Give me strength.

Paint job!

     The weather was really not helping yesterday when I got home from the grocery after buying some ingredients for my vanilla-strawberry budding to bring along to Lloyd's party late afternoon. After finally placing the pudding inside the ref to chill, I hurried painting the remaining walls of my livingroom. Yes! After the long wait and constant self-motivational speeches, I got my butt working and was able to start with a little bit of home-improvement projects in my small, but dainty apartment. I bought my place last December and boy, I'm glad I did. I got mortgage from the bank and then started looking for a place near my job and decent enough for a yuppy like me to somewhat start my life. We gotta start somewhere, right? :) As I was saying, I painted my walls white over the sad, depressing mocha walls I had before when I moved in here. Apparently, I never got tired of the white walls I had in my previous apartment. Color does wonders to a room, and indirectly or let me say, directly affects a person's mood. I love a white room with contrasting furnitures in black, red, magenta, etc. color. I am not going for a mod or minimilastic theme. Opposite to that, I really like textures and incorporating interesting pieces. A romantic vintage feel is more like me. I like to keep it homey and feminine. :) I'm on the early stages of redecorating my place however, to be quite honest, it's quite drilling a hole on my wallet. I am really, really planning, giving it a thought first then another, before  hoping on the next step. I would be posting some before and after photos as soon as everything is finished. :)

    Later in the afternoon, I met up with my friends at the beach and had a little postparty picnic. I was too chicken to take a dip in the water, scared that it would be ice-cold. The temperature that afternoon was around 23C, so I roughly estimated the water could be around 18C. Still, despite my friends' constant naggin to join them in the water, I didn't find any strand of will in me to do it. Plus the fact that I can't swim... uhmmm No thanks.  :) I got my DSLR with me and amused myself instead by taking pictures and experimenting a bit on my cam. :) Let me show you some:

      And here comes, the experimental artistic shots. :P

      And of course, the photographe amateur, MOI!

Neste Sommer!

     After withdrawing inspiration from the show Neste Sommer (Next Sommer) from yesterday's post, I think it would be fitting for me to introduce the song the show derived it's title from. I guarantee that it is played almost everyday every summer for the very reason that it's the anthem for summer. :P haha

Haha I'll try to translate the lyrics texts into English. NOTE: Try. :)

 NESTE SOMMMER (Next Summer) BY DE LILLOS

I

Det var en gang en sommer

                           There was once a summer
I nitten hundre og nitti tre

                            In nineteen ninety three
Hvor alt var så behagelig

                            Where everything was So comfortable
Og verden var diskret

                             and the world was discreet
Om dagen kunne man lese

                             During the days one could read
Langsomt i en bok

                            A book slowly
Om kvelden satt vi rundt et bord

                            On the evenings we sat around a table

REF:

Når du en gang kommer

                            Once you come
Neste sommer

                            Next summer
Skal jeg atter være her

                            I will be here again.
Og vi skal synge

                           And we shall sing
Gamle sanger om igjen

                          old songs once again.
Når du en gang kommer

                         Once you come
Neste sommer

                        Next sommer
Skal vi atter drikke vin

                        We shall again drink wine.
Og vi skal snakke sammen

                         And we'll talk together
Om de samme gamle ting

                         About the same old things.

II
Det var en gang en sommer

                         There was once a summer
I nitten hundre og nitti tre

                         In nineteen ninety three
Hvor verden lå ufarlig

                        Where the world lay safely
Langs Norges kyst et sted

                         Somewhere along Norway's coast
På radioen var det et program

                         On the radio there was a program
Om sommermat

                         About summer food
Vi ruslet ned og tok et bad

                         We had a stroll and took a bath

 Repeat REF.

An out-of-the-ordinary Saturday

    Yesterday, my friend Mary Ann came for a visit here at my apartment. Originally, we were suppose to go on camping and fishing trip in Jeløya, however, sadly, our dear friend, the sun did not grace us with her wonderful sunshine, leaving us a drab, wind and grey afternoon. So I asked her if she would like to watch a show at Parkteater  (Park Theater) here in Moss. Frankly, I've never been there myself and was not even aware that it exists until friday evening, when I was browsing over for some alternative activities and attractions here in Moss after realizing that our camping plans would  most likely be postponed. Good thing she obliged. This would be the first time we'd be seeing a show/live performance here in Norway so the thought thrilled us both. On my part, I had a bit a pang of nostalgia because I used to watch plays and live performances/acts on a regular basis when I was still in college. (Yeah that was loooooooong time ago. Kill me now?)

     Moving on, before heading to the show, we decided to grab an early dinner at a Greek restaurant called Afrodite.  For appetizer, we ordered Garides Saganaki - baked Shrimps in provence spice mix and garlic oil topped with feta cheese. For the main course, I ordered Filet Mignon ala Afrodite - beef medalion in 3 sauces (brown, white and bernaise) while Mary Ann had Paidakia - grilled lamb cotelletes with oregano, served with geek salad and tzatziki. (NOTE: The links for the the Garides Saganaki and Paidakia are not the actual recipes used by Afrodite Restaurant and are only for reference.) And not but not the least, for dessert, we had Gresk Kryddekake (Greek spice cake), with vanilla ice cream.

     What can I say, DET VAR DEILIGE, NYDELIGE og TOTALT FANTASTISKE MAT! (It was delicious, wonderful and totally fantastic food!) 'Nuf said. :p I'm glad we followed our noses and took a chance there. Although the resto was not really that inviting from the outside, structurally. But man, the cliche, "Don't judge a book by its cover" really applies here. Visit their webiste here. (Norsk)

      Here's Mary Ann and I, waiting for our order. (I'm sorry I didn't take pictures of the food we had because we were so caught into the moment of savouring  our meal. :) Can't blame us for that! )

      Our gastronomic adventure came to an end, yet our goal was achieved: Happy tastebuds. :)

Next stop, NESTE SOMMER (Next Summer). It is a musical show which recently premiered at Parkteater in Moss on July 2, 2011 at 7pm.  The show runs all weekends of the entire month of July with performers Hilde Lyrån, Brede Bøe, Sofie Bjerketvedt og Christian Ruud Kallum and Directed by Geir Meum Olsen.

     The show features famous Norwegian Songs which are all about... what else, SUMMER!!! The show also incorporates a bit of standup comedy in between songs and gives its own comedic twists on ordinary Norwegian summer topics like Ferie i eksotiske steder (vacation in exotic places), arbeid og trådløs teknologi under grillefest (working and wireless technology during a grill party), hvordan får man den perfekte brun hudfage ( how to get that perfect tan), Sommer fling og sex (summer fling and sex), just to name a few. The whole time I was laughing... I wished I could do a hyenalaugh, which would be absolutely frowned upon by my Norwegian counterparts. :P Surprisingly, it came to me that I've came this far with the language that I can follow what's actually happening and "getting" the jokes and reading between the lines. (HIGH FIVE!!)  The ticket costs 390 NOK per person (around 75 USD). Thehours and for 390NOK, we had a good laugh and left us feeling good after. So i guess 390 NOK was worth it than paying 500 NOK or 1000 NOK ticket to a Sarah Geronimo concert (in 2009), which was totally rip off, IMO. A Lady Gaga concert ticket last Nov 2010 was starting at 700NOK. Duuuuuuhhhh??!! (OK I'm going out of the topic here. :p )

    Anyway, yep, it was a one out-of-the-ordinary saturday for me! :) Happy taste buds, happy brain and happy soul. :)