Soul food - February edition

Turkey steak glazed in honey marinade served with rice and greens made by friend Ina. Homemade spinach and pistachio risotto made by friend Sara. Blueberry cupcake from a cafe in Gothenburg.

The streets of Stockholm...

The travel bug bit me again last weekend. This time around I didn't have to go that far for a cure. The flight led me to Stockholm. The last time I was in the city I only managed to pop by Zara before I left. I was 18 and my main focus was party and shopping, not really interested in the facades, nor trying to explore the off the beaten track of the city.

Stockholm is a lot like Oslo, but so much more. However I haven't quite decided if it's a positive or a negative thing. Sure the city is much more advanced than it's little brother Oslo. It has a vibrant fashion- and art scene. It also has the grand facade of the Old City, something I really wish Oslo had. It gives it a bit of charm. But as day 3 and the last day kept creeping in, I felt like I still hadn't scratch the surface of what Stockholm is. And I can't help but thinking, that maybe this time around, little brother Oslo may just score a bit higher in my book. Believe me, that's quite a rare thing in my book. I don't know, perhaps I just needed to give it a couple of days more and maybe I would share my travel companion's love for the city.....

I think I may have been a good girl this year..

...Because I received so many presents from my lovelies. Here are a few of them:

An animal printed scarf from the Mister

A second scarf from the Mister

Lovely candles. I love love candles so these were a big hit.

I also got a gift card to a spa treatment which I'm really looking forward too and plus a little something something that I'll blog about later. I really do feel lucky and a tad bit guilty about receiving so many gifts. I do think we spend too much money on Christmas presents, but every year is the same. I try, but I never seem to think about the price when I'm doing my Christmas shopping. Perhaps next year.

Christmas Party

A small gathering with Christmas food, music and lovely company to kick off the festive season.

We organized a little make-your-own-Santa competition and it was funny to see how people really took it serious :-) The result was amazing. Very talented and creative people indeed.

And the winner with this unique contribution...

was the lovely Arna:

London love ❤

My annual trip to London came and went a lot quicker than expected. My expectations were high, but I knew that the city would never disappoint me. As always it was exhausting, but wonderful.

I did my best to boost the British economy with my Christmas shopping. Ended with a fair bit of presents  and a whole lot of beauty products for myself. Didn't get to renew my wardrobe this time around, but bought a couple of essentials like a pair of jeans from Topshop.

As always I didn't manage to take that many pictures, although I vowed to myself that this would be the trip where I would kodak every moment.But somehow, I just got preoccupied with something else, like checking the balance of my debit card....

Here are some really random (and the only) pics I took:

A squirrel

Hotel Russell

Laduree

Henrik and I at a pub

Share the love

Pic from http://lenaolsen.blogspot.com/

Went to an exhibition last Friday at my friend's gallery. Check out her talent at http://lenaolsen.blogspot.com/.

Cake and Bubbly

An eventful weekend for the little one who was invited to a birthday party and went for a daytrip to Sandefjord. He didn't seem to mind all the activity as he slept whenever the opportunity arouse. Slightly more difficult task to get around with a baby, but we are getting the hang of it. It's great to be able to do some "normal" stuff again.

With that said, this post is suppose to be about my friend Arna's birthday gathering. She made some lovely cake that tasted like heaven. Together with some bubbly it was definitely a recipe for success.

Me with the birthdaygirl

Champagne and strawberries..

And non alcoholic beverages for the preggies at one of my closest friend's 30th birthday bash. There were quite a few of us actually. Must be the agething. But the lovely hostess had thought about that and had bought in non-alcoholic wine and champagne. The weather was perfect and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, even managed to stay up until midnight. I hope the birthday girl had a blast. Browsing through the pics, it seemed like she did.

Watermelon and strawberries with the bubbly.

The birthday girl.

Some of the guest. VIPs; lovely ladies.

Tapas

Sweets for dessert.

What I wore to the party.

Had a minor outfit crisis as the dress that I was suppose to wear was seethrough. So I was frantically looking for something else to wear in my closet which really isn't easy nowadays. Luckily I had this maxi skirt that I just wore as a dress with a belt. Worked out ok I suppose. Crisis averted.

Birthday bash

I was exhausted and have been spending days recuperating, but it was all worth it. I spent the weekend celebrating my birthday with five of my lovely friends at Holsmbu Spa. It couldn't have turned out any better (not even the big theme birthday party I planned out in my head a couple of years back could have been better). All we did was just relax and eat and it was just perfect. Thank you so much to the girls for the company and my husband for the lovely present.

We stayed at one of these villas

Time for a stretch on the sofa (pic from Katerina)

Jacuzzi with a view (pic from Katerina)

Before dinner (pic from Ina)

Katerina lounging the day after 

On my actual birthday I was so tired from the weekend activities that I just stayed at home relaxing. We did manage to grab a quick bite at this Indian restaurant near by in the evening. All in all a perfect ending to a very relaxing celebration.

A million thanks

Turning the big 3-0 didn't turn out to be so bad in my state thanks to these lovely people. More to come.

Hair tutorial ala Katya

Pic from Katerina