A Lazy Saturday

So on Thursday, I was free from classes and I went to Ikea with Bob. We bought some new dinner plates, and the cutest little glass pots to put all our spices in. We've been cooking with spices a lot lately, mostly because I got Bob an Asian cook book for Christmas, and those recipes ask for them. Here's a picture of what we got at Ikea, and how our spices are stored now (except they're in the cupboard now, we don't keep them on the dinner table, that'd be silly!)

Doesn't it look cute? I think it does. Now we just need a spice rack, because they don't look as cute in the cupboard because they can't be lined up in a single row. Anyway, below's a picture of the recipe in the cook book we tried Thursday, and how our version ended up looking, with the new dinner plates and mats. It was really yummy :D And dinner looks a lot more fancy served up like this, which makes it even betterer!

Yesterday, about ten minutes after I got home from class, it started snowing super hard, and in about an hour or so, everything was covered in a pretty thick layer of snow, and buses and trains were running very irregularly (we Dutch people apparently can't deal with snow, the whole country, especially public transport, goes off-balance when it snows). It looks really pretty now though, because the sun is shining. It creates a nice contrast with the spring flowers we have inside:

In the third picture you can see a small portion of the stream that's not frozen, with swimming ducks. It's a bit blurry because the zoom-function on my iPhone isn't that good :p

And that brings us to today! Today's Saturday, my favourite day of the week (reasons it beats Sunday: no class the next day, Bob doesn't have to go to work, you know you get to sleep in another day). Usually Saturday is also cleaning and laundry day, but we cleaned everything yesterday so today is a Lazy Saturday.

Which means that I don't have to go out into the cold, and I've got loads of time to do some studying, meanwhile browsing on the internet and caring for my Bakery. All with loads of tea. I've just started my second pot of tea, needless to say today includes a lot of bathroom breaks as well! Oh, and Saturday is also weighing-day, and I managed to lose 0.7 kg this week after all, despite the scale bullying me with higher numbers all week.

Well, I'm off to more tea and studying, enjoy your Saturday (or the prospect of tomorrow being Sunday)!

Frustration

Ugh, I'm starting to get really frustrated here :( I can't seem to lose weight this week, I've even gained half a kilo, even though I'm keeping to my diet. And even though I shouldn't be so impatient and just be happy that I've lost so much already, I can't help feeling frustrated about it. BLAH. Well, I'll just hope I'll lose some more by Saturday, as that's official weighing day. But I doubt it...

The almost February

In which snow was fallen, lessons were run, new friends were made and laundry was washed.


A warm winter it had been, relatively spoken of course. Temperatures well above zero, roads easily driveable due to lack of snow. Until one night, an almost February night, the night that everything changed. When she woke up - later than usual, and thanks to the message of her best friend, without whom she most certainly would have overslept - she noticed nothing out of the ordinary. She was lying in her warm bed in her cold apartment, her boyfriend still sleeping soundly next to her. Drowsily, she replied to the message she had received, and decided to take a look at the new facebook posts. "The first white streets of 2012 are a fact," someone had posted. She frowned. Could it be true? Scrolling further down, she came across more messages of this disturbing kind. Reluctantly she left the warm shelter of her blanket and planted her feet on the - thankfully carpeted - floor. Rising up, she slowly opened the curtains, letting in the icy light emanating from the outside world. She blinked once - twice - but the image did not change. For it was true, and she had not been deceived: as far as the eye could see, all was white. Sparkling with its icy cold, the snow glared at her, almost tauntingly. Resigned, she came to accept the fact that it was out of her hands. The snow had fallen.

Was she being punished? She asked herself. Only the night before she had survived an equally challenging task: she had run longer than ever before. The cold air filling up her lungs, the hot burn of muscle ache in her legs, and the ever cruel voice coming from her ear phones, telling her to hold on, just a little while longer. It had felt like an eternity, but she had managed to do it. And she had felt proud, afterwards, even glad she had done it.

After coming home that night, she had sought the comfort of her new friend. He was always there for her, the Pelgrim, his unwavering loyalty a quality she found comforting. He fought for her, he battled against the cold, working hard to keep it outside and shelter her in a warm apartment.

But of course, nothing is ever simple in this life. She had gotten too close to Pelgrim, and though he clearly had never meant to hurt her, he had. In his quest to keep her warm, he had taken his fight a little too far, and unconsciously he had burnt her backside, which now hurt.

They decided they had to keep a proper distance, and to comply with that agreement, she had moved the table at which she sat a lot, so she would sit at a further distance from Pelgrim. But they are still - and always will be - very good friends, even though they cannot get too close.


And alas, we have come to the end of this tragic story. We have arrived at this very moment, that she is sitting at her laptop, writing about her life in third person and greatly dramatifying it all. In the distance, the sound of the washing machine is heard. It is a most welcome sound in the otherwise silent apartment. Wistfully, she longs for warmer days, and for April, knowing that an incredible time will be had that month. For now, she bids you farewell, and wishes you a blissful day.

Exam tomorrow

This will be me, tomorrow, during my exam:

Seriously, I studied, and now I'm making this test-exam and I can't answer any of the questions.

Yay!

The most exciting post EVER!

5 days left until... new iPhone!
76 left until... fried time is ready to eat!

So first, running update! Ran lesson number 5, and it went very well! 22 minutes total: run 1, walk 1, run 2, walk 2, run 3, walk 3, run 3, walk 3, run 3, walk 3. We discovered a nice path with trees and stuff, so we don't have to run next to houses all the time. Will post a picture when I get my iPhone :) Yesterday I was babysitting (doesn't feel like the correct term seeing as both my sisters aren't really babies anymore) my sisters and we went running together, even though it was really cold. I really had to do that lesson tuesday, but my tuesdays are superbusy and I didn't feel up to it then so I moved it up a day! I'll have to figure out something permanent though, because running two days in a row is not appreciated by my tortured muscles. Well, apparently when you don't exercise for 18 years your muscles have trouble adjusting. Who would have thought?

Enough about exercising... Tomorrow I'm going to the movies. Two actually, first the Rum Diary with Bob and then The Artist with some friends. I like movies.

Okay, let's face it, I really don't have anything interesting to write here! I don't know how you manage to write a post almost every single day, Emelie. Oh, Bob and I finished watching all Big Bang Theory episodes and now we have to wait for new ones to come out :( Third world problems...

Well then. I'm all out of conversation topics. I'll try again on Saturday! Until then, my minions!

Woops

I completely forgot about this blog, teehee! Oh well, I remembered it now, so we're good, right? Unfortunately this will be a pictureless post, because my iPhone was stolen :(

-- And then I just remembered that I still have a 'real' camera, so I'm charging it now :)

So what's new in my life? Well, the best thing of course that I am currently in possession of a plane ticket to Sweden! Only 85 days left until the best weekend of my life. Some other good things that have happened recently:
- I bought a new dress today and it was only 3 euros and I think I look good in it
- I just found 10 euros in my camera case!
- Yesterday was my first running lesson (20 minutes) and I completed it without stopping, and even though I felt like I was dying I felt great afterward, and really prouuud! Going again tomorrow
- I love my boyfriend (that's not recent, but I wanted to add it)
- Lost over 10 kg already, awesomeness
- Feeling really happy in general!
- Got an 8/10 on a big project

Right now I'm waiting for Bob to come home from work, and then we'll have dinner and probably watch some Big Bang Theory episodes :) We're in the middle of season 3 now, so at least 2 more seasons left to watch! :D

That's it, as I said before no pictures, but I promise to try not to forget this blog again and write more often (WITH pictures!)

I defeated Google Maps!

Yes, I did. I was going home from uni today, but the bus I usually take would leave in 50 minutes, which is way too long a wait in this weather. So I decided to take another bus, one that doesn't stop really close to my house, because I'd rather walk 10 minutes through the cold than stand still in it for 50. Once arrived at the bus stop, I got off the bus and asked Google Maps how to get home. I'd walked to this bus stop a few times before, but today I decided to try and find a shorter route! It was quite the adventure.

Crappy bridge

Better bridge

At one point there was a very unstable-looking bridge, and I half expected I'd fall into the stream and have to walk the rest of the way with wet clothes and a ruined iPhone. But fear not, the bridge was more stable than it looked, and I survived, as well as my iPhone. Then there was another bridge, but that one looked much more stable, not as if someone had just lain a board across a stream.

Am I lost? :(

My saviour!

Anyway, after the second bridge there was only barren land with some houses being built, and for a moment I was afraid I was lost! But then I found a small path through the wilderness that led me to civilisation - or at least, the highway that I knew. I was saved! I knew where to go!

After I got home I played some with my iPad and really did nothing special. I'm off tomorrow, so my weekend has begun already! So I'm just going to enjoy being free - homework is done, no school, no work... Awesome!

One is for the girl on a diet, the other for her boyfriend...
Can you tell which is which?