New years resolutions

So you're a fan of them, or you're not. I sure am! I love the idea of new years resolutions. Every year, for the past 4 years, I've made a list of 10 things I want to achieve in the new year. Some big, some small, but all important to me.
This year was no exeption, and I have my 10 things written down for 2013!

1. Get my P. P stands for "propedeuse" (that's dutch, and I have no idea what the english term is for that word). Getting your P basically means that you've passed all of your first years exams. So getting your P in one year, which means no re-taking classes in year 2, is quite an achievement! This really is at the top of my list, because doing well in school means a lot to me.

2. Lose weight. I won't share the exact weight because I don't want people to start comparing. But don't worry, I'm not looking to lose a lot of weight. Just a few pounds that I consider to be "baby fat" that I want to get rid of trough healthy eating and exercise, NO DIET INVOLVED! Diets are crap and they just suck you in to an obsessive cycle that ruins your social life, and the weighloss never lasts.
I actually started this resolution a little earlier and I'm almost half way there. The goal was 5 kilo's, and I'm 2 down already. But I have a feeling these last 3 are not going to be easy, but I have the entire year to do it, so just changing my lifestyle little by little will probably do the trick eventually.

3. Date. Ok, so this might sound a little bit superficial but it's not. It's just a way of giving myself that extra push to have the confidence to date. I'm not looking for a boyfriend or anything serious for that matter, but there is no harm in dating!

4. Learn how to play the guitar. I've already started and I must say I'm loving it! I already play piano and never dared to touch a guitar because I have tiny sausage fingers. But I'm actually not too bad for a beginner, but there is a lot of room for improvement, but I will never be no John Mayer or Paul McCartney. How awesome would it be if I'd be able to play this someday:

I actually heard in an interview that he wears a fake nail in order to play this song!

 

 

5. Save up some money. I'm pretty good at saving money, but it's time to really put aside some money because I really want to make a trip somewhere far next year (I'm thinking Vietnam or South-Afrika) and it would be good to have that money set and ready to be spent!

 

6. Try out 50 new recipes. Simply because I like cooking, I think it's important to be able to cook for yourself properly and my parents will also appreciate not having to cook 50 nights out of the 365 nights in 2013!

 

7. Be more balanced. I have no clue what I mean when I say that, I'm just going to have to find out.

 

8. Write 5 songs. I always start writing songs, but I never finish. It would be nice to actually finish a few songs.

 

9. Run 6 km in one go. I am an interval kind of girl. Run, walk, run, walk and so on. I would love to be able to do my usual loop in one go!

 

10. Finish this list, because I've never actually finished a resolutions list. I usually get about 2/3 trough.

 

Question: What are your resolutions?

 



The past few months

Dear bloggie friends,

I haven't blogged in a few months. This is due to one very simple thing: a huge change in life!
Good and bad.
Good: I started up school again.
Bad: I have to still do schoolwork after I get home from full days.
I hate that so much! I love going to school, taking classes, learning. But I don't like that I have 4 full days of school every week and on top of that have to do so much at home.
And let's not forget the extra pressure I add on myself by wanting to maintain my job, exercise regularly, be there for my family and friends, oh and somewhere in between I find time to sleep.

And no I'm not perfect at balancing these thing. The one thing I have been consistent in is going to school. But some weeks I can't get myself to spend nearly enough time on school.
Sometimes I do, but then my exercise seems to be less frequent.
Sometimes I feel like spending time with friends and family, and sometimes I really can't be bothered.
It's been a struggle, an adventure, and most of all a transition.

For now, I'm still finding my balance amongst all of these things. And now that I've had some time off during christmas break, I've come to realize: I miss blogging!
I'm really hoping that I can find the time and passion to blog in my current life, but I'm really going to try, because it's a nice way of documenting this journey and keeping in touch with all of you guys!

Lots of love,

Janiek (Nope, still not perfect, but I kind of like it that way.)

Back to school shopping

Hey guys,
I did a major load of summer shopping the past two months. Some of it needed, most of it because I love clothes and shopping in general :)

Here are some of my buys:

A new very colourful vest/jacket. I rarely wear something that colourful, but I've decided my closet is (actually, now, was) in desperate need of some colour. It's so comfy and soft!

And keeping up with my pledge to wear more colour, two sweaters in green and blue. Both H&M. Duh. I'm obsessed with H&M.

 

I bought that red dress at H&M as well, and I think it's quite flattering. Love it! And those shoes are semi-new too. I bought those in Italy, and they're the most comfortable heels I've ever owned. Seriously invest in some real Italian shoes, it's worth it!

Also bought some pants in that colour. And an other pair of blue skinny jeans as well, that went unpictured.

And the blouse up close. It's from a dutch brand called Aako. I bought it at a flea market for 10 euros.

And at that same flea market I bought this tommy hilfiger vest for 10 euros. I've never owned any designer clothing, so I'm quite proud of it!

 

Have you ever owned any designer clothes?

 

Xx

2 weeks

Hey guys,

Not much has been going on over here. Living life, and my last few days as a free bird.

Because in two weeks I will be heading back to school. It's been almost a year since I last went to school and I am super exited!

I have my books in and have been reading them a little.

I'm a nerd, so be it.

In case I haven't told you, I am going to study nutrition. Yeah, it's an intrest of mine, guess thats why I have this little bloggie.

On the food front not much is happening. Cleaning up my eats little by little (and I'm talking baby steps, I can't quite give up that chocolate and cheese addiction of mine). And really making an effert to exercise about 4 times a week.

I have some old food photo's I can show you, from when I was in Italy. I might as well, otherwise it's a waist of ugly pictures anyway :p

Brushetta.

Pasta with tuna. Nice, but not amazing.

This ravioli however was aaaaahmaaaazing. Best pasta I've ever had! It was ravioli filled with ricotta and pesto. Topped with fresh tomato sauce and basil, and sprinkled with parmezan. I've been on a quest to find the best ravioli ever since.

This ravioli did not win. It was nice, but a little dry without tomato sauce.

We had limoncello, not my cup of tea. Way too strong.

This limoncello ice cream however rocked my socks off.

Regular lunch: bread with olive oil, S&P and cream cheese. This was eaten waiting for our train to Florence.

Lots of gelato was consumed. My favourites where yoghurt (see above) and anything hazelnut/nutella/chocolate.

Pappa al pommodoro. Bread soup. Amazing, I've been meaning to recreate this, haven't gotten to it yet.

Cantucci with vin santo. They were cookies with almonds in it which you had to dip in this really sweet dessert wine. It was only ok.

My first Italian cup of coffee. Have been drinking it the way the barman made it for me ever since. 1/4th coffee, 3/4th hot milk. That's it, awesomeness and comfort in a cup! (actually I make it half and half... but who cares, I like to exaggerate).

The only wine I had that holiday, seriously good though.

And the best cheese cake I ever had in my life. ALWAYS listen to what a waitress reccomends, they're always right (this coming from a waitress of course, but still, we're always right)

I'll be back soon posting pictures of my shopping addiction.

I felt I needed a lot of stuff for school. I was fooling myself.

haha.

Love! X

WIAW: Making progress

Hey guys,

Remember how I told you guys abou my cookbook frenzie project?

Well it's been over a month and a half since I've started, and I'm making progress!

Here's what I've made in the meantime.

Tuna meatballs, with spaghetti and homemade tomato sauce.

These were crazy expensive with the fresh tuna, pinenuts and fresh herbs. They were nice, but not so good that I would make them again. Plus it was a hel of a job! Hardest recipe made so far.

Fish on skewers with bread and rosemary (my families version also had pancetta wrapped around it)

Those skewers were a big hit in the family. I've already made them a seccond time on my parents request.

The vegetables were also amazing, vennel with tomato and olives, cooked in white wine, olive oil and butter. Yum!

An eggplant stew. Nothing special, but quite easy to make!

(Oh and I had a veggie meatball on the side)

And the only dessert I've made so far:

Fruit crumble/cobbler, whatever you want to call it.

Oh my lord, this was amazing!

Everyone went back for secconds, and in the late evening, me and a friend ate the left overs.

Happy WIAW!

Back from Italy - long time ago!

Hey guys,
I've been back from Italy a few weeks now, but haven't felt like blogging, at all!
Today I was updating on my favourite blogs today and felt inspired to write a post again.
Chances are I won't be posting as frequent as I did before untill I really get the writers itch again, but for me blogging is all about having fun. So I only blog when I want to, and I think that reflects in the posts. So here is to blogging for fun!

Now let me show you some of the pictures from Italy. I went to Rome for a week, and then a week to Florence.

Rome

Of course, we went to see all the famous sights.

There were so many famous things to see, that we we're really busy all week.

It was bloody hot all week too.

But all in all we saw some amazing things, and I will always remember the sights.

The people in Rome were not my favourite, they were very rushed and kind of unfriendly (not to say they all are of course, but it was not the most relaxed atmosphere around there).

Florence

Florence however was so relaxed! The people were nice, and the streets were still fun and lively at night with street musicians everywhere!

Of course we also went sightseeing a lot in Florence.

Isn't this amazing? Chalk street art! And they had a different famous painting every evening.

My favourite memories of the holiday were definetly the sights on top of the St. Peters in Rome, the sights on top of el Duomo and the lookout point in Florence. And the amazing restaurant we ate the last night in Florence, where there were all old Italians in the kitchen. It was amazing food, good service and we had such a lovely time there. If you ever visit Florence, make sure you make reservations at Casa Linga, it's awesome!

I'll let you see some of the food in another post because most of those pictures were taken on my phone.

Lots of love,

Janiek.

Since I'm missing out

Hey guys,

Since I'm missing out on WIAW, twice!!, I figured I'd do a WIAW style post anyway.

To be exact, this was my day 28th of June.

Breakfast:

A bowl of weetabix with milk and a nectarine.

No matter how hard I try, I can't get myself to like weetabix, I topped this weetabix with some cinnamon, which made it a little better, but I'm never buying that stuff again.

Lunch:

2 slices of bread, one with light cheese spread, one with sandwichspread. Both topped with some cumcumber.

And 2 chopped up tomatoes on the side.

Drizzled with olive oil and topped with S&P.

 

Snack:

Fresh orange juice and frozen grapes.

Later I had a few wholegrain crackers with cheese, they went unpictured.

Dinner:

I didn't get a chance to take pictures of my dinner but I had three wraps with veggies, guacamole and cheese.
I was so full after that!!

Only three more days untill I get back from Italy!

Xx