Finally Friday

It is finally Friday and I am going on a mini-break to lovely Vestfold.

Have a wonderful weekend and remember: "You are fabulous"!

xoxo

The Fashion Source Expo

I would love to go to The Fashion Source Expo Wednesday 6th October 2010 at Central Hall Westminster in London (UK).

Picture from www.ethicalfashionforum.com

The main focus of the event is fashion - being manufactured and traded in an ethical way!

There will be exhibitors as well as a programme of seminars.

This event brings together manufacturers, suppliers and cooperatives who work towards promoting sustainable fashion practices. Some of the underlying goals are to reduce poverty and negative environmental effects as well as suppor fair and equitable trade.


Global organisations such as the Fairtrade Foundation, the World Fair Trade Organisation, Organic Exchange, and MADE-BY in partnership with the RITE group.


Registered tickets holders only gain access to this event and visitor spaces are limited. Have a look here for more information about the event.

Road trip in Norway | Part 4

Day 5-6

We went from Geiranger to Hellesylt by ferry.

The weather was quite grey and cloudy, but the scenery is still beautiful.

The Seven Sisters Waterfall

On the road again... until we reached...

Ålesund - a city characterised by the Jugendstil architecture.

The Garden Project | Final stage?

I spot little baby chilli peppers!

The garden project is definitely making progress despite the lack of sunshine the past few days.

Yay! A Chilli pepper!

One of the chilli plants has 4-5 little chillies emerging from the remains of the white flowers.

One of the Tomatillo plants has also finally started blooming with yellow flowers.

Chill time | Summer in Oslo

I awoke to yet another day with clouds covering the sky. I thought I'd share theses sunny pictures that I shot earlier this summer. One great thing to do on a sunny day is to head down to Vippetangen or Rådhuset and catch one of the local ferries in Oslo. You can get off at one or several of the the little islands in the Oslo fjord or go to Bygdøy. These islands are a terrific way of getting out of the city, go sunbathing and swimming or simply take a stroll around and explore some new territory.

Oslo City Hall

You get to see some of the attractions from a different viewpoint.

"Skjaergården" (Oslo archipelago)

Going on the ferry is a great option for locals and tourists on a budget, as well as a nice way of just zoning out from everyday stress.

Just watch and relax...

You do not even have to get off the ferry but you can just go on a round trip. This is what we did and it took about 30 minutes - sit down, feel the movements from the sea, breath in the salty air and feel the breeze ruffle up your hair. Delightful!

Tuesday Blues

Yet another grey and cloudy day in Oslo. I am currently working on finding some inspiration for my blog. I will for now just share this photograph with you. It's a motive I found along the way during our road trip. It reminds me of the past and it fills me with nostalgia of earlier days when the time did not pass so fast.

~ Have a fabulous day ~

Zumba fitness | New Activity

I actually tried Zumba Fitness some time ago. Zumba fitness is a great work-out concept inspired by latin dance-moves. It makes you use parts of your body that you either did not know you could move or that you weren't even aware that you had!

I, personally love latin music because it always gets me in an upbeat mood. Zumba fitness is about moving your body and having fun - just in line with the general Latin mentality I'd say. Well, coming from the cold north, my point of reference may not be great (No offense to all my fellow "northerners").

You can read more about Zumba here.

Road trip in Norway | Part 3

Next Stop: Geiranger

Day 5

Our next place to visit was the Geiranger fjord  - UNESCO World heritage listed sight in Western Norway.

The weather was not treating us well that day, and heavy rain clouds and fog were ruining are prospects of getting any nice photographies of the fjord as we entered the site coming from above.

We could see absolutely nothing as we drove now the winding road to the Geiranger fjord. The sight is still quite spectacular with its S shaped fjord, the steep mountain side and the waterfalls coming down, almost vertically from the top of the mountains, hitting the water far below.

This is a very popular tourist destination, and the locals here are probably used huge cruiseships sailing into Geiranger.

Every tourist site and souvenir shop usually display trolls and sell items with troll -and elk motives. This little gallery in the middle of one of Norway's most popular tourist destination seems to be fed up with all the trolls. I would suspect that this sign would attract its own crowd of tourists.

The Garden Project | Further developments

Our little livingroom garden project is still going strong. We have now re-planted our little tomatillo and chilli plants twice. The first time, about a month after we first planted the seeds and the second time this week since the plants had outgrown their pots. The chilli plants are now about 25-35 cm tall. The tomatillo plants are taller - about a meter by now.

There have been quite a few flower showing on the chilliplants and I think the first chillies have started to appear. The chillies need some help pollinating since they are stood inside and this can be done by using a cotton bud to move the pollen inbetween the flowers.

We have 4 large Tomatillo plants and one that is about half the height, probably because it was placed in a Northern facing window after the first potting. 

There are signs of flower buds on the Tomatillo plants as well, but they have not yet started to bloom.

I hope this little bud will turn into a flower.

It is actually impossible to get fresh Tomatillos in Norway - not even canned tomatillos are sold here as far as I know.

Road trip in Norway | Part 2

So the journey continues.

Day 4-5

First stop was Trollstigen:

We eventually reached the top of this winding road up the mountain. Great view!

The stop for the night was "Melchiorgarden", a charming little farm situated in Norddal, a village surrounded by fjords and mountaines. They have 3 guest rooms and they offer a simple, traditional Norwegian breakfast. They grow rasberries and make their own jam and squash (Cordial). We were met by hens and a rooster strolling around in the garden as we arrived. The rooms are decorated differently in a country/shabby chic style and there are some very nice details added as in the picture below.

We enjoyed a traditional 3 course meal dinner at a guesthouse nearby called "Petrines Gjestgiveri". The meal consisted of smoked salmon with a green garnish as the starter and roasted lamb with ovenbaked veg and potatoes as a main. We were so full after these two courses that there just was no room for their lovely apple cake or "karamell pudding" for desert. Petrines is also offers accommodation.

The next part of the journey includes Geiranger and some of the towns on the west coast of Norway.

Road trip in Norway | Part 1

My week of summer hols this year is short and sweet. We decided to do a road trip of 1619 kilometres in 9 days. 

Day 1-3:

Starting off at this cute little cabin in Sjusjøen, by Lillehammer.

The cabin is a great starting point for long walks, just absorbing the nice surroundings and perhaps head up some peaks.

There is also time for cosyness inside the cabin, playing games, drinking wine and having romantic dinners.