Waiting for Christmas

I'll be home for Christmas, you can count on me

... until then, I'll make a Chrismas-home where I am.

Volkscycle

I am so happy, I could fly!

I have been reunited with one of the most memorable feelings from Amsterdam; riding a bicycle! I bought a brand-old Volkscycle last weekend, and it just feels so right! Wind in my hair, cruising along the beautiful scenery of Bergen really brightens up my day!

Here it is:

Nostalgic as I am, I named it Amsterdam.

Inspiration

"... imperfections are the nuances of the world, and beauty is shallow without them."



My wonderful and brave friend Tiril, who is such an inspiration. Admire her photseries 52; it's one year with new self-portraits every week.

Hverdagskos

Jeg skriver hovedoppgave i psykologi om dagen. Det er mye jobb, og hverdagene har vist at de kan strekke seg så laaaange som bare det. Da blir det ekstra viktig å spise gode ting, og å gjøre det fint for seg i heimen ved å lage kyllingspyd med sataysaus;

og energibar til å ta med på lesesalen:

* Bildet er hentet fra www.vaffelhjerte.com

Oppskrift på energibar

4 ss nøytral olje

3-4 ss honning

1,5 ss mørk sirup

150 g havregryn

50 g solsikkefrø

25 g sesamfrø

35 g kokos

50 g tørkede, grovhakkede aprikoser

50 g tørkede tranebær/kirsebær eller rosiner

(eller andre tørkede frukter)

en neve pistasjenøtter

en neve peanøtter

(eller andre nøtter)

Varm forsiktig opp olje, honning og sirup til det er smeltet. Bland resten av ingridiensene i en stor bolle; tilsett det flytende og bland godt sammen. Hell det over i en liten langpanne, press alt godt ned, og stek i ca. 25 minutter på 180 grader.

Merk opp barene mens massen er varm, la det avkjøle seg, og skjær så opp etter oppmerkingen.

Oppbevares i en lufttett boks, holdbart i ca. en uke.

Balkanparty

Marta and me went to a balkanparty in Evanger, a small village one hour from Bergen. It was rural, exotic, beautiful and FUN!




We had lamb roasted whole on a pole, saw an authenic Balkan Orchestra and danced the night away!

http://www.balkanfest-evanger.com

Summerpostcard

I have finished travelling for the summer, and 'real life' is slowly picking up it's pace.

Holidays were good; I've been to Vienna (twice!), working, and visited my family in Germany. Always good to see them! My sister and me took my grandmother (76yrs) and her sister (88yrs) to see Vienna! The two ladies always wanted to go, but never had the opportunity. So we took a train, we came, we saw, we conquered! It was really nice, and they so much appreciated it.

As autumn is approaching, and a new semester is about to start, here is my plan for the following year; I will finish my degree in psychology (knock on wood), and hopefully we will release my first single in not to long. It's rather slow work, but it needs the time to mature and be proper, not hasty.

Hope you've had a good summer!

Cathrine

PS: Here are some pictures from Vienna

Boats for shoes

Wow! I've just had a friend and her boyfriend visiting, and when I saw his shoes I almost fell over! They were of the mark Crocs, and they were HUGE! I could survive on the ocean in these shoes! (Comment: acctually, I could survive on the ocean in one of them)! I could live in it, with a family! Wow. The biggest, boatiest shoes I ever saw...

Here they are, legendary!

Next to them are my shoes. I'm a size 7 - 7,5 (37/38), so they are not doll-shoes to make the contrast bigger.... I could fit both my shoes, and both my feet in one of his...

Slottsfjellfestivalen 2010

Back in Bergen after 3 beautiful days on the Slottsfjellfestival in Tønsberg, south of Oslo! Had so much fun, and I'm full of inspiration after so many wonderful concerts. Worth mentioning are Lissie (great performance by a young girl), Band of Skulls (ROCK!! Check out their album, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey), Karpe Diem (norwegian popish-hiphopers, accompanied by a great band, Something Sally; surprisingly good gig, they owned the crowd!), the supercharming Rox, crazy Juliette Lewis and Helt Off with special guest Timbuktu.

The greatest surprise, however, came from british Ou est le swimming pool. They played the last concert saturday night, parallell with the somewhat more familiar Mew. We'd never heard of them before, and were supposed to hear a song or two before to head over to the danish guys. But all of a sudden we were "dancing the way we felt" and the atmosphere was glowing, pumping and sweating! Wow, they were amazing, and we had so much fun! I really recommend catching a show if you get the oppurtunity (and if you like dancing)!!

Here are a few memoirs from the days on the mountain by the Oslofjord:

Bella Mari

Supercool MarteStrickert and HåkonKinn

My new favourites; Ou est le swimming pool


Marte and me in the sunset

Thank you beautiful people for these superfine days!

Ordinary souvenirs

Today I've had a day off from working at the café (Smakverket, which, by the way, has been nominated for having the best coffe in Bergen here - click on the link and vote for us!!) I've been having coffee, reading newspapers and walking a bit in my beloved Bergen. So beautiful! And I was really happy when a Butterfly-lavendel decided to accompany me home.

I have also been inspired by my favourite blog Undikken to post some pictures from whatever happens on a regular-normal-everyday. So here are a couple of ordinary souvenirs:

Butterflylavendel

My supergreen sunglasses

...and, even though I've presented it before; Kadinsky, my greenUkulele!


(And for the really attentive ones; yes I DO love green. It makes me happy.)

PS: My "secret" tip for the summer; colors colors colors!

Studioreport

A small glimt from my previous studiosession in Voss - Lars and me were polishing lyrics, it's so much fun working with him! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luPwuQN4sN8&feature=channel

Matt dancing

Here is some feelgood for the day! Matt dancing around the world. I don't know why, but I find it really moving that he gets all this people dancing along with him! Makes me smile. Cheerio Matt!

Brief summary of Vienna

Brief summary of Vienna

Biking



Coffee & Wine


Music; Opera and more (luckily, because the opera, Tosca, was terrible!)



Green Ukulele


Sun




Laughter




Old Friends and New Ones

Danke für die super Ferientage!

Vienna

On Wednesday the 2nd I am taking a brake and flying to Wienna, to visit my beautiful friend Maximilian!


He is extremely proud of his city, and I know we will have a wonderful time in the Kaffehauses, the Operas, the parks, the streets.


Cruising in his VW-van I'm sure we might even locate a Schnitzel or two, like last time when I went on interrail with Mari! These are certainly a couple of nice pieces of meat.

Max and Austria; here I come!!!

Leif Ove Andsnes

I går så jeg Leif Ove Andsnes på sykkel! I gata mi! Sukk.

Anbefaling

http://www.myspace.com/stmorritz

17.mai

Hurra for syttende mai. !.

Æsj, selvaktualisering

Fant ett notat jeg skrev den 21. april 2007, etter at jeg hadde vært to uker i Kenya og Tanzania! Syntes det kunne reproduseres her.

Æsj, selvaktualisering

Hm. For en uke siden var jeg på besøk i et barnehjem i Nairobi. EN uke! Og det virker allerede som om det var i fjor. Jeg blir stadig like overrasket over hvordan livet bare går videre og videre. Hverdagen inntreffer like snikende som brutal, og likegyldigheten etser seg inn i min tanke fortere enn jeg får sagt Afrika. Afrika! Derja. Skulle nesten likt å vite hvordan det ville være å ha problemene fokusert rundt eksterne framfor interne ting; 'kan jeg spise' framfor 'hva skal jeg spise' i dag? 'Vær på vakt for korrupt politi' framfor 'sukk, ingen liker meg'. Akk, all denne luksusen med å bo i et rikt og selvaktualiserende land gjør meg litt kvalm; vær deg selv nok! Jeg har i grunn ikke så lyst til å være meg selv nok! Jeg er jo så liten, det blir som å bry seg om en loppe.

Likevel mangler jeg 'overskuddet' til å ta meg av de menneskene rundt meg. Være den som sender en melding og spør om det går bra, eller ofrer en liten time til den personen jeg vet ville satt ekstra pris på det. Æsj, kan jeg ikke krype nedover igjen på Maslows stige? Eller kanskje jeg bare skal flytte til Afrika og bo i ett blikkhus? Det verste er vel at jeg faktisk klager over å ha det så bra...

Livet som puslespill

... det tar den tiden det tar å få alle bitene på plass.

Eksamen

Å stange hodet i bordet.
Å ha vondt i ryggen på grunn av lame sittestilling.
Å ha verkende fingre etter alt for mye typing på komputeren.
Å ha fått gjort temmelig mye husarbeid.
Å føle at ti sider plutselig vokste seg veldig store.

Eksamen er eksamen. Samme hvor kjekt det er med kunsthistorie...

Dreamer

Dreamer - can you tell me why
we never grow wings and learn to fly?

Dreamer - can you tell me why
they took away the star in your eye?

Let's make today a dreamers day
and fly away.

Om jeg fikk leve ett liv til

Fant et nydelig lite dikt i ett reklamehefte jeg fikk i går! Det er skrevet av Nadine Stair, 85 år, og det var virkelig til ettertanke. Håper jeg ikke kommer i trøbbel for å reprodusere uten å ha spurt om lov først... Det var bare så innmari fint at jeg ville dele det ASAP!

Om jeg fikk leve ett liv til

Om jeg fikk leve ett liv til -
Da skulle jeg gjøre flere feil neste gang.

Jeg skulle koble av mer, og være mykere.
Jeg skulle være dummere enn jeg har vært på denne reisen.

Jeg skulle ta saker og ting mindre alvorlig.
Jeg skulle våge å ta flere sjanser,
bestige fler fjell og svømme i flere sjøer.
Jeg skulle spise mer is og færre poteter.

Jeg kunne kanskje ha flere virkelige bekymringer,
men jeg skulle ha færre innbilte.

Du forstår... jeg er sånt menneske
som lever forsiktig
Og sunt time etter time, dag etter dag.

Å, visst har jeg hatt mine fine stunder, om jeg
fikk gjøre det om igjen skulle jeg forsøke å bare ha
stunder. Den ene stunden etter den andre
- istedenfor å leve så mange år i forveien.

Jeg er en sånn person som aldri går noen steder
uten termometer, varmtvannsflaske, regnkappe
eller fallskjerm.

Om jeg fikk leve en gang til,
skullle jeg pakket mindre i vesken.

Om jeg fikk leve en gang til skulle jeg begynne
å gå barføtt tidligere om våren
- og fortsette med det lengre inn i høsten.

Jeg skulle danse mer, kjøre mer karusell,
- og jeg skulle plukke flere tusenfryd

Takk, Nadine Stair!

Puerto de Mogán

I've just returned to Bergen from my Easter-holidays! I've been here and there, but the one there I would like to describe this morning is Puerto de Mogán . It's a lovely little village on the south-east coast of Gran Canaria (Yes, I have been chartering!! My sister and me, and all the older people who seek the tranquility and the sun, one week in Gran Canaraia... Hahaha!)

The sky is this blue

This is the port (obviously...)

The landscape is not really beautiful; rocky, red-ish mountains, hardly any vegetation. It feels a bit like being on the moon! Vulcanic island and all, you know... What I find quite fascinating is, however, that they build, practically glue, roads to these mountainsides! And all day long you can hear busses and trailers hooping to warn other cars and motorbikes about their turning the bend... *moop moooop*!!

There are some plants. They grow bananas, for example! And they have a strange bird of paradise flower. This is very exotic to me, since we normally only see them in flowershops here in Norway...

And they have gnomes here as well!!! Made the trip complete...