Hello my lovely readers! It’s been a while, but Loepsie’s Life is back on the blog after a little Vlogmas-related hiatus. From now on I’m going to keep you updated on all that goes on in my personal life through weekly photo diaries, every Monday. Today I’m taking you back to the first week of 2019, which started with a bang. It’s been a wonderful week of fresh starts, hanging out with friends and getting organised. Let’s take a look!
As I was putting away my Christmas presents, I realised this beautiful pink ribbon with an elastic in the back that came around a gift set fits around my head just perfectly. I’m not going to pass up an opportunity like that, of course, so it went straight in with the rest of my headbands.
Over the past year I’ve worked with an online eyewear store a few times, and that collaboration has left me with quite an impressive glasses collection, if I may say so myself. I freed up a drawer to store my beautiful collection and every time I open it, I can’t help but smile. I feel so lucky to have so many gorgeous pairs to choose from every day, it really does make wearing glasses a joy! Prescription glasses are a necessity, of course, but to me they’re also a fashion accessory and these reflect my style so well. I’m a happy camper!
I got quite fed up one day, entered rage cleaning mode, and dragged Robbert down to re-organise the storage with me. You might recognise this chest of drawers from my old studio in Utrecht. I had taken it, as well as some other pieces of furniture, with me but there isn’t any space for it upstairs so we put it in the storage. We finally built it now so that there are no more loose drawers in the storage, and we can use the furniture instead of storing it in pieces. That freed up a lot of storage space so I was able to move things around and get more breathing room for the items we keep in here. We keep our camping and travel gear in the storage, along with out of season clothing and decor, the baby rat cage, and a few items that we don’t have a use for in this tiny apartment but are pretty sure we’ll want to use again when we move to a bigger space (or are saving for our younger siblings to give them when they move out of our parents’ homes). Oh, and my high school graduation art project, haha!
Taxes went up in the Netherlands on January 1st, so my friend and I bought a few opera and ballet tickets for the upcoming season at the lower rate on December 31st. The youth membership to the National Opera and Ballet is honestly probably one of the best things I’ve bought in 2018, it’s bringing me so much joy and I love that I get to enjoy all of these amazing performances at a much more affordable price.
A rather fancy car parked outside our window and Diarmuid climbed up to this prime spot to gawk at it for a few minutes, hahaha! It was probably a complete coincidence, but I found it really adorable nonetheless.
Happy new year! We hosted a little party on New Year’s Eve. Friends came, there were snacks, we played games, and at midnight we went outside to take a walk around the block and look at the fireworks.
Next morning I made us the traditional bowl of new year’s lentils. The Czech eat lentils on new year’s day to bring on prosperity, and given that lentils are my all time favourite food, this is a tradition I’m very happy to bring to the Netherlands with me ;)
In the early afternoon I met up with my friend for our first theater visit of the year. We went to see the ballet Cinderella. This wasn’t my favourite show I’ll admit, the choreography was quite modern and unorthodox and that’s not a style I’m into much. The decors, costumes and music were amazing though and we had a great time.
Afterwards we ordered a load of veggie sushi, yum!
The blue twins have hit puberty and they’ve been rebelling against both me and the older rats. They’re super naughty right now, breaking all the rules, and Cefin has been trying to dominate Pádraig. Pádraig’s not really having it though, and he’s finally getting his sweet revenge here, haha! They’re still playful luckily, no serious fights so far. I am keeping an eye on them to be sure.
New Year’s resolutions mean nothing if you don’t follow up on them, so I joined a gym and went there for the first time ever on Thursday. I wasn’t expecting much but went in with an open mind, and was quite surprised to find out that I actually love it. I had a great time, it kind of felt like a playground but for grown-ups, haha! I spent a good 30 minutes walking on a treadmill at the highest incline (and watching the Marie Kondo show on Netflix), tried out some of the muscle building machines, and ended with a few more minutes of cardio. I’m starting slow, as in my opinion any exercise is better than none and I feel like if I keep going until it hurts or go too hard it’s going to take the fun out of it, I’ll end up resenting the gym and that’s the last thing I want. Taking it easy meant I spent a total of two hours at the gym, getting my heart rate up and working up a bit of a sweat, and I probably would’ve stayed longer if I didn’t have to cook dinner at home. I can’t wait to go back later this week!
I’ve been having less lazy, more healthy lunches again this week. I prepped some tempeh at the start of the week and have been filling wraps with that and a load of veggies for lunch. Nutricious and delicious!
Filming the second Trying The Curly Girl Method On Straight Hair video.
On Friday evening a friend came over for a sleepover in preparation for our annual Christmas D&D session on Saturday, where we all meet in real life, have delicious home made food and play all day. It was lots of fun and so nice to see everyone in the flesh again!
On Sunday morning, Robbert and I got up bright and early to head to the east of the country with the other scout leaders for our annual winter hike. It was a rainy day, but we ended up hiking around 20km nonetheless. I brought a thermos of tea, which makes everything better.
I’m always amazed by how much more beautiful the Netherlands are once you leave our swamplands. Real estate prices are much more normal & affordable in over here vs. Amsterdam too, so who knows, we might just end up moving to the east one day :)
We ended the day with a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant in the beautful city of Amersfoort, sore-footed and soaked but satisfied.
And that brings us to the end of my week! I really hope you’ve had a great start to your year as well, guys. Talk to you soon!
Fun! I hope the ratties continue their playfulness. They are so cute.
What a lovely week! And damn, I miss tempeh >_< They don't sell it here in the island, not that I know of.
Happy New Year! I spent the first week of 2019 in Amsterdam (and a visit to the Efteling) so it was a good star to the year.
Ahh no better way to start the year than with a trip to the Efteling :D Must’ve been pretty busy though, during the school holiday. Hope you had a great time nonetheless!