Minch & Minch

Last week-end Adam and I were in Ålesund, a beautiful town in Norway which we had the opportunity to visit for the first time. And the opportunity turned out to be nothing less then the wedding of two very precious friends: Kamilla and Bjørn.

Kamilla and I became friends when we studied nursing- first one year in Norway then two years in Australia. We were also housemates for two of these years. She is truly a very courageous and beautiful friend whom I value very much. When she returned to Norway she started working at Aker Hospital here in Oslo. While she worked there she got the hots for Bjørn who worked as a nurse at the same ward. Bjørn is really an awesome guy. This is all a very happy story- cause on Saturday August 16th – this high quality woman got her high quality man and vice versa!

The town of Ålesund was at its best! The sun was shining and the sky was beautiful blue! They got married in Borgund Kirke and the receptions was held at Atlanterhavsparken (The Aquarium). Kamilla was a very,very beautiful bride. I loved her dress! A quite unique reception venue I must say- how many can say they had fish swimming in the background while digging into their wedding cake? The whole atmosphere was very romantic – and the fact that the bride and groom looked insanely in love did not make it any less romantic:) Thank you, Bjørn and Kamilla. We know you put a lot work into this evening. We enjoyed it very much! (Pssst- and the food was fantastic!!!!)

The next day Adam and I were really tired – but took the time to check out Ålesund before heading home. We even had some fish n’ chips !!! Fjellstua is a viewpoint in Ålesund- we could have walked the stairs- BUT were too lazy and took the tourist train- hehe. Check out the photos from our superb week-end! Click HERE

One of my friends from work, Arjan has moved to the Opera office in Sweden. Sad to see you go Dutch but I’m sure there will still be plenty of travel back and forward between Oslo and Linköping. Let’s hope the first international chapter of SMEx will open soon!

One last outing for Arjan with his workmates from Opera was taken, on one of the last hot days this summer, to one of the islands in the Oslo fjord, for a BBQ and swim. Check out the photos here

Good luck and see you soon Dutch!

Summer is also important time with family. So many birthdays..and gatherings. My father has recovered well after the heart attack in Easter. We got him an Ipod for his birthday so that he can listen to music whilst excercising. Last week-end it was my auntie Ragnhild’s birthday- it was a beautiful day- although there were some uninvited guests: the wasps! Luckily my uncle had the vacuum cleaner ready to suck them in if they got too pushy!! Last monday I was at parents and we drove up to the lake.

My sister and Linnea came along too. My mother and I had a nice refreshing swim. We had sandwiches and just relaxed. Very nice:) The saddest thing has been to see my grandfather deterioriate - he is currently in the hospital for the third time in just a few months. We are really close and it is not great to see him so confused and down. Such is life I suppose.

SMex is still going strong (37 events in a row, and counting, for the president now)… and we have a new website: http://smex.me.

Although SMex has now lost one of its original board members - CWE = Christopher Walken Expert, Arjan is now living in the land of herring and Abba music. The question is when will he be back?

Despite all the hard work- we’ve some warm summer evenings which resulted it in some late summer beer nights. We’ve been out with some friends and just taking it easy. I suspect the Opera gangsters are quite happy with the reopening of The Park Lounge….