Anyway, dinner was great!  Went to Renaa, a fairly new restaurant here, and they had so many delicious-sounding menu items.  We ended up splitting the steak tartare (don’t be afraid of raw beef, it’s DIVINE! Sorry, vegetarians), then my dining partner had halibut with mushrooms, and I had a chicken and coucous tagine.

The best olives I’ve ever tasted. Ever.

Red wine.

J’s halibut. Yummy!

My chicken tajine (tagine?)

Outfit.  Ugh, I know, awkward myspace mirror photo.

My friend Elisabeth and I have started hiking on Sundays when the weather’s decent and we’re both free.  Living in Stavanger, Norway has definite benefits – we’re very close to gorgeous nature, and hiking trails of varying difficulty abound.

This Sunday we went to Lifjell – great views!

a) haven’t been losing weight

b) haven’t been following WW point

c) CERTAINLY hasn’t had a realistic approach to this so-called marathon training.

So, some announcements. Obviously, I’m not going to run a marathon in late September. I still have no idea what I was thinking.  I’ve been reading a lot of Healthy Living blogs, and everyone’s just so motivated, consistent – and actually make their goals. I, on the other hand, have been running (jogging) just every once in a while.  And I’m OK with that.  I’ve readjusted my expectations and come to the conclusion that I’m going to take this slow. I want to live healthy (but still fun!) lifestyle, and I will run a marathon at one point in my life (even if I just walk) but it will not be now.

Instead, I’ve registered for a 10K in Stavanger next weekend. Much more realistic.

In other news, summer is coming to an end here. Sad panda.  I spent a wonderful 3 weeks in Thailand with J – and as a lovely last hurrah, I’m off to Kalkan, Turkey in mid-September. FUN TIMES AHEAD.

These past two weeks have been good, though – my eating’s not great, but not awful either – and I’ve been working out 4-5 times each week.

Once again I have not posted in a while.

But it’s been an eventful week! Remember how I was so excited to go to Paris?  Well, thanks to the stupid volcano on Iceland, I was instead stuck spending 18 of 36 hours on the train in no-man’s land between Stavanger and Oslo.   Faaaaaack.  But at least I made it to my exam, and it went well. This is where I spent waaaay too much time:

One of my best friends’ co-workers was supposed to go to a Bachelor Party Weekend in Berlin.  Yeahh… Only one guy made it. And had one hell of a trip home.

But now that my exam is over, I have my freedom, and am inspired to exercise! I had the most amazing run today – not because  I felt like I was in good shape (I didn’t) but because I just discovered the most amazing path a mere kilometer from my apartment.

Seriously. It’s stunning.

I can’t believe I’ve lived here for a year, and haven’t been here before!!

This is definitely going to be my new go-to place for running (and BBQs. and picnics. and taking my camera out).

I have an exam in Oslo, a 35 min flight from here in less than 24 hours. I’m supposed to fly from Oslo to Paris in 29 hours.

Due to the volcano on Iceland erupting, all airspace in Norway is closed!

So now I’ve booked a 9 hour night train – and am crossing fingers, toes and everything else, hoping that I still get to go to Gay Paree!

The trip is Jman’s work’s “Christmas Party” – basically all expenses paid, and we’re supposed to be staying at the Ritz!

How bleak if this falls through…

Some pictures:

1) Moods of Norway boat is in town!
2) I’m loving this weather (still fuh-reezing, but I love me some sunshine)
3) New dress for daytime Paris!

I’m cycling Nordsjørittet on June 12th this summer.  It’s a 90 km offroad/onroad bike race that goes along the coast between Sandnes and Egersund – super scenic.  Helmets are mandatory, obviously.  Growing up, I was very casual with my helmet use. It’s awful. My parents were really strict about it and would never let me take out my bike without a helmet, but I remember clearly actually hangning my helmet on the handlebars of my bike if I knew that my parents weren’t goint to see me. Idiotic to say the least.

Even at age 23, when I was working in London, I rode my bike to the office every day from Camden Town to Fleet St. No more than 5-6 km, but in heavy  London traffic. Double decker drivers are aggressive, and don’t always respect the bike lane. And yet, there I was, without a helmet. I’m an idiot.

I knew I was an idiot. I know full well the dangers of cycling without a helmet – hell, my brother’s middle school teacher was out of commission for 3 months for a head injury (she wiped out on her bike and wasn’t wearing a helmet).  A woman at the bank where I work now died after getting hit by a car on her bike. No helmet.

Yet, somehow I kept riding my bike sans helmet, because it made my hair flat, and I thought it was too hot and uncomfortable. Weak.

The turning point?

On my way to work one day, biking down Pentonville Road towards the office, I saw that Penton Rise was blocked by police cars, there was an ambulance – lots of people, the works. A woman was lying on the ground, her bicycle demolished next to her.  I couldn’t tell if she was wearing a helmet or not – to be honest I’m not even sure if it would have made a difference. But it made me realise how “la la la, nothing bad’s ever going to happen to me” I was. That could have been me – I found out later she had been cut off by a bus who simply didn’t see her.  She’d been hit 15 minutes before I got there.

So from then on I always wear a helmet. And you should, too.