Tuesday, January 30, 2018

it's my birthday today! ...30 years old





 "Każdy ma to, na co się odważy”. 

„You have what you are brave enough to get”.



This is one of my favourite quotes and - at the same time - my life motto.
Today I’m turning 30 years old. WOW! 30!
I was always imagining how it is going to feel to reach this “serious” age.
What I will do at this point? Who I will become? 
Well, one is for sure – I had no idea that my life is going to be like it is right now!
AND IT IS PERFECT! 


I had always imagined that at the age of 30 I will be a single independent woman. A “business woman”, focused on her career (I graduated 3 faculties!), buying expensive brands (“on my 30th birthday I’m gonna buy myself Speedy 35 of Louis Vuitton!”), owning a fancy apartment. Eating out only, parties every weekend (as I used to do when I was in the beginning of my 20ties), travels with my other single friends. Kind of Carrie Bradshaw’s style. All this was supposed to take place in my beloved city, Wrocław, Poland.


Instead I felt in love.
I changed University on the last year of my Master.
I quitted my job as a buyer in a good pharmaceutical company.
I left my family and my friends.
I left my country.
I moved to an unknown country.
I had to learn a totally new language.
I didn’t a job as I used to have or as I am educated to have.

I SACRIFICED EVERYTHING I EVER HAD AND EVER KNEW.


Today I’m turning 30 years old. My values and dreams have changed completely. I have grown and become a different person. I was brave enough to leave what’s safe and comfortable, and at the age of 30, I’m collecting my prize. Having by my side my beloved husband, my soulmate, I understood what is really important in life. I am a happy wife and soon my biggest dream is going to fulfil: I am going to be a mom. I know what I want from life and what really brings me happiness – and this knowledge is priceless. I finally know myself. I am positive about the future.

I was always imagining how it is going to feel to reach the “serious” age of 30. Although I had a totally different view of my life at this point, I never thought I would be so calm and happy - as I am while actually turning 30. 

Right now, I can say: turning 30 years old is awesome! Happy birthday to me!




Friday, January 26, 2018

Sofie's room. Waiting for my Little Star! (ENG)



The positive result on the pregnancy test was the happiest event last year... I had been waiting so long to see these two lines! We had chosen the names both for a boy and for a girl a long time ago. Also the first clothes had been bought much earlier, before I got pregnant... Briefely speaking, we had waited for a long time! Try to imagine me waiting to find out about the sex of our baby... so I could finally begin the biggest and most exciting interior design project ever: the baby room! As you know (if you read the blog) interior design is my hobby and a great passion of mine. I started the "Sofie's room" project in my head after the ultrasound on the 27th August:) So many ideas, concepts, themes... well, please feel welcome to see the final outcome of my efforts!


While choosing our new apartment in Oslo, I knew for sure: the walls have to be white or bright grey and the windows have to be as big as possible. We wanted again to rent an apartment on the ground floor of a house (as in Kristiansand and Sandnes), not in the block of flats (as in Bodo). In such a case the apartments have often not very much light because of small windows... The new apartment we chose has a pretty good light as for such an apartment. The living room and the kitchen are actually perfect thanks to the big, the-whole-wall-long window but both our bedroom and Sofie's bedroom have only one, quite small window. Because of that the quality of my photos is not as good as I wish... but I hope that no matter that you will enjoy this little tour in my princess' room:)


The main colours in Sofie's "kingdom" are grey and dusty pink. These are my two favorite colours so I had no problems choosing the tones for her room. I managed to find all the furniture in white. I decided to buy a solid chest of drawers MALM, a baby changing table GULLIVER and a baby bed with a decorative frame HENSVIK. In stead of a feeding chair, I chose a little sleeping sofa so it is more practical (I can't find the name of the model!). All the furniture come from Ikea:) I like Ikea for its minimalistic design that provides a great "base" to build on a character of a room.


The biggest pleasure when it comes to planning the interior is choosing the decorations and details - it is them that decide about the style of a room. White, pink and grey - I was looking for something special in these colours that would catch my attention. I really like unusual, personalized decorations - the offer of handmade rope-inscriptions by "Zasznurowani" stole my heart immediately! I didn't think long - and ordered the name of our daughter in a beautiful pink colour.


However, it took me some time before I decided about the main theme for Sofie's room. I have a lot of appreciation for interiors that are thoroughly planned and you can see that someone had a certain idea about what she/he wanted to achieve in a given room. I don't like rooms where you can find butterflies, dots, stars, flowers, owls and kittens - let's just put everything together! No, I don't like "random":) Sounds brutal? It is just a kid's room? Well, if you're into interior design as much as I am, you know it's not:)

After a long deliberation I have decided on a "stars and night" theme. You can find stars in Sofie's room in many places: wall stickers, a motif on the baby changing table, a pattern on bedding or boxes. The boxes are very practical decoration that eliminates an impression of mess; my husband loves to joke that I "loooove" boxes and that I collect them... well, there is a grain of truth about it, I must admit it! In the photo above you can see breastfeeding pillows - I think that the moons fit perfect with the stars and my "night" theme:) I bought them from one of my favorite children brands "Effiki". The "face" of the brand is a super cute bunny Effik - we have two of them, "sitting" at the window:) Pink and grey, of course:)


"To the moon and back" is a part of a popular quotation "I love you to the moon and back". I like this quotation, there is "the moon", there are stars - everything fits!:) I chose these wall stickers from the offer of a fantastic Swedish brand Stick Stay. As you're going to see in a moment, this is not the only product of this brand that I picked for Sofie:)



Another product by Stick Stay that became a "must have" for my baby girl's room is a wall sticker saying: "Kid you will move mountains". It is available in the same font as "to the moon and back" so it matches very well and - most important - I truly do believe that my daughter will move the mountains in the future!



Before I came across the offer of Stick Stay, I was looking for some original wall stickers among the products of different Polish brands. Through the website Dawanda.pl I have found a motif of a fairy sitting on the moon, blowing the stars... how adorable, I though! Moreover, I had never seen this before - in other bloggers' posts or Instagram accounts - plus for originality! I decided the fairy would look lovely above the bed and, as I found out later, it matches the Stick Stay's wall stickers just perfect, giving the room a subtle, magical character - just like from a fairy tale:)



A week ago I finally bough a baby mobile. I was hesitating for a long while because I couldn't decide! On the one hand I really like wooden mobiles like those from Halolalopl or beautiful cotton moons with stars from Cotton Sweets, but on the other hand I read that a baby mobile should stimulate the baby: it should move, make sounds, attract baby's eyes with colours...

Our baby mobile from Claudberry Castle is a compromise: it twirls, it plays a cute melody but when it comes to colours I stayed with monotonous white and pink... it's rabbits and a star though so I hope they will be interesting enough to get Sofie's attention:)


Another personalized decorations I ordered for Sofie from Poland is a toy-pillow in a shape of a letter "S" and a bed-organizer in a the same colour and pattern. To the pink I added some grey and white - my standards:) Both products - handmade - were bought again through the website DaWanda:) It is a perfect platform if you want to find something unusual and made specially for you:) So many talented artists there, I love handcrafted items! 



Here is the last "piece" of Sofie's room that I would like to show you. The baby changing table Gulliver is ready to be used; I bought for it a soft overlay with a grey stars motif (CebaBaby) and some grey and dusty pink boxes to keep cosmetics and fabrics organized:) The grey boxes come from Ikea and the pink ones from a Danish chain Søstrene Grene.



The baby changing table doesn't use a lot of space in the room but it can actually store a lot: all the cosmetics and also some of the fabrics like blankets and extra bedding. The clothes and most of the fabrics like nappies, light blankets, baby buritto rolls etc. are stored in the chest of drawers but I think it's going to be comfortable to have some stuff outside, available for a quick use. Still, thanks to the boxes, I think it doesn't look messy but quite nice and well-organized:)



Speaking of cosmetics that I have chosen for Sofie (after a long and careful analysis of their ingredients!) - I'm pretty sure I will be able to write a post about them before my labour:) I think that I will also write a list of baby essentials - I was looking for it on different websites, blogs and among friends who are already mothers. I think my future-mom friends might find it very useful - and I will also use it for our baby number 2! (in the future). Nothing can be lost, once it was posted on the blog:) It is my personal diary for memories and collected data;)

I hope you enjoyed this little tour in Sofie's room and soon you will be back here:)

Sofie's room. Waiting for my Little Star! (PL)


Wiadomość o ciąży była najwspanialszą wiadomością zeszłego roku... tak długo czekałam, by zobaczyć te dwie  upragnione kreski na teście. Imiona, zarówno dla chłopca jak i dla dziewczynki zostały wybrane dużo wcześniej... Pierwsze ubranka tez kupilam jeszcze przed zajściem w ciążę... Tak więc spróbujcie sobie wyobrazić, jak ciężko było mi wytrzymać zanim dowiedzieliśmy się, jaka jest płeć naszego maleństwa - tak abym mogła rozpocząć mój największy interior design project! Planowanie i dekorowanie wnętrz to - jak dobrze wiecie (jeśli czytacie regularnie) - moje hobby i pasja:) Uwielbiam! Projekt "pokój Sofie" rozpoczęłam w mojej głowie po pamiętnym USG 27 sierpnia:) Tyle pomysłów, koncepcji, tematów przewodnich... No cóż, zapraszam do obejrzenia pokoju Sofie w jego finalnej odsłonie :D


Wybierającc nasze nowe mieszkanie w Oslo wiedziałam jedno - ściany muszą być białe lub jasno szare, a okna jak największe. Chcieliśmy wynająć mieszkanie na parterze domu jednorodzinnego (tak samo jak w Kristiansand i Sandnes, wolimy to niż mieszkanie w bloku), a w takim przypadku wiele mieszkanń ma bardzo małe okna i często pomieszczenia są dość ciemne. Nasze obecne mieszkanie jest bardzo jasne jak na ten typ - salon z kuchnią i jadalnią są idealnie oświetlone dzięki długiemu na całą ścianę, dużemu oknie. Sypialne - zarówno nasza, jak i Sofie - posiadają jednak tylko po jednym niewielkim oknie, stąd jakość zdjęć nie jest tak dobra, jakbym sobie tego życzyła.... Mam nadzieję, że mimo to z chęcią obejrzycie pokój mojej małej księżniczki:)


W królestwie Sofie "króluje" szary i pudrowy róż. To moje dwa ulubione kolory, tak więc nie miałam problemu z wyborem tonacji do jej pokoju. Wszystkie mebelki, nawet sofę, udało mi sie znalezc w kolorze bialym. Zdecydowałam się na solidną komodę MALM, nieduży przewijak GULLIVER oraz finezyjnie wykończone łóżeczko HENSVIK. Zamiast fotela do karmienia wybrałam małą sofkę, która może służyć również do spania (nie mogę znaleźć nazwy modelu!). Meble pochodzą z Ikei:) Lubię Ikeę za jej minimalistyczny design, który stanowi znakomitą "bazę" do budowania charakteru wnętrza.


Największą frajdą jest zawsze wybieranie dodatków, które decydują o ostatecznym stylu wnętrza. Biel, szarość i róż - w takich kolorach szukałam czegoś, co przykuje moją uwagę. Bardzo lubię niepowtarzalne, personalizowane dodatki - oferta ręcznie robionych na zamówienie napisów firmy "Zasznurowani" od razy skradła moje serce. Nie zastanawiając się długo, zamówiłam imię naszej córeczki w kolorze różowym.


Długo zastanawiałam się natomiast nad motywem, który chciałam wykorzystać w pokoju Sofie. Doceniam wnętrza, które są przemyślane i widać, że twórca miał tu jakiś konkretny pomysł. Nie podobają mi się pokoje, w których motylki, kropeczki, gwiazdki, kwiatki, sówki i kotki są "wrzucone do jednego wora", że tak powiem. Może dość brutalnie to zabrzmi, bo przecież to "tylko" pokój dziecka  - jednak jeśli planowanie i dekorowanie wnętrz to coś, co Cię interesuje, to wiesz, że tak nie jest:)

Ja zdecydowałam się na motyw gwiazdek i "nocy". Gwiazdki u Sofie znajdziecie w postaci naklejek na ścianie, wzoru podstawki przewijaka, na pościeli czy na pudełkach. Pudełka stanowią praktyczną dekorację pokoju i eliminują efekt "bałaganu"; mój mąż uwielbia żartować, że "kocham pudełka" oraz że je kolekcjonuję... cóż, jest w tym trochę prawdy!  Na powyższym zdjęciu widzicie poduszki do karmienia - uważam, że księżyce idealnie pasują do mojego motywu gwiazdek:) Obie poduszki pochodzą z jednej z moich ulubionych firm produktów dzięcych: "Effiki". Znakiem rozpoznawczym firmy są przesłodkie króliczki - u nas "siedzą" na parapecie okna:) Oczywiście szary i różowy:)


"To the moon and back" to fragment popularnego cytatu "I love you to the moon and back" - czyli "kocham Cię jak na księżyc i z powrotem" (tak ogromnie jak ogromna jest odległość na księżyc i z powrotem tłumacząc bardzo dosłownie:P). Lubię ten cytat, jest "księżyc", są gwiazki - wszystko się zgadza!:) Naklejki wybrałam z oferty fantastycznej szewedzkiej firmy Stick Stay. Jak za chwilę się przekonacie, nie jest to jedyny produkt, na który się od nich zdecydowałam:) 



Kolejnym produktem, którym Stick Stay skradł moje serce, jest napis "Kid you will move mountains". Jest dostępny w tej samej czcionce, więc pasuje świetnie i - co tu dużo mówić - wierzę, że moja mała dziewczynka będzie przenosić góry!



Zanim trafiłam na ofertę firmy Stick Stay, szukałam naklejek ściennych wśród polskich producentów. Poprzez portal Dawanda.pl znalazłam naklejki o motywie wróżki na księżycu, rozdmuchującej gwiazdki... uznałam je za przeurocze! A do tego - nigdy wcześniej nie widziałam takiego motywu u innych blogerek ani instagramowiczek:) Plus za oryginalność! Uznałam, że będą wyglądać ślicznie nad łóżeczkiem - i jak się później okazało doskonale pasują do naklejek ze Stick Stay, podkreślając fantazyjny, dziewczęcy charakter pokoju.



Tydzień temu kupiłam nareszcie karuzelę nad łóżeczko. Długo z tym zwlekałam, ponieważ nie mogłam się zdecydować! Z jednej strony najbardziej podobają mi się karuzelki drewniane, jak te od Halolalopl lub przepiękne bawełniane księżyce z gwiazdkami od Cotton Sweets, ale z drugiej strony czytałam, że karuzele powinny stymulować maluszka: poruszać się, wydawać dźwięki, przyciągać wzrok kolorami... 

Nasza karuzela od Claudberry Castle to kompromis: karuzela kręci się, grając śliczną melodyjkę, jednak w kwestii kolorystycznej pozostałam przy bieli i różu... ale są króliczki i gwiazdka! Więc wrzokowo monotonnie, ale jednak nie do końca nudno:) Mam nadzieję, że przyciągnie uwagę Sofie:)


Kolejnym personalizowanym dodatkiem, który zamówiłam dla Sofie jest poduszeczka-zabawka w kształcie litery "S" oraz organizer na łóżeczko w tym samym kolorze i wzorze. Do różu dobrałam standardowo biel i szarość. Oba produkty zamówiłam na DaWandzie:) Jeśli chcecie, by ktoś uszył/ zrobił coś specjalnie dla Was według Waszego pomysłu, to jest to świetne miejsce, naprawdę polecam!



Oto ostatni "kącik" w pokoju Sofie, który chcę Wam pokazać. Wspomniany już przewijak Gulliver z Ikei, wzbogacony miękkim, gumowym przewijakiem w szare gwiazki (CebaBaby) jest już zagorpodarowany kosmetykami i tekstyliami dla naszej małej Gwiazdy:) Szare pudełka kupiłam również w Ikei, a różowe okrągłe pochodzą od duńskiej marki Søstrene Grene.



Przewijak sam w sobie nie zajmuje dużo miejsca w pokoju, jednak udało mi się na nim zmieścić bardzo dużo rzeczy: zarówno kosmetyki jak dodatkowy komplet pościeli i kilka kocyków. Ubranka, otulacze, pieluszki i inne tekstylia trzymam głównie w komodzie, jednak dobrze jest mieć te najpotrzebniejsze rzeczy "na wierzchu". Myślę, że mimo wszystko prezentuje się to schludnie i porządnie:) 



Na temat kosmetyków, które wybrałam dla Sofie na pewno pojawi się osobny post:) Myślę, że napiszę też, co znalazło się w mojej wyprawce - będzie to przydatny spis "dla potomnych" (zarówno dla mojej siostry oraz koleżanek, jak i dla mnie przed kolejną ciążą...:). 

Mam nadzieję, że pokój Sofie się Wam spodobał i zajrzycie do mnie wkrótce po kolejne inspiracje:)


Thursday, January 25, 2018

Hello 2018 !


Every January a lot of people make lists of New Year’s resolutions and so have I. My list always consists of more or less the same points: eat healthy, train regularly, sleep enough, learn Norwegian, don’t buy clothes, read more books… Every year I tried to find some extra challenges for a given year (fulfill Master degree, take a Norwegian course, get a new language certificate etc…).

This year is different: I haven’t written my resolutions list 2018! Those who know me well, know that I love to PLAN. Diet plans, workout plans, study plans, budget plans, every day family planners… For me a resolution list is a kind of a plan for an upcoming year. You might ask: why then haven’t you done it this year? January is almost over…

For some people making a New Year’s resolution list is stupid. “Why would I introduce changes or make plans just because a New Year has started? Can’t I do it any time during a year?”, they ask.  I’m not one of those people – of course any time is good to make some decisions, start something new, do something different – but I always considered New Year as a symbolic time to do this and used it as an extra motivation. Every motivation is good :) 

However, this year feels like it hasn’t really started for me because… I’m still waiting! Waiting for this big “boom” feeling that usually the beginning of a new year gives. It was not given to me this year because the biggest event, we are waiting for, is the arrival of our babygirl, Sofie. I guess my 2018 starts on my due to date: the 7th of February! 

As much as I am happy that I finally got pregnant, I must admit that I’m so sick of waiting! :P I’m definitely not a patient person and this pregnancy feels like forever. 9 months feels like 2 years! Now I’m in week 38, 2 weeks left! I’m so excited and so focused on preparing that until Sofie will join us, I can’t really feel anything else right now. All I can feel is expectancy, suspension in a way, tiredness as I’m getting more and more impatient… 

My most new idea? Share these emotions and topics here on my blog :) I started my blog in 2015 and its main topics were life in Norway and healthy diet.  My healthy diet became so ordinary that I lost the interest in sharing the recipes, making different aspects of life in Norway the blog’s main theme. Three years have passed and I feel like starting something new here, as our family is starting a new phase and a lot of new experiences are ahead of us.


Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Christmas 2017: Norwegian – Polish reunion in Kristiansand


It was exactly a month ago when we all sat at the Christmas table, surrounded by family, listening to Christmas carols, being bright and merry! I can’t believe how quickly it passed… all the preparations, excitement, the wonderful atmosphere.  I am already looking forward to Christmas 2018! 

As I mentioned in the previous post, we celebrated Christmas 2017 in Kristiasand at my husband’s parents, together with the guests from Poland – my Mom and my Sister. My family came on the 23rd of December and stayed for a week – what an amazing time we had! We spent 3 days in Kristiansand and I’m very happy that my Mom and my Sister have got such a wonderful experience of a Norwegian Christmas – created by my mom-in-law. 




She does magic when it comes to making a cozy mood, decorating in a traditional Norwegian way and serving Norwegian specialties. I wrote a detailed post about Norwegian Christmas traditions HERE so you can have a look if you’re interested. This year our Christmas dinner – “julemiddag” looked like this:


As I explained before on the blog, Norwegians choose one of the three options as a main course for Christmas dinner: “ribbe” – roasted pork ribs, “pinnekjøtt” – lamb ribs or “lutefisk” - whitefish - both salted and dried. My Norwegian family has a tradition of eating “ribbe”, together with “rødkål” – red cabbage, white sweet cabbage, “rosenkål” - Brussels sprouts, potatoes and “kjøttboller” – meatballs. Traditionally, they drink “juleøl” – Christmas beer – and akevitt – a traditional Norwegian flavored spirit. After the dinner it’s time for presents and “godefat”  (or “kakefat”) – Christmas sweets with coffee and cognac. As a Polish accent, we baked a nuts cake with my Mom and Sister :) 


This year we got a lot of presents for our babygirl Sofie: adorable clothes, a baby gym, a baby bouncer chair and many others. It was actually our last Christmas without a child! Next Christmas Sofie is going to be with us :) This year I was in my 33 and 34 week of pregnancy during Christmas. It was also the first Christmas for me and Eirik as a married couple and the first such an occasion with the families from the both sides :)


The 25th of December, “første juledag”, starts with a huge, long, cozy breakfast. You will find a lot of meats, cheese, sea food… just have a look what a feast! 



When there is no more space in the stomachs, it’s time for a walk and that’s what we did :) As the Christmas Eve was a-Norwegian traditions-only-day, on the first day of Christmas we served our hosts Polish pierogi with cabbages and mushrooms, and barszcz (not homemade this year but brought from Poland!). We left Kristiansand on the 26th December – bringing to Oslo wonderful memories of the time we spent together with Hege and Asle.




My Mom and Sister stayed with us until the 30th December and it was amazing to be together a couple of days after Christmas. We went for long trips every day, made a lot of good food, enjoyed cozy evenings with movies and long talks. Being high-pregnant, I felt so safe and secure with my Mom and Sister and I’m extremely grateful for them taking care of me and being there for me during this special (also: tiring) time.


What about the last of 2017 you might wonder? Well, we spent it with Eirik as last year: welcoming New Year’s Eve with a sushi feast! (no raw fish for me though, don’t worry!) And as last year, it was fabulous! Happy New Year!