A is for Astrid Lindgren

Hi newcomers, welcome to my blog :) My posts during this challenge will be Nordic-themed and I very much hope you enjoy them :) I'm beginning this morning with A for Astrid Lindgren:


"En barndom utan böcker, det vore ingen barndom. Det vore att vara utestängd från det förtrollade landet, där man kan hämta den sällsammaste av all glädje.”

-       “A childhood without books would be no childhood. It would be like being shut out from the enchanted place where you can go and find the rarest kind of joy.”

Astrid Lindgren was a Swedish Author, born in 1907 and most popularly known for her stories of Pippi Longstocking, a character she had invented whilst taking care of her daughter, who was very unwell at the time.

Have you read any of her books? I read the Pippi Longstocking stories as a child and am currently reading “Mio, min Mio” (English title: Mio, My Son) and Madicken. The thing that I love most about these stories, is their simplicity. Lindgren takes simple childhood activities and turns them into great adventures.

Mio min mio is the story of a young boy who is being looked after by a horrible elderly couple. One day, a genie takes him to a land far, far away, where he finds his real father, the king. However, beyond this far away land is another place, where an evil knight resides. This knight has been stealing children and it is Mio’s destiny to fight him. Lindgren builds a beautiful world in the telling of this tale. It is both sad and moving but also fills the reader with hope. The storyline might sound like a typical ‘kid gets adopted by awful people, escapes and finds his real father, who happens to be a hero” but Lindgren brings so much more to the story than that. All of her stories can be found in English translation and I recommend them whole-heartedly, not only for children, but for adults too! 

Astrid Lindgren truly did create that “enchanted place where you can go and find the rarest kind of joy”.

Just look at her, she was so very sweet! I’d love her to be my grandmother! Did you know that an asteroid that was discovered in 1978 was named after Astrid Lindgren? It is called the 3204 Lindgren and after it was named, Astrid Lindgren joked, “From now on you can address me Asteroid Lindgren!” Adorable!


(PS: Please let me know if my text size is too small. As a fellow glasses-wearer, I know it can be annoying to read teeny-tiny text!)

(pictures lovingly taken from here, here, here & here) 

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Let's make one of those

Despite the fact that the busiest month of the university year is coming up, plus the A - Z challenge is beginning in just three short days, I have decided to take on something else too. I have always been a fan of arts and crafts and have decided to have a go at making some small items, such as jewelry, hand-painted postcards and other little treasures. I'm not sure how it will work out but I thought I would ask any of you out there who can help me to point me in the direction of some tips on how to make jewelry. I've done this sort of thing before, but I'm unsure about things like where to find chains (also, instructions on how to connect fastenings to chains, whether I have to cut the chains myself, that sort of thing). Any advice would be greatly appreciated! 

Second of all, over on the A - Z page I read that blogger is issuing a new update. I upgraded to it today as I suspected it might be a little complicated. Do any of you have the new version? I would recommend getting it asap, so that it isn't a problem during the challenge. It looks sort of straight-forward, it just takes a little getting used to :)

Third of all, this blog is having a severe nordic-lack. So here is a picture of some Norwegian Kroner, so you can see what their funny hole-y money looks like! 

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The Sunshine Award // The Lucky 7 Meme

I am a lucky girl this week! I got back to Norway on Sunday afternoon, then travelled all the way from Oslo to Umeå (in Sweden) yesterday. It was a very long journey, I left my little flat at 6am and arrived at my boyfriend's flat at 11pm! At least I had a break in Stockholm for an hour so I could eat some yummy chicken nuggets :)


So now I'm sitting in bed, trying to will myself to get up and into the shower, but I thought I'd post a couple of things I was given last week. Once I've gotten these crazy days out of the way I will go back to normal posting. I'm super nervous about the A - Z challenge now, I'm feeling quite unprepared! Hopefully I will have some free mornings to sit down with some coffee and just write and write and write!

The Sunshine Award:

A great big shiny thank you to Jeremy at geeky tendencies for giving me this award. Go visit him right now! 

I must answer the following questions in order to accept the award: 

Favourite Colour: Pink. I'm a really girly girl. 

Favourite animal: I adore deer

(I can't find the website I got this from, but it's called "And Then There Were Three"and it's by Christie King. I'd love it if any of you had heard of her and could send me the link!)

Favourite number: 15 has always been my favourite, I didn't even notice until a few years ago that it's my date of birth, (1st May) either. I have synesthesia so my numbers all have colours, for that reason I also really love 9, since for me it's a pretty shade of pink :)

Favourite non-alcoholic drink: Strawberry milk or old-fashioned lemonade.

Facebook or Twitter? Facebook. I really don't get Twitter. I don't understand who's talking to whom, what you're supposed to write or how it works. Everyone I know uses Facebook, so I just stay there :)

My passions are: Anything Nordic or that involves making people smile.

Getting or giving presents: Of course I like getting presents, but I absolutely love the feeling of handing someone a package and knowing that they will just love what's inside. I love wandering around the shops, piecing together the perfect gift for someone, wrapping it up prettily and seeing their face when they open it. 

Favourite pattern: I have no idea :(

Favourite day of the week: I like all the days. I'm not one of those who hates Mondays but I really dislike Sundays. I always leave things to the last minute so Sundays can be stressful! 

Favourite flower: Peonies. But I also love tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and daisies :)

The Lucky 7 Meme:

Thank you very much, Laura for tagging me with this. Go have a look at Laura's sweet blog, my baffling brain now :)


The rules are as follows:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS (Or a fave book)
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they're written.

4. Tag 7 authors
5. Let them know.

I don't know what an MS is and one of the downsides of living abroad is that you can't carry your favourite books around (before you say it, I'm just too old-fashioned for a kindle!) But I had a look through my boyfriends bookshelf and for some lucky reason, he happens to have one of my books here, by one of my favourite authors! Oh, for some unlucky reason, page 77 happens to only have a few lines on it. I'm just going to post what is written on page 77 then, I hope you can forgive me for basically breaking all the rules here...

This is from A Winter Book by Tove Jansson:

I got into bed and pulled the bedclothes over my head and waited for the warmth to come back. It came. Slowly at first, but then little by little it reached down to my feet. But all the same I had been a coward, and all because of two inches. I could feel it in my tummy. Sometimes I think all strong feelings start in the tummy; for me they do, at any rate. 

For both of these things, I'm not going to tag anyone since I'm running out of time. But if you'd like either of them, just take them :) Consider yourselves all tagged! 

PS. I made a little badge, so if you are feeling Nordic Inspired, please feel free to take that one too :)

How are the A - Z preparations going for you? Do you feel nervous about it? I can't believe April came along so quickly, it's only a few days until the challenge begins! 


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Happy weekend!

What do you have planned? I'm busy recovering from my younger sister's 18th birthday party, having some cozy sofa-time with my poorly little dog :)

Why don't you make a nice warm cup of tea and sit and look at some links with us!

Why don't you knit your own little kittycat!

I really love radishes. Look how pretty you can make them!

This is super smart

Anyone who can bring me some of these today is my hero

Superhero birthday parties!!

I'm flying back to Norway tomorrow morning and was appalled to learn that I have made the horrid error of taking an early morning flight on the day the clocks go forward! 

I know I've been slow at commenting but just you wait a few more hours and a load of comments will be coming your way!

 Have a snuggly weekend :)

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Påskekrim // Easter-crime

In March 1923, there was a huge advertising campaign in Norway, in which the book 'Bergenstoget Plyndret i Natt' (by Jonatan Jerv) was launched. This lead to the new tradition of spending the Easter holidays reading crime novels, a distinctly Norwegian tradition that is still observed today.

 I once read that the Scandinavians produce so much crime literature because of their ''criminally low crime rate''. I largely find this to be true. Jo Nesbø, in particular, manages to dream up all kinds of horrific ways to murder his characters and I think you'd have had to have lived in a cave for the last few years to have not heard of Stig Larsson. 

Today I decided to make the most of being in England and raided the local for some new books - something that seems to be really expensive in Norway. I came home with a couple more of Jo Nesbø's books, Nemesis & The Devil's Star. I will be spending my Easter holidays sitting cozily by the fire, drinking hot chocolate and being scared out of my mind. But at least I might feel a little more Norwegian :)

Have you ever read any of his novels? What are you reading at the moment?

(pictures lovingly taken from here & here)

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Happy Spring!

What are your favourite things about spring?

I love seeing the daffodils popping their little heads up all over the place...

...and the cute baby animals

I love the pretty pastel colours...

...and being able to wear pretty dresses without freezing :)

(Pictures lovingly taken from here, here, here & here)

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Home Again

When I first began my love affair with Scandinavia, I could never wait to get out of horrible, rainy, grey England and into the beautiful snowy, forested mountains of Sweden and Norway. However, after living abroad in Norway for the last 8 months, I find myself frequently longing to return to England.

There doesn't seem to be anything in particular that I miss, but there is nothing like arriving back to your own home, taking a hot shower in your own bathroom and spreading out in your own, warm, cozy bed.

As our plane flew through the bright sunshine, I watched the higgledy-piggledy patchwork fields stretching out beneath me and smiled at it’s familiarity. I love my little flat in Oslo, but I know that I’m going to spend this evening wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa, sipping tea and laughing with my family. It’s funny how you never appreciate the tiny things until you have to miss them. And it’s funny how I have longed for England, when in a weeks time I will be longing for Norway.

I’m writing this from the (very rough and rocky) train that is travelling at highspeed through the English countryside. It’s pitch black outside so I can’t see anything, but I know when I get to my home I will be under a blanket of beautiful stars, since when you live in a small village, you are often blessed with clear skies.

What do you miss most about the place where you grew up? Would you ever consider moving to a different country? 


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