Tampere

So we actually made it out of town this past weekend! We had a little road trip of about 300 km - Subway lunch and off we went. We made one stop at the Cheese Port (loosely translated) to check out all the cheese. Literally shit loads of cheese. What a cheesy place. Anyway, B loves his cheese but never gets to have or eat any because I don't like cheese so we can't really make cheesy foods, also - no room for cheese in our diet - and I wanted him to be able to eat some. The great thing about that place is the fact that you can try all the different cheeses. Nam. We got him some goat cheese and cider and then back on the road again. 

We got to Tampere in the afternoon. Found our hotel very quickly thanks to our trusted navigator (Lumia 1020 - I heart Nokia navigation) and checked in. We left our car at the hotel and went for a walk. It was very close to the big mall everyone said we should go to, so we popped in there first. It was huge - compared to the one (NOTE: the one and only ) we have here and took us a couple of hours to go through. We got some ice cream at this great ice cream bar ( still not sure if it was actually ice cream, could have been some kind of healthier version of it) where you could choose the flavor - marshmallow, white chocolate mousse, chocolate, something with berries or one of the other flavors I don't remember right now. Then there were shit loads of toppings - B got a lot of different ones but I only wanted strawberries and sprinkles (?). It tasted like heaven! Didn't feel like that afterwards but let's not get into that.

We are shit at shopping. Can't shop. Like at all. So we just walked around looking at stuff until we went to the pet shop. One of the best parts of this journey was that visit to the pet shop. It's part of the same chain of shops where we got Frankie from, and they always stock stuff we need. So we got some of that soil we were looking for but no one seemed to have - the woman at the pet shop said that a lot of people had been asking for it, saying they couldn't find it anywhere else - and some of the other stuff we needed, like a lamp (yes, another one) and some calcium powder or what ever that was :) We saw a bearded dragon - B had one back in England, Zeus - and we actually talked about getting one.. I don't know if that'll happen but I'm not completely against the idea.

We then had dinner at the Manhattan Steak House, where I also had my first drink. The food was great and the service was fast. We didn't stick around after finishing our meal, because I wanted to get back to the hotel just to freshen up a little before going out. We wanted to go to a few bars or something, and ended up at the Ale Pub because S recommended the place. We had a couple of drinks there before going somewhere else. We were having a great time, until this drunk out of her mind piece of shit woman came up to me wanting to start a fight. She claimed that I was looking at her from across the room with judgement in my eyes. I was like Bitch Please ( = just sat there saying nothing, looking at her with disbelief) because I couldn't believe someone completely random would come up to me in a bar completely drunk (bear in mind - it was not even 10 pm) and accuse me of doing what ever she thought I was doing. I didn't want to say anything to her, so I ended up translating everything to B and smiling awkwardly at this random woman. Even when she said that life will teach me manners and bullshit like that, I said nothing. I was super proud of myself because normally I would have told her to fuck off and then there would have been a fight.

We then went to this other bar - way nicer and they had Guinness, Stella and Carlsberg on draft so something for the both of us. We had a couple of drinks there and then headed back to the hotel, picking up some unhealthy food on the way. We were actually in bed at around 12 pm so didn't even stay out late - had to get up early the next day and didn't want to be tired.

Got up Sunday morning, had some breakfast and headed out. We wanted to go see the dolphins and before that visit the aquarium and planetarium - yes, we're into that kind of stuff - and we got to see it all and it was amazing! The dolphin show was (obviously) the best and I actually managed to film the whole thing! We watched it back at home that same night, it was that good! Also, I wanted to film it so that I could show it to J :) She might not be interested or she might get bored watching it, but she'll sit through it some day :) After all that fun, we went back into town and back to that shopping mall to get some lunch and also to meet up with H. She was kind enough to come meet us and join us for dinner - even though she didn't eat anything. It was super cool to catch up - it's been such a long time since we got to do that. We didn't stay in town for long and we were back on the road soon enough, heading back home. I thought we might have to stop a few times, because I was drinking a lot of pop but we actually made it all the way home without stopping once! Fuck yeah!

Cats were extremely happy to see us. They had missed us so much! OK, they had missed me :) We were pretty beat so we went to bed early. B was off work Monday so we decided to go into town and visit our (tiny) shopping mall for a look around.. Didn't really buy anything, picked up my parcel from the post office.. And what a great parcel it was! Three out of the four items I ordered, arrived on Monday and I loved them all! I actually kept them all and didn't have to return anything! Actually, there's still that one item coming, so might be too early yet. But we'll see what happens with that.. Should be here by the end of the month. Still waiting on a large order we made with S back in January.. Don't know if we'll ever get that one..

Now it's shower time. Have to wash my hair since I actually getting my hair cut tomorrow - thanks for the gift card guys! You know who you are! I can't wait to do something to all this hair. Still don't know what I want, but it'll come to me tomorrow.. or I'll just swing it. We'll see :) And to finish off this post - here's some pictures of fish.

... 6 Months Later?

Hi.

I thought some hearts might make you forget all those months I didn't post anything.. Did it?

A LOT has happened since the last time I managed to update this blog. I expect almost everyone stopped checking in after a while and that's understandable - I suck at keeping this one simple promise. But hey, better late than never, right?

So.. where to begin..

I won't write about everything, and the things I do write about won't be in any kind of order of importance because there's a lot of stuff I have already forgotten about and will remember at some later date - which will be the moment you hear about those things.

Anyway, what's happened since September? I worked a lot because the guy I used to work with was sick all the time and off work a lot, meaning it was only the three of us holding the fort. That's how it'll continue, since the guy doesn't work there anymore. I'm actually quite happy about that for a couple of reasons - he was not happy working there, happy with his life or with himself, making working with him unbearable and that made me miserable. As a result - I was unhappy and didn't perform as well as I should. But now he is gone, and I've never felt better at work - dominating and leaving the boys behind. They'll have to play catch up to me now :) This is fantastic for me personally, my well-being and more money for me! Too bad it had to end so badly for him, but there's nothing I could have done differently - he had to hit rock bottom to realize he needs help, but for some reason I think he'll still dig his way deeper..

Every now and then I started some sort of diet that worked for a little while but I always ended up giving up on it and didn't find anything I could stick with.. Well, I'm happy to report that I've finally found something I've stuck to! It's worked for me before and it's working now! I even got B to start this with me and it's been amazing to work on this together and it's made our relationship stronger than ever! We started 1st of January and we've lost quite a lot since then - and it's only the beginning! We'll stick to this one and Beach Body 2016 maybe. No bullshit diets - fasting or changing our eating habits radically - all about things we can actually stick to. And we've lost all this weight without doing exercise! That's my dream diet! Of course we're going to introduce exercise to our new life style but we don't have to do it now or do shit loads right now. We'll start soft and easy, then build up from that. Because, I love exercise.. not. I'm not going to bring up any kg or cm we've lost because I don't want to jinx it.

My two week holiday started today! We've got all kinds of things planned, but mostly I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and friends. Also some couch time will be much appreciated. You know, lounging all day doing nothing but watching movies or reading a good book.. Fifty Shades of Grey is just waiting there for me, and I really want to read them again before the movie comes out! I've been waiting for that since I read the first book back in 2011 or something! Thankfully it comes out soonish. Anyway, time with family and friends.. Today we went down to the countryside, tomorrow will be going out of town (just B and I - romantic getaway?) and next weekend we're headed to J-town to see I! That'll be super fun, because last time I went, it was just me and this time I get to bring S and B with me!! Awesome! We're going to party hard and eat out! (something we don't do very often nowadays). Also, J has grown a lot and speaks more now. Mostly just words, no full sentences but she's not stupid. She's very smart - especially when it comes to distracting one to get something or do something she's not supposed to have or do. A very strong-willed little kid that is.. Don't know where she gets it from.. Mom and Dad aren't at all stubborn.. ;) I can't even imagine what my child will be like.. All I can hope for is that she'll be as in love with Nan as J is.

The last holiday weekend is all about S and I. She'll be coming over to stay the weekend and we'll do all the super girly things they do in movies! Bitch about boys - while getting drunk. Watch movies - while getting drunk. Play board games and brush each others hair (wtf) - while getting drunk. Before all this super girly fun we're gonna have, we're gonna go get tattoos. S already knows what she wants to get, but at the moment I have no idea what I want.. Need to ask Mr Google. I know where I'd want something, but I can't decide what to get.. Thankfully there's still time to figure that out.

There's a few things I want to get done at some point during these two weeks - get a hair cut. I haven't got anything done to my hair for a couple of years. I don't really know what I want to do with it, so I'm counting on some professional person to tell me what would look good :) I also want to get my eye brows and eye lashes dyed. Haven't done that since.. ever. But I'm sure it'll look good.. hopefully. I want to go shopping. Yes! Me - shopping! I don't actually want to buy anything nor am I looking for something. I think I just want to go walk around all the shops for no reason. Let's not call that shopping, let's call it going-to-town-for-something-I-probably-will-never-wear-but-have-to-have-anyway :)

One more thing. Changing our diet wasn't enough, we wanted to change our lives a little in the process of losing weight. We've started going to bed earlier whenever we're in work the next day, and we wont stay up too late even if we're off the next day, unless there's a reason for it. Like now - I'd normally be in bed right now trying to fall asleep, but I'm off tomorrow and I'm writing this blog, so going to bed can wait a little longer.. We also decided to leave all our problems behind us and start fresh this year. New outlook on life, new healthier way of living, new goals and new perspective. So far it's worked great! We don't fight nearly as much as we did before, and that is probably because we've finally committed to doing something together - same ship and all. We decided this year will be great, but that's left to be seen. Knocking on wood. So many great things have happened and are happening right now - I'm worried something bad will happen. Some say I should turn that around and think, something bad has already happened so why can't the good things come now? I'm thinking - bad things have happened, good things have happened - good things have happened, bad things have happened. They always come in two's. Loads of good things - massive bad thing? CPO (Chronic Pessimistic Outlook) or don't want to spit in the face of the Universe?

Dreamland, here we come!