American in Norway

It has been a while..  a crazy couple of years..  A couple of years for all of us to process the changes in our lives..  How to move on, how to start over..  The starting over.   Dating again in my 40's yikes..  with all of my history thrown out on the internet to see.    Family pictures, daily adventures..  I suddenly didn't want my life out there for the world to see. Was a time for privacy for sure....  I made my blog private..  & then left it..  Sad really, when once I really enjoyed posting memories for my children and our life "abroad" Not really so abroad anymore.. - As Norway has really become home & I have even gotten my Norwegian citizenship Whaaaaaat?  Yes, the procrastinator got off her tail and took care of herself..  Looking at the old header.. Another reason I stopped blogging.. I had to figure out who I was -- After 17 years of being a wife ,...

  Couldn't resist y'all..  Just had to share my beautiful view from Fredrikstad; Norway tonight.   10,000 steps

I just wanted to share some photos from 17 May 2014 I like the idea of having all of the pictures in one place (my blog) for the kids to find later.

Last week I was in Jevnaker for work... what a LOVELY area in Oppland. I know it is breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL.. yet I never allow myself enough time to stop and take pictures on the drive up... perhaps next time..         We stayed here at Thorbjornrud Hotel - beautiful views and fantastic food and wine ... Hadeland Glassverks Factory We had a little outing with work here at the Hadeland Glassverks Factory.. if you are in the area it is  well worth the visit. As it always is with me, it is either feast or famine...  You don't hear from me in AGES.. and now you will be bombarded with 5000 posts. :-) I may have been horrible posting on my blog.. but I am an INSTAGRAM fanatic.. lol.. posting photos of where I am almost daily..  instagram name :   tressa_in_norway

    Been awhile.. - Remember me? I've been on the fence about whether or not to start blogging again.. But I really miss the outlet it gives me.. I miss keeping track of all of the things going on in my life.. what a difference a year makes.. or even 6 months.. I think that was the last time I posted.   I also worry about filtering myself, where I haven't always been very good. :-)   Several years ago, after a dinner party, we had some friends tell us they were splitting up. But they were going to be really good friends and hoped we would include both when we were inviting people... hmmm.. we were there to help them move out of their family home and move them into their separate homes.. not far from one another.. They were SOOO NICE to each other. it was almost odd.   I couldn't wrap my head around them splitting up if they were such good friends. Not really any of my business, but secretly I wondered why they couldn't just pu...

Sorry to worry y'all! Life is good- very good. I am keeping myself busy with HAPPY, healthy kids & hubby.  Dane's leg being broken last spring was actually a BLESSING - yes, I said that.  BLESSING !  Made hubs & I get off of our  butts & move our children to a better environment. Dane is thriving.. as is the rest of the family.  We were so thrilled with the new school, that we moved baby girl as well. As if I didn't have enough to do keeping up with the kiddos, I accepted a new position with Oriflame & am responsible for the Norwegian sales team. I have been traveling all over Norway & have probably been in your area. Lol I will be going to Northern Norway in the middle of Nov.  so if you have any suggestions of things to do in Tromsø or Narvik, please let me know. I am unable to post from my laptop - if there is something I missed (update to blogger) let me know... Until then, I will have to try to post from...

march 16  between birthday parties & swim team I managed to get out and take some photos about town.. I love finding new things.... in areas I walk past.. yet never take the time to look around.

Feb 24,2013 The AMAZING thing about living in Norway is the weather.. One day.. the sun is setting at 3pm.. and the sky is filled with heavy dark clouds..screaming the winter is here..to stay.. probably FOREVER... and the next (week) .. you realize the days are long-er, we are headed to the best time of the year. I am so blessed my daughter still thinks it is fun to wonder around our area.. looking for pretty things & fantastic sunsets.. and that is exactly what we did on Sunday..

The FANTASTIC thing about the 365 is.. trying to come up with ideas for new pictures.. after realizing I hadn't taken a picture today.. I grabbed my camera.. the tripod (still in box) & my big lens and went out on the deck.. OK.. I know this isn't the best MOON photo.. but I was really impressed about the detail I was able to get. can not WAIT until the next full moon..

Playing along with  The View from Right here ...    

So I had this bright idea  of finding something from the ICE AGE for y'all...  I headed to the beach... yes.. this is my favorite hideway... no matter the time of year.. As I climed to the top of the mountain (HILL).. I realized that what I wanted to show you.. was COVERED WITH SNOW...  yes... I really am still very much AMERICAN living in a Norwegian world.  sigh..  I will have to save the ice age post for a little later in Spring.. but have no fear... I still found some awesome (I think)  shots to share.. The Ocean... has no longer a frozen mass... but now appeared to be tiled.. The view from the top of the  was FANTASTIC... I headed down the mountain.. (hill) To get to my usual spot for sunset.. I love the ferries passing by..  Love the cracked ICE and the sunset on the rocks.. you should have been here... Hope y'all have had a fantastic weekend! xoxo To see more photos from...

damp..cold..DRAP winter day...  Hope y'all are staying warm..

You know you live in NORWAY when... Actually, despite living in Norway for 7 years... this is the first time I have "been" ice fishing. (OK... I walked out to the ICE to watch them..) Ya... I'm not much of a fishing person... but it was beautiful on the ICE.. and proved to be a nice little trek.. burning a few calories.  :-) Hope y'all have a sun shining day! Stay warm..

I love sharing my SKY photo's on Skywatch Friday... I took this shot a couple of weeks ago on my IPhone...   the shame of it all... - I feel like I ought to be embarrassed that I use my iphone so much... but it is the one camera I always have with me... if you would like to see more amazing sky - from around the world... hop on over to skywatch  

We finally got the tree up last night... And the kids had full control... they did an amazing job! Pictures will be posted tomorrow.. My mother has a Christmas "thing" that used to drive me BONKERS... my mother liked to have "themes" on our Christmas trees.. depending on her mood, or where she had been that year.. would determine the kind of tree we had.. Oh yes.. I still remember the JAMAICA tree we had one year.. What I didn't like about her themes was that she changed our ornaments so often.. we never really had any special.. that we LOVED.. well except our special balls.. with our names written in GLITTER... LOVED THOSE and the ornaments that she & dad had from their childhood. Sooo being the daughter of DiAnn... I too would grow up to have a THEME on my tree.. Our theme would be TRAVEL... oh.. and boats...  ugh. Had to stick with the whole Caribbean  (where hubby & I met theme) I would collect ornaments fr...

Sharing a bit more of beautiful Norwegian Sky.... I love that I have beautiful beaches and docks within walking distance from my home.. big change from the Houston suburb where I was raised.. Hope you all have a beautiful blessed weekend! For more beautiful sky photos hop on over to SKYWATCH, , or a little piece of heaven

I have one of "THOSE" friends...  You know the kind, that no matter what she touches... it turns out FABULOUS..  She works full time... and has time to decorate her house with fresh flowers.. and bake Gingerbread houses with her kids... I really want to kind of hate her... especially as I look around at my dead potted plants... and the disaster of a Gingerbread house I tried to whip together last night... Ya... of course I didn't have enough GINGERBREAD so we had to finish it off with whatever I could find.. Ummm.. yes, that would be HAM... Thanks so much Helene for the Gingerbread House idea.. :-) OK.. I am kidding.. this is not my house of ham... I only wish I had gotten as far as making a disaster... I have done NOTHING... Now it is off to buy the FIRST Christmas present before my conference call in 2 hours.. UGH.. wish me luck!