Party preparations

In just two days, Independence Day will be upon us. May 17th! Lots of countries celebrate their Independence Day with endless military parades, and showing how mighty and how capable of war their country is. In Norway, we celebrate with endless parades of children, putting tomorrow’s leaders first, rather than today’s. I approve.

Norway’s national costume is called “bunad”. Different parts of the country have bunads in different styles. Mine is from the commune my mother grew up in. I like it better than the one special to our county, and I also like that the tiny little commune with about 3000 inhabitants, has it’s own bunad. Mine was made for me when I was 15, so naturally it’s getting a bit small (and by “a bit small” I mean I can’t breathe when I wear it). I’ve ironed the shirt today, and if mom has time for it when they pass by on their way to my sister’s, she’ll let the belt out a bit so that I can wear it on Thursday. I have a regular dress I’ll wear if she doesn’t have the time, but I really hop I can wear my bunad, as May 17th is one of the only days I have an opportunity to wear it.

My freshly ironed shirt! I’ll have to do some more ironing tomorrow probably, as it was still damp and I didn’t get all the creases out.

My belt, which my grandfather’s sister embroidered. She’s done the embroidery on many of my cousin’s bunads as well, and is still doing this, even though she’s close to 100 years by now. When she made mine, she meant for it to be the last one she made, and so she gave me her cufflinks as well, which she got when she first got her bunad when she was young.

In this one you can sort of see what it looks like, with the embroidery at the bottom which matches that on the belt. I was also wearing my mother’s shawl, which is something you can add to the bunad if you want. I mostly wore it that day because it was cold… (also, just so we’re clear, I’ve cropped everyone else out not because I’m a narcissist, but because I’m not sure whether they’re okay with having their faces on my blog).

Now, let’s just hope mom will have time to let my belt out, and if not, that the forecasts are wrong and we get wonderful sunny weather rather than the rain we’re promised, so I can wear the light summery dress that is my other option.

This will be a post.

So, I was supposed to start painting the break room today. But my boss told me I couldn’t start until the Shop of the Week peoples had been there, and they didn’t arrive until half an hour before my shift ended. By then I was really tired and my feet hurt so much I couldn’t think about anything other than lying down, so I decided I’m not painting until next week. That means that it’ll be longer until we finish, but right then it felt like a good decision (it still does).

So instead, I went home, slept for a bit, watched some episodes of New Girl and Vampire Diaries (I seem to have reached my Bones limit for now. I started watching an episode, and had to stop because I couldn’t concentrate), and cleaned the bathroom. Yay me! I had promised Hanna I’d do it last weekend, but as I was sick then and have been pretty beat after work every day this week, I didn’t get around to it until now. It’s done though, and it feels good.

I’m supposed to go to bed in about 8 minutes, and I still haven’t packed my things. I’m going home tomorrow, yay! But as my train leaves within an hour of my finishing my shift at work, I won’t have time to stop by at home after, so I have to bring my things to work in the morning. Which means I have to pack them tonight. Which means I ought to be doing that rather than this, but I felt like doing this and I very rarely do so I decided I might as well do this first. And since I’m only going home for the weekend, I don’t really need a lot of things, so packing should be quick. Right? Right. Doing that now.

Spring has come (sort of)

I discovered these in my tiny excuse for a garden today, and I thought they were so beautiful in the sunlight I just had to take a photo and share it with you.

Days like today are so gorgeous I don’t much mind that the forecast for the next week is rain, rain, and then some more rain. Though I daresay I’ll mind when the rain comes (I’m fickle like that).

I started work at 6 today, and due to a steady stream of customers I wasn’t done making the sandwiches until 8. At that time the others arrived, and from that time until I left at 1.30, I spent all my time cleaning the ceiling above the area where we make the food. Needless to say, my neck, upper arms and legs are incredibly sore, but my comfort is that I won’t ever have to do it again.

Right now I’m watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones, and I think it may be the best one so far. It’s loading rather slowly though, so I took a break to write this while I wait. Like I said in my last post, if you aren’t already watching this show, today is as good a day as any to start.

I have a sore throat and a headache and I can’t think of a good title

I’ve spent the day in bed coughing my lungs out. Well, not literally. But almost. And since every time I swallow it feels like there’s a saw in my mouth, I’ve drunk copious amounts of bouillon and warm milk with honey. I also had this:

(“this” being cereal with banana and strawberries), which was heavenly, even though it did nothing for my throat.

For entertainment I watched Red Riding Hood (it wasn’t very good), and several episodes of Bones. I’m almost caught up, and am in fact just about to start watching episode 3 of season 7. Which is slightly embarrassing, since it’s not that long since I started watching this series. In my defense, I’ve hardly watched anything else. Mostly just Game of Thrones, which is SO GOOD. Seriously, if you are not watching it (WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!), I highly suggest you start right now.

I’m really glad I have this weekend off, because next week is what is called Week of the Shop at work. Now, that sounds very pleasant, right? It’s not. What happens is that the powers that be (or someone representing them, at the very least) are inspecting the entire premises. And I mean everything. Which means that we have to clean every nook and cranny, and that’s happening on Monday. My boss has conveniently gone on vacation; he left last Wednesday and isn’t coming back to work until Tuesday, which means he doesn’t have to do any cleaning (so unfair).

Bones is almost completely loaded, so this is where I leave you.

Tiny picspam yay!

Here are some pictures for you, while I continue to ponder what to write about.

I bought a new jacket recently. I’m realizing now that this is a terrible picture, but at least you can see the jacket, which is the point. I love it, and though it cost much more than I would’ve liked to pay, I do think it was worth the money.

It rains constantly in Oslo these days. So I’m including a picture I took while in Kristiansand about two weeks ago, to show you where I’m moving next year, and to remind myself that it is going to be lovely to live in a sunny place.

I also finally got my “The Angels Have The Phone Box” t-shirt! So now I can say the line when watching “Blink”, and actually be telling the truth! Fantastic! Please excuse the goofy face. Also yes that is my bathroom I am fourteen didn’t you know.

I got a TARDIS in the mail yesterday! It’s tiny and meant for cookies, but it makes the noise when you close the lid so it makes me happy.

I also got these, which are postcards made from old paper bags, that have quotes on them. I bought a couple with Doctor Who quotes, and quite a few with Lord of the Rings quotes. They are going on the wall next year, cause I couldn’t possibly part with them so actually sending them as postcards isn’t an option. Ohwell. (If you like these, they can be found at Jethro & Henrietta)

Also, since we last spoke, this happened.

And I was there! Hadn’t seen Sigrid for about four years, so it was great to see her again, and the wedding was lovely.

That’s it for now, I’m going to bed so that I’ll actually manage to get up for work tomorrow. I’ll be measuring and studying our break room in great detail, as I’ve been put in charge of redecorating it. Possible before/after photos coming. But not for a while, obviously. I don’t know magic. I blame you, Dumbledore.

Tonight I learned…

that packing for a trip you’re excited about, right before you’re about to get to bed, is a bad idea. I’m not even remotely tired right now.

Something else I learned, is that I’m in all likelihood addicted to TV shows. I just caught up on Castle the other day, and then I went right ahead and started watching Bones. I need to have something to watch. I also started re-watching New Who. My excuse for this is that it’s a celebration of the fact that I now have all the boxes. Also a little bit to make up for the fact that I’ve been so broke the last few months that the Doctor Who Convention in Cardiff last weekend was never anything more than a distant dream, and I’m experiencing withdrawal from an event I never even attended.

I also spent quite a bit of time watching YouTube clips of my favorite routines from Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance. I think it’s safe to say that it’s my favorite season. I really liked Season 8 as well, but 7 is the one that has all the routines that I remember.

Now, I’m going to write down my 3 things that I’m happy about today (this is something that I do every day), and then I’m either going to watch another episode or Bones (very likely), or go to sleep.

Is it too early to go to bed?

Today I tried on my dress for Sigrid’s wedding, with shoes and shawl and everything. Hanna said I looked like a Greek goddess, mum reminded me to bring an extra dress in case of emergency. I feel,

I feel pretty when I wear it. I don’t feel skinny exactly – I never do, but I feel like it doesn’t matter because it’s a pretty dress and I’m pretty when I wear it.

Now I’m sitting in the dark and I’m so, so tired. It feels like forever ago that I got up, and I guess it sort of is, and I’m wondering if 7.30 is too early to go to bed. I know that all I need to do to wake up a little is to turn the light on and maybe get a cup of tea, but my entire body feels like lead and I just want to stay here forever. I’m listening to Maroon 5 and the volume is just right and I’m somehow happy and sad at the same time.

My face feels slightly sunburnt and very dusty, but I washed the dust away and I haven’t been out in the sun today so maybe that’s just what a tired face feels like. I can’t wait for summer, I’ve been energetic today and the sun makes me happy even when I have to be inside. I only have two days of work left this week and then I’m going away, four days of happy memories and meeting people I haven’t seen for years. I know I’ll be exhausted at the end but it’ll be a good kind of exhaustion and don’t even mind the idea of getting up at five Monday morning.

My phone and I both got a makeover last week