fröken lila's oslo: Skaperverket

here comes part two of my little oslo-series. "Skaperverket" is a very special small store at the lower end of markveien.

























maybe it could be best described as a combination of giftshop and gallery, as most of what you can find in there would be perfect as a gift, both for mothers, best friends, collegues or people you don't know so well. you can be sure to find something nice for everyone!




















"Skaperverket" is a collective of different artists, designers and crafters from norway, who together sell their own works, but also imported things they feel fit into the concept. thus, the store features pretty white pottery, handmade clothing for grown-ups and children, japanese paperwork, handcrafted jewellery, cool toys and enchanting accessoires.
















































one of my favourite picks would have been this really cool elizabethan collar:

























for contact, more information and opening hours, check out skaperverkets homepage!

fix it

today's plan: fix dropping water-tap in my kitchen. it has been dropping a little for a while now, but today it got so annoying i felt that i really have to fix it. as i don't have money for a plumber and got a really fancy toolbox last christmas, i thought i'd give it a try. and it seems that with the help of google, a great how-to-book and my father on the other end of the line, i'll be able to do it. yeah!

edit: i did it. had to go to two different shops to find the right piece, but now the tap is working well again and without dropping. yes! *proud* next project: fix my bike's front brakes...

two times blue

both yesterday and today i wore very comfy blue jersey summerdresses. yesterday's version once belonged to my mother in the 80s, today's version i found at a thrift store in sweden earlier this year.

wednesday:

























dress: from my mother
belt: thrifted
flower: gina tricot
shoes: swedish hasbeens

today:

























dress: thrifted
belt: orsay
necklace: accessorize
bangles and shoes: h&m

here are some pretty things

from my list to the right. just to visualize. plus some other pretty things i've had my eyes on.

























h&m cardigan with puffy shoulders. lovely. (picture from nitrolicious.com)










































dinsko, lace-up heels. sadly enough no real leather. (picture from dinsko.se)

























black leather bag. found on etsy. fell in love with. (picture from etsy.com)


















topshop albert fringe boots. flat. perfect. would be even better in black. sold out though, in black. (picture from topshop.com)


























h&m jumper with flower print and puffy shoulders. i so hope it won't be sold out when i've saved up for it. (picture from hm.com)

shopping ban

ok. i have seriously spent far too much money on (random) clothes this summer. my bankaccount is not happy. at all. also, i have spent way too much time on shopping. didn't make me exactly happy, either. (though i do like what i bought..)

so. this leads to one conclusion: stop spending money on clothes. i have read several blogs on how to do a shopping ban, and have come to the decision that i will do the same. of course i'll write about my experiences here on the blog. the way of how to go about this thing which appealed the most to me was a mixture of sal's from already pretty, and jane's from workthat wardrobe (now blogging on the small fabric of my life).

both sal and jane knew (just as much as i do) that cutting out on shopping completely wasn't an option. thus limiting the amount of money spent on shopping on the one hand and creatively using what you already have in your wardrobe on the other hand is the solution to the problem.

so. i will, just as sal did, limit the amount i'm allowed to spend on clothing (including underwear, socks, accessoires and perfume) to 7euroninos per week. i will be allowed to save up in case i want to spent more than that on something. thus, i will not spend more than 28€ per month (roughly counted). which is absolutely within my budget.
furthermore, i will allow myself (just as jane did) to sell stuff from my wardrobe on ebay and use that money if i want or need (well, ok, i don't need, at all, at this point) to buy something more expensive. i will (as i have done before) try to present on the blog what i'm selling on ebay and will also try to post the results. like this, i'm not expanding my wardrobe but i'm getting rid of stuff i don't use anymore.

what i will exclude from the shopping ban is fleamarkets. this is, because i usually limit my fleamarket sprees to 10euros all in all and don't decide beforehands on what i will or will not spend this money. you could say it's like a hobby that you pay your 10bucks for every other week.

as you may or may not have seen, i have included a little wishlist to my sidebar on the right (thanks jenna for the how-to!), which has two purposes. firstly, to remind me of what i want to save up for, and secondly as a kind of goal i'd like to reach by not spending more than a certain amount of money. i will certainly not be able to buy all of these things during my shopping ban, but it'll be fun to see how far i get. i guess i'll also change the list every now and then, since my wishes are likely to change during time.

last but not least, time limit. as some of you know, i'm writing my thesis right now and have to hand it in in the end of november. so i limit my shopping ban until the end of november, with an option to expand it depending on how well it works out. this will hopefully give me more time to work on the thesis, keeping me away from shops. let's see how it goes...

five in a row

five outfits in one single post! i admit, i'm just too lazy to post each outfit in a different post. so this is from the last ten days.

last week monday (17 august 2009)

























dress: h&m
tights: gina tricot
belt: monki
bag: thrifted
shoes: din sko

wednesday (19 august 2009):

























dress: thrifted on an oslo fleamarket
shoes: h&m
necklace: from a shop on åland

sunday (23 august 2009):

























dress and hat: h&m

monday (24 august 2009):

























dress: vintage thrifted
hat: h&m
necklace: present from my boyfriend
shoes: swedish hasbeens

today:

























dress: h&m via dotti's ebay store
belt: vero moda
necklace: accessorize
shoes: h&m

ikea katalogue

oh dammit! i totally missed that the new ikea catalogue would be distributed this week, and as i do have a "please no advertising" sign on my postbox i didn't get one, though my neighbours did, just this morning. last year they sent stickers around beforehands in case you have such a sign so that you'd get the catalogue anyways, and i had hoped that they would do the same thing this year again.













of course they didn't. this year you were supposed to download it and print it yourself, which i didn't, because the info wasn't big enough in their newsletter..
did anyone out there get the catalogue twice by chance and would like to give me one of it? i'd be soooo thankful!

fröken lila's oslo: Frøken Dianas Salonger

i have had thoughts about doing the one or other series for my blog, related posts which i'd try to do fairly regularly. one idea for those came up during my latest stay in oslo. as some of you know, my favourite person in the world lives there so i visit the city quite often, and i thought that a series about my favourite boutiques and places would be cool, especially if any of you are planning a trip there in the future..

so, here is the first part of the series!

























Frøken Dianas Salonger is, in my opinion, one of the neatest and loveliest little second hand stores in all of oslo. it is situated on markveien, which is norway's mekka for vintage boutiques, and is run by two wonderful ladies who obviously love their store and who sell nothing they wouldn't like to keep for themselves.

























the "parlour's" main focus lies not on clothes, even though there is a nice range of dresses and blouses, but on accessoires for you and your apartment: lampshades in perfect condition, handbags, cooking utensils, chests of drawers, postcards, some kitschy new things such as matchboxes with marilyn on them and everything else nice in the world.
















































the store is only just a year old but the ladies running it have managed both to offer a great range of wonderful selected items and to give it an amazing atmosphere. you feel like you can look about you for hours and see new things all the time, and you almost feel at home. definitely one of the best shopping experiences one can have!

























opening hours (they are open on sundays!! perfect!) and contact information can be found on the shop's website.

fever ray

only heard today. totally amazed.
fever ray - when i grow up

boots for walking

one of the swedish blogs i'm reading regularly, fashionhaggan, is having a really cool giveaway: your pair of dreamshoes by björn borg!

so, those would be my dream pair:















































they are called Lorna and would really be the perfect pair of bikerboots for me. rounded toe, not too high in the heel so i could walk for hours in them, a little detail but not too much, just perfect! oh i wish i would win...

grey leather

dream jacket. dream docs. both in grey leather.














































the docs are a collab by dr. martens for comptoir des cotonniers. apparently they are only available in france, and twice as expensive as the regular docs. still, they would be my first choice, now that i have decided i want a new pair (since i buried my first pair last autumn..). alternatives? black is boring, i'd get the white ones dirty in no time, leaves a pair of purple ones, dark navy or maybe mulberry? i really wish they had a pair in soft light grey leather. they have one in light grey patent, so a normal leather version shouldn't be too far off, should it?

pictures from somewhere in the internet. not mine.

leather dress

i bought a leather dress. it was on sale and fits like a glove. the leather is really soft, and in a dark grey shade which turns into purple towards the hem. i will wear it a lot this autumn.

















































































dress: nümph
cardigan, tights and shoes: h&m
bag: mq

pictures taken by my favourite person in the world.

sunday finds

yesterday i went to a fleamarket here in oslo, at birkelunden, together with maria whom i know from volunteering at by:larm in february. we had a great time and both of us found some bargains to take home. sadly enough (or luckily, depending on how you look at it) most of the porcelain was rather expensive, and even though i was tempted a few times i didn't buy any. instead, i came back with this:

























a very pretty, unused cocktaildress by mango which fits perfectly. it came with an ugly belt which i really don't want to show you. also, it only came with one strap (which you can take off), and even though i searched the bag i found the dress in, i couldn't find the other one. an hour later we came back and -whips - guess what appeared somewhere in between a few pairs of shoes, some t-shirts and a bunch of belts? yes, the second strap. made me very happy.









































a lightweight summerskirt with a lovely cross-stiched border. the length is not perfect as it hits below the knee, but with a pair of heels it should work. also, i plan to use it for layering. nice!

























and a pair of unused grey suede gloves. autumn can come now!

outfit week

due to extensive studying i kind of forgot to post these outfit pictures from wednesday to friday. as i'll be heading out in a few minutes to meet a fellow blogger from oslo, henriette from a red lipstick, i thought i'd just post all of them at once. nothing really special, plus one or two detail shots.

wednesday: lila legs

























shirt: kenvelo
skirt: h&m
tights: gina tricot
belt: zara
shoes: bullboxer

























thursday: flowergarden on my legs

























top: vero moda
cardigan, tights and skirt: h&m
shoes: zara
necklace: accessorize
bag: mq


friday: very pale legs.

























top: mango
skirt: thrifted
belt: monki
shoes: bullboxer

















bangle: accessorize

ceremony

last sunday my boyfriend's niece had her name-giving-ceremony, and i met a part of the family for the first time. it's not so easy for us to get to know each other's families, as they are rather large and spread out both on his mother's and on my father's side. not to mention that his lives in sweden and mine in germany.. anyway, i got to meet just the right amount of new people to not be totally confused, the ceremony was really lovely and the cake was delicious. my boyfriend was the official photographer, so of course he also took some pictures of me:








































dress: stop staring!
necklace: accessorize
bangles and belt: h&m
shoes: bullboxer

birds on repeat

today's outfit is almost a repeat of yesterday's. just breaking in the skirt =)

























skirt: monki
top: h&m
belt, hat and brown bag: thrifted
tote: mq
shoes: strauss

if you wonder what's in the tote: i just came back from grocery-shopping and it contains a box of black currants, a bunch of carrots, some sugar peas and a lime.

tonight we are going to have a typical swedish dish, called "pytt-i-panna". it's really easy, you use all kinds of vegetable and meat leftovers (such as bell peppers, squash, carrots, peas, meat balls, sausages,... whatever you like, basically), cut it into small pieces, add some diced potatoes and onions and stirfry the whole shebang. season with salt and pepper and if you like you can serve it with a fresh sallad or fried eggs. it's delicious!

the lime and black currants were for a cake which is right now in the oven and hopefully done soon...

birds

as promised, yesterday's outfit with the brand new monki-skirt. a perfect skirt for sunny weather and days in the park! (or at home, studying..)





















i love the birds in the pattern, and those pockets! they are huge, and so cool!

























skirt: monki
shirt: pimkie
cardigan: h&m
tights: gina tricot
belt: h&m
shoes: din sko

wonderful

my favourite person in the world surprised me with a bouquet of red roses yesterday. they are wonderful. he is wonderful, too. thank you!

shopping spree

sweden is great for shopping clothes. not only do they have brands we don't have in germany, they also have those crazy sales. ok, i can have almost the same in oslo, where i am quite often, but still, it's not 100% the same.
so of course when we went to sweden last weekend i went on a little shopping spree, mainly with two targets in mind: monki, and myrorna (which is the salvation army's thrift shop). monki was to be the first station and they did not disappoint me. even if i hadn't found anything else at any other store i would have been very very happy with my score:



















i don't really know what came over me, but i went out with only dusty-powdery-rose-coloured items. not bad for somebody who until quite recently said she doesn't like... pink. ok. this is not pink. it's old rose. a little purse, a belt, a tulle-dress, a skirt (which is not on the picture but will follow in my next outfit-post) and a top with lace-trim.

myrorna have become quite expensive especially when it comes to clothing. the only interesting piece i found was a blouse and it should cost 160sek, which is around 16euro, and thus far too expensive for a thriftshop-item which wasn't even vintage. anyway, i found some nice pieces of fabric for very little money:



































this hawaii-style print is going to be a summer-skirt. very beach-y!

then, i still had some time left before i had to be back for lunch. usually i don't go to mq, as their prices tend to be on the higher side, but i thought i might check the sale, because, well, you never know what you'll find. they had a kind of final sale with 50% off the former sale-price, meaning that most things were marked down by at least 75%. i went with a pair of trousers, a blouse and a coat:

























some of my swedish readers may well recognise those pieces. they were all part of an exclusive capsule collection by hanna lindström who won last year's fresh fish (a fashion fair and design competition for young swedish fashion designers). the collection was really hyped when it hit the stores in february, and when i went to karlstad in march i had hoped to be able to afford a piece or two. well, i couldn't. but now in august i could. the battle coat was marked down from 1500sek to 200, and the trousers from 700 to 100. guess who felt really really lucky!
both pants and coat are a little too long for my taste, but that's nothing that can't be fixed...