A HINT OF SEQUINS, AND TRUTH

Since I came to BERLIN Erlend and I have been joking about the fact that I have felt like I've lost my MOJO ( like in the AUSTIN POWER movies....almost ). Basically meaning that I have felt that I've MISSED some of the important parts of my life that makes ME feel like ME. It's very romantic moving to a fantastic city for love, but it's not always easy. Lately, luckily, I've felt that it's starting to come back to me, the feeling of being me. It has to do with a lot of things, but the part that is relevant to this post ..is that my passion for dressing up and experimenting with my wardrobe is back. I have therefore lately wanted to do more STYLE shots for my blog. This is of course FUN for me, but it has also made E my part time blog photographer. Not totally voluntarily. E has never been a big photography fan, neither when it comes to shooting them himself ..or looking at them. But then he met me.. a picture junkie. and I like to think that I, at least just a little bit, have made him appreciate photography some.

So yes, he now photographs, the man who never did. And he has become quite GOOD at it ..and I think he sometimes think it's kind of fun.. like when he gets a really good shot. But it's not always fun, for either of us. I can be a very BAD TEACHER (or all in all I like to think of myself as a pretty good teacher... like for instance when I was taking german lesson here in Berlin, the guy sitting next to me in class was a 40 year old japanese man who had big problems following the lessons, so I tried to help him whenever I could ..and were complimented by my teacher who thought that I used to teach.. but that was not the point ..) but... I'm not always a particularly nice or patient photography teacher.. partly because I'm not only trying to teaching E how to take pictures ..I'm also trying to teach him not only to photograph me, but to photograph me as me. A project that is IMPOSSIBLE, but still works surprisingly well.  But as E pointed out to me today when I was acting out because he didn't read my mind; you should have an identical TWIN, then you photograph her. Well I don't have a twin but I have a SISTER that soon will come and live here in Berlin ..and if she agrees I will sometimes maybe pretend she's my Barbie and post pictures of her here.

My WHITE WOOL COAT I got at a theaters wardrobe sale, the grey ALPACA sweater is COS men, the SEQUIN skirt is from GINA TRICOT, the CLUTCH is second hand from TRABANT in OSLO,  my white leather GLOVES and the RING are both H&M and my grey pumps were bought in some random store when I was on a ROAD TRIP in the States some years ago. I seem to remember that they almost didn't cost a thing. I have many reasons for wanting to go back to the States that are much bigger and more important than the shoe prices.. but they are still a reason.

THE HISTORY OF THE INIS MEÁIN SWEATER

The other day when ERLEND was taking some pictures of me, he was wearing this HAND KNITTED merino wool sweater from INIS MEÁIN Knitting Company and his cashmere MARC JACOBS scarf. We both FELL in LOVE with this sweater when he was trying on a WINTER JACKET before Christmas in this store 14 oz in MITTE ..and both decided that he had to have it ( I will say that this was the first time I have ever fallen for that hole 'why don't you just try this under' selling trick.. I don't know about E). Even more than we fell for the sweater because of its look and fabrics we fell in love with the idea of HOW and WHERE the sweater was made. The woman in the store could tell us that it was hand knitted on ARAN ISLANDS, a small island outside the WEST COAST of IRELAND. I really liked the idea of a sweater with that kind of history and became even more fond of the sweater when I visited their homepage and saw pictures from the island when we came home. The first picture on this post is from the island and was posted on the Inis Meáin's ISLAND DIARY. Coast sweet coast.. I miss the COAST.

GREY AND OTHER COLORS, OUR ROOFTOP, KARL-MARX-ALLEE, BERLIN

LOOOOOOOOVE THAT IT IS NOT THAT COLD THIS WEEK

My CAPE is SECOND HAND and from UFF in OSLO, my INFINITY SCARF is hand knitted by my MOM, the SUNGLASSES are also second hand and from the store SJARM in OSLO, I'm wearing TWO blue CASHMERE SWEATERS, one from A.P.C. that I patched when it got a hole on one of the elbows and the ofter one is from COS and has perfect long sleeves, the jeans are also from COS, my watch is from GLITTER, the ring H&M and my boots are ACNE TRACK.

BREAKFAST

OUR NEW MATTHEW ANTEZZO DRAWINGS

 

 Last spring MATTHEW ANTEZZO, an AMERICAN ARTIST based in BERLIN, had a solo show called DOPPELPUNKT, in KUNSTVEREIN GÖTTINGEN, GERMANY.  I never got to see the show, but ERLEND wrote a TEXT for the catalogue. The catalogue arrived at our apartment yesterday together with some of MATTHEW'S beautiful DRAWINGS. They are not framed yet but I wanted to share them because I think they look very nice, just as they are.

MATTHEW is also one of the artists showing works in the upcoming exhibition OH HOW TIME FLIES, curated by ERLEND, this FALL at NO. 5/ BERGEN KUNSTHALL in BERGEN, NORWAY.

QUAIL AND GREEN APPLE AND MUSTARD DRESSING SALAD WITH SWEET POTATO FRIES WITH WHITE TRUFFLE BUTTER

STILL HAPPY ABOUT MY SKIRT

My SKIRT, SWEATER and TIGHTS are all from  H&M and my SHOES are from ACNE.

VOLKSPARK FRIEDRICHSAIN, BERLIN

ME AND MY HAT

My grey WOOL HAT was a gift bought to me by my sister and mom at a BERLIN CHRISTMAS MARKET when they visited me before Christmas, the FUR JACKET is second hand bought at FRETEX in BERGEN and my SHOES are second hand from FRETEX in OSLO.

BACKYARD, BERLIN

GETTING READY FOR LUNCH AT CHEZ MAURICE WITH INGVILD

 My DRESS is from LINDEX (a favorite from while I was writing on my masters) ..it has been in E's parent's basement since I moved to BERLIN ..but was brought here after Christmas, very happy about the reunion,  the SUEDE LETHER BELT and the RING are both from H&M and are two favorites of mine,  the WATCH is from GLITTER and the dark grey TIGHTS are FALKE.

FINE 'PEASANT' FOOD and WINE

 This weekend we have had good health reasons ( the FOOD CRISIS that hit Germany this week; the discovery of the cancer-causing chemical dioxin in german animal feed) to stay away from german food and rather go for, par example, a french alternative;  Our choice fell on some french sausages and lentils inspired by JAMIE OLIVER'S tv cooking show; JAMIE DOES..  FRENCH PYRÉNÉES  (there are among a lot of tasty looking dishes a very charming scene with a truffle pig and his farmer) together with the french wine PARIGOT BOURGOGNE TRADITION ROUGE. A red sparkling BURGUNDY made only from PINOT NOIR. Back in the days it was traditionally used in local farmer weddings instead of the more exclusive CHAMPAGNE.

A PRETTY LITTLE THING

This magical little thing ( an ITALIAN VINTAGE natural straw RODO CLUTCH) I bought a couple of days ago in one of the two MADE IN BERLIN secondhand stores in MITTE. I love everything about it, ..maybe except from the smell inside it.. well it will pass, I hope.. but who cares, I'm not gonna walk around with my nose in it. Anyway. Can't wait to start using it, but till then it will just have to lay on our dresser looking good.