Monthly Archives: November 2014

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Foucus on women

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Yesterday I went to a conference called focus on women. I really enjoyed it. The speakers where all good and very diverse. There was a swedish woman who was speaking about self-worth and self-confidence “it’s your life and you deserve to have a good one”. Next to speak was Tore Renberg a writer from here in Stavanger, speaking about becoming a writer, inspiration and finding joy in your work. Then there was a small concert with a local singer/songwriter called Tønes. After that we got a good lunch before we were back to hear from more interesting people. Guri Schanke a norwegian entertainer talking about “relax it will all work out fine”, on “return on time”. After her we got to hear from Bianca Vestvik, she was talking about how to handle change and adversity. Something she would know a lot about having lost he husband to suicide and being left with her small twin sons and a few foster children. After her Benja Stig Fagerland spoke about saying goodby to “jante- and jenteloven” the Jante law is mentioned in a book by writer Axel Sandemose and is deep-rooted in Norwegian society, it states that you’re not supposed to believe you are any better that anyone else and that you’re not supposed to go around claiming to know something special. She was talking about the importance of letting go of this train of thought and follow 7 1/2 step to ensure success. Last but not least artist Espen Lind gave a presentation of his career with up’s and downs and how you need to be persistent in following your dreams, and that it takes hard work. Espen Lind is best known in Norway for his own music, but abroad he’s most famous for writing and producing hits for artist such as Beyoncé and Train. His lecture was called strategic tunes.

Another pluss was that the conference was held in a brand new hotel here in Stavanger called Clarion Hotel Energy. A really nice new conference hotel.

Picture from hotel website

Picture from hotel website

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Stress

Nothing like a nice walk in the sunshine in the fresh crisp autumn air

Nothing like a nice walk in the sunshine in the fresh crisp autumn air

At the moment there is a lot going on in my life. I like it when something is happening, but right now it just tipped the scale and became a little too much. This in turn has left me feeling quite stressed. Luckily these thing pass when you get some of your deadlines over with and manage to do the things you actually need to do. In my case the times when I get stressed are the times when I get a guilty conscience over absolutely anything. My whole world seems to become should have, would have and could haves. This weekend I have, with good help, managed to remember to cherish the little things. The things you actually love that can also seem like stress when you are stressed out of your mind. This is the simple little stuff like reading you favourite blogs in the morning with a nice cup of coffee, meeting up with friends who demands nothing from you and just enjoy your company, taking the time to make and eat nice food (nothing fancy, but as long as I’m not in a hurry I enjoy cooking and food made with love always taste good, especially when you’ve picked all the ingredients from stuff you really like).

Today I’ll have to get some stuff done, but I’m facing my tasks with my shoulders further away from my ears. I’m also looking very much forward to a 3 year old’s birthday party, with cake 😀

 

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Liebster Blog Award

As you have probably figured out by the headline I’ve been nominated for the Liebester Blog Award! To those of you who does not like these award things you can stop reading now 😉 I feel very honored to be nominated by the wonderful Christine at Before sundown. She is a writer and her posts are both well written and interesting to read, the blog is also filled with beautiful photos! You should really pay her blog a visit, I promise it will be worth your time.

What is the Liebster Blog Award?

The Liebster Blog Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. So, what is a Liebster? The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Blogging is about building a community and it’s a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs.

Liebster Blog Award Rules

1. Thank the person who nominated you for the Liebster Award and link their blog to your post.

2. Answer the 11 questions they’ve asked you.

3. Nominate 11 bloggers who have 200 followers or fewer for the award.

4. Ask 11 questions to your nominees.

5. Let your nominees know you nominated them once you’ve posted about your Liebster Award.

6. Add the Liebster Award badge to your blog!

1. Where do you live? Why do you live there?

I live in Stavanger, the 4th largest city in Norway. This is the place I was born and where most of my family lives, so I guess that is as good a reason as any to live somewhere. I also find the city very charming.

2. What is your favorite season of the year?
My favorite season of the year is summer! Every season has its charm, but summer, with its nice sunny weather lots of light and time for a break from work. What’s not to love?

3. What have you learned about yourself recently?
I have recently learned, or maybe re-learned that I don’t deal well with stress when it comes from many different places. If I’m only busy on a few fronts I’m happy as a clam but add a few other areas of life with much to do at the same time and I simply don’t handle it as gracefully as I hoped.

4. Describe a happy memory from your childhood.
I am lucky to have many happy memories from my childhood. Running around playing with my friends, going to the beach on summer days and building snowmen when the snow came going in afterwards to drink hot chocolate. I cherish them all but I can’t manage to choose one from the many.

5. What is the best book you’ve read recently?
Recently I must admit I have not read any books. Shocking, yes! I have simply been too busy to find the time for reading. I find this very sad, but hopefully I’ll be back to reading again soon. I have high hopes for the books Us by David Nicholls and Bill Brysons One Summer.

6. If someone were to make a movie of your life, what actress would you want to play you? What genre would best characterize your movie? (Of course it’s a repeat favorite question).
I would want to be played by Jenifer Lawrance. For the simple fact that I think she is an amazing actress. I think the genre would have to be a typical YA movie, but ask me again in a few years and the answer might be entirely different.

7. If you could live in another time, what time would that be?
I don’t really know. While there are many aspects of the times past that are appealing there are also aspects of them I don’t want to be a part of. So I guess my choice would have to fall on sometime in the future. I must admit I’m quite curious about how it will turn out to be in a hundred years’ time.

8. If you could be an animal, what animal would that be and why?
I would like to be a golden retriever (hopefully one with nice owners). I don’t really have a good reason and I’ve never really had a dream or wish to be anything but a human being.

9. Why did you decide to start blogging?
I had a blog when I was younger, but I stopped writing it. A year ago I decided I missed blogging, because most of the time I find it very therapeutic. After I started I

10. Where do you find inspiration for what you write?
Everywhere! Sounds like the worst cliché ever, but it’s actually true. One never knows what little ting might trigger that weird little thing called inspiration.

11. What is your blog theme (or more than one), stories, photography, books or poems? Why did you choose that blog title?
The theme of my blog is that I write about whatever I feel like writing about, so I guess my theme is the same as the title of my blog. It’s a blog about my thoughts and my life, at least the parts I feel like writing about. I decided to name my blog the thoughts and life of me because that was the thing I wanted to wright about and I felt that it would be an informative title.

Now for my nominations.
Let me first apologize for not having 11 nominees. I do however have some and I think they are good. Some of them might have more than the 200 followers the rules state they should have and some of them might have been nominated before. I want to say that I don’t want any of you to feel pressured in to accepting this award, I will not be in any way offended should you choose to simply ignore this nomination. For me it’s just a way of saying I enjoy reading what you write.

Maria
A trueborn writer/ whatever the heart desires 
Momermom

My 11 questions for the nominees

1. Can you describe yourself with 10 words?
2. Why did you start blogging?
3. Where do you live and how did you come to live there?
4. What is your favorite time of day and why?
5. Who would you choose to write the book about you?
6. What did you want to be when you were young?
7. What do you consider to be your biggest achievement to date?
8. What is your all-time favorite read?
9. Who has inspired you the most?
10. What is your guilty pleasure?
11. What do you find is the most rewarding thing about blogging?

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Fathers day again

Cup cakes for my dad

Cup cakes for my dad

Last sunday was fathers day here in Norway. Last year I made food and baked for my dad. This year I decided to bake something nice for my dad and as it is autumn I figured  carrot cup cakes  would be nice. And I got to use the cup cake rack that belongs to my great box for transporting cakes (it expands so you can bring either really tall cakes or two layers of cake or cup cakes). I made a version with less sugar and a flour with more fiber, just to give everyone a cleaner conscience when eating them. My dad and everyone else really liked them so I guess you could say they where a success.

The last week I have not been feeling my best, I’ve had a bit of fever and been really tired. Now it seems to have developed into a cold and even if my nose is cloged up I feel much better so I’m going to attempt a trip out to IKEA to get a few things I need for the appartement. I cross my fingers that there won’t be way to many people out there, but I’m going to assume there is. As IKEA is usually very busy on saturdays.

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Friday

Darker outside

Darker outside

It sure is getting dar out early these days. I took the picture above one day when I was leaving work a bit later than usual, but not so late as one might think from the photo above.

The last while I’ve been very busy. There has been more than usual going on both at work and at home. Last weekend was also Siddis Brass, a competition for brass bands. Leading up to this there are many rehearsals and concerts, so even if it’s great fun it’s very busy and leaves you with little time to get all the other stuff you’re supposed to do, done.

Today I managed to forget the keys to my appartement at work. I did not discover this until I was outside my house. This means I had to take the bus back to work, get the keys and go back again. Safe to say my friday night got a bit shorter than I anticipated, and left me in a worse mood than I was leaving work the first time.

Hope you all have a good weekend, and remember to always remember your keys.