American in Norway

If you couldn't tell, August was my month... My month to get back into blogging... woo hoo.. I have blogged almost more in August than I have for the entire year.... I have been back commenting on your blogs... finding new blogs to fall in love with & meeting bloggy friends in real life... But now as the month comes to an end... So do my ideas for blogging...  :-( People I got NOTHING.  NADA. NICHTS Really... what do you want to talk about? We have covered my BROKEN TOE.... (by the way... I am now able to slide it in to open toe heels My day trips My job. The loves of my life... What else is there? Open for tips for BLOG FODDER... & just random questions...

Mariane’s Cranberry Lime and Vodka Cupcakes  Now THIS is my idea of a cupcake... Sounds too delicious not to try..  perhaps for my next mommy get together..? Cranberry, Lime & Vodka Cupcakes Makes 12 cupcakes Ingredients: 100g butter 100g sugar 2 eggs zest of 1/2 a lime 2 tbsp cranberry sauce or jelly 30g dried cranberries + extra for decoration if desired 100g self-raising flour (or 100g plain flour + 3tsp baking powder) 60ml cranberry vodka (or regular vodka) For the drizzle icing: 150g icing sugar juice of 1/2 a lime Method: Pre-heat oven to180*C Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well to combine. Stir in the lime zest, cranberry sauce and dried cranberries then fold in the flour. Line a bun tray with paper liners and fill each 2/3 full. Bake for 12-15min. Once out of the oven, poke holes in the cupcakes with a fork and pour a teaspoon of vodka into each one. Wait until cooled completely before making a thin paste with...

Bergen was AMAZING ... what a fantastic city.... I only wish I hadn't spent then entire day in meetings...   I also wish I hadn't booked my return flight so early the next day. After our day long meeting, our boss planned dinner for us on top of the Fløibanen. We took the Funicular up to the.. Fløien Folkerestaurant Delicious food.. & great service (Roberto) ...   oh yes & the wine... :-) We were running a couple of hours behind... so I was worried  about not being able to FINALLY  meet Megan from "A Suitcase and Stilettos" But Meghan was a trooper and waited for me.  We thought we would grab a "quick drink" - I had to be up by 5:00 am to get to the airport... HA... well one drink led to another.. & the conversation just flowed... Why do I always try to kid myself.. saying I will call it an early evening? I knew it wouldn't be... Of course we talked for hours... We met a nice American family who took these pictures for us......

Early flight in the morning... off to Bergen.. I haven't been to Bergen in YEARS.. and am really looking forward to it. I have just started a board over at Pinterest   about the places I am going. anyone else totally ADDICTED?  I think of all of the neat places I have been in the last couple of years.. and all of the pictures I have promised to post ... Remember Argentina?  Rome, Dublin...  the 17 countries we took the children two on our Cross Europe camping trip?   I promise.. and then somthing always comes up..  & there the pictures sit.  on my lap top. Ooooh, I know y'all could care less... But it is so nice for me to look back & remember.. Or for the kids to see one day.. No? So be prepared for lots of little posts about where I am off to now... So tomorrow Bergen.  I doubt I will have much time to do too much.. but I am keeping my fingers crossed. Pictures coming.. I promise... LOL...

Hi y'all!    Been a BUSY BUSY girl... traveling all over Southern Norway for work.... Tønsberg... Oldest town in Norway Kristiansand I am always AMAZED how beautiful these tiny little towns are... Too bad I am always driving & on a tight schedual I am POOPED... Hønefoss (Jevnaker) I haven't been blogging & I haven't been checking my personal email account.  (oops) I finaly got around to checking my emails this morning... I had over 600 something... & found 8 E I G H T emails in the past 2 weeks from people moving to Norway asking for advice. I feel HORRIBLE... I really do try to be helpful... I am more than Happy to offer advice & help where I can. SO I apologize for my delay in getting back to y'all... If you have a question , need advice Please leave me a comment here on the blog.. telling me that you have emailed me. OR if you are unable to leave a comment... Please fill out the subject line so  I know it is about moving to...

OKay... I will spare y'all with the "oh how I miss back to school in the USA". The kids had a great day... this sure was a LONG summer. Eva is in a different classroom with a new teacher...(WOWY)   Dane, of course, same classmates...same teacher... New school year would not be complete without photos... so here you go.  :-)

Umm hmmm.. looks like we have hit the PRE TEEN years in all of their GLORY... Can you just hear the SARCASM dripping from  my mouth??... And I can just IMAGINE my mother having a good laugh... in her corner of the world... (at my expense) I am not sure how old I was when I realized my MOTHER was pretty much right about MOST things. But she IS... & I know that..  and often sit and wonder how the hell she managed to raise four..not. always. easy. children.. I have 2. PRETTY.GOOD. children & still wonder if I am going to drop the ball I wonder how old my kiddos will be when they realize I am MUCH smarter than I appear,  and just like my mother... I am RIGHT pretty much most of the time. I really do know what I am talking about... I don't want to be a killjoy ... I really don't .. . Just like my mama... I just want to keep my babies SAFE & HEALTHY & HAPPY.. and get them onto the next phase.. Just like my mama... I can handle pretty much a...

Pressure to be BEAUTIFUL... loved this & thought it too good not to pass along. Makes you think.

OK folks... heading into a busy CRAZY week... Still trying to get used to this horrible broken toe... Should be interesting how I will pull of all of my appointments this week hobbeling around.. PLEASE do not let it RAIN ...please please please... Will be hitting the road again this week..  Oslo..Tønsberg... Kristiansand on Thursday 18 Aug Next week?  Umm couldn't even tell you for sure..  different town every night but I know I will be in Bergen on the 25th Kristiansand should be a fun night... heading down south with Oslo stylist/makeup  to talk MAKE UP & the latest Fall trends..  If you are in the area..hope you will stop by.! (send me an email)

Oh yes.. it is that time again.. Birthday Party Time. With Eva having a summer b-day we always have to put it off until school starts.. This year.. I was going to take it E.A.S.Y..  no big theme... no big deal... I bought a few odds in ends while we were in the US and decided on a CUP CAKE theme.. I bought a ton of cake decorating things thinking - the girls can all make their own cupcakes... & take them home . This year I was going to make an EASY cake... so I wasn't up all night trying to think of something FABULOUS... I even did a test run...  (forgot to make a giant cherry - note to self) This Birthday is going to be LOW KEY... just cupcakes... no big deal...  not buying tons & tons of decorations.. Y'all should see my basement... Wild West.. Harley Davidson, Rock Star, Luau, Hannah Montanna  FULL of left over party decorations...  (please let me know if you need some) Not going to do it this year... NOT. GOING.TO.DO.IT... & then an A...

Yes, I do blog about everything...mostly about life as an expat -working in the cosmetic industry-  I am usually asking for advice from my super cute readers.. about what I should wear, when should I wear it?  HELP ....  occasionally I will write a review on a product I LOVE LOVE LOVE...   so doesn't that qualify me as a beauty blogger? I found these super cool  bloggers.. Fabulous but evil  &  Mrs. Monologues I just had to link up  this week...   For those of y'all who haven't been here before.. I am a nomadic American girl living in Norway. I am a jack of all trades... educated Political Scientist-German Translator... Cruise Ship Purser.. Travel Agent.. Perfume/ Cosmetics Manager  & now finally Area Sales Manager for a Scandinavian Cosmetic company.  I have FINALLY landed my DREAM JOB.. Make Up & Traveling.. next stop GREECE sometimes have to pinch myself to believe...

This is SOOO typical Tressa.... The coming week is the first time I set out on my own  doing the FALL Kick off  shows  with the new job... I have been pretty excited as I will be traveling with a well known Oslo stylist/make up artist...  I planned ahead & shopped like a mad woman in the US.. getting everything ready... - told y'all I came home with 15 pairs of shoes... sigh... Ya well, in typical Tressa fashion... I dropped a 50lb box directly on my big toe last night... O.M.F.G...  At least in birthing children... they gave me something for the pain... not so lucky last night.  After living here for 6 years I am still not sure how the emergency room works...  As my toe continued to blow up and turn blue...   Bjørn suggest getting his DRILL and drilling a hole through my toe nail to relieve the pressure & drian the blood... No problem... he has done it loads of times while out fishing... C.R.I.C.K.E.T.S.... Yeah, Fisherman... ma...

One of the first questions I get when I return from the states is... How was it? WHAT DID YOU BUY? Is the shopping really THAT much better..?. Yes.. yes it is... you have no idea!  You really must come back with me next time.  Some of my favorite things from my last trip to the states were.... CHARMING CHARLIES.... Today was the first day I had to talk to one of my American BFF's here in Norway... I mentioned that I had dropped a small fortune in Charlies... where she we replied "Charming Charlies?  What's tha?t..." Ooooo girlfriend...  you are missing out!   I assumed I was the last American to hear about the wonder that is   CHARLIE...  but obviously Sara was the last to know.. :-) I am usually one of those girls who plays it safe when it comes to accessories...   ( meaning BORING ) but as my mother pulled me into the store... I nearly lost my mind ... Charming Charlie has an easy-to-shop layout based on color...

Slade was pretty darn good last night.. never mind I only knew 3 songs..  plus "Cum on feel the noize" WHAT?  you had NO idea that Quiet Riot did a remake.- me neither. Kept having a little giggle to myself thinking these guys have got to be pushing 65 or so... looked just the same as in the 80's... of course I didn't have my glasses on & I am now almost blind as a bat. LOL... Hubby and I had a total BLAST last night... Never seen more middle age folks having so much fun... I never think I will know anyone when I go out... but I was pleasantly surprised...  I ran into old neighbors/friends from when I lived here 15 years ago... Dane's "godmother" -(x sister in law) who hasn't seen Dane in ummm. 11 years.. Of course there are always promises made such as... come on over for a glass of wine... We used to have so much fun with all of these people... we had so much fun last night... So why haven't we kept in touch with them... ? Thats my...

While cleaning my office I found the disk I had burned for our 10th anniversary...   Lord time flies... its been yet another 5 years with old blue eyes... probably TMI... but sod it..                                                                         Still the one..

Playing tonight in our teeny tiny local watering hole.. . is SLADE...  yes.. Slade... ummm. you remember SLADE? perhaps I am showing my AGE now... But I am kindda excited. Every summer our little pub throws a bigg-ish SUMMER SHOW... Alot of 70's-80's groups... this is the first time I have been a little bit excited... granted the ONE song I know takes me back to 6th grade... But it is all good.. & can not remember the last time HUBBY & I went out to do something other a movie & a quiet dinner. So as I am drinking my beer in my teen tiny town in Norway.. I will be thinking of all of my buddies from KINGWOOD MIDDLE school.. remembering my glory days..

As most of ya'll know... August 3rd is a BIG day in our house... Our wedding anniversary & baby girls birthday. We started this morning with the pancake breakfast... we do this for EVERY kids birthday... (looks like a whole lotta nothing without the whipped cream :-(  ) This was the first year Eva has had to wait to open her presents..daddy was at work & Dane had a golf lesson... I am pretty sure it was worth the wait... :-) We had our family birthday this evening.. & Eva will have her friends party once school starts... lucky kids always gets two birthdays :-) Happy Birthday Princess... I love you more than you will ever know! xxx