Samoyed

Preparations

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These days I’ve had little work and all this time on my hands. The first few days were blissfully relaxing, then I started panicking and now I’m back to “I couldn’t care less”, there’ll be more work than I can handle when it picks up. Meanwhile I can read my photography books, take pictures and bake bread. Today I made a fantastic pumpkin and walnut bread and I can’t wait to get hungry again to have some more of it. I’ll blog about it soon enough.

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The other days my buddy Sam and I hit the woods for a morning walk and since there was nobody else there that early, I let him run free and he was ecstatic! He would dip in the river, chew on some sticks, run right past me and then come back to see what had become of me since I’m walking so slowly.

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Nature was amazing that particular morning, the frost made the ground turn surreal and I imagined how lonely it must feel to be that bench in the middle of nowhere.

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Here and there, broken branches fell heavy from a tree and the river raged rusty with leaves. Sam barked at it and grinned at me, showing me all his small teeth, I could read bliss on his face.

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Back to civilization, I was saddened to see so many apples left unpicked, I know many residents are old and can’t reach them, but I would die for an apple tree and would have gladly helped had somebody asked me to. 😉

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I’m turning mad from house hunting, today I actually decided to take a break, ’cause it’s simply not good for me. Every time I see something I like (and it’s not that often!), I keep imagining myself settled in, drinking coffee on the porch and enjoying the garden and I can’t even sleep with excitement. Unfortunately, most of the places I’ve liked have either been far away or not to my significant other’s taste and so instead of getting angry, I decided I should let him take initiative. Stay tuned…

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The weather is cold, but sunny and since I’ve managed to regain some energy, on Saturday I was out lunching with a friend of mine at Ahaan, where they serve the most fantastic Thai street food and the best non-alcoholic drinks I’ve had so far in Norway. The experience was so uplifting, I’m still a bit high on it today. Going back there soon with my F. ❤

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Hoping this entry finds you well, tell me how you spend this November and what have you been up to lately.

xxx, Alina

Sunny Days

 

 

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After a gloomy August and a handful of rainy days in the beginning of September, the sun is out again and all of a sudden, life is so much easier to live. I’m done with two weeks in court in a horribly boring case, done with a mind-numbing written translation, so my will to live is stronger than ever- I must sound suicidal, in reality I’m only very very blasĂŠ. Continue reading →

Reflections

 

This week has been so busy it’s a wonder I’m still alive! Apart from working full days in court, I had Sam to walk in the afternoon and photography courses Tuesday and Thursday after hours. 😉 And if you think that interpreting in court for a whole day is like working in the office from 9-5, think again! People can’t even be bothered to turn on the microphone, they speak without exhaling and they generally lack any sign of professional courtesy. So imagine your head spinning with legal sections and subsections, slightly hungry and fedd up the world and then trying to sit still in class and socialize a bit during the breaks, too. Y-ha! 😉

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Evolving

 

Today I feel like writing. Not a poem or a short story, the way I often do lately, not even a text accompanying an “artistic” picture that sends me back on a trip to memory lane, I feel like writing a bit about myself and my life. Well, what do you know, you’ll probably say, isn’t it the only thing you do? 😉 Well, I read somewhere (I can’t remember where for the life of me), I read about this universal question and its universal answer- “What makes your problems bigger than anybody else’s?” “Because they’re mine!”- and what can I say,  it’s the perfect description.

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Garden Life

I haven’t blogged in a long time and I realized I’ve kind of missed it! The thing is I’m trying to write “real stuff”- short stories or even a novel and the process is exhausting, I’m telling you! Besides, it leaves me with a feeling that blogging is just amateur writing that no one reads anyways. But then a couple of friends told me they were looking forward to my new entries and so I decided to let you know how things are on this side of the world. 😉

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Almost July

Hey, folks, what have you been doing lately? I was in Bergen last week and although the weather was crappy and the trial drove me nuts- both the defendant, the lack of professional curtesy from the judge and the acoustics- it was good to see friends and catch up a bit.

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Now I’m back home, counting my blessings, doing a bit of work, walking Sammy in the woods every day and eating strawberries for lunch. 😉  I have a tough time in store, with moving out of my apartment on the 1st of August and needing to sell/give away/throw away lots of stuff and then find a storage for the remainder of my things. I can’t even begin to think about it, it makes me sick to my stomach.

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I’m starting to get restless about my job again, I’m working with so many twats (lawyers, prosecutors, judges and defendants) that I sometimes lose faith that I’ll ever be able to get the respect I need to feel professionally fulfilled. But then I usually work 20h/week, instead of 40-50, as many of my friends do and at least I have no boss, neither any reports to fill inn, so I shouldn’t complain. Still, it gets to me every time. Few people care about quality, everybody wants you to jump out of bed at any time of the day when they need you and as soon as you don’t, they trade you for a hungrier colleague. And I can’t live like that.

But first things first, we’re going to France on the 9th and I can’t wait. I just need some sun, a beach, French food and Mediterranean vibes. Walking hand in hand with my love on a cobblestone street, making plans about our new home, sipping coffee on a terrace, reading a good novel in the shade, need I say more?

I’ll be sure to take my camera with me!

xxx, Alina

Easter Break

Easter is finally here and it couldn’t have come any sooner! I’ve been busting my ass off lately, traveling here and there, planes and trains and cars and busses and what not. I really need some time off, sunny days filled with good food and drink, walkies with Sammy, dosing off in front of our new favourite series- Hotel Beau SĂŠjour- and painting around the house. I’m finally selling after the holidays and I need all the help I can get from a fresh coat of paint and newly washed windows. I was about to write “if you feel like helping out”, but then I realised what I need most is some people detox. Haha! Too much socializing in my line of work, they end up eating you alive!

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A Sunday Well-Spent

Saturday it snowed all day, it was grey and gloomy and a perfect day for baking. I and Sam didn’t do that much, we made some cinnamon rolls and then snuggled up indoors. But I’d promised him a walk in the woods on Sunday and, to our luck, the weather proved amazing just for that! I’d thought about going around lake Songsvann, just the two of us, since F was working all weekend, but then I remembered Gordana lives by another lake- Nøklevann- and there’s both forest and a cafĂŠ and all that, so why not ask her if she wants to join?  When I called her she was baking bread, so I said we’d be there around the time the bread is ready to be taken out of the oven. 😉 _mg_0284 Continue reading →

Midweek Already

Sending happy thoughts and hoping for spring! 😉 This week has been good to me and I’m hoping for a fabulous weekend to top it! 😉 So far I’ve had lunch with Gordana in one of my favourite restaurants- Taste of China, that recently moved to new and beautiful premises by the Oslo City Council-, I got my Sammy back yesterday and we’ve cuddled lots and now I’m making some yummy couscous with marinated chicken just to celebrate I’m alive and still very much in love with my guy. 😉

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