We´re in Røros with Sam for a Christmas getaway and it´s a winter wonderland! The weather is perfect-wind-still and lots of snow, though a bit cold for our taste (-27 C yesterday and only -16 today). 😉 Eating lots of good food and drinking local beer or mulled wine, exploring the area on foot (had to buy wool underwear today!) and shopping for small gifts. Yesterday we were lucky enough to even attend a Christmas concert in church. Today we have rain deer on the menu!;-) 
winter
Monday off
I´m starting to get old- if I´m too active in the weekends, I need an extra day off. 😉 This weekend was particularly rough: drinks and dinner with an awesome couple from Australia on Friday evening, Christmas market with Sammy and friends, dinner at friends´house later on and an unplanned party at our house and that was just Saturday. Yesterday we had pancake breakfast with our other friends who stayed the night, did some washing up afterwards and saw the Hobbit at the cinema in the afternoon. So today I was dead: When the alarm rang I thought it must be Sunday morning! Fortunately there isn´t lots to do at work this time of the year, so I was able to cut myself some slack and take Sammy to the woods. 😉 It´s been so dark lately anyway and I haven´t felt like getting out of the house, so the streak of sunshine I could spot made me feel besides myself with joy! And because we were in luck, we got a friend to meet us at Frogneseteren, the restaurant on top of the mountain. I and Sammy took the subway half the way and walked the rest. I had cream porridge and Christmas soda, my friend had a Danish and we both walked back with our lattes. 😉 I fell on the ice and almost chipped the camera, but the latte only spilled a bit. 😉 haha! Enjoy the pictures!
Mulled wine
December for me is cosy evenings with friends and family, baking, planning a getaway, listening to Christmas carols, going to Christmas parties and Christmas brunches. One of the must-haves in all this fairy tale is mulled wine. Drinking it from a pretty cup while blogging or reading a magazine is pure bliss. There are probably as many ways of making it as there are families.
Winter is coming to Romania
These amazing nature photographs are taken by Lucia Bujor for the Facebook group called “273 places you have to see before you leave Romania”. They picture a fairytale-like landscape in Muntele Mic, Caransebes, when trees, grass, creaks and fences are covered in rime, just before winter sets in. I don´t know about you, but as much as I love white palm trees beaches, my heart skips a beat when I see images from home. Enjoy and let next year´s trip go to Romania!
Tired of winter
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!
Snowy days
It´s been snowing for days and it´s so very pretty outside! Snowflakes big like butterflies, they keep on falling down hurriedly, with vigor, as though they had only one purpose in life. It´s windy and it´s ruthless outside and I feel like a polar explorer when I dare leave the house. I hadn´t realized how much I´d missed it, it reminds me of my mother country, the panic on the news and the closed schools. Yet I´m not a winter´s child, I prefer admiring it from under the blanket, with a cup of tea in my hand. Staring at the snow safe and sound with the cat besides me, I can feel nostalgia slipping into my thoughts.
I´m going home in February and I´m as excited as ever. Every time I go back home it´s like taking a trip back in time. I don´t just go on a holiday, I go back to being 19. And it´s soaring. It´s not about age or accomplishments, it´s just that beginning, the promise of something bigger, I always wonder when I decided I got there. Don´t get me wrong, I´m pretty happy. The only thing I want is a baby and a picket fence, otherwise I´m good. I have it all. Just not the promise. I´m not 19 any more and the promise is gone. And I don´t know how to go home and not look for the time that passed…
Tallinn in Christmas clothes
We started this tradition last year, we got away from the city for a weekend to get some Christmas spirit. Our destination was Røros, a fairy tale-like small town in Middle Norway, 5 hours away by train, but miles and miles away from the city stress and everyday routine. To make it a tradition, we had to do the same this year, so we chose Tallinn, Estonia. And my God were we lucky to visit such a pretty town in winter! We were totally swept away by the colorful houses, the Christmas market in the middle of the old town, the churches and thick city walls and, last but not least- the cold! I´ve never been so cold in my life as I was for those three days, and I live in Norway! Good thing there´s such thing as mulled wine, caramelized almonds, elk soup à la middle ages (meaning without a spoon), sauerkraut, sausages and pork steak! In addition to that, we had a sauna and a jacuzzi at the hotel, as well as the possibility to book various treatments- I chose a facial, a massage, manicure and pedicure! 😉 There are a couple of stores with nice Estonian design, arts and crafts and delicatessen, so gifts were not difficult to find, either. And even though either of us is particularly fond of winter, we both love Christmas! So it was delightful to just walk around, check out the antique shops, pop in for a cocoa, update our instagram, walk a little more, take some pictures, have some lunch, take a nap, take a sauna, dinner, drinks and then more sleep. It´s so rejuvenating, we´ve already chosen next year´s destination-Viena! I hope you enjoy this ride with us!
Christmas is around the corner
Today I´m home with a cold and feeling sorry for myself. Don´t really feel like doing anything, think I´ll just drag myself on the couch for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Nina Simone, a pot of green tea and some books keep me company. The cat is purring beside me and I threw a couple of wooden twigs in the fire. Dreaming of Røros, where we spent a weekend last year, it´s such a beautiful winter destination! Lots of snow, good food, jolly people and friendly Norwegian forrest cats. A mine community in the 16th century established this town with colorful wooden houses and today it´s on Unesco´s World Heritage List. It´s like going back in time to when we still believed in Santa Claus. Take a look!
life in a bubble 