Why the silence?

No, I'm not dead, No I haven't found a different calling, I've just had some crazy busy days.

However, I can see you still check up on me to see if there are any new entries, and I do appreciate it.

Update:

I've opened my web shop www.floyelstre.no
I've started a Norwegian yogablog (very recent) http://floyelstre.blogspot.com
I am sick
I'm getting better


Will write a new entry this weekend!

How i discovered that my computer was sort of like Jesus/How not to be good with computers

If I may say so myself I’m pretty good with technology. I usually get how things work pretty fast, and I’m not afraid to “click-and-try” without being one of those “I’ll just push EVERYTHING and then I KNOW it’ll work”-type of people. This has led to a constant flow of elderly relatives calling to ask questions like “now I pushed that thing and that thingy came up again. What should I do” and normally I can fix it.

I love technology and technology loves me.
My laptop might be the exception.

My laptop and I don’t really get along. Not that we are enemies. He gets the job done, and I challenge him and keep him clean of viruses and fed with the newest updates.
But my laptop is sneaky, and I’m sort of sloppy and those two doesn’t really mix.

First of all; my laptop is covered in paint daubs, glue, diet Pepsi, chocolate, breadcrumbs, glitter, dried resin, nail polish, juice and hair dye. I know it’s not good, I just can’t help myself.
In an effort to be his best friend, I include my laptop in most of my everyday tasks, and to be fair he’s not covered in anything I’m not covered in as well.
Normally he doesn’t complain at all. He’s like “sure, we can be friends, let me entertain you while your hair dye sets”. But then, right before something important at work, like a special presentation or a meeting, he shows his true colors.



He goes all like “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah you should NEVER have breadcrumbed me you silly witch of epic proportions. I’m gonna (I’ve always imagined my laptop to be slightly more “gangstah” than myself) lock ALL the keys of the keyboard AT THE SAME TIME harr harr harr”

And then he just won’t let them function before I’ve removed every last piece of breadcrumb (in fact, most of it usually turns out to be eraser rubber, glass pearls, cat hair and pieces of exploded mini UFOs) from beneath every single key.

And this habit of revenge scares me. It truly does. It shows its sneaky face at the least opportune times.

So imagine my panic yesterday when I dropped my entire computer from my abnormally high desk at work and on to the floor.
Granted it was still in my bag, but I heard the loud “Crack” of repercussions to come.

I gently took it out of my bag, placed it on my desk and turned it on. With a loud “sproing”-noise the CD-rom drive popped out about half an inch from its socket.
He (my laptop) must have understood what happened, because he started to make a ruckus.



I tried to gently push the CD-rom drive back in. It wouldn’t move.
While talking soothingly to my laptop, I tried to find out if the CD-rom still worked. It didn’t.
I tried to firmly squish it back in. Nothing worked.

I took a look around the office for one of my computer wiz colleagues, but no one was around.
I had to make a decision. Try to fix, or let it be and wait for the punishment.
Gently I placed my hand over the webcam (I always do that If I have to do something I don’t want my computer or “them” to know). And then with my right fist, I smashed the drive back in as hard as I possibly could.

My computer went black.
It was completely soundless.
I killed it.

The knowledge that I had killed my computer mixed with the guilt of murder overwhelmed me and catapulted me in to my “Option Two”.
My “Option Two” is my eternal fallback option.

I pretended like nothing had happened, nothing was wrong, everything was good.

I tried to turn my computer back on – nothing happened.
I pretended like nothing was wrong and tried again – nothing happened.
I pretended like nothing was wrong and tried again – nothing happened.
I pretended like nothing was wrong and tried again – It awoke from the dead.

He woke up like nothing had happened. He was friendly, cooperative and didn’t seem revenge-driven at all. Sort of like Jesus. He’s now been alive for 24 hours without a single outburst of rage.



Let’s cross our fingers he won’t suddenly get his memory back Monday morning, two seconds before I am to open my new webshop.

That would be just like him.
My computer that is. Not Jesus.

All in all Iceland

I've just copy/pasted this from an e-mail i sent to my friend Kristen.

Iceland was fantastic!! It such an interesting landscape, such a sweet tempered people, and so many wonderful and interesting contrasts.

I think my favorite moment was the second time (!) I went to the Blue Lagoon, it was about 41 degrees Celsius in the water, about 7 in the air and it started raining so hard that most people left the pool. The warm water, the cold rain, the wind, the steam and the loudness of the rain completely surrounded me, I felt blessed and connected, really lucky to experience it.

Iceland (and Reykjavik in particular) is filled with so many great artists, designers and musicians. I really enjoyed all the creative street art, the wool designs, the young and colorful fashion designers and all the joyful weird little creations so obviously inspired by the nature and feeling of Iceland.


The ice cold wind mixed in contrast to the calm hot springs, the red glowing lava and the blueish white glaciers, the boiling bubbling geysers and the crystal clear lakes, endless green hills and the harsh almost moonlike lava landscapes. So many wonderful contrasts inspiring, breathtaking and always surprising. I loved it.

I actually spent a lot (lot!!!!!) of money on art and design. I even bought some ridiculously expensive colorful and naive paintings of sheep. They made me laugh and I “had to have them”. So I bought five, and I will love them dearly ;-)

I even bought some Icelandic music, not Björk or Sigurd Ros (I already have them covered ;-) but music previously unknown to me. I haven’t had the time to listen through it all yet, but what I’ve heard I’ve really liked.

It’s fun for me to notice how music once again is such an important part of my life. I seem to turn off that part of my life when things are hard, and then turn it back on when I’m happy. Would have thought it was the other way around.

My sister and I really got along, almost felt like we were old friends I felt. I really liked that.
I also got a chance to really rediscover my own panic-mastering-abilities as I went snorkeling in water 3 degrees warm (cold…) and started to “take in” water. Interesting experience!

So I’ve returned inspired, bursting with creativity, truly happy and grateful, filled with hope and humility.


Things as they should be.



I'll be back soon, 'til then : be good!

Iceland day 5 & 6 (only pictures, no explanations)

I'll write a summary of my Icelandic adventure in a couple of days, and then I'll keep the blog on as usual. Thank you for commenting!

Iceland day 3 & 4 (only pictures, no explanations)

Iceland day 2 (only pictures, no explanations)

Iceland day 1 (only pictures, no explanation)

Leaving for Iceland!

So, tomorrow morning (way to early) I leave for Iceland.
I haven't really had time to look forward to it, or even plan what to do, so I'm leaving with an open mind, and fingers crossed.

There's supposed to be WiFi at the hotel, and if so, I'll try to update a couple of times during the week.

Inspired by my newest friend Kristen, who's wonderful blog you can read here I will only update with pictures, and not write anything before i get back home.

Be good!

How to be good: update your blog!

Forgive my short leave of absence!
These last two weeks have been crazy. However, now the summer holidays have finally arrived!

Monday I leave for Iceland with my mother and sister. After that it’s a couple of weeks with doing _nothing_ (while doing all the things I haven’t had time to do)

Saturday I had my graduating class over for a graduation-party, and I thought I would be clever and make tapas!
Now, you might think; what a wonderful idea! When your goal is to try 200 new recipes in 500 days, tapas must be excellent! You could try several at once!
And yes. I could have. I should have. I was planning to.

How many did I actually use? 1.

For all the 18 dishes I made, I used 1 recipe. 1.

That one however turned out really good.
It was a recipe for hamburger-buns, and I nicked it here I used them for mini hamburgers (technically what you American-readers [ for some reason I have more American readers than Norwegian ones] call sliders I think) And the recipe was really good!
However, we don’t have instant yeast here, so I used normal dry yeast.

Well, it was a successful tapas table at least, and included these dishes;
Potato salad with yoghurt dressing and mint
Chicken rolls with pesto and feta cheese (wrapped in bacon, always fun)
Mango Chutney
Tomato and Mozzarella salad
Mini Hamburgers (sliders)
Mini pizzas
Roasted potatoes
“Pickled” sugar snaps and red onion salad
Chick peas and spicy sausage
Teriyaki pork
Orange honey pork
Sausage mix
Tzatziki
Stuffed mushrooms with rice, mushroom and thyme
Stuffed tomatoes with meat, onions, mozzarella and spicy tomato sauce
(Shrimp) Scampi with a mango/chili marinade (these were really good!)
(Shrimp) Scampi with a Greek marinade
Deviled eggs (these never came on the table)

Request recipes if you want them!

I also started two more dishes that I didn’t finish.

I’ve also decorated myself a new pair of shoes. Here’s a funky “before and after” as well as an even funkier “after”.

I think they turned out pretty good the green line was there when i bought them, and it's really not that bright. I just messed it up in photoshop, and couldn't be bothered.

I promise to be back soon with more tips and tricks (I’ve made a whole section on domestic “natural and easy cleaning” tips, as well as the continuation on “how to be good).

Until then;

Be good!

Mother in laws birthday, and a bit about marmalade

Today was my mother-in-law’s birthday, and we celebrated it at their cabin by the sea.

I am grateful for that cabin!

This cabin is one of my favorite places in the whole world. It’s right at the end of a beautiful fjord, and gives me peace of mind and a feeling of bliss.

My mother-in-law also has an amazing, unfailing talent for creating cozy hideouts from every nook and cranny. She buys a lot of old stuff at flea markets and auctions. Look at the wall in the left picture for instance. Pieces from an old oven.




She’s also got real green fingers and can make just about anything grow. As a result, everywhere plants can grow at the cabin, they grow. In pots and pans, boxes and boats alike.

I didn’t grow up by the ocean, so I still love spending hours with my nose inches from the surface, looking for crabs, fish, shrimps and seashells. And there’s no better place than their dock.

Both my husband and my brother in ran around pointing out things they found.
The weather was nice and was a really nice day!

I brought my mother-in-law a glass of each of the marmalades as birthdaypresents.

Decorated two wooden tags with stamp and ink, and wrote the name of the marmalades on the backside.

The lemon-lime-grapefruit marmalade is good, but really citrusy. It’s sour and sweet and a little explosion in your mouth, maybe even a bit much.

Next time: more sugar, more boiling.

Also, since I decided to use only the zest, pulp and juice, it took a whole lot of time, and I haven’t definitely decided it was worth it. Peeling 500 grams of limefruits free for all except pulp, is really not a pickninc.

I like both the marmalades myself though,and that counts for something.

It's been a great weekend. Only one normal workweek left, before my long and well deserved holiday kicks inn. Will be awesome!

Do you have any plans?

A little of this, a little of that

The smell of lemon - lime- and grapefruit marmalade is filling the apartment, and i can finally say; it's the weekend, and what a week. With exams coming up, end-of-year-feelings buzz around the school like really angry bees and teachers and students alike dream of holidays in faraway places, there is no rest for the wicked. And I am wicked. Wicked busy if nothing else.

I do hope I'll be able to get some things done this weekend, and make an outline for the first of my creative dream projects. Haven't even decided what it will be jet.

When it comes to "good person" "good body" and "good friend" I have some ideas.
One of them is proving hard to commit to. Which is sort of the point, and therefore even more challenging. What use is trying to explore what it means “to be good” if you are not willing to commit to the hard parts of the project?
So I will try. But it might be a project for the wonderful month of July I feel.

It has been raining heavily today, but now the sky is clearing up, so I have high hopes for a long walk tomorrow.

Take care, and be good!

How to be good: Be grateful!

So this is one of those rare days where I'm just not feeling to good, my body disagrees with me, my head can't seem to focus and i don't have the energy level i would prefer.
But I am one thing, that always gets me through these days with a smile on my face.
I am grateful.

For the last year i have regularly updated my facebook statuses with gratefulness. From big lifechanging things to small everyday pleasures.
Gratefulness is the largest word on my wall, the thing i keep reminding my self to feel.

And it has changed my life. Gratitude is rewarding, it makes you appreciate the small things, just because we all "run out" of large things to be gratefull for really fast.
By reminding yourself to be gratefull for new things every day, your mind opens to the things around you that you previously maybe took for granted.

Here are my gratefulness tips:

1. Make a gratefulness journal
Be it a scrap of paper in your pocket, a blog, your statusupdates, a daily twitter or a designated book, try to write down 3 or more things each day that you are grateful for.
If it seems hard to commit, put a timeframe to it. 30 days, 50 days, half a year, or even a week if that is what you can master.

2. Think big
Look at your life as a whole. Yes you might be grateful for your friends, your family, your boy/girlfriend, your job, your car and so on. But these points will run out after a day or two.
How about the fact that you have a job? The fact that your lungs fill with air. That you can move, smile, talk. That you are allive. That you have a roof over your head. Huge things that we often take for granted, but that are importent to notice and be grateful for.

3. Think small
Look at the everyday things you appreciate. The taste of your favourite tea, your new nailpolish, the way roses smell, the cat that lives down the street, the way your kid smiles and so on and so forth. Little things that makes life better.

4. Contemplate
Start noticing the way you feel when you meet, feel, smell, taste, experience or see new things. Notice your reaction.

5. Spread the word
After I started puting my gratefulness journal in my status update, people have shared the things they are grateful for. Some of them have even written comments that they are grateful they have a friend who reminds them to be grateful.
Telling people you are happy they exist, that you appreciate the way they smile or something they have done is polite (we should all say thank you more often!) but also turns both you and your friend's attention towards being grateful.

These tips have worked very well for me.
I noticed the change best when i had to face a person i find it hard to respect and talk to, a person who makes me feel small and unworthy. I tried to turn my attention towards being grateful and came up with these points:

- I am grateful I am not like him
- I am grateful I have learned so much self control after meeting him
- I am grateful he has made me stronger
- I am grateful even people like him can be loved
- I am grateful I don't have to meet him too often...

How to get things done

I am a girl filled with visions and ideas, but with a somethimes mind-boggling lack of followthrough. This has led me to a constant need of new techniques of "How to get things done".

This is the one that never fails me, although it is incredibly boring and very obvious. The thing about very obvious things, is that we never seem to bother with them.
This tip however, is completely worth it.

1. Make a list!
I know, it's boring, and you've heard it beofre, but try. If you're doing a spesific project, make a list over each step. If you have serveal things that needs to be done, just write down the most important thing first.

2. Hang it somewhere you can see it!
Visibility is key. Both because you get a constant reminder, but also because it makes step 4 feel a lot better.

3. Do one thing at a time!
Many like me get easily sidetracked when there's to many things to do. I often start doing something simple, and end up doing so many things on so many places it ends up looking even worse than when I started.
Focus on getting one task at a time done. And enjoy repeating step 4 over and over and over...

4. Cross things out!
This is wonderful. Big fat green, pink, blue or red lines telling you that you're done! This feels good, looks good and is rewarding on so many levels, and even more so if your list is visible for others to notice how good you've been.

5. Don't forget the reward!
If you don't get as turned on by crossing things out as me, you'll probably enjoy this point more. The Reward! Promise yourself something pretty when you're done with the first 3 tasks. Or make plans with a friend for when you've finished the list. It doesn't have to be fancy, I often promise my self a cold glass of soda when I'm done with the next task, or that I'll go for a walk as soon as I'm done.

Taking my own advice, I made this list for things I need to get done by friday:

1. Paint new words on the wall - Done (Really happy about the result!)
2. Put all the DVDs in shelves - Done (Also counted them; we now have almost 900 titles)
3. Sort out all the art books and put them in a new bookcase - Done (Part of my puting projects in to action plan)
4. Sort out all the books you want to give away - Done (anyone want a whole lot of books??)
5. Make sofa cover - Done (cheap and easy!)
6. Sort through all the books and CDs in the "library" - Almost Done
7. Hang what you need of the paintings on the wall, make collage, put rest of stuff in storage
8. Tidy up the "library"
9. Sort out all the fabrics and make a system (I have no idea how I'll do this)
10. Tidy up and clean the place¨

You've got a list?