What Inspires Me Right Now

 

September, my love. I didn’t think I would spend you in Oslo – once again. But here it happens. The autumn has happened and brought a slight melancholy with it. Or, maybe, it is not autumn itself, but the fact that I suddenly found myself in Oslo, and I miss Barcelona. The autumn has brought some days of sickness, and I spend these days browsing blogs and Instagram – to keep me warm on beauty and inspiration.

There is one thing I especially like about autumn: you get the feeling that the seasons change, that pages are turning. It brings this fresh feeling of newness, even though it is not as optimistic as the spring. But still somehow cozy and comforting. I tend to become less energetic and more poetic – but back to the point of this post. Here are things that inspire me this season!

Oslo Love: Reflections

A little post of love for Oslo, or as they do it on Instagram – hashtag oslove 🙂 On a sunny day which luckily falls on Sunday there are so many reasons to love Oslo. For example:

• you get to see happy faces everywhere
• people enjoying the last coffee or beer on the cafe terraces
• lively atmosphere in the park Birkelunden with the flea market, and all around the streets of my hipster neighborhood
• the wonderful light and shadows’ game on the facades and in the windows
• guys playing basketball on the open field, with the Oslo skyline in the distance
• hands holding take away coffee cups
• every hipster taking their camera out for a walk

And I took mine and went on a short photo walk, high not on alcohol or caffeine – but on this pure joy of luckily catching sun on a careless Sunday afternoon. I did not intend to, but this time I collected reflections. They were just everywhere, popping up in the generous autumn sunshine. Come along with me!

Color Hunt: Italian Blue

There are two colors that capture the feeling of Italian Amalfi coast – the yellow, because of the lemon farms, and the blue of the sea. Btw, the wedding which we visited there in June had these two colors as their theme. And all guests arrived in all shades of blues and yellows (except those who didn’t read the event information till the end :)).

While I went browsing through those photos on a rainy day, I remembered one walk with a camera, when I thought: “Blue must be my color theme from here”. Then I forgot it. But now I remember it again! (thanks to the rainy day ;).

The blue sums up the summer in a very cheerful but also peaceful way. The sea, the cloudless sky, the shadows of the mountains in the distance… Here is my color hunt of blue, made in Italy 🙂

into the blue

What Inspires Me Right Now

This is my favorite theme for a post! What inspires me right now. Though I have a whirlwind of thoughts, caused by this transfer from Barcelona back to Oslo, I don’t really find the time and energy to write them all down in texts and posts. The photos however – they are always easy to share.

So let me speak from my heart through photos – and several words. Btw, what do you prefer in a blog post – pictures or words? (I used to be a word person)

Pretending we are on the French Riviera

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.

5 Things I Light

I used to have this regular post on my blog – about 5 things I like. It comes especially handy when I don’t know what to write about. I go through my latest photos and choose the images I like. And this time I noticed that those five were actually united by one theme – it was all about light. Hence 5 things I light.

Ok, they are not actually five. As you may know, I am not fabulous with numbers. Last time I wanted to share 10 Most Amazing Tips for Blogging, they turned out to be not 10 but 16. And not amazing but mediocre. And not tips but “bad advice” :)) So well, you have to take this with a pinch of salt, as we say it in Norwegian.

And the first thing I like would be something that rimes with it. A bike. I could not hold myself back from this primitive poetry :)) Because the poetry is what makes this life worth living, even such a basic one 🙂

somewhere in Gava

Barcelona, the Big Berry

If New York is a Big Apple, what is Barcelona? I would go and say it is a Big Strawberry. It is full of flavor, it’s colorful and juicy. Or there is this tasty Spanish word for “raspberry” – frambuesa. La Grande Frambuesa, that sounds good for this city, doesn’t it?

I have spent some time here now, and maybe some of you are wondering why there is no mention of it. I must admit, the longer I stay, the less I feel like mentioning anything 🙂 This city has swallowed me into its emotions, noises, flavors and colors, it has filled me with impressions which I still work on processing.

It is called the Great Enchantress, this city, it is known to have passion. And today I felt like the right color to describe this place would be Red, the color of passion. I have seen it everywhere recently. Even though these images are kind of old, some dating 2 years ago. But they still do the job – so why not? 🙂

new houses

terrace calling

old houses

madeleine heart

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

A Blooming Festival of Spring

The spring in Norway seems to be the most unpredictable of seasons. One day you wear a winter jacket, the next day you sit in the park with only a bikini on. So it looks like both people and nature try to make the most of it and catch every opportunity. For people – to enjoy life, for nature – to bloom. It is unbelievable how much comes up in such a short time. Wasn’t it all white and cold here just a couple of months ago, lasting like forever? And now everything that can bloom – blooms. The nature seems to be in a hurry like it knows that the season is short 🙂

In spring we all become botanists and a huge interest for nature wakes up in everyone owning a mobile camera. People stream to the parks and gardens, take the photos of cherry trees in blossom and tulips, either available in fields or modest patches. My favorite place to observe the season changes is the botanical garden of Oslo. However, it is not only I who remembers it these days. On a nice sunny day there are crowds wanting to take a pic of that alley with white and pink blossoming trees. I came on a Sunday evening and there were still enthusiasts waiting in line to take a photo. So I stayed in a shade and took photos of some shy blue flowers. Why, they deserve admiration too. Will you join me on my natural explorer walk through the garden?

ding-dong

into the green