Norway.

About a week ago the horror of the bomb in Olso and following massacre at the youth camp at Utøya were becoming heartachingly clear... Tears streamed down my face most of the weekend, tears have continued to fall during the week when names and pictures were released of the victims, most of them young kids who had the brightest of the future ahead of them and it was all snatched away by...by... :/

Well I'll not be adding to his own sense of being glorified by writing his name here, I want to call him a Monster, Pure Evil but I honestly just feel this huge sense of grief and sadness when I see pictures of him... not concerning him but all the lives he took. 

To hate there must have been love (someone said, can't remember who right now) and I only feel sadness for/about him. No hate, no anger, nothing... For his victims though, for those left behind with the unimaginable task of having to pick themselves up and try, as best as they can, to put their lives back together... For the whole nation of Norway, I feel Love, Light, Hope... You will be strong again, we stand with you.

NORWEGIAN LYRICS:
Mitt lille land
Et lite sted, en håndfull fred
slengt ut blant vidder og fjord

Mitt lille land
Der høye fjell står plantet
mellom hus og mennesker og ord
Og der stillhet og drømmer gror
Som et ekko i karrig jord

Mitt lille land
Der havet stryker mildt og mykt
som kjærtegn fra kyst til kyst

Mitt lille land
Der stjerner glir forbi
og blir et landskap når det blir lyst
mens natten står blek og tyst


ENGLISH TRANSLATION/LYRICS:
My little country
A little place, a handful of peace
thrown out among mountain plateau and fjords

My little country
Where high mountains are planted
among houses, people and words
Where silence and dreams grow
Like an echo in barren earth

My little country
Where the sea pats mild and soft
like it's caressing from coast to coast

My little country
Where stars glide by
and becomes landscapes when it gets lighter
while the night stands there -- bleak and silent.

Good News!

I'm not big on subscribing to magazines. I don't even get a newspaper any more - I still manage to get the news! :) I like me the odd bit of Royal gossip now and again but I'm not that keen knowing who a certain celebrity might, or might not, be sleeping with at the moment so cheezy gossip mags are quite quickly flicked through...

Most stuff deemed newsworthy, in the regular 'proprer' new now just isn't... There's too much doom and gloom, sadness, sickness, greed and agony in my opinion. Sure, we need to hear that too but not just that! There's very few sunshine stories to inspire us towards positive change, towards thinking, feeling, knowing that this place might not be The Best, but together we CAN make it/take it there! :)

I'd like to hear more of those kinds of news! News of compassion and kindness, of hope and inspiration, of light in the darkness... Things I'd not be afraid to share with my young children (who are too young to be allowed to watch the news broadcast with me) and guess what!? :) I've found it! :D In Good News Magazine, a reasonably new Swedish magazine that just happened ;) to fall into my lap last weekend on my lunch break when I was hunting for something readworthy at work. Chance? ;) I think not and as soon as I got home I ordered a subscription for myself.

The magazine is thick as a book and filled to the brim with inspiration! Joy, Light, Hope, Positive Progress, Health and Smiles. This particular no. had articles on Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontier, TED.com and hope in Afghanistan and much more!! :) My kind of magazine! :D :D :D

Yesterday I got my first very own issue of the GNM and this one is titled With The Help of Techology and I'm still ploughing my way through it! :) I want to read every single word of it! Even the ads (that are surprisingly few!) are interesting!! :D :D :D

GNM's facebook page shares positive stories/articles, most of them in English. Like them and start feeling postitive about the world we live in! :)

Love&Light,

I am a rare limited edition!

:) :) :)

A friend posted this statement on his facebookstatus the other day and I just loooove it! :D Imagine what Life would be like and how we would treat ourselves and each other if we truly realised that we are all rare limited editions... ♥

And! As you see got inspired to do a polyvore set too! :) (it's been a while!) If you feel inclined you're more than welcome to spread the word and copy the image to go along with a post. :)

Love&Light,

Adele!

Surely you must have heard of Adele?! :) I think this gal's amazing! If you been too busy living life (or hiding under a rock? ;)) rather than vegging in front of  the TV or computer (like me ;p) and you've therefor missed this gorgeous woman's brilliant voice and radiating beauty check out these these videos. :)

Truth

...is important, but neither simple nor easy.

Love&Light,

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."
- Mark Twain

"...Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story..."
- Max Ehrmann

"If you shut the door to all errors, truth will be shut out."
- Rabindranath Tagore

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."
- Albert Einstein

"Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained."
- Mahatma Gandhi

"Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'"
- Khalil Gibran

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
- Marcus Aurelius

"Mistakes are, after all, the foundations of truth, and if a man does not know what a thing is, it is at least an increase in knowledge if he knows what it is not."
- Carl Jung

"The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you."
- Søren Kierkegaard

Love yourself.

One of my favourite BBW bloggers Thina posted this with a gorgeous image of her beautiful self and I'm inspired! :) It's about making a decision. I want to/will do this too! :) Will you? :)




Self Love & Self Acceptance,

Searching outside or within...

These words (that I found over at Hay Quaker) shook my world a little and squeezed my heart with recognition... They  made me gasp as I read them over and over, holding my breath.

How something (I assume is) written for the 'big arena', with politics and ideology in mind, can fit just as well...eerily well on a much smaller, personal, level too...! *sigh*

'Himself' is my husband in this scenario and I am 'somewhere outside/others'... :/



"Someone who does not draw strength from himself and who is incapable of finding the meaning of his life within himself will...seek the map to his own orientation somewhere outside himself--in some ideology, organization, or society, and then, however active he may appear to be, he is merely waiting, depending. He waits to see what others will do, or what roles they will assign to him, and he depends on them--and if they don't do anything or if they botch things, he succumbs to disillusion, despair, and ultimately, resignation."
- Václav Havel

Got curves?

Be Kind.

Love&Light,

Girliness²

I've been planning a BestGirlsNightOut with my Best Girl for a while and yesterday was finally The Day! :)

We met up in town (after some train hassle) and started our looong day of "our:ness" with a alright lunch accompanied by ice cold beer. :) :) :) Perfect in this Hot and Clammy weather we've been having. It totally compensated the so-so lunch. :)

We did a bit of strolling and window shopping in town before we went with all our stuff to my mums place, where we were spending the night. My Best Mum had sorted stuff and organised our beds and breakfast and all other things that The Best Mum does. ♥

Me and A got into party mode and gear ;) and then took our beautiful selves to a work mate of A's where more gorgeous girls joined us. Fab time with fab girls! Later on me and A headed back into town where we wanted to get dancing, which we did, with varied success of music/dj's... I've come to the conclusion that we should/would open The Best Club in town if we ever decided to go down that route! ;) :D

After an late night bite we started walking (?!) to mum's place where we arrived 45 minutes later!? :D :D :D We fell asleep and slept well within seconds of our heads hitting the pillow. :) (mum was at big sis's for the night)

This morning we awoke feeling not terribly rough, although I think I was a bit more worse for wear than A (she's had more practise! ;p ) and...then we woke up again! :O :D Both of us had dozed off again and when we woke A had to hurry to get ready to catch her bus back to her husband and their little girls. ♥ No looong morning of reminiscing but still a fantastic time over all! :) Must be done again soooon!! :)

After A's somewhat hurried departure I called my little sis to offer her myself as her personal shopper. :D She's been nagging for a while now about not having anything to wear and I love using her as a dress up doll (to try out all the cute/cool/fun outfits I'd wear if I was a boob-&bootylicious as her! ;)) = a perfect match with difficulties to get our schedules to work...but! Today I had/took the time! :)

We spent (at least!) 3 hours in the department store. First we went round collecting all possible items of clothing that might, or might not, work and then I installed her in the fitting room and gave her my opinions and did the mixing and matching and fetching and finding and finally we ended up with a fantastic combo of skirts and tops and possible outfits of both new and old items that'll last her all summer long and well into the winter! :D I even got to offer my opinion to others in the fitting rooms who admitted to being envious of little sis having her own personal shopper with her. :D Little sis could only agree about the fabulousness of me! ;p  *lol*

Now...I'm happy to be back home again after a weekend with girliness². :) Well needed and deserved by all involved. ♥

Love, Light & Sisterhood,