American in Norway

It has been so long since I have had time to concentrate on taking pictures.... I miss it... I have been looking though some of my favorite photo blogs for inspiration....  and found my way back to  Long  Road to China... I always find so much inspiration from Lisa.... and found some additional photo blogs though her which   I am now digging. :-) My favorite photo this week is from Rhodes.... old town... so much history... so much beauty... AMAZING town... Although the week was much more WORK than leisure.... It was a good week away.. The thing I was DREADING most... (standing before 200 NORWEGIANS.. giving a speech... telling jokes (trying to be witty) & presenting awards in NORWEGIAN...  turned out pretty good... I know that if I could pull THAT off, I can pretty much do anything... The enitre week I was in Rhodes... I kept thinking of how much I wished I had my kiddos with me... Greece is one of all of my favorite places... and I have so many ...

When I found out last spring (before I landed the job) that I would be going to Greece for a week... I was THRILLED... Greece.. is one of my all time favorite places on earth...  OK Santorini to be more exact... is one of my favorite places on earth... But none the less I was headed for sunshine & Greece... sigh.. it was all good.... I worked a lot....during the week... but who can complain too much when your "office" looked like this? The old town was AMAZING... Open ALL night... for eating, drinking & shopping... I was a VERY good girl & did NOT buy any jewelry... remembering all of the items I had bought during my previous trips to Greece.... I did however treat myself to this yummy red briefcase..... I looked all over the US this summer for a RED briefcase... & NADA... so I was thrilled when I found this in the Old Town...  My co workers liked it so much... they each bought red ones too...  no worries.-- they live in different cities. ...

I am really enjoying my week of "Home Officce"....  Getting my babies ready for school... having time in the morning... My mornings here in Norway are different than the mornings we shared in the U.S. Yesterday, I asked Eva to run & get something out of my car.... She came in YELLING...Mamma there are MOOSE standing by your car! MOOSE?... surely she means deer? ...Moose? I looked through the glass door..No moose... ran to the back deck... Sure enough... there were THREE Moose in our back yard... a mama & her babies... Of course of all times NOT to have my camera ready... Thankfully our neighbor saw them too & snapped this...  I have heard rumors of moose roaming the neighborhood... but this is the first time I have seen it!  Pretty.Freaking.Awesome. I walked Eva & a couple of the neighborboys to school today.... Of course they can never take the shortest path... Noooo... it was through the woods... over the hills....  I thought about yelling for...

It has been AGES since I have been able to blog... As y'all know I was in Greece one week for work...  home 36 hours... just long enough to do my first ever PHOTO SHOOT... woo hoo...  & then turned around and headed to Spain... in Madrid until tomorrow. really thought I might have a quiet night or two in the hotel... to actually go through my pictures & blog a bit... HA. My butt is dragging with 14 hour days with meetings & late late dinners...(with good Spanish wine.) Be back soon to tell about all of my adventures.

Attended a FABULOUS launch of Oriflames new make up line.. STUDIO ARTIST. Have I mentioned how much I love my job?  Oh, I have?... sorry... :-) Nothing like a Thursday afternoon in the office with live music... catered lunch & a little VINO... The Studio Artist line is professional grade make up...  which will be availible in just a few weeks. yup.. same kind that the make up artists use. LOVE the colors... Love the lipstick..  creamy.. stays on.. & loads of colors to choose from.... Swedish born Hollywood actress Malin Åkerman is the spokeswomen for the new brand..   She was not at our launch in Oslo this week.. but was in Paris last week for our annual meeting... (no.. I wasn't there... :-( perhaps next year?  a girl can hope... I have a BIG day of Packing tomorrow... I am heading to the beautiful Island of Rhodes,Greece. CAN NOT WAIT... it has been AGES since I was in Greece... on of my favorite places on earth... As I keep telling hu...

Another Birthday party down....  I have to say, I really enjoyed this party... & I feel like the QUEEN of Papier-mâché Cupcakes are still pretty new to Norway... no. really.  Of course they have had "muffins" for years... but the whole CUPCAKE craze with frosting up to HERE . is totally new... So the idea behind the party, was that all of the girls could decorate their own cupcake. I made a Cupcake piñata... you can't find Piñatas here in Norway... so if you want one.. You are going to have to make it... not really too hard. Only lilttle glich... I hadn't thought about where we would HANG the piñata.. Hmmm.... I assured Bjørn he could just hold it... I am sure none of the girls would hit him with the stick... But he didn't believe me... So the girls had to PUNCH the piñata...  & then kick it... At least the entertainment lasted a while... :-)  I tend to make my piñatas very strong... lol While trying to figure out how I was going to make the piñata, ...