Enjoying the Autumn skies,
I find that autumn skies can be enchanting and at times, just so beautiful. In the recent mornings when the mister and I walk to work, we've encountered heavy fog or mist that sometimes won't lift until almost sundown. It felt surreal and like I was walking in a dreamy place with far-away lights illuminating the waters and familiar buildings looking mysterious. Very Hogwarts-esque :p The skies also seem to have these colorful hues that doesn't seem to exist during other seasons, maybe it's because of the lower temperatures combined with a bit more rain & humidity, plus a bountiful dose of sun. I'm just glad that in my life, I had the chance to experience and appreciate this :) The season's changing .. again. The trickiest thing I found about having four seasons in a year is handling the transitions in between the seasons.. The first snow of the year just graced us yesterday :) It caught many by surprise, even some of the locals were threading wearily around town, trying not to do the slippery dance by the street in front of an audience :P So it actually explains why the locals are so into the weather - it pays to be prepared :), especially with a good sturdy & warm pair of shoes. For those who own vehicles, they have to change into winter tires by November 1st, if not.. one may get fined. Of course, if the weather is cold and the road is slippery, one can change those tires before.. Back at home, we typically just stick to a type of tires till they are worn out :p Sidetrack - 'm dreading Monday.. the mister and I are taking the Norskproven 2 (Norwegian Language test) on Monday.. WISH US LUCK!! I just want to get it over and done with at this point. I will do a proper post about the test after :) Enjoying the Autumn skies, ABE
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I can't remember if I have specifically mentioned one of the things I am currently, kind-of, more obsessed about than before is homemade/DIYs. I think I did.. but anyways, I LOVE stalking those DIY blogs/forums/sites.. Mister would always ask me "What are you doing??", I would always reply "Reading...?" :p I consider it reading because there are posts after posts about different type of crafts. They are so inspiring and those ladies (more often than not, the authors are females) made it look so effortless to hand make all-sorts & they seem to have all the materials needed at their fingertips - not to mention the talent :p! These bloggers or site owners are so passionate and happy about what they are doing in their lives that they generously share what they know. The common thread I see in many of them, not all, are they are mothers too. Some of my closest friends, who are just as crafty and talented, and they recently became new mothers. And, I just keep thinking to myself, how lucky are these ladies' families.. to have someone who knows how to do all sorts of useful, practical and beautiful things. If they don't, they pick it up or figure it out in an instant. I want to be like them.. I would like to be that mother who inspires by example. I think as I grew older, I realize just how blessed and lucky I am to have my parents - who are smart, crafty, talented, resourceful, well-read & well-traveled to guide me and be there for me. I still remember the yellow little doll's knitted dress by my mom and the ping-pong bat made by my dad for my primary school projects. They both scored excellent marks :p I think I have a long way to go but hopefully this is a solid start to a lifelong of DIYs :p The picture above is my first attempt at homemade frozen yogurt (strawberry + bitter chocolate bits), the mister thought it could have been sweeter but otherwise, he happily finished it up. One of my daydreams is that one day, me and my children (in the future) would have Sunday scoops at home, they pick the flavors and we'll make it together at home, afterwards we enjoy the dessert with a Sunday evening movie... :p Enough about daydreaming..here are some of my favorite sites to stalk: Craftgawker (This is like the Pinterest for crafts/DIY projects) Howdoesshe (Love this one, it's a very down-to-earth site with wide ranging subjects) Ishare (IF ONLY I HAVE A PRINTER! but still, I stalk..) HeyLook (A very pretty, pretty, useful, colorful, makes my hands itch to do something site :P) Project Nursery (Hm.. it's one of those for future reference site but please check out these real life magazine-spread worthy projects) WeddingChicks (Yes.. am happily married but who would say no to pretty pretty things...>.<) Of course, you have the Pinterest, Design*Sponge, Martha Stewart & I occasionally do peek into craft material sites like Etsy and Anma .. I could easily spend hours going through these sites :) Now, I will do more DIY projects and maybe, just one of these days, post up more of my DIY projects :p Inspired, ABE @ABE - a peaceful, still day at Flekkefjord Over the weekend, we had some of the mister's friends from back home visit us. I believe it is now official that we could only host 3 guests, MAX, at any one time, in our cozy little apartment.. the optimal is a couple :) Anyways, back to the visit, the friends were very curious about our life here in Norway, especially the difference between living in a small town and in the larger cities. Us, being in the situation, were quite amused by the questions actually. I guess, we have subconsciously thought about the things they were curious about but never did we articulate them. The main discussion point was quality of life. Of course, salary vs tax vs welfare benefits were tossed into the discussion but at the end of the day, the main concern was would one be able to retain or even better one's quality of life living in a smaller town or a bigger town here? I think, I speak for both of us, when I say, the answer is yes. Though.. it's a give-and-take yes. Cons of staying in a small coastal town:
Now, onto the pros:
We're one year old in Norway and:
Honestly, we wouldn't have cooked for our friends who came for the visit, if they weren't here for a visit. Back at home, it would have probably been easier to just meet up at a famous yummy restaurant instead. We've adjusted our lifestyles so much that I reckon it is going to be tough, if we move back home now. Home-cooked food almost daily, (we do take the easy way out and just toss a pizza into the oven on the OMG-H.U.N.G.R.Y-days), walking & just breathing in fresh, crisp air and that we have proper time for the basics - eat, sleep, rest. There's no rush, almost no stress.. In our jobs, our abilities to be able to assume different roles are put into use. As it's a small to mid sized company that we're working in, every one has to double or even triple up to cover all the things that needed to be done. I've always enjoyed that.. probably because I love the thrill of finishing one thing and the excitement of moving onto the next thing. I'm sure the pros and cons lists will grow over time, but now these are the ones that popped into my mind. For those that may be wondering, this small little town have enough schools, clinics, dental clinics, a hospital, elderly care, a NAV center, a Statensvegvesen, police station, post office, 4 groceries stores, a cinema & some retail. The basics are covered :), if it's not in Flekkefjord, it is probably at most two hours' drive away. Pondering still, ABE We have now officially stayed in this little coastal town by the fjord called Flekkefjord for a year! A whole year.. I couldn't quite believe it myself. I honestly felt that the year passed by both exceedingly quick yet excruciatingly slow simultaneously.
I am a fan of reflections, whether or not I put my lessons-learnt to good use is another story... but I would, always, subconsciously ask myself - could I have spent the past year any better? Could we have done anything differently? Or actually, did we make the right move at all..? Once, a wise boss told me - " REMEMBER THIS, you will one day or even, the moment you get off that plane, hear this screaming voice in your head asking yourself - what the f**k are you doing here? - and that is totally normal. Break it down rationally and get down to the source of concern, deal with it and move on. In the meantime, soak it all in." He, who moved across continents, thrice, said. He was right. Regardless of any doubts we may have, the biggest lesson we have taken away from this big move was knowing more about ourselves - What we are capable of and we were able to rise to the challenge we have set for ourselves. We actually learn to do things that we would like to or do things that we have taken for granted & now, have to do ourselves, :p If we didn't move to this country, this little town:
That is the hardest part, especially when things happen back at home and here you are, in this small town, missing all the action.. Would I do this again? Yes, if it's with the mister :). Counting my blessings :) ABE |
AuthorAn observation of sorts about this crazy life's journey - from South-East Asia to a coastal town called Flekkefjord in Norway. Archives
December 2014
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