Heres to New Beginnings

guess what?? it is finally summer!! the first couple of days after school ended it didn't feel like summer and the summer feeling hadn't really kicked in yet but I think it is started to slowly sink in now. so I started off my summer right with heading over to this cute café to have the annual end of school year lunch with my brother and mom. my mom suggested this place called "sting" which I had never heard of but was willing to try. I was open to the idea of eating out even though me being a vegan sometimes choices can be limited.. but I was open and didn't want to ruin our lunch. being that the place was called "sting" It sounded crunchy granola enough that I was sure there had to be at least one vegetarian dish on the menu.. one of my moms student works there and she herself is a vegetarian and has lots of tattoos and such so I was pretty convinced there had to be something on the menu for me. to my surprise when I looked at the menu the second dish on the menu was a "vegan falafel sandwich". AHHHH I was so thrilled and overly excited that I slapped my brothers arm so he could see what I was seeing, he made a sarcastic "OMG that is so great and totally awesome" sort of face which made me realize that I may have been over reacting a bit but nothing was going to steer me away from the sheer joy I was experiencing after seeing this dish on the menu. remember you have to enjoy the little things in life ;)

 

so that day was pretty golden and on Friday I went to the middle eastern market with my mom to get my celebratory jack fruit which wasn't there ;( so I got dragon fruit instead! I then headed down to the stables to ride punky and let my friend ride him. he was being particulary stubborn that day and it was confusing as to why that I might have been. I asked a lady who I ride with sometimes and has her own horse, Noah in the summer paddock aswell as to why she thinks he might be acting up. she said it was because of this new horse that joined the herd in the summer paddock just for the summer and she is a female in heat. so punky has a girlfriend!! he was very protective over her and claimed her as his own so when my friend and I rode him he was grumpy because he wanted to be with his girlfriend which he loves ;) and he didn't want the other male horses to get a chance with her. so after knowing this I couldn't help but stop being mad at him, instead I thought it was cute that he has a girlfriend now. when I went to go turn him out punky's girlfriend ran to the gate to great him with a kiss on the nose, she greeted me aswell as to ask for my approval :P I took pictures of them both and then punky gave me a look like "mom.. go away your embarrassing me". so I got the clue and said my goodbyes and headed home so I could get ready for a party. I went to an end of the year party at my friends house which was fun and filled with a lot of laughs ;) followed by a sleepover which consisted mostly of cleaning the house and getting a good hard and solid 8 and 1/2 hour sleep. on Saturday when we all woke up we decided to go swimming in the fjord, I know crazy right? but it was so refreshing that I felt more awake then I ever have been after  a sleepover. my mind was crystal clear and my energy was so high when my parents picked me up they were surprised themselves. when my parents picked me up with my brother we headed straight for Åmøy to spend the night there. we brought some freshly picked local strawberries which we bought the day before since it is a must in the summer when going to Åmøy. they were definitely strawberries with gold in them though, they were so expensive! 320 kr for 2 lbs (55 US dollars!!), but it is still quite early for the season so hopefully the price will go down over time..

 

when we got there we went on a walk down to the coast and across some leafy green farmer fields which were glowing by the gleaming sun. all the colours of nature have never been so clear as they were that day. I was really soaking in the rays of joy that summer gives that day. the walk was filled with some memorable laughs that my mom always achieves to bring whenever we are on a family outing. that afternoon after watching the movie "the odyssey' which I enjoyed watching since I had read the book earlier this year at school in English class, my dad and I wanted to pursue the moment so we decided to head out and take nickie out for a walk to watch the sunset at 10 pm. it turned out to be an eventful outing that I we were not expecting.. as I rounded the corner of the house whith my dog (nickie) I saw some sort of figure running down the road at full pace. at first glance I thought it was a dog but as it approached closer I realized it was a mini horse! (shetland pony) I didn't see a rider on it and after noticing the other horse galloping after it with a rider on top followed by a person running on the ground a few hundred meters back I realized it was a runaway horse! the person yelled to stop the horse. so me being the horse person put my hands out to slow down and stop the horse. I calmed him down so when the rider caught up she could take him. it was such a coincidence that me being a horse person who happens to know how to stop a running and panicked horse safely was there at that exact moment when a galloping horse was running down the road at 10 pm. the girl on the horse was overly appreciative and thankful. after my dad explained to them that I had a horse myself, they understood more fully as to how I was able to stop the horse. since they were surprised that just some random person could stop this galloping horse :P the morning after my brother and I had an epic badminton rally (30 hits back and forth!) , since it has been a tradition where we always play badminton at our cabin since we were little. after that I enjoyed some expensive Norwegian strawberries in the sun while reading my good book.

 

the next day on sunday I went to a BBQ with my friends at a beach to celebrate my friends Birhtday. it was fun and chill, we just sun tanned, ate some food, took pictures and swam in the water. when I got home I had another BBQ since my brother had a sleepover where they were grilling some food, so I decided to grill my water melon and mango which turned out simply decadent! I know it sounds weird to grill fruit on the barbeque but you should really try it and give it a go! 

 

quote of the day: “And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

 

bye bye for now and remember stay golden ;)