And suddenly, more than half a year passed without me checking in here. I guess I needed an online break. However, time went on and now 2017 is gone and 2018 has already begun. 2017 was a good year in many ways. It was also a difficult year with a lot of big personal questions for me; questions about the future, about what I want and need. There were letdowns, butterflies and new beginnings. I've tried to make a little visual summary and it might be quite long;
In January, I was offered a temporary position at the newspaper and I was flying. I love love love working there and after a year of financial insecurity, it was so good to not have to worry so much for the next many months.
In February, the snow came and made the yellow courtyard pop. I spent a lot of time at my father's apartment and with friends longing for light and longer days.
In March, I went to Jutland to do a story by the windswept Western sea, and I dreamt of owning a small cottage in the dunes where I can write overlooking the ever changing sea.
Later that month, I went to Aarhus to visit my brother and his girlfriend who live there. It always takes me back to the years I lived there studying journalism. I hated the city back then but now I feel I've judged it too harshly, because when I look back, it was an amazing time.
Straight after Aarhus, I flew to Strasbourg where I had been invited to instagram at the European Parliament along with other Europeans. We ended up being quite a lot of Danes and we had so much fun photographing and talking about life in the media business.
Strasbourg was such a beautiful town and it felt beyond good being back in France talking French.
Before March let go, I had coffee at Coffee Collective with Chris and Iben - the last coffee in their old location in Jægersborggade. Just look at those two!
With April came at least a little bit of sun...
I went to Slagelse to visit my beautiful grandparents. They moved to a different part of the country in 2016, which is quite the thing when you're 76 and 84!
In the middle of April, I went to London with my good old friend Tine. We are masters at laughing and always having fun, so of course the days in London were a blast.
I love this photo of Tine and blogger-pose-girl!
I had my uncle, youngest little brother, Gitte and my dad for brunch on the last weekend in April. I love having people over like that and I think I'll try and do that much more in 2018.
In May, Tine and Chris came over one Saturday and helped me finally put something up on my living room wall. I mostly made coffee and directed the whole process and managed the play list but we had good fun.
And I'm so happy with the result!
Spring finally settled over the city and I enjoyed my walks to work early in the morning when the city is quiet.
2017 was the year most of my friends turned 30 and this photo was taken on my way home after one of the celebrations. It was that perfect warm evening where summer is promising and everything is a little magical.
In the last days of May and early days of June, I traveled to Antwerp where I had been invited by VisitAntwerp for the most lavish week of 2017. Over the course of 6 days, I and 12 other journalists and artists from all over Europe were wined, dined and taken all over the city to explore. It was absolutely marvelous and the best of it all was the team of amazing people I met. I am so grateful that I got to be part of it.
Antwerp was a really cool city; beautiful architecture and a lively cultural scene. I will definitely come back and I thought long and hard about actually moving there, but I think I'm very happy about living in Copenhagen for the moment. One evening, we had dinner at Fosbury & Sons, an old factory-style building with the most amazing windows ever. Just look at that!
We stayed at the most wonderful hotel, Hotel O Sud, and it was luxury with an gigantic bathtub in the room, shower and the biggest bed all to myself. The view from the hotel was nice, too.
Look at that dinner we had the first night!
The last night, we were invited to sit front row at the fashion show of the renowned fashion academy. It's a huge event and it was so much fun pretending to be über fashionable front row.
Summer was waiting when I got back to Copenhagen. I love this city in June as everything is wonderful and everything is possible.
I decorated the walls at the dining table with two rugs I'd ordered from Portugal. I love the left one and especially the suggestions from guests as to what it is. There are some clever suggestions...
I had friends over for dinner.
And enjoyed walking all over the city on my way to assignments and interviews.
When June came to an end, the girls and I went to Italy once again. I love that it's become an annual tradition and this was the fourth year in a row.
AnCa, Kristiane and I went up to Gran Sasso one day to take in the view at one of my favourite places in the world.
After a few days in my father's house and an overnight visit to a Michelin restaurant (my first!), we drove back towards Rome and a little north to the island of Monte Argentario. What a paradise! The breeze was cool and we rented a boat one day, best decision ever!
I will forever cherish those trips to Italy, and each one has been absolutely perfect.
Back in Copenhagen, we celebrated Sølve's 28th birthday with Mexican drinks and lots of laughs. Look how stylish he is!
I bought plants.....
And went to Aarhus again for another visit to NP and Anna.
July is such a beautiful month with flowers everywhere.
When August came, so came the end of my time at the newspaper. It left me broken-hearted as I wish I could have continued, and I decided to go to Italy for a week to lick my wounds and visit my father and his wife who spend all summer at their house there.
There were fresh plums from the garden.
In an effort to cool down from the excruciating heat, we took a 2 day trip to small mountain cities where we stayed at b&bs and tried to find places where the degrees weren't so high. We didn't manage to cool down, but it was amazing to see all these small mountain villages.
My father and I took a cable car up a mountain one day (my father's wife is afraid of heights and stayed at the foot of the mountain). This cabin was so cool.
Later, we drove up to Gran Sasso where the sun had scorched the ground and everything was dry and yellow. It's by far my most favourite time of year up there.
The dry heat caused a huge forest fire and it was such a dramatic sight. Especially to see curious people walking towards it...
Every day meant at least a few Apérol Spritz...
Another day, we drove 2,5 hours north to Numana because the temperatures there were lower than at the house. When we got there, the view was breathtaking, but the humidity was unbearable. So we stayed just long enough to panic-eat a melting ice cream before driving 2,5 hours back... But at least the roadtrip was nice!
The view from the house is always amazing and because of the heat, I slept several night on a mattress beneath the stars. The morning view was excellent.
When we came back, my father and I spent a day in Sweden where he has a house with his wife and her brother. This is the annex and I love that it looks like an oversize doll house.
In Copenhagen, AnCa and I had dinner at L'Éducation Nationale and she told me the greatest news that kept us talking for many many hours...
Later in August, my uncle invited me and my brothers on a roadtrip to the little island of Mandø. My cousin Kille came too, and we had such a fun day. The island is only accessible a few hours a day due to high tides and we got there on the back of a huge tractor that drove directly in the sea. Here we are posing for a mandatory band photo.
The summer washed away in rain, so I spent lots of hours in my light living room reading books, writing stories and drinking coffee.
I had morning coffees with Chris at 108. One morning, as I was crossing the bridge on my bike going back to Nørrebro, a man came up from the water in the harbour after a morning swim, and as he was standing there all naked, our eyes met. I love mornings like that.
One night, Tine and I did as every other good Instagrammer and biked all the way out to Amager where there was a huge field of flowers. Because everyone else had been there before us, there were only a few flowers left but we managed to pick two good sized bouquets.
Kristiane and I ate burgers by the lakes and talked about men and work and life.
In September, my father and Gitte sold the apartment in Jagtvej - Det Hvide Slot, where I lived back in 2011-2012 and have so many memories of a broken heart and longing to be back in Berlin. Instead, they bought a huge apartment in Østerbro that I visited just before they moved in. I'm sure we'll make happy memories there, too, although I will miss Jagtvej very much.
Chris turned 30 in the middle of September, and we all gathered in her lovely Vesterbro apartment for cake and bubbles.
Later, Tine and I had one of our roadtrips to Helsingør (that's where the male version of the little mermaid is and I had to kiss him). We do that fairly often, mostly to be able to sing along very loudly to music all the way in the car.
In the end of September, Tine, Chris and I drove to Sweden to spend a weekend in my father's house. We had long walks in the woods and long talks in the sofa and it was everything.
My grandfather turned 85 in October and we all gathered for a celebration. NP and Anna are expecting their first child in February and I photographed them standing there comparing bellies. I can't wait to meet my little niece!
Autumn descended and turned everything bright orange and yellow and we took long walks in the parks and around the lakes.
And then it was back to Sweden in the beginning of November, this time with Anna and Kat - where we also went on a moose safari...! This is us going into the moose park, all uncomfortable with this unknown meeting with nature.
One morning in late November, I had a very early breakfast with Tine. It was so foggy that I got lost in my own neighbourhood... But later, as light came and lifted the fog, we walked along the lakes and it all looked a little magical.
NP came and spent the night on my sofa and we had brunch with AE the next day. I also spent lots of time in my sofa reading by the light as the days grew darker and darker outside.
In December, I turned 30 (!) and hosted a big celebration for family and friends. It was a night that I will never forget. Everything was love as they say, and there were amazing speeches, lots of laughter and I am still high on it all. What a way to celebrate the beginning of a new decade!
And then it was suddenly Christmas. We went back to Sweden yet again, the family and I, and spent days by the fire eating good things and drinking wine and the boys cut down our tree from the garden.
One day we even got lost in the forest and it wasn't my finest moment but the outdoorsy family I have loved it...
The red wooden house in Sweden was also the venue of New Years where I was joined by Iben, Ulrik, Chris, Kristiane, Anne and Mikkel for two days of forest walks, game playing, hot cocoa, long talks, and celebrations. We ate such good food and rang in the new year with style.
Just look at this merry bunch!
I think I can look back on 2017 as a really good year. And 2018 is already shaping up to be really good. I am happy. Now I just need a job!
