Sunday

Hi there !

Today is Sunday, and Im at home. Wonderful to have a little rest in between. August is a busy time. After we get back from holidays its just thousands of things that has to happen at work.

Oh well, thats the way it is. Fashion weeks, fairs, photoshoots, the start of new design processes, etc etc. This is the way it is in this business. There is nothing to do about it.

Its a pitty, because this is also the time to harvest from nature. The forest is full of mushrooms now. The other day we went to a secret place, not far from where we live. Alle mushroom places are secret. If you find a place, dont tell it to anybody.

We found lots of Kantarells. These delicious bright yellow mushrooms. They are so beautiful to look at. They grow in old forests, in large groups.



We found so many, we couldnt believe our own eyes. I have never found so many Kantarells before. We got so excited, we were just running from place to the other. Picking and filling up the basket. Before we knew it, we had spent 4 hours in the forest. The basket was full. 6,5 kilos of edible mushrooms.

Today I will cook a leg of lamb. Im going to cover it with spices and garlic now, and let it sit, before I put it in the oven. And then this evening our children and family will come and enjoy it.
Leg of lamb, wild mushrooms and some nice red wine. I love sunday dinners with the family.

I wish you a good sunday to !!

Love from Birgit

My trip to Åland

Hi again dear friends

This time I will show you some pictures from my last trip. This was last weekend, and the trip went to Finland.

I was to hold a lecture, or speech or whatever you may call it, on a conference. This was a womens conference, on business entrepreneurship for women. It was sponsored by the EU, and the theme was called: To Choose your way. Or "AT VALJE SIN VEG" as they say.
It was quite interesting. It was a mix of women who have started their own business, officials, professors and other scientists, and politicians.

I was one of the women who told their story. and the listeners were around 200 women.

There were many interesting stories. One interesting story was by the woman behind the Finish brand Noolan www.noolan.com

I think the listeners also found my story interesting. The long way we have gone, Franz and I. From streetsellers in Japan, until today. Thats a long and winding road, I can assure you !

I also met the Swedish celebrity auditor Amelia Adamo. The woman behind several very
succesfull womens magasines.

And finally, the President of Finland, Mrs Tarja Halonen came ! Quite an honour to the conference. But then again, it was an important topic. How to make women start businesses. After all, we are 50% of the population. And if we do start businesses, they are different from mens businesses. So its not a question of either, or. Its an addition to a countries output.

What is very important for politicians and officials to understand, is that its a good thing for their country, and their economy. So they must make it possible for women to do it.

When the conference ended, I went out into the sunshine. I went together with a new friend that I met. Kerstin, an amazing firework of a woman from Sweden, that has invented a special wildberry picking tool which is collapsible. (sammenleggbar bærplukker) Her company is called Hooked on nature www.hookedonnature.se

She and I had a cold beer in the sun ! Lovely ! Mariehamn and Åland is a really small place. so by the end of the conference we were almost celebrities too. There was a lady who wanted Kerstin to autograph her berrypicker ! Ha ha.
There was a streetparty going on. Mariehamn celebrated their 150 years, and the local rockband was playing. Kjerstin really got into it after two beers.

Its great to be invited to such events. Its really inspiring to meet all these amazing other women. but also to visit Åland. Åland is a swedish speaking part of Finland, located on an island in the middle of the Baltic sea. I had to go by ferry back to Stockholm, before flying back to Oslo.

A trip to Copenhagen

Dear Friends,

I think it is better that I write in English. I can see that there are a lot of people from other countries that read my blog. I checked out the translate application, but it does become really strange. And most Norwegians can read english anyway. So I will write in English, if you dont mind.







Well, life here in Norway is slowly going back to normal. At least for most of us.
People are slowly coming back from summer holiday, and have to start to work again.
A new year is ahead, a new fall, a new winter. Marvelous to think of ? Not ! The summers are short here in Norway. And the fall has now started quite yet.

For me it means going straight into the fashion week.
It started with a trip to Copenhagen. Thats always inspiring. It would have been more inspirational to stay for a couple of days. But this was not possible for me this year.

So the day started with getting ut at 4 am to go the the airport. It leaves you pretty tired.


I had to see the fashion show to observe the new trends, according to the Danes.

And what did they show for spring 2012 ?

A very varied style.
Lots of vintage,
lots of colours,
Lots if strange modern ethnic stuff.

Well, lets see what we will do about it...

What our customers want to wear, thats what matters to us.

A&C will always have a certain relaxed look.
Jewellery to enhance your personality, to make you look you best. Without beeing too much of anything.

Simply nice, wearable and beautiful is what we want our jewellery to be!













After I finished one
fairground, I proceeded to the next.
At Cph Vision
I took a break. I found a lovely beanbag to rest in.
That was just so nice.
I was pretty happy to lay back.

It pretty interesting to walk around on the fashion fairs. To watch all the fashion workers, see what that are wearing. Get some inspiration.
The danes are really fashion concious. At least the ones we see on the fairs.

Lars Tore is kind enough to buy me a coffe. (he is always kind)

This is Lars Tore. He is our director.
He was actually busy exhibiting at an other fair. but he did find time to join me at the fair.

Here we are enjoying a coffee.

I got home the same night just before midnight. Kind of tired, I must admit.

This week the fashion week in Oslo continues.

Lots of love
Birgit