Some big news...

... We're getting a HOUSE! Well, technically we're not getting a house, since we'll still be renting. But still. It's a house, like, with a garden and everything. And Imre and I will be living in it.

I'll share pictures soon (better ones than this blurry one we took in our new bathroom), but I really wanted to share the news with you guys :)
In the mean time you can find me sanding, painting, baking waffles after an old family recipe, and celebrating the beginning of the new year.

I hope you have an awesome beginning of 2014!

Our Christmas dinner

Last night, Imre and I hosted our first ever Christmas dinner.  

After a lot of going back and forth, we decided to go for a not so traditional menu. Instead we went with an Italian theme:
Starters: Jamie Oliver's bell pepper & tomato soup with freshly baked bread on the side. (I could only find this recipe in Dutch...)
Main course: Crispy plaice filets with a side of green beans, potato trees and a tomato salsa.
Dessert: Cinnamon ice cream with stewed pears, topped with some chocolate shavings.

After all the dishes magically got clean again (Just kidding. We don't have a dishwasher...) we served tea and coffee with this awesome red velvet bundt cake. I often find cream cheese frosting a tad too sweet, so I reduced the amount of sugar by a cup. It turned out delicious.

The only thing I didn't get to was taking pictures of the actual dinner, and the actual food... Which is kind of a fail for me. But I managed to get a shot of our pre-oven potato tree forest :)

We made everything from scratch, accept the ice cream. It was a lot of work, but it was totally worth it. We started the preparations on Monday, and only had a tiny moment of stress getting the main course on the table before things got cold. All in all we were an awesome team :)
It was so special to have all of our immediate family in one place at the same time. It was the first time that happened, ever. And as a bonus, we don't have to travel anywhere this year, which is, well... the first time ever as well :)

25 at 25

New year, new goals. I've been going back and forth for days about what I wanted to put on my 25 at 25 list. In the end I decided to not just make it a random list of 25 things I want to do this year, but really get some focus. So I made 5 categories (home, fun, money/work/blog, body, personal development), and for each of them I thought about where I want to be at a year from now. Apparently this made a lot more sense, as I ended up writing all of my goals down during a single cup of tea.

So there you are! I'm excited to start crossing things off. I added a few goals that I'm sure will be crossed off, like the Christmas dinner and my birthday party. For other goals I will have to work hard, like running a 10k, or work mindfulness into my daily routine. And both are totally fine with me. It's the variety of goals that will (hopefully) keep me going. Of course I'll be posting my progress here. I'm thinking of making it into a monthly series, to keep myself on track. So stay tuned!

Hi there, 25!

Yesterday I turned 25. My day was filled with friends, food, love and laughter. It was an awesome beginning of a new year. I always look at the new year as a clean, white, brand new chapter of my book that I get to fill, but this year that feeling is even stronger. I feel like this might finally be the year I get back in charge, do the things I deep down want to do.

24 has been a tough year, and I was so ready for it to be over. I feel like I'm heading in the right direction, and though there's still plenty of work to be done (in many areas of my life), I'm excited about it. And that feels so good.

25 will be the year we move into an actual house. It will be the year I will get over my crisis. It will be the year I stick to an editorial calendar. It will be the year I will focus on strengthening my relationship with this boy I love. It will be the year I stop surviving, and start thriving.

Wondering about my new list of goals? I'll share my 25 at 25 soon!

Around here...

 ... planning, planning. planning. The December month, our Christmas dinner, new blog posts, 2014.
... I'm working on a blog redesign. I'm taking my time to do it right so don't expect any changes too soon, but I have something in the works for you.
... it looks like we'll be moving soon! Last week we went to see a few houses, and it looks like one of them (the one we liked best!) will be 'ours' (we'll be renting again) soon!
... so now we're making floor plans, budgets and schedules like crazy.
... and I'm loving it!
... I'm joining Elise in running a mile a day from Thanksgiving through New Year's. I'm 8 days in, and even though I always have to push myself to go (it's so cold and windy at the moment...), I'm never sorry I went. Sharing a picture each day on Instagram using the hashtag #mileaday helps a lot in the motivation department! And so do my running shoes :)
... I got myself a new planner and it happened to be time for a new journal as well. I'm going with happy colours this year.
... Loving December Daily. I'm keeping it simple, just some journaling each day, and I'm taking a lot of pictures. At the end of the month I'll print a picture for each day. Those will go into my album back to back, alongside the journaling for that day.

Basically, I'm loving this time of year. And because I postponed my birthday party to after we moved (my birthday is next Monday, December 9), there's a lot less stress involved. Which is always a good thing.

What are your December plans?

30 days of thankful - week 3&4

Aaaaand then life happened. But here are the last two weeks of my 30 days of thankful project for November: