The beauty of a capsule wardrobe -Breaking the rules

My capsule wardrobe is getting there, I feel it's really easy to dress for all occasions,. Even the days I'm just at home and dress casual my outfits are way better than before. I've chosen navy as my base, taupe,beige, white/ivory and cognac as my neutrals and blush and coral  as my accent colors. So far I haven't bought any shoes and probably won't either. I'm a sneakers kind of girl and love my ivory New Balance, my cognac Eccos and my navy suede loafers. And when it gets hot I have my taupe sandals with a little bling. I also have cognac and taupe boots for the colder days.

When it comes to bags I won't buy any either. I have a couple of cognac bags, both tote and crossover. I have my beloved vintage Mulberry crossover which I bought from a lovely lady a couple of years ago. All those are versatile and I can wear any of them to just about anything.I also have a tote in the color Dark Garnet. This tote can be used in three ways, I can carry it by the handles, I can wear it as a shoulder bag and even as a bag pack. For my lifestyle the perfect bag, and it's waterproof and I don!t have to worry about it. (Very important in Bergen, Norway) When I started to build my capsule I was quite sure it wouldn't go with my capsule as I have nothing else in this color.  To my surprise this bag goes with just about any else in my capsule, so even if I'm breaking the rules it's still capsule friendly, and I wouldn't be me if I didn't break the rules at some point.

Here's a couple of outfits where I can use my Fjellräven tote.

                                   

I'm still amazed how versatile it is, I can probably come up with dozens other outfits where it can be used too.

Breaking the rules are not always a bad thing.

Until next post.

Kari





Linking up to Classy yet trendy

The beauty of a capsule wardrobe - The frumpy dress - again

Plutselig fant jeg ut at jeg kunne prøve å fotografere klærne på prøvedukken, en kjole flere antrekk.

Skulle ønske jeg fremdeles hadde den lyse, korte dongerijakken for den hadde passet bedre enn den som er på det ene bildet. Hadde jo aldri trodd den skulle passe igjen så den gikk til Fretex for et par år siden. Kjolen er en fem år gammel kjole fra Masai.

Suddenly I got the bright idea to put my frumpy dress on this doll, not sure what this thing is called in English. I wish I still had the denim jacket I gave away to charity some years ago, it would have looked better than the one I have now, as it was lighter, shorter and more fitted. Ah well, who would have known I actually could have worn it again now.

The dress is five years old from the Danish brand Masai, so is both the cardies.

Bag is vintage Mulberry, boots and utility jacket from Timberland and denim jacket Linnea, had it for years.

Can anyone find the bunny??

What do you think did this work out?

I've styled it for the weather we have here in Bergen, it was freezing cold this morning when I took these photos, but spring is about to come. Later today I sat outside knitting for a few hours. Wonderful!!!

Tried to add a video where the dress was blowing in the wind, I thought it was quite cool, but unfortunately I could'nt find out how to do it. It has the wrong format I believe.

Bye for now

Kari

Linking up to: Classy yet trendy

Lunch the lowcarb style

English text below the picture

For snart et år siden begynte jeg å spise lavkarbo, for meg har det vært en fantastisk reise, ikke bare har jeg gått ned i vekt, men jeg er også blitt mye friskere. Bl.a har jeg et mellomgulvsbrokk som det ble sagt jeg måtte operere innen et par år. Denne operasjonen er nå ikke nødvendig for nå er alle symptomene borte. Jeg har ikke tatt en eneste tabelett etter jeg begynte å spise lavkarbo for snart er år siden. Alle med livsstilssykdommer kan ha god nytte av lavkarbo, jeg vet om flere med høyt blodtrykk og diabetes 2  som har kunnet slutte med medisiner bare uker etter kostomleggingen.
Bare synd at det ikke fungerer på svimmelheten.  Nå skal ikke dette være noen lavkarbo blogg, det er mange andre som har fine informative blogger om det. I dag skal jeg dele en knekkebrød oppskrift med dere som ikke bare er enkel, men også rask å lage og ikke minst er det knallgode knekkebrød.

2 dl frø, jeg pleier bruke  linfrø, sesamfrø, solsikkefrø og gresskarkjerner, men ta det du har i hus.
1 egg
Litt salt, litt krydder om du har lyst på det. Både oregano, timian og rosmarin er godt.

Bland frø, egg og krydder. Klipp til et bakepapir slik at det passer til tallerkenen i mikroen. Bre halve røren utover med en slikkepott. Lag et kryss med slikkepotten slik at du får fire biter og stek i mikroen på full effekt 4-5 minutter. Er de fremdeles myke så stek de et minutt eller to til.

Disse ble servert til lunch i dag med ost, fenalår og roastbeef som pålegg. I tillegg spiste vi rester etter gårsdagens hjemmelagede blomkålsuppe, den var selvsagt også lavkarbo.

About a year ago I started on my LCHF journey and what a journey it has been. Not only have I lost 30 lbs, but my health has improved so much too. For instance I have a hernia which the doctor said I had to operate  within a couple of years. Now there's no talk about operation any longer as the symptoms disappeared the very day I changed my diet. I know people with high blood pressure and/or diabetes 2 who stopped taking medicine just weeks after they started to eat lowcarb. To bad it doesn't effect my dizziness. This is not a low carb blog, but would like to share with you a receipt for crispy bread, which is not only easy to make, but also very quick and last but not least they are yummi.

7 fl.oz of seed I normally use a mix of flax seed, sesame seeds, sunflower seed and pumpkin seed.
1 egg
Salt and if you want some spices, oregano, thyme or rosemary are good choices

Mix it all and spread it on a piece of baking paper which you have cut to cover the plate in the microwave. Take half the dough at the time. Make a cross so you have four pieces. Put it into the microwave and run it for 4-5 minutes with full effect. If still little soft try a minute or two more.

Sorry for my clumsy way to explain, never shared a receipt in English before, so hope you understand.

These are delicious with butter and cheese or ham, roast beef is also yummy.

This is what I served for lunch today to one of my best friends. I also had homemade cauliflower soup also made the lowcarb way.

I hope you enjoyed this, if you have some questions don't hesitate to ask.

Until next post

Kari

The beauty of a capsule wardrobe- The utility jacket

For readers abroad, English text further down.

Det har kommet ønske om at jeg skriver innleggene mine på norsk også, så da etterkommer jeg det. Litt forklaringer er kanskje på sin plass. En capsule wardrobe kan oversettes med basisgarderobe, eller direkte oversatt en kapselgarderobe. Dvs at klærne i garderoben skal kunne brukes om en annen, og dermed får du en mye mer funksjonell garderobe, og her gjelder utrykket less is more. Vi har jo alle vært der, skapet fullt i klær, men ingenting å ha på oss. Vi tar på oss det ene plagget etter det andre og ingenting passer sammen med det, gruuuusomt frustrerende. Da jeg tilfeldigvis en dag fant en link til en blogg som heter Classy yet trendy så gikk det et lys opp for meg og jeg ble så inspirert at jeg endevendte garderoben min dagen etter. http://classyyettrendy.com/2017/02/start-capsule-wardrobe-5-steps.html/

Etter å ha studert den en stund fant jeg ut at mange av plaggene her har jeg og at det bare var snakk om å ta en real opprydning og organisere klærne mine bedre. Dette er ikke så lenge siden, men føler allerede jeg har hatt stor både nytte og glede av min nye kunnskap. Veien blir til mens man går og det blir nok en del prøving og feiling.

Utility jacket betyr Nyttejakke, og min nyttejakke er en vanntett, olivengrønn jakke med hette som jeg kjøpte i London for flere år siden. Må ha vært høsten 2012 eller 2013. Det er en Timberland jakke og den kostet litt, men er brukt så mye at den var verd hver krone. I Bergen er en slik jakke helt uunnværlig for den kan brukes uansett vær.

Collagene under består av klær jeg har i min garderobe, eller lignende som jeg har funnet på nett. Det meste har jeg hatt i mange år og noe er nytt spesielt innkjøpt for å få en funksjonell basisgarderobe. Det er 5 nye plagg her, tre gensere, et sjal og en kosebukse.

Had to give a quick update to my Norwegian readers, explain about capsule wardrobe and the beauty of it. Today I'll introduce you to my utility jacket. It's one of my Best Buy's ever, if not the best! I bought it in London several years ago, 2012 or 2013. I've worn it a lot, because it's waterproof and it has a hood, which is a must when you live somewhere it rains a lot. It's a Timberland jacket and a bit pricy, but worth every cent. It's not the exact same as the one in my collages, but very similar. I can wear it with just anything all year round as it's big enough to have a real chunky wool sweater under. All clothes in the collages is in my wardrobe, either the exact peace or something similar.

Here's what I wore at our Easter holiday in Myrkdalen.

Utility jacket - Timberland, sweater- Fanakofte, homeknitted (not by me), plain tee, jeans - Emma from Floyd, hat and scarf- Maggy from Home and cottage, old hiking boots, old sunglasses

Utility jacket- Timberland, striped blazer- this is from Debenhams, mine is an old one from Zay, plain tee, hat - Maggy, scarf- PM, watch - Michael Kors, bag - Fjellräven, sneakers-DL Sport

Utility jacket - Timberland, Navy blazer -  not sure where this is from, mine is old one from European Culture, sweater- Lindex, jeans - Floyd, bag - Mulberry, watch - Mockberg, scarf - old one, boots- old ones from Tamaris

Utility jacket - Timberland, leather jacket - I have similar from Butterfly (don't know where this is from),sweater-  Anna Field - Zalando,  jeans- Fiveunits, bag- Mulberry, boots old one from Tamaris

Utility jacket- Timberland, old denim jacket, trousers - 2nd one, Miley from Motefrue.no (supercomfy), sweater - Second female, scarf - PM, bag - vintage Mulberry, watch - Mockberg, boots- I have similar from Timberland (don't know where these are from)

Så dere ser at en slik nyttejakke virkelig er nyttig og veldig enkel å matche med andre ting i garderoben.

And thats the beauty of the utility jacket, very versatile.


Until next time.

Kari

The beauty of a capsule wardrobe- The frumpy dresses

Another winters day here in Bergen, will there ever be spring? Actually it's getting colder instead of warmer, this night it snowed and there's still a little snow outside as you can see from pic below. It's sunny though, but heavy wind and earlier it was a blizzard believe it or not.

Yesterday I plunged in to my wardrobe again, it's still a way to go before it's a true capsule wardrobe. I discarded a couple more items, and then I decided to find out what to do with some of my dresses.  Could they fit in the capsule wardrobe? One was immediately discarded, one was removed from spring capsule to the autumn capsule. The other three is still in my wardrobe, I'll show you the outfit ideas for two of them in this post. I asked for an opinion in the capsulers Facebook group, and what a response, people really gave me lot of feed back and good ideas. Both the dresses were referred to as frumpy, especially the checked one, but some people thought it was kind of cool. I can understand both views, it's all in the details, I hope I've come up with some styling options which makes it cool.

Ok here we go....

# 1 A black floral dress, I knew this one was very versatile and had good outfit ideas on this one. This is a quite new dress, bought last year. Floral print is trendy now, and this dress can be used all year round. I can use it with my trench, cardigans, short or long, with leather jackets both black and cognac and with a denim jacket. I can use it as a dress or as a tunic with skinny jeans or leggings, with boots, sneakers or sandals. Options are endless and here's some of them.

#2 I've had since 2012, and I've always liked it. It's so comfy and the colors suits me well. It's light navy blue, white and a beige checked patterned. The brand is Masai, very good quality. I have several pieces of clothes from this Danish brand. I did'nt think it would fit into my capsule, because of it's collar, but I suddenly got inspired and found endless options for this dress too. I was amazed to find is just as versatile as the black floral one. Tried to take some selfies today in a couple of outfits in this dress, I'm a selfie virgin so they didn't turn out very well, but they give you an idea. Have to say, this dress was a bit difficult to photograph for the Stylebook, and since it's quite old I couldn't find any photos of it online either.

And here's my selfies of the dress, ha ha I could do with a course and/or a photographer.

So what do you think, are they still frumpy?
Would love to hear Your opinion.


Wish you all a very nice day.

Kari

Homelovers

It's not a Secret that Norwegians are a bunch of homelovers, I think we are one of the countries in the world which use most time and money to redecorate our homes. Maybe it's because it's quite cold here most of the year that we need to make our homes nice and cosy, we burn a lot of candles too especially in winter time.

I'm no exception on the contrary I use a lot of time and efford to make it nice and cosy in our home, not so much money as I like to see the options in what we already got. A lick of paint can change even the ugliest piece of furniture.

When we bought this house about three years ago my hubby believed it was virtually nothing to do here. He was so wrong, one should think he knew nothing about me.  The previous owner had painted most of the rooms right before he sold in a magnolia kind of shade. I really not to fond of magnolia and I also find it boring when nearly all rooms has the same color. I can't relax if I don't like the colors of the walls, so the day after we moved in I bought paint and started to paint the room we use as a walk in closet. And then I've slowly worked my way through the house room by room. Not quite finished yet. The guestroom could do With a makeover and I'm also at the present planning to paint the kitchenwalls some day soon.

Today I'll show you the sitting room, or living room as some calls it. Here's how it looked when we came to see the house for the first time. Nothing really wrong with it, but not my taste. And we also have very different furniture.

This is how it looks now, or not exactly now because at the moment my hubby has carefully rearranged the cushions all by himself.

This is how it looked a couple of weeks ago. See how much difference the cushions make. I have a variety of cushion covers and change several times a year. A very cheap and easy way to get a whole new wardrobe expression. Cushions and flowers are like the scarves in our wardrobes, change the scarf and the whole outfit looks different.

If you want to see more of my home feel free to check my instagram account @momentsintimebergen


Today it snowed again here, this spring has really started to annoy me.

Until next time.

Kari

The beauty of a capsule wardrobe - The pink sweater

As I told you in my previous post I was so inspired when I came over this blogpost on Leanne White Blackmons blog Classy yet trendy. Here's a link to the post I accidently came over via Pinterest: http://classyyettrendy.com/2017/02/start-capsule-wardrobe-5-step

Ok I've seen similar before, but no one so inspiring. I looked at the clothes in the capsule and thought I have a trench like that, I have a couple of blazers, I have this, I have that, actually I have most of it. This was about ten days ago, it was in the evening so couldn't start right away, but next morning I was ready to plunge in. I dived into my wardrobe, took all off the hangers and piled it on the bed. I started to color coordinate. I decided to use Navy as my base color, taupe, cream and white as neutrals. All my black clothes I put aside for an autumn capsule along with some typical autunm colors like mustard and olive green.

I used hours, looked at all my clothes with new eyes, Something went in a pile for donating, something in a pile I wanted a friend to look at. We have been swapping clothes for a couple of years. Now I lost a bit of weight, she put on some, so instead of buying everything new we've swapped basic things like jeans and coats in neutral colors. A couple of my blazers still fits me, but now I can button them so they actually look better. I fell in love with my clothes again, and realised I had done something right along the years, buying classic items in basic and neutral colors. I just hadn't been able to see it before when black and navy was stashed together with all kind of colors at the same place, making impossible to see the versatility in my clothes.

I knew I needed tees and a couple of sweaters as most I have looks like I'm a little girl in my mums clothes. It was time for some shopping, I decided to use Coral as my accent color, pink is not my cup of tea, or so I thought. I ordered some tees and sweaters online, 2 striped sweaters, 2 Coral  and a navy tee. Ended up sending most of it back. Kept a navy tee and one of the striped sweaters.

It was time for some shopping the old fashioned way, I headed for the mall and ended up with blush as one of my accent colors. Who would have thought??? I was really happy, with 4 new tees, a cream sweater a navy yoga pant,  a pair of shorts and a scarf. Tried to find a blush pair of jeans too, with no luck.

And then I discovered Stylebook, omg I'm in heaven, now I can put all my clothes into this app and shuffle them around for outfits I never even thought of. So Worth the 44 NOK I payed for it!

Went into a couple of stores again today in search for my blush jeans. No luck today either, but I found this sweater in the perfect pink for me. At Lindex, and today was 20% off too.

Now I will show you the beauty of a capsule wardrobe, and the outfits I made on my new toy Stylebook. I have all these items in my wardrobe, either the exact item or something similar. Most of them I've had for years.

Don't you just love it?? The options are endless. The only problem is that I use to much time to play around with this so I forget to knit bunnies and baby clothes.

Thank you Leanne, and thank you Capsulers on Facebook for all the inspiration.



See you

Kari

Suddenly I felt the urge to start blogging again, this time in English, there's a couple of reasons why. First of all I love the English language, but I'm a bit rusty so please bear over with me if I stumble and fall. Second I have both friends and family that don't speak Norwegian. 



A little about me, I'm a woman soon to be 55 living in Bergen, Norway. I live with my partner close to the sea, we have a wonderful view so I warn you, there might be some sunset photos on this blog, especially in the summer. (If it ever comes)

I have 2 grown up sons and am soon to be a grandmother. I've been waiting for this a while and now I'll have 2 in August/September, not twins as many of you would have thought. At least one will be a girl, which is so nice since me and my hubby have 4 sons amongst us. Can't wait really and already started to knit baby clothes.


I'm a creative kind of person and recently I took up knitting again, haven't been knitting much the past 25 years. I mostly knit bunnies which I partly have designed myself. You will probably find photos of  the bunny bunch in some of my posts. Here's one of them, her name is Sweet Sophie. My bunnies live their own life on Instagram. @lillepernille_design 

My passion for interior is well known among family, friends and anyone who knows me. I had an interiorblog for several years, still have actually, but haven't posted for a long, long time as Instagram kind of took over. I will for sure post photos like this on my blog too. My account on Instagram is @momentsintimebergen 

 I do love clothes, which woman don't? Recently I came across a blog called Classy yet trendy, will link to it in another post when I found out how to do it. Yes I'm a bit rusty on blogging too. In this blog it was described how to create a Capsule wardrobe. I got so inspired that I the day after started to  clean out my closet. I tell you more about this in another post, but I can reveal right now that I actually like my clothes again. 

Other things about me, I'm currently not working due to health issues. I got vestibular neuritis a couple of years ago it knocked me completely out for a long time and I'm still struggling with it for long periods at the time. This blog will not be about illness, but I might mention it in between. When I was working I was a sales assistant  working with fish export worldwide for almost 20 years. 

Another thing is that I live on a LCHF diet, and the past year I've lost 14 kg which is about 30 lbs. this will not be an LCHF blog either, but It might be I post something about it once in a while. 

Now I want to welcome you all, this blog is now officially reopened. Looking forward to blog again.

Bye for now

Kari