Simple Life: My Tea and Coffee Story

I remember when I was a teen, I loved watching the photos of interior magazines – and it always had this one effect on me. After a short while I would look away from the photos and around: and notice beauty everywhere. The everyday beauty of small simple things which would usually escape from my eye. But in these moments everything felt like  magic – like opening some secret ability to see beauty in everything.

I still feel this effect now. This is one of the reasons I keep on buying those magazines. After some minutes I can turn my gaze to my own place and feel inspired. Sometimes I take my camera and start taking photos of those small simple things. Because they are so lovely.

And if our life is often more about simple everyday things, why not make it into a good habit – to notice the niceness of them more often? May it be my practice!

teksting

rise and shine, sister

5 Things – Summer Amore

I landed in Oslo physically a week ago – but it took me some time to land here emotionally and mentally. As I get used to my new surroundings, opening my eyes for their beauty, I still don’t feel for blogging about it.

Sometimes I wonder if I should be writing a book, not a blog :)) Because I have this literature attitude: you have first to live through, to work through, to digest and process – and only then to express in letters. To get the best out of it, not just taking everything on the page. This is a writers’ attitude, I have heard. To write about the past, once it is been processed, not about the present.

The blogger attitude, however, is to document the present, to capture what’s going on right now and share it. Sometimes I do it, sharing my emotion of the moment – but I prefer to wait. So even though I am in Oslo already, finding the pretty patterns in the new mix of life – I will go on with some posts about my life in Barcelona. Where it also took some time (a lot of time) to settle down and start seeing the pretty patterns.

Today is a simple little post about things I like. Five, as I usually count.

lemon memories

summer feeling

fresh press

new mood

wall of fame

Small Things: Pastel Boxes

Once I read this: “May you walk in beauty” is the blessing of Navaho Indians. I ripped the page with this article from the magazine, put into my vision journal – and left it in Oslo. So I don’t remember anything except this phrase, no explanation, no thought elaboration 🙂 But I simply love it. It is a good blessing. I like to sign my posts with it.

And then I thought that when I hear this phrase I usually think of great things like natural wonders or man-made creations. But this doesn’t need to be something great and faraway exotic. In fact, it can be something small and near, like the things that surround me every day. So I opened my eyes and looked for the beauty all around me. Everything that I like.

Here on the blog I try to follow the philosophy of small steps and small things. And I want to add to it by capturing the small things that give me joy. So here is one of them.

Home: The Urban Garden

How beautiful can a grey day be! Now, I have never been a fan of grey days. I guess, it is because I got too many of them in Norway. But after so many sunny days in the Mediterranean this winter the cloudy skies feel like a pleasant change. I love Barcelona on a sunny day, on a grey day, and on a rainy day I love it too. Especially on a spring rainy day, when everything starts to smell intensely of young green leaves and fresh earth.

And since green is on my mind today, I wanted to share some photos of my green friends at home. I always dreamt of a pot garden while living in Oslo. The weather conditions there were tough, and the green balcony was only a summer thing. Here it can be done throughout the year, but I am still slow (or lazy). Still happy that I got these plants, and planning to expand my little garden in the middle of the big city.

Enjoy Life

Home: Place for Everything

The good thing about changing a flat is that one can start creating the new space just as one wishes. From the blank page. When I moved in with my husband, his flat was already set, so I had to carve out small spaces for my changes and things. When we moved now to Barcelona, the flat was empty, with very few pieces of furniture (I even had to sleep on the floor the first weeks). So we had to spend some time and money visiting all the interior stores (instead of drinking sangria and eating tapas, like most of my friends thought I was doing :)). The upside of it was that I had more freedom in creating our home this time.

Now, after all stress and mess, I feel content with some results and want to share the corners I like. This one is from my side of the bedroom. It is a sunny room with the big French windows, which are also doors to the balcony. It is so great to wake up and see the sunlight beaming through. And in the evening I like to light a candle and unwind with a book. I close the door and feel like it is my secret garden. Where there is place for my books, my dreams, my jewelry, my inspiration – the place for everything.

Black and White – At Home

If you know me just a bit, you know that I am a color lover. Especially the bright colors make my heart bounce with joy, because I find them full of life and optimism. I have shared some collections of yellow, orange and lots of pink. I also collected colors in my city and tried to show that Oslo can truly be colorful.

I would never call myself a color minimalist. On the opposite, the more colors I could mix, the better. I would never be the one wearing total black or monochrome outfit. But recently my eye got attracted to this simple combination of black and white. First I noticed it on the streets of Oslo, then in my home, and now I find it in interior and fashion trends, so it seems to be everywhere 🙂

over my desk

Interior Trends I Love

I seem to become that classical Norwegian girl who doesn’t care much about her appearance, wears a lot of casual style – but spends a lot of time (and money) at her home interior. I got a sparkle of inspiration when I had to do styling of our flat when we were selling it – and since then I became an addict of interior shops, checking them both online and offline.

After visiting several of them, I could analyze and see what are the new trends of this year – and I must admit, I am in love with all of them. In this post I want to share my love – and who knows, maybe it will give some of you a sparkle too. Doesn’t matter if you want to redecorate – or just do any creative act.

Lessons of Simple Living

The past month has seen us doing the job of fixing our home. More of it here. At the same time, it has been a good practice of simple living. As we had to get rid of most of the personal things and hide away some stuff, I found myself in a dream minimalistic setting. Here is what I have learnt so far :))

Home: Minimalistic Hygge

I have started telling the story of us planning to sell our flat. Now let me present the results of our hard work (cleaning, fixing and painting). I especially enjoyed the part of being a stylist :)) I got use for all my Scandinavian inspiration and went for the modern color scheme of light pink and eucalyptus green with some black and white details. Let’s see how it turned out to be!

Two Ways to Sell a Flat

We have engaged ourselves in the time and energy consuming project: selling our flat. Who has been through this once? Raise up your hand 🙂 We just have started and already Carles, my man, is sighing with exhaustion: “Cannot we just sell it just the way it is? Like in Spain?”

In Spain they seem to make little fuss out of selling a property. Wherever we go, we always stop by the property agencies and study the announcements that hang in their windows. So it seems that in Spain they just walk into a flat, just as it is, take some photos (with the bad mobile camera) – often dark, full of messy details, clothes hanging to dry, dishes in the sink and all – and paste them into their announcement.

After Norwegian experience of buying/selling a flat, this attitude makes us laugh. Lousy photos, the process of selling can take up a year, series of of visitors over time coming to see the flat. Those visits quite unfussy too, the owners show the place just as it is, without fixing it or hiding the clutter. The method, almost opposite to the Norwegian way. So how do they do it in Norway?