Since I've been so bad at blogging over the past few years, I will keep on posting things that I never came around to posting on here from last year. Further back than that I can't be bothered with. I'm still very much a shopaholic, and I love to style outfits and try out new combos and styles, though I try to keep to my main "image" which is studs, leather and band tees. But sometimes I dress up, and sometimes I dress down and keep it simple. Here are two very different outfits from January last year. 

I need to wrap up the books I read last year as well! In 2018 I read 35 books, so that was my goal last year, and I came pretty close. I had a reading slump during the summer, because even though it was a rather short book, I didn't quite "feel it", and that was "Treasure Island" after watching all the seasons of "Black Sails". But then I got back into putting aside time to read, and like I said, came close; 33 and a half book, plus a short novel.
Here's the list of the books, and the ones in blod are the ones I liked the best.
​I try to read a Harry Potter and Tolkien book a year, but didn't get around to a Tolkien book. I also try to read a "classic" book, though I struggle with getting through one. I dunno why, because they are the source and inspiration to so many books, but "Dracula", "The Vampyre" novel and "Treasure Island" were, well, not for me. 
I also started out taking pics of the books I read, created another bookstagram account and all, but then I just stopped, as I rather read than taking pics of books and props... Of course, a quick pic, just to document the book, and it's pretty cover, doesn't take that much time, so I'll try to do that this year for next year's post, haha.

1. The Surface Breaks
2. All The Wandering Light
3. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
4. The Beast Within
5. Dracula
6. The Wicked King
7. Evermore
8. Caraval
9. The Force Awakenes
10. A Court of War and Ruin

11. Empire of Storms
12. After The Funeral
13. The Corset
14. Selvskryt - Bli Din Egen Heiagjeng! 
15. Legendary 
16. Flame in the Mist
17. BlackSouls
18. Treasure Island
19. Coldest Girl in Coldtown
20. Wicked Like a Wildfire

21. A Court of Frost and Starlight
22. Escaping from Houdini
23. Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix
24. Sawkill Girls
25. State of Sorrow
26. The Haunting of Hill House
27. Fang Girl
28. The Last Werewolf
29. Hocus Pocus
30. Farvell, ting
31. Crimes of Grindelwald
32. Miss Mayhem
33. Reign og Shadows
Plus I started reading Tower of Dawn, and read the short novel "The Vampyre".

The final wrap-up post from 2019 feat. the rest of July, plus August and September. 
July: We spent the rest of July after visiting my folks and going to festivals at home, and being local sightseers here as well. 

August: I celebrated my 30th birthday, and my family came for a visit. We also started working on "Marita - A tribute to Twin Peaks". 

September: Celebrated TJ's 40th birthday in Bergen with dinner and stand-up show. Working on the Twin Peaks tribute. 

See previous posts and pages for October, November and December, and previous wrap-up posts! :)

June: We went to Bergen and the hospital where I had my hip surgery six months before, to have a final check-up on the progress. My hip has healed fine, but it remains to be seen if I need to remove the five screws that were put in to hold it together. 
We had burger at our favorite diner, ER-AN veikro, went for a walk near by the B&B we stayed at, and the day after we stopped at the mall outside Bergen, Åsane Storsenter, where we did some record shopping before going home.

Then we went to Trondheim and "Trondheim Rocks" festival with bands like Def Leppard, KISS and Iggy Pop. It was an awesome festival, and Def Leppard was just amazing! Here are some pics, and the festival report we did for my YouTube show; Marita's Metal Mania:

July: We went to see my folks, and did some local sightseeing, and then we went hotel crashing, record shopping, eating and drinking, making our way to Flekkefjord and Kvinesdal for Norway Rock Festival with headliners like D-A-D, Skid Row and Dee Snider. Awesome festival! Will post a festival report soon, but here are some pics (from the sightseeing, shopping, eating and drinking, and the festival, lol).

And then we were in Stavanger, starting to head home. Did some walking and shopping around town first. Pretty city, never been there before.

One night in Bergen before the final trek home. Did some record shopping at Apollon, and drinks and giggles at Kråken. 

Stopped outside Bergen at Åsane and in Førde before going home. Good times! Great festivals! :D

Since this has turned into a very long post, I'll make one more with the rest of July, August and September. October, November and December have all been well documented on this blog if you scroll down, and see previous pages :) 

May: In May we celebrated Norway's Constitution Day, and I went to London with my bestie, Live, to see Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre, and attend the MCM Comic Con. It was a great trip, and I took a lot of pics. Here are some of them, plus more "in detail" day to day; 

Day 1: ​We arrived on Thursday, May 23rd, stayed at Hard Rock Hotel, had brunch at a local café called  Patisserie Valerie, and started down Oxford Street, heading for Baker Street and the Sherlock Holmes museum. We also found a cool rock shop called "It's Only Rock N' Roll", and "The Beatles" shop.
​Then we had a short frappuccino break at Starbucks before heading back to Oxford Street (doing some shopping along the way, of course), and Selfridges where we had ice tea and cake at EL&N Cafe. Then after being up since 05:00 am, we just chilled at the hotel, before having pasta and beer at a restaurant just around the corner from the hotel.
We probably didn't fall asleep before 03.00 am, drinking Rosé wine, watching Black Mirror and just talking about all and everything.

Day 2: On Friday it was time for more shopping after having breakfast at a cozy corner and coffee shop which I can't remember the name of right now, and we made our way down Oxford Street to Top Shop, Disney Store, H&M and such. We also found "House of MinaLima" - a mini Harry Potter print museum with a merch shop.
Cappuccino and lemon muffins at Starbucks before spending time at Foyles - a many stories high book shop. We also found a record shop called Fopp, where I found some CDs and vinyls.
We had Italian for dinner again, and "Pornstar" martinis at "Marlborough Head" pub, and more drinks at the bar at the hotel. Late night again! We're night owls! :D

Day 3: ​On Saturday we had brunch at Selfridges, where we tried the "Afternoon Tea" deal; a three tier high tray with sandwiches, scones and cakes, and tea of course.
Then we did some more shopping before heading back to the hotel to get ready for one of the main events of our trip; the play "Betrayal" at The Harold Pinter Theatre. I've never seen a play before, but it was an awesome and intense "first time" - Tom Hiddleston popped my theatre cherry! :p
We didn't get to meet him, but very few did that night since the queue was sooo long. But Charlie Cox made a round and signed my Betrayal booklet.
After the play we shared nachos and had "Princess" martinis at Planet Hollywood, and more drinks at the bar at the hotel. Stayed up late even though we had to get up very early the next day.

​Day 4: Sunday the alarm rang brutally 06:40 am, and we had to get up and get ready to go to MCM Comic Con. I thought about doing a Rogue cosplay from X-Men, but ended up wearing a Star Wars tank top and a silver Phasma bomber jacket. It was waaarm there, with at least 50 000 people.
Live wanted to queue to get Sebastian Stan's autograph and see him on panel, so I ended up wandering alone shopping some and checking out cosplays. I also saw David Harbour on panel.
It was a great experience to be at such a massive convention. I've only been to HobbitCon in Bonn, Germany in 2015, which was very small compared to this con.
We were very tired after the con, so we chilled and packed our bags at the hotel after, and had... More Italian for dinner! Right across the street from the hotel.
I was super frustrated packing, because the Aragorn figurine I bought was freakin' huge, and did not fit in the bag I intended for it. But he made it home safely in the end, all parts intact ;)

Day 5: We had breakfast at Patisserie Valerie, and did some last minute shopping on Monday. I bought some towels to protect said Aragorn figurine :p And we started to venture back to the airport around four o'clock.
The journey home went well, and all in all we had a very great trip! My bestie and I can talk about whatever, and we're major fangirls with dirty minds, so it's all good fun, hahaha! :D
Hoping to go back to London soon! So much more to see and do! :)

January: To quote Gandalf "I have no memory of this place"... A new year is often off to a slow start, and I think it's safe to say January last year was just that. Not that I'm complaining, as Whitesnake sang; So take me down slow 'an easy...

February: My bestie Live came for a visit, and we had one of our epic "Fangirl weekends" :D Talking all night, watching movies with our fave hunks and actors, eating good food and baked goods - courtesy of Live :) And just had a great time drinking Ginger Joe and playing some Pink Floyd. 

March: We went to Bergen to see a Uriah Heep/Deep Purple tribute band called Purple Heep at "Madam Felle", and to see Bruce Dickinson talking about his new biography and such. 
The tribute show was great, and Dickinson is just hilarious! Gotta love that man! 
We also found this cool retro diner called "Roxy's Diner"

April: I went to see my folks at the end of March and half of April. We went on lots of hikes, stayed at my parent's cabin, did some shopping, met my other bestie, Maryanne, and just enjoyed being home at my parents' place for a longer period of time. 

Many of great motives in Austråttlunden, lots of Lord of the Rings vibes and such <3

April was a rather eventful month, and we went on more hikes, "celebrated" Easter and such when I got back home after visiting my folks. 

I think this post is long enough, so I'll start with May in the next wrap-up. A lot of pictures, outfits and selfies to share since I haven't blogged much last year, only at the end of it. 

The last week before Christmas we had our last "Star Wars Monday" watching "The Last Jedi". We've seen "Rogue One" and "The Force Awakens" as well, getting ready for the premiere of "The Rise of Skywalker". TROS was SO amazing! I have no words! We got many answers, though leaving room for theories, and just an epic ending to the saga. My heart is broken, but that's because I'm Kylo trash for life, but it was a beautiful ending as well, and I can't believe that it's over. The Star Wars universe has become one of my favorite worlds, and I love all the movies and shows. The Mandalorian has to be the show of the year as well. 

We decorated our new Christmas tree. We decided to get a green one this year after years of having a white one. I'm so happy with the lights and decorations, and think it's the most pretty tree we've had so far! 

A final shopping trip before Xmas had to be done, and we supported some of the local stores. Found a few records at the "Retro Nook" as well; Eurythmics - Revenge and The Look - Everybody's Acting, and Vandenberg for my hubby as he finaly bought a vinyl player for the livingroom. I've had mine upstairs for years, spinning records, and now he's finally caught the vinyl-bug :D 

Here's the rest of the Christmas movies we watched in December:

Some of my new favorite Xmas movies this year are "Christmas Cottage", "The Christmas Candle" and "The Man Who Invented Christmas".

On the day before Christmas Eve we had lunch at Didriks, another tradition :) 

And on Christmas Eve, we watched "The Christmas Story", went for a walk, read Christmas comics, ate good food and dessert, and opened presents! So much nice stuff! I even semi-spoiled myself with a new guitar, a snow white Jackson Warrior, thanks to my Patreon support <3 

I'm very happy with December and look back on a very cozy and full month packed with movies, traditions and just a general good vibe to end the year, and the decade. ​I'm very excited about 2020 where more music and adventures awaits! 

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2020! 

Ever since we got back from Oslo, it's been non-stop Christmas preparations and activities. After Thanksgiving we started decorating, and on December 1st, the 1st Sunday of Advent, we went to Tore-Garden's Christmas market, a tradition we've had for many years to start off the Xmas season. 
We ate some tasty "sveler" by Minibakeriet and had "gløgg", and bought some Christmas decorations. 

We've seen maaany Christmas movies seen since November 10th, so here's a list from then till December 10th, the rest will be in the part II wrap-up:

The second weekend in December we stayed at my mother-in-law's place, and went Førde to do some Christmas shopping. A very cozy Xmas weekend with good food, Xmassy TV series like "Hjem til jul" and "Merry Happy Whatever" and movies, plus finding some new Christmas stuff and presents. 

The weekend after we didn't go anywhere, just celebrating Saint Lucy's Day with saffron buns and the movie "I'll Be Home for Christmas" on December 13th, a tradition we've had for years - buns and said movie that is!  
We were also out and about, having dinner at China Resturant Chen and just enjoying a weekend of more Christmas cheer :D 

On November 25th we saw Firewind and Queensrÿche live at Vulkan Arena in Oslo. Two awesome shows I'm so glad I got to see! 
Firewind kicked ass, and Gus G really sparked a guitar flame within me. Though I've been playing some, I've never really played anything else than what is on some songs and records, and though that require some talent, I want to get better, so much better, and Gus G is just amazing! I've been playing a lot more since I got home, reading tabs, studing YouTube videos, and might have put a snow white Jackson Warrior guitar on my wishlist for Christmas... But that's a story for another time ;) 
Anyway, seeing a band live always gives me renewed metal energy and an urge to check out and listen to a band more, so I've been kinda playing Firewind non stop since I got home from Oslo, and Gus G's solo album; Fearless. LOVE that album! Denis Ward from Pink Cream 69 and Unisonic on bass and vocals, how can you go wrong?

Firewind set list:
1. Ode to Leonidas
2. We Defy
3. Head Up High
4. Hands of Time
5. World on Fire
6. The Fire and The Fury
7. Mercenary Man
8. I Am the Anger
​9. Falling to Pieces

It was so great to see Queensrÿche live! I saw Geoff Tate's Operation: Mindcrime band live last year, so it was cool to see Queensrÿche with Todd LaTorre live as well. Such heavy metal perfection! OMG! We managed to get closer to the stage when they played, so sometime during the show, Todd pointed at me and winked - yay! I'm such a fangirl :D I think I winked back, hahaha, however that might have looked! :p
Anyway, epic set list and show by the Rÿche, and I'm so happy we got to go Oslo and witness progressive, power melodic metal! \m/

Queensrÿche set list:
1. Blood of the Levant
2. I Am I
3. NM 156
4. Man the Machine
5. Walk in the Shadows
6. Condition Hüman
7. Operation: Mindcrime
8. Queen of the Reich
9. Silent Lucidity
10. Jet City Woman
11. The Mission
12. Screaming in Digital
13. Take Hold of the Flame
14. Light-years
Encore:
15. Empire
16. Eyes of a Stranger

After the shows we went to check out the merch, and I got a slight fangirl attack when I saw Gus G himself standing there selling merch... It was kinda surreal, and after purchasing a Queensrÿche tee, I had my PayPal ready to buy Gus' Fearless record on vinyl. I had "Ozzy shakes" when showing him my phone to see the transaction, hahaha. But I managed to utter some sentences, got the vinyl signed, and got my picture taken with him. Such a cool, calm  and humble guy! So nice to have met him! I hope I get to see Firewind live again, and Gus' solo band too! :)
I'm so dreaming about getting a Gus G signature guitar some day. Those Star guitars are so freakin' awesome! And they sound sooo great! I need an active guitar for a more thick and heavy sound! Never too heavy, it's metal! \m/

On November 24th we went to Oslo to see Firewind and Queensrÿche live. We always make a "concert trip" into a cozy trip, the gig being the main event of course, but there's time for good food, some shopping and just having a great time getting a break from the eveyday life and routines. 
We had dinner at T.G.I. Friday's on Sunday, and I met my little brother which I haven't seen since my birthday in August. 

On Monday, November 25th, the actual day of the gigs, we did some shopping and went to a Christmas market, and of course to my fave vinyl store; Råkk & Rålls. I got some records; Heaven, Bonfire x2, Pauline Gillan Band and Samson. 

Ready to go home on Tuesday. A fun trip and great shows to look back on! Metal music is life, and it always gives me fuel and inspiration to keep going, to keep on rockin'! \m/