The gentle wind of spring is shaking up the trees a bit, and the sun is persistently trying to break through.

In the twilight I perused the kitchen to find what it was I longed for.

A bit of blueberry jam and an old basic Norwegian pancake recipe from my beloved mother’s elementary school cookbook.

I’d already had dinner and could not fit in any more food, no matter how delicious, so I set it all up in the kitchen waiting for a new day to begin…

These last days have been so inspiring,

Yesterday, after a sweet french-inspired lunch down town Oslo and before a lecture at my university about the legal aspect of european witch hunt between 1450 to 1750, I took some time to peruse smaller streets that are off the beaten track.

I do this  a lot, when I have time or make time to explore new and old parts of my Oslo.

One little gem of a shop drew me in with its window display of fish bones in a glass domes,  dusty old books, vintage frames with missing paintings, rusty fencing masks and hauntingly beautiful darker paintings that graced history-filled walls.

If you had been driving or walking too fast you would have missed it, but with my meandering pace it was impossible not to be completely spellbound by it.

If in Oslo, this would be the address;

Uranienborgveien 7, Oslo,

(just down the street from my very first apartment in Oslo at the age of 17)

 but luckily the very inspiring owner, her work and shop is also online over here.

I love bumping into people that fuel my creativity, inspire me to believe in my own voice and to never give up.

Next week I’m taking my beloved mother there before our mussel lunch at this history-filled place, which happens to be one of my favorite places to go and enjoy a delicious lunch.

Do you have a favorite restaurant or cafe that lift your spirit just by entering it?

But even if I love traveling, discovering and eating out, there really is nothing like eating in at home, creating exactly what you were yearning for and waiting for the smell of delicious food to spread like a soft breeze in the kitchen.

These blueberry pancakes for sure lifted the fog in my kitchen.

Wishing you a lovely day, and remember spring is just around the corner!

One, Milano was “covered” in snow. And like so many Milanese, I had never seen it dressed in white, and it felt so much colder than the winter dressed Norway I left behind. Two, I witnessed an Italian throw away delicious and of so beautifully packaged gourmet food…

The latter may or may not have had something to do with the fact that I tried to “smuggle” perfectly beautiful drop shaped capers, and oh-so-delicious fig jam packaged in gorgeous jars in my winter coat pockets through security at the airport….

But like a middle aged Italian gentleman behind me in line said; You have to try, I mean look at the great food you selected, you simply have to try;)

Yes, thank you!

It think it’s perfectly acceptable to try to smuggle such delights through security in my camel colored winter coat:)

Having said all that, the security guard had a hard time throwing it away, and kept looking back at the three well dressed italian police officers that watched him carefully.

So, with a heavy heart I gathered my things and drowned my food related tears in an airport focaccia and a cappuccino.

But before I dried my food related tears, I spent lovely days perusing the cold winter streets of Milano, and today I though it was about time we took a little weekend stroll together after having seen the Duomo here, and Galleria Vittorio Emanule here.

Milano has a perfect afternoon wander size.

It’s not so big you feel like you never know where you are, yet it’s big enough that you can spend Sunday after Sunday enjoying afternoon wanders exploring new areas each week.

And after having wandered these Milanese streets in the afternoon sun I found my castle, my “home” away from home

Tucked away inside this castle is an outdoor dim-lit room that is home to an overgrown fountain. The walls surrounding it is covered in ivy, and this is my little private place in this bustling city where I could be all to myself as no one hardly ever goes there.

I’ve only shared this secret place with one other person so I still call it “my” place.

It was unfortunately locked when I visited last, so Castello Sforzesco itself will have to do;)

]]> http://www.mmforsberg.com/blog/2012/02/19/afternoon-wander-through-the-streets-of-milano-and-a-castle/feed/ 3 http://www.mmforsberg.com/blog/2012/02/13/a-late-continental-breakfast-with-honey-and-jam/ http://www.mmforsberg.com/blog/2012/02/13/a-late-continental-breakfast-with-honey-and-jam/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:30:24 +0000 Marte Marie http://www.mmforsberg.com/blog/?p=9706 Continue reading →]]> After a week of Milanese breakfasts, that are very good indeed but rather hastily enjoyed, I was in need of a more sit-down-and-enjoy-slowly-with boiled-eggs kind of breakfast, let’s call it more of a hotel continental style breakfast.

I while back I styled this series, but I only showed you a few photos , so I though we’d catch a break from wandering through the streets of Milano and sit down to for a hotel like treat at home.

There really is nothing like treating yourself to a “hotel”breakfast to get the week going on the right foot;)

Boil some eggs, freshly baked bread or from your local bakery, delicious and salty butter, homemade jam from the garden, a cup of tea and a teapot.

Set the table or tray, if you wish to enjoy it in bed, with your favorite table cloth, bring out the china, silver and perhaps a vase with fresh flowers in, et voila, the rustic hotel setting is complete!

 I love new beginnings, new days, weeks, months and years, it feel like a clean table cloth, unstained by previous jam spills or tea pot staines from a clumsy move to get to the delicious goat cheese to hastily. I need these new beginnings, I need to know I can start fresh and turn my gaze in any direction I want.

Some people claim we as humans cannot change, but I don’t agree.

I’ve seen it in my life and in people around me. When we change, I don’t think our core chnages and we become someone else, we just learn to channel what is in us out differently. We learn to see the world, people or situations differently and that changes how we react or feel.

Changing does not mean becoming someone else, it means, in my eyes, to fine-tune and make the best of what we have and where we are going.

It means that we are not limited by what we’ve done or who we are right now, we can learn one step at the time to change how we see things and that will lead to changes in our hearts that changes our behavior, outlook and possibilities.

We stay the same, I will still be me, just a better version, and that’s pretty incredible, non?

Just a bit of fine-tuning, really;)

Sometimes, when I feel that I cannot do any better right now, all I need is a treat, a little break and reminder that we cannot eat the whole cake at once, or change everything all at the same time, one step at the time, one cake slice at the time.

So when we feel we cannot do any better right now, let’s treat ourselves to a little hotel-like breakfast and enjoy knowing that we can, and will, after this sweet cup of raspberry tea and a slice of homemade bread;)

The first time I spotted it across the big piazza in front after having peaked my head up from the metro, it greeted me wrapped in a cold fog in the middle of January years ago.

It was love at first sight and it’s the kind of love I stay faithful to year after year.

I peruse it’s premises, enjoy getting a birds eye of the city underneath from it’s roof, and I spend peaceful time inside it’s embrace gazing at art, architecture and inhale it’s dusty incense.

The first thing I do when I visit Milano is paying it a visit and it never disappoints.

This last visit was no exception.

However I’m not going ot take you inside this time, I’ll let you enjoy it from a differet angle, from the museum of modern art.

My beautiful friend who lives in Milano introduced me to the modern museum that just opened it’s newly renovated doors opposite the majestic Duomo. And after having enjoyed perused the modern art scene it was time for a cup of hot chocolate and cake in it’s prime location cafe.

We, talked about life, about authenticity and about the surprise she had for me that evening!

I absolutely love surprises, I love the unexpected, and my heart was beating faster with anticipation as she advised me to dress semi formal for the event that evening, but lips were sealed.

Now, when we talked about authenticity and life we brushed up against the “reality” of our online presence.

And I promised myself I’d say a thing or two about it here while we enjoy the view of the Duomo.

In this remarkable online time, I feel it’s important to point out that although all I show you here in the blog is real, authentic and my actual life and creative journey, I hope you realize that there are many aspects to this life that does not show up on my online presence.

I think it can be easy to believe that someones online existence is the “true” picture of their “real” flesh and blood life.

I’ve heard some mention that they wish they had his or her life (online life), and I hope you are aware that even if I’m very happy and content with my life, that we all have battles to fight. That every life has stormy seasons that can be less that glorious sometimes.

That behind a sunny summer photo of a beach picnic there might be tears, and that the picnic was after days of rain.

I hope that we can inspire each other through our work and lives with this unique online presence, but that we always keep in mind that these lives are edited.

I don’t show you the days where shaving my legs was my most productive and only act of “labour” that day, and although it may appear in a post it might be summed up in a sentence where a metaphor about rain or storm is used because these are private and somewhat raw moments that I reserve from the public.

I often get emails, comments and during interviews asking how I can travel so much.

I’ve been very fortunate to be able to enjoy the company of dear friends on the road, visit their homes, travel abroad as that is a dear passion of mine, and since I  have lived in various parts of the world many of these beautiful destinations have been in my backyard.

Through studies abroad, work and leisure, I’ve traveled much to please my bohemian and adventurous spirit.

I hope we can continue to share and be inspired by each other, but that we always keep in mind that we are all humans and that our days are filled with seasons and climate change even if the sun may be shining on the blog;)

And that the end of the day, no matter how inspired we are by others, I hope we find that it is our own backyard that makes us feel the most content, that we are happy with who we are and where we are.

Life is truly a creative journey and if we find that we are not content let’s seize this new year to leap a bit, to take a step in the direction of our dreams, because as Oscar Wilde quite strongly put it:

“Those who live within their means suffer from a lack of imagination.”

I hope we can all feel that we have something to contribute with in this world, and that we seize with talking down at ourselves comparing ourselves with others. Let’s be inspired, motivated and learn form each other, but I hope we can all feel in our hearts that there is a place for us, for our voice.

And if we cannot find that place, let’s create one!

No matter where we are or what we’ve done, there’s always a tomorrow that has not yet been written and that tomorrow is our blank page of possibilities;)

I just got home form my recent trip to Milano, and I had such a wonderful time!

The highlight was to visit a dear friend who spoiled me the entire time I was there.

On one of the evenings a sweet little dream came true as she took me to one of the most beautiful places I can imagine.

But more on that later;)

First off, let me take you to another stunning place.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

It was built between 1865-1877, and even though it’s a famed tourist attraction, I love this building, and i’ve been mesmerized by it ever since I first laid my eyes on it many years ago.

I love how the light plays with the sculptures and decoration through the glass dome and the big arch entrances.

Like the city’s majestic Duomo, which I’ll tell you about next, I always pay these two places a visit when I find myself in Milano.

It’s just so majestic and aw-inspiring, and I love that this is not museum but a living place, it’s a shopping mall!

For me, walking through, regardless of the amount of tourists or locals, I feel so inspired, humbled by it’s beauty and I feel alive.

It’s hard to describe, but I love how the sun has a love affair with this building, playing with it’s glass windows, marbles floor, arches and dome.

Every day, no matter the weather, the sun flirts through clouds, fog, snow or through clear blue sky.

I never really pay any attention to the great shops that call this place home, I may people watch from time to time, but it’s heard for anything really to compete with this building so it always has my complete attention.

To me, walking through this majestic shopping-mall on my way to La Scala or the Duomo,  it truly is the gateway to this Italian city.

It’s quite lovely how a building can inspire and make a person so incredibly happy just by walking through it. I don’t even stop to have a cup of hot chocolate at the charming cafes within it’s embrace.

There are so many other fantastic places for that, no, I just wander, slowly and gaze and let all it’s beauty recharge my inner creative batteries.

And the view?

Well, just peak through one of the arches and the increabide Duomo will wink at you teasing you to pay it a visit.

Of course I’m completely helpless to such an invitation and smile coyly as I try not to skip and hop as I approach it’s massive oak doors.

Next up, let’s look at the Duomo and have a little drink shall we?

Made from unbleached cotton it’s a quiet yet fun addition to your summer wardrobe, and when it comes to travel, this little gem is a must;)

With elastic bands at the waist it adjusts to how I feel that day, and shows a little leg if I want it to;)

 Pull it up on hot days to exentuate the waits or pull it down for a low-rise belt effect on cloudy days.

Curl it up in a ball, stow away and pack it with you on your next trip.

Wash in a hotel sink in Rome and dry it from a train window through Switzerland, this little skirt will soon become your long lost friend;)

Oh, and did I mention you can dance the night away in it too?

But now I have a question for you.

What do you think of this collar?

Handmade crochet lace collar in white cotton.

Would you wear it?

If you want to be on the list for this skirt sign up by emailing me at:

forsberg[dot]marie[at]gmail[dot]com

Now I’m off to Milano and promise to send some baci your way;)

Do you have a favorite place in Milano?

I know for sure I’ll be heading to my favorite book store in Corso Como 10 and pick up a magazine that this beautiful lady introduced me to.

And if time allows I’d love to bring one of my very dear friends there to this great place that I’ve featured on my blog.

Have a great weekend and see you when I get back in some days!

It finally here!

This is the beginning of the little spring/summer 2012.

I’m off to Milano on Friday to begin the hunt for fabric for the upcoming summer dresses for you, but here is the Paris wrap skirt and the Paris jacket.

I hope you enjoy!

It’s been so much fun creating these little pieces made from this beautiful and strong linen and cotton fabric.

The wrap skirt is a favorite travel companion as it adjusts at the waist and it pairs well with everything I have.

With a little T it looks relaxed and casual, but as soon as I add a shirt or blouse it’s dressed up in seconds.

For those of you who signed up to get your hands on the first batch of the Paris wrap skirt, I’ll email you within the next few days.

For those of you who want to sign up for the second batch of the Paris wrap skirt and to be on the list for the Paris jacket email me at:

forsberg[dot]marie[at]gmail[dot]com

The yellow and orange Oslo necklace are a part of the upcoming citrus necklace collection that will be in the shop at the end of February.

I though you might need just a little dash of color;)

Oh, and next up is the flirty Valetta skirt in unbleached cotton so stay tuned!

]]> http://www.mmforsberg.com/blog/2012/02/01/introducing-the-paris-skirt-and-jacket/feed/ 1 http://www.mmforsberg.com/blog/2012/01/30/a-sunny-lake-friends-and-nature/ http://www.mmforsberg.com/blog/2012/01/30/a-sunny-lake-friends-and-nature/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:09:47 +0000 Marte Marie http://www.mmforsberg.com/blog/?p=9554 Continue reading →]]>

 After a long walk outside in the cold winter-landscape yesterday, I felt my body yearn for the sun and warmer days.

It yearned for birds to sing cheerful songs of spring and for the wind to be gentle on my skin.

I listened to the snow squeak underneath my boots, and even if this season dresses nature in it’s most beautiful white, I feel the need of some color.

Last October while on a visit to Utah, dear Ann and CJ whisked me away from the world and tucked me away in their cabin in the mountains.

 The sun was warm, the landscape golden and afternoon wanders and conversations warmed the heart.

I promised I’d show you more from my trip to Utah, but before I knew it, it was a new year, so lets rewind a bit and head back to 2011.

Evenings and nights at their cabin were spent talking, cooking, making delicious and oh so decadent smores in front of the fireplace.

It was the perfect getaway from the world.

The vast landscape was tinted in yellow and orange.

Fields, hills and mountains as far as the eye could see. It was perfect!

Friends are family you choose. They are strangers that open up your heart and before you know it become people you don’t want to live without.

Friends speak with heart.

They speak with tenderness and love.

They speak their minds and of wonderful days to come.

They speak truth and logic to moments colored by a chaotic dreams, and they speak uplifting words when the curtains to your soul have been closed.

I’ll confess I never used to be a nature girl.

I grew up walking barefoot in the summer at our mountain cabin, playing alone in the forest behind our house as a child and hiking the mountains as a teenager, but then I grew wings left the nest and started exploring cities.

Big cities, like Paris, Tokyo and Milan. They became brief homes, and I was and is trapped in their spell, although their magic on me has changed a bit.

I still absolutely love wandering the cobble stoned streets of Rome, writing postcards from charming cafes in Paris, and biking around Tokyo with nothing but an adventurous heart and a whole day in front of me, but my heart and soul have rediscovered nature, and there simply is no going back.

If I’m not outside one day it’s like I cannot breathe!

The city may make my heart pound faster with excitement and delight, but nature puts my fast paced heart at peace, and that is priceless;)

Now this year I’ll spend more time in cities than I have in a while.

I’m off to Milano at the end of the week, then Paris and then I’m spending one whole months in Rome this spring, so to store up on that peace only nature can offer I spend as much time as I can outside, walking , skiing and meandering.

And I cannot wait for it to get warmer, for the days to be longer and for some color to be reintroduced to the this white landscape.

Even if I try to be content with whats now, I’m 100% over-eager for spring to arrive!

Thank you all for participating in the Swarovski necklace giveaway!

I’m so happy to find out which necklaces you liked the most and why.

The randome winner of this giveaway chose my favorite, the Swarovski Monterey necklace.

A while ago, I received an email from a bride to be who wanted some necklaces for her bridesmaids.

When I sat down at the drawing table to design a simple wedding piece for the bridesmaids, the natural Monterey necklace came about.

Some months later I thought of the bride and how I’d love to bring a little frosting to her neckline, just a little amount of sparkle, and that’s how the Swarovski necklaces were born.

With or without a wedding to go to, these pieces are just for you, that quiet little extra that will put a happy smile on our face;)

The winner, that was randomly picked out from all your lovely comments is…

(Erin Kate, would you email me your address so I can send this little gem your way;)

Thanks again you all for participating!

If you still drool over one of the Swarovski pieces, head on over to the shop to pick one up for yourself.

What exciting days!

I feel like I was trotting along in a perfectly comfortable tempo for some weeks and then all of a sudden someone hit the supersonic button, and my legs now run as drum-sticks!

I’m not a fan over supersonic speed, I love my afternoon wanders, my tea sipping , book reading and pensive moments, but how can I say no, when it’s all so very exiting?

I guess that’s the problem, how to say no, especially when all you want is to say yes!

So I’ve signed up for a bit of a mouthful these days, hoping I’ll learn to paddle and run faster than I can.

And then hopefully it will all return to my comfortable trot, where days are felt and not just rushed through.

But since this is my now, I’m embracing it with all I am.

Two types of skirts and the Paris jacket arrived from my tailors yesterday.

It was so much fun seeing it done.

You know, you hold this fabric in your hands and feel it between your fingertips wondering how it will drape, how it will fold and how it will move.

When that finished product is in your hands and you see that it worked the way you envisioned, it’s such a thrill!

I love that part of creating.

Envisioning something and getting just what you had in mind.

I can assure you that does not always happen;)

Above is a peak at the Paris warp skirt with the black Oslo necklace nr one.

Now, back to the studio I go to style and shoot, make food and style and shoot again.

It’s quite a wonderful circle really, one I never tire of.

PS: And don’t forget to sign up for the Swarovski necklace giveaway, it ends Friday the 28th at midnight!