Tuesday 31 August 2010

Day 12

Really sad that the long weekend is over. Have no motivation whatsoever. I did all the studying I was supposed to be doing today (which was a lot). But didn't manage to get my ass out the door and go running. Which was a shame as the weather is really lovely. It's sunny and cold. Really cold. But it smells and feels like autumn. I like autumn. Hopefully will get a full blown golden September. Figured I will go running tomorrow. When it's probably raining cats and dogs. Oh well, will deal with that tomorrow.

Otherwise all is well. Healthy eating still growing strong. Had nice cereal for breakfast, mushroom soup for lunch, then some fruit and smoothie. Waiting for bf to come home as I'm starving and want to have dinner. Apparently he needs to stay for at least another hour. Might have to fix dinner and eat by myself. Drinking some smoothie to carry me over, but I really want food. Can't think of anything else but food. Probably because I finished studying, now am bored and too lazy to find something else to do. I might dig out another movie. Hopefully more to say tomorrow.

Monday 30 August 2010

Day 11

Had a relaxing day today. Went grocery shopping in the morning. Was all nice and sunny though kinda cool. The leaves are starting to turn. Fall is approaching fast over here.

When we got back I had a yummy muesli muffin and watched 'My neighbour Totoro'. What a cute movie! I thought the end was a little bit open and sad, but I loved Totoro. Wanna grow my own magic trees now. I was still in a movie mood after that, so put in 'Lost in Translation'. I love that movie. Really don't know why, but it makes me feel really good. Had some nice tea with that.

Another good thing today. Putting out 2666 in front of my eyes actually made me wanna read it. So I started today. The beginning was a little bit boring, and as I was just about to put it away something interesting started to happen. I was sniffing a love triangle coming up. Now I already read the first 40 pages (which is not a lot, 800 more to go, it's a big book). Really enjoying it. The first pages were all about literary theory this and authors doing that. Boring. But as soon as the first female character was introduced drama is coming up! Yay. Very excited about where this will take me. We shall see...

Sunday 29 August 2010

Day 10

Day started out really good. Had a nice cinnamon and raising bagel. Went out for a run. That makes it three runs in a week. One more than I have too. Maybe I can get the momentum going next week. Though I have to say I didn't particularly enjoy this third one. Maybe I cut down to two, just to keep the enjoyment up and hopefully be able to carry this through to the winter.

Otherwise haven't left the apartment. Just watched a movie. Might pop in another one in a second. Really nothing going on. Enjoying the lazy life. We might go out for tea tomorrow. Let's see how that turns out. The weather is just changing like crazy back and forth. One minute it's sunny, then it pours. Maybe we'll find a nice rain-free time tomorrow to hop to the café, sit through the rain and then come back after the next shower. These things want to be planned. Anyway, one more day of weekend bliss.

Saturday 28 August 2010

Day 9

I love weekends! Had a really lovely day today. I slept in, then had yummy bagel for breakfast and some tea. Lurked on the internet for a bit. We headed out around noon and went to see 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'. It was a great movie! Very different than I thought it would be. They had lots of funny effects in the movie. Made it similar to comics and some really fun video game references.

After that we headed over to St. Pancras to the Champagne Bar. We sat right next to the Eurostar that was about to leave for France. One of these days I wanna be on it too, but not today. We had a great afternoon tea and ordered a selection of seasonal champagnes. Once for each season, the spring one was pink, the summer one white and very fresh, the ones for winter and fall were a bit yellowish, one very dry the other a bit peachy. For the tea we got some sandwiches, scones (love the clotted cream on them) and cake. Was all very tasty. So glad we only ordered for one person as there was plenty to share and I was stuffed at the end. I guess it's all the cream. The one for the tea even came heated! Never had that before.

Went for a stroll through the station. Foyles had some great books but I was strong and didn't buy any. We went to Pink and bf picked up some suit stuff. Just small things, before he paid I told him it was ok to put it into my purse, but he refused and said no problem I just take a bag. I let him find out first hand, that a store called Pink actually did have pink bags with ridiculously looking ribbons and stuff on it. So he kindly refused and put it in my purse after all. Would have been fun to see him walk around with such a girly little bag. But I was nice.
Headed home after that. Bf now making spaghetti for dinner while I'm hanging out and reading. Maybe gonna have a beer later. Two more days off. Feels like forever. Did I mention I love long weekends!

Friday 27 August 2010

Day 8

Still being a good girl. Went running today ~3km. Felt good. I tried to do it as early as possible in order to avoid the rain. I got lucky and didn't get wet at all (if we don't count sweating). Felt good to go running out in the cooler weather. I did take a scarf. Should have waited though. The weather got better this afternoon and I can see sun peaking out through the clouds. Ah well, did my run and feel good. Might squeeze in a third one over the weekend but no pressure.

Haven't stepped on the scale again since starting this while thing, but hoping it will be down on Sunday. Maybe I will do a weight-in day once a week. Though I hate doing that. It's so much pressure. On the other hand I want to monitor how things are going. With something more precise than my clothing. We'll see. But don't think I will post any numbers. Eyes only.

Have to stock up on fruits over the weekend. Ate through almost all of the ones I have here. Very good effort on my part. Also gonna see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World tomorrow. If we are not too lazy and make it out of the house. But I really wanna see it and go get some coke and popcorn and have the whole movie theater experience. The theater is actually only a ten minute walk away. Should really make it.

Studying was good too. The whole week I did exactly what I planned. Monday is a bank holiday and I scheduled that in. No studying over the weekend though. Oh, bf finally got a kinda definite date for going to Singapore. In about a week, only going a week and then going straight to India. Lucky him. So he will only be gone three weeks instead of six. Good for me!

I just got down with a book I read and now can't decide what to read next. I have a couple of hugs books which I never take with me on any commute because they are bulky and heavy, so thinking now would be the perfect time to read them. But for some reason they are not 'speaking' to me at the moment. I'm sure they will eventually at a time when I have absolutely no time to read them at home. For some reason the really small books are the ones I really wanna read now (a couple of James Bond are staring me in the face right now). Wish my reading cravings would be more convenient and coincide with the correct situation. Put Roberto Bolaños's 2666 right on the bed to water up my appetite. Not happening so far. How can I trick my mind into really wanting to read it right now? Also have the pillars of the earth here, but I read the first chapter a while back and it really turned me off.

Gonna go get into a staring contest with the book now. Hope I will stay good and get to write here tomorrow and not give into weekend lazyness. Have a great bank holiday weekend (for those of you from the UK).

Thursday 26 August 2010

Day 7

This will be a quickie. Absolutely nothing happened today. It rained all day (still is) and it is cold. Decided not to go for a run as my throat still hurts. Did all the studying I wanted to do today. Then I just watched TV. Friends is on now. Never can watch too much Friends. Gonna make some tea now, and sit down with my book, or Friends. Or both. So flexible. I guess I really should get out of the house. Maybe tomorrow. Till then...

Wednesday 25 August 2010

Day 6

Nothing exciting to report. Everything is still going well. Had healthy food and did tons of studying. Even had time for a Gilmore Girls break. Getting too obsessed with it, tomorrow I should think of something else to watch during break. Maybe West Wing.

I was planning to go outside for a walk today, maybe pick up some groceries. But it's raining, more like pouring since lunch. And it's gotten cooler. Nice. Decided not to go for a walk. Have been drinking tons of tea instead and enjoying the sound of rain on my windowsill. Makes me want to have some chocolate. Too bad none in the house. Maybe will pick some up tomorrow. Rich dark chocolate. Hmm, can taste it melting in my mouth. Right, change of topic.

Bf is staying out tonight. Some kind of free drinking event. Nothing to be said no to. He's probably gonna be bursting in here at 1am, drunk and happy. He's a noisy drunk, there'll be plenty of stories and singing. Since I don't have to get up early it will be fun. Looking forward to it.

Might watch a movie tonight. Since I'm all alone I can put up one of the Japanese movies (with subs obviously) and won't annoy boyfriend. Usually crank up the volume quite a bit desperately trying to understand at least one or two words every couple of minutes. Other than です.

Now I'm going to enjoy some hot lime (don't have any lemon) because my throat hurts a little bit and the weather just calls for it. Gonna snuggle up with a good book and enjoy ... silence.

Replace the lemon with a slice of lime and you get the idea...

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Day 5

I can happily report that the TV is gone. Thank you council for taking away our garbage for free (well, I guess it is covered by council tax). I was a bit worried that we missed our collection time, but luckily all gone. Just have to throw out the remote.

Went for a 3.4km run today. Felt really good. Though my legs felt heavy when I got home. But I started stretching and my breathing was back to normal after a few minutes. Definitely getting used to working out. I always have to wait a bit to hit the shower after running as it takes me a long time to stop sweating. Sweating is healthy and all but I do find it strange that it just doesn't stop for half an hour. Another thing I noticed I get really cold after running. Not immediately. About an hour after my feet get really cold and that creeps to the rest of my body. That's just so strange because usually I'm always too hot. Especially my feet and hands tend to be really warm, but after running they are like ice! Isn't circulation supposed to improve with working-out. Wouldn't that mean that they are supposed to stay nice and warm? Well, I got out my nice fluffy winter socks, made some tea and warmed up.

Since I got my study books yesterday I made a four week plan on preparing for uni and catching up on Japanese. In my last lesson my teacher mentioned that now we should know everything from 'Japanese for Busy People I'. Gosh, I was shocked! I hadn't looked into it once despite me having purchased it with my first lesson two years ago (already two years, crazy). We do use study material independent of the book, just loosely based on the lessons.  I slacked the last year and all the things I know, I don't know by heart. It's more like I have heard of them when somebody mentions them. Since I don't want to repeat the class I should really catch up. In the next four weeks I'm planning to work through the Japanese book, a publishing law book, and a book on how to get a job in the industry. Made a nice timetable and filled it in with many chapters. Despite not having been particularly motivated to do any studying I pulled out my nice schedule and started around noon. Managed to get everything done that I planned for today. Was easier than I thought and I enjoyed getting back into the language and learning about something new. I think this is going to work!

No running tomorrow. It's rest day. Will just do the studying and maybe some grocery shopping in order to get out of the house. Or a nice walk? It's not really walking weather. Sometimes it's raining, then it's windy, then it's cold, then it gets warmer. Changing quickly, always a surprise.

Leaving you with motivated thoughts. Already looking forward to studying tomorrow and running the day after. Life is great without work!

Monday 23 August 2010

Day 4

Start of the week. Healthy living still going on. Though I have to admit I had an ice-cream yesterday. Twas delicious! Didn't go running today but will go tomorrow and I'm actually looking forward to it! Turning into a strange person I don't recognise anymore!

The day started very excitingly as I was laying in bed drifting in and out of sleep and I suddenly remembered that I had called the garbage people and our TV was supposed to be on the sidewalk by 6am. I had heard the alarm earlier (which goes off at 6.30am) so I bolted upright and basically leapt out of bed into a pair of shoes and a cardigan yelling at poor bf. I don't think it was very coherent what I said there as I got weird (almost scared looks) from bf. After about five attempts he understood what I wanted and calmly put on some clothes too. I was still hectic and kept pestering him even forgot to put on my glasses and kinda stumbled out on the street. Also forgot the TV but much more awake bf did remember to bring it. What a star. We got it out there at 7.30. Fingers crossed that the waste disposal people weren't there already. Have to check later if the TV is gone. If we missed it maybe somebody will be so kind to steal it. It's fully functional! No thieves around when you need them.

After that abrupt start to the day things calmed down. Still watching Gilmore Girls but I did revise my CV and cover letter. Now I just have to find companies I want to send it to and tweak it to each companies requirements. Have I mentioned that I hate writing those? Feel like I'm whoring myself out. I guess everyone has to go through that. Will just suck it up. But won't do it today. Company finding and sending CVs out will commence tomorrow.

In more exciting news my amazon package arrived! I got five study books now. One is recommending reading before the course starts. Of course that is the biggest one. I'm excited nonetheless. Will learn all about publishing law in the next few weeks. I also got two DVDs. Sometimes I'm too lazy to sit through a whole movie (TV shows destroyed my attention span), but I really want to see these two 'Café Lumière' and 'Instant Swamp'. Since they are in Japanese I'm also deluding myself into believing that watching those two is like studying. Brilliant plan. I will get so much done the day I do that!

Gonna go immerse myself in those books now. Did I mention I love books!

Sunday 22 August 2010

Day 3

Had a very relaxing day today. Slept in (7.30 without once having been nudge by bf), puttered around a bit, made a lovely breakfast with fried eggs and then puttered around a bit more. bf decided to take me out to lunch to Strada. Had a mushroom pizza with creamy cheese. Uh, I guess that wasn't the healthiest lunch but so yummy. Also had some really  nice olives. They were a dark almost pine green and tasted not a bit bitter. Usually I'm not a fan of green olives because they are so bitter/sour, but these were lovely. We shared some brushetta for starters and had a chilled beer. Love chilled beer in the hot weather. It's not hot and sunny, but hot, sticky and cloudy with the odd warm rain. Gives me a headache. Wish it would just be cool.
Bf is playing some football game now and I'm just surfing away. Need to start looking for internships. Had a quick browse. I guess tomorrow I will update cv and cover letter and then just do some blind applications. Didn't really find any openings, but not expecting that. I would love to work in a production role at a book publisher, but really any experience is appreciated. I did some work experiences a few years back. Those were in sales and publicity. I liked both departments, but would like to get to know other areas as well. Today being Sunday though I will succumb to lazyness and do the work tomorrow.

On another note I've become addicted to Innocent smoothies again. Just can't get enough of them. My favorite at the moment is Kiwis, Apples and Limes. In addition to all the fruit I'm eating I guess I've become a fruit junkie! Go me!

Yumminess!

Saturday 21 August 2010

Day 2

Good day so far. bf is home and we are enjoying doing nothing. Some reading and watching TV going on. Thinking about leaving the house for a snack run, but really want to stay with the healthy.

Went for a 2k run this morning. Felt really good. Next one I will try to do 3k. Already looked up a route to go on. It's hard to spontaneously do a longer run because of how the streets are laid out. We have a lot of dead ends here. It's getting easier to run too. The hardest is the first kilometer because I always go up a hill, but then it gets easier since it's downhill or even ground from there. By the time I'm at the bottom of the hill I feel like I could run forever. Of course that's only an illusion, but still, it's a nice feeling. But I figured I shouldn't push too hard. I always go a really slow pace and stop before I feel like dying. This way I'm hoping I will enjoy the whole experience more and am less likely to quit. And I have to carry this over into the dark, cold and rainy winter season. 

Had a nice bowl of cereal with yogurt in the morning. Then a nectarine, plum and banana for snack. Can you actually overeat on fruit? I usually don't eat a lot of fruit, but trying to up my intake at the moment. So I eat about three pieces a day and in the afternoon also some dried fruit. Is that too much? I have no idea. I'm about to make me some nice tea and have some dried apricots and dates with that. There is some sugar in the dates, but it's all natural. Don't know what to have for dinner yet, but there are still some zucchini. bf made some nice tofu and noodles for lunch.

Tomorrow I'm hoping we will leave the house and maybe do some shopping or go have some coffee somewhere. I like lazy days in the house, but feel like a caged animal if it's for longer than a couple of days. The running helps but is not quiet enough. The weather today is really weird. It's warm yet cloudy and windy. But a warm wind. I'm waiting for some thunder or something but nothing happening so far. 

Will go back to my reading now. Still no package from amazon. Hopefully Monday!

Friday 20 August 2010

Day 1

First day of blogging every day. Good start. Not that much happened since yesterday. I'm still way on track with healthy living. No running in the morning, have to be nice to the knees, but good cereal/yogurt/milk breakfast, salad with mackerel for lunch, now a nice berry smoothie and later there will be fruit! Probably some plums, apricots and nice white flesh peaches. Some dates for the sweet tooth. And tonight nice whole-wheat noodles with courgettes and tomato sauce. Good stuff.

Now that I have bored you with my healthy living there is really nothing else to tell. There are some builders in the flat across the hall. They did turn off my water without warning earlier. So I went down and had a chat with them. Water is back now. I also called the bulky waste disposal people at the council and arranged for them to pick up our old TV. For free! Just have to bring it out to the street Sunday night so they can pick it up Monday morning. That will be another workout since that thing is heavy!

I also managed to send out some emails and messages. Staying in the social interaction circle. Go me! Made bf take out the garbage, did the dishes, watching some more Gilmore Girls. Good day. Yesterday I changed up the blog a little bit. Really don't know if that is the final look but I like it for now. I wanted it to be bright and clean. Still not perfect, but it's getting there.

Now I'm waiting for the amazon package to arrive with my study things. I love getting packages especially if they are filled with books. Ok, this time only uni books but they are still good. I threw in a couple of DVDs for my enjoyment, so it's a little fun too. Just have to try to sneak it past bf. I'm supposed to save money now.

Couple of hours to go till bf comes back from work. We're still waiting on word when he's 'allowed' to leave for Singapore. Well, the longer he stays the longer I have him. Not  gonna complain about that. Meanwhile I will entertain myself with looking at clothes I will not buy but dream about wearing.

You can find them here

Aren't those adorable. Really would love those, and about a million others. Sigh...

Thursday 19 August 2010

Welcome to the Limelight!

from FruityCuties

She's finally here! Little Lime has entered the world today. Happy Birthday!

I'm back

Sorry for not posting for so long (though not sure to how many people I am apologising here). I have been on holiday in Germany to visit family. Lots has happened or is happening.

I had my last day at work end of July. It was not a bitter-sweet moment, just sweet. One of my colleagues (and only friend at work) was going on maternity leave the same day and we went out for dinner with the others from the office. To Wagamama. Was yummy food. It was a little bit weird because one of our colleagues threw a little hissy fit just before and didn't show up or say good-bye. He then basically turned into the topic of the hour which was nice since I hate being that. But when it was time to go I went with a grin. Not looking back not regretting anything. 

After the last couple of months of work I was really stressed out (part of it probably had to do with me not liking my job the other with many people being on vacation) I really needed a break. The plan was to hang out a week with bf and basically roam around England. Well, that didn't happen so I booked a last-minute flight to Germany. I was supposed to attend a family gathering with my grandmother anyway. Though I desperately tried to get out of that but ran out of excuses when the holiday fell through. So I flew to Hamburg on Saturday morning, very early, spent the day with my sister and then we drove to my parents place in the middle of nowhere. 

The next day was the family gathering. For some reason my grandma got this idea yesterday that it would be nice to have the whole family together on a day in the summer to have breakfast and lunch. I don't mind that at all and it's fun to see the family. It's just that not all of us live conveniently within an hour drive of her house. So she always ends up being mad at one person or another for *gasp* having to work, attend uni or being on holiday (in August, who would have guessed). I think it's a good 30 people she's trying to accommodate. Anyway, it was nice, good food. Of course always those aunts there that I would prefer not to see, who scored my email now and will be in contact to meet up when she's here. Urgh, wish I could have avoided that, but am not very smooth at avoiding social interactions and refusing information without being rude. So a little piece of paper was handed over with too much personal information on it. I like most of my family, I really do, but I guess everyone has this one person that they are desperately trying to avoid. My aunt is of the kind to be avoided. I guess she's not a bad person, just a very annoying one. Always asking too many questions, or making too bold of statements ('oh, you gained a LOT of weight since we've seen each other last. You having personal problems, should we talk?'). But anyway,  everything else was fine.

The rest of the week was very uneventful. We had decent weather, so we went swimming a couple of times, even went running once. Of course we had too much good food. I gorge on bread when I'm in Germany. It's just some of the best bread in the world there and so much variety. I turn into a pig at breakfast, no kidding.

The second week I went back to Hamburg with my sister, her hubby and my nephew. They were all still off work/school. I had another lovely lazy week there. They don't have internet so I was completely cut off (which was kinda nice, but I also hated it! I was missing all those lovely blogs I usually read). We went to playgrounds, played a little Wii, had some beers, rented movies, went to the Baltic Sea for a day, to Lübeck. But in general it was very relaxed. 

Really needed the break. It was so nice to be out in the countryside, see some trees, breath some fresh air. I actually did some proper weeding. Took forever. We worked on it with three people for five days 1 to 2 hours a day and there is still weeding to do. But it was nice to get the hands all dirty. Ah, the simple life. Uh, and I had tons Italian ice cream. Can't really find that in London.

But anyway, now I'm back in London. This is where the new life starts. Now that I'm back I'm supposed to prepare for university. Which I have every intention to do. Just not today.

I did prepare a bit yesterday. I paid my tuition, I ordered my first books from amazon (that I did love, and of course I added some fun stuff!!!). Today I'm supposed to look for work experience/ internships. But not really in the mood. Maybe I will dust off my Japanese textbooks and study some. That I would count as work. Too bad that I already dusted off my Gilmore Girls DVDs and have those on 'play all'. Such a guilty pleasure.

Another thing I am planning to do is live a little bit more healthy and lose some weight. Uh, how I hate to do that. But, I did go grocery shopping yesterday and only bought healthy food. First step: eliminate all temptation from the house. Done. Now I want to look up some nice recipes so I won't get bored of the food I'm eating. The only way this will work is if I don't feel like I'm forbidding myself to eat certain foods, but instead trying new healthy things and eating a variety of things. We'll see how long I can go on like that. I have tons of fruits here that I can snack on and am going to buy some nuts and dried fruits to further my selection. Also tons of tea and coffee in the house. And some yummy innocent smoothies. Love those. They can substitute for candy. Not sure what to do about chips yet. Any healthy alternatives?? Second step is exercise. I went for a run this morning! Thought I try to do that twice a week or so. It's still only 2km. But better than nothing. I thought I'd die when I started this morning but by the time I got back to the house I felt I could go on for longer. I should really look up a longer route now.

I also wanted to post more. Thinking since I am unemployed and all and not starting uni till next months I will try to blog every day for the next thirty days! Really hope I can keep all of this up. Healthy living, studying, blogging. Lots to do! But hopefully the more I do the more motivated I will get.

Sorry to bore you all with a long post. Trying to entertain myself a little bit today. A good friend (you know who you are, maybe I entertained you a bit with this while you waiting) is giving birth today. Scheduled via c-section because of possible complications. Have my fingers, toes and everything crossed that can be crossed. Very excited!!!

So let's hope you will hear from me tomorrow!