There is no place like home in Ula where I grew up. I grew up surrounded by beautiful nature on the sea side of Norway. We were always outside playing for hours when I was little, either we were fishing crabs, bathing, building cottages or playing games, it was always something to do.

I love that I was able to grow up close to the water, it really have effected my life later on. I tend to seek the water when I need a break or need to think. It is actually when you look back you realize how much this time and surroundings have affected you.

 My favorite season of all in my hometown was and are still summer time. Our little town, suddenly come to live again. From being a quiet place with approximately 250 people in the winter time, the population grow at least x 10. Everybody came to spend their summer holidays in their cabins, boats or at the camping. Everybody is just so happy and enjoying life. I love to see everybody this happy. We eat ice cream and strawberries everyday, going on spontaneous boat trips, BBQ every night, spending days at the beach reading books or hang out  with friends, life is just so easy.

When I was approximately 8 year old, my parents took over the marina by the pier in Ula. This is a little store and ice cream shop, and also a place where all boats came to fuel up there tanks. Ula Marina also function as a little connection point for everybody. Year after year, people are meeting here to talk about the past years happenings and to hang out. After being a part of my family’s business for the most of my life, Ula Marina has been a part of my child hoods as well. I have been spending hours on the marina, and in the later years I also worked here for my parents. I have probably sold thousands of ice creams and waffles.  

It was a job to be there selling waffles and ice cream, but I enjoy it. It was more to me than just a job. It was a process of working hard and strive to earn money to move on with other projects and plans when fall kicked in and Ula Marina closed down for the next season. I spent a lot of time thinking and dreaming of what I could do in the hours working there. By learning the value of hard work and also taking on more responsible you grew as a person.

At the marina I have met so many amazing people and friends that I will keep forever. And I remember when I was younger that every season when the same people came, you told them about your past year as well as your plan for next year. I think most of them chock their coffee when then little ice cream girl from Ula, was heading for Sydney and then New York. It is quite a contrast to be honest.  Everybody loved it and have to laugh about it too, because it is a little funny to think about.

Now, I am one of the persons that are coming home to Ula every summer. I am not the one waiting for the people to arrive for the season, I am actually one of them arriving. This year it will be quite different, because when I am coming home now I really do not know for how long, I guess everything depends on how things turn out with Miss Norway. But I am very excited to come back home to Norway and stay for a little. After a long time gone, I do miss the peace in Ula.  I have so many projects coming up with my sponsors and my work, and of course Ula Marina are one of them, so I am really looking forward to that.

I can’t wait to enjoy an ice cream by the pier and catch up with familiar faces from last year again at Ula Marina.

Love,

R

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Sofies Brudesalong ble stiftet av Ia Kristensen i 2016 i Kirkeveien 50 på Majorstuen. Denne businessen startet hun opp helt alene og har drevet selvstendig siden.
Det er en varm familiefølelse av en som vil hjelpe deg med å gjøre dagen din til det beste den kan være for at du skal få din eventyrlige dag som brud.
Sofies Brudesalong har kjoler fra verden rundt og tilbyr kjoler og designs som ellers ikke finnes i Norge. 
Jeg fikk være med å jobbe i butikken for en dag og se hvordan butikken blir drevet og hvordan klientellet blir behandlet.
Det som gjør denne butikken noe helt eget er at kunden blir alltid høyt prioritert og prisene vil alltid være rimeligere enn det du finner i andre salonger. Fokuset til denne butikken er å ha et godt omdømme og en lykkelig brud. 
52 nye kjoler kommer inn nå til sommeren - 2019 kolleksjonen!
Jeg er veldig stolt av å kunne stille som modell for denne Brudesalongen.
Kjenner du noen som er på utkikk etter kjole så kan du booke en time eller ta kontakt via hjemmesiden deres:
http://sofiesbrudesalong.no/

So its been a lot of impressions and a lot of sad stories about my Africa trip.

However, we did try to enjoy a little bit of the beauty of Africa and the people that lives there.

One of the guys who have been working with us on several projects is also in the fashion industry. So everybody here decided that Emily and I needed to get African dresses. So Him and his friend took us fabric shopping at the local market. It was so amazing to see all the colors and patterns they had. The dresses turned out amazing and I will show you guys pictures later on.

They also wanted to show us an amazing view at a place called Hill Camp. On the way in the tuk-tuk we passed Lake Victoria, which is the second largest lake in the world. They told us about the hippohoptimus that lived there and that you could see them. We were like WO.And a few minutes later we were on the way to Lake Victoria for hippopotamus safari!! It was amazing. Emily and I acted like we were 10 and we couldn't believe our eyes when we saw 5 hippos swimming around. It was an incredible experience.
After the hippo safari we went to Hill Camp. We first met some local people that were fishing and spent some time with them. Then we watched the sunset over lake Victoria, it was so beautiful. After that we walked though the country side and stopped by a local beach area where the young people where hanging out. It was like a African beach party. We only stoped by for a second before we had to ride motorbikes home. What an experience!
We had a great time.

We also took a 2-day trip on Safari! It something I feel you just have to do when you are there. And since we spent most of our days working on projects, it was nice to get a break and see the beautiful national park. I guess the pictures says more than words. Look for your self:

Time just flew away the past weeks.  Finally, I am out of the jetlag and it has been good to et back to a normal routine more or less. It is crazy how much work builds up after a few weeks away. Still catching up a little but getting there.

The main project the past week was to finish up the video, and make it as good as possible. I wanted to incorporate video from both Kenya, Norway and New York, so we could not finish it before I had all the content. I am so lucky that I know so many people with amazing video and creative editing skills to make this go. Globalization makes it possible for us to work together regardless of continents.

It was such a fun experience. We had so much fun filming, planning out fit and find the perfect locations. However I am very happy with the result! Now a shout out to the people who helped me create this:

Allegra Ream, my producer, photographer, mentor and best friend, you put together the whole video and was the main person organizing this. Thank you, this video would have been impossible without you. You are amazing!

Vibeke Grytbak, you were in charge of the creative editing and filming in New York, thank you for your amazing work!

Emily Rose Grazier, Chelsey Malm, Emily West, Julie Tronhus and Jensen Mean, for assisting in make-up , hair, styling and other things throughout the video.

So here is the result, my video presentation for Miss Norway 2018. I really hope you like it. Fingers crossed that it will take us to the finally in Miss Norway 2018.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuGkuL9dCn8

So many fun projects coming up soon, excited to share with you!

Love,

Rebecca 

Photo: Fredrick Vang

Da er det klart for min presentasjonsvideo! 

Jeg tenkte også å fortelle litt om hvordan den ble satt sammen, og de viktigste punktene for meg. De som kjenner meg vet at jeg er kreativ og vil veldig gjerne lære og gjøre ting selv - slik som denne videoen.

Jeg fikk i tillegg hjelp av mennesker som kjenner meg veldig godt, og sammen fikk vi til noe veldig bra. Samtidig var det viktig for meg at man kan se at det er mitt helt eget preg på videoen - locations, musikk, stil... Jeg følte også hele tiden at det ble en mye mer personlig video når de som kjenner meg også er de som hjelper til bak kamera - alt er ekte. 

En veldig interessant ting er forresten at denne kjolen er 38 år gammel, og var min oldemors... I tillegg får dere selvfølgelig høre om det viktigste for meg - hjertesaken min. 

Jeg har også pratet med Kari Bremnes angående musikken, og er så glad for at hun syntes jeg kunne bruke den utrolig fine sangen hennes.