Let love be your energy (or just pick another energy booster)

Finally winter has come to an end! It is time to get rid of that winter blues and get some energy to embrace spring with both arms. I came across these interesting tips that might give you some extra energy. So, are you feeling drained? Try these energy boosters! Basically it all comes down to 3 things, namely Feel, Think and Do!

Feel
Concentrate on your breathing for a couple of minutes. Make an ‘ooooo’, an ‘aaaaaa’ and an ‘mmmm’sound. Feel how your lips vibrate, after a couple of minutes your lips will start to tingle, an instant energy boost.
Laugh to relieve stress. One laughing minute equals 45 minutes of relaxation. When you laugh your organs get a free massage. Laughing also releases serotonins (the happy hormone).
Hug someone. Touching, feeling, having contact is essential for your energy levels. No one to hug? Get a massage or take dancing lessons.
Appreciate. We all need at least 5 compliments a day. Enjoy them when you get them and be generous too, give compliments! The more you give, the more you get :)
Sleep when you feel the need, it will recharge your battery. Didn’t sleep long enough last night? Take a powernap! Try, at least once a week, to be in bed before midnight. Before midnight your melatonin levels are high, you will sleep better.

Think
Screen your surroundings and make 2 lists: 1 with people who give you energy and 1 with people who suck the energy right out of you. In bad times, stay away from people on the last list. Need some energy? Contact one of the people on the first list. You can make a similar list for music. Note down music that gets you down and music that cheers you up.
Alpha waves. Give yourself a natural high. Paint, read a book, work in the garden, listen to music. Especially classical music is good for stimulating you Alpha waves (but ambient music can do the trick too). Just lose yourself in whatever you are doing, go with the flow.
Leave the past alone the past has past. Staying preoccupied with past will suck all your energy away and will give you nothing in return.
Making plans boost your energy and gives you something to look forward to.
Stop procrastinating. You can’t enjoy life fully, if you have too much on your “to-do” list. You only will get annoyed by all the things you haven’t done yet, just another waste of your energy. Do things a.s.a.p., you will feel better.

Do!
Move! Movement is the key to more energy. It really doesn’t matter what kind of activity you choose. If it satisfies your senses, gives you pleasure, it’s okay! It will give you strength; your personality will grow, just as your enthusiasm and energy level.
Call a good friend. This will provide you with some emotional balance. Communicating gives you a handle on your situation, puts things back in perspective.
Create order. Pick one day in the month to clean away any junk that stacks up around the couch, on the table or kitchen counter.
Take a five-minute break just to do nothing. A lot of us feel we don't have the time, but really, it's just five minutes.
Get plenty of daylight. Not only does it generate vitamin D, it also increases serotonin levels.
Eat slow food The right type of carbohydrates gives you more energy, helps you feel full and keeps your blood sugar level even. Go for coarse rye bread, pasta, rice, nuts, dried apricots, raisins, fresh pineapple, bananas or potatoes (and I don’t mean French fries!).

Have an energetic spring!

The natives are getting restless.

Or at least one native is getting restless and that one native is me. The last couple of days (actually it was a week) I haven’t been feeling quite right. All my friends were in bed with the flu and my recalcitrant body couldn’t decide to invite the flu in, or show it were the exit was. (Make up your mind woman ehm…. body!) So, one minute I was feeling quite all right and the next I had a temperature and the sniffles, a cough and no energy at all. But that ship has sailed. My body finally made up her mind and has shown the bugging bug the door. Hooray!

Now I have a different bug and I think it would be safe to say that it is the world-famous spring bug. Never heard of it? I didn’t either, guess I just made that one up, but nevertheless spring is bugging me. Or to be more exact, the absence of spring is bugging me and I am in desperate need of some spring. I can’t help it, I feel all that energy flowing again and I can’t do anything with it. Of course you can do things in the winter too, but for these kinds of things you really need some spring weather. Wouldn’t it be nice to work in the garden again, to ride a bike to a remote place and have a picnic, to have a glass of wine outside a nice café, to hike, go to a music festival or the beach, take pleasure in the sunshine while enjoying a good book and a nice cup of tea? Pfff… I can’t wait and I’m getting sick and tired of this dull cold weather! But there is nothing to be done; I have to wait a little bit longer. Bummer!

Today’s another grey day, only 41 degrees F/5 degrees C :( and it is still freezing at night. That doesn’t seem right now, does it! We, or at least I, need a spring ritual or something, just to speed things up a little bit :)

Video Tuesday: The evil Ka!

Creativity is a skill – part II

Earlier I wrote Creativity is a skill …here is the follow-up

Solution 1: (cutting the cake)

Solution 2: Was it more difficult then you thought? Most people get 9 objects in 3 minutes. When you had fewer results, try to look at the square from a different perspective. Look at it from above, from the side, maybe the square is in the air or under water. Just fool around with it a bit.

Solution 3: Empty the fifth glass into the second.

Solution 4: There are no right or wrongs here. This exercise is just here to stretch your mind. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oh …….cake and kudos to Phil :)

Flickrfun!

I was surfing the other day and found these two fun sites.

The first one is Flickr toys (which you btw can also use if you aren't a flickr user). You can create all sort of things there like mosaics, billboards, posters and so much more with your own photos. Just check it out (when you are bored or something :))

The other one is Spell with Flickr. Spell with Flickr is a small program that lets you type in whatever you want, then goes to flickr and grabs pictures for each an every letter. When you try it you will end up with something like this :)

Have fun and a great sunday :)

Do I have “STUPID” tattooed on my forehead or something?

There is this guy who has been after my phone number for quit some time now, but I’m not interested in talking to him and I told him that (I figured this was a nice situation to be brutally honest for once). But still, he keeps pushing.

First it was: Call me sometime, here is my number! I didn’t want his number and I told him (again) why. So then he emailed me his number :( Again I told him that I was not interested and again he asked me for my number because according to him I was to shy to call him……YEAH right! When that didn’t work out the way he wanted, he tried to get my number from people I know. Luckily they didn’t give it to him because they know how I feel. So, he had to come up with a new and improved tactic and he did. Next trick in his book: okay, if you don’t want to give me your number, just send me a text (SMS) message!!

Does he really think I’m that stupid?

Creativity is a skill

Mozart and Van Gogh were, and scientists who discover amazing stuff are. Creative people, people who think outside the box. They can come up with solutions others never think about. Some people are envious of this and want to think up creative solutions too. Is that a problem? No, it isn’t, because fortunately everyone can learn to be creative and can learn think outside of the box. You can train your brain to look at things differently just by stimulating it.

Most people are efficient observers. During the day our brain is attacked by all sorts of information. Things that are important to us, are saved for later use and irrelevant static disappears into the background. That’s why we can, for instance, have a normal conversation at a loud party. If we want, we can still understand the person we are having a chat with, because the loud noise and music is filtered into the background by our brain. (hmm…. So when you can’t make out what the other one is saying you are either deaf or not interested?! ;))

The downside of this quite useful filter is that it limits our ability to think up smart and clever solutions. But like I said earlier, you can change this; you can learn to think outside of the box. So enough of this, time for some assignments (that is, if you are interested of course)

Assignment 1: Cutting the cake

Here is a cake and it needs to be cut into 8 equal pieces. That doesn’t sound to difficult now, does it? There is only one problem, you may only take the knife and cut 3 times

Assignment 2: Quick drawing.

Here are 16 squares. Change these squares into objects. You have 3 minutes to do this. Be creative and try to make a diverse range of objects. And you don’t have to be precise and neat, you are not creating a piece of art.

Assignment 3: The glass is full or empty

Here are 6 glasses, 3 full and 3 empty. You can move 1 glass to make it 1 empty, 1 full, 1 empty, 1 full, 1 empty and 1 full.

Assignment 4: Associate.

Start with any given word and associate. For example start with water. You could get a chain like this one: water – drinking – coke – America – Bush – Iraq – war – peace – Christmas – candle – flame – fire etc. Now during the next minute, make your own chain starting with mushroom. And, how many did you get?
Now do it again and try to increase your outcome by 50%, start with the word violin or diamond.

Okay enough assignments for now….. go and be creative :) On a later date I’ll post the solutions and/or more information.

I took a test today…..a strength test.

Today, I was reading a magazine and there was this interesting article about character strengths. There was this little test you could take, but there was also this link to the real and complete Values in Action Strengths Survey. Of course I was curious so I took the test online (for which you need to register btw).

So here are my 5 signature strengths:

#1 Curiosity and interest in the world
You are curious about everything. You are always asking questions, and you find all subjects and topics fascinating. You like exploration and discovery.

#2 Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person.

#3 Humor and playfulness
You like to laugh and tease. Bringing smiles to other people is important to you. You try to see the light side of all situations.

#4 Kindness and generosity
You are kind and generous to others, and you are never too busy to do a favor. You enjoy doing good deeds for others, even if you do not know them well.

#5 Zest, enthusiasm, and energy
Regardless of what you do, you approach it with excitement and energy. You never do anything halfway or halfheartedly. For you, life is an adventure.

Hmmz… I’m still not sure I can agree with all of them or even like them ;)

Cartoon Tuesday - The Datingsite

Click on the cartoon for a larger image!

The negative aspect of being happily in love.

When you are happily in love, your chances of having a nightmare are increasing rapidly. This is discovered by researchers of the Santa Clara University in California.

For this project they questioned 29 (why not 30?!) married and single women. Women, who rated their relationship as a high quality one, admitted having more unpleasant dreams then singles or unhappy women. In those unpleasant dreams the partner often has a leading part. They committed adultery, had an accident or ran off.

Explanation by the researchers:

People who are happy have a lot to lose and when people have a lot to lose, they stress about it unintentionally. It may not show in day to day life, but you see this back in their dreams.

Hmmz… I must be very happily not in love because I have pretty weird or disturbing dreams from time to time too, or maybe it is just something in the water ;)

Quote!

“A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history – with the possible exception of handguns and tequila” – Mitch Ratcliffe

Interested in the new Lenny Kravitz absolutely free?

The new single Breath is not for sale but can be downloaded for free at absolute

Honestly……I need some feedback!

I always thought that being honest and sincere was the way to go in life, but lately I’m not so sure anymore. Although I've said some things with the best intentions in mind, honesty (again) has got me in some trouble and I don’t like it. Hmm.... that reminds me of this quote: “Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold – but so does a hard-boiled egg.”

Wikipedia has this to say about honesty, but what do you think. Is it better to be honest or tell a fib/a “little white lie” from time to time?

Well….. I think it’s funny

The following people are stranded on a desert island in the middle of nowhere:

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman

2 French men and 1 French woman

2 German men and 1 German woman

2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman

2 English men and 1 English woman

2 Bulgarian men and 1 Bulgarian woman

2 Japanese men and 1 Japanese woman

2 American men and 1 American woman

One month after being stranded, the following things have occurred on the island:

One Italian man has killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together in a ménage-a-trois.

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule of when they alternate with the German woman.

The two Greek men are sleeping with each other, and the Greek woman is cleaning and cooking for them.

The two English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the English woman.

The Bulgarian men took a long look at the endless ocean and one look at the Bulgarian woman and then started swimming for home.

The two Japanese men have faxed Tokyo and are waiting for instructions.

The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide, while the American woman keeps on bitching about her body being her own, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything that they can do, about the necessity of fulfilment, the equal division of household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her much nicer, and how her relationship with her mother is improving. But at least the taxes are low, and it’s not raining.

Why we forget names and remember faces.

Most of us will be familiar with this: We never forget faces but the name that goes with the face is a whole different story. The reason for that is quite simple, we can easily recognize a face but it’s much harder to remember a name. When we meet someone for the first time, certain brain cells react to specific distinctive points on a face. When we meet this person again our brain cells will react quicker and easier then when we met this person for the first time. In fact our brain is thinking: ‘Hey, I’ve done this before!’ Or in other words: I know that face! So there will be no need to dig into your memory.

Remembering someone’s name is another process altogether. When you have recognized someone, you will have to kick your memory banks into gear. We need to connect with our nervous system/brain and find all the gathered information (like their name) we collected during a previous meeting. Is the information not accessed for a while (was the meeting a long time ago) our brain gets sluggish. It takes longer to gather the necessary information and this can lead to awkward situations, which we are probably all familiar with.

Get a grip on your spare time!

Are you frustrated by the constant lack of time? These tips might help you with your planning.

What do you do and when do you do it? Create a daily or weekly "To-Do" list.

Prioritize. Write the most important things on your calendar. Invest in a day or a family planner.

Set clear, honest and realistic goals for yourself and write them down.

Have a weekly meeting with your partner (and/or kids). Talk about current affairs and new activities.

Enjoy the things you do, live in the here and now

Are there thing you don’t like to do or just don’t get around to…..delegate, supervise and let go! Say "no". You're one person, and you cannot do it all! Exercise your stress management techniques by saying "no" occasionally when asked to do things that are of least priority to you.

Stop pleasing others. Prioritize. Try this exercise: First contemplate the to-do list you're carrying in your head or your planner this very day. Now imagine that you're reading the list many years from now, moments before your own (peaceful) death. Which of the items on the list will you be glad you did? Which will mean nothing? If nothing on today's schedule offers soulful nourishment, write in some “me time”.

At the end of the day, stop for a minute and see what you did that day

Be kind to yourself. Pencil yourself in ... to YOUR schedule! Take some time out for yourself. In our obsessively busy society, you may be hard-pressed to convince family and acquaintances you need “me time”. Don't bother. Just excuse yourself, firmly, unapologetically, with minimum information. Say, "I'm sorry, I have an appointment at that time" or "Nope, I'm booked" or "I need 15 minutes alone."

Enjoy yourself. What makes you happy? Spending time in the garden? Seeing movies? Going to the spa? Playing sports? Evaluate yourself and what you like to do. Schedule some "me time" in that spiffy new planner you've got and treat it like an appointment. Although doing something such as gardening may sound like the least priority, it is something that relaxes you so you can keep up with all the other things. Everything has its own time. Make time for yourself.

Spring!

Click on the cartoon for a larger image!

Who came up with that idea?

This morning I wanted to brush my teeth, so I held my electric toothbrush in one hand and the toothpaste in the other. I twisted the cap of the tube of toothpaste and gave the tube a little pinch…..huh, nothing? That could not be, I had just bought new toothpaste (funky blue with white stripes :)). So, attempt two: I gave the tube a real squeeze. Still nothing! Huh…..flabbergasted I looked at the tube and I really started to think about brushing my teeth without toothpaste for once because I really wasn’t in the mood for a struggle with a non-cooperating tube of toothpaste. But I decided against it because that wouldn’t leave me with clean teeth and a fresh breath, now would it?

Third time lucky, I thought and gave it another try. I put down my electric toothbrush, grabbed the tube with both hands and gave it a real hard squeeze. Hooray….toothpaste, just the size of a pea, but enough! While I was happily brushing my eyes darted through the rest of the bathroom and all of a sudden I noticed that many things come in plastic tubes these days. Hand cream, body lotion, and facial cream and hair products. I suddenly realised that I have to struggle every day to get things out of tubes. Who on earth came up with the idea of putting all these products in tubes? Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against tubes, but plastic tubes? What was wrong with the old collapsible, easy to roll up aluminium tubes? At least when you used those, the product was willing to come out! Nowadays you have to tube wrestle to get something out.

And how about this, did you know that about a 10% (or even more) of the product will never see a ray of light. When you think the plastic tube is empty, there is still a lot product left. You don’t believe me? Cut one open (be careful :)) when you think you are finished with it :)

Hmmz… it must have been a manufacturer who came up with the plastic tube idea. The sooner we dispose of one of his tubes, the sooner we buy new! Wow, that is ingenious way of making money. His company must be a multinational by now! :)

Okay…..who forgot to send the memo?

According to the Meteorological calendar spring started on March 1st, but this is what I saw this morning :) SNOW!!

So, who forgot to send that memo to the weather gods? I was really looking forward to spring :( Oh well, guess I’m shifting back into winter mode now.

Hooray, it is winter and it has SNOWED!! :)

Just another story caught up in a photograph.

This morning I took a little trip down memory lane. I got some old boxes and albums filled with photos out and started flicking through them. These guys from my past (and wanderingthinker's comment the other day ;)) had made me curious, was there something special about me when I was so much younger? In my memory I was just a loner, a shy little tomboy, who liked to climb trees, swings, built tree houses, run and played outdoors a lot. I must have loved my little Wellington boots because I wear them a lot in the early pictures. I also discovered I was behind bars at a very young age :). Oh, and I loved to ride horses because I’m on quite a few. To be more accurate, my dad loved horse so he took us out riding a lot. But honestly I can’t pinpoint why these guys have such an extensive memory of me. When I look at my school pictures I’m just one of the kids. I couldn’t identify something specific or extremely special…..it was me, just plane old me and hey, I see me everyday :) Oh well, that is not completely accurate, what I saw in the pictures was a much younger version of me :)

Maybe I should just ask them. That might be an option! Hey, I can’t help it, I’m curious! It always amazes me, that when you ask people about these sort of things, they always come up with a totally different picture of you. It could be interesting to see which picture (version of me) they have in their minds.

At least I can thank them for my trip down memory lane. It was very enjoyable, some pictures made me laugh out loud, made me smile, others made me cry and they made me think of these lyrics:

“It's just another story caught up in another photograph I found.
and it seems like another person lived that life a great many years ago from now,

When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life,
I see so much magic, though I missed it at the time.
when I look back on my ordinary ordinary, ordinary life,
I see so much magic, though I missed it at the time.”

Jamie Cullum – Photograph

Yes my life is pretty ordinary, but there has been (and there still is) a lot of magic too :)

Sometimes friends make you smile and they don’t know why (a.k.a. funny situations)

Most of my friends don’t know I do a lot of (in their eyes) silly things online and that is just fine by me. But it can lead to some funny situations.

Like for instance the time I was out and about with one of my friends. It was when I was hunting 43’s. I asked him to stop the car so I could take a picture of a 43,0 hectometre sign. He looked at me all puzzled, like I was weird or something, but stopped the car. I took the picture and happily returned to car. Of course he wanted me to explain why I was all of a sudden fascinated by the number 43. I only told part of the story and I told him that it was just another one of my weird projects (I have them on a regular basis :)) – Photograph 43 things with the #43 on them. He seemed satisfied with that explanation, so we didn’t talk about it anymore. Later that week he sends me an email in which he said: I did some research and did you know there are more people who have this weird fascination with the number 43? There is even a group at flickr.com! (duh!)And even more surprisingly there is a site called 43things (oh!), I thought that might interest you :) Hmm… that left me flabbergasted for a while. Funnily enough he had not found my page on 43T.

Same goes for my blogging. It is not a big secret or anything and if someone who knows me in RL comes across my blog, I would not have a problem with it, but I’m just not talking about it. I’m not sure why I don’t talk about it, it’s not like I have to be ashamed or anything. Hmm… I think it has to do with censorship. Now I can write about….. well, whatever I fancy and I truly believe that it would change if I knew that certain people were reading it. Strange hey? The funny situation in this story? Just the other day one of my friends was dropping of some stuff and she also brought over a book called:

Blogging for Dummies!

There are currently nine million blogs, with 40,000 new ones created every day; 25 percent of Internet users say they read blogs, and 9 percent say they've created one. This book walks people through what they need to know to launch a blog, maintain it, publicize it, syndicate it, and even make money from it. Topics covered include choosing a Weblog host such as Blogger.com or TypePad, hosting a blog on one's own, solving blog problems, working with blogging software (Movable Type, Greymatter, Radio Userland), and delving into RSS syndication. It offers tips from veteran bloggers, a rundown of Blogosphere protocol, savvy pointers on earning revenue from a blog, and advice on specialized blogs such as podcasts, vlogs, and photo and MP3 blogs

Somehow she thought that blogging might just be my thing…….I don’t know where she got that idea from ;) Well…… I guess my friends know me.

In the Twilight Zone

I am having a bit of a strange day. Another one? Yes another one! It seems that my past is starting to haunt me. Hmm.. that sounds like I have a dark nasty secret and I hate to disappoint you all…. but I have not :)

Some time ago I wrote the Lost and Found entry and as I told you then, instead of me finding my friends, people seem to find me. Last weekend, this happened again. One of my classmates from primary school found me. I don’t remember much from my primary school time, so at first I really enjoyed this renewed contact, but now I’m not so sure anymore. Why? Well this guy told me he was in love with me way back then. Funny isn’t it? No it isn’t and I will tell you why.

Last year the same thing happened to me. A guy from primary school contacted me. We met and we visited our old school. After our little visit we had lunch and then he told me I was the love of his life. Scary :( Hmm… now that I’m reading this, it don’t sound scary at all, but the guy is married and has a kid. So we laughed about his little confession and emailed each other for a while….that was fun. Until he started talking about a relationship and divorcing his wife to be with me :( He even told his wife this before talking to me, so his wife threatened me; she was going to get me and so on. A lot of bad things happened. That was not so much fun; I’m not a home wrecker! We still email sporadic now, and he is still married, but it wasn’t a pleasurable experience.

And now there is this new guy. Told me he loved me way back when in his second email and how old feelings returned when he saw our old school picture. He is very enthusiastic/eager and wants to know all about me and that scares me a little bit. Hmm… maybe I should stop writing those funny and inspiring emails (yeah I know I write pretty damn well in Dutch, I have a way with words in my native language :)) to him. *sigh* Like I said, I’m having another strange day. But hey, there is one positive thing; at least this guy is single :)

Video Tuesday: breaking wind, Jurassic style

Is age difference still an issue?

The other day I saw this movie called Prime and the story is rather simple actually: Uma Thurman plays Rafi, a 37-year-old successful fashion/business-woman. She just got divorced and is seeing a therapist (Meryl Streep) for that. One night, at the movies, she meets David, a 23-year-old with a not so interesting job and some amazing painting skills. The first encounter leads to a first date, the first date to a first kiss and... once again Cupid fires off two direct hits. Little do they now about the mutual person (Meryl Streep) running around in their lives who'll soon find out about their relationship. I liked this movie a lot but this is not going to be a movie review, I rather like to talk about the age-difference thingy. Is this really still an issue?

When a guy is in his fifties and she is thirty, the guy gets congratulated but when a fifty year old woman falls in love with a thirty year old guy, there must be something wrong with the both of them. She is a “cradle robber”, he finally found the mother he’d never had. I believe there are people who enter into a relationship for all the wrong reasons (financial reasons, psychological problems), but I also believe that there are many people who truly fall in love with those who are much younger or older than themselves.

Although it is a fact that most of us will develop a key relationship with someone who is within three years of our own age, there are those who will go far beyond that standard. Is this wrong? No I don’t think so; in fact I believe that such a relationship can be very fulfilling when both parties really care about each other and love each other. Age difference is just another type of committed relationships that make up the fabric of our society. Man divided the years into 365 days, but he did not hinder some women from being younger at forty than others are at twenty, and some men from being older at twenty than some men at fifty.

I really like this thing one of my friends always says about love and falling in love “I don’t fall in love with a gender or an age; I fall in love with a person”. I can only say: hear, hear!

My message to you :)

Okay....

I’ve made up my mind. I will be back on Monday, February 27th.

Taking a break!

I am taking a break from blogging for a while.

I don’t know when I’ll be back, could be in a couple of days, could be next week or next month.

No special reason, I just need some space, get some fresh ideas and perspective. I hope to “see” you all when I get back :)

Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Today is NOT a writing day. I have about three or four stories in my head and none of them wants to come out…..It’s a bit like playing hide and seek with my thoughts. Silly, but true. When I start one story, another one tries to creep in…. so that is not working. Luckily I came across something completely different on bbc.co.uk to write about, so here it is.

Scientists to study speed dating

Scientists are planning to stage a mass speed dating experiment to discover whether opposites really do attract. They are seeking 200 people to take part in the event, which will be part of this year's Edinburgh International Science Festival in April.

The study is being carried out under the gaze of Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire. "This is the first time that speed dating has been used to assess the psychology of compatibility," he said. "People often believe that they are good at predicting what types of people will get on with one another, and it will be interesting to see if they are correct."

The volunteers will be asked to complete a personality test, take part in a series of five minute meetings with potential suitors, then say how much they liked those they met.

It is hoped the data will show whether people with different personalities get on best, or whether similarity is the secret of success.

For me it’s true, opposites do attract…..can’t help it. It has always been that way and I’m not talking about taste in food, music or movies, I’m talking about hobbies, passions, opinions. I found that opposites can actually help a relationship by introducing each person to a whole new point of view. Or like they said in another article: contrasting personalities is a positive; nobody wants to date themselves, after all.

Happy Valentine’s Day

"The question of love is one that cannot be evaded. Whether or not you claim to be interested in it, from the moment you are alive you are bound to be concerned with love, because love is not just something that happens to you: It is a certain special way of being alive. Love is, in fact, an intensification of life, a completeness, a fullness, a wholeness of life." -Thomas Merton

Video Tuesday: There should be a dress code :)

What does your key-ring express?

The other day I posted this alphabet photo on 43T – K is for Keys. Of course my Piglet key-ring got noticed (like so often) and that resulted in this interesting question by Wanderingthinker: “Piglet? My keyholder expresses a part of my personality. Is it the same for you?”

Like I said, interesting question. I’ve never thought about that. I have had the weirdest key-rings over the years: there was a fluffy giraffe, a frog (that actually was a prince charming in disguise according to a friend), a Saint Christopher, a nametag, a mini Maglite and so much more.

But back to the question: Does Piglet express part of my personality?

Let’s see:
Piglet clearly suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder and needs to be placed on an anti-panic agent……..well, that’s not me!

Piglet’s general traits: timid, sensitive, honest, reliable, compassionate, just, generous, ordinary, tends to mistake fear for lack of courage – when in a pinch, however, can overcome his fears admirably, is afraid of the unknown, runs away from his problems, is not known for his brain – but knows his strength and weaknesses well and perceives those of others clearly,

Funny…..I’m actually part Piglet. Guess I’ve learned something today

How about you. Does your key-ring express part of your personality?

Sort of tagged

No inspiration today, so I got this from Kat’s blog

Instructions: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so

1) Ultimate Writer
2) MikeChau
3) Jessie Griffith
4) Kat
5) Dakota’s Habitat

Next select five people to tag:

I'm not going to tag anyone but if you want to do this please add your name to the list.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago…..hmm… I’m not sure. I was living with a guy, worked and visited Norway, Denmark and France that year. Sorry, I don’t remember something special :)

Five snacks you enjoy:
Chocolate, fruit, Ben & Jerry’s, cake, Digestive biscuits.

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
Paradise by the dashboard light - Meatloaf
Single – Natasha Bedingfield
The Scientist - Coldplay
You’re Beautiful – James Blunt
Glory Box - Portishead

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
I don't do the lottery, but I would:
have an outrageous party,
donate some of it to charity,
travel the world,
buy a house,
start something.

Five bad habits:
Huh? I don’t have any bad habits ;)

Five things you like doing:
Reading
Exercising
Blog
Learning
Listening to music/watch movies

Five things you would never wear again:
Leggings
Real high stiletto's
Blue eye shadow or blue mascara
Mini skirt
Pink lipstick

Five favourite toys:
Cell phone
Digital camera
Computer
iPod
DVD player

And the winner is……..Finbarr O’Reilly.

Canadian photographer Finbarr O’Reilly wins premier award

The international jury of the 49th annual World Press Photo contest selected a color image of the Canadian photographer Finbarr O'Reilly of Reuters as World Press Photo of the Year 2005

The picture shows the emaciated fingers of a one-year-old child pressed against the lips of his mother at an emergency feeding clinic in Niger. A devastating swarm of locusts and the worst drought in decades left millions of people short of food in the African state. The picture was taken in Tahoua, northwestern Niger, on 1 August 2005.

You can find all the winning photo’s here. I was delighted to see that Todd Heisler was one of the winners too. He has won 1^st prize: People in the news, stories.

Oh, my god…..why on earth do I do things like that?

One of my 43T is: become a Wikipedia contributor. Great plan! So I signed up last week. As you all know I wasn’t in great shape then so I didn’t contribute anything. Well this is a new week, with new possibilities.....so, let's do it!

I intended to translate some articles to Dutch because the foreign Wikipedia’s are much more elaborate. Translating stuff still sounds like a great plan, now doesn’t it? But am I translating, of course not. No, instead I’m writing a whole article (in Dutch) about the history of handbags. Nothing weird about that, you might think, but here is the weird part………I DON’T EVEN LIKE HANDBAGS! If it is at all possible I don’t even use a handbag. Why not? Because: I like to have my hands free, they are always getting in the way, they are either too small - so all the things you need won’t fit, or the are too big - so you have to bring extra stuff because you don’t want to walk the streets with an almost empty bag. But let us forget unpractical handbags, back to writing the article. Believe it or not I’m actually researching the history of handbags; I even went to the library. I am learning things I didn’t want to know about handbags ;) It’s a horrible job, but somebody got to do it, it might as well be me. But the question remains: why on earth do I do things like that?

Oh and to make things even worse…. I did a handbag quiz. It's official: I'm losing my marbles :)

You Are a Classic Gucci Bag You've got style mastered - because you stick with what works Like this Gucci Bag, you prefer classic items that stand the test of time You're also a bit of a practical girl, who prefers function over fluff You prefer a big bag, so that you can have your stuff with you at all times What Kind of Handbag Are You? Take This Quiz :-)

A Lost and Found update.

Last month I wrote this little piece about my search for long lost friends and how I came across the email address of one of them. Like I said then, I tried to verify that I had the right address but that was getting me nowhere. So after careful consideration I decided to just send an email. In that email I just simply asked if he was the person I was looking for. Two weeks later I got this reply: No, I’m not!
Bummer….. I just have to keep looking, I guess.

Interesting quote about Attitude

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes."

-Charles Swindoll-

Video Tuesday: Sometimes people are just not impressed :)

Naturally!

You scored as Natural Causes. Your death will be by natural causes, though not by any diseaese, because that is another option on this test. You will probably just silently pass away in the night from old age, and people you love won't realize until the next morning, when you are all purple and cold and icky. So be happy, you won't be murdered. Natural Causes 80% Disappear 60% Eaten 53% Bomb 47% Cut Throat 47% Gunshot 40% Suicide 40% Disease 27% Stabbed 20% Posion 13% Suffocated 7% Accident 0% Drowning 0% How Will You Die?? created with QuizFarm.com

Mr. McDonald’s, please don’t ‘Super size me’

I finally got the chance to see ‘Super size me’, a great documentary!. I can highly recommend this movie if you are interested in nutrition, (fast) food or McDonald’s. I can also suggest it to people who want to lose weight. Watching this could be very inspirational and motivating :)

Summary: The latest statistics show that two out of every three Americans are overweight, and about one out of every three of those persons is obese. Morgan Spurlock, decides to eat three meals a day at McDonald’s for thirty days, to see how it will affect him. He must eat every item on the menu at least once during the thirty days, and he must super size anything he orders when super sizing is suggested by the McDonald’s employees. And the outcome is not a pretty picture :)

One other thing this documentary will do is change the way you look at McDonald’s marketing, health and fast food. And if the documentary doesn’t alter your view, the bonus material probably will. One of the bonus items is called ‘the smoking fry’. That’s sounds promising! They did a food experiment. In the office they had some glass jars with a lid. McDonald’s (and some regular) burgers and fries were put in separate jars and they were kept at room temperatures. The decay was monitored and of course things started to get mouldy pretty soon…… except for the French fries. After 10 weeks the French fries looked exactly the same as the first day. Now how freaky is that? Can you imagine having that in your system? That can’t be right, now can it?

Like I said, interesting documentary, it's an entertaining and thought-provoking film and leaves you wanting more…….more healthy food, that is!

Oh and that doesn’t mean that you should go for the new “healthy” salads. According to the documentary, their new premium ranch chicken salad with dressing delivers more calories than a Big Mac and 51 grams of fat, 79% of your daily fat intake.

Insomnia – the final entry (for now)

I had a great time at the spa Friday. It was very relaxing! When I returned home I just locked the door, dropped my bag, turned off the phone, grabbed a bottle of water and I went straight to bed. I slept for 8 hours! Woo hoo! I would have liked to sleep much longer but one of my neighbours decided that Saturday, February 4^th, was the perfect day to start some building work. He was busy with a sledgehammer, an electrical saw, bricks and lots of other stuff. Bummer!

So, yesterday I bought the herbal night rest pills and again, I enjoyed the pleasure of a good night sleep. I’m feeling soooo much better. Still not fully rested but I’m getting there :)

Thanks for all your nice comments people! Instead of answering them all separately, I wrote this little update in its place :)

Trouble in Blogland?

I don’t know what’s going on, but comments seem to disappear from my blog. Just so you know….. I didn’t delete them :)

Insomnia – the story continues!

First of all I want to thank everyone for their nice comments on my previous insomnia post :) Thank you! Second: I wanted to update you all today.

Last night I slept pretty well actually….. No, that’s not true, I slept better. I woke up 4 times instead of the almost normal 8/10 times. I don’t know if the shower or the warm milk (with anise) did the trick because I was probably just to worn out to stay awake :)

Tonight I’m going to try something different though. I’m going to unwind in the sauna and enjoy a very relaxing massage afterwards. They probably have to carry me home :) I usually sleep like a baby after a sauna visit.

I’m still not sure why I can’t sleep a whole night. Sure, I suffer from insomnia from time to time but not like this. When I had it before, it usually had to do with stress or worries, but I’m neither stressed nor worried. Strange?!

I’m starting to think it has to do with the weather; it has been dark, foggy and grey most of the week. Maybe I’m lacking melatonin or something ;)

Who knows……. I hope the sauna is going to do the trick. If that doesn’t work I’m going to get some herbal remedy I have used before which is called Nachtrust (night rest) by Bional. It contains valerian, hop, melissa and vitamin B1. I am going to stop this……one way, or the other :)

Bono calls on U.S. to give part of budget to poor

Today, Bono (U2 frontman) addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., reaching across divides to ask policy makers and faith leaders to do more to beat global AIDS and extreme poverty and calling on the U.S. to give an additional 1% of the budget to this fight.

Should the U.S. take Bono’s advice and devote an additional 1% to beating AIDS and poverty? Vote in an online poll now!

Insomnia

Is a great Faithless song…. But that’s the only positive thing I can come up with when I think about insomnia! Insomnia sucks, big time! Why am I thinking about insomnia? Well, that question can be answered easyly; I haven’t had a decent night sleep since last Saturday. So, you could say that insomnia has been on my mind lately. I have no problem with falling asleep, the problem starts later….. I keep waking up…… 8/10 times a night! Now I’m worn out, sleepy and I can’t even think straight. And that’s not all….. I’m sulky, cranky and I’m turning into a real horrible person. So, no happy and cheerful blog entry today.

I have been trying to solve my problem by drinking camomile tea and meditation, but no luck thus far. So tonight I’m going to have a warm shower and drink warm milk (yuk). I really hope it's going to work. Wish me luck!

Balance days

Wow, that almost sounds like a circus act doesn’t it? But it’s not! It’s just the new healthy advice the Dutch Nutrition Centre came up with. The Dutch Nutrition Centre conducts projects and campaigns to promote a healthy diet pattern.

So, how does the balance day work?
Quite simple actually. A balance day is a day ‘less’ after a day ‘more’. Did you eat too much yesterday, then today will be your balance day. A balance day is NOT a diet day. On your balance day you will watch what you eat and move/exercise more. That way, things will balance out and your weight will stay the same.

When will you need a balance day?
When you have eaten too much, you can feel overstuffed. Do you need a balance day? Probably not! It all depends on your normal eating behaviour. When will you need a balance day then? Example: Normally you eat 2 sandwiches and an apple for lunch. But today you want something different. You eat 2 rolls with brie and another cheese, a packed of crisps and piece of pie. Instead of walking to work, you took the car/bus. It’s clear that you consumed more and burned fewer calories then you would do on a normal day. Time for a balance day I would say :)

It’s your choice, your responsibility.
Take a balance day, or just leave it. A ‘more’ day is not always easy to recognize. It’s so easy to eat something extra: cake on somebody’s birthday, an extra snack/packet of crisps, candy bar or a few extra pints or glasses of wine. If it’s just every now and then, that’s okay…. But if it happens on a regular basis, you will gain weight because of all the extra calories. You are the only one who knows what you really ate. Take your responsibility and take a balance day!

Note:
A balance day is not a diet day. So don’t skip meals! Eating very little is also out of the question. Just make healthy choices, do an extra workout or take a longer walk then usual.

Oh… and it works! I’ve been doing this for a long time now (so, it’s not as new as the Dutch Nutrition Centre thinks) and my weight is always the same…..well, almost always; the holiday season doesn’t count ;)