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Book your wedding photographer
We have been going to a lot of weddings these last couple of years. I love weddings, everything about them makes me happy. Cant wait to start planning mine and Ambrose wedding. I already have a couple of details of what I want in my head. It will be in South of Europe. It will all be outdoor, it will be a very intimate wedding with only the absolute closest. My wedding dress will be a lot of lace, open back and I want to wear a veil.
I still have most of it to decide but one decision that is made for sure for our wedding is the wedding photographer. Without a doubt I want my sister Hanie. The only thing is that I also want her as my bridesmaid and it would be nice if she could be a guest and not working on our wedding…..
But she is so good that I actually might have her work on that day. I don’t want to miss having the opportunity to get amazing wedding pictures. I mean, just look at her work!
If you want to book her for your special day, you can find more information on her web page : hanievaladi.photography
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Becoming better in small steps
This morning I came over this list from Wit & Delight which suggested a whole lot of small changes to implement over 30 days.
Some of them you might already do, I know I did. For example sitting at the bar ordering small plates. I have always done that, especially when I am eating alone I love sitting at the bar.You see, it is not always the major adjustments we make that changes our life’s for the better. If you want to change a habit or add a habit into your everyday life, research shows that you are better of doing it little by little everyday.
Like starting a Ritual. You can read more about it HERE in an earlier post I wrote.Here are some from the List that were the most appealing to me :
℘ Abandon social media for a day
℘ Unsubscribe instead of delete unwanted emails
℘ Say no to plans that don’t sound fun
℘ Put a water-glass by every sink and at your desk
℘ Get a lynda.com subscription and learn something weird or new
You can read the whole list HERE , maybe you will find something you like to add from this list that suits you better.
Good luck. xx_______________________________________________
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Margarita’s at Li’l Darling
Some of the team members from Life Changing Experiences Foundation
Meet a couple of the lovely people who work with me at the place I volunteer – Life changing experiences Foundation. I often just call it Sister 2 Sister but that is just one part of our program.
Once a week we all go to Li’l Darling in Surry Hills and have one (or a couple) of margaritas. Don’t usually like margaritas but this place really make good ones. And it is not even an option in this group I think. When I started they called it “Margarita Tuesday” and every time I’ve been with them they all order only that – margaritas! Part of the couture at the office I guess 😉I had 2 the other day and felt drunk on the train back to the coast. I am not a great alcoholic I tell you that for sure.
Li’l Darling is in a couple of places in Sydney. Check them out HEREMost of this week has been really busy, Both I and Ambrose kind of crash on the couch because we have been so tired. We started watching this show called Black Mirror on Netflix which is super creepy and super great. We stared watching it because each one is like a short movie and that’s it. Neither of us want to commit to season after season so it fits us perfectly. Except the fact that we are kind of hooked now and we are already up to season 4 on this thing. So much for not committing to Netflix….
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Barcelona on my mind
These last few days my mind has been all about Barcelona. The reason for that is that I might have to fly 30 hours to Barcelona to literally pick up a piece of paper from the Spanish police, stating that I have not committed any crime while living in Spain. I know it sound stupid, I should be able to have that document sent to me but because I am not a Spanish citizen I cannot just get it from the Spanish consulate. Believe me, I have tried.
At first I was really upset, I kind of had enough with the Visa stuff lately and just knowing that I have to fly around the world to pick up this police clearance annoys me.
Ambrose think its funny and keep saying I should be excited because I get to go and enjoy Barcelona. Which is true, but what nobody seems to get is that I am so fed up with this “gypsy life”. I just want one country, one house, one bank in one country and all of those “normal” stuff everyone else have.
Trust me, when you are dealing with everyday situations such as insurance, Dr visits, banks loans, and everything entitling the government or consulates. You want to be in one place!But!! I get to visit my friends and family in a city that I called home for over 5 years. And I am in love with this city. How could you not love Barcelona?!
Some memories……
These who pictures sums up perfectly a Barcelona day. Rooftop pool during the day, tapas in El Borne by night. Well during the weekends at least My birthday many years ago. The theme was Black & White. Here with Montse, Lulu, me, Hanna, Lucy and Sophie
After I lived abroad for 7 years (!) my best friends from Sweden came to visit. So much happened during those 10 days haha. Here with Suzy, Peppi, me, Ã…sa, Annie and Mikaela My last work lunch at TMC. Best workplace ever. I will definitely visit the office when I am back
Strolling around the old town is one of my favorite activity in Barcelona. Getting lost for hours is a must while visiting this city for sure.
Chiringuitos – eating and drinking on the beach. Another Barcelona must according to me.
Check out this list to find some of the good ones HERE One thing you do a lot in Barcelona is having a drink at a rooftop. There are so many of them so just take your pick. Here on one of my favorites that I always brought friends visiting me – Hotel1898Oh God, just realized that all the pictures are being out eating and drinking. But it was like that back in the Barcelona days. Also, I must mention that this was my University years. Guess Uni time is party period for most people haha
This is from my last day living in Barcelona. I remember this as one of my most fun and memorable night in Barcelona.
After writing this post I am actually excited to fly to Barcelona. Cant wait to tell everyone I am coming.
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Bondi Beach RSL
You definitely get good views at the Bondi beach RSL
I am sorry for the days without any report but I do have a good excuse. The allergies I got suddenly last week are still going strong…I don’t understand and it’s not very nice. I went to see the Dr today, the plan is to get some blood tests done and then have a lot of skin tests done. This Dr today did not think the cause was the anesthetic or the latex gloves from the dentist. So now I am even more confused because that was what I thought caused all this.
Anyway, enough with the skin allergies, I just wanted to explain why I haven’t been in here for a couple of days. To be honest I have been sleeping most of the time. The pills the Dr gave me makes me super sleepy.I have had some fun these last few days though. A couple of days ago was our friend Bart’s birthdays which was spent at Bondi beach RSL. And then last Friday was Australia Day 2018! We were all invited to Sarah and Daniel’s new house for a BBQ.
I made everyone play the “Hat” game which was slow at the beginning because I am shit at explaining rules. But everyone got it pretty quickly and it ended up being so much fun. I love this game, every time we play it we all have so much fun because it requires you to make a complete fool of yourself which is healthy for people to do once in a while haha
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Allergic reaction
With Julie – my Danish friend from back in the days in Barcelona and University. Such great memories
Today I started my day with a dentist appointment. Not the best way to start your day but it had to be done. I walked in with confidence, I had only a check and a clean booked in. Did not think I needed anything else, my teeth are fine. Well, I was totally wrong. Instead I had a filling done and booked in again for next week. I don’t like the dentist, expensive and painful, of course nobody like going there!
After that I went straight into Surry Hills and spent rest of the day volunteering at Life Changing Experience Organization.
All day I’ve felt itchy, on my legs, on the back of my neck, on my elbows. I went back to the house, had a shower and during dinner I looked and it looked like I got a couple of mosquito bites on my arms. I go into the bedroom, take off my clothes and really start to look. I am covered in some kind of rashes. It’s like an allergic reaction from hell.It’s just past 9pm here now and we are thinking if we should go see a Dr or wait and see how it looks in the morning. The fact that its super hot here in Sydney right now is not helping the situation at all. Its most likely to be an allergic reaction from the dentist. But who gets a rash 11 hours later??
This was the latest news from down under. Not exciting at all i know. Promise I’ll have something good for you guys tomorrow. Now I am going to go have my fourth cold shower and then keep looking at old pictures from Spain. I am trying to keep my mind of the itchiness that almost drives me mad!
Ciao for now.
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A walk down social media memory lane
Last night, I found myself looking trough Facebook. Not the current stuff from everyone, but all the old pictures. It was like walk down the social media memory lane. And I especially found that the date was interesting me more than anything. Over the years I found myself more and more not being able to place when and where certain events of my life happened. Its been frustrating because for the last 2 years of my life, for our Partner Visa, I have been forced to state the dates and places on everything that I have been doing for the last 10 years!
Because it has been like an endless back and forth between Stockholm, Barcelona and Sydney, I just lost track on dates and placed where thing occurred so to speak. And in between these “homes” of mine, there also have been a couple of vacation of course.
Now, I know that on any of the social media available today, you can always go back and check dates and places. I just have not been using Facebook as much as before. I think the last time I made an album there was back in maybe 2013?
And Instagram is kind of new to me. Think I got my Instagram app sometime in mid 2017.
Guess that was why me walking through all my old pictures was just like a walk down memory lane – the social media version of it.
Here are some pictures that I found from each of my “home” cities – let’s do Sydney. first ….The first time I came to Sydney. Its funny now but I never wanted to come here in the first place. Here with my friend Emma, a girl that I randomly met. This is the first month in Sydney, I was so damn sad that I ignored the fact that I had to find an apartment. I randomly slept at colleagues and friends places. I remember this night in particular, I had no place to stay, like many times before I choose to ignore it all and Emma and I went out for dinner and ended up partying all night. I had to spend the night sharing a room with 6 dutch at a hostel in Kings Cross.
I remember this period of just being so damn sad and ignore everything. I can see just how sad I am from the picture to the right.My old flatmates Behnaz and Derek. Two very important friends to me. They were the guys who “saved” me from my sad place in Crows Nest ( where I first lived back in 2012) and I ended up staying with them in Bondi. This is after a couple of months living in Australia and because of these two and the friends they introduced me to, I started to understand why so many loved living here in Sydney.
After moving to Bondi in 2013, I started to meet more and more people. Everyone was so open, friendly and welcoming. I started loving life here, and not just missing Barcelona all the time.
Looking back now, I cannot believe how much we used to go out. It became clear to me that this was just like back at home. It was just hard because I was so far away from everyone and everything I knew and loved.
When I came back to Sydney the second time. I landed on my birthday and my lovely friend Amy took me out for a dinner to SAKÉ in The Rocks. If you have not been here, you have been missing out.
Amy, another person that became one of my saviors. I love her and everything she did for me when I was new here. Most beautiful person, inside and out.Sydney after Ambrose came into my life. The first and only time I started to feel and to call this place my “home”.
Here we are with Bart and Kali, as usual – getting ready for somebody’s wedding haha
Nobody in the history has gone to as many wedding as Ambrose and his friends!My fist Halloween party in Sydney back in 2012 or 2013. I was offered money for sex on the way to the party. I though I looked like a wonder-woman – clearly I looked like a prostitute. And I remember falling on the dance-floor in front of everyone in my very high stilettos that night. Fail on so many levels.
This is the old group I used to hang out with back in the days. Incredibly good memories from those days.
My fist Boxing Day here in Australia – maybe 3 years ago?
One of my favorite pictures. First because as a non Australian, this is exactly how I imagined Australians looked like. By the beach, easygoing, super friendly with an accent that nobody really understands, surf:y-looking, their love for washed-out colored clothes. those hats. All of it! I looked so misplaced in the picture hahah
And the funny thing is that all of it was exactly like that in real life. Good old Australians, just like you see them in the movies back in Europe.______________________________________
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Putting Mel Robbins tip on How to Stay Focused into practice
Have any of you heard of a woman called Mel Robbins? Chances are that you have because she is apparently huge all over the place, a best-selling author etc.
I on the other hand had not heard about here and just happened to accidentally come across Mel and her work. I don’t really believe in the word “accidentally”, as a matter of the fact I believe we are given whatever we need in that particular moment in our life. But that’s a whole different story haha.Back to Mel and what I learned from her, which is a lot. But for now let’s have a look at 3 simple tips she shared on “How to Stay Focused”.
#1Â Don’t sleep with your phone next to you. Most people wake up and instantly scroll through their phones. Facebook, Instagram, emails. In other words, checking what other people are doing in their life instead of getting up straight away and start your OWN day. By having your phone distant from you, you don’t go on autopilot and check your phone.
#2Â Mel said she keeps a Post It notes in the bathroom. As she brushes her teeth in the morning she writes down the top priorities for her day. Tasks that she needs to get done in order to reach her goals. Then she sticks this post It on the back of her phone. Why? because most of us have our phone with us throughout the day and this will make our priority tasks visual all day long. Harder to avoid doing your tasks for the day if you see them all day long no?!
I like this tip a lot because there is a lot of ideas going on in my head as I brush my teeth in the morning. But often I forget all about them as the day goes by.#3Â Mel calls the last tip on how to stay focused;Â “30 Before 7:30”. This one is about taking 30 minutes before 7:30am, to just focus on getting your day organized and getting a couple of your top priorities either finished, or further down the field.
Tomorrow is my day off and I am going to try Mel’s tips on How to Stay Focused straight away. Hope I (and Mel haha) have inspired you to try it out too.
HERE is some more information and tip from Mel Robbins
Ciao for now friends.
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