The Lost Ann-Mi

I've moved!

Sat, 11 May 2013 02:09:07 +0300

Come find me here at my new blogspot instead, and update your RSS links. :)

ann-mi.blogspot.com

Bergen looks otherworldly from the air, especially at night....

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:15:00 +0200

Bergen looks otherworldly from the air, especially at night. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to photograph it, but I snap this one when we took off around noon.

An inspiring weekend in Bergen

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:03:39 +0200

I’ve just spent a fabulous weekend in Bergen.

I had a cold, I only had one full day to enjoy it, (whereof my friend, Lise was working half the day), I could only hear with one ear (and that one partially), it was cold, slushy, and I had no long winter underwear. Despite all this, it turned out to be a fantastic weekend full of arts, crafts, and tasty winter treats.

We drank glögg (a kind of Scandinavian mulled wine), ate rice porridge with cinnamon, gingerbread cookies and ginger cookies, went to the Christmas market, and held a little Christmas workshop.

Lise’s mother took me a quilting shop, where I bought materials for a present for someone. It was such a beautiful shop! Every shelf and box was arranged meticulously in all the colors of the rainbow and then some. Others were sorted into themes, so there were boxes of Christmas-themed fabrics, vehicle-themed fabrics with tractors and planes and trains, and so much more. If I had been feeling a bit richer and had unlimited space in my suitcase, I would have come out of there with a proper stash.

Lise’s boyfriend patiently showed me around the shops in Bergen. While we waited for Lise to get off work. He took me to buy such essentials as “Boller”, wooly long johns, and postcards. Then, when Lise arrived, we went to even more interesting places.

The first was a café/bar, where a nude painting of the owner lounging in a sofa decorated one of the colorful walls. The ceilings were decorated with toys, and the walls were studded with LP’s, paintings, and stencils. It was a pretty special place. But the best thing was the super-tasty (non-alcoholic) spicy apple cider served with what I think was red pepper. It warmed me right up.

We also hit the Design & Arts crafts Christmas market, which was located in Bryggen. The atmosphere was very inspiring. The decoration was Christmas-themed, but not in a supertacky “Ho-Ho-Ho” animated robotic hell kind of way - instead it was all quiet, sparkling white Christmas lights and traditional Scandinavian decorations. I picked up a few business cards from my favorite vendors. Here are a few:

Leirbrent: Especially cool textured swimming cap cups.

made in bergen had a very spiffy stand, featuring clothes, cards, bags and all kinds of other designer products.

I loved Gunvor’s illustrations. Visit her blog for more coolness. My favorite was a matchbox, much in the style of the images above, featuring the text “Mein hertz brennt”, which is a Rammstein song. :)

Maren Sofie Strømme displayed and sold her amazing fish-skin bracelets. I have no idea how you can make something so soft, and unique out of fish skin.

Anyway, after we finished touring the Christmas market, we went to the book shop (yay!) and hobby shop (yaaay!), and finally returned home for some more arts and crafts (super-yay!), glögg, and rice porridge.

I got to try something new. Guided and aided by both Lise’s mother and herself, I almost finished an entire Christmas present in two sittings! I am very pleased with it, and hope the recipient will enjoy it too. I’ll have to make a few more of these now that I know how to do it. :) I will post a photo and link to the tutorial after Christmas.

Yaffa the Cat is thinking…

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 12:29:50 +0200

Yaffa the Cat is thinking…

Japanese cat is happy.

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:00:09 +0200

Japanese cat is happy.

Rainbow

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:49:23 +0200

Rainbow

Cat and cat. :-)

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 03:24:56 +0200

Cat and cat. :-)

Green tea on Mononoke towel. Breakfast :)

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:58:35 +0200

Green tea on Mononoke towel. Breakfast :)

Key wallet bought in Japan

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 18:39:56 +0200

Key wallet bought in Japan

Orchid. I edited it with Vignette.

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 10:15:59 +0200

Orchid. I edited it with Vignette.

Tilt shift video of “Little Luxembourg” by Jeorg...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:38:19 +0200

Tilt shift video of “Little Luxembourg” by Jeorg Daiber. More here.

pauperes: Steampunk Star Wars, by Brian Kesinger Bobba Fett...

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:56:45 +0300

pauperes:

Steampunk Star Wars, by Brian Kesinger

Bobba Fett was always my favourite. :-)

Brussels...

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:15:17 +0300

Belgium is beautiful from the air. Verdant, lush, sprawling fields flanked by bushes. Straight, organized roads. A land bridge lined by trees, crossing a sparkling lake. The skylights of pointed houses glittering like clusters of crystals.

At the airport, I see chocolate shop after chocolate shop. The book shop has a big comics section with Tintin in at least four languages, Asterix, and many more Belgian comics I can vaguely recall or have never seen.

I buy two chocolates from my childhood. They are not fancy, but they are delicious. I eat the “elephant” chocolate on the plane and save the Mikado sticks for later. I will savor them and remember summer nights spent camping in our backyard in a tent, nibbling Mikado sticks, and listening for hedgehogs rustling in the undergrowth.

Belgium makes me sad. It is too green for me not to be envious, and there are too many familiar sights and tastes and sounds. I can’t believe it, but I have even missed hearing French.

I wonder if a longer stay would have immunized me. But too late now, my two hours are up and I have flown elsewhere.

Our new retro kitchen curtains. Marimekko Unikko. (Taken with...

Sat, 08 Sep 2012 08:11:00 +0300

Our new retro kitchen curtains. Marimekko Unikko. (Taken with Instagram)

The packaging of my last piece of candy. (Taken with Instagram)

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 08:41:56 +0300

The packaging of my last piece of candy. (Taken with Instagram)

It looks so weird but is so tasty. My favorite Japanese sweet so...

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 08:39:41 +0300

It looks so weird but is so tasty. My favorite Japanese sweet so far. It jiggles and is strangely transparent. (Taken with Instagram)

One pair of Japanese socks. :-) So comfy! (Taken with...

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 15:46:57 +0300

One pair of Japanese socks. :-) So comfy! (Taken with Instagram)

Japanese candy (Taken with Instagram)

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 15:44:30 +0300

Japanese candy (Taken with Instagram)

This should be an audio link, not a video one, but this is the...

Wed, 08 Aug 2012 09:53:00 +0300

This should be an audio link, not a video one, but this is the format it’s uploaded in. :)
Every now and then, I enjoy listening to this recording from “Flash FM”, a fictional 80’s radio channel you could listen to in the awesome GTA game “Vice City”.

The best thing, of course, is the strange commercials in between, like “Rusty brown’s donuts”.

If you’re a fan of 80’s music, leave it on in the background while you work or surf the web.

A jasmin flower blossoms in the teapot. I manipulated this photo...

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 21:01:23 +0300

A jasmin flower blossoms in the teapot.
I manipulated this photo with Vignette.