Monthly Archives: January 2015

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Coffee

Picture from Nespresso shop

Picture from Nespresso shop

I really like coffee.  It has the ability to make your day much better from the get go in the morning. I am very pleased with my Nespresso Coffee machine and the Nespresso variety. My machine is not at all fancy, but it gives me great coffee with only having to put in some water a capsule and press a button. The fact that it is quick and tastes good is really a good help in the mornings. I got my machine because I had tasted Nespresso coffee at some friends house and at our summer-house, and there was a machine on sale when I went to get a few items for my appartement before I moved in.

My machine looks just like this

My machine looks just like this

I do realize that drinking too much coffee is not very good for your health, so I try not to drink way to much. And when I come home from work in the afternoon I usually drink tea or decaf coffee. There has not been a good variety in decaf coffee from Nespresso, don’t get me wrong I liked one of the two they had, but one of the things I like about Nespresso is the fact that you have a broad range of choices with your coffee. And after visiting their shop in Stavanger I found out that they had a new variety in decaf coffee. I know this is a bit strange to get really worked up about, but it is the small happiness in life that makes the everyday good. I tried two of the new ones and found that one of them was actually better than it’s caffeinated counterpart.

Skjermbilde

Hope you’re all having a great weekend. I know I am.

 

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Another weekend is over

My weekend turned out exactly the way it was supposed to. I did bits and pieces around the house, as planned, and I went for a few nice walks. As promised the weather got colder and clearer. And the sky went from grey to blue and pink. I really do prefere this weather to the rain, hail and wind from the last weeks, even if it it a bit slppery with the ice on the ground. I now I might jinx myself here, but I have managed to keep both feet on the ground so far (touch wood).

Lovely sky and frozen lake

Lovely sky and frozen lake

On Saturday evening I stayed in, enjoyed a glass of wine and watched Spellemansprisen, Norway’s annual music award show. The show was held here in Stavanger, but I did not go to see it or go celebrity spotting around town, I simply watched it on TV as I used to when I was a kid.

Norwegian music award

Norwegian music award

To wrap up the weekend I went to my parents house on Sunday to enjoy a traditional Norwegian sunday dinner with the family. All in all it was a very good weekend combining relaxation with getting things that needed to be done out of the way. Hope all of you had really great weekends and bring some positive energy into th week ahead.

 

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Slow grey saturday morning

It’s weekend again and the weather that has been truly terrible lately is supposed to get colder and brighter. If the forecast is right this will be lovely compared to the hail, sleet, rain and wind we’ve been getting, but looking out my window it’s just looking grey. If you think that I’m commenting on the weather over here a lot I probably am, I’ve been told that we Norwegians are above average concerned with the weather, so being a Norwegian I just keeping up with our culture 😉 I guess this is probably due to the fact that the weather has always had a huge impact on Norway’s prominent industries (from fishing and farming to oil) and the fact that the weather can make it difficult to get around to some of the more remote places in our long mountain filled country here in the north.

Looking out the window, it's going to be a grey sort of day

Looking out the window, it’s going to be a grey sort of day

This weekend I have decided to give in to the large pile of laundry in my basket and I need to do a lot of tidying and cleaning around the apartment. Just taking a look around the place it’s very clear that I’ve been neglecting this for a little too long. But as they said in a commercial here in Norway a few years ago the weekend is not only about “should have’s” so Tweety and I agreed that a slow start to the day was required.

Tweety and me having a slow morning

Tweety and me having a slow morning

 

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Charlie and Nina

I am a firm believer in freedom of speech and I think what happened at Charlie Hebdo in France was a terrible act of terrorism. Killing people for expressing  themselves though drawing, speaking or writing is something I really find it important to take a stand against. In this I share Voltaire’s view on freedom of speech:

“I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”

Here in the library in Stavanger they had planed a exhibition of controversial drawings, mostly newspaper drawings, and the people who made them, for the day after the shooting. Luckily the exhibition was not canceled, but they brought in extra security for the opening of the exhibition.

In other news here at home the weekend has been quite stormy. Nina the storm payed Norway a visit and all was advised to keep indoors on Staurday evening.

Nina is raging. Photo fro NRK.no

Nina is raging. Photo fro NRK.no

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Lazy weekend and the library

Cafe in the library

Cafe in the library

One of the things I tell myself at the beginning of every year that I’m going to make more time to do the things  I like. Those things include spending time with friends, eating good food, going for nice walks and reading books. This weekend I got to do just those things. Went out for a few drinks after a nice long walk and a lazy morning on saturday. Sunday we went for breakfast at the cafe that is in the same building as the library. I really like their breakfast and the atmosphere and I really like the library next to it.

Drinks and bread

Drinks and bread

Food!

Food!

As I have mentioned a few times before here and here the redecorated library is really nice and a very enjoyable place to spend some time. There was an article in the paper today saying that the amount of visitors after the redecoration and with the extended opening hours have increased significantly. The decline in borrowing from the library that has been happening over a few years has been turned into a small growth. To a book and culture lover like me this is really good news. Hopefully this will continue to rise.

After the food we went for a good walk by the sea. It was quite windy and rainy, but the fres air and the moving around was really good.

walk in the rain

walk in the rain

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2015 Here I Come

2015

The New Year has come. As ever I have made up my mind that this year is going to be a good one, better than the previous. I have made a few resolutions, that I will probably not manage to make, but that is actually not the point. It is a good way to have a positive outlook on life. If you don’t set out to hope and think that the year that’s coming will be a good one would be quite depressing.

The year has had a promising start. With visit from good friends that doesn’t live close by, so I don’t get to see them very often. But when they’re here it feels like you where never apart. This is going to be a nice lazy weekend. But despite the fact that the new year literally came with a storm, I will go out for a walk and get some fresh air!

Whatever 2015 has in store for me I feel ready to embrace it and I have told myself that it’s very important to make as much lemonade as possible from the lemons life send your way. Regardless of what happens, 2015 I’m yours. Please be good to me and the people I care about.