Un look retro

Oh man, what a crazy long weekend it's been! Thanksgiving turned out great, then visited the Brooklyn Museum and on Satuday did a walking ghost tour with some friends in the upper West Side. Have you ever done a ghost tour? They're a really great way to learn a little bit of history. Well, that's why I do them it's more about the creepy NY history than finding out if there are any ghosts haunting whichever building.

I wasn't really going anywhere today but I wanted to finally style up this retro tunic from Annie in order to pass it along to all the other D12 ladies. I thought I'd pair it with my pumpkin tights from welovecolors to make it just mod enough. The length on it is slightly awkward though so I had to add some jean shorts underneath in order to not be so scandalous.

This was first day

Day 333: I have been getting behind on posting my projects! This one I made on New Years day on the drive down to Albuquerque to visit some friends. Don't worry, I wasn't the one driving. I found this picture of a girl walking in the rain. I tried to give it a rainy kind of feel by ripping the paper into long strips.

Day 334: I cut out a pair of scissors from a magazine page. This was one of my sneaky short projects. My mind was on hanging out and enjoying the friends we were visiting so I basically just made something as quick as I could! The friend we were visiting has a scissor collection (little pairs of scissors nailed to the wall) so scissors were the first thing that came to mind.

Day335: I always get a little melancholy around the time of my birthday. It's not about getting older, it's about struggling with accepting that I am loved and that it's okay to have a day that is supposed to be special for me. In the days approaching my birthday I go back and forth between excited and wishing I could just skip the whole thing. I decided to express some of that mixed emotion with some recycled tears.

Day 336: This collage is a continuation of thoughts and feelings around my birthday and reflections on where my life is at the moment. There is a crazy mix of words, some reflecting positive thoughts and outlooks, some of them a little more ambivalent, some expressing confusion and a sense of being lost. All this comes to rest on the right side of the page where there are two statements that sum up what I've uncovered as a solid foundation for approaching my life. It is important to me to be just as I am, without shoving my thoughts, desires, and impulses inside to please someone else (which I have indeed spent much of my life doing). The other is to always have something to look forward to. I am kind of an adventure/excitement junkie (though not in an extreme way like jumping out of planes). I am always seeking/wanting new experiences. I can get easily depressed when life becomes too routine. I know it is my responsibility to keep myself happy by actively seeking the next adventure rather than slipping into boredom and blaming it on relationship or the responsibilities of being a mom. This collage helped me to reconnect with that and curb the birthday blues.

Day 337: More magazine circles for my ongoing art piece. If this ever becomes as large and impressive as it is in my head, I will have really accomplished something!

Day 338: I drew a couple of pairs of scissors resting on top of each other. This drawing totally sucks and it can just go to the cardboard bin! I like the idea though, so I'll probably try a similar drawing again, hopefully with better results.

Day 339: Hanging out at the bar next to a basket of matchbooks and having a drink to celebrate my birthday (and having a good time of it too), I cut decorations into several of the matchbooks. They turned out pretty cute! I love projects that come about just cause I happen to be in a certain place at a certain time and start fiddling around with whatever happens to be in front of me.

Day 340: So, my birthday finally arrives, and it turns out to be a wonderful day! On the drive to the bowling alley, I cut a butter box up to look like a piece of swiss cheese. I really don't know why, but here it is!

10 Tips for Surviving Sick Days at Home

I haven't been sick since June *knocks on wood* and so as we come into cold and flu season, it's granted that I'll get a least one cold. In which I'll stay home from work because that's just how I am. I don't want to get other people sick and when I am sick, I can't do anything but be sick. My mind doesn't work, my body doesn't work. It's pointless.

I came across this post today on Apartment Therapy about surviving sick days at home and I just had to re-post it.

I'll also paste it all below because that's all part of the fun.

Getting ill from time to time is inevitable, so you might as well be prepared. Tucking away a few essentials makes a lot more sense than standing in line at the store when your temperature is spiking. Here are a few of my must-haves for when — doctor's orders — it's you and the couch for a couple of days. Do you have any tips for surviving sick time at home?

• Electrical heating pads are efficient, but dozing off with one can cause burns or fires. A hot water bottle will soothe your upset belly or sore back and maybe even ease you into sleep. It's also a treat on a chilly night, especially if it's wrapped in a cashmere cozy.

• I spent three straight days wrapped in wool blankets. If you have the space, a stash of thick blankets will cocoon you in warmth when you're feeling chilled from fever or frosty temperature. The softer and cozier, the better. If you've got something contagious, be sure to clean them when you're recovered!

• It's unlikely you're going to launder your sheets midway through a short bout of the flu, but a fresh pillowcase feels like heaven after a night of sweaty tossing and turning. Even if you're a one-sheet-set person, keep an extra pillowcase or two in the closet. If you're feverish, chill a pillowcase in the freezer for an instant cool-down.

• My next household splurge will definitely be high-quality pillows. That's all I was wishing for as my budget pillow seemed to gradually lose its will to fluff. It was flatter than my unwashed hair, and just as unappealing.

• The last thing you want to do when you're feeling really crummy is run to the drugstore. Sometimes you need relief right now. I keep a plastic box neatly stuffed with over-the-counter meds and herbal remedies for everything from the common cold to heartburn. Every year or so, I throw out the way-past-expired drugs and restock as soon as possible.

• I love having a carafe by the bedside for middle-of-the-night thirst attacks, but it also comes in handy when you're camped out on the couch. A full carafe by day's end will chide you, too. Didn't your doc tell you to drink plenty of water?

• Whenever bathtubs come up on Apartment Therapy, readers seem to fall yay or nay on the relevance of the tub in modern home design. I don't care how outdated the humble fixture becomes (unlikely!), it will always be a high-ranking priority for me. Nothing — and I mean nothing — soothes an aching body like a good soak, especially with Epsom salts thrown into the mix. A hot shower feels pretty fine, too, though.

• Even if you're all about takeout, you should always have a little something in your pantry (cause trust me, chow mein is tough on a tummy in turmoil). Canned soup works in a pinch, but in an ideal world, you'd have a container of homemade stuff in the freezer at all times.

• Since we don't have a TV right now, my laptop helped me cling to sanity when I wasn't sleeping. I don't think I could've made it through without watching the entire first season of The Walking Dead on Netflix (amazingly, my stomach held steadfast through the goriest scenes). Once I was feeling on the mend enough to sit upright, I was insanely grateful for the many magazines piled near my front door.

• My last tip, and this one is totally optional, is to adopt a fluffy golden retriever. It turns out that my crazy pup Quatchi — who usually can't stay still for five minutes — is the best buddy ever, which I finally realized after he insisted on spending every moment curled by my side. Quatchi didn't used to be allowed on the bed. Now future hubby and I have an exception: If we're sick, the dog stays.

"Jen Cusick" Sick Since 86'

Jen Cusick has been busy this winter. Here's an excerpt of an email she recently sent...

"So I just got back from a little 1 1/2 week spring break snowboard adventure. So much fun! Started at Moonstone and learned back flips into the airbag. Now I just got to man up on the snow! Then competed in the you look good riders cup, had a solid sweet run but only got fifth...o well :) O and I met the flow rep up there.... he seems really nice! Then went to Mt Snow, VT for a week to hang out with friends...good times, good times. Went back to Quebec to compete in the Billabong flaunt it at Mont Tremblant. That place is a lot bigger than i expected! Got 3rd in the rail jam and 5th in the slopestyle. Then on Sunday headed over to Edelweiss and won the Kinky rail jam again this year! Won $200 and I'll get a write up interview on sbcwomens.com"

Sånn er det

Often when I question things here in Norway I do not get a proper answer. More often than not the answer is, "Sånn er det" which means "thats the way it is"
So when I ask "why is everything closed on Sunday?", "Why is everything so expensive?" "Why don't norwegians use their indicators or car horns?" "Why do norwegians all eat taco's on Friday?" "Why is there a crap choice of food in the supermarkets here?" the usual answer is "Sånn er det" which really gets on my nerves, so when I'm asked a question I always try to avoid saying those three little words and give an answer explaining why something is the way it is. That is until Friday at work when a 5 year old asked me, "Hvorfor er dine pupper så store?" (why are your boobs so big?) and the only reply I could give was...... "Sånn er det!"

Winter

This is my street at 3.15pm today. That is sheet ice and it's a bugger to walk on. This winter is crap. Wet,icy,dangerous. Give me last winter instead. Snowy,friggin freezing, but dry (and it's the dryness that makes the difference)
Sunrise:9.19am
Sunset:3.21pm
There are on average 20 weeks til we have some warmth here, and I am counting down!

changes

Back to work today. This day last year I began norwegian lessons and now I'm fluent enough to function in norwegian society (well, in my own funny little British way) and have a job. I'm pretty proud. I don't actually like speaking norwegian and spoke very little over the christmas holidays (which suits me just fine) so today was pretty difficult to switch the norwegian back on, especially when we attended a course today which was conducted entirely in Swedish! My colleagues thought it was hilarious that I understood barely 5% and luckily my boss told me to go home early as she realised the whole thing was pretty pointless for me! Oh, how my life has changed.....

Happy new year!

We woke on this first day of 2012 with huge amounts of snow and no hangovers!
We spent the last day of the year in a costly Oslo clinic with me having costly throat swabs done only to be sent away with super strong antibiotics and a case of Pharyngitis and told not to drink alchohol!
So we celebrated NYE on the sofa,watching lots of good films,drinking Pink Lemonade (me) and eating Panettone.
Henrik has now woken on the first day of the year feeling exactly the same as I have felt for the last week. Happy new year!
p.s that red building is our storage with 27 unpacked boxes in it. One day when we buy a bigger place I can finally unpack everything.....