White spring

If there is one sight I will never get tired of, it is the view of blossoming trees in the spring. White or pink, some in full bloom, looking like beautifull giant bouquets some only waiting for their time to come.

I coldn't resist to take some of the blossoming branches home with me. They won't last long of course, few days maybe, just like the ones ouside. But then, as they say, some things are more precious because they don't last long.

The first run

I don't know about you, but I can not run outside in cold weather. I easily catch a cold that can last for weeks. But the cold days are over it seems, so this evening I went for the first run of the year. On such a warm Saturday evening, even in spite of the late hour, there were still plenty of people around: walking their dogs, biking, fishing.
Surprisingly, it wasn't such a struggle as I expected it to be after not running for quite a while. To take up running again is one of the things I want to do this year. I want to get back into the shape I was before I had to stop. Maybe even better. I have to, and I want to, and I will. Watch me.

2017

I am so hopelessly late with this post. Where does the time go? The new year is not so new anymore. This year will be so different than all the years before. Full of new trials, challenges, new experiences. And new opportunities to improve. Do you make New Year's resolutions? I do. Nothing original, I suppose: to do more for my health, more for others, read more books, be more active, more patient, more kind - to become a better person basically. And perhaps a few more post on my blog. Let's see...

Giving up coffee

This is not the kind of things I would normally share on my blog but I couldn't help it. It popped up on my Facebook wall today and it just made me smile. I have been following Akward Yeti for some time now, and Heart, Brain and Stomach are among my favorite characters. I hope this comic brightens this cold spring day for you too...

Giving up coffee...I mean really...:)

(Source)

Bare necessities: sunglasses

I don't own many designer items. Most of my clothes, accessories and household items come from high street or second hand shops and they serve me just fine. But I am also willing to spend a little (or a lot) more on good quality designer items - when buying something I want to keep for long time and I know I will get a lot use out of. My sunglasses are from Ralph Lauren. I bought them in a duty free shop about 8 or 9 years ago and they did cost me a quite lot more than the sunglasses I owned before. But the investment paid off. Because I am so clumsy I dropped them a hundred times over the years but unlike the cheaper sunglasses I had before they stayed intact and without scratches. And I do get a lot of use out of them. My eyes can be a bit sensitive, so I wear sunglasses all year round, in summer and in winter, in the town and in the country, when sunbathing and when skiing...they are just one of those items I carry in my handbag or suitcase whenever I go. 

Happy Easter!

I hope your Easter weekend is as sunny and warm as mine...

Saturday espresso

Every Saturday I go to farmers market and on my way home I stop for a cup of coffee in a small coffee shop on the corner. Although it is still a bit chilly today, I decided to sit outside. The sky was overcast so I sat there wrapped up in a winter jacket and hut, drinking my first al fresco espresso of the year. 

The way I drink espresso is quite peculiar. I take the first sip of the hot coffee pure, to savor the strong, bitter taste. Then I add some sugar - little bit goes a long way, and take another sip. After that there is usually only a little bit of coffee left in the small cup, so I add some milk. The beverage becomes more of a sweet milk with faint coffee taste. A coffee purists would be  utterly outraged at this I imagine :) Well, you can not please everybody, so you may as well please yourself, right?

DIY - updating a table lamp

Here is what you need:

A simple Ikea lamp,

plastic stick-on lace (or regular lace and a glue),

scissors, and about 10 minutes of your time.

Stick (or glue) the lace along the upper inside edge of the lamp shade. If you like more playful and fancy design , continue along the bottom edge. 

Wait until it gets dark outside and turn the lamp on. Tadaaa!

Not a fan of this design? Try something different: painting on the lamp shade, decorating the outside with a ribbon or anything else that comes to your mind...And when you do, let me know how it looks :)

Dear Winter...

... where do I begin? We've had some really good times together. Mainly when I was younger. But then I realized that every year I look forward to your arrival less and less. And you have to admit, that you are no longer committed to this relationship too. You used to make more effort before. You used to be exciting, beautiful and white, but lately all this has been missing. I think, that you don't want to be here either. So, although it's not nice of me to tell you this, I want you to leave. It will be better for both of us.

Sincerely,

Me

A little bit of baking

The last couple of weeks have been...challenging. I was feeling tired, uncomfortable, generally not right. The cold and grey days didn't improve my mood either. Even the food didn't taste right. But this week at least my appetite, if nothing else, took a turn for the better :) To celebrate this I decided to bake some coconut bread.To be honest, I am not sure where the idea came from. I wasn't even sure if such kind of cake existed. I had to turn to internet to find some recipe, and I found this. I can confirm that the final product is a real treat for coconut lovers, sweet, moist and full of coconut flavor. Perfect with a cup of coffee while waiting for the cold weather to go away and for spring to finally start. I am so ready for spring - how about you?

Bare neccesities: Bread

Just like some people say they couldn't live without chocolate or meat, I couldn't imagine my diet without carbohydrates, more precisely, without bread. A staple food throughout Europe, it comes in many different shapes and sizes: French baguettes, Italian ciabatta, German rye bread... But for me the real bread is the sourdough loaf with a thick crust and soft, but firm middle, typical for Slovakia, Czech Republic and a handful of other European countries. Bread itself is plain and simple, but it can upgrade so many other kinds of food to a higher level.  What would a bowl of tomato soup be without a slice of fresh bread to eat it with? Or a hot-dog without a bun? What can improve chocolate spread more than a piece of sweet raisin bread? As the  Slovak poet Milan Rufus said in one of his poems: Bread is a reward. 

DIY diary

The year has begun and I've realized that this year I am going to need a diary. I didn't have one last year, or the year before, but it seems that this year will be pretty busy. The choice of diaries in the stationary store was huge, in fact so huge, that I could not decide which one to pick. So, in the end I decided to fish out my DIY box and craft my own. I used a small notice book, some washi tapes to distinguish between months, rubber stamp, so I don't have to write all the dates by hand, and stickers, to mark those special days and occasions.

And here is the final product, wrapped in some pretty fabric. I am happy to report that it is already filling up with some exciting memos and appointments :)

Snow at last

It started snowing this afternoon: at first, the random snowflake fell here and there, just when I was leaving the house, and by the time I reached the train station, the footpaths were sprinkled with a layer of snow. And when I arrived in the town the streets were already completely white.

Now, to those who work in the airline industry, snow mostly means delays, cancellations and trouble getting home. But I am not working this week, so I can really enjoy the first snow of this year, or, in fact, the first real snow of this winter. 

My handmade Christmas

Two weeks till Christmas...did you put up your Christmas decorations yet? We did it last weekend. And we bought a Christmas tree and decorated it too. I approach Christmas in a creative way, so many of my Christmas decorations are self-made. Some of them I made from scratch, like the felt tree decorations, Christmas wreath or the embroidered picture. Other are customized, like the wooden letters which I painted in red and white or the tealight holder which I painted icicles on with an old glittery nail polish. And next weekend I want to bake Christmas cookies. The baking always makes the house smell lovely: of chocolate, coconut, cinnamon and cloves...

Bare necessities V

If there is one thing I can't stand about shopping, it is the plastic bags you get free of charge, or for a few pennies in every supermarket. They look ugly, they break easily, and they are no friend of the environment. And, of course, there is always the question of what to do with them, after you unpack your groceries. Some people re-use them as bin bags, but they are always too small or too big for the bins in our house. So, I used to hoard them until I had too many, and because I didn't know what to do with them, I just gave up and, threw them into the recycling bin. Fabric bags in comparison have many advantages. They are more sturdy, and more suitable for heavy items. You can buy them from stores like Primark for as little as 1 Pound, yet they don't look cheap like the plastic bag. And, if like me, you pick one with long handles you can carry them over you shoulder and keep your hands free. I always carry one with me folded inside my handbag. I just prefer to have as little plastic in my life as possible, and also in my home.  

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Three Men

If you were asked to name your favorite book what would your answer be? I find that usually if you ask somebody this question, people fall into two categories. Some struggle to pick a single book. It is natural, after all, there is a huge field of writers, styles and genres, and so many good books to choose from... To others, the task comes easy. I belong to the second group. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) from J.K.Jerome is my indisputable number one and the sequel, Three Men on the Bummel is a close second. 

Those are the two books I can read over and over again and each time I enjoy every page. Written in a good-natured tone they are easy to read, uncomplicated, funny with a few serious parts. The author is often digressing from the subject and the characters are just like the real people, far from perfect, suffering from the same weaknesses we all suffer from: laziness, vanity, schadenfreude. The books are about travelling and friendship, witty and filled with good advice that is valid even now, more than 100 years after the books were first published:

“Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.” 

So, what is your favorite book?

Truth and love...

...must prevail over lies and hatred. Those are the words of Vaclav Havel spoken sometime in November 1989 when my country went through a period that is known as the Velvet revolution. I was too young at the time, not even a teenager yet, and I didn't really understand what the change meant for me, for my country. Nonetheless I remember that the general feeling in those days really was one of love and truth and above all: hope. Hope always helps. 

There are no pictures today, but here is a song, that became and anthem of those days, 26 years ago. 

Upcycling I.

Upcycling is a kind of recycling. You take an item you no longer use and convert it into something different, something better. A few weeks ago when I was walking around the H&M home section I noticed some lovely  knitted cushion cases. Here is a picture from the H&M website:

I liked the design and the fact that they look so cozy and wintery but the price was a bit higher than I was willing to pay. And then I had an idea: I will make my own! 

This used to be an old jumper that didn't survive a machine wash. It stretched in the washing machine so much that I could no longer wear it, so I decided to unweave it and I kept the yarn, thinking it may come handy some day. And it did :) I spent the following few evenings knitting as I watched TV and when the cushion cover was ready I dyed it with a home fabric dye to a more lively color. And here is the result:

What do you think? I am quite happy with the result and I think that now, that the days are getting colder and evenings longer I will give DIY and upcycling another go.

Bare (travel) necessity

    

PASHMINA SCARF

With the autumn in full swing and the winter approaching fast a scarf is a real must. In cold and windy days I am mostly using scarves for the  most obvious purpose - to keep my neck warm. Yet I carry a long, light pashmina (or I should rather say: a wide scarf, since my pashminas are not the real, cashmere ones) in a neutral color with me all year long. Because, you see, a scarf can become so much more than a scarf. You can wear it as a shawl around your shoulders to protect yourself from the strong sun or from the cold air. It can be used as a beach towel, if you happen to forget to bring one and in the biggest emergency even as a bath towel. You can tie it around your hips as an improvised beach skirt or around your torso as a top. On holidays, when visiting religious sites where head cover is required you can use it as a head scarf. You can tie it together and use it as a bag, or wrap fragile items in it to stop them from getting damaged in your suitcase. You can use it as a light blanket, as a sling or as a bandage...and much, much more. Who would have thought, that a simple piece of fabric that will take almost no space at all in your luggage can be so versatile?

Flying

I was pondering for some time about whether I should write about my work or not. But, after all, it is such a big part of my life, and therefore such a big part of me... 

The first time I flew on an airplane I was in my early twenties. I don't remember being either nervous, or particularly excited. In fact I remember very little about that first flight. But I am positive, that it never occurred to me at that time, that only few months later flying would become my occupation. I became a flight attendant.

It is an odd way of life, and you have to be an odd kind of person to adapt to it. For the past ten years I've rarely spent more than a week at a time on the same continent, let alone the in the same country. It involves long hours, dealing with lack of sleep, separation from loved ones. Regularity becomes an unknown concept. But I can barely think of any other job that would suit me better. And that to me is an accomplishment. It is so much easier to go to work if you are doing something you truly enjoy.

If you are flying somewhere in the near future, I wish you a safe flight!