Music on a monday : Norah Jones

Monday once again and sorry about my choice of words, but the weather here is really shitty. Woke up this morning to typical  monday morning weather  (we´re talking wind, rain, cold and really really dark. I swear there should be an extra day of weekend, just to be able to ease into a new week.)
Still there is an upside to this. Winter weather is the perfect excuse to just stay indoors, cosy up under tons and tons of blankets,with candles, a good book, listen to music and eat ice cream. The winter always gets me in a very cosy mindset and I hardly ever want to leave the house during the darkest and coldest winter months.
My choices in music this time of year is usually coloured by this.  I really like jazz music and during the winter it´s almost all I listen to.
Norah Jones  for example is a constant favourite of mine . Her songs are so beautiful and her voice is like a warm blanket, perfect for chasing away the winter blues.

So  this Halloween Monday I´m listening to this:

Have a great week everyone !

x

-A

music on my mind + Halloween

Hi Guys

I  haven´t been very active here on the blog as of late. My excuse  is that the last two weeks have been completely crazy and hectic, in a good way!
I attended the Iceland Airwaves music festival ( also went to see a couple off venue gigs with my dad, he´s determined to join me next year). I had so much fun at Airwaves, indescribable. For me it´s almost as good as Christmas! I loved having so many of my friends there with me to enjoy the festival ( one of them even came specially from Denmark to attend the festival). I saw a lot of  my icelandic favourites performing and discovered new favourites. This is what I love about Iceland Airwaves! You are exposed to music you might not have discovered yourself in the first place!  And you get to meet new people from all over the world! After this years festival I  have a couple of new favourites on my everyday playlist and I can´t wait until next year!
Last thursday I went to see Peter Gabriels  NEW BLOOD concert (in fancy 3D cinema, with dad of course), so you could say that I´ve had a pretty musical couple of weeks, so much fun!
It's just amazing how quickly the time slips away, Im really beginning to understand how important it is to make the most of the time you have.
There are some exciting times ahead... a lot of fun stuff going on.

P.S.  I took a ton of pics at the music festival with a disposable camera ( drunk people + beer + expensive camera = disaster). I´ll have to wait and see how they turn out before I can post them, that is if they are any good.

On my mind right now :

Grilled cheese sandwiches : This is my cooking obsession these days ( along with baking savoury pies as they  are really great for the lunch box) and I have been testing different variations to this tried and true classic. For example I  tested out a grilled cheese with nutella spread, cream cheese and cinnamon yesterday , really really  yummy!

Check out Grilled cheese social for some delicious inspiration.

Corpse Bride ? No? too scary? 

Halloween In spite of this being a very American holiday, it´s growing more popular each year here in Iceland. I actually saw pumpkins for carving at my local grocery store the other day- guess this will be a big thing here in a couple years . I just wish I´d started planning for a costume earlier, as I´ve got places to go and no costume. Any ideas for an original halloween costume?

As I am on a tight budget, I could just get a Hello, my name is.... sticker, wear normal clothes and write what Im supposed to be on the name tag. But I guess that doesn´t count as a costume.

Have a happy and safe halloween weekend everyone !

x

-A

Music on a monday : Gus Gus

Guys! It´s almost finally here! Iceland Airwaves starts in just two days.
I´m so excited!!  
This Music monday post will be Airwaves themed, to kick off the week in accordance to that.

Deep inside by GusGus.

They are of course performing at the festival

Have a great week everyone !!

-A

Paris in august

I finally managed to upload the rest of the Paris pictures on my computer(only took me 2 monrhs, yay for me!)  I took a few pictures in the centre of Paris , and of course of my favourite place in the world : the Latin quarter.

Just had to snap a photo of this sign that we found up on the wall in a parking garage- let me tell you, I could´ve gone without the parfum du jour!

Love love love this place " Patisserie du sud tunisien" is a small tunisian bakery in the latin quarter. They display everything in the windows and sell, among other amazing pastries: baklava and honey cake(dripping with gooey sirup) YUM!

As you can see they have a great selection of yummy things!

Almost sunset by the Notre Dame

I like this photo - the last light is kind of crooked, it´s charming.



Street performers in front of Notre Dame, they were pretty good

Eiffel tower at nighttime 

I love Paris and everytime I leave I can´t wait to come back. Such a wonderful place.

-A





Simple things

 The change in weather between summer and winter here in Iceland can be pretty dramatic, which can affect ones mood. It can be difficult adjusting to the seemingly non stop darkness (seriously,during the winter we hardly even see the sun) after a summer of 24/7 daylight. So now that winter is upon us I feel it´s really important to focus on the little things that bring happiness, because I am only human and the winter weather can of course get to me like everyone else.
Here is my remedy for the winter blues this week:

Excitement for Iceland Airwaves

I can´t believe  Airwaves is only one week away!! good times good times

Good coffee

There are few things in this world better than starting off the day with a great cup of coffee, especially when it  is dark as night outside at 8 am. I love that I can get a great cup of take away coffee from Kaffitár, while waiting to change buses on the way to school. And it is even more lovely to sit down at bookstore/ café Eymundsson, and have time to flip through the latest magazines, for free!

Either way coffee always brightens my mood.

Photography

My camera has been on a very long vacation  up until a few weeks ago when I realised how much I miss taking photos. I really like being able to document special events and fun with friends. I used go downtown in the afternoon with my camera and snap pictures of everything and anything! I have to start doing that again ( and I might even show you the results)

My awesome camera - Nikon D60

Of Monsters and men's new album - My head is an animal 

I instantly feel good  listening to this  ( and walk around for the rest of the day with a big stupid grin on my face). It´s really amazing how music can affect your mood.

Baking and discovering new recipes.

I rarely cook or bake during the summer ( unless it´s something really really quick). So when winter comes around so does my favourite hobby. I don´t know what it is, why I only  do it during the winter, I guess it´s comforting, and I love the sense of achievement when you bake something from scratch that turns out great.

Might do a few kitchen posts this winter, will keep you posted

vegetable quiche and chocolate chip brasil nut cookies I baked yesterday. 

I took a longer break from the blog than I had planned , thank you so much for baring with me.

-A

P.S. what makes you guys happy in the winter?