things I like lately

- smoothie made of fresh Norwegian strawberries (The Best!), banana and cranberry juice for breakfast
- sun! and temperatures that feels like summer
- it's warm enough to finally wear shots
- walking to the office
- drying laundry outside in the sun in the garden
- strawberries from our own garden (photo above)
- the demolition phase our our renovation is over; the construction phase has started
- being healthy
- feeling our baby girl's work out sessions in my belly - and seeing the movement on the outside too

things I like today

a summer favorite from my film archives, to be found in my new god sommer! blurb book

- fresh Norwegian strawberries on my müsli for breakfast
- singing out loud in the car to an old favorite song; Fairground Attraction's Perfect
- listening to Reiseradioen (a live summer radio program - it's a classic) in the car on the way to work
- finding yet another new outfit in my limited wardrobe - oh my! leggings are comfortable (but it kind of feels like walking around in my long johns, having forgotten to put on a top)
- Brian's series of "home" photos and the rest of the other people's houses project
- seeing the progress of our renovation
- getting a phone call from IKEA saying our kitchen will be delivered on Wednesday
- Amazing Places To Experience Around The Globe
- this home
- Therese Sennerholt's prints

things I like today

an old* favorite film photo, to be found in my new god sommer! blurb book

- lovely summer morning temperatures (finally!)
- leftover salmon pasta for lunch (always a winner, kind of recipe here)
- watermelon on the fruit buffet in ASKO office lunch room
- a goodie bag of film from my friend Mathias in Berlin
- discovering a new outfit in my currently limited wardrobe
- a new to me well written Norwegian blog; Frøken Makeløs (via Hanne)

* more photos from the same film roll here; mini vacation: Hvaler

nesting

May sunset seen from our kitchen window. Agfa Precisa 100, Minolta SRT 101

As some of you already know, we have started a big renovation project in order to prepare our apartment for the arrival of our baby girl in November. We have hardly done any renovation since we moved into this place in September 2005. Well, we did build an apartment in the basement (some of you might remember my documentation of the process on Flickr) and before that we renovated three apartments in three years. Then we had a nice long break from renovating. I can easily admit that I got really fed up of it. Just the thought of painting a wall would almost make me fell sick. It has been so nice to just live here and gradually make a home.

Then something changed. Nesting. Also; paying someone to do most of the renovation for you. Genius! Now my head is suddenly filled with all kinds of home decorating ideas again - mixed with those charming pregnancy emotions...

I tried to make this a post with a collection of some of my favorite photos of our home before the renovation started, but it was hard to find the right ones. Maybe it's because I'm so ready to move on and see all the changes we have planned set to life? Instead you can click the tag "home" to see various photos from our home on Flickr and you can click the label "my home" to see old home related blog posts. I did by the way have a "my home" set of photos on Flickr which I deleted - time to start fresh!

PS: I'm documenting the renovation process with photos in the big 2011 renovation set on Flickr.

- - -

Do you know anyone in the Bergen area that needs an old kitchen and/or bathroom? Instead of destroying it and throwing those old furniture away, I'm hoping someone can find use of it. Check the ads on Finn.no:

kjøkkeninnredning gis bort mot henting - edit: gone!
baderomsinnredning gir bort mot henting - edit: gone!
Siemens oppvaskmaskin selges

random home inspiration VII

Read the background for this post here. Click on each photo to view them a little bigger.

By the way, we have just started a big renovation of our apartment. We have packed all our things into boxes and moved down to the garden suite for the rest of June + July. I'll probably show you a bit of the process as it evolves.

it's a...

...GIRL!

We had our second ultrasound yesterday and were told that I have a healthy little baby girl in my belly. Ultrasound is truly super fascinating. We could see (and hear) our little girl's heart beat, we saw her lying with her feet above her head, stretching her feet and yawning. Amazing. So, so amazing.

I'm at 19 weeks* today and I'm feeling fine. I've felt pretty fine all along in fact, and I hope it continues this way. My belly now looks a bit more like a baby belly, not just a I-had-too-much-too-eat-belly. Soon we will start renovating our apartment to make room for our little girl. Needless to say, we have exciting times ahead.


*Before I got pregnant I thought a pregnancy was nine months. This week thing was new to me. In reality a pregnancy is about 40 weeks and pregnant ladies like to keep track of how many weeks they are along, not months. Well, of course some don't keep track at all and some do count months instead of weeks - you understand what I mean, right?

Honey, I'm home!

A few hours ago, flying home to Bergen from Frankfurt. Kodak Portra 160vc, Minolta SRT 101

After four wonderful yet busy days on a press trip in Tuscany followed by an unfortunate delay and a night spent at an airport hotel in Frankfurt (Germany), I'm home. I just had four films developed, the fifth will be back in a little while (slide film takes longer to develop) and I have heaps of digital shots to sort through - so I have lots to share! Also, I've been offline since Sunday morning, so I have lots to catch up on. By the way, my baby seems to love Italian food as much as I do - my belly is suddenly so much bigger! Fun!

May 31, 2005-2011

2005: We celebrated our 7 years anniversary in our old apartment.

2006: We celebrated our 8 years anniversary in our garden and Sølve proposed. He had built this bench a few days earlier and carved a heart on it. I sat on this bench, in beautiful evening sunlight, when he popped the question. You already know my answer ;-)

2007: We celebrated our 9 years anniversary at home with cheese and rosé.

2008: We celebrated our 10 years anniversary at home with Champagne, snacks, roses and diamonds (to wear for our wedding day August 9 the same year).

2009: Caption written on Flickr: How to celebrate 11 years of love. Shopping at the garden center, spend the whole day working in the garden in the bright, warm sun, champagne and dinner al fresco with candles. Bliss!

2010: We celebrated our 12 years anniversary with tulips from the garden and dinner with my sister (who stayed with us for a month doing research for her master thesis).

2011: We celebrated our 13 years anniversary with dinner out followed by sunset and dessert at home.

This post is inspired by Sandra's similar posts.

1 + 1 = 3

I'm four months along and we are super excited! Can't wait until around November 12 to meet this little piece of magic in person.