2,5 Yesterday...

... which makes me wonder; how has it been 2,5 years already??!! And in other ways; has she only been part of our lives for as little as 2,5 years??? How is that possible? I breathe her, I sleep her, I would die for her, and yet she is the person in my life that I have known for the shortest amount of time. That is motherhood for you, so all-consuming and empowering and crazy crazy good.

High Carb...

... today. Bagels + cream cheese + avocado + hot chocolate = YUM.

Ready For The Day

Tuesdays are Nahla's day off from playschool, and so we always have a combination of errands to run and fun to be had on the agenda! See; hence the practical flat footwear!

My Feature...

... in the latest issue of (Norwegian magazine) Rom 123. I LOVE my job!

A Day In The Life

The drink: Popeye juice - as our favorite green is called forever more. Mummy and Nahla are equally obsessed.

The eyecandy: My office inspiration board. It makes me smile.

The outfit: Casual mama!

My office away from home: The local coffee shop.

The dinner: Asian salmon with garlic, lime and coriander wild rice. YUM.

The outing: A quick dash through the local Tesco. Oh, the glamour!

I NEED Coffee...

Seriously; I am banging my head on the table with writer's block, and I just need need need a venti latte to take the edge of! And to make it worse, I am out of skim milk AND soy milk, so no Nespresso latte to even see me through! Starbucks; here I come!

(Image Credit: Pinterest)

Monday Morning...

... hello new week; let's bring it on!

Still Hanging In There

Yummy mama Kourtney K. is still rocking a now very large baby bump - and is yet to welcome her baby daughter into the world. The reality starlet and fashionista looked fabulous as always on an outing to the cinema with adorable Mason over the weekend. I am loving Kourt's gorgeous navy maxi-dress and pink blazer combo. One hot pregnant mama, for sure.

Family Fun Day...

... sure takes it out of you - or me to tell you the truth. Having face-painted sixteen spidermen, countless princesses, some butterflies, a couple of tigers, more than a few clowns, a zombie and what I swear felt like 400 pirates, this mama was SO happy to be sinking into the sofa with a rather large glass of wine, homemade pizza and the softest, most well-worn Juicy-bottoms ever. Roll on back-to-back episodes of Kourtney and Kim take New York on E! Entertainment channel!

Hello Friday

Nothing beats the feeling of a Friday night, sure? That feeling that the weekend is only just beginning and that you have two whole days of down-time with family in front of you. And as for this little family this Friday evening: A clean house, fresh flowers from the Grafton Street flower market, Prosecco and tak-out sushi. B.L.I.S.S, Happy weekend!

All White Rooms

In my job I come across a crazy amount of stunning homes. Some features I make myself, and I LOVE getting to meet people in their house and making a gorgeous story about it all. Some features my talented colleagues make, and I marvel at stunning picture after stunning picture. Other homes I admire through the crazy amounts of magazines I buy and blogs I read. But much as I appreciate lots of styles and a variety of beautiful ways homes can be decorated in, I am myself a very very big fan of white. Plain, peaceful, classic, modern, contemporary and stunning white. 

Off course I like the odd bit of color thrown in for good measure. A little Missoni zig-zag here, a pink velvet cushion there. And lots of fresh flowers and candles, off course. But overall, I find myself drawn towards white and white and more white. Like with bedlinen. I can ONLY sleep in white sheets. Plates need to be white too. And candles. Dining chairs; again white. 

And as BF and I are very much in house-hunting mode these days, you can only imagine how my little design-obsessed brain is whirling with ideas and must-buy lists and other plans and projects! 

Friday Morning

Freshly bakes scones (Nahla does not have playschool on Fridays, so we have extra time to really indulge these days) and very nice new tea makes for a perfect chilled out almost-weekend breakfast on such a rainy and miserable day. I am very happy that I have finally perfected my scone-recipe after having to thrown out X amount of tries as they were more like rock than yummy tasty bread. Practice make perfect!

Ready For Bed

A Jane Green book downloaded to my Kindle Fire, a cup of Detox tea from Kusmi and a candle lit by my bedside; I am ready for an hour of me-time before lights are out!

Pear, Walnut And Goat's Cheese Salad

Having had this for lunch last Sunday when I dragged BF to gorgeous italian eatery Dunne & Cresensci in Dundrum, I really wanted to try and re-create this very yummy salad at home. And considering it required no cooking at all and very few ingredients, sure I could not think of anything easier to make for dinner this evening.

Here is how to try it at home  - which you should, by the way.

Pear, walnut and goat's cheese salad

Mixed leaves lettuce (I used one of those convenient pre-washed bags of salad you get anywhere)

Walnuts

Pears

Goat's cheese (Chevre)

Extra virgin olive oil

Honey

Toast the walnuts for a couple of minutes in a hot pan, then stir them in a mix of the olive oil and a little honey

Spread the salad on two (or however many you are cooking for) plates

Cut the pears into wedges, spread them over the salad

Crumble the goat's cheese on top

Drizzle over some olive oil

Toss the walnuts in their sticky mixture over the two plates

TUCK IN!

(Oh, and I had an extra large glass of rosé wine with my salad, which made it even nicer!)

A Juggling Act

Trying to do a million things at once sometimes look a little bit like this:

1. Drop Nahla off to play-school (this is after getting her dressed, finding her undressed again 4 minutes later because she had decided she wanted to wear her tutu-skirt and heavy knit jumper instead of the outfit I had picked, re-dressed again in said self-chosen outfit, fed, undressed her to go to the bathroom - TWICE, peeled her away from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV and stuffed into the car)

2. Stopped at local deli for a nice coffee - to treat myself in anticipation of a hectic work-day.

3. Got home, switched laptop on, looked at the floods of e-mails ticking in.

4. Mentally re-energized myself with some online shopping (Hello, my-wardrobe.com!)

5. Got stuck in to some phone calls with a plastic surgeon, trying to research a story on why as much as 76 % of Norwegian women want to change something about their bodies.

6. Hung up phone, ready to write. Stuck for intro.

7. Glanced at online papers, realized today was the crucial day in the terrorist trial in Oslo, so had the whole prosecutor-speech on in the background.

8. Made myself a spinach juice.

9. Realized I had forgotten to bring in indoor shoes for Nahla, so had to make a dash to the play-school.

10. Back. Write. Intrigued by courtcase again. Prosecution going for insanity. Can't decide whether I agree or not.

11. Mentally plan dinner and what I need to buy later.

12. Write some more, then get sidetracked by having to re-write another story I was working on.

13. Hang up a machine of washing and watch more court-coverage.

14. Source images for cosmetic surgery story - amused by pictures of women with insanely large boobs. Weird.

15. Heat up tomato soup for lunch, eat it while watching court case.

16. Finish my intro on a story about the dangers of getting a sunburn. Celebrate by eating a chocolate biscuit.

17. Read a funny e-mail from BF and respond.

18. Catch the closing argument in the Oslo Courthouse. Stunned. Insane they say.

19. Force myself to write some more.

20. Re-apply make-up as I have to meet a friend for coffee at 4.

21. Write, write, write. Ups, got an e-mail about further reductions in the Harvey Nichols sale, HAVE to check that...

22. Mess around in Photoshop with illustration images.

23. Lose an image, like just lose it. Hello Apple, where do lost picture-files end up??

24. Ring BF and ask for help, he tells me Apple sucks and that I need a PC. We hang up on unfriendly terms. PC are just so ugly, does he not know me at all??

25. Close laptop, throw on some lipstick, run out the door.

Just another day at the office....

Cupcakes'R'Us

Just another little snapshot from this past Sunday's Father's Day celebration. I don't know about the rest of you, but this little family pigged out on the yummiest of cupcakes from Avoca - as well as Nahla's and Mummy's homemade marshmallow-pops - dipped in crushed Skittles. Sugar-shock? Check.

Still Pregnant...

... still gorgeous! Reality mama Kourtney K. had the Twitter-verse exploding with excitement the other day that she had given birth to her baby girl. But it was all false rumors, and turned out that Kourt had only been WATCHING a water birth (on a TV documentary), and not actually participated in one herself. 

The eldest Kardashian proved she was still very much with baby as she was snapped out and about in Melrose earlier today, shopping with partner and baby daddy Scott Disick. The pair dropped into luxury retailer Fred Segal before snapping up some cold drinks for the drive home. 

And as for Kourtney's fabulous maternity wardrobe; still fab!

Warding Of Evil

I am slightly obsessed with the whole arm-candy look this summer of mixing lots of different bracelets. I love my Links of London bracelet, but am also equally in love with my two(!) greek eyes that I picked up in River Island. I love the way these eyes are like a universal sign of warding off all things evil and bad, and remember the same symbol from plenty of holidays in the Greek isles when I was younger. Taxi drivers used to have it hanging from their mirror, people used to have it painted above their door. So sweet. And now I have my very own protective eyes, on my wrist, so always looking out for me. Fashion with a purpose; LIKE!

Happy Mid Week

The sun is shining, my garden door is open, I have an iced latte in front of me AND I am having one of those days when I truly remember what made me become a journalist, where my fingers just type out sentences before I even know I have them made up in my head, and everything just seems to sound smart, funny and to the point. Hello Good Work Day!

Motherhood

I read an article today in the Daily Mail newspaper where a quote about motherhood made me smile to myself in utter recognition:

"Motherhood; it can empower you with the strength of ten lionesses  - and bring you to your knees with bone-aching exhaustion."

So so true. And yet worth every minute of it. It's a magical thing, no doubt.

A Little Macaroon Madness

This afternoon, as Nahla does not have play-school on Tuesdays and Mummy had some errands to run in the city, we decided to make the most of a speedy trip into the city. And what can possibly be a better - or more girly - treat than some yummy macaroons from Laduree? That's right; not a thing. The only problem? Trying to decide between salted caramel, rose petals, pistachio, raspberry, lemon... I could go on!