Well, that was an interesting week! I don’t have a great many photo’s for you this diary I’m afraid, as like the title says I came down with shingles. Luckily I seem to only have a mild case as I’m feeling a lot better already and did manage to make something of my week despite the illness. Let’s take a look at what I’ve been up to!
On my summer bucket list I put “fixing broken items” as something I’d like to do, so on Monday I decided to go right ahead and repair these jeans. They ripped at the belt loop thingy because I tend to yank my jeans up by that, lol.
I was able to sew them up quite well, I don’t think this will be very noticable in daily wear. These jeans are fairly high-waisted so this part is usually covered by a top, anyway :) And now I can keep wearing them, yay!
Writing my diary on Monday afternoon, as always.
I’d had a strange rash on my leg for a few days, and by Tuesday it was getting so unbearably itchy and painful that I decided to make a doctor’s appointment and have it checked out. The doctor recognised it’s shingles straight away. In case you don’t know what that is: after you get chickenpox as a kid, that virus stays dormant in your body and can flare back up in the form of shingles. It tends to happen when your immune system is weakened or you’re under a lot of stress. Singles usually occurs in people over age 60, but can come at any age. It looks like a band of red bumps over one specific part of the skin, that can be very painful and itchy. I personally experienced terrible itching, but next to no pain and only a few bumps. There’s a bunch of other symptoms you can get from it, but I luckily only really experienced fatigue. Honestly the worst thing for me was that the itching wouldn’t let me sleep for two nights, so I was absolutely exhausted.
I spent the rest of Tuesday and the better part of Wednesday in bed, but decided to go out for a little bit in the afternoon anyway. Robbert took a little walk with me to the grocery store to get some food. I love how this time of year there are flowers everywhere. Look at these beautiful pink ones!
I was really bummed by the timing of these shingles, because I had tickets to go see Beyoncé & Jay-Z’s OTRII Wednesday night. Luckily we had seats, so I could sit down. I took some meds and was quite alright afterwards, fit enough to sit through a concert anyway.
I’m so glad I went! Seeing Beyoncé is something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a child and the concert was amazing.
Added bonus: I was tired enough after the concert that I finally got a good night’s sleep, and I felt better next morning already.
I thought I should be able to handle taking some new photos for Instagram, so I asked Robbert to come shoot some with me. When we came downstairs however, I realised my bike was gone. We looked all around the building, I tried to remember whether I’d left it somewhere, but we reached the conclusion that I must’ve forgotten to double lock it for once and someone stole it. This is actually the first time I’ve had a bike stolen! That’s almost unbelievable as I’m 25 already and have been keeping my bikes outside in the city for the past seven years, haha! You wouldn’t believe the amount of bikes that gets stolen in the Netherlands every year.
Actually, I looked it up. It’s around 450.000, of which 10.000 are stolen in Amsterdam alone. Lol!
Anyways, I can’t function at all without a bike so I decided to go to the store and buy a new one straight away. This is my new steel steed, as we call them in Dutch, haha! Isn’t it gorgeous? Definitely the most elegant bike I’ve ever had :)
I had a bit of bad luck as I had headwind the whole way home, with a bit of rain thrown in. I got lost a few times as well as I’d never come that way before, and all in all I ended up taking an hour for a ride that was supposed to take 30 minutes. You can imagine how tired I was after that, haha! I jumped straight back into bed for the rest of the day :)
On Friday I felt a little better again, so I did a bit of grocery shopping and filmed the 30’s makeup tips video. I’m so happy with the little basket in the front of my bike! Very convenient, haha.
On Saturday Robbert left for the day, so I finished up my video first and then made a spontaneous decision to head over to Utrecht. What better place to spend the day? :) I visited a few stores here and there, and took a nice slow walk around the city center. It’s always such a pleasure coming back here, and I can never stay away for long.
I visited Dille & Kamille, one of the few zero waste friendly stores I know, and got myself a few sustainable goodies. I got some bamboo cutlery to carry with me so that I don’t have to use single use plastic cutlery when I eat on the go. I also got two sets of bamboo chopsticks, a wine stopper and a little baggie that’s meant to hold clothes pins but I plan to use as a laundry bag. It’s currently hanging out in my bathroom, collecting my reusable cotton rounds until they’re ready to be washed.
On Sunday I woke up and actually felt fine. I got so lucky with the singles! The worst part only lasted about a day, and I never experienced any of the horrible neuralgia that can come with it. I barely feel any itching anymore either, I really got off easy with this one. Phew!
Sunday afternoon we went over to Robbert’s family’s house for dinner. It was great seeing everybody again and catching up!
I’m planning to post a summery drink recipe soon, and here’s the first try. I promise it’ll look better in the blog post, haha! I’m getting there with the taste, though :)
We also got a few new pans! Robbert’s parents collected coupons for us from their local grocery store so we could get these, and they look absolutely amazing. I’ve yet to try them out, but how photogenic are these? They’ll look great in my food diaries, haha!
And that concludes my much more eventful than expected week, haha! I’m really glad I feel better so quickly after the onset of the shingles. This week I’m going back to work full force, but still trying to take it a bit more easy than usual just in case. I’m not sure what set the shingles off by the way, as I haven’t gotten sick for many months (remember I used to get sick all the time?) so my immune system seems fine, and I don’t feel particularly stressed at all at the moment. Ah well, I’m just glad it’s almost over and I get to live my life :)
Talk to you soon!
Hi! Isnt shingles highly contagious? And shouldnt you stay at home until you have healed before you go out to public places? because what if you get someone infected :(
Someone could catch chickenpox from me, not shingles, only if they haven’t had chickenpox before and come in direct contact with the fluid from my blisters. I had the blisters covered with two layers of close-knit fabric and they haven’t opened at any point on me, so the only way I could infect someone is if they were somehow immunocompromised, reached in my pants and scratched my blisters open 😋 I cancelled my plans with young children just to be sure, but there was minimal risk to begin with.
Bless you Loepsie! What a week, I’m glad you weren’t too badly affected by your Shingles, it can be nasty xx My old boss was off work for several months with hers, as Senior Designer I was left holding the reins for her Interior Design company, including 2 shops, 5 members of staff and all the consultations, quotations, invoicing etc, etc. It was tough, but I know she was really suffering. Her Shingles were round her waist, so she found it unbearable to wear clothes.
I’m so sad your bike was stolen :( I would have thought in a city with so many bikes theft wouldn’t be such a problem, but it obviously is.
Sending you lots of love
Becki xx
So glad your case of Shingles was a mild one. A strong immune system makes all the difference.
I get regular adjustments by our family Chiropractor, and that has made a difference for me.
I had no idea so many bicycles were stolen every year, wow! I wish you had enough room to keep it inside.
I had to laugh when you said you pull up your jeans by the belt loop, because I’m a bit overweight, so I don’t have to pull mine up, haha! Maybe that will inspire me to go on a diet!