. Meanwhile, we decided to get a dog and that´s how Sam the samoyed entered our lives. We got him in February and he´s been filling every day with pure bliss ever since. He´s such a good natured pup and so affectionate, I never thought you could love anybody as much as we love him! He even befriended our 9 years old cat, at least at a frenemy-level.
Family-wise, I rejoiced in my niece´s presence when I visited my family in Romania for Easter, as well as in everybody else´s. My parents visited us in July, when Norway showed itself from its best side, it was hot and not a cloud in the sky. Christmas was spent with friends and my husband´s family.
Travel-wise, I savored Palma de Mallorca during our summer holidays, unfortunately we didn´t think of bringing the camera with us, so only Instagram can tell the tale. The fall was busy and stressful, but a short break to Berlin for a conference made it bearable. To get into Christmas mood we went to Tallinn for 3 days and it proved to be a terrific idea. Christmas break was long and lazy, I indulged myself in doing as little as possible.
2014 is the year! I´ll get my driving license, travel outside Europe and work my body in good shape again. And be kind. I´ll start with myself. Have a good one!
New Year´s Eve
I´m a sucker for a nice dress and high heels! Any excuse for that! And I love a good dinner party. This year it was our turn to be hosting the New Year´s Eve party and it was lots of fun. Everybody had a good time, or so I like to think, including Sam, our fearless samoyed who lay down to sleep on the ´dance floor´ while one could still hear the fireworks. We had three courses- cheese platter with lemon curd and chutney, tomato bruschetta and Romanian ´salade de boeuf´, turkey and rosemary potatoes with carrot salad for mains and Swiss cake and truffles for dessert. Everybody contributed with a dish since I was a bit fed up with cooking after Christmas. A bit too much to drink, laughs and dancing, in the end we were three girls left gossiping until 4 am. In between all this fun, we sat down and summed up 2013, as well as disclosed our New Year´s resolutions. For my part, I want to give myself some love. I´ll start swimming and doing yoga, since that´s the only work-out I remotely like. We´re planning a trip to Vietnam and New York, so I need to spend less money on clothes and shoes. 2014 won´t only be about career and nothing else like 2013 was, I´ll make sure to be more approachable for my friends and a better wife, sister and daughter. What about you? What are your resolutions? Let 2014 be awesome!
My big fluffy baby
There´s nothing like a child of your own, they say, and I don’t think I could argue with that. I´ve been hoping for a child for 10 years now and it might happen soon, but I don´t take it for granted. However, the pets in my life have always been very important. They have given me a sense of home and of belonging, but also the chance to feel care and responsibility for someone else than myself. My biggest love for the time being is Sam, our amazing samoyed. Here are some new pictures with my cute little darling. Isn´t he adorable?
life in a bubble 