This is me 8 years ago. I was 18 and I was in Thailand. It was my second trip longer than a neighbouring country (first one was to Rome). We were only in Thailand for 1 week, it was pretty intense, but I am happy and grateful over the fact that we didn't go to Phuket or Krabi, or something similar. We went to north Thailand (near Chiang Rai), to a small village. I got to "know" a Thai family and see their way of life. I got to eat proper home cooked thai food, and experience every day life in a small countryside village. That was really nice. We also spent a couple of days in Bangkok. Instense!
It's nice to look back at old photos and bring back old memories to life! I was so different back then, and it's nice to realise how much a person can change and develop over the course of nearly 10 years.
I can't wait to enjoy some warmer weather. Only two weeks until we're there! Eek! The weather is very dull at the moment. Just a few plus degrees and wet and grey outside. Boring. I need sunshine, and warmth. To me, February is the most boring month, because all you want is for winter to be over, but you know it's not going to be over until mid-april. Blah. At least we get a nice February this year, with a sunny trip and then nice company from England afterwards. Yay! :)
Now I have to edit the filmed counselling session I did today, so that I can send it to my coursemates!
Had a slightly shorter day at work experience today, and also got a phone call about the maternity leave vacancy I've applied for. Going for an interview on Wednesday. Fingers crossed! Now I need to do some uni work. I want to work out but I'm not sure what I want to do and where....
Fick sluta tidigt idag, och fick även ett telefonsamtal om jobbintervju på onsdag. Håll tummarna! Nu måste jag fixa lite uppgifter till högskolan, sen får vi se om jag tar och tränar eller inte...
Was over at my friend's for her brithday dinner party last night. She has a really good eye for decorating tables etc, you can just see for yourself how awesome it looked :-) The food tasted brilliant and after a few hours of a good time, we headed home at around midnight.
Firade en kompis födelsedag igår och hon har som ni kan se en riktigt bra smak när det kommer till inredning och bordsdekorationer! Maten smakade underbart och efter några timmars trevligt sällskap bar det av hemåt igen runt midnat. En helt perfekt lördagskväll!
Some breakfasts from this week. I've had a pomegranate at home and it has given a little extra touch to my breakfasts. Fruit, berries and nuts are the most important component for my breakfasts, but I feel like I'm a little stuck in the same routines again. I should try something new than porridge or yoghurt every day. I read so many health blogs with good tips on different breakfasts, but when it comes to morning, it's always easier to just stick to routines I guess ;-)
Mina frukostar innehåller alltid frukt, bär och nötter, men jag har fastnat lite i samma rutiner jämt. Inte så intressant. Jag skulle vilja prova något nytt, men det blir morgon är det ändå alltid lättare att bara köra på det man brukar. Haha :)
Finally Friday! Work week is done, flat is clean and tidy and I'm about to cook some nice dinner for the two of us. I feel like doing something this evening but not quite sure what. I had planned to go to the gym and do cross fit today, like last week, but my shoulders/shoulder blades are still sore from last week! 7 days, and I'm still hurting! So I figured it's better to rest from cross fit, and I will go to the gym and do my own workout tomorrow morning.
It's really, really cold today and I've been hungry basically all day too, so I think I will run into the kitchen now and prepare mince meat and bulgur casserole! Nom nom!
Since eating more healthy everyday and cutting down on sugar and increasing vegetables and fruit and "clean food" in general, I must say I can tell a big difference in my general well being. I have definately become better at listening to my body and the cues it sends me. As soon as I eat more than approxiamtely 100 grams of refined sugar I can feel the head ache creeping up on me. It's really strange to think that either I was numb to this before, or I just felt it all the time and didn't pay attention to it. If I have spent an evening drinking a couple of drinks and eating crisps or sweets I will have a pretty noticable food "hangover". My stomach will be bloated, my head will feel slightly messy. Even if I only had a couple of glasses of wine.
I'm not saying that I will stop having these things, but it's interesting how much more alert your body becomes when it's fed the right sort of foods. It will instantly tell you when it's not getting the food it wants.
Furthermore it's then interesting to think about what sorts of everyday "pains" we constantly feel that may be cause by our diet, or something in our environment. As I've mentioned before, being too "acidic" can for example cause lots of problems, that could be solved rather easily. Different sorts of intolerances can be shown as more than diffuculty to breathe or rashes. It can show as sniffy noses, sensitivy to infections, stomach aches, bloatedness, joint aches etc etc. I have for example wondered why my nose is, and have always been, very sniffy. Even when I don't have a cold. It's probably cause by some sort of intolerance, but I'm not sure what. Perhaps dairy products (yes, sniffy nose is one of the symptons!).
Anyway, it's something worth giving a little thought. Our bodies are smarter than our minds, most of the time!
Went dancing at the gym this evening with mum and loaded up with some energy with a bowl of blood orange, mango, cottage cheese topped with some raisins and nuts. Dancing was fun, but not a very hard workout. I am planning to go to the gym tomorrow and do some leg, stomach and back strength.
Otherwise? Been writing my cover letter for a career counselor vacancy and need to plan the group counseling session I will have on Thursday. Tomorrow is a long day, so I don't think I will want to do it then, but we will see...
Laddade upp inför Zumban med keso, blodapelson och mango. Dansen var kul, men blev inte så svett. Planerar ett gymbesök imorgon, med fokus på ben, mage och ryggstyrka. I övrigt har jag skrivit mitt personliga brev för en SYV tjänst och bör planera ett gruppvägledningspass jag ska ha på torsdag...Vi får se hur det blir med det :)
Had my sis over this evening, took some photos, talked and read photo blogs. It was nice to spend some time with her :-) Starting to feel a little tired, so I might just jump in my PJ's and go to bed. Hope you all had a lovely day and I'll try to be a little better at blogging soon again!
Friday night at mum's, food and a nice time at dad's yesterday and a walk on the bech with mum and Benjie this afternoon. Got to try out my other new lens, with more of a zoom function. It seems to be working just great! :-)
Fredagkväll hos mamma, mat och lördagkväll hos pappa, promenad på stranden med mamma och Benjie idag. Fick äntligen prova mitt telezoom objektiv på riktigt. Verkar funka riktigt bra! :-)
I have had a good day at work. Lots of activity, the kids are applying to their choices of colleges and courses, so been helping them alot today. Then went to cross fit, just as hard as last time. Burpees are the killer, I hate burpees. We had to do 1 minute of thrusters, 1 minute of chin ups, 1 minute sprint and 1 minute burpees. 5 rounds. Dead.
Was on a bit of a low yesterday. Didn't have any energy and was incredibly bored with just about everything. Today I have much more energy and happiness back! Feel positive, lucky and pleased with life, even the things that might not be going as well as I'd wish.
By the way, who can live without veggies? I feel quite sorry for people who don't like fruit and veg. All they eat is like boring pasta, dairy and meat. No colour, no amazing flavours! Tsk, veggies are the best!
Kände mig lite låg och orkeslös igår, men är mycket gladare och mer positiv idag! Har varit och fikat med en gammal vän och lagat en god curry till middag. Hur kan man liksom inte gilla grönsaker och frukt? Det är ju det som ger mest smak till mat. Utan det blir det nån brun tråkig tallrik med bara kolhydrater och kött, typ. Trist!
The snow makes me want Christmas to come back. It came and went too quickly! December was over really fast and my birthday was sort of a disappointment. I'm really , really looking forward to Egypt though, and also this weekend. Chris has promised to make up for my birthday, and we're gonna go shopping in town and spend the Saturday afternoon and evening with dad.
But I do miss the Christmas songs, Christmas lights, Christmas food and the cozy feeling that December brings. January and February are just waiting periods for spring. People just want winter over and done with and everything that is nice and cozy about winter (hot chocolates, warm blankets, lights, anticipation, hot stews, winter patterned jumpers, leg warmers, saffron rolls....) is sort of forgotten and surpassed to the past. It's like you can't have those things once Christmas is over.
Ate my breakfast (chocolate porridge with banana, blueberries, peanut butter and almonds) this morning looking out the window with this view. Was snowing quite hard, but it stopped around 10-11 and it hasn't snowed anymore. Really enjoying work experience since I constantly have someone to share thoughts and ideas about career counseling with. However, I haven't had a great day today. Was feeling quite sorry for myself for no reason at all and craved a bowl of ice-cream after dinner. It was looovely.
Tomorrow I'm working at my school, Thursday is back to work experience and Friday back to work. Phew! Looking forward to the weekend to be honest!
It's exactly four weeks until we go to Egypt today! I so can't wait!! Cruising down the Nile, looking at all the historical sites, ruins and temples, enjoying some sunshine and warmth (it's 20-25 degrees daytime at them moment) and just relax. I still need to get a couple of filters for my camera, but after that I'm good to go.
First real day of work experience today. Didn't really do that much, spoke to my "tutor" about difficulties we've found with the new application system for students applying to college and things like that. And how crap it is organized for the kids who do not reach passed grades in necessary subjects....
Cycled there and it was friggin' cold! Had head wind all the way there and ran out of breath in an instant, haha! i then cycled home, had a snack and took the bus to the gym. 10 minutes on the crosstrainer and 30 minutes of strength training. Not heavy today, just a general workout....
Grilled mackerel with a salad for dinner and I'm all cozy now...trying to wind down. Had a horrible night's sleep last night, the cats were screaming (we forgot to feed them, haha) and I dreamt nightmares about demons possessing people. Not nice. Fingers crossed it will be better tonight :-)
Har hunnit med att cykla till Trönninge i världens motvind, ha praktik, cykla hem, sticka till gymmet och köra ett lätt styrkepass, käka makrillsallad till middag och försöker nu slappna av lite. Sov dåligt på grund av skrikande katter och mardrömmar om besatta människor. Sover förhoppningsvis bättre inatt :-)
This is what we had for lunch today, yummy pork chops with a creamy mushroom sauce (that's non dairy!) and boiled vegetables. I simply fried the pork chops in some oil with salt and pepper, and I boiled the vegetables. Here's how I made the sauce:
1 onion
5 button mushrooms
1 clove of garlic
1,5 dl of low fat cream (I used oat based cream)
curry, salt, pepper, rosemary
Chop the onion, mushrooms and garlic finely and fry in a saucepan with some oil, until soft. Add the cream and season unitl you find the flavour satisfying. I also added a little thickener to dense it up a little.
By using a non dairy product I actually cut down the amount of saturated fats from 15 grams to 1,5 grams! That's pretty good :-)
Gjorde fälskkotletter med krämig svampsås och kokta grönsaker till lunch idag. Såsen gjorde jag på lök, champinjoner, vitlök, Oaty iMat grädde, och kryddor. Det var gott! Första gången jag provade alternativ till vanliga mejeriprodukter och jag tyckte faktiskt det var bra :-)
Had a nice lay in this morning and didn't wake up until 9 am. I guess it's because me and my boyfriend stayed up until 1.30 talking about deep subjects like gender equality and stuff, haha. What a Saturday night! Well, we did watch a film and had some chocolate before that ;-)
Today I've just been lounging around the house, done some housework - the fridge really needed a good scrub! So the flat is nice and clean for the week. Folded the laundry and cooked lunch. I will give you the recipe for that later.
Now I must prepare a couple of things for the coming week!
Vaknade sent idag - 9.00! antar att det är för att vi satt uppe och snackade halva natten. Har hunnit med en del städning och tvättvikande, slappat och tagit det lugnt. Dagarna går allt för fort nuförtiden, man hinner ju inte med någonting längre! Nu måste jag förbereade lite saker inför den kommande veckan!
Sitting here, getting ready to go to the gym. Got an arm session ahead of me, so I expect to be sore tomorrow!
After the gym I can relax all day. I have done my uniwork for this week. Tomorrow, however, I need to prepare for next week's tasks for work experience. I need to give an information session about what I do (to 14-year olds, haha) and then I will have a group counselling session to plan for too. It will be nice, I like it!
Yesterday we had James and Helene over for dinner and a movie. Today I don't know what we will be doing, but I would like to go out for a walk maybe, take some photos and get some fresh air :-)
Today we got our exercise bike, weeeiiiihoooo! There was a slight misunderstanding with the delivery though, as I thought I could pay with my card, and apparantly I couldn't. So in the end I had to have a lift with the DHL guy down to where the cashpoint was to get out enough money. Haha, not everyday I get to ride in a big truck. Then we spent about 2,5 hours putting the bike together.
We've both tried it, and it is good, makes you sweat as it should ;-)
I was planning on going to the gym today, but didn't due to other circumstances. But I did a workout at home instead, consisting of:
10 minutes cycling
25 body weight squats
5 minutes cycling
25 jumping squats
5 minutes cycling
25 push-up (5 on my feet!!)
In total about 35 minutes. I've started taking workout plans from Greatist.com. I'm still going to go to classes, now that they have picked up again after the holidays, but I really want to build some good strength, and the gym is much better for that :-)
Ufff...long day. Exhausting day. Up at 6 am, breakfast, cycle to the trainstation. Examination all morning, counselling exercising all afternoon. On the train back to Halmstad. Play some pool, eat some sushi (yum!). Home to find the front door matt soaked in cat pee.... =(
I'm so frustrated and sad about the cat situation. I just want my cats to be happy and I want to be able to look after them. And I want to feel at home and relaxed in our flat, but at the moment we are both on guard, thinking that maybe the cats have peed someone. Right now I can smell it...I don't know if it's psychological or not...but I can smell it.
On the positive side, the examination went well and the counselling exercises were interesting and fun, always inspiring. Playing pool was fun and sushi was nice!
I got my new lenses today! Wiieeeyyy! Took some photos with the light sensitive lens and the pictures come oue awesome. I'm going to enjoy playing with that one. The tele-zoom lens will be very uselful for any type of outdoor photografy, especially landscape/portraits etc. The light sensitive is called a portrait lens and is very good for that use, but also for any indoor and outdoor photografy. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with both of them!
Other than that I've realised I now need to go back to reality. Been busy trying to sort out a uni task that I had to do, and of course did the last minute. Tomorrow I will be at uni all day having an examination on the task and doing other stuff. I also start my 6 week work experience this week and my own work too, so I wont be around much in the week days. :-(
I started off my birthday with a green smoothie, haha. It was nice and filling though, and later, when my mum and family came over we had some of this really quite nice cake! The crust consists of mixed sunflower seeds and raisins, and the filling is made out of strawberries and bananas, mixed into a puree, poured on top of the crust and then been set to freeze in the freezer. Really nice, and only 4 ingredients!
Later in the evening we had some friends over for a party, but it didn't really turn into a party. I had a nice birthday, but Chris was still feeling a bit crap, so he has promised that we will go out and celebrate my birthday next weekend instead, which will be nice :-)
Some photos from Ivön that I'm really quite pleased with. Some photo goals I have for this year are:
Learn and practice more about composition.
Take photos of more varied motives, and learn to take good self portraits (without feeling self-conscious about it, haha).
Learn more about photo editing.
Always remove blurry, over/under exposed pictures that I don't want to safe, straight away! ;-)
I'm so excited about tomorrow, I probably wont sleep tonight, haha! I'm going to put away the Christmas decorations, really clean and tidy, bake and just enjoy the day (yes I enjoy housework ;-)).
It's my birthday tomorrow! :-D And my two new lenses were sent today, hopefully they arrive tomorrow, otherwise they will come next week, which is just as fine. But I would love to use them tomorrow! Tomorrow I'm going to prepare a strawberry frozen cake, raw food style, and some low GI chocolate muffins. Thinking of maybe making some carrot cake muffins too. Yeah, I think I will! You only turn 26 once... ;-)
Imorgon är det ingen vanlig dag, för det är min födelsedag! Hoppas på att mina nya objektiv ska komma imorgon, annars får jag vänta till nästa vecka. Ska göra en raw food jordgubbsglasstårta, ska bli spännande! Några chokladmuffins och morotskaka muffins GI style blir det nog också ;-)
Sounds scary, eh? But basically living food is a term used in the Raw Food community to define food that is plant-based and has not been heated over 42 degrees celsius. Everything that has been heated over that temperature loses it's living enzymes and is therefore "dead". Today I tried a living food, vegan "yoghurt" based on avocado and banana.
I was really wondering if I was gonna be brave enough to try something new for breakfast, haha. You how hard it can be to break habits. But I did, and it tasted wonderful, you can't taste the avocado at all.
Living food, vegan "yoghurt" 1 portion:
1 banana
1 avocado
handful of blueberries
Mix it all together in the food processor until smooth. The colour of it doesn't look great, you can remove the blueberries and it would have a more apetizing colour I think, but it really tasted nice. Topping it with some fresh orange and frozen berries just made it even better!
Todays lunch consisted of: Taco flavoured minced meat with bulgur and beans, and raw vegetables (broccoli, white cabbage, yellow pepper and carrot).
For the taco mix, just fry the minced meat until cooked through, add 1 chopped onion, and 1 clove of garlic. Season it with cumin, paprika, chilipepper, black pepper and salt. I also added in a little tomato puree. Had some kidney beans left over from yesterday's soup, so that went in too. Yum!
Tacomix till lunch idag, med färska grönsaker. Stek köttfärs tills genomstekt, lägg i hackad lök, 1 vitlöksklyfta och stek tills löken börjar bli mjuk. Krydda med spiskummin, paprika, chilipulver, peppar och salt. Jag lade även i lite tomatpuré och kidneybönor. Blev mumsigt!
....but slowly getting better. I don't feel as frozen and achy today as I was yesterday. Today it's Chris' turn to feel terrible. We were going to have our second lot of vaccinations today, but had to reschedule it for next week. The nurse said we couldn't have them done while feeling like we are.
Anyway, made a gooey mess for breakfast, but it was really filling!
Mixed oats with plain yoghurt, a little bit of cocoa, a tiny bit of instant coffee, agave nectar and then topped it with some more yoghurt, banana, blueberries, nuts and peanut butter. It was yummy :-) Especially as I mixed it all into an even more gooey mess after taking the photo, hehe!
I wasn't really aware of this until I read my Raw Food book Chris got me for Christmas. Apparantly our bodies are constantly working on keeping up a good balance of acid and alkaline substances. Our blood, for example, should be at pH-level of 7,4, in other words - it needs to be alkaline, while the liver and stomach should be more acid. The body will always make sure that the blood is alkaline, and depending on what we feed our bodies, it will do so in different ways.
If we feed our bodies too much acidifying food, the body with instead take alkaline minerals from the bones, organs and nerval system. This can in the long run lead to osteoporisis, decreased mental ability and gout. Common signs of a body which is struggling to maintain the acidic-alkaline balance are:
muscle tension
less concentration and focus
tiredness
headaches
anger
sadness
skin problems
constepation
lots of colds, flus and other infections
However, once you realise this important part your diet plays in your overall wellbeing it is rather easy to fix. Foods that will help the body maintain the acidic-alkaline balance are most fruits and vegetables, in their raw form. Food that are acidifying and should only be consumed in lesser amounts are meats, vinegars, alcohol, tobacco, dairy products and dried fruit. Of course you don't have to stop eating these foods if you don't wish, but I thought these were intersting dietary facts, that can be helpful :-)
It is also important to make sure to breathe deep, smile and be happy. Shallow breathing also increases the acid in the body, so a good stretch and yoga session everyday wont only be good for your fitness, but also your body's acidic-alkaline balance! :D
Been on the sofa the entire day so far, and really feel crap. I also feel very unproductive again, and want to make sure I get things done, but have no energy to do so. Bah. I really do hope this cold goes away quickly!
Had bean soup and crackers with avocado and mackerell for lunch, really yummy and warming. Added lots of garlic to the soup to hopefully ward of the germs ;-)
Bean soup for 3-4:
1 can of mixed beans
1 can of kidneybeans
3 whole tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of dried basil
2 tsbp tomato puree
1/3 of a yellow pepper
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 vegetable stock cube
½ liter of water
dash of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a saucepan and lightly fry the tomatoes (chopped into pieces), garlic, pepper, basil and puree. Add the water, stock cube, and other seasoning and let boil for 10 minutes. Add beans (rinsed) and let boil for another 10 minutes. Taste and season a little more if needed. Mix with a rod mixer until smooth and serve. A bit of half-fat creme fraiche goes very well on top, and also a little parmesan cheese if you wish :-)
I don't have any New Year's resolutions as such, but I have goals for 2013.
Learn to cook Raw Food - especially cakes and other sweet treats.
Use my camera - every day, and not just for photographing foods, haha!
Keep up the exercise, challenge myself, and progress.
Find a full time job in counselling once I'm finished with uni.
I guess those are the major things I want to do this year. At the moment I'm sat on the sofa, with an aching body and a stuffed face, have really come down with a cold. Fingers crossed it will go away as quickly as it came. Time to make another cup of tea I think!
We had a lovely time last night, thanks James and Helene. Tasty food, nice company and lots of laughter. A great start of the new year!
Ended up in bed rather late, and have therefore been quite tired today, but that's okay. Both me and Chris are ready and motivated to make 2013 even better than 2012, with lots of love for life, healthy eating, being active and seeing places and people. Can't wait!
Hade en mysig och mycket rolig nyårsafton igårkväll. Tack James och Helene för den goda maten, och tack alla som var med för det trevliga sällskapet! Nu är vi redo för ett nytt år med massor av roliga upplevelser, hälsosamt och aktivt leverne!
