from iceland

i've done a lot of travelling lately, first to germany to visit some friends, then to sofia in bulgaria, and last week we went on a trip to iceland for five days, to celebrate the birthday of my favourite person in the world. iceland was wonderful. cold, stylish and kind of unreal. magic.

if anybody would ask me now which city i would prefer for a short shopping trip, the answer would definitely be reykjavik. with so many small interesting boutiques, vintage shops and designers, it was really hard for me to limit my souvenir-shopping. this is what i bought:



a pair of vintage frames by yves saint laurent. i'm not sure yet whether i will put in clear glasses or toned ones for sunny days...





just across the street from our hostel in the middle of the city, a young designer called rakel hafberg sold wonderful accesories made from chicken leather in all sorts of colours. her wristbands and chokers are really something special, and on her homepage you can even design your own ones! she custom made a choker in my choice of colour and delivered it to the hostel before we left for the airport, so her service is fantastic.



i had read a lot about kronkron before i left, so of course i had to have a look at their store. i would have loved to buy a pair of their colourful shoes, but my budget said no, so i only got myself one of their brand new designed patterned tights. i love them! now i just wait for warmer weather to wear them...

style experiments, part I

ida skovmand was looking for bloggers and others to take part in some style experiments, and since i felt like i needed a kick to get blogging again i thought i'd take part. to present ourselves, she now asked us to chose one outfit from the past which we felt was meaningful to us in one or another way, and to take a picture of it lying on the ground. meaningful could be that it was what we wore on a day that means much to us, or also that it makes us feel special, or whatever else we would interpret as meaningful.



i chose the outfit from the day when i got together with my boyfriend. or rather, the day after. i was newly in love and went on single vacation to the norwegian fjords, and i felt such joy and happiness even though i was leaving him behind for some days. we hadn't slept that night and i almost missed my train to bergen at half past six in the morning.

i had bought the dress a week or too before, at myrorna on tomtebogatan in vasastan, stockholm. i remember that i only could afford one dress, and had a hard time deciding between this one in terrycloth and a longarmed number with a tartan pattern. it was june and warm so i took the white summery one. my converse are not the same ones as i had 4,5 years ago - they were green-pink-white-striped and died a year later. the t-shirt was almost brand new, it is by h&m and must be one of the best t-shirts i bought ever. i love it a lot, though i don't use it so much anymore. i had the t-shirt on top of the dress so my backpack would cut so hard into my shoulders. together, we went on the same journey to the fjords for our 3 year anniversary - although with other clothes, but equally happy.

imogen heap

we went to see imogen heap on tuesday. earlier in the day she had visited at the opera. of course the lucky devil to show her around the house was my collegue who didn't even know who she was, while i was having lunch at the cafeteria. i could bite my butt for not being there when she turned up!



the show was wonderful. i have never experienced a person on stage who is, at the same time, so playful and elegant, but also extremely professional, kind and entertaining. in swedish there is an expression "att bjuda på sig själv". it means literally to make yourself a present to others. imogen heap really did this, she was herself on stage and let us all take part in her life at that moment. there was not a single moment that felt rehearsed, just plain musical magic.

crystal

i wrote that i like big rings. this is not totally true. i love big rings. this summer, i bought the biggest ring on earth. also, it surely must be the heaviest ring on earth.





it all started when i saw this ring on etsy quite a while ago. of course i couldn't decide to buy it right away and it was gone in a second. so i started searching and looking and was never quite happy with what i found. so. i decided to take steps and ask the perfect seller for a custom order.





the ring was made by laura, the most wonderful metalsmith, who runs her shop specimental on etsy. she loves crystal-specimens and odd jewellery and is such a pearl! the order proved to be a long and complex process of decision making: which size, which colour, which form, which finish to chose? laura is, honestly, the most patient seller i have ever met, and she went to great lengths to find the perfect crystal for me. she provided lots of pictures and ideas and also cut the stone herself. it was great working with her on a piece of jewellery which is truly unique and which i hope to wear throughout my life. thank you!

autumn

autumn has come, and after some really cold days they finally turned on the heat in the house. so i'm not freezing so much anymore. however, i still don't want to wear my winter gear, so i stick with cardigans and autumn-jackets for the time being, at least until november. however, i think i might need a new hat and mittens.




also, i have fallen in love - again - with all sorts of folkloristic clothing, like my bavarian cardigan, dirndl-dresses and norwegian sweaters. preferably vintage.




dress: indiska
scarf: selfmade
cardigan and bag: vintage
jacket: thrifted
boots: zara

mad about mad men

lovely dotti invited, together with maikitten, once again to a virtual party: aren't we all mad about mad men? it seems, we are. of course i showed up in my best vintage dress, and took my best drink with me.



















my absolutely best drink right now is the kir royal:

1 champagne glass
2 cl creme de cassis
12,5 cl champagne (or any dry bubbly wine you have at hand)
pour champagne into glass, carefully add creme de cassis, enjoy.












































what an evening, and such a great crowd! tomorrow there'll be a voting for best drink, best look-a-like and the-guest-i-like-best. exciting!

an afternoon at the park

working 7 days in a row is not good. if i say that, believe me. it is no good idea. i've been there. twice within 6 weeks. today was my free day after such a 7 workdays week. i would need another one of those free days tomorrow, but that's not possible. so, today i slept forever, had a good brunch and then we headed out for a walk in the park. the sun shone brightly and we enjoyed the brisk autumn air. it was almost like vacation, with waffles and everything!











































also, i started breaking in my purple mint vintage justin boots. the leather is hard as hell, so the breaking in will take a while...



















there are so many nice spots in the park, it's always hard to decide where to take pictures. the stairs seemed like a good place today. and the bushes. they're still green. i might just be able to convince myself that autumn hasn't arrived yet...











































skirt, scarf, bag: vintage, thrifted
boots: justin, vintage via etsy
jacket: thelin
rings: vintage and etsy

pictures by pixelpark

winter vintage

at last weekend's fleamarket, i did not only score three very pretty african inspired vintage dresses, i also found a perfect vintage dress for the upcoming fall/winter season. it is woollen (well, i guess there is some acrylic stuff involved as well), very comfortable and has this wonderful dark red colour.


























also, you can make a pretty bow with the collar, and what more would a girl want?

























apropos winter - a couple of weeks back i also found a wonderful vintage winter dirndl at a thrift store:

























it has this fantastic victorian feel to it, with these huge puffy shoulders and wide skirt. and of course it reminds me of the alps, the mountains, things i long for sometimes.










































i also love the silver coloured buttons (they are a good sign for it dating back to the 80s) and the red and black trim at the seams. the dress is a little long though, so i'll shorten it quite a bit (to knee length), and i might need to add some snaps if i don't want to wear an apron with it. anyhow, now i am really looking forward to wearing more dresses this winter!!

early autumn details

for the fleamarket yesterday, i thought i'd wear something easy and comfortable. it was a warm early autumn day, so i took out my pretty patterned zara pants and a white t-shirt with puffy arms:








































i won this beautiful necklace earlier this summer on vintage (a love story). thank you so much, tuva minna linn!! it is a beautiful, art nuveau inspired piece of silver art by carnosa, which i have been wearing a lot since it arrived. i'm still looking for the perfect sterling silver chain to complement it, though.










































the ring is another recent fleamarket find. i love how it looks like fish scales, or some kind of mushroom fixated in silver. it has a nice weight as well, so sometimes i feel like i have to balance it with this rather heavy piece on my other hand...

africa vintage

today there was a huge fleamarket at the school right across the street from where we live. i got myself out of bed early for this and was quite lucky - although norwegian prices even at fleamarkets still make me stand with my mouth open because i just can't figure why stuff should be so expensive (yes, 12€ for a vintage dress with stains and smell is considered cheap here.. i still don't get it).










































there were loads of people there, especially in the room with the ladies' clothes, so i just grabbed whatever nice fabric i saw and tried to fight my way to a corner with some room to see what i had in my hands. there was no way of trying things on, so guess how glad i was when all the four dresses i bought turned out to fit like a glove! i left with one woollen vintage winterdress and three vintage cotton dresses - the one above included a pretty matching bolero with fabric covered buttons as well!



























































these vintage cotton dresses (including one more which i had to leave behind for lack of funding) must have been donated by a lady with great taste. i would say that they probably were made in the 1960s, but i am not quite sure, one seems home-made and two are done by a professional tailor, as the label says. all of them are made of patterned fabric which seems to be inspired by african batique patterns - maybe the fabric was even printed there?









































just a couple of weeks ago i stumbled over some nice dresses and jumpsuits at asos, by their asos africa brand, and was quite tempted to order one, and i have also seen several items at zara with small patterns in brown tones, batiqued patterns and other native inspiration. these three dresses really fit my bill for this autumn - i'm happy i found them!

ulovlig norsk

two days ago, my friend maria amelie published her first book. and it's not just any book, but her autobiography. the story of her life. the story of how she and her parents ended up in norway as refugees, got refused and then went underground. the story of how she, against all odds, took a bachelor's and a master's degree at trondheim university. how she lived a full student life and at the same time didn't even exist on paper.

it is not a book about the general situation of refugees, or about norwegian politics, or about a system that obviously does not care about individuals. however, it is about the consequences of these things for her as an individual. it is a personal story, and it was written because she didn't want to lie anymore. maria also wrote it with the wish to give the reader a new perspective on their own lives.

























these last days, from when i first heard about her background until reading through the book, i have been amazed. i feel deeply honoured that i may call this extraordinary person my friend. she is more norwegian than some norwegians i know. she is always full of energy and so positive, looking for new challenges and making her friends happy. she is one of the most generous people i know, and has - even before i knew the truth about her - been a great source of inspiration for me and how i want to live my life.

i wish her all the best for the future. i wouldn't know anybody else who deserves good fortune and luck and a fantastic life more than she and her parents.

music on the roof

one of the most amazing venues for open air concerts this summer must have been the roof of the norwegian opera where i work. the stage was floating on the fjord while the public was sitting on the roof. we had a couple of wonderful shows there, amongst others with the norwegian band big bang (who gave the expression stage diving a whole new meaning... the fjord was really cold at that point!) and a charming al green.

for me, however, the absolute highlights were two evenings in a row, with the goodbye show of the folk rock act gåte and the swedish singer/songwriter lars winnerbäck. while i have admired the latter for a long time (and what i loved best with his show were all the old songs and classics he played. wonderful.), i had never heard gåte before, and was very pleasantly surprised - two hours of waiting in the rain was surely worth the bombastic light show and explosive music that followed:







i really don't think i've ever seen a light show better adjusted to the music than here. i'm still amazed.

silver bomb

i like big rings. cocktail rings. statement pieces. this is one of my best. i sometimes wear it to work and then i need to remember not to wear anything on the neighbouring finger. last week i forgot about that and made little plings whenever i handed over a ticket to a customer or typed anything on the computer. basically whenever i moved my hand. i don't know if my collegues appreciate this kind of music.








































it was made by discomedusa on etsy, and as far as i know she may have materials left for one more of these little silver cytomorphic bombs...

surprise rainshower

today we went for a long walk through the neighbourhood, admiring all the beautiful houses around here. we ended up at the university campus, and when we finally had found a pretty spot for taking an outift shot, it started pouring down. however, a. still snapped a few pictures of me (though rather unsharp..):





































dress, scarf and bag: vintage
cardigan: h&m
necklace: etsy
shoes: dinsko

another opera house

the probably best question i got at work this summer was this: do you have a swimmingpool here? at first i just opened my mouth and shut it again and then asked - what? when confronted with the same question once more i couldn't help but say: this is an opera house - but you're welcome to try out the restrooms...



































however, when we went to helsinki just a few days later, i of course had to take a look at the opera house there, and couldn't help but think: public bath! with all the white glaced tiles and small square windows it really looks like a swimming pool turned inside out.





































some people i met said they didn't like the house, that it was positively ugly. surely it is not as elegant as the opera here in oslo, but i quite liked it, anyways. it has something of an industrial bauhaus feeling, but i also like that it evokes thoughts of greenhouses, these huge ones that were built around 1900 or even earlier, for exhibition of expensive palmtrees and exotic butterflies and birds.

a delicious summer

the most simple things can be the most delicious.
























fresh sweat peas from the market in helsinki.

























chanterelles directly in front of the summer cottage.



















picking your own berries just behind the cottage is so rewarding. i think i picked for half an hour per day. it was like meditation, only better.



















also, breakfast is twice as good with fresh blueberries..