Gratulerer med dagen alle sammen ! Håper dere får en fantastisk fin dag med masse is (jeg skal spise fire, minst).

Today is Norway’s Constitutional Day. This means flags, traditional costumes, marching bands and loads of good food. I will celebrate the day with my family, still a bit jet lagged but otherwise OK. Have a wonderful day everyone !

I’m currently hanging out at Starbucks on Honolulu International Airport,grinding my teeth at the world and everything after having spent an hour fighting the system aka airline people. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong and I have feeling the entire trip will continue this way. Luckily I have my home waiting at the end of the trip and dinner and my family and my friends.

Goodbye Honolulu, aloha Seattle, Amsterdam and Kristiansand !

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Yesterday was spent (for the most part) in Fort DeRussy, celebrating Alexander’s birthday the way we celebrate anything in Waikiki; with BBQ, sunshine and attractive Scandinavians. I geeked out on the iPad – my new sidekick – while I tried to not burn my shoulder’s even more (unsuccessfully I might add). Today will be spent packing, and then I’m off to Norway tomorrow evening. Currently wishing I had one more week to get everything done AND hang out with people simultaneously, but you can’t have everything in life, and right now I am just giving up sleep for the most part.

Karpe diem and such. Have a nice week !

Summer vacation is finally here and I have 4 days left in paradise before I return to Norway (no, not permanently, just on vacation) to spend the summer in Kristiansand. Needless to say I am going to spend as much of the next days as I can soaking up sun at the beach trying to actually look like I’ve been living in Hawaii by the time I get home. Hawaii, make me tan !

Last final = done. Summer vacation starts now.

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Decided to lunch at Pioneer Saloon by Diamond Head as a treat for, you know … all achievements, finals and whatnot. Pioneer Saloon is known for their deep fried baby octopus – or so I’ve been told – so lunch meant exactly that. Strange and fascinating to eat something that actually looks like the thing it is, these were actual baby octopodes fried in oil, no cut to pieces or disguised as something non-descript. Can’t say I didn’t eat it without feeling some guilt and remorse for the poor octopi.

The acai bowl at Diamond Head Health Bar was by far more inviting as a nice dessert, fruit is after all just fruit. Fruit doesn’t have feelings, and fruit isn’t a possible character with a family, friends and a rad collection of sea shells in Finding Nemo.

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SHIRT 5preview BAG forever21 DRESS nastygal BOOTS jeffrey campbell via nastygal HAT aldo

I really like this dress. Got this for my birthday and it is my go-to dress whenever I don’t know what to wear. It’s all simple and black but it’s got that cut-out lace-bit in the middle section that makes it … not just an ordinary black dress. My version of the little black dress. And like every other of my renditions of classics, this is a very relaxed version. I do like to confront life dressed in things that I can also sleep in. I am just put together that way. Comfort trumps everything.

What is your go-to item in your closet ?

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In the middle of all the exam reading and writing this showed up on my door. A gift from a friend, from the wonderful vintage/second-hand heaven that is Etsy. It so over-the-top, fugly and beautiful and will be a constant companion hanging on my shoulder from now on. The perfect size for a light school day. It’s red/orange twin has been in my inspiration folder ever since I saw it on Hope this lasts. And now it’s mine. <3 Now I just need one in dark purple and one in red. And possibly a blue one. But that will have to wait until I have the money to buy one myself.

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On repeat: Tailors x Anana – Out There

Been listening to this song for about 4 months now, constantly, repeatedly, frequently, without end. And I am listening to it now, while I am trying to muster up my last bit of inspiration and finish the last essay of the semester, so I can focus on my final exams that are coming up this week. Facebook and Instagram is full of updates from my fellow students who are enjoying themselves at the beach, but I am not going to let the temptation of guilt-filled beach time take me away from the task at hand. On Thursday summer vacation is finally here, and then I can focus all my attention on sunbathing and tanning so I can earn some bragging rights before going back to Norway for a long awaited vacation at home.

Hope you’re enjoying spring, people !

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15 hours left of the never-ending research paper, 15 hours left until I am free. Well, except for the other two research papers I have due next week, one presentation tomorrow and a final exam. But this one, this paper that I have been working on – literally – the entire semester, is finally going to leave my mac and join the pile to be processed and graded and no longer be of my concern. Freedom !

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My next-door neighbor is this hotel on Kuhio Avenue, and I have been fascinated by that sign since I moved here nearly 10 months ago. It’s just very pretty and old school charm, and it sort of reminds me of those grand hotels in Puerto Rico in Hunter S Thompsons novel The Rum Diary. Honolulu is full of these very charming old signs, and picturesque buildings hidden among the concrete jungle’s modernized and worn-down noise. You just have to open your eyes look around you and really see.  It’s like vintage shopping, most people only see the ugly, flee-ridden parka, but if you open your eyes and actually look, you spot the amazing beaded dress hidden away underneath it. Honolulu city is my flee market and second-hand heaven.

I have shared some of my hidden gems on Instagram (@mbjorgum), follow me there to find more.

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Dragged my roommate along for a road trip to the Hawai’i Loa Campus – also known as the other HPU campus – today to take pictures of “tree-hugging garden-hippies” (their words) for the student newspaper. As a part of a sustainability project put together by Permablitz Hawaii, volunteers both from HPU, alumni and the community around the school came together to clean up an existing taro patch, and also to plant two new patches to grow more actual edible food on campus.

It is such a peaceful experience to travel from the concrete jungle that is large parts of Honolulu, to the lush green and humid climate of the Loa campus. The contrasts between the Downtown campus in the middle of the business district, and the Loa campus couldn’t be larger. I think I need to spend more time up there. Even though it usually rains a lot more there than it does in the city. It’s like every HPU student’s private retreat in the mountains.

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You’re suggestions are noted ! Right now I have brewed myself a cup of tea in a desperate attempt to wake up. 6:00am is just not a decent hour to be awake (unless you just came home from an amazing party). Just saying. Will preferably be reading a couple of pages in a good book on the bus on my way to school, but it is more likely that I will be reading a couple of pages of homework instead. You know the drill. Only 2 weeks left of finals !

BTW, if you follow me on twitter you know this already, but I am officially back on instagram. So if you want to fill your newsfeed with saturated photos of Starbucks cups, palm trees, my shoes and whatever else I find interesting, you can find it under the name @mbjorgum !

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