Christmas is around the corner, I’m done with most of my presents, so I can enjoy the rest of the advent socializing and baking. I want to make biscotti and espresso cookies, the traditional Romanian babka, lemon curd, Christmas chutney and sugarcoated almonds. What can’t you do without for the holidays?
vintage
Great Party
Last week was very intense and, as it usually happens with me when things pile up, it left me half dead. So this week I’ve been napping 2-3 hours a day on the days I could and otherwise gone through the motions with either a headache or a yawn. But hey, freelance life, getting on top of my finances and weekend studies, who said it was going to be easy?
Anyways, here I am, all the sashimi stash waiting in the kitchen, beer in the fridge and the man on his way home, how could I complain? Besides it’s Friday and tomorrow I’m hosting a party, God knows we all need a party from time to time, if not for the drinks, at least for the heels! 😉
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Vintage Jewelry I want
I’m not very good at wearing jewellery, from time to time I have periods when I crave it and then long time lapses before I can be bothered again. But I’m like a magpie, I love to collect everything shiny and glitzy, to soothe my eyes on them. As I wrote a couple of days ago, I’ve just discovered a shop with lots of cool vintage stuff and a clean profile-VAAR, meaning spring in Norwegian. And I simply adore their jewellery! 
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Changes around the Apartment
Those of you who know me, or have followed my blog for a while, have gathered that I’m a lazy part-time diva, not handy at all and with an insatiable appetite for luxurious interiors. And now I’m in a terrible mess, with getting divorced and all and when it doesn’t kill me, it tears me apart.
That being said, I work for 5 and refuse to succumb to the dreary realities of life and in the end I’ll be all right. One lovely day, as they say in Norwegian. 😉
In the meantime, if I am to sell the apartment, it’ll need some changes. I’m going to straighten it up a bit, if you know what I mean. I need an electrician and all sorts of other stuff, but I won’t bore you with any of it, it’s the interior I enjoy buying.
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Second love
For all of you, lovers of vintage and mid-century design, I have a secret to share: Second Love from Bergen! ❤ It´s the kind of stylish, refined shop I´d run myself, if I was that much into sales and people, a perfect mix of high-end designer wear, Norwegian 70´s classics and hand-crafted products. 
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Rainy Bergen
One of the good things about being a freelancer, besides taking a nap and baking cupcakes at noon once in a blue moon, is that I get to travel to places I haven´t been before or, even better, places I love already! ❤
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Shopping in Copenhagen
Shopping in Copenhagen is definitely more fun than in Oslo! I had a tight budget this time, but that didn´t stop me from scoring a few scoops nonetheless! 😉 It´s tight budgets that set creativity loose, right?
I loved this place- Studio Travel Vintage, which I stumbled upon in the heart of Copenhagen, in a desperate attempt to locate last year´s gem, that had unfortunately closed its doors in the meantime. I´m sucker for high-end vintage, minimalist presentation and good service and this place had all of the above! I´d rather pay twice as much as in a regular store if somebody does the selection beforehand, so I don´t have to spend hours hunting for treasures. The choice was easy here, they had many cashmere sweaters and I found a lovely V-neck one in black, that will probably be a favourite for years and years. 
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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?
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!;-)
Copenhagen part I
We arrived on Thursday at around 9 pm at our friends´ amazing apartment in Østerbro and were welcome with bubbles, Danish roast beef, sesame broccoli salad, remulade (a sort of mayo with pickles inside), to mention some of the goodies. We chatted and toasted and pet their dog until we girls collapsed at around 1, but the guys carried on until 4 am. There was the joy of seeing each other again, all those nooks in the apartment that had to be discovered, you name it.
life in a bubble 