Give your Sweetheart a Voice

When I  came across Natalie Goldberg's "Wild Mind" at my last library visit, I picked it up mostly because I thought it would be a great way to become better at writing this blog. To tell you the truth - I haven't had such a good time writing since... well, ever. This book has helped me resurface memories that I thought had got lost and to whet my imagination.

It has also helped me to be kinder to myself. Do you know what I mean when I say we have both a sweetheart and an editor inside of us? The sweetheart makes us feel good about ourselves by saying things like "You did such a great job on that hand-in!". The editor is counteracting the sweetheart by saying things like "But remember that you almost failed on that last one". I don't know your relationship to the two of them, but in my Editor has for a long time pushed around my Sweetheart.

So I followed Goldberg's exercise and let the Sweetheart talk alone for 30 minutes through my writing. I let him be Buddha and Mother Theresa at once. I was surprised, not only by how many good things I actually could write down about myself, but also how good it made me feel. I had overlooked the qualities I should be proud of. My strong sense of empathy and my patience are a couple of them.

What is your Sweetheart telling you?

I'm done with it

On Friday we held a tiny dinner for my birthday at S' place.

It's always nice to meet good old friends, especially the ones you wished you had all the time in the world to do everything with, the ones that make you cry with laughter, and the ones you can dream aloud with. I had such a good time! Right until we started to talk about, which is something we always do, about what each and every one of us will be doing in the future. 

Everyone usually has some idea or at least a plan. That's when worrying keeps taking a grip on me. If I only had that. Or better: if only I could go back and chose my career all over again. Then, I guess, all of us think that sometimes. Even when we know what a complete waste of time it is. Don't you agree? 

I have really done my fair share of worrying, self loathing and blaming that exhausts me. I'm so completely done with it. Whatever will be, will be. Whatever I'll do, I'll do it. And I'll make the best of it. 

Film treasures

Today I'm officially 26.

I'm celebrating it by presenting a couple of beautiful moments from walking to school during this spring. Although I sometimes feel that my life is so incredibly dull (walking back and forth from school, studying, sleeping and then the same all over again) there are moments of great appreciation, like when I capture motives like these.

I'm in Oslo for another weekend to host a birthday dinner with good old friends. We are having the dinner at S's messy kitchen, so wish me luck!

My creative space - or lack thereof

Not much is happening in my creative space lately, and I imagine there will be no progress on my Klimt inspired self-portrait for another five weeks or so. I have three hand-ins to complete before the end of the week, four exams beginning in a month and I haven't even read the first pages in some of the books.

To be honest, all I really dream of is a creative retreat. Somewhere in Tuscany there would be an old Italian village where they would host cooking classes. In my daydreams, me and S are learning how to make the worlds most delicious  pizzas with the velvet-like mozzarella we once tasted in Rome.We would spend our evenings reading outside, painting and photographing - or just experiencing what the Italians call dolce far niente. We would eat as much ripe fruit as we could ever dream of.

That's how my creative space would look like. What about yours? 

Cozy weekend snapshots

1) View from the train to Oslo through the mountains. It made me realize that we are really heading twards winter.

2) The most delicious brownie and mocha for the perfect Saturday morning. 

3) I can't get enough of those bright fall colors, the crisp air and the feeling of soft dried up leaves under your feet. These are some of the things that make me love fall so much ( in addition to my birthday next week, of course!)

How was your weekend? 

3 good things

This week I got sick. I tried to wait it out, but I got a lot worse. On Wednesday I went to the doctor. I was so angry with myself because of having to go there and having skipped all those classes. Somewhere, on the way back from the doc - with my thoughts racing - I lost my credit card. Unable to find it and to buy the antibiotics I needed, I went home just to find out that I had failed on one of my hand-in assignments at school. To my own astonishment, I handled everything calmly. And I was still able, at the end of the day, to count my blessings.

1) Music. Deepak Chopra's tranquilizing -The Secret of Healing. After starting to listen to it, I realized that I really needed a meditation CD like this one. In addition Feist also released her new album this week, which also made it a lot happier for me.

2) I'm leaving with the train to Oslo today for a weekend visit with S. I'm so happy to get to see my man, and I'm so happy to get away from the cockroaches in our apartment. It turns out our neighbors in the basement don't clean their apartment at all, and those little monsters that result from it crawl up the tubes to our apartment.

3) Kate just nominated me with the Versatile Blogger award and I'm absolutely honored! Luisa also nominated me for the Liebster award a couple of weeks ago. Doing this, they remind me of how lucky I am to live in these times. There are so many lovely people I'm getting a better chance to know through their their everyday thoughts.

What are the three things that made you feel good this week?

My Home on the Countryside pt. 2

Canon EOS 3000 + Lomography Redscale

My Home on the Countryside pt. 1

1) From our garden in August. 2) Poppies shot in lomo style 3) My shy mom is hiding from me while doing a macro. Canon EOS 3000 + Lomography Redscale

Living in Bergen, when the weather is lovely

With this weekend's weather, I find this little town of Bergen are more beautiful than ever.

Remember: "they are only words"

Just a song to remind myself that people aren't always good, and that words don't really mean anything unless you let them. 

Canon EOS 3000 + Lomography CN 400

Ryan Adams - Words

Beach life

 From our trip to Spain 

Now, when the rainy days have come to stay here in Bergen, I'm beginning to remind myself of my time in Spain. I miss the warm weather, looking aimlessly at a horizon (which is a rarity in Norway because of the mountains) and I even miss the salty sea water. I also miss the feeling of the everyday carelessness. I feel like a child every time we go on vacation. One with a camera to explore the world with.What do you miss about summer? What do you look forward to for next summer? 

Grateful for this

There is one thing I never, ever will underestimate the value of: being able to visit my childhood home whenever I like. It is a farm house we rented until I was twelve (stay tuned for more shots of it). I love it so much to go there once in a while. Not only does it bring back memories, but it's a place of complete peacefulness.

It's just one of these places you can go to in whatever state of mind you are, and feel calm when you are there.