Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Catching Up

My goal was to blog every other day at least aaand I failed. But over the past few days, I've been either busy or sleeping so that's a good enough excuse for me. So here are some pictures of what I've been up to lately. 

So the other day, I made Tuscan Sausage Soup. Courtesy of Pinterest and Feast on the Cheap.  (recipe: here) Mine turned out like more of a pasta but it was soooo yummy, and even better the second day. Trust me.



In other news, autumn has continued to look amazing here. The current week's forecast is rain, rain, and rain so I'm glad I captured a picture of a nicer day. Won't last much longer now.


Annnd it snowed one day, so I wore a ski jacket and panicked. 


Then, I went to Trondheim from Thursday through Sunday to visit my favorite people. I haven't done a lot of traveling around Norway so it was really weird being in a different area with different dialects. I LOVED it and will most likely head back in a few months. 

at the student bar
we made sushi one night :)
view from my bus window
Now I've returned to Bærum so it's back to au pair days and finishing my never-ending classes. Hope everyone's having a good week!

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Reese's Puffs + a cold Saturday

Finally, it's the weekend! I'm using it to study, which is a bummer, but I'm so glad I'm getting some much needed time to recharge. Yesterday, I received a huge box of goodies from my mom, making her the world's best mom. I mean it. I asked her to send a few things that I "needed" and she went above and beyond. I should be stocked on the basics for a while now.

YAS

I've been binge eating Reese's Puffs since this photo was taken.
Today, after a very lazy morning, I've made my way to Oslo where I'm doing a bit of reading for school. It's getting colder outside and by Thursday, the high is supposed to be only 45 degrees! As I write, I'm sitting in a warm, candlelit coffee shop listening to Frank Ocean and drinking a hot cup of coffee. I can't wait to finish my schoolwork so I can come here just to read a book and relax. Snow shouldn't be too far off either and I'm so excited for my second Norwegian winter. 

flashback from October 2009 :')
Unfortunately this Government reading isn't going to do itself so I'm off. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Leo's Lekeland

It's been so busy around here that I haven't had the energy to post the past couple of nights. Aside from schoolwork, I've been doing my normal daily stuff with Amy, plus helping take the girls to and from school, plus cooking and cleaning. It wears you out. Just another reminder to wait to have kids until I'm completely 100% ready to revolve my life around little humans. 

Yesterday, Amy and I went to this enormous indoor playground called Leo's Lekeland. It was unbelievable. There were slides, things to climb, ball pits, trampolines, and a place to order food (which was surprisingly good). I wanted nothing more than to be a kid again for the day. I frolicked around with Amy but I was constantly ducking under things because I'm 5'7" and had to keep saying to myself, "Don't look like you're having too much fun, you're so embarrassing..." 

(not my photo)
This was the only picture I could find that shows the scope of this place. You could say she had fun.



Right after I took this photo, I realized how hard it's going to be to leave at the end of my year. To say so many goodbyes again, but especially to leave this nugget. I spend so much time with her each week that it's impossible not to grow attached. For now, I'm trying not to think about it too much. 

I've got a Skype date awaiting me, so until next time.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Best Babysitter Ever

Today was my big day alone with the girls and amazingly, it went SO well. Huge pat on the back for myself. After breakfast, I let them watch some cartoons and Pippi Långstrump (just discovered Pippi Longstocking is originally Swedish, what do you know?). I figured I would get ready while they were calm, and decided not to look like a slob. Slowly learning that looking good makes me feel better throughout the day, even if I don't have huge plans. So hence, makeup: 


P.S. this top is from Goodwill

We then went took a trip to the park which turned into a serious leaf hunt. 


Then, we used the leaves to make turkeys.



And in the spirit of October, proceeded to make whatever you want to call these.


If you know these three, you know it's nearly impossible to get through a day without considerable screaming and fighting but I somehow managed everything so well and feel like I can conquer anything. Trond is home now so I'm going to do schoolwork and take it easy the rest of the night. Hope everyone is well!

Saturday, October 4, 2014

5 METER JUMP

It was cloudy and lovely today. I will always love rain and will never be able to explain why.



This afternoon we went to a different indoor pool and you guessed it, I jumped off the 5 meter platform. I don't know who I am anymore. Aizea was too scared the entire time and I got a burst of courage from wanting to see her overcome her fears. I just stepped off and didn't think twice about it. It worked! After I jumped, she went for it and of course wanted to go again... And again... I remember being much older than her and chickening out any time someone pushed me to do something out of my comfort zone. Proud of both of us today :)

There it is, everyone. (photo: Marius Morstøl Jenssen)
Lucia is leaving for the airport around 4AM for a business trip in Spain and since Trond doesn't get back from his trip until late tomorrow afternoon, that means juggling the three girls for around ten hours. I'm mostly worried that Amy is going to absolutely lose it once she realizes her mom is gone. But we'll hope that isn't the case... 

Until tomorrow!

Friday, October 3, 2014

Swim Day

I was at the pool ALL day and pleased to say I went down the slide probably twenty times. There was a screen at the end that showed how fast you went and Aizea and I shaved our time down to 9.06 seconds. We named ourselves the Slide Queens (the king was a large man that kept getting 8 seconds). The wave pool was, well, a wave pool. OH! And I jumped off a three meter diving board a few times (as 5-year-olds somersaulted off the five meter one). But if you know me, I've got a big problem with heights so any time I do something like that it's a huge personal victory. Yes, I held my nose.

Tell me 9 seconds isn't good. (photo: Øhman Rolf)
I think Amy enjoyed her ice cream.
I'm also super excited because Phil has booked trip number two, and now I can start counting down. 





Long distance is shitty and these long weekends are everything.

The rest of the evening is dedicated to my Government essay so I'm hoping for productivity. Wish me luck!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

playdates & pizza

Today's big outing was a playdate with another au pair from the Philippines. These kind of days make my job so much fun. While we ate pizza and talked, Amy and Nicolai scurried around the living room shouting at each other in baby language. Amy doesn't have a lot of experience with one-on-one playing, but she was a perfect angel. Nicolai even grew a bit attached to her, fussing when she left his side. #amysfirstboyfriend :')



My day has otherwise been uneventful. I sort of dragged my feet the entire day and when I looked at the clock it was 9PM. I can't afford these kinds of days with my course deadlines coming up... At least the weekend is here!

Tomorrow we're going to an indoor swimming pool with a wave pool, lazy river, AND rock climbing wall (in the pool) and I'm almost positive I'm more excited than the girls are. However, I'm checking out for the night so I can get a little work done before bed. Goodnight, everyone!

misc:


au pair probs

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

LASAGNA

Hello again! Today began with the older two girls pretending to be dead as I dragged them around the living room. Somehow during this process, I managed to destroy my shoulder (dramatic) and can't move my arm from my side without pain. Good thing my job involves picking up kids all day long, right? 

On a brighter note, I stole a lasagna recipe from The Cozy Apron and it turned out amazing. This was no ordinary lasagna, friends. This was Creamy Chicken Florentine Lasagna and it was everything I had hoped for and more. Dreams do come true. 


I forgot to take a picture BEFORE I attacked but here's this.

The rest of the day has consisted of buying stamps for my letters (which were naturally like $4 each), creating birthday invitations for Sidsel (middle child), and doing some planning for when their mother, Lucia, will be out of town next week. I'm genuinely terrified of what's to come. 

Anyway, I need to study now. Only a couple weeks until I'm supposed to have everything turned in. *fingers crossed*

I'll leave you guys with this view:


Enjoy the rest of your evening/day!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

I've got mail!

The girls are out of school this week for høstferie (autumn vacation) so it's a laid back week. Today I took Amy to the playground which was completely deserted, so between pushes on the swing, I would do squats and she would laugh at me. I haven't been exercising as consistently the last couple of week so I'm trying to squeeze in things here and there to get back on track.


Walking around the park
The highlight of my day was receiving a handwritten letter from Chandler. Of course, I nearly cried. I miss my beebs so ridiculously much. The happiness I felt opening my letter inspired me to write a few myself, which is how I've spent my last two hours. I killed two pens in this process and included lots of lip stain kisses. I think snail mail is such a heartfelt way to remind people you're thinking of them. A.K.A. write me letters please :)


Chan's card (The inside said, "I'm dog-on board!")
LOTS of writing as you can see
Lucia (the mother of the family I work for) just brought me a bowl of freshly baked pear crumble and I think I'm in heaven. Off to shower and do some reading. Hope everyone has a good day!

Monday, September 29, 2014

A Monday to Forget

Another uneventful day for me. I woke up around 10 AM and spent the majority of the day reading and taking notes for my government course. As incredibly annoying as it is to do coursework in Norway, the end is near. I can't wait to read books again (that I like). I have a million books I want to read and my Kindle has missed me. 

Here's a few snapshots from the day.



Can't complain too much with this view!

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Finishing College

My latest annoyances are the two online courses hanging over my head. I've walked the stage in cap and gown but have no diploma. Deadlines are approaching quickly and anxiety is at an all time high. 

But after studying all day, I'm taking a *quick* blogging break. Here are a few other recent pictures. 


Kornelia and I had a chill weekend. Prior to our night out, we sat on the couch and watched probably ten episodes of Kyle XY (don't ask) and ate loads of junk food.

 

The weekend before that, Phil visited. Although it was cloudy when the above photo was taken, we had amazing weather and spent lots of time outside. Highlights: kebab by the castle, sunset at Aker Brygge, beers at Frognerseteren Restaurant, and being super tourists at Frogner Park ^


Found this treasure when I was cleaning the other day :') I love my job.

Gonna stop here because school. Send me good vibes.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

It's settled. I'm going to make a blog that I actually keep. There will be no theme and no real purpose but to create a place to keep my memories. I want to be able to look back on a day in time and remember what I did and the way I felt. 

With that said, here's an update on my life: I'm back in Bærum! It's been almost two months now and I'm starting to remember why I love it so much here. Though my friends were a huge part of my life the first time around, I'm realizing that my attachment to Norway is so much more. It's the experience of all four seasons, the views that follow you everywhere, the good natured people, the funny accent that I pick up from being around exclusively Norwegians, the brown cheese, etc. 

This time I'm back, miraculously in the same area, as a nanny for three girls (19 months, 5, and 7). That's all the details I'll give for a first blog post. 

Here were some highlights from my week:



Kornelia and I met Else Kåss Furuseth from Torsdag kveld fra Nydalen (basically the SNL of Norway) so she's a big deal. 




And I taught Aizea (the oldest) to two-step. (Ignore horrible music I found on Spotify.)

That's it for now.