Grateful for: Rainy days

It's been sunny almost all week up here in the mountains. It's fabulous: Eating outside, playing in the river, watching the farmers bring in the hay, plant things, ride the bikes, enjoying all the pretty colors and great views.

The only thing that's not so fabulous is that I don't get much work done like this. A lot of what I'm doing at the moment involves my laptop and it's just much too bright outside to look at a screen. So I have to work inside whilst the sun is shining in front of my window.

It's difficult: If I'm working I feel bad for missing the sunshine (which I know is good for me), and if I'm outside I get frustrated because I don't get enough work done.

 

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That's the reason why I'm grateful for the occasional rainy day where I can stay cuddled up inside and just plough away to my heart's delight without any distraction.




(Well, we don't count the internet, there... )

How's your weather?


Hop over to Maxabella loves to see what other people are grateful for.

Grateful for: Support

Ever since I met my boy there have been difficult times to get through.
Not between him and me, mind you, but for each of us individually. A few months after we started dating I quit my job and went traveling. It freaked me out but was only the start of a big quest for goals and purpose in my life. He was always there, understanding and supportive. I really don't know where I would be now without him.

He's been working so hard for a long time trying to finish his Phd and it really starts to wear him out. Sometimes he forgets to eat, sometimes he forgets that there is a world outside and that he needs some sunshine. And sometimes he even forgets that there are other people... and I sometimes ask myself how it would be if he'd still live on his own... maybe he just wouldn't leave the house for days!

You be the sun

I'll be the moon

- just let your light

come shining through;

and when night comes,

just like the moon

I'll shine the light

right back to you.

So this week I'm grateful for mutual support - for my own and my beloved's sanity! :o)

More thoughts about being grateful at maxabella loves...

 

 

Grateful for: Mail

Coming to you from Maxabella loves...




If you think about it, mail service is actually a really cool invention.
Sure, everybody loves getting pretty things and cards and nice letters in the mail. Older people often complain that our generation is only communicating via email, but I think a lot of young people actually treasure "snailmail" a lot because it is so special for us.

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Here in our little village, the postman comes by the house and hands you the mail when he sees you about. Also, we have a pretty romantic letterbox:

I not only love to receive mail though, I also like to send it off occasionally (especially if I know the receipient is not expecting it. No pressure and double surprise - win-win! ^^).
We have this funny little thing here. If this little sign is on the letterbox, the postman will ring at the door instead of just dropping the mail.

 You can then give him mail to send off or buy stamps from him. Isn't that sweet? I think it's great and I definitely want to try it! ^^

What have you been grateful for this week?
Here are many more posts about what makes people grateful:

Grateful for: Nature

Some of these days, I really feel on top of things. Everything seems to be going along nicely, I make progress, I do work, all is fine. Other days, I feel a bit discouraged and confused about if what I do is really OK. But I know that's just a phase and it doesn't bother me too much.
Then there are days like today, where things just seem to take their own turn and I can but chase after them. Working on the computer, doing lots of neccessary but not really hands-on things whilst the sun is shining outside and everybody's busying themselves in the garden and around the house makes me feel like such a bum. But if I go outside and do active stuff that then is not so important for my immediate plans I feel bad because I'm not working.

Blegh.

In addition, today seems to be one of the days where the internet is full of a myriad of inspiring pages and great people and opportunities, way too much to process it all or go after them and making me feel like a time waster sitting here and not just going out and making stuff happening.

Aaaagh!

The only thing to do in such situations is to reboot. There's no way I'll get on top of things by running around all day, so I might as well just take some time and root myself.
The things that keep me grounded are trees, rivers, walking barefoot and telling someone who understands.

Oh, and good, fresh, healthy food seems to help, too.

Luckily, all we have to do to stand in the middle of a field now is go behind the house. The river is just a few more steps away and a lovely bench under a tree can be found at almost every corner.

So after half an hour of outdoors-lunchbreak, I felt much better about myself and now I am still busy doing a lot of things, but with much more purpose and security.

Gratefulness, as always, thanks to Maxabella:

There's so many more greatful people out there:

Grateful for: Friends

 

Who will come and visit you in the countryside on your first weekend there - without too much bribing! ;o)

Grateful for: perspective

The other day on pinterest I saw this picture:

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Gorgeous, isn't it?
I wanted to find out where it is and who took it. It's in Sigisoara, Romania. And I was, like "hey, I know that place!"
Turns out we've been there for a daytrip when we stayed in Brasov. It was recommended to us because of the old town. When we went there it was rainy and grey and cold and they had dug up the roads in all of town center, so the streets were mudbeds with walkplanks over them and building machinery everywhere. We had lunch in a resto with really bad service, missed a train, and so on... It's one of the very few things from that trip that I don't really like remembering.
Well, turns out it can be a nice place... *meeep* :o/

No, seriously, sometimes I'm just grateful to see that things have to be put into perspective. The world is not always as beautiful as the pictures on Pinterest. But often, it is much nicer than you think, if you look closely! ;o)

P.S: Have you entered my giveaway yet? If not, you still have a few hours to comment on this post and enter the drawing which will take place tonight. How exciting!

Grateful for: Friends! {*Giveaway!*}

Hey people, psst! Look at the sidebar there, on the left! See something? See it? No?

Well.

I don't think you'd notice, because, unlike me, you might not check the sidebar about ten times a day to look at the numbers. The numbers of people who liked me on facebook or follow the blog. I look at them so often because it is such a great thing to see when the numbers go up. I always feel so excited and grateful that people obviously like this page enough to click these buttons.
And now, I am up to 29 likes and 9 followers. Wooohooo! Who might be number 30/10??

I was so delighted to see that, that I decided to have a little celebration-giveaway. Just to say thank you to all you nice people who stop by and take time to read and even leave comments.

I've made three little illustrations that I will be sending out to the winners. Two of them are for whoever is next to follow the blog or click the like button on my fb page. For the third I will draw a winner out of whoever comments on this post, so everybody who's already following/liking can win something, too.

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(click for bigger image)

The giveaway will close earliest next Saturday, or whenever follower/liker number 10/30 have joined us.

Thanks for being here, wonderful friends!

More gratefulness, as always, over at Maxabella loves...

Grateful for: THIS tutorial!

Apart from the fact that Danny really did a great job in this video tutorial about showing all the steps in a very clear and yet concise way and that I ADORE his drawings: This tute was just something that really sparked in me. Do you know that feeling when something comes just at the right time? I've been crafting things off my to-do list for a while and whilst it is very satisfactory, it just misses the sort of childlike go-with-the-flow spontaneity that I really like about crafting. This post really brought that back to me. I saw it and just went: "Yes, I want to make this RIGHT NOW!"



Mini-book from danny brito on Vimeo.

We made one of these during my studies once, they called it little book companion and it was for writing essential things down during a seminar. That was such a cute and useful idea. And it reminds me of happy times. :o)

Happy weekend to you! What are you grateful for?
See what others say on Maxabella loves

Grateful for: Tights

As I'm trying to get back on track with the regulars here, I'm joining with all the wonderful grateful-posts over at Maxabella loves to take a moment and think about what I've been grateful for this week.
It is - as always - lots of things, of course. But I don't want to bore you with a long list and I'm picking the first one that comes to mind: That's tights.

It's been rainy here in Switzerland the past few days, and it is a blessing for the land that went through a really dry phase in the past weeks where we've had an unusual lot of sunshine and warmth so early this year. But it has also gone on the chilly side again, and I am not a person with a well functioning internal heating system. That's why I love my tights, stockings and socks.

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Ever since I stopped teaching I've been enjoying wearing dresses and skirts (something I don't really wear for work out of practicality and probably lazyness) almost everyday, so I really need to keep my legs and feet warm, especially when going around on the bicycle in this grey weather.

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I've gathered just a few pictures of legwear that I adore, for eyecandy and maybe as a little inspiration. Enjoy! ;o)

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Grateful for: Being me

It sounds a bit egoistic, I know, but that's not how I mean it. I don't want to say that I think I am perfect or anything, quite the contrary. The one thing I can say about my life so far is that I've always felt uneasy about it in one or the other way. Sometimes that made me go crazy, but sometimes it is also a good thing. It makes me want to move on, to investigate about what's going on inside myself and how I affect my surroundings. I think that uneasiness is actually what sparked my interest for environmental issues. It's the driving energy behind everything I love to do. 

Being me also has always been a question of accepting to stand out. Not because I'm better, but because I am different. Different in the way that everybody is - it's called individuality these days. But know what? Even though we're told that our society is exalting the concept of individuality, they're actually only joking. Adverts tell us exactly where we have to shop if we 'know what we want', or to 'make your own style'. Has any of these adverts ever made you feel like it's ok not to feel like shopping? See. And that's only one thing. 

So I think I've worked and am working pretty hard on accepting to be me. Just me, no masks or anything. Let me tell you, dropping one of these masks in fall 2009 almost made me dive into a big depression again. It still hurts inside when I think about it.

Taking time off to work on things that are not really gonna earn me a living, nor include travelling (the only socially accepted reason for being unemployed in Switzerland) was another hard step.

But oh, it is SO worth it. I have never felt as liberated, peaceful and full of meaning than these days, where I wake up every day and make the day mine. 

It might not work all the time (I have been caught browsing the web instead of working... shame on me!), but it will work out eventually, and I love it. 

Have a happy weekend everybody, make it yours!

Much love

yaga

(and Teddy)

See what others are grateful for:

"Grateful for" - in pictures

I'm in a bit of a funny mood concerning blogging these days. I have lots of things I'd like to write about on my mind - thoughts, but also some projects that are going on here and that I'd like to show you. But when I sit down it just seems like my text-compiling-braincells have gone on strike.

Well, until they're back I'll keep it short and sweet and add pictures.

This week I'm grateful for:

The first flowers of spring!

Fairy gifts. (That's what we used to call pretty finds that we brought back from walks)

Wonderfully colored food to lift your mood!

Freaky ideas. The guitar always slipped on the floor. What's good against slipping? Anti-slip-socks of course.

Homemade stuff. Trev makes the best hummus ever. Homemade red pesto from the market on the right. I dabbled in making pasta which is actually not a big deal, and then I also found out it is really easy to make great bread in a very mundane frying pan! (Recipe coming up!)

A warm working place in the sun, overlooking the square in front of the house, with the forest in the background. Aaah! :o)

Oh and I'm grateful for my bicycle which I started using regularly again this week since my ticket ran out and I needed a kick in the ass to get some exercise.

Wanna know what other people are happy about? Klick the button!


What makes you smile?

Grateful for: Celebration

This friday, we had something big to celebrate.

My Dad turned 60 on Friday, and of course we wanted it to be an unforgettable birthday for him.

Everybody was responsible for something. My sisters took care of making the food.

Trev selected the wine. I organised the present. And my mom invited us to the zoo on Sunday. It was a great afternoon! The weather was splendid:

We had a lot of fun:

We saw many cool animals:

...and many fluffy things:

...and it was the first time in ages I was in the zoo for my own pleasure and not responsible to look after a hord of kids, so we could really take our time and enjoy all the great exhibitions and informations about the zoo's oecological engagement. Very inspiring!

I find it so important to celebrate important points in our lives... now that the church has more or less lost its importance of saying in these matters, rituals and celebrations often just go forgotten, but I am very convinced that we need them for a healthy mind and soul. It felt so great to enjoy this weekend as a family and devoting time to each other, actively planning to do these special things. I'm grateful for the human ability to celebrate.

What are you grateful for this week? Join the fun at Maxabella's: