: a girl in a city :

friday

2009-01-23T21:12:00.002Z

strange. been thinking about swimming in the sea at night and fall twelve years back in time through some strange wormhole. back to what seems now like a brief moment when i was in guadalupe and martinique. there's something about a foreign sky, warm weather and swimming with people you barely know. it's so lovely, feels so right and yet you are displaced because you're so far from home that it feels odd.

it's burn's supper weekend. quite a big one here since it's been 250 years since his birthday? or the day of his death. can't remember. it's trivial when you're floating in foreign waters, twelve years ago.

there is no photo tonight. the image mine, and mine alone.

...reflective

2009-01-17T11:44:00.004Z

in love with a country not mine. yet missing my friends, family, my own country. i know i'm just a phone call away, there is only a plane ride between us, but it's hard. time passes and suddenly you're not keeping up with what's happening in people's lives. you miss out on how your friends feel, what their children look like, sound like, what people are doing and not doing. i have a deep sense of loss and it's not just for my parents. there is a sadness i cannot shake and it's all part of being alive. i'm not feeling sorry for me or anyone - i'm just kicking myself for not being better at living.

happy new year!

2009-01-06T22:48:00.003Z

i'm off to a good start. was in bed before midnight on new year's eve, up for a run on new year's day, been to the gym once after that AND rock climbing. am also in the process of writing my to-do list for the year and i have a feeling it's going to be a long one. i like it. i don't intend to put stuff on it that i'm not going to do. it seems pointless.

no more pointless stuff.

it's freezing in edinburgh and people sick in every corner. i huddle up in front of the tv and think about camping.

i know. i'm mad!

almost

2008-12-31T23:11:00.002Z

it's the hour the rings in the new year. and not for the first time in my life i want to go to bed and sleep.

perhaps it's the quietness around me. i have time to grieve. to mourn the people and these last couple of years.

this is however the first time i'm going to listen to that urge.

good night.

see you in 2009! x

just say it. better.

2008-12-30T22:52:00.003Z

i had a lovely quiet christmas. i've been eating the icelandic lamb that erla brought me for a week now and it was yummie. i even saved some malt and appelsín throughout the year that has accompanied said lamb and then i got nóa konfekt sent as presents. boy, i'm stuffed!

thank you for all that sent me presents. apologies for the lack of cards and presents on my part.

it's the day before the last this year. hard times but with a twist because it's been one of the most difficult years in my life. and yes, i've had cancer. yes, i've lost people very dear to me. perhaps not comparable. dunno. perhaps your most recent pain is the hardest. i feel like i've said this before somewhere. perhaps, perhaps, i am repeating myself.

that said - i wish my family and dear friends a very happy new year.

hope 2009 brings all the best to you - no matter where you are.

xx

p.s. was going through photos and found this (above). a cute little pub in a small town/village called Killin. i spent my birthday there last year. i was on a trip with writers from uni. i just like the atmosphere. old friends savouring a pint by the open fire (that was behind me).

vacation time

2008-12-21T18:18:00.003Z

happy holidays people :)

oops!

2008-12-15T20:19:00.002Z

still here and just imagined that i'd soon be getting a virtual kick-up-me-arse from my brother who worries when i don't update :) it's good when you know that people are thinking about you.

which reminds me. christmas. i'm staying in edinburgh. it'll be different; as of now i've got nothing christmassy in my flat. i think i have candlesticks somewhere - aðventukrans - but have yet to rummage through my bags of stuff to find it.

the city looks good though. lights everywhere, the german market downtown where you can buy warm gluhwein and bratwurst after falling on your face on the ice-rink. woopeee!

i might go see a movie on christmas eve. now that's different indeed!

lazy saturday

2008-11-22T12:08:00.003Z

sitting in my kitchen, writing a letter, cup of tea nearby. the light is streaming in through the window behind me, the trees barely moving. it's a beautiful day.

i'm taking it easy after a difficult week, having been sick and working hard. funny thing is, i just want to go outside and buy christmas presents! perhaps having no money makes you want to buy some even more. perhaps. do we pine for things we can't have? or is it just a matter of appreciating things, even people, a little better when they're not there?

maybe i just want to put a smile on your face
because it makes me feel good :)

me and my nieces, new year's eve last year.

trees

2008-11-18T11:28:00.002Z

because i like them.
takk fyrir símtalið steini :) besta meðal í heimi!

spider on the wall

2008-10-22T18:09:00.002+01:00

thankfully not mine

a year

2008-10-16T13:15:00.004+01:00

i forget how time flies sometimes. this was me almost a year ago, graduating from the university of edinburgh.
oh joy!

time out

2008-10-08T20:48:00.004+01:00

i'm tired. come walk with me.

cold

2008-10-02T18:10:00.003+01:00

cold hands, wet socks, runny nose. autumn is back in all its glory. funny things is that shop owners aren't sure whether to target christmas shoppers or halloween shenanigans. so they do both. last weekend, before october started, you could buy advent calendars (súkkulaði dagatal) and halloween decorations! before october!?!

my cameras are bust. this is an old one from last year's window displays at harvey nicols. they always look cool :)

quiet

2008-09-24T22:08:00.003+01:00

autumn is here, the treetops bathed in the evening sun. this is on my walk home.

in the water

2008-09-17T12:18:00.002+01:00

this is probably why i have a cold today (see photo). i'm lying under the duvet, fully clothed, caughing, waiting for time to pass so i can go to an interview. the sun is shining. life's dandy.

road trip

2008-09-12T12:05:00.003+01:00

i'm going camping. a friend has a boat and several of us are going up to Loch Tay to play. i'll go water-skiing. i'll make fire. i'll read and relax. as much as i love the city - i can't wait to leave. i guess everyone needs a break now and then.

taken at Loch Tay, 2007

iceland on telly

2008-09-10T09:41:00.003+01:00

tonight is football night. the land i was born in is competing against the land i live in - and the game takes place in iceland. i'll probably be watching it at some random old bar here in edinburgh with proper pub grub and shouting 'Áfram Ísland' while the locals give me their nastiest look. or perhaps i'll just sit quietly and drink my beverage. with ice.

mehe ..

2008-09-08T18:31:00.003+01:00

things might seem a little unclear - but i know where i'm heading.

a little blaaahh

2008-09-03T19:03:00.005+01:00

i lost my jobs. my boss decided to sell the sandwich shop and the bar only wanted me for the festival. i'm not having the best of luck here and yet i insist on staying. i like it here.

things are a bit strange for me at the moment, hence the appropriate photo (don't piss on me...i love you). it was taken of the bathroom floor at a café i used to go to quite frequently.

funny how things change.

the things we do

2008-08-18T20:33:00.003+01:00

it's festival time. the city is overcrowded with tourists and i'm tired. overworked and not enough sleep makes me boring and uncreative. i hate it.

i´m looking forward to this in september. hopefully with better weather:

summer at the meadows

2008-08-06T21:38:00.003+01:00

the sun does shine every now and then in this city; and when it does, the 'tún' we call the meadows - a huge field actually - fills with sun craving lunatics like us. few as silly, i might add, with our crazy antics when taking photos. this is a lovely one though, no shenanigans involved. i like summer :)

a little flushed

2008-07-13T14:10:00.001+01:00

say what you need to say

2008-07-06T01:26:00.003+01:00

i love this city.

i love the smell of the yellow flowers that grow up on arthur's seat, whose name i keep forgetting. the scent i can merely describe as vanilla-chocolate and they bloom only once or twice a year. by now, they've turned green again.
i love the way the city gets quiet in the rain and how everyone sports an umbrella. not everyone. usually not me.
i love the way the wind sweeps up the leaves on my walk home and how my door is the most colourful one on the block, the street, in the neighbourhood.
i'm quite enjoying the difficult task of getting a great cup of coffe in this city. it's an adventure.
i love the versatility in people - whether it be friends or strangers. a good portion of kindness gets you far.
i am in awe that i just nailed some photos up in my room. it means that i'll be staying for a bit, something i find hard to do - wherever i am. but then again, i tend to nail up photos in places that i've lived - just before i leave.

i like it here though. my room smells of wild mint, i can't reach my ceiling even on the top step of some 'tröppur' (stairs), my bed is comfortable and the light ..... i'll never throw out the light.

i'm nostalgic, incoherent and present as rarely before.

siska and yellow flowers in the background

þóra cooking up at arthur's seat
siska and i being silly girls
at the royal oak, where you can buy stovies until 3am
climbing with joel and derek, two of the loveliest boys in the world

where i came from

2008-06-26T23:31:00.004+01:00

i went home to iceland last weekend. strange, lovely, hard, euphoric, too short. i want to go back soon. hopefully i can.

bbq

2008-06-15T19:14:00.004+01:00

my landlord had a bbq at his house this weekend. yummie food, interesting people, a colourful bouncy castle, vegetable garden, good talks and just all around lovely.

the weeks past

2008-06-03T19:58:00.005+01:00

the city

2008-06-01T20:59:00.004+01:00

i've been reading a book lately which is not unusual. however, i tend to put them down only to discover weeks later that i never picked it up again. this time, however, my eyes do not run fast enough over the dry paper. i sadly part from it when daily life calls. also, when reading, i keep stopping, just to re-read a sentence or a paragraph. there is something about this book that hits home. an example: "It amazed me how utterly different things can look, just with a change of heart."

there is something about edinburgh that pulls me in. if you read the story i just quoted, it might make more sense. then again, perhaps not. i don't need to defend myself, make sense of why this is - i can just say it: There is something about Edinburgh that pulls me in.

this is my city:

in the wake

2008-05-26T21:41:00.006+01:00

a new start. a new blog. this will be more of a photo blog i think; a place where i can share my love for this city. or other cities. i like cities. and scary as new starts may be - they are also hopeful and exciting. obviously i'm talking about things other than just this blog - which is perhaps the way things will be from now on. the old days of me spilling my guts out on the page have come to an end. so there.

p.s. picture taken at a café in oxford. i miss oxford.