Greetings, my lovely readers! This week’s Loepsie’s Life is up a bit later than usual. There were some technical issues with my blog that prevented me from uploading, but it did also feel a bit inappropriate to post such a frivolous update while there was a tragedy going on in what used to be my hometown for years. I know some of you heard it on the news (thank you for your concerned messages!), yesterday there was a shooting incident in a tram in Utrecht. As of now it’s unsure what the motives were, but the police did catch a few people that had something to do with it, including the shooter himself. Three people were killed and the whole city was on lockdown for most of the day.
Nobody I know was involved in the tragedy and we’re all doing alright, although we’re shaken, of course.
Now that everything seems to be safe again we’re pretty much back to life as normal. It always feels kind of weird to just keep going after something like this happens, but I guess it’s what we need to do. So, I did want to bring you my photo diary of last week after all. Let’s take a look at what I was up to.
Let’s start with something lighthearted. I really wanted to show off my awesome Bob a Bobek socks :) These little guys are the stars of a Czech children’s TV show I used to watch when I was little, and IMO these socks are the coolest thing ever. Love them.
Speaking of Czech children’s TV shows… The moment I get to flip over the Krtek calendar on my desk is something I look forward to every week. The little seasonal illustrations bring me a little spark of joy each time I look at them.
My computer suddenly broke down and wouldn’t start back up again. My brother came over to take a look at it and we’re trying to figure out which part of it is broken. We ended up ordering a mother board and now we’re hoping the motherboard’s actually the broken piece. Hopefully it is and it’s all fixed soon, because working from my little laptop, although doable, isn’t the best.
Spring has arrived in the Loepsie household! A few of the herbs on my balcony have started to grow back in. Honestly, if I hadn’t been too lazy I would’ve thrown them out when they “died” in autumn. I had no idea they would come back to live a few months later. I’m glad I didn’t throw them out now, as the roots were obviously still alive. I do need to remove the dead parts quickly though, to give the new growth some space.
The ficus in our living room is happy and thriving again as well. He struggled with lack of sunlight through winter and lost a lot of leaves, but now that days are longer and brighter, he’s been sprouting new leaves all over.
Robbert and I met up with some friends in Amsterdam to visit our friend Richie’s art expo/presentation at an indie art event in an adorable tiny theater. Richie’s a visual artist/illustrator and we have some of his work up in our house. Check out his website!
There were some other artists there as well that evening, including this man who uses drinking glasses as a musical instrument. I was quite amazed at what beautiful sounds he was able to produce with them, it was really cool!
Lately I’ve been loving breakfasts with loads of toppings. It feels like I’m getting a bunch of healthy nutrients in right at the start of the day. At the moment I usually do a base of either vegan yogurt or oatmeal, with berries, nuts, hemp seeds, flax seeds and chia seeds on top. Yum yum!
Sleepy, cuddly, squishy boys <3
When I started going to the gym in early January, I honestly had no idea I would still greatly enjoy going several times a week a few months down the line. I’ve never been someone who enjoys exercise, in fact I always hated it. What really made the biggest difference for me was realising how good working out felt for my mental health and how nice it is to feel fit and strong. It’s such a confidence boost and just makes you feel more comfortable in your own skin in general. I’m loving it and now that it’s light out for longer, I find myself going more and more often.
I decided to grow out my eyebrows. Kind of on a whim, really. It suddenly dawned on me that it makes no sense to pluck my eyebrows every day, only to then fill them back in with a pencil. Honestly I have no idea why it took me so long to start growing them back out, haha! I’m quite curious to see their natural shape, I haven’t grown them out fully since I started plucking them at age 12. I’m currently in the awkward stubbly stage, but luckily you can’t see it at all beneath my bangs.
More and more vegan products keep popping up in supermarkets and I couldn’t be happier. This vegetable spread is new in my store and it looked really good. It’s a butternut squash spread with ras el hanout. Two ingredients that I love, and it is indeed quite delicious on a piece of toast or a cracker.
Speaking of vegan foods, last week I discovered vegan feta cheese by Violife. They have the best vegan cheese products I’ve found so far, although they’re still far from perfect. This feta is quite good, though! It’s a bit creamier than real feta but it works great in a salad.
On Friday I headed over to my MCN’s office in central Amsterdam for a creative session with some fellow YouTubers. I’m not really in touch with any other content creators regularly, so I always enjoy going to events like these and talking to people who work in the same field.
The beautiful Keizersgracht at early twilight.
A few weeks back we FINALLY ordered filters to go in my water filter. The water filter that Robbert gifted me for my, what… 20th birthday? Haha! It’s been sitting in cupboards unused for many years and only now did we finally put it to use. I’m very happy with it, by the way. Dutch tap water tastes really good as it is, but this filtered water tastes just like water out of a bottle.
On Saturday I headed into the city center again, with my friend this time to do a bit of shopping. I finally got myself a belt, a nice and simple one that’ll go with any outfit. Hopefully this will prevent me from ripping all my jeans at the belt loops by yanking them up all the time, haha!
We had dinner at Deer Mama, a little vegan restaurant in De Pijp. The restaurant itself lacked a bit of atmosphere if you ask me, but the food was amazing. We had nachos as and entree and I had a tempeh bowl for the main.
And that brings us to the end of last week. I hope you’re having a nice week so far, guys. Talk to you soon!
Hi, Lucy! A couple of questions.
What is your exercise/running routine? How do you make sure you are doing enough, but not too much too soon? I just want your opinion, if you don’t mind, of course :-)
Also, where did you get the new belt? I have been looking for one that will go with everything, but I don’t like shopping, so I’ve been putting it off.
Thanks for a great read as always!
Honestly my only rule is “as long as it’s enjoyable”, which means I 100% go by how I feel. I figured doing anything at the gym for an hour is an improvement upon spending that time on the sofa 😜 With that said, I usually start with a few minutes of walking on the treadmill at maximum incline (I’ve had some injuries before so I only do low impact training when unsupervised). I’ll do between 15 and 40 minutes, depending on how motivated I am (or how captivating whatever I’m watching on Netflix is, haha!). Then I move on to the weight training machines. My main focus is on training my back and butt, but I always do full body for as long as I’m still enjoying it. As for the weight, I’ll set it to as high as I feel I can handle somewhat comfortably. I’ve been able to bring everything up by 5-10kg since I started, so I know I’m making progress despite going slow and steady 🙂 I don’t have much of a plan or goal besides feeling fit, relieving some back pain and possibly growing a bit of a backside, haha! I usually end up spending between 1 and 1.5 hours there in total.
Oh, and the belt is from H&M!
A romantic movie I think you would enjoy. It’s a bit sugary but the interiors and fashion are BEAUTIFUL! The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.