Chocolate Factory - The Experiment

After 4,9kg of chocolate last weekend, I felt like I never wanted to see chocolate again. Never ever would I make a single more praline. Never again will I temperate chocolate.



Well... It's a week later and I really wanted to make a lime-filling and salted caramel. Is this how women feel when they decide to get a second child?

And also... I did not follow the rules, so lets see how my experiment last night went.

No cream in the ganasch. The recipe calls for cream, but I don't have milk products at home only vegetable based substitute (environmental reasons). So instead of cream I used Oatley "imat" which isn't even a cream substitute, but a substitute for low fat cream used in cooking. Think it went badly? Well, actually not too bad at all. Taste was fine, I really think that Oat-cream doesn't taste anything when you start mixing it with other things. However the filling didn't really want to thicken up the way normal ganasch thickens, but that's most likely because I mixed in a lot of lime in my filling which thins out the filling. Should probably have added some starch to it, something to remember for next time.

Having a runny filling made it of course a little bit more difficult to put lids on the praline. Put there's a trick I've seen on Youtube, where you spread out the chocolate on a cooking sheet and then put it on top of the pralines.

Who needs to be precise when temperating chocolate? I was hoping to find a cooking thermometer at ICA that shows decimals/fractions, but had no such luck. Was instead stuck to use my timer-steak-thermometer-combo device from IKEA, that doesn't show decimals which could be a bit difficult when you're looking for a temperature between 31,1-31,9. But I gave it a try, what's the worse thing that could happen? Probably that you end up getting the chocolate a little bit too cold which made it difficult to work with, but it was still in temper (glossy and snappy). The lids didn't end up looking too pretty, but heck, that's okay for me

200g of chocolate. That's was all I used, for a recipe that called for 255g+30g. How did that affect the result? Well I didn't get any chokladbräck obliviously but I also didn't have enough chocolate to fill up the whole mold. Solved that with a a spoon and scooping over chocolate from filled shapes to some that needed more. It went really well except that my chocolate was a bit too cold so some of the shapes got stuck with chunks of chocolate in them. But that's okay, I just didn't put any filling in them and the chocolate can still be reused. Even though I only used 200g of chocolate I did end up with some leftovers.

No big bowls? Tipping out the chocolate when making shells is a messy business. Perhaps even more messy when you don't have a  big enough plastic bowl to tip it all out in. Instead I used a reusable teflon baking sheet. And it was very effective. Once the chocolate had cold down on the sheet I could easily get it off as it didn't stick to the sheet, and it also felt nice not throwing tons of paper away, yay for the environment.

All and all I'd say that it went very well yesterday and I'm ready for making some salted caramel tonight, already cooked the filling (so much work cooking a can of sweetened condensed milk for two hours...). 

Preparing for a New Year

 

This is the new journal

I have not been updating much on my Bullet Journal, but I do kind of still use it actually. And as we're getting closer to the end of 2017 it is time to think about how I shall continue this habit for next year. I've barely used 2/3 of my current bullet journal, and I would use even less as I'm going for a more compact layout now compared to last year.  So in spirit of not tossing away a book with 100 of empty pages I decided to do surgery on it and turn the empty pages in to the next years bullet journal (as I calculated that I would barley need 100 pages for that one). Sure, the numbering doesn't make much sense now, but I never paid any attention at all to those tiny numbers at the bottom of the pages It has been a very fun project and it is now finished, I can now start planning out the coming year in it (yes, I am way to excited about starting new calendars).

Spent hours making this golden pattern on the inside of the book (it's in the back as well). And i also made a little pocket for stuff, which I will probably not never use because I've yet to use the pocket inside my current journal. But hey, it's pretty and makes it looks a bit more professional than DIY I guess.

It's a bit crooked but I think I will love this journal no the less. It is also nice to have a smaller journal as it will take less space in my bags which will make it more likely that I'll bring it with me every now and then. 

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month. By a coworker I got informed about this to me unknown challenge, where you're write a novel of 50.000 words during November month.

I used to write lots of poems back in my teenage-time and on my drive there's lots of unfinished stories that I really want to write on. And there's one story in particular that I want to write. So I signed up for this challenge and three days in I'm already struggling to keep up, hurrah. But It's been great non the less. And it is fun doing something creative besides drawing.

There's a whole community and all attached to this challenge. If you sign up you can track your progress and get badges. I'm a sucker for achievements.

The story I'm writing is rather difficult to describe, mostly because it's very personal. It could be described as a biography inspired by my teenage-years but written from other peoples points of view as a reflection on the relationship they had to this teenage-girl. It's very much a fiction however, with few resembles from actual reality. I only have about 20 chapters planned which might be a bit short as I'm currently trying to write one chapter every day and that will probably not reach 50.000, but I'm sure I will figure something out along the road. And it's not like this is going to be published or anything, so it is totally okay if it falls short.

Good luck to everyone that's writing this month!

Inktober

October has passed and with it has also the inktober challenge, were you're supposed to draw an ink drawing every day in the month of October. This year has been the third year that I have done this challenge and so far it's been the best in the aspect of keeping up with the daily drawings, even if my Instagram might not agree. I've finished 16 drawings and still have another 6 that are sketch but yet not finalized. I'm planning on finish them during November, with ink of course. So in "total" I made 22 drawings out of 31, not to bad considering that I'm not even used to sketching on a daily basis.

Not all of the drawings have yet made their way to Instagram, where I usually post my arty stuff. It's mainly because I always stay up very late to finish the drawings and don't want to post pictures then as I have coworkers following me there and I don't want them to tell my boss I'm staying up way past my bedtime and not being a responsible adult (yes I know that's a rather strange dilemma I've created and not very reasonable in the real world, but that's just my brain). The other reason is that I don't like the quality of my camera on the phone so I just don't feel like the photos showcases my drawing well enough, which makes me feel a bit sad. I am thinking about saving up for a new camera, one of those cool ones with WiFi so that I could either upload directly to Instagram or just store them on my drive where I can easily access them from my phone to edit and post.

Inktober has inspired me to try some other challenges, but these are mostly sketching which makes it so much easier. Some of the challenges that I'm considering to do are "30 day diary illustrations", "100 sketches of ..." and "30 days of Outfit of the day". I think they will develop me a lot. Especially that last one since I can't draw clothes at all and it's something I really want to do.

But before I'm undertaking any challengers I'll give myself a bit of a break during November as I have plenty of other projects that I want to do. I'm trying my hands on writing with the NaNoWriMo-challenge (more bout it in the next entry), want to redo the 30 days of yoga, finish crafting my new bullet journal, I need to mend and fix lots of clothes for Australia, a secret thing and I also really want to do some doll customization as I've recently become addicted to the Dollightful channel on YouTube. So during this weekend I'm planning on searching in Second Hand shops for toys that I can repaint, as I'm trying to be environmental and also dolls are very expensive. I have lots of difference idea that I want to do, so I'm going to see what I can find in the shops and go from there.

Australia booked

I'm going to the land down under! And you can bet on me to glow, because I'm just that fricking pale that I reflect sunlight like a moon. People better wear sunglasses around me if they don't want to go blind.

It will be great going down there again. Hopefully I'll get to bring home all the cute animals this time.

Baby Blanket - update

The amount of squares for the blanket are rapidly growing. Since I'm able to do some crocheting on the bus between work and home I can keep up a rate of one square per day. It's so nice that crocheting is do much more compact compared to the knitting. I would probably not find the time to do it otherwise, especially now when I'm trying my best to actually do Inktober every day.

I've had to settle for yarn of the wrong brand and colour, as I went to the local store and they did not have Drops-yarn. I realized afterwards, when starting to crotchet with it, that the new yarn wasn't as soft either. Also noticed it was a lot more expensive than buying Drops online. Sadly I noticed this too late, as I can't return the yarn and get my money back. I could exchange it for a gift card at the shop, but in currently in no need for others yarn so I guess I'll just stick with this. I'm sure the blanket will be nice anyway. 

My wonderfully messy blanket sketch and tracker. 

Going home from Art Class

Guess what. I didn't get thrown out.

The class was a little bit awkward, because out of nine students only three showed up, including me. But we might get to join with an earlier group, so that there will be a little bit more lively.

This evening we only worked with charcoal, which I haven't touched in ages. Was messy and fun trying to just focus on colour values and not so much the end result.

I will now end the evening with some tea and working on the baby blanket.

Heading to Art Class

For the first time since high school I'm heading back to a painting class. I've done lots of art studies after high school, but this is the first time I'll be in a classroom where you'll get help and feedback from a teacher, which I hope will teach me stuff that I probably forgot during the years when I didn't paint.
I'm hoping to improve my colour theory/colour mixing, blending technics and finally to just get inspiration and force myself to paint more often. Without practice one does not improve.

Heading to this class I'm having lots of anxiety. What if I don't have the right supplies, what if the others are better, what if I get tossed out for not being good enough. You know, the usual panics when we try something new... I'll get back with an update telling you all about how they tossed me out on the raining streets and how the tram didn't let me on because my paint stained clothes made me look like a hobo.

Baby blanket

On my 30 before 30 list is a dreaded goal of making a crocheted blanket. I goal I almost completed before tossing a huge 90% finished blanket away, as I had grown to despite it. And have since struggled with starting a new, since I don't feel like such a blanket will fit in in my home.

But it had recently been announced that my brother is expecting a baby, so guess who will get a crocheted blanket for their birthday.

Went to Google for inspiration and found a supercute pattern using something called bubble stitch which was used to create different symbols on each square. I will keep it a bit simple and just use blank squares and squares with hearts on them. I will also make a longer square containing the name, which I think I'll find out before I'll meet the baby.

I think the colours for the blanket will be off-white, pale yellow and a pale forrest green. Would love to use some of the pinkish coloured yarns that I have, but since the gender is not known yet and since I don't think these parents will appreciate a pink blanket to a boy, I'm going with some more gender-neutral colours.

I've made a sketch of the blanket, to figure out where to place the hearts and what colour each square should have. It's still a work in progress. When it comes to the colours I'm thinking of having two colours for the squares and then the third colour for the name tag, making it pop more.

What I do know is that I have 51 squares + name tag to do. It takes me 1,5 hours to make one with hearts. And the yarn seems to be enough for 3,5 square. There's a lot of work ahead to finish before February.

The best party

I'm on my way home after a wonderful weekend in Stockholm. First on Friday was a crayfish party, a Swedish specialty, with lots of relatives. It was nice with lots of loud singing.

On Saturday was a full day of party at Linnéa's, celebrating her big birthday. We were welcomed by big balloons with horses on them, a fitting theme indeed. It was an absolutely wonderful day, filled with tasty food, wine, boardgames and good friends.

A little bittersweet as it made me miss having that kind of social life. Gothenburg is rather lonely and during my time there I haven't really had people over for boardgames or days of fun.

Sunday was a calmer day, with drop coffee and ice cream in the park before Rhys, the kitties and I had to start our journeys home.

Magical Birthday

I recently had the honors of having my Birthday. The day itself wasn't much to brag about, as it was just me, the kitties and Ben&Jerrys. But I had an amazing weekend to make up for that.

When I arrived the day after to Stockholm I got pancake dinner and a frozen chocolate mousse cake, accompanied by birthday singing from my parents.

At 5 AM on Friday I had to drag myself to the airport and to London, with a new found cold. But the day got a lot better when meeting up with Rhys, who had stolen cookies from Ben just for me. We left the airport, had lunch at out favorite Lebanese place Comptoir Libanais before checking in at this hotel where we got to choose between two different room. One had a big bed and the other had smaller bed but a shower in the room. We chose the shower, and I'm so sad for not having a picture of this room as it was rather funny looking with a freestanding shower in a corner of the room.

After a few cookies and some rest it was time for a big adventure that I had no clue about what it could be. Rhys kept on giving me clues, laughing a bit at my slow mathskills, as we headed out of the city center. I got the theme quite quickly, but had no idea what activity it could be with said theme. It's an understatement to say that I got excited when we arrived to the adventure. Warner Bros Studio Tour of the Harry Potter set. Holy smoly was it a fantastic day, fever aside. I remember being told in the beginning of things that would appear, but I forgot them quickly and every time I turned a corner I was amazed. We walked around for 6 hours and I filled my phone with photos and a few silly videos showing me displaying some behavior society might not seem fit of a 29 year old woman. However, I will restrain myself from sharing these things here, as I know of a certain someone reading this blog might want to experience this magical adventure for herself.

Thank you sweetie for this wonderful surprise <3 p="">
On the Saturday we started out a bit slow, perhaps it had something to do with me having a rather big cold. But after popping some paracetamol combined with caffeine we could get some adventures done. We decided very spontaneous to go and watch King Lear at the Globe which was really nice even though I didn't understand everything right away (someone had to explain a lot during the break). After the theater we went out for dinner, sadly not the Wine cellar bar we had planned and someone was filled with paracetamol. Instead we went to Pizza East in Portobello (it is so much better than the Shoreditch one) and had a lovely pizza night, so much yummy.

Sunday was a calm day mostly spent at Lush, whoops I might have bought some make up, and at Foyles, a wonderful and huge bookstore. We had a quick Meze platter at Comptoir Libanais before heading out to the airport.

And that's how my last 20-something birthday was celebrated. I've now started the countdown for the big birthday next year. Not stressed out about turning 30, but more stressed out by my 30-before-30-list of which I've only completed 10 task over the years I've had this list. But heck. I think I should be able to complete it all in the next 300-something days that are left.

Halfway

Woho, I have finished the backside of my knitted sweater. I have hopes of finishing the whole sweater before the end of the year.

This little thing is part of my 30 before 30 list, which I have 1 year left on and more than half of it left to finish, I'm good with procrastinating.

Project 333 / Capsule Wardrobe - The Purge

As a part of my journey into getting a sustainable wardrobe, and part because I love organizing anything, I've made a big spreadsheet of the content in my wardrobe. Not only did I make a list of each piece, but I also added information about color, appropriate seasons to be used, what state they are in and whether or not I want to keep the piece. Took me some time, but it was a lot of fun...

Yes, I'm a dork and proud of it

With help of my honest and though loving sister, I've purged my wardrobe. It was great fun and lots of undressing and dressing quickly and a new joke was formed.

*tada* Släktmiddagar *jazzhands*

I'm left with a few decisions and two big bags with clothes for donations (as I'm too lazy to try and get some money from them by selling them). I also have shoes to sort through but their fate is kind of already set. If shoes are to uncomfortable to wear, than there's no reason to have them.

So from 91 pieces of clothing (including outwear but excluding shoes and accessories) I'm now down to  66 pieces, all of whom will be used and loved and tended for.  It feels wonderful to have purged the wardrobe. I now have a wardrobe only of clothes that I will wear, no more guilt over that skirt that I bought 5 years ago but never worn. Having things that I don't use does not make me happy. 

And with this purge done I feel ready to try the 333 Project for this autumn. 33 pieces of clothing to use for 3 months.  

Project 333 / Capsule Wardrobe - What is it?

Over the summer I've been introduced to a concept refereed to capsule wardrobe or Project 333. It's all about having and using a small wardrobe. The Project 333 refer to using 33 pieces of clothing, often including outwear, shoes and accessories, and using these clothes for a full season, 3 months. It's goal is to use your clothes, minimize the "One day I'll wear that"-pieces in the wardrobe. It is also combined with saying good bye to fast fashion and instead, when needed, invest in clothes from sustainable sources. Well, that's at least what I've taken from it. And from it I will take these things:

• Start buying clothes from sustainable sources
• Think through my purchases more, no longer buying clothes that will not be worn
• Mend and take care of my clothes
• Give the 33 clothes for 3 months a change, try make new and fun combinations
• Stop using softener and the drier, as these does more harm than good to the clothes 

Interested? Here are some links and information

My Green Closet Youtuber all about sustainable fashion and with great tips on how to get the most out of a smaller wardrobe.

List of a ton of sustainable shops, not only fashion

Project 333 Here you can find a lot more information.

Good Morning Sunshine

It has been a morning for sure this Wednesday. For the third night in a row I'm woken up in the middle of the night. This time by a Milky cat complaining that he didn't get any dry food before bedtimes. It was a very tired Maria that later rolled out of bed after snoozing an hour.

I recently changed my breakfast from yogurt and müsli to smoothies, as I had started to loathe my yogurt and müsli. Though this new breakfast of mine surely is tastier, I'm a bit worried about its protein content. To ease my worry I've ordered some protein powder that the postman jammed into my mailbox, was a lot of cardboard destruction to try and get that out, thank you postman.

But back to this morning. It was the first time for me to add this healthy powder into my smoothie. The backside of the bag said to use 30g of powder to 300ml of water. Since my smoothies are about 300ml, I made the decision to measure up and add 30g, which is roughly 100ml. Big mistake. My smoothie tasted nothing but powdery, nothing like my usually so tasty blend between banana and raspberries. I tried my best to add more oatmilk and more raspberries, and though it started to taste more like raspberries again it was still rather powdery. Ended up with probably 600ml of smoothie, so at least I have some of it waiting for me when I get home.

Well, after the powder-disaster it came time to close the bag of the protein powder. It had one of those zip-locks, clever little things to make your bags reusable. Except this one wouldn't work at all. After trying for half an hour I had to give up and instead find a container to put the powdery content into. Only I didn't have one big enough, but after pouring over most of the content I could at least fit the bag into one of my reusable zip-lock bags (oh the irony). 

My kitchen is coated in powder now, I nearly forgot to feed the kitties before leaving. Lets hope I don't fall asleep at the desk at work

Bedtimes?

It is nearly one AM, middle of the night and yes I am still up. My alarm will go off in six hours.
I have been up painting this late evening. There is something therapeutic about painting this late in the night, when no one else is awake. I love it and I could easily stay up  another two hours painting. But I do have a day job waiting for me in the morning, so I better get to bed. Good night to you all.

Flying... Or rather just waiting. Part 2

After a hot and wonderful weekend in Vienna it was time to get back to Gothenburg. I checked in on my phone early in the morning, downloaded my boarding-passes and went on with the day. Got ice cream, almost won at minigolf and had tasty nachos before heading out to the airport.

Upon arriving to the airport we noticed that my flight was an hour delayed, of course. Since my battery was around 30% I thought it was best to print out the boarding-passes in case the phone died, because I forgot to pack charger. To my surprise, Airberlin no longer had machines for that, so I had to go to the regular check in line for this. It was moving slowly but after 15 minutes it was finally my turn. And here is were the chaos starts.

After minutes of buttonpushing, phonecalling and tripple-checking my passport I got sent of to the ticket custom service place. Went there and got informed that I had been rebooked for a flight with another airline. I'm handed a printout of my flights and sent to print my boarding-passes with this airline. So we head off to the other side of the airport, a bit stressed since it is now getting close to departure time. We had arrived to the airport one hour before departure, since all we had to do was hugging goodbye and get me through security. Now we had 30 minutes for said tasks and no boarding-pass.

When arriving to the new section of the airport we quickly found the machines and tried printing out the boarding-passes. Big no from the machine because check in was obviously closed for that flight. The lines were huge to the check in counters so we're trying to explain my situation to two different workers until getting send of to a third lady that could help me. She did her best trying to catch the gate, but couldn't help me as they had already started boarding.

All I could do was to get to the next ticket customer service place and be rebooked. Again. Lucky for me there was one more option available that day, leaving in 1,5 hour. So after a quick meal me and Rhys sadly said goodbye and I headed to my gate

.

And guess what. My flight is delayed an hour. Which meant there was a very big chance of me missing my connecting. Oh well, I got on (eventually) and as we were approaching our destination I asked the flight attendants about connecting flight, but they had no information at all. We landed the same time that my connecting flight were to take of. I got of and hurried to a message board and found that my next flight had not taken off, but was an hour late. Thank goodness for that.

I join a group of tired travelers as we're waiting for a pilot. I check the shuttlebuses in Gothenburg and realize that there is no chance of my making it to the last bus. My only option is to take a cab. I'm terrified of going alone in a cab and I will avoid cabs as much as I possible can. I can count on one hand the occasions I've been in a cab. Once with my family on the way from airport home, from the city after seeing the Return of the King with my brother, after I fainted at the blood donation place with boyfriend at that time, between restaurants when we celebrated my dads 50th birthday with family, once in Thailand with parents. Lucky for me I found a girl to share the cab with and got home around 1.30 AM. 

Flying... Or rather just waiting. Part 1

Goodness gracious me has my flying luck been on the edge of not working at all this weekend.

On the Friday I got an email midday from airberlin informing me that my 19.20 flight has been delayed to 20.00. which sucked alot since I had a connecting flight that would be hard to get onboard before I got to Berlin.

When getting to the airport there's no information about the delay at all. Foolishly I thought that was a good sign (I'm laughing inside at the foolishly naive young woman I once was). All through the security and all I get another email saying my flight is only delayed to 19.50. Half an hour later I get yet another email, saying 21.00. Big oh no as that would mean that I would miss my connecting flight. Well, things kind of got better from there, as I got yet another email, but this time about my second flight. It was delayed by two hours as well, making it again a narrow change but in the end I made it.

But I couldn't relax just yet. As I now we're arriving to the airport at 00.05 and the last train from the airport goes at 00.18. We did of course land at the furthest end of the airport, making it a long run. I could barley breath for half an hour as the AC on the airplane had dried out my poor throat.

At least I got there and got to enjoy a wonderful weekend with my sweetheart.

July Goals

It took me rather long time to figure out what I wanted to achieve this month, but after a lot of thinking I think I have a few goals.

Get to physiotherapy
Did that this week and I now have four exercises to keep up with on a daily base.

Get back to the gym
Haven't been there all June, so it is time to get back because it cost a lot of money. Found a few group trainings that I will try out.

Fix the balcony
Half of this is done, by making a tiny little table. The second half is to put net around it so me and the kitties can all relax put there. I've found a good alternative that I'm goingto order as soon as this is done

Sort out clothes and fix them
During June I've been inspired by capsule wardrobes and sustainable living. I will explain it all more in its own post but it has had me inspired to critically go through my clothes.

June Notes

June sure went by quickly with its mini vacation and all its special events. I will admit that it has left me little time to fulfill my two goals for the week. The 30 days of yoga has 5-10 days left on it and the painting was finished a few good minutes past midnight on the last day of the month. But I feel good none the less. I've tried new things, like yoga outdoors and paintball. The later was not really my thing though. And Rhys and my parents have successfully met eachother and we all had a good time.

On the downside I'm still in a lot of pain, so I'm going to book a visit to a physiotherapist as my two visits to the chiropractor hasn't improved much. Coming back from Stockholm I've also had a longer time of depression and anxiety, which has been a struggle. Usually I'm good after a day or two, but this time it took ten days before I got out of the low. I think it was just very lonely coming back after such a wonderful time with loved ones and not even having my kitties. Can't wait to have them home again.

Relaxing Evening

Hot yoga followed by sauna, cold shower and floating in a skin temperature pool. That was my free and relaxing evening after a dreadful day at work with headache and nausea. Wish this was something I could do more regularly, but a monthly membership fee of 699sek is simply not in my budget right now.

Rounding off the evening with a visit to Blackbird, a vegetarian restaurant that everyone seem to live, for dinner with a friend.

Life without the kitties sure makes it easier for afterwork adventures, but I do miss them terrible much. Falling asleep was nearly impossible last night.

When Sweden met Australia

I'm currently sitting on a delayed train heading back home to Gothenburg. I've spent a week in Stockholm, together with my parents and Rhys and his parents. We have all had a lovely time.

Thursday started early at 6.00 AM at the airport, picking up our guests. We had a peaceful morning and lunch at home before making way into the city. We walked through the southern island, took a ferry and ended up at the park theatre for a Midsummer night's dream, performed in English. It was lots of fun.

Friday was spent celebrating the Swedish midsummer. Rhys took his parents for a quick coffee and lunch inside the city, as mom and I prepared the midsummer dinner and cake. I also made some flower garlands, very quickly as we were running out of time. We took the car to the nearby celebration area, which was jammed packed with people. Dancing around the midsummer pole was rather cramped, but we were all doing the famous frog dance before heading home for dinner and cake.

Saturday was a day spent singing and dancing at the Abba musuem. The evening was first spent in Koh Phangan's jungle with tasty Thai dinner. We then took the stroll to Katarinahissen for a beautiful view as the sun started to set.

Sunday took us on a tour through the City Hall and then on the ferry out to Drottningholm Castle and it's theatre, two places I've never been. The City Hall had many hidden treasures and shame on me for never realising that the local government/council of Stockholm actually used the place daily for deciding the faith of the capital. We also took a tour off the 250 years old theatre out by the castle. It was very special as they are still using all the original scenery and mechanics. Rhys and I actually got to go backstage and produce wind and thunder with these original devices. It was a lot of fun and I have to make sure to make visit next year for a real show.

Monday was sadly Rhys's last day, but we managed to cram in a visit to the Vasa musuem in the morning. I've never see this huge ship, forever famous for sinking after 1000 meters on its maiden voyage. It baffles and amazes me how big and detailed they were able to build back in the days before machines and proper measurement. After a quick lunch at home we had to take Rhys out to the airport. We first missed our train and then had to drive all the way to the airport.

Tuesday, or today as it also is when I'm writing this, has been a day filled with journey. I managed to drive us wrong, twice, as I tried to take us to Skokloster. In the end we had to give up on the idea of making a visit to Skokloster before having lunch in Sigtuna, as we also had to make it in time to Arlanda as Rhys's parents had their flight to catch. We had a nice time in this little peaceful town, filling our tummies with tasty food from Tant Brun.

And now I'm on the last part of the adventure, slowly getting back home to my empty bed. Feels a bit sad going back as I don't even have the company of my kitties. But I will head over to Vienna next weekend, so I do have that to look forward to that at least.

I Made a Promise, Mr Frodo

Last time at the chiropractor I made a promise, to go swimming once before going back. I saved that to this weekend that we've just had, so that Rhys could help me as he's a very good swimmer than me and I need lots of help and practice to improve my crawling.

Well, things didn't go as planned. And today is Monday, the day I have that next appointment with my chiropractor. Guess who went up at the crack of dawn and went to the pool before work. Because I made a promise!

It was actually a really nice way to start the day.

June goals

Summer is here upon us and since I'm saving most of my vacation for a long Christmas-vacation, it means that I'll still be working. But I do have a week in Stockholm to look forward to later this month followed by a weekend in Vienna, so it won't be all work and no play. Actually it seems to be lots of fun, only one weekend unplanned as my parents are currently visiting.

Due to all the fun plans I don't have many goals. Mainly two. First one is to complete my "30 days of yoga" challenge and second goal is to finish a watercolour painting that I've been working on for ages. There's also my goal of trying something new with the hair, but it no longer needs to be in the list as I've become more creative on my own with this hair of mine.

I should probably put "start physical exercise" on the list. But I feel very intimidated by the fact of getting a session with a PT and I don't want to hurt myself by working out in the wrong way.

May notes

Spring is now over as we're leaving May and get headed into June and summer.
May have been a really good month, even though I've barely done the things out on my goal-list.
I've run my first race ever, mended my bike (it's broken again though) and last weekend I took an extra day off and had four sunny days with my Rhys. We walked through the Slottsskogen daily, saying hi to all the seals, penguins and baby goats (so fricking adorable).
Earlier in May I had my mother over for a weekend of shopping, eating and spending time together. She stayed and cheered on me when I did the race which was lovely.
Due to getting visits almost every weekend I really didn't have much time for mermay and more ambitious creativity. And June is going to be quite similar I fear. So that little dream of mine to start Etsy this summer are delayed. But that's okay.
That basically sums up my May. Now let's head into June and.

New Challenges

Starting today I'm doing a 30 days of yoga challenge, following this playlist by Adriene. It will surely be a well deserved change for this aching and stiff body that I've neglected since I got it. My shoulders and whole chest are in an awful state to say the least. A visit to my chiropractor and wonderworker is going to happen soon to help my body's healing process.

Earlier today I finally fixed the flat tire on my bike, which means I will start taking it to work starting tomorrow. It's going to be so nice not having to miss the bus every morning. And I'm of course wearing a helmet!

Since I'm going to get most of my cardio from riding the bike 7km two times per day, it is time to change my routine at the gym and do more muscle work. Have some research to do for that one, to get myself a good program.

As my crawl course finished last week it is time to start swimming on my own. Found out the other day that the outdoor pool will open on the 25th which is great since there's barely anyone using it on weekday evenings. I also found out that you can get a season pass just for the outdoor pool which is a lot cheaper than the regular card. So swimming on Tuesday will probably still be one, might get a bit flexible if I have anyone joining me.

And that's all the changes to my training clothes routines. Feeling very excited about the yoga and I'm really hoping it will help me get rid of my hurting chest and shoulders.

Back at the gym

After a week of rest I'm now back at the gym for my regular runs. My past week was filled with zero motivation and lots of crippling pms-anxiety​, so training was rather out of the question as going to work was hard enough. Today I'm still having zero motivation, but the anxiety is gone so it's a lot easier to force myself back here.

During the weekend I've made the decision not to do the triathlon next month, as I'm not good enough with the swimming and I also have no idea on how to transport my bike to the race area. For the same reason I will not attempt the Gothenburg classic as the swimming is even longer and the water filled with even more swimmers. It doesn't feel safe.

Next goal is therefore the midnight race, in Stockholm. Which will be bloody difficult because there is a hell-hill to climb... But challenge accepted.

(Can my nose please stop bleeding so I can actually start my run -.-)

Vårruset 2017

It was a rather cold but sunny evening when I joined 12.000 other women in Vårruset here in Gothenburg. I had my mum cheering me on as I did my best in this 5 kilometer long race. This was my first time running outdoors, usually I'm just on the treadmill, and it was a lot more difficult than expected. I think my biggest issue was to keep a steady pace as I ran past all the joggers and walkers. Ended up on a time around 40 minutes, don't know for sure since the watch I was using for time-taking was useless and showed 32 seconds as I passed the goal. I feel very certain that that wasn't my real time, but who knows for sure.

Though it was cold and harder than expected it was also a fun experience and I will be back next year for sure!

Still haven't decided if I'm going for the "Gothenburg classic" challenge. Mostly because I'm a bit short on money currently and the first race is on the 27th of May. It also falls on a day when Rhys is visiting, so I would have to drag him with me as well.

We'll see what happens. Should probably fix that flat tire of mine and start riding the bike to work first of all.

Bullet Journal

Poor thing. I've been completely forgetting all about my bullet journal during this last month. During the weekend I've been trying to get it back to life again with completely new layout. I think the last one worked against me because it was too difficult for me to get an overview. 

For May I've enlarged the monthly view, which will be my main-planner. On the next spread I've put my money-tracker and a weekly to-do list plus daily tracking of a few habits. I had to rip out a few pages, as I had already made the old template for the coming month. 

Here's the new monthly view, giving me a good overview of the coming month right away.

Tracking of economy and a simple weekly planer to keep track of tasks.

Knitting Update

The pattern I've chosen for my knitting project is very easy. The same can not be said for the yarn I have, fluffy mohair. Makes for instant tangles and messes if you're not careful. It also get a bit stuck on my knitting needles, as they are made of wood.
But I'm making progress. In fact had made it at least one third or halfway when I realised that I had done the pattern all wrong. I thought it said "increase with one" when it in fact said "increase with one on each side"...

So I had to redo everything past the waistband. And of knitting with mohair is a challenge, undoing is even harder since the fluffy bits seems to bond into tangles no man can undo. Took me a good half hour to undo.

It's a few days later now and I'm almost halfway to where I ones was. Let's not mess it up again.

Training Update

I've received my number tag for the race, Vårruset. Feeling really excited and can't wait for next Monday.

My running goes well. This Tuesday I ran 4,5km in 25 minutes. Felt exhausted the rest of the day, but also very proud.

My swimming goes alright I think, missed last week but I have a class today and hopefully I'll pick it up alright.

Since it is still rather cold here and with a lot of hard wind, I haven't started taking my bike to work. There's a big bridge to cross and it's horrible to do so when the hard winds blows since they make it impossible to breath. Rather scary feeling.

With the excitement building up for my first run, I'm thinking about signing up for the Gothenburg Classic. It consists of 50km on bike in May, 1km swimming in August and finally a 10km run in September. This would of course not count as a triathlon, but it does give you a diploma...

Where are those Endorphins?

Training has been difficult lately. I've lost all the motivation for it and the result hasn't been good. I thought that training was supposed to feel good, give you some well earned endorphins. But no, here I am just feeling depressed getting on this treadmill. I hope this is just some temporary mood-dip.

Okay five minutes up, time to start running.

Post Scriptum
This post failed to upload but I did not fail today in doing a little run (10min run, 3min walk, 10min run). And I felt mentally a lot better during today's run. Perhaps it isn't the exercise that has made me miserable, but the darn TV programs that's always on during my lunch-run. Emmerdale (hem till gården) and Absolutely Fabulous (helt hysteriskt). Why can't daytime TV show something decent?

Happy Easter little bunnies <3

Where are those Endorphins?

Training has been difficult lately. I've lost all the motivation for it and the result hasn't been good. I thought that training was supposed to feel good, give you some well earned endorphins. But no, here I am just feeling depressed getting on this treadmill. I hope this is just some temporary mood-dip.

Okay five minutes up, time to start running.

Do Not Panic

Oh dear me, it has been a morning for sure today. Went to bed at 11pm, went up at 3am. Milky had no clue why he had to get out of the bed as I quickly changed the sheets for my catsitter. Had to run to the tram, since i decided to paint my nails at last second. Almost forgot my sunglasses on the bus as they had fallen into the seat next to me. Bought a yoghurt and orange juice at the airport that i had to consume while queueing for the security check. It's interesting how empty the streets are at 5am, but the airport is cramped with people.
Made it through security and went to the bathroom where i multitasked on my phone. Exchanged some money and then went through passport control and to my gate. They opened my gate and i got into my bag to get my phone so i could send a quick text to Rhys. Got on the airplane. Except that their might have been 20 minutes of panic in between. You see, I didn't have the phone in my bag. It was lost. Remember how I told you about some multitasking in the bathroom... I put my phone down to wash my hands and told my self not to forget it...
So I ran back through the passport control (without showing my passport because they were only working on letting people in to the gates and not out. I probably crossed the Swedish border illegally) tran to the bathroom and try to find different stores in the closest area where someone could have left my phone. Nothing. Panic. Fighting lots of tears. Stress. Gave up, ran back to the passport control and to my gate. The line for my gate was still huge. Found a staff member there and asked if they perhaps could ask around on the walkie-talkies if someone had found my phone. A few minutes of silence. Then huge relief. A cleaning lady had my phone, or at least a phone. So I had to wait. And the boarding line is getting shorter. Panic again, what if she doesn't make it in time. The line is down to ten people. I see her. She passes me the phone and asks me to restart it, just so that I can put in code and all and prove it is my phone. It seems to take forever to restart the damn phone. But finally i get to put in my pin, thank the lady again and rush off to my gate. I was only second last to board. My window seat was sken, but I couldn't care less. I sat down and got to send that short text to Rhys telling him I was on the plane and on my way to him.

It's not even 9am now and I'm exhausted. Let's not have any more adventurous today. Let's just sit in the park and feed the squirrels.

Skeleton Tree

Last week I did something I didn't believe I could do. Running for 20 minutes with no breaks. But I did, mostly because there was a prize waiting for me if I made it through. A ticket to see Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It worked very well as a motivation and now I can't wait for October, when I will have to wait outside the arena in Oslo for hours to get a good spot as I will be standing during the whole concert.

Last week i exercised 4 days in a row. When did I become this athletic?! Feels great though.

What to Knit?

After writing my update on my 30 before 30-list yesterday, I might have stayed up waaay too late looking for patterns that could suit my knitting-goal. So here are some options that I'm considering.

Maybe this yellow cardigan?

Or how about these adorable socks?

Or how about this summer cardigan? Though it is technically crocheted -.-

Or how about this retro sweater that could look totally cute with my high waisted skirts

I'm leaning towards the last one. The yellow cardigan though cute will probably not be used because I'll be too lazy to find buttons to sew on. And the making the socks feels like chickening out. And that summer-cardigan isn't knitted. So the last one it is ay?! It also happens to be that I have fitting mohair yarns laying around here... Isn't that a sign. Let's get knitted! 

Or wait, lets just check and see if I have the right needles... Yes but no. I need no.3 and no.6. I have very double-ended no.3, which will make it a tight fit for 77 stitches. But let's try, it's only for the elastic waistband, so I won't be stuck with the tiny needles for too long. Also.. i might make it smaller. The waistband on the sweater measure very huge on me. So let's make it smaller so that it get's the same fit as it has on the picture.Which means I have to recalculate the whole pattern, wish me luck!

30 Things Before 30

30 things to do before 30. I had a look at my old list, created in a time so vastly different that I can barely remember the thoughts of the person I was. And looking at it I've found a few things that for sure are going to change, because they are not relevant to me. Like one was to buy a car or an apartment. I don't see my life going in that direction right now, which is perfectly fine, and I also don't see it as some achievement. So I've tossed a few things around (but no-one but me would actually know since the original post is no longer available here ^^) So here we go. Updated list, lets do this.

1. Complete a triathlon race
Having my eyes set on a race later this summer here in Gothenburg. Will be so cool

2. Buy something fancy and let it coast a bit

It became a beautiful watch, which now needs a new bracelet because I didn't take care of the leather. Whoppsies. 

3. Roadtrip with friends

Thinking of going through Norway, because it is such a pretty landscape ande there's a few places I would like to see.

4. Diver's license

Saving for this one and hoping to do it this summer. With the pay rise I got it might be possible.

5. Kissing in the pouring rain
Vienna with my little nacho. It was wonderful and a lot of fun walking carelessly in the summer pour when everyone else was running for cover. Made me giggle

6. Finish a crocheted blanket

See what I did there... It's a modified goal. It was a specific blanket, that I hated and have now tossed out as it was getting full with moths. But I would like to complete a blanket one day. Perhaps a day before I turn 30.

7. Open a bottle of sparkling wine
Did that one on New Years Eve a few years back. Still a bit scary to open those bottles, but I've done it a few times now.
8. Work at a rice field

9. Make music video/short movie
And I have the idea all written down, gonna be a bit strange, but that's me. Waiting for my boyfriend to buy that new video-camera he's been raging about and perhaps he can be my cameraman.

10. Become better in Japanese
Went back to evening classes and it's been really fun, not up to the level I used to be. But I'm back on the basics.

11. Manicure, pedicure, massage

Done, done and done.

12. Drive dog sledge
Preferably during night under a Northern Light.

13. Have an exhibition/ art table

Yes, another modified one. Which just right now might have been booked as a friend asked me if I wanted to share table and a convent in the summer.

14. Sell an artwork
Hoping to get an Etsy up and running this year.

15. 5 songs on guitar
This will be a challenge for sure. It hurts so much and it sounds so bad before becoming good.

16. 5 songs on piano
Even though I don't own any kind of piano or keyboard (I own a guitarr, it is right by this desk) this is so much more realistic as I've actually try and learn a few songs whenever I'm up in Stockholm and have access to parents piano. These are the songs I've learnt/will learn

1. Yann Tiersen - Comptine d`un autre ete - l`apres-midi
2. Lisa Miskovsky - Lady Stardust

3. Ólafur Arnalds - This Place Is A Shelter

4. Tom Odell - Heal

5. not sure yet

17. Start permanent hair removal

I mean, who wants to shave all day long.

18. Cosplay

Went as Leia with her classic buns, white robe-dress and I even made her pistol.

19. Dive into water

This one will be tough. I tried to learn once, had someone teaching me and we took it in small steps. But I got panicked. Couldn't do the easy "just lean forwards until you fall" step. So my hopes are a little bit low one completing this one.

20. See Northern lights
I have seen them once before, but I want to do it again

21. See a sky filled with stars

Done this one before too, but I really want to redo it as it was one of the most extraordinary experiences in my life.

22. Quilted blanket

What is it with me and big textile projects? I saw someone doing a death star quilted blanket, I so want to do that too.

23. Go on a 4 week trip

Australia for almost 5 weeks

24. Walk on tight rope

Where do you go to learn this?

25. Travel outside Europe

Morocco and Australia

26. Knit a piece of clothing (other than hat or scarf)

This used to be about a specific sweater, but I think I just need to scratch that and restart.

27. Make a pretty decorated cake

Made an awesome death star cake for my boyfriend's birthday just a few days ago.

28. Surf

Done twice in Morocco. I want more though. I want to one day be able to surf through a wave tunnel. But that takes years of practice, so that's not going up on this list

29. Visit Iceland and do a riding tour -new
Upon googleing on this I also found that you can go snorkling in lakes by the volcanoes and it looked so cool. So going to do that to.

30. Learn how to break on a longboard - new

Last year I started longboarding a little. It was great fun, but I can't go too fast because I don't know how to break. Well, I do now how, but my brain can't get my body to do right. Maybe I need to train up my balance.

So that's it.

9 things done, 21 to go. But hopefully I'll be able to complete 11 by the end of this year. Wish me luck.

Introverted Swede

As I'm waiting for my tram a tourist approach me and asks for direction. I do of course help him and realise that he's to take the same tram as me. So guess who had to wait 5 minutes extra in ice cold Gothenburg. Yeah, that's me, bit wanting to risk ending up in a conversation as I just want to read my book.

Also, last time I had a conversation with a stranger, he ended up stalking me online which gave me panic attacks and constant fear when going to the bus after work. So I'm just a bit cautious.

Swim swim swim

Though I've mostly just been kicking around in the pool, my arms are very exhausted really that now as I'm heading home from my first crawl-lesson. It's been nice even though it felt a bit too crowded in the pool.
Today we mostly focused on how to properly kick with your legs in terms of physical movement and whereabouts to lay in relation to the surface. 70% underneath and 30% over. Your  heals should reach above the surface when kicking  in case anyone reading was wondering.
My body feels like spaghetti now and I hope to sleep like a baby once I'm home.

A look into my Bullet Journal

Recently discovered Bullet Journals and fell in love with the idea of a self made calendar/planner/collector-of-everything-you-need-book. Beside the weekly and monthly planners I've written down my resolution goals and in the end I have a collection of my various colours (copics, water colour, acrylic and so on. Thought it be handy when I'm in the store and looking for new colours.)

My big copic collection spread in the making. Gush, making over 300 boxes with colour-codes took looooong time. But I'm so happy that I have it now

My Sports Goals and suggestions on easy exercises that I can do at home. I have a spread looking just like this one but for my Creative goals as well.

Monthly index with a quick overview of the days, list on what needs to be done and bought. And this one has the big special Spring cleaning list that I have to complete before the 28th.

I try also to keep track on different activates in my daily life. Such as migraines, cleaning, creative work and such. i also have a little spending tracker to make me more aware of how I use my money. 

Bullet Journal is something I've really fallen for and I find that the tracking really help me see how I'm doing on a daily basis as I often don't remember at all. It will be really good for my migraines and RLS to see if I can find pattern for them and if there's something I can do to improve them.

February Goals

Phew, I've finally started to catch up to present time.

This month is the month I will get my training started. Thanks to my lovely Linnéa I've started training on lunchtime. Best thing ever! The gym is practically empty and I don't feel that I'm adding anything to the stress I already feel about getting everything done each evening after work. Mostly doing cardio now, but will start doing some muscle work when spring is hear and I\m back on the bike.

Spring cleaning is going to be a big thing this month, it\s about time to take down those Christmas decorations and cleaning the balcony for the spring sunshine and new plants.

Less Sugar is actually from last month, a month I had sugar every single day. I blame it solely on those TimTams that was brought back from Australia. Thought truth be told. I ate those 2 value packs in 10 days. Yeah... I can't really stop or ration out treats if I know that I have them in my home sadly. 

January Summary

The first month of 2017 flew by with long busy nights. I had a pretty wall calendar to make, with new bought water colours. I never understood how to use them, but now I finally understand and I love them. Have many painting ideas with this medium.

Besides painting every evening I also started a Bullet Journal, which took a lot of time since I had to plan how to do my planner with sketches and excel sheets. Yeah, I do easily get stuck in the whole planning phase.

I bought a new desk in January, one that will be placed in the kitchen and that will be solely dedicated to art and crafts. Sitting by my computer doesn't work since there's a keyboard, art supplies and a big Milky cat and the table just can't fit that. Also I want a place where I can easily access any art supply and that will be easy to clean every time I'm done, as that Milky cat doesn't understand where he's allowed and where he isn't.

2017 Resolution

Yes, it's February but I've had a very busy January, another post will spill the secrets.

My resolutions for this year are rather vague, but very important.

Be Creative

I dream very much about being able to start selling my art and I have so many ideas that I think I can execute and that people will be interested in. My big hope is to be able to open an Etsy store bye the end of the summer.

Be Healthy

My body is breaking down. I'm in constant pain which is mainly a result of a desk work, no exercise and a bad posture. And guess what, I'm going to live with this body for quite some time so it's about damn time that I start taking care of it.

I have a list with a few smaller goals that I want to achieve before the end of the year, such as running a few races. And all these goals have nice rewards, which I hope will help me keep the motivation and going through with this.

Bonus

There is also one hidden resolution. One new hairstyle every month. I mean, what is the point of long hair if I'm always tying it into a knot. Let's do something pretty with it, like learning how to make braids of different kind. Just a small and silly thing I'm tossing in there

There we go. I'm really looking forward to this year and I have high hopes on achieving the goals I've set.

December Goals - one month later

December is over, the whole 2016 is over in fact, so it's about time to see how I did with my goals.

1. Make and send Christmas card
Drew and sent way a handful of cards. Which I had started earlier though since it caused plenty of late nights to finish them all in time. And I found that glitter pens are really pretty, need more.

2. Complete the new year's resolution
I did go to one musical, one play and I saw a short Christmas carols concert. And with those three I actually think I made the resolution just in time.

3. Photoshoot
I knew this one was a far fetch and I sadly didn't get time to do it. But I will hopefully find the right time and light soon.