I know I promised weekly updates on this and it has only been five days but there are already some changes I’ve spotted. Obviously, I have to pay visits to the rest room more often but that’s not all that changed. First of all, I don’t feel sleepy all day. Finally! This has been a long going issue for me. I was tired in the morning, before lunch, after lunch, later in the afternoon and I was struggling to stay awake ’till half past ten. For the last three days I have been feeling more and more awake. I’m up until midnight and wide awake in the morning. So far, so good.
The other thing is, that I finally got to enjoy the sauna and the steam cabin. To be honest, I have never been a big fan of heat as I usually felt dizzy and was unable to sweat a lot, or at all. Anything above 30 degrees Celsius was literally making me sick and uncomfortable. I blamed it all on being a winter girl, but the fact is I was lacking proper amount of fluid so badly, that my body simply could not cool itself as it should.
The learning process so far…
I bought a book on photography! Yeeey!
I finished 80 pages already and now I know (okay, have a rough idea) how DSLR cameras work, what the basic differences are and what happens exactly when a photograph is taken. I already looked into some settings, but I still don’t get the images I want.. Well, learning photography is not something that magically happens after reading 80 pages, so I might just keep on reading a bit more.
Here are a few pictures I have taken today to see if I can use any of the things I’ve learnt so far.
Big news! I am starting the 30 days water challenge tomorrow. I have always been told off for drinking 3-4 glasses of water a day (tops!) so it is high time I started doing something about it. I know this is not normal, but I really don’t feel like drinking more than that. The “How drinking 3 litres of water a day took 10 years off my face” article was the last drop in the glass (how poetic) and gave me the final push. I have been warned by relatives, boyfriend, work colleagues and my doctor about this and I have been trying, but never managed to take in more than 1.5 litres, so I am really curious if I can manage 3 litres… Sounds like plenty… But if only half of the achievements listed in the article prove to be true it’s all worth it.
Let’s see! I’ll report about how I managed – this time next week 😉
I also wanted to share a few photos I took over the weekend, while learning my camera’s settings. Any feedback is more than welcome and much appreciated. I hope you like them. xoxo
It’s been a year since I bought my Canon 1000D. Funny enough, I hardly used it… ever. Mostly for the reason that I had (ok, have) no clue how to use it properly.
Having a professional camera and using it on auto settings always grossed me out. Pathetic… I spent all that money to push a button…? Noooo, that wasn’t something I am into.
So, I had to find the time (and quit the excuses) to actually learn how my camera works. Aperture? ISO?
Since I don’t have any money to spare and spend on pricy courses I begun my search online. I found a great tutorial on Lifehacker and started playing with certain settings…for the last two days.
I have been learning Illustrator (and created my new logo, ha!) and Photoshop for a little while, so I might get everything together to do some creative work I always wanted to and had been passionate about.
Here is the first set of my photos, I hope you like them. Any feedback is much appreciated.
We are getting into that Halloween spirit even though it is not officially celebrated in Hungary. We have our pumpkin craved and bought a ghost shaped baking mould. I’m still not entirely sure what to bake in that.. Oh! Almost forgot about the creepy Halloween potato shapes I picked up at the local shop today 🙂 Feket (the black one) looks even blacker and keeps scaring around the girls, so hopefully we are all gonna be ready for the return of the dead.
I’d like certain changes to happen in my life, so I decided to make some to start with. For a change, I did not begin with my hair colour or lenght (huh), but my blog. I really hope you’ll like it. I am also starting to learn PS this week and might desing a logo to go with the new design.
Big news! (Beeeeeehold!) We have a breadmaker. My grandparents got it as a Christmas present years ago and it was standing next to its box unused since then. Well, until I found it.
So, we figured out we will take one big step to stop eating things we dont know the origin of (and might potentially kill us in the long run).
Our new routine is to cook 2-3 times a week; my boyfriend makes soup and bread, and I make the rest. We only drink organic juices and mineral water (ok maybe some wine, too), and make sure to avoid fast food, processed meat and pre-made meals alltogether. I still aim (yes, aim, it is not fully happening, but I cut way back on my gluten intake) for gluten-free, and with home made bread I can be sure it is fully celiac-friendly. We also have the choice of making separate breads for my boyfriend and me, so he does not have to follow my diet if he does not want to.
Here is our first bread. To be completely honest, it turned out to be really bad. Baking bad, ha! I know, I promised I’ll cut the silly jokes…..
Once we figure out how to make good bread, I’ll start sharing my recipes. 🙂
The Hungarian Breed
The other catch of the week was meeting my friend’s new Vizsla (and her, too).
“The Vizsla is a dog breed originating in Hungary, which belongs under the FCI group 7 (Pointer group). The Hungarian or Magyar Vizsla are sporting dogs and loyal companions, in addition to being the smallest of the all-round pointer-retriever breeds.” Read more…
All I know, they are cute and I can never have them. They are not indoors material. They constantly need the running, jumping, sniffing the air, enjoying the sun and running more… eating shoes might also come with; but for sure, they are one of the cutest puppies of all time. They are also huge kiss givers and talk a lot. Ideal family puppies, awesome around children but they do need space.
Here are my pictures of the guest stars of the week, enjoy (finally a break from my all-star cats) 🙂
Notice to boyfriend: I am not removing this, sue me! 😛
* Picture credit for Anita Brayer (yes, I took these) 🙂 Please do not steal them, ask nicely and they are yours. Respect copyrights. Thanks!
Ever since the beginning of mankind, people have been struggling with self-expression and finding the right way of doing it. Now, I could blog about food two times a day, but that is not always that interesting. There are tons of things I would love to blog about, but for certain reasons I can’t, so I basically feel like I’m stuck in rut. I could blog about my cats, and I have no excuse why not to. Still, I feel like there is something else I need to share.
How do you blog about things that concern you, but you cannot share publicly?
Let me use some examples, apart from it being religion, ethnics or politics, as those have been taboo for a long time (and that I still don’t agree to).
How do you blog about things you have learnt from past relationships without hurting the new one (and for the matter of fact, truly criticizing those exes)?
How do you blog about career tips and advancement without upsetting your current employer?
How do you give tips on certain embarrassing health or personal issues without all of your colleagues looking at you differently the next day?
Yeah right, keep your blog personal. So what is the use of a blog with no readers?
I’m sure we are all more confident sharing our experiences with complete strangers, but a public blog can be found by your friends, family, workmates, boss, angry wife and so on. So how do create content to be compliant with all these and still giving yourself and value to it? Can a personal blog, that is public, be truly personal? Is there such thing as blogging taboo?
There are certain things fellow bloggers don’t really write about, but it can still be niche specific. I, personally, chose blogging so I can write about all the things that come to my mind, but I am so limited by my own life I have to lead, and all those people I have to adapt to.
Until I figure this out here is a Vine about Málna.
So there have been not many (okay maybe none) blog posts last week, as I started to write my new book in my free-time. I sometimes start a book, but tend to never finish them. At times like these, I have about 4 or 5 days of a complete blackout, where I only have the urge to write but do nothing else. I am, unfortunately, not in the position to do this as I have to go to work, actually do work (:-)), and be a „housewife” at home. And how quickly it comes, it goes as well. Poooff, the Muse has left. So now I am stuck with 30 pages, a sketch and a vague storyline. I really like the story though, it’s just the flow of all those thoughts and creative (and sometimes poetic) lines that stopped.
Instead, now I am also contemplating to try „drawing with the right side of the brain”. I am a lefty, so adapting shouldn’t really take that long. So they say.
Seems like my creative side started shouting again to break out and conquer the world. It might do someday. If I will ever get consistent on things.
I used to draw and I used draw very well, but it was just gone as I reached 14 and never came back. That was the time when I started writing my first novel. I succeeded to write half of it, then handed it to my best friend to proofread. Haven’t seen it since then. She said it was great. As great as something written by a 14 year old can be.
I do know there are things I have to improve on. First should be, actually finding myself in something and stick to it. I want to write, then I want to draw. I want to do something creative, but creative things don’t always earn money and would require some talent people born with, not just imagine they have it. I also bought a ridiculously overpriced camera, as I thought it might be photography that completes me. I has not yet happened.
Meanwhile, I work as a writer and online marketing specialist at daytime, I am also finishing a Law course at the Uni. So what does that say about me?
Yes, correct. This person has no idea what to do with her life. I have ambitions and I really want to be more than what I am now. But I am not yet sure in which ways of life I want to be more. Most things would require talent, which I believe I have. In something. Until then, I only have the extreme adaptability and the fact that I learn a lot quicker than other people. We could call that a talent.
I have a job I love, a boyfriend who loves me, 3 cats, 20 fish, a nice car and a flat that’s half mine. This could potentially make other people the happiest in the world, but I still think there is a field of life I have not achieved anything on. Now I only have to find out, what is missing.
Sounds easy. But in fact, when you have everything you wanted it gets harder to see what exactly making you feel you need to be more. When you don’t have enough money, you imagine it must be money, then. If you don’t have a car, all your problems become related to the fact that you want a car. So you put the things you need in order, and imagine how nice it would be to achieve them. Make a plan and see how it works out. Well, this has happened to me back in England. I really wanted a license and a car and it took me 3 years to achieve both. Oh, and I moved countries twice and this is my third job and relationship since then.
With this constantly changing environment there is always a need for something, that can cause the urge to achieve more. But mine is not this kind of urge. This is above these all. Which makes it more difficult to figure out… They say finding yourself is lifetime journey. But will it ever happen?
I did give some thoughts to weddings this week, as my “ex-second-best-maid-of-honor-to-be-friend” just had her wedding. For a previously broke out argument on who-pays-what for our accidental council tax debt, we have not spoken for almost 3 years. Therefore I was not invited. It was still enough to start the flow.. 🙂
Anytime, someone close to me (or in this case used to be close to me) has a wedding, I myself play with the idea of getting married. What would I want for a ceremony, how would I want it to be? Will it be perfect? Will it be less? What do I expect out of it all?
It might have occurred to you, Dear Reader, that I am not even engaged. This is a tiny little unimportant thing that can be fixed. 😀 I am not worried about staying forever alone or not getting married. I am in a relationship since the 15th of July, 2011. (according to my boyfriends phone it is the 16th, but that can never be correct. Ever.) Well, these are the official dates. We were in love (or at least I was) long before that. The thing is, I have been in relationships before (I have even been engaged for about 2 years), some ended badly, some did not. In some I ruined it all, in some I got hurt. This is how life is. I never worried about staying alone. On the other hand, I lost most of my friends (who volunteered to take sides) on these. I think a relationship should stay between two people. I never understood why do friends have to take sides. If I think about it, I never really had a friend on my side, ever. If I messed up, they stood on the guys side, if I got hurt, they told me off for believing.
I mean, come on, mine must have not really been the wisest choices of friends (okay, and relationships, for that matter).
Or are we all like that? Overly judgmental? And of course do we have to prove how much better we can do? “Oh look, my relationship works and yours did not.” Or “look, your ex boyfriend loves me more than he loved you!”
Why do we have to prove right so badly?
I remember when my friend got cheated on. I did not tell her, that “ I told you” or “all men are like this” or “you must have been doing something wrong”. I just sat with her, as stunned and as heartbroken as she was.
When the guy came back, and wanted her back apologizing the stars down from the sky, I told her the options. Honestly. I told her I would probably go back, and there is no guarantee that the trust between them can be built again. This might drive her crazy in the long run. But if she can not live without him, that will surely drive her crazy, too. I did not say (more than twice) that the guy was a complete ass for doing this, I even helped him pick a nice engagement ring out for her. I think, that’s what friends are for. I’m sure I made some friendship mistakes, too, but I always tried to stay on a “side” where my feelings and my sense of justice pulled me. And of course: family first.
But that’s life, people make choices and judge you for not making the choice that benefits them the most. If you don’t want to pay their debt, introduce them to your ex, do everything so they can have a perfect relationship with your ex or anyone else, then you are indeed a bad friend.
Never have an opinion. An opinion is bad. Also, never mention money. And never ever try to help their relationship. Just stay out of it and make sure they stay out of yours, too. No advice needed, you can never give good advice. And while you are helping one, you are betraying the other. And at the end of it? You will be the one to blame, because it is easier for both of them. Easier than to admit who ruined it. If they need to find a third-party “ruiner” it will always be the one standing in the middle of it. But that is all for lessons learned and never needed advice giving, back to topic. 🙂
Maybe I can be a little judgmental sometimes, too. Anytime I check out a wedding I tend to rate things. Is the dress well-picked? Is the suit well-tailored? How is the venue?
And when I think of all these I imagine how mine would be. My vision of a perfect wedding is constantly changing still.
I think a wedding is only beautiful when all the small things fall into their places. When everything is in harmony. A wedding should be themed and the theme shall be followed. I think it is best to pick a leading color and organize things accordingly. Saying this, I mean everything. Let’s say the leading color is purple. Then the bride’s make up, a small piece or item on the grooms outfit and on the bride’s dress should be purple, too. The bridesmaid dresses and the decorations should be purple and harmonizing.
By the way, I would never ever save on decoration. You can have your wedding in the biggest and most beautiful castle if you have cheap or no decoration at all.
I have been to a few weddings, not that all my friends are married, but I used to work in a hotel where every weekend was wedding weekend, sometimes even 3 a day. So yes, I have seen a few. Still there were only two, that left the biggest impacts in me. They are very different, as one was a friend and relatives wedding and one I only knew about through social media.
What I learned: a good wedding is never a question of money. I have seen weddings where the venue was brilliant, the dresses and the food was overly expensive, still the musicians and the photographers were provided no food, the chairs were uncovered and dirty, and the decoration flowers were cheap and half dead. Why? I mean, having spent all that money…
A good example of a wedding not short on money but made right is this one. Everything is harmonizing and all the money seems well spent. The dress is absolutely gorgeous and the venue (bear in mind it is a tent!) has been decorated amazingly. Colors were chosen to represent wealth and highness, but it is still not over the top.
The other wedding I admire (and attended last year) is the one I call the most creative.
I first had doubts about the venue as it shares a name with a bar in Budapest and picturing that as a wedding was kind of disturbing. Turned out, this was the best chosen venue I have ever been to.
The creativity they showed was amazing, still everything was organized. The little things were all in place and decoration was well set. Cards were hand written, which added a lot to it’s personality and they gave some very personal little gifts to every single guest who attended.
The other thing I never even thought of in terms of wedding schedule, but now is stuck in the back of my mind, is the day plan they had. Usually, weddings more or less consist of a little upfront gathering at the meeting place for the guests (whether it is the venue or it is somewhere else), civil ceremony, church, meal, party. Now, they had the meal quite late and had a little reception where only some nibbles and drinks were served, but gave the opportunity of networking a little, saying congratulations to the newlyweds and those who could not stay the whole night had an option to go home early. Also, if your “to be invited” list is a lot bigger than your purse, this can be a real lifesaver. You can invite all the cousins you have not seen in 10 years but they are family so they have to be there. Basically, no one feels left out and you don’t have to spend all the honeymoon money, either.
If you take an advice, there is one field I tend to call myself an expert on: meal service. I have catered for wedding meals for more than 2 years. Believe it or not, food is always the hardest part. Suddenly everyone is allergic to everything, and can not have this or that… In many cases “I don’t like mushroom” suddenly translates to “I am allergic to mushroom”. To avoid this, it is better to ask about meal allergies before presenting any food options and always make sure there is a vegetarian and a dairy free option as well. If those are in, usually gluten free eaters will find something to eat, too. In serious cases, a completely new meal can be required, but never offer that option beforehand. If you state food allergy sufferers will have a meal of their choice, you will end up paying for extra food for half of the party.
And finally there is one question I, myself, did not get around answering: should there be a wedding video or only pictures? There are pros and cons on both sides. A video gives back a lot more memories than a photo does, but of course a footage of a whole wedding must be spontaneous, and can not be set all the time. This can result in having those parts recorded of the party you don’t quite want to keep forever. The camera will record the imperfections as well (even though it will be edited to taste), and there will surely be some drunk relative or friend who will give a 4 minutes long marriage advice or speech, while has been divorced twice.
The thing about photos is that they capture moments. If your photographer is good – perfect moments. All the “video footage” will be in your head, and as we all know memories get more and more beautiful as time passes. They fade, too.
I am still contemplating.
While I feel like having a video like the one below would be great, I would not want a whole night video. This, however, can change tomorrow. Or today. Maybe I want it already. Do I?
The “Festive Meal”
Life with the Cats 