5 fast facts

Inspired by Amy and Kam, here are 5 fast facts about me!

1. I love Glee. And Buffy the Vampire Slayer. 
For some people this is not very shocking, other people would hate me for it. But you know what? Whatever. Glee can cheer me up no matter what :)

2. I secretly dream of becoming a photographer.(for real) 
I'm still in the process of finding out whether I'm good enough to give it a proper go, what type of photography would be my niche, what my style is... But I'll get there. Step by step.

3. I have lost my heart to Africa. 
In the years before my trip to Kenya, I heard people talk about how they lost a little piece of their heart to Africa as soon as they set foot on the continent. I didn't experience this, not when I was there, nor during the first weeks after we got back. I mean, it was an beautiful, awesome, one-of-a-kind experience, but I still didn't feel the way all  those people did.
But somehow... the feeling crept in. It's been almost 6 months since we came back, and I miss Kenya like crazy. I miss the warmth, the people, the animals. I miss the feeling of never knowing what's gonna happen today, no matter how well you've planned it. I don't think I'd ever want to live there for real, but I'd love to explore all corners of the continent...

4. I have a slight tea addiction.
What some people have with coffee? I have that with tea. I don't think I can function properly without a cup of tea in the morning. Over the years of living in my college room, I've collected quite a stash of different flavours. So much so that when I moved in with Imre, I brought over half a banana-box of tea with me...

5. I need to seriously cut the amount of time I spend on social media.
Seriously. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest.. I have them open ALL day. So I'm planning to reduce the amount of time I spend on them, but I'm not completely sure how I'm gonna pull that off (besides just doing it, obviously). Any tips..?

Mile a day AND photo a day for March - I couldn't NOT do it ;-)

Woops... 3 days into March I realized I was still taking my 'picture of the day' even though my project for February was over. So why not continue for another month?
This means I have 3 daily projects running at the moment: 30 days of lists, Photo a day for March, and I recently started running a mile a day. I got inspired after reading a post by Elise. I have been thinking about running for a while now, but with the Dutch winter weather February was just not a good month to start running again. So when March started out with such awesome weather, I got inspired to start with just a mile a day. After this month I'll probably continue to get back into my old 5k routine, but for the next few weeks a mile a day it is!

March 1 -  Daily dose of poetry. This is a sticker that came with Flow magazine, my favorite magazine at the moment. It's a dutch poem, about the early morning. I put it on the window of our office, I love it!

March 2 - Fishy. We had mackerel for dinner, and this was its skin... Awesome and freaky at the same time 

March 3 - Pins! After two pillowcases and a little pouch it was time for my next sewing challenge: a pin cushion. As you may have seen on one of my lists, I'm learning to sew. Eventually I would like to be able to sew my own dresses and skirts, but for now it's baby steps :)

March 4 - Spring!!! Finally, FINALLY the sun came out today! I was seriously wondering whether we'd ever see it again (I'm even considering light therapy against the winter blues)... So obviously I spent most of my day outside. Cycling around town to run errands, and taking a photowalk :)

March 5 - The joy continues! Call me weird, but I just love being on my knees, camera in hand, shooting flowers. Especially when the weather is this nice ;-)

March 6 - Spring sunset. Boy have I missed taking pictures like this! (I took this with my phone, on my bike ride home from the sports centre)

March 7 - Waiting for their new homes. Imre and I have been working on planters for these boys. We designed and made them ourselves, and they are ALMOST done!!
The old lady in red you see on the balcony? She's our local detective, she's always on the lookout.

March 8 - Home made. Today I made peanut butter using this recipe from Emma from A Beautiful Mess, one of my favorite blogs. My machine had quite the workout, but we succeeded, and it tastes great!

30 days of lists

So far this year has been all about discovering who I am deep down, what I like and that I want to do with my life. Turns out, prompts to write or list about are pretty darn helpful with that! So I decided to join the gang over at 30 days of lists for the March edition.

The idea is this: every day for 30 days a list prompt is posted, and you can scrapbook, write or in any other way create your list. I use a small booklet that came with my Flow magazine to write my lists in (I posted a pic of it here). When I started writing my first list last Friday, I had no idea whatsoever how I was going to do it. Write, put washi tape all over it, draw, paint, all options were open. Turns out I like the combination of writing and drawing/coloring best. See for yourself!

1. I list because...
* It creates order in my chaos

* I love to check things off the list

* Otherwise I would forget about a LOT of things

* It creates so much space in my head (sometimes)

* It is fun! :)
* It makes me more productive

2. About me...

 ♥ I am me: girlfriend, daughter, friend, niece/cousin

 ♥ I love creative stuff: PHOTOGRAPHY, coloring, sewing, COOKING, writing. ♥ I think I am honest, crazy, complex, sweet (sometimes)

 ♥ I dream of photography, kids, deep conversations, love and family

 ♥ My favorite things are chocolat, team flowers, climbing, yoga, books, my oven, my boyfriend

 ♥ Although I'm not sure yet how, I'll be fine!

3. This   (year)   I will ____
# Get my life back on track
# Find out what my dreamjob is
# Do a real photoshoot
# Learn to sew
# Enjoy the sun
# Run a mile a day for a month
# Decorate our home
# Love myself again
# Go on vacation to Romania?
# Tell my father in law what he means to me
# Turn 2013 into my year!

4. On an average day, I..

* Can't get out of bed

* Take at least one picture

* Have salad for lunch

* Have my phone as my best friend

* Read before I go to sleep

* Cook for my boyfriend

* Clean something around the house

More to come, I'll keep you posted ;-)

Februari 23-28. At least I'm keeping busy!

Februari 23rd - Up high. I've been bouldering and climbing for almost a year now, and recently my best friend started to climb as well. Yay! Saturday we went top roping together, which was so much fun. I wanted to take a shot from above, and we were thinking about how to get my phone up there with me. Floor came up with the idea to wrap it in a sock, and put it in my chalk bag. It worked!

Februari 24th - Late night bokeh. 

Februari 25th - Masterpiece. For a while now I've wanted to create something involving a quote and paint to put up in our office, but I never knew exactly how, and which quote to use. Finally I had some inspiration, and I painted a quote from Jasmine Star: Get Uncomfortable. This is something I feel I need to do to find out what I want to do with my life, and I want to remind myself as often as I can. 

Februari 26th - Together. Imre and I went ice skating, and we had a LOT of fun! We really need to do fun things together more often, it felt really good. I did kinda like that I'm a bit better at it, because he is always better at everything... ;-)

Februari 27th - Bring it on! I'm participating in the March edition of 30 days of lists. To me it's a challenge to create something everyday, and to get to know myself a bit better. I just finished the booklet I will be listing in. I will probably be posting my lists here, but they will be in Dutch.

Februari 28th - Time for spring. I am SO ready for springtime. Every year at the end of Januari I'm really proud of myself for making it through the rough part of the winter without getting the winter blues. What I forget year after year, is that Februari has yet to come - the worst month of all... So yes, I'm ready for spring to arrive. I'm looking forward to blossom, the healing warmth of the sun, budding leafs, birds nesting in the trees around our house... Bring it on, I'm ready!