1966

1966, originally uploaded by karlakp.

Wine tasting of reisling from Kloster Eberbach. A 1966 reisling and a 1991 eiswein that explodes in your mouth when you taste it. Wow.

second post of the day! I'm on a role!

Ok, ladies.

READ THIS ARTICLE.

I have long said that the reason skinny girls are in and curvier women are not is fear. Fear of womanliness and all that it means. Flesh, sex, fertility, curves, nature......

Read this article, it is SO well written. This is exactly what I have been saying all along. .

nifty

Rich is back from the US, he went on August 2nd, so I hadn't seen him for three weeks, almost. It's good to have him home.

He brought me back a new iTouch for my birthday, my old one was freezing up and slow and getting too full. I LOVE the new one ... it's so much quicker to the touch, and faster, and with bigger storage and has the external speaker so I can watch the occasional YouTube without having to find earbuds. He also brought me a new cover for it and some screen covers. He's really good about that sort of thing. I just bang the shit out of my stuff until it looks disreputable, normally (you should see my other iPods) but this one might survive my bonking it around. (But I will say, he's Anal Boy, always worried about scratches or stains, and I am Disaster Girl, always scratching something or spilling stuff. I figure, that's what washers are for so no big deal, and dab at the coffee on my shirt with whatever's handy, while he's busy using soda water to clean spilled water from his clothes!)

So, anyhow, I've been upgrading my apps, downloading more tv shows, and upgrading all my iTunes music to the DRM free versions, which is cool because it was annoying that I couldn't share my own music if I wanted to. And so I've been enjoying my new, faster, spiffier iTouch and am thinking I am so cool.

Then my coworker showed me his iPad.

Dammit. Now I want one. I swore up and down I didn't want one, that I didn't need it. (And, honestly, I don't NEED it.Who needs any of these things?) But. I. Want. iPad. Oh how I want.

Dammit.

Meeting People

Well, as I've mentioned, there was a blogger gather in Oslo this week that I was not really able to attend due to me being so damned busy I didn't even have time to eat most of the time. Couple that with having been sick, it was a fairly insane week. (Oh and I got another year older on Wednesday. Blah.)

However, I did manage to join the 'closing night' of the blogfest at the Dubliner and got to meet some of the people from the blog gather. And, might I say, they were awfully nice.

It seems to me that the ranks of bloggers are thinning. When I started blogging in 2004 (was it really 6 years ago?) blogging was building up rapidly. Within a couple years most of my friends had blogs too. I loved that, because I could keep up with them and read their blogs with their voices (oh so missed) in my mind. But then Facebook rose in ascendancy and now it seems most of my friends have abandoned their blogs, which has actually been a little hole in my life. I miss their stories. Facebook is just soundbites.

So, last night, it was SO GREAT to meet people who still keep up their blogs, many of which I have read (though another sad fact is that I don't have time to read blogs much anymore, much less post to my own). I always find it interesting to meet a person who I 'know' via their written word. Does the person match the literary voice? Or is the blog more of a persona? (Apparently, and perhaps not surprisingly, people who meet me after they've read this blog tell me that I am pretty much what they expected me to be. I guess, with me, what you read is what you get. (This probably explains why I'm a crap actress. I'm just me. Not so good at being anyone else.))

Anyhow, I met Michele, and Mr BB and Caroline and I re-met Corinne and then, of course, is the man who planned it all, Renny BA.

• Michele and her husband moved to Norway without jobs or knowing anyone here, just for a new life, which I find incredibly brave.
  
• Mr BB is incredibly erudite, and has a way of drawing people into a conversation with his gesticulations and his infectious enthusiasm for a multitude of topics.
  
• Caroline is a gorgeous mom of three from South Africa with a very calming way about her.
  
• Corinne, who I met before at the Obama inauguration party at the Hard Rock, is now my little sister. She adopted me. (Hey, Sis, I didn't say bye to you last night!).
  
• And Renny BA is one of those people who knows everyone and is a fulcrum for networking and gathering people from all over the world.
  

I also got to spend more time with Karen, a hilarious Scot I've met before at my other favorite bar, F&B.And a whole bunch of other people were there, some people came from Spain and France, as well! It was a great time.

I ended up having yet another 2am night out at the Dub, I finally walked home, as the trams weren't running anymore. I always enjoy Oslo late at night (early in the morning?) as it's like a huge street party, people everywhere, dancing, singing, vomiting, walking. I felt a bit unique in my long flowing peasant dress (with cleavage, natch) and cowboy boots when every other woman out was wearing either a mini skirt or short shorts with incredibly high heels. It was like 'dress like a stylish hooker' night. (My dress was probably more 19th century hooker, I guess. hehe.) Many of the poor girls were walking very gingerly and painfully in their absurdly high heels. Don't know about you, but if you are walking like an 80 year old, all bent over and stiff legged, that defeats the purpose of the sexy outfit, no?

Me? I'll stick with my boots and long skirts. I walked comfortably home, long, tall and sure of my footing. In confidence and self assurance, there is sexiness.

Caca?

Caca?, originally uploaded by karlakp.

Bad name for a cake decor shop!

bloggers

There's been a big blog gathering in town this week. I unfortunately have had to miss almost all the festivities, but tonight I at least get to catch the last part of it, and will meet some of the Norway bloggers I have been curious about.


Looking forward to meeting you, guys!

best birthday card ever!

A coworker of mine drew me this for my birthday. Isn't it awesome? And, of course, I am happy to still note that I am easily caricatured.....now with bike!

Nasty

Is it possible to call in disgusting to work? Because I shoulda done that today.

I ended up leaving early because the snotty coughing and wheezing I was doing was actually making people avoid me in the hallways.

I'm home now, tucked up in bed in my jammies and feeling distinctly sorry for my nasty self.

I WILL be better tomorrow!!!!!

Random notes about my bike

• I took my bike out for a ride today. It's a glorious day, and while I would rather have stayed in and nursed this shitty little cold I have, I decided that days like this will be all too rare from here on out, so I better take advantage of it.
• I believe I have mentioned in the past the fall comes on August 24th in Norway? Yeah, so an 80 degree day on August 15th is not to be ignored.
• Anyhow, bike, ride, outside.
• I went over to Bygdøy for an hour's ride today, and it wasn't all that fun, because there were too many people. There were too many little kids on little bikes who can't go in straight lines. Too many cars. Too many slow bike riders and fast bike riders and there was no where for me to go with my still wobbly bike riding lack of confidence. I need to go somewhere where there is no one and practice curbs and stopping and so on.
• I'm kind of a wimp on my bike. The whole time I'm riding, I'm a bit afraid.
• Like, here's my thoughts while riding:
  
• "CURB! There's a CURB! Do I go over it?..oh shit, KID! Little kid! Stay there kid, don't let me hit you...MOVE it! BUS...BUS...BUS!!...Oh crap, fucking pedestrian, move the fuck OVER! Crosswalk! Ride it or walk it? Ride? Walk...shit, walk."
• See? Wimp. I almost spend more time walking the bike than riding. Just not sure of the routines yet.
  
• But, that being said, I AM getting better.
• Like, going uphill?
  
• KILLED me the first few times.
  
• But now, I can feel it getting a little easier. Not easy, mind, but easier. My breathing is levelling out better. (Though my lungs hurt today from this cold. I mean, they HURT. Like, burned. Ow.)
  
• My legs don't hurt anymore and my butt bone must have hardened up a bit, because I don't have saddle ass anymore either.
  
• So, there's that. Some small successes, at least.
• On Thursday I got to ride home from work with my basket filled with roses I bought. I felt so European and a little glamorous.
• Today, I rode home with toilet paper and onions in the basket. (we were out).
• You can imagine how glamorous THAT felt......
  
• BTW, my new nerd glasses are AWESOME as sunglasses! LOVE them!
  

nerdy cool or just nerdy?

Got my new glasses today. They look AWESOME as sunglasses (they have those lenses that become darker in the sun?) But they are pretty nerdalicious as glasses. Hmm.....

London, fashion, and random

I'm back from London and back to work.

I went to London alone as Rich went to the US to see his mom. Since I just went home, I couldn't justify another long trip. And I save my time off for Thanksgiving in November, as that is the best time to go back and my favorite holiday.

Anyhow, my trip to London was nice, if very specifically oriented towards shopping. London has great summer sales. And I have been there enough times that I don't have an overwhelming need to do the sights or museums...been there, done that. Plus Rich wasn't with me to drag me to anything cultural....

I got there Friday and for some reason was just exhausted. Dead tired. Like, jet lagged dizzy, dangerously out of balance tired. I took a nap in the hotel when I got there, got up, wandered a bit around Spitalfields, ate something (was STARVING) then went back to the room and was in bed by 8:30. Yeah, go party girl, woohoo! I liked my hotel room, it was like a posh oversized garret.

Up on Saturday, grabbed a Starbucks (a treat for someone from non-Starbucked Norway) and then headed over to the vintage markets around the Truman Brewery by Shoreditch. Found a great vintage sale, by the kilo, and got a nice dress and a really great Chanel-esque tweed jacket for 15 pounds. Then I headed over to Regent street where I found a great sale at Jaeger, and some good stuff at Cos, and some really cool pants at French Connection (thought I absolutely HATE their latest ad campaign. "This is the woman". WTF?And the dude looks like a homeless guy).

Then I ate at the new Chiplotle Grill on Charing Cross road (heaven!!!) and gorged on my favorite burrito bowl with chicken and black beans. Nom nom. Tasted like home. Just a lot more expensive.

I was back in the room by 8 and snuggled in bed, reading and luxuriating, by 9:30 after a hot bath.

Sunday I met my friend Hannah at the amazing Westfield mall at Shepherd's Bush, where I stayed from opening to close, and then I had dinner there too! That mall is huge and amazing, and the food is really good. What a mall. I didn't buy too much, as I was worried about carrying it all and my back was acting up, but what I got was good and stuff that I had been looking for anyhow. I got perfect black patent leather flats at Russell and Bromley for 60% off.

Monday morning I got up early and went walkabout the City, from Liverpool street down to St Paul's and the Millenium Bridge, then over to Holborn, and then the tube down to Marble Arch for a snoop around the lower end of Oxford Street. I've discovered that one of my favorite stores here, Noa Noa, has a branch in London in St Christopher's Place, and I can save up to 30% just by buying in London instead of here, due to exchange rates and lower tax rates. So I check that out when I can.

Then I splurged on a taxi to Paddington and the Heathrow Express to the airport, where I ate at Gordon Ramsay's Plane Food restaurant and was underwhelmed (severely) by the steak (rib eye, way too thin cut) but was really pleased with the chips, which were by far some of the best I have ever had. Still, overpriced all told.

Home by 9 last night, where I was treated to some very odd Christian interpretive dance while I waited for the tram outside Oslo S, crashed into my comfy comfy bed, and then to work this morning.

Now, some notes on fashion:

• I don't know what the British fashion establishment is thinking, but only going up to a size 40 (US 10) in many shops is just NOT on. I found some great stuff at H&M but they only go to 40 in the Trend section in the UK. Back here in Norway, they have 42 in Trend (though only ever one so you have to be the first one to get it) which fits me just fine. British women aren't exactly skinny, so why are they only offered such small sizes?
  
• WTF is up with the shops now adding all these hanging ribbons into all the clothes? The new thing is a long strip from one side of the neck to the other on sweaters and so on, to hold it on the hanger. I understand the need for shop neatness, but I can't begin to tell you how many times I got hung up in the damned ribbon and got my head or hair stuck. Plus sometimes it alters the actual hang of the item on your body. This is NOT cool. I cut those damned things out the minute I get home.
• Zara's origin/washing tags are entirely too big and scratchy and awful. It's like sandpaper in your shirt.
  
• Gap "perfect" trousers are so NOT perfect. They are crapulous. Hello Gap? We have ASSES over here!
  
• I can't figure out if my legs are too long or too short. It seems that depends upon the designer.
  
• My arms ARE too long, though, I rarely find jackets that hit just below my wrist bone.
• My waist is too small.
  
• And my boobs are too big. I don't understand why the media is full of huge tits, and then when you try on clothes, if you are bigger than a B cup, forget trying to fit into anything. Boobs not allowed. I guess that's what you get when clothes are designed by gay guys who only hang out with women who look like young boys (no offense to gay men but seriously! We have ASSES and BOOBS over here! Most women are not built like sticks!)
• I think I have lost a little weight from bike riding, actually. So yippee!
  

Named for me?

Named for me?, originally uploaded by karlakp.

They named a street for me!

Never

Never, originally uploaded by karlakp.

I never get tired of the view from the Millenium Bridge. Ever.

For Anne

For Anne, originally uploaded by karlakp.

Morning coffee at St Paul's cathedral.

Fancy

Fancy, originally uploaded by karlakp.

Fancy schmancy teeny tiny mexican food in London. Its all mini sized and yummy. Pretty spicy too!

Saturday in London

Saturday in London, originally uploaded by karlakp.

Breakfast of champions.

Round window

Round window, originally uploaded by karlakp.

Hotel room view, London.

Ah the good things that happen

Was just rereading some of my old blog posts (I used to write better, I was actually kind of humorous at times.... what happened to me?) and find this post.

Those were good times. I'd like to have that happen again.

Hallelujah.

New bike on its first adventure

New bike on its first adventure, originally uploaded by karlakp.

At Vigelandparken.