Good morning darlings! The last day of 2014 is here, and the year has seriously just flown by. That’s how I feel every year though, and I’m so ready for a new one! With a new year comes new resolutions, or maybe the same resolutions we have every year only renewed. A lot of people think new year resolutions are bullcrap, but personally I love a fresh start, motivating quotes, setting goals and everything like that, so of course I love resolutions as well. I thought I’d share some of my thoughts and goals for the new year with you guys♥

⋆ Live in the moment.  In 2015, I want to be able to just stop and enjoy moments better. ‘Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans‘ they say, and that is so true! I’m always planning things in my head, whether is an hour, a day or a month away. When the moment arrives, I’m too busy planning the next thing that I forget to really enjoy it! It’s such a depressing thought, and something I really want to become better at. I want to be able to shut out my thoughts and noise from the rest of the world, and just.. Be! Maybe I’ll check out mindfulness, that seems like such an awesome concept. And maybe even some yoga and meditating to learn how to block away stressful thoughts. I think this must be my most important new years resolution, I think it will make me an (even) happier person. 

 

⋆ Worry less. This goes hand in hand with the point above, but worrying less is also something I want to become better at. Especially when I go to sleep at night, I think so much! I just want to scream to my brain to shut it, haha. ‘Worrying is just a misuse of your imagination‘ – Think happy thoughts and dream bigger dreams in stead! 

 

⋆ The usual. Then of course we have the one pretty much everyone has every single year – Work out more and eat healthier. Right now that is really easy to do, because I currently don’t work out and I eat like crap, haha. I can’t wait to get started! 

 

⋆ Focus less on shallow things. Thought about my own looks and apperance play a way too big role in my life! It’s not like I’m obsessed with it, but for instance if I have a big zit or feel bloated, I’ll feel super ugly that day, and I’ll probably just want to stay home. That is so stupid! The truth is that everyone else is too focused on theirselves to even notice that zit or the fact that you look bloated. I want to free myself of those thoughts, because they bring absolutely nothing positive with them whatsoever. 

 

⋆ Always do my best, but accept that I can’t do it all. In today’s society it’s almost expected of us that we should be great at everything, whether it’s school, work, cooking, working out – whatever! It’s good to have goals, but jeez louise, we’re only human. Trying your best at something is more than good enough. Having unrealistic expectations is just setting yourself up to fail. This is definitely something I’ll remember in the new year. It’s better to find a few things you love to do and trying to do them as best as you can, than trying to do it all to perfection. 

 

⋆ Travel to new places. In 2015 I want to travel to places I’ve never been before! I definitely need to go back to New York at one point or another, it’s been so long.. But I also want to explore new parts of the world, like Mexico or maybe Bali. 

Now I’m gonna get a few errands done, before the celebrations starts tonight. Do you guys have anything fun planned? The girls and I have been talking about what we should do for weeks, but I think I’m actually just gonna stay home. Bella is so scared of the fireworks, so I want to be here with her. My boyfriend has offered to stay home with her, but I feel like she’s gonna need her mama too, hah. My parents are celebrating their wedding anniversary (I think it’s 33 or 34 years, better find out), so it’s always fun to just hang out with the family and celebrate here. 

Now I want to hear what your new years resolutions are! Do you have any?♥♥

Hi my loves♥ Today I thought I’d share something that’s been on my mind lately, and top it off with a little challenge that I hope all of you will join in on. 

The subject is; ‘Janteloven’. All my Scandinavian readers know this term a little too well, but for my international readers; It’s sort of a set of unwritten rules that bascially tell you that you can’t think you’re good at anything, because that is completely inappropriate and you’ll seem full of yourself. ‘Don’t think you matter, don’t think you’re smarter than anyone else, don’t think you’re good at anything, don’t think you can teach anyone something‘, are just some of the rules. Excuse my french, but what fucking stupid tactics is that to go through life with?! One of the most important factors to building a happy life where you feel good about yourself, is being aware of all the great qualities you have, all the things you’re good at, all the things that make you you. At least that’s what I think. But in today’s society, that makes you look like you’re completely full of yourself, and most people will probably think that you need a reality check. All your negative qualities, on the other hand, you can flaunt as much as you’d like! That is completely accepted, and almost expected. Isn’t that fucked up?! 

It seriously starts from the time we’re very little. Like when we were kids, and we drew a drawing we were sooo happy with, and told someone ‘Oh my gosh, look at this ugly drawing! I’m so bad at this‘ just so someone could tell you that the drawing was in fact really pretty. Who was guilty of that? I know I was! We’ve always been good at building other people up, but what about building ourselves up? Isn’t that even more important?

And it’s not only that you can’t tell someone something you’re good at. If someone compliments you on something, most people will immediately even out the compliment by responding with something negative. For instance; ‘You look so pretty in that dress’ – ‘Oh, but my arms look fat though‘. ‘You look so nice today’ – ‘Well, my face is full of zits‘. Who can relate? I’ve been very aware of this the last years, because I absolutely hate when my girlfriends do this. I just want to shake them and tell them to just say thank you!! I’ve actually been told that before, several times. When someone has given me a compliment and I’ve said thank you, they’ve actually told me how refreshing it is when someone just says thank you, and accepts the compliment without feeling the need to flaunt some insecurities. Why do we feel the need to do that? Why can’t we just say thank you, and let the compliment make us happy? It’s a huge riddle to me. 

I’m so freakin’ sick of this whole concept where you can’t stand out, can’t be happy with yourself, and can’t tell someone about your great qualities. So that’s where the challenge comes in! I want to hear you guys brag about yourselves!! I want you to tell me what you’re happy with about your personality, your skills, your looks – whatever. I want you to let go of all your inhibitions, and just BRAG! I think it will be a really fun and healthy challenge, because it will force all of us to really think through all our amazing qualities, and try to pick the best ones. I hope all of you want to join in on the fun! If there’s one blog post of the year I want you guys to comment on, it’s this one. And if any of you try to even out the bragging with something negative, I will hunt you down, and I will kill you. Haha I’m kidding, but I will send you a virtual bitch slap and tell you to stop it. 

Okay, I’ll start! One thing I’m really proud of, is that I’ve always done very well in school. I was so scared before I started studying this fall, but I actually think that I’m doing pretty well, even though I haven’t gotten any grades to prove it yet. If I read something, or someone explains something to me, I usually understand it immediately, and I remember it. A while back before the macroeconomics exam I was speaking with someone at school, and everyone were talking about how incredibly difficult it was, that they didn’t understand anything, and that they were probably going to fail. I almost fell for the temptation to falsely agree with them, just because that’s the normal thing to do. After all, you can’t seem like you’re better or smarter than anyone else, right? I blurted out ‘I actually don’t think it’s that difficult’, and the looks I got were like ‘Who the hell does this bitch think she is?!’. Hah, I’m not even kidding. But you know what? I’m proud of it, and I’m not going to hide it. I especially think it’s fun because I’m in a shallow business, and a common perception is that bloggers are stupid and braindead, and aren’t able to do anything else but take pictures of themselves and write about lipsticks. It’s a good feeling to know that that incredibly stupid and judging perception isn’t true, and that I in fact am a pretty smart girl. 

Now I want to hear it from you guys!! Tell me all the amazing qualities you have, and let’s all give the middle finger to Janteloven while we’re at it♥

A new year means coming up with some new year resolutions, and I have a pretty good idea of the things I want to change or do better in 2013. I sort of have a love/hate relationship with new year resolutions, because on one hand I think that if there’s something you want to change, you don’t need the excuse of a new year to change it. Start whenever you want! But at the same time I think it’s a wonderful occasion to really think through the past year, and what you can do to make the new year even better. I’m totally over resolutions that include working out five times a week, never eat sweets and stuff like that. But I think it’s good to analyze the past year a bit, find out what was negative, and how you can change it. Do you have a specific friend who brings you down? Do you have any unhealthy habits like smoking for instance that you know you should quit? Last year one of my resolutions was stop being stupidly kind when I knew I shouldn’t, like stop lending people money when I know I’m never gonna get them back and things like that. Earlier I had real difficulties with saying no, but I definitely improved this past year :) The other big resolutions was take a sewing class, and travel a lot. Check and check!!

This year I have two resolutions. First of all I want to take another sewing class, and sew a lot of clothes. That shouldn’t be much of a problem as I love sewing and creating pretty things. The other one is to invite friends over for dinner more often. I absolutely love cooking, but usually it’s just for me and my boyfriend. So that’s definitely a big resolution; gather friends for dinner and make lots of yummy food, at least once a month! Other than that I just want to keep up what I’m doing; eating healthily and low carb, exercise every day, travel, having fun with friends, being kind to people and enjoying life.

Now I’m really curious to know, what are your new year resolutions, if you have any? 

This post will be written in Norwegian as it only concerns Norwegian readers  

I dag tenkte jeg å tipse dere om en kul konkurranse, som har et vanvittig viktig budskap. Bak konkurransen står Norad, direktoratet for utviklingssamarbeid i Norge. Hensikten med konkurransen er å gjøre folk mer opplyst om norsk bistand. Norge bruker 28 milliarder kroner på bistand hvert år, og Norad sikrer at pengene blir brukt best mulig. Hovedoppgaven deres er at bistanden blir mest mulig effektiv, og deres visjon er ’Resultater i kampen mot fattigdom’.

I den anledning arrangerer Norad en kunnskapskonkurranse, der en av mine fine lesere kan bli norgesmester i bistand. Ti uker, ti temaer, ti spørsmål hver uke. Jeg har selv testet konkurransen, spørsmålene var ikke så alt for vanskelig, men utrolig viktige å vite svaret på. Dersom man svarer rett; supert, og dersom man svarer feil har man i hvert fall lært noe nytt. Vinn – vinn :) Dessuten er alle hjelpemidler tillatt, så dette klarer dere! Hovedpremien i konkurransen er en reise for to til en verdi av 50.000kr, og man har i tillegg muligheter for å vinne flotte premier som iPads og fotokameraer hver uke. Vinnerne trekkes blant deltakerne som har fullført ukesoppgavene. Skoleklasser på videregående er ekstra heldige. De kan nemlig samle poeng, og bli med i kampen om en klassetur til Tanzania.

Hvorfor er denne kampanjen viktig?

♥Til tross for at Norge gir nærmere 28 milliarder kroner i året til bistandsprosjekter, er kunnskapen om hva pengene brukes til lav.

♥Kun én prosent av befolkningen vet hvilket land som mottar mest penger fra Norge.

♥Kunnskap om hvordan bistandspenger kan skape positiv endring i andre deler av verden er viktig.

♥Det er spesielt viktig at unge vet hvorfor og hvordan vi kan skape positiv endringer i verden, også i fremtiden.

♥Før bodde de fleste fattige i fattige land. Nå bor de fleste av de aller fattigste i mellominntekstland, som Kina, India og Brasil. Det gjør at kunnskap om fordeling av rikdom er blitt viktigere enn før.

♥Nordmenn kan være stolte av hva våre bistandsmidler utretter.

Mitt engasjement

Personlig har jeg alltid vært engasjert i å  hjelpe til økonomisk for utviklingsland. Jeg fikk mitt første fadderbarn da jeg var 15 år og betalte med lønningen fra McDonalds der jeg jobbet etter skolen i blant.. Sommeren før jeg dro til New York første gang, kjørte jeg rundt om kring i hele Bergen og samlet inn klær, leker, sengetøy osv, og fikk det sendt til et barnehjem i Sierra Leone. Likevel virket det så fjernt, det er nesten umulig å se for seg levekårene til alle disse millionene av mennesker som lever langt under fattigdomsgrensen.

Etter jeg var i Sør-Afrika for noen uker siden og fikk se fattigdommen på nært hold, ble jeg mer engasjert enn noen gang til å gjøre det jeg kan for å hjelpe. Alle disse nydelige barna jeg møtte, jeg vil så gjerne at de, familiene deres og alle andre i deres situasjon skal få det bedre! Alle inntrykkene jeg satt igjen med var så sterke, derfor har jeg ikke skrevet noe blogginnlegg om det enda, det er så mye å ta inn. Jeg snakket med en skjønn dame der, og spurte om det var noe spesielt barna trengte siden jeg ville sende julegaver til de. Svaret jeg fikk var tannbørster, nesten ingen av barna hadde det. Jeg tenkte hun ville si leker eller noe slikt, men nei; tannbørster. Det er så rart å tenke på, i Norge tar nesten alle for gitt både iPhone, data, tv på rommet osv, mens disse barna ønsker seg tannbørster til jul.

Her er noen bilder av hvordan millioner av mennesker bor i Sør Afrika. Bildene tok jeg da vi besøkte townshipene Langa og Khayelitsha. Og dette er bare en knøttliten brøkdel av hvordan tilstanden er i utviklingsland. Visste dere at 1,3 milliarder mennesker har mindre enn 7-8 kroner dagen å leve for?  Eller at 780 millioner mennesker i verden ikke har tilgang til rent vann? Det er helt utrolig å tenke på, men derfor er det så ubeskrivelig viktig at vi setter oss inn i hva vi, i verdens rikeste land, kan gjøre for å hjelpe. Kunnskapskonkurransen er et perfekt sted å begynne, jeg håper dere tar en titt på den. Det er jo fantastiske premier i denne konkurransen, men å lese mer om dette og å være med i konkurransen for å friske opp i hukommelsen/tilegne seg ny kunnskap syns jeg er verdifullt nok i seg selv. Delta i kunnskapskonkurransen her! 

Norad har også utviklet en ’Bli født på ny’ app, der du kan se hvordan Facebook-profilen din kanskje ville sett ut dersom du ble født i et utviklingsland. Hvor du fødes bestemmer hvordan livet ditt blir, og vi er så utrolig heldig og privilegert som er født i Norge. Ta en titt på hvordan mitt liv ville sett ut ut; en fruktbonde i Etiopia med kun barneskolen som utdanning. Hvis dere vil prøve appen må dere gjerne gi en lyd i kommentarfeltet om hvor dere ble født og hvordan livet deres ble seendes ut. Bli født på ny-applikasjonen finner dere her.

 

Reklameinnlegg for Norad

Jeg ble, som resten av Norge, veldig berørt av det tragiske dødsfallet til Alexander Dale Oen. Han var så utrolig inspirerende, både som idrettsutøver og som person, selv om jeg kun ‘kjente’ han via media. Han planla sammen med broren å starte et fond kalt ‘The Dale Oen Experience’, som skulle hjelpe barn, unge og vanskeligstilte å komme seg ut i naturen, samt gi dem opplevelser for livet.

‘Ønsket var å inspirerere barna til å strekke seg, finne sin kapasitet og se sin egen verdi. Sammen med broren Robin var avdøde Alexander Dale Oen frustrert over at norske politikere i en hel generasjon har forsømt seg mot landets tilbud til barn og voksne som enten vil lære, eller bli bedre til, å svømme. Det var imidlertid viktig for Dale Oen at dette ikke ble et svømmetungt prosjekt. Det skulle handle om naturopplevelser for barn, unge og vanskeligstilte. Utgangspunktet var at dette skulle spre glede om det å være i naturen. Å skape engasjement og opplevelser for barn, unge og vanskeligstilte. Det skulle være noe grensesprengende med ekskursjoner og opplevelser for barn’ skriver Tv2.

Hvis dere har noen kroner å avse syns jeg at dette er en utrolig fin sak å støtte.

Kontonummer: 12040474763. Kontakt: post@svomming.no

I’m going to say the things a blogger with a fairly big number of readers isn’t supposed to say. I’ve been told I’m a good role model, which I appreciate, and this might lead to the complete contrary. Now that I’m blogging, I feel like I have to pretend a lot.. I have to pretend like I feel beautiful when I feel my worst, and I have to pretend I’m happy when I’m not. This sounds dramatic, it’s not. I’m just so tired of faking my self esteem, putting on tons of makeup to look pretty when I feel like I just look uglier for each layer of bronzing powder I put on. Putting on ten different outfits and feel like I look like crap in each one, and ending up with wearing something I feel so not comfortable in. Yesterday I reached my breaking point, and I actually cried because I felt horrible in every outfit I put on. We’re so good at pointing out our own shortcomings, and believe me, I should have a master’s degree in it! The result of my breakdown? The second I got home I threw myself over the computer and ordered every single cute piece of clothing I could find. But then I realized, it’s not about the clothes, it’s about something way deeper than that. What it is? I don’t know, I’ll tell you if I ever find out. It’s not like I have the worst self esteem, there are lots of things I like about myself.. But the few things I don’t like seem to get all my attention. I once got a comment from a girl who read my blog, who had seen me in a store in Oslo. She was really nice, but said I looked uncomfortable, and that I looked around me a lot.. I do, and it’s exhausting. The one thing I don’t like about blogging is that girls recognize me when I’m out, and I don’t mean that in a pretentious wannabe-celebrity way. But it’s the reality; The girls who read my blog will of course recognize me if they see me, and it freaks me out. It sucks not knowing who knows who I am, and who’s just looking at me because I have lipstick on my teeth.. I always think that girls who recognize me think.. Well, bad things! And I know that it’s probably just baloeny, I’ve actually never gotten a single comment insinuating anything like that.. In fact, I always get wonderful comments when readers see me out. It’s just my fucked up way of thinking, excuse my french.. Maybe it’s the blogging that’s made me be so hard on myself, I don’t know. But my biggest new years resolution, which I really really hope I’ll achieve, is to be more relaxed regarding my own looks and appearances..

From a day I actually felt really good about myself.. Note to my own thoughts: Go back to that place..