"Happy" 5th Month Anniversary!

The wedding is roughly 1.5 months away. The way I had planned things originally, I would now be in "diamond shape" and would be writing this post after a morning run in the beautiful sunny summer air. Well as things don't usually go exactly like planned, the last time I've been running outdoors must be a couple months ago.

Happy cat on Sunday breakfast.

 Today is the 5th month anniversary with active inflamation in my body. It started in the end of January with a very stiff painful neck, then moved down to shoulder blades, rheumatic back pain came along, followed by irititis on the left eye (also typical for rheumatism), jaw pain, heel spur on my left heel and swallen inflamed ancle on the right foot caused by incorrect stepping while trying to avoid pain. I've got some more physiotherapy coming my way. Five months of pain also make five months of constant use of anti inflammatory medicine. Ouch!

Ice bucket is a friend :)

While taking my shower this morning I thought, how funny is it that I decided to name this blog "health loving foodie". I do think it's quite hilarious as I'm quite far from your typical healthy gal! I'd say I'm a bad shape 80 year old in a 29 year old's body... But maybe it's because of being so unwell that I really love my health(y moments) and healthy things! Honestly for me nothing is better than being able to be active and eat food that is good for you. Have the occasional "cheat meal" which is fine, but mostly eat wholesome good food and do different types of sport.

Sunday's veggie soup.

Bagel breakfast.

Evening snack, rice cakes with avocado and eggs.

Now if pity is slowly creeping down to your thoughts, stop. It is what it is like I tend to say, so no pity "boohoo" thoughts please :) Today I'm going to a spinning class after work (this should be fine for my feet) and tomorrow I have a yoga. This weekend we had some pizza and bagels which was fine, but now it's time to go under a more careful and healthy nutrition plan for the weeks to come. If you see me going "Homer" in front of an ice cream shop or the chocolate selection in the grocery store, feel free to remind me that I have a wedding coming up :) As they say the golden rule is 70% nutrition 30% exercise.

But now, it's time to sip my coffee and get to work! I wish you all a positive, sunny beginning of the week!

PS. Appreciate your bodies, you only got one for life! :)

The Childlike Happiness

I remember the feeling back in childhood on spring Fridays. In school you'd always get a little more time to play outside, or if in class you'd use fun methods to learn, maybe the days were a little shorter etc. On the way home, you could stop and play with your friends, have an ice cream and a good laugh. You always had that special Friday feeling, a little tickle of excitement and pure happiness :)

Things are a little different when you grow up and get into the career world. You put all your energy to the job and when you get home there's no power left to be jumping out of joy for nothing. My mom told me I had once said to her as a kid, that "Mom, why do you always have to lose all your good energy at work!". Now when I go home from the office I am also tired and "out of business" and even though I don't have kids, I could equally well imagine my fiancé telling me why I had to lose all my good energy to work :)

Perhaps it's the approaching 30s that have got me thinking but lately I've tried to find ways that can bring me that child like joy and happiness over simple things again. I think it's important to be able to get happy over the small stuff. It's what makes life taste like life.

This morning I woke up early and took a moment to appreciate the beautiful sunshine outside. I had a little yoga session in the living room while our dog followed me there only to continue sleeping next to me. He looked at me and I'm sure he was thinking "I'm here for moral support, ok". After my 30 minute yoga set he came over and gave me some smooches and we had a good cuddle. At that moment I could feel that childlike happiness again. There on my living room floor on a sunny morning saying our "good morning's" with my fluffy friend. Such a simple carefree moment.

My zen was at risk when I started to be in a hurry to get to work. Running around the flat not finding my things like most mornings. Somewhere in between finding my right foot shoe and car keys my fiancé reminded me to keep calm as it's Friday after all. I shook off the little stress that was piling up on me and put a smile on my face instead. Great morning!

Before I could realize it was already 5pm and it was time to head home. Another busy week behind. I decided that today I won't go home as the tired me but as "the happy kid after school on a Friday". Now it's time to munch on some thai noodles, watch a little Big Bang Theory and get some sleep. We're headed to gym tomorrow morning with future hubster. The wedding is approaching which means a little added exercise is very welcome for this sweet loving thing!

Have a Happy, Active Weekend!

Sunday Greetings from Finland!

It's been a while since my last post but I've been so busy it was impossible to fit in any writing time. I've continued to have struggles with health and Mr PatPat also had some problems with his hips that took one emergency visit to the vet and a week to recover.. The dog is now in shape but the master is still under construction heheh. I got some more physio time ahead but if everything goes well I might be back to business rather soon. The most important thing is not to lose your positive attitude and optimism :)

But, I've had a lot of good stuff going on too! Hubby to be is finally home after the world championships and we can now focus on our wedding and moving to Bordeaux beginning of August. I'm really looking forward to this new adventure, new city, different country and our team finally with all three of us in the same location!

I also had my surprise bachelorette party a week ago :) A lovely weekend with great people, more than I could have asked for! Friends, good food, a little vino and laughter.

This weekend I came to Finland for the wedding of two dear friends in my hometown. The ceremony was really nice and the wedding overall fit the couple's style.

Now it's time to pack my bags and head back to Krakow. Three hard weeks at work ahead and then it's finally time for holidays :) We're coming to Finland for my brother's wedding 13th June and hopefully will stay for a week then. I'm dreaming of some time away from phones, computers, endless streams of email, text messages, social media etc. Some time away from the hectic world where you're supposed to be available 24/7 and where you're part of this constant performance. I wanted to go abroad some place hot with a beach where exotic birds wake you up with their singing in the morning, where fruit taste like fruit and you can walk bare feet on the humid cool grass when the sun is already warming your skin in the early morning. This is not going to happen this year because of the plans we have around moving but who knows, maybe next year :)

I need to head to the airport soon but first,  a little dessert and coffee :)

Have a great Sunday!

Learn to Let Go, Perfectionist

Yet another week that has flown by too fast. Do you ever feel that your week only consist of Mondays and Fridays? Anything in between goes by as some grey fluff that you can't recall and after a few weeks have passed you wonder yet again where did the time go?

Perhaps your weeks go buy with high levels of stress, with you wondering how to survive this week while you want to shine in everything you do and master all areas of your life a 100%. You perfect little thing you. You might think that if you're excellent in everything you'll have the ultimate level of happiness in your life too. Think again dear. I ran into a great quote lately in LinkedIn from a former CEO of Coca-Cola. Here's how it went:

I've been having a lot of open questions in my life lately and have lived under constant high level of stress for quite some time. When I saw this quote, it gave me some peace of mind. Not everything in life needs to be a continuous performance of excellence. It's ok to not be great all the time and it's ok to accept that. Focus on the things that really matter and learn to recognize when excellence is truly needed and relevant. This does not mean settling for less though.

The problem with perfectionism is, in real life there is no "perfect" of any kind. If a perfectionist doesn't reach a level of what they imagine would be perfect for the things they do, they will feel like they've failed and the guilt adds up. Perfectionists also often compare themselves to others with similar goals to theirs and when they try to reach excellence in all areas of life, you can imagine the level of comparing to others is ridiculous and even the perfectionist would acknowledge this.

Social media is not making things easier for perfectionists as people tend to present only the optimal/good side of things online whether it's work, home or looks. What needs to be remembered is the old saying "things are never fully as they look like" or "if something seems too good to be true, it probably is". Keep a healthy level of skepticism in mind whatever your viewing and you'll feel a little less pressure for being perfect.

What matters the most are those four things: family, health, friends and spirit. These are the fundamental things in life, the things that make life taste like life. The things that make you live all the days of the week and not just the Mondays and Fridays. Work is important as it is a big part of our lives but work is the rubber ball that bounces back if you drop it. Perfectionist and highly ambitious people easily forget themselves inside the world of work and all things career. We need people like that but not at the cost of health, family, spirit and friends. We need to put things to right perspective and ensure that the time outside office hours is not spent stressing about the things at the office but focusing on the things that matter.

I've moved far from my family, left friends behind, had a lot of health issues and a struggled to keep my spirit up through all that. I've definitely damaged a thing or two but I've always kept my career at a high priority. The past four months (and probably more) I've lived Mondays and Fridays in poor health. My rheumatism has kicked back, my heel has been so painful I have barely been able to walk for the past two weeks, my jaw muscles are so inflamed due to stress (I bite my teeth together during nights) I cannot chew properly and have constant pain and my eyes got inflamed as well a couple weeks ago. All these things have been related to high stress levels. In addition to my autoimmune disease too of course.

I went to Prague for a long weekend a week ago and had a lovely time with my parents. I saw my future husband play ice hockey on the big arena and was so proud of him. I realized the last time I had been there was seven years ago and then as well with my parents. At that time we were just starting to get to know each other with the hubby. Seven years and most of those had been spent seeking for excellence and trying to perform in all areas of life. Weeks consisting of Mondays and Fridays. All of that made me see things a lot more clear and put things to the right perspective.

The cup is half full, that's my spirit. This summer we're getting married and start a new chapter in life overall. It's time to leave Krakow and Poland behind for now and head back to France. For the first time in my life I let the work ball drop and bounce back on its own pace. For the first time I don't have a clear plan but I trust the process and trust things will sort out. For the first time I'll learn how to let go of my inner perfectionist and focus on the stuff that matters :)

Good night!

Happy 1st of May!

I'll keep this short as typing with my mobile is not the most fastest ever. I wanted to wish everyone happy 1st of May! :) In Finland this means picnics and brunches with your best friends and family, wearing your highschool graduation hats and drinking lots of bubbly :) We celebrate labor on this day and politicians, students and active citicens like to speak their minds out loud in the public. Celebrating this day isn't quite the same when living abtoad and to be honest unless you have some Finns around you, the day is easily missed.

This year I'm travelling to Prague to celebrate with my parents and to see my fiance play in the French jersey in the world championships of ice hockey. I am quite excited as it's my first time seeing the big games live :)

I'm currently typing this from Warsaw while waiting for my connecting flight and drinking an over priced Prosecco. But after the heavy week I had it's ok :) I'm so very excited to see my parents, my fiance and revisit the beautiful Prague which is the home town of one of my dearest friends. I had to leave my dear Monsieur PatPat to the dog hotel for the weekend but we managed to have a nice morning walk and he was happy to go there which made leaving him easier.

I wish you a wonderful 1st May and if the Marriott wifi works ok I might post some sneak peaks from the trip this weekend.

Have a good one!