Two Months Later

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It's been about two months now since we came back to France after a five years break and moved to Bordeaux. The beginning was a little rocky I must admit, the apartment we originally were supposed to live in turned out to be a horrible mess, we ended up staying in a hotel for one week before found the place that we now live in, I learned that my employment would be a lot trickier than I first thought, I seemed to have forgotten most of my French and even the simpliest conversations caused me headaches, my rheumathism was kicking my butt 10-0, we still hadn't found someone to rent our flat in Poland, there was a lot of paper work to sort out from getting married (some in Finland, some in France) and well, the list is endless!

One leisurely Sunday in town.

These perfectly formed little passages got my heart going...

Omelette & bananabread brunch.

One of those quilty moments... But hey, when in France, eh?

Banana bread.

Slowly getting some exercising done after an unfairly long break!

Now, we're at the beginning of October and we've settled in. I speak French rather well, some could even say almost fluently, I've sorted my CV in French and have my fingers and toes crossed it'll bring me results sooner than later on my job hunt (so far, staying optimistic, we'll see how I'm doing in my next catch up post). So far I've been sending an English version of my CV to companies (where the job advert has been in English) as well as a French language version of the original and was wondering why it resulted in zero hits or interviews so far. Back home I had been told my CV was good and although I knew it must have been slightly out of date when it comes to its' format, I was surprised when I heard the feedback from a French connection lately.

After the games there's normally a social mixer at the VIP area of the ice rink, this is where the players go greet the sponsors and other people involved with the club. It's normal for wives and girlfriends (and even babies!) to tag along in this post game gathering and socialize. So that's what I was doing the other week when I came accross someone that works closely with the team as a sponsor. I got offered help with my CV as well as help sending it over to some potentially interested companies and so on. Later on the week I met up with this contact to go over my CV and I was then really surprised when I saw how the French CVs were expected to look like. For instance, if you had no picture on your CV, you would automatically have something shady about you and nobody would give a second look at your resume despite what experience you had listed there. After a one hour session I went back home and completely re-did my resume. No wonder I didn't hear back from anyone before! Now, thanks to this great network the team has, I might stand a chance on the job market ;)
 
Besides the massive work on my CV, I've fixed my passport and other documents that needed sorting out after getting married, I've gotten some sports back to my weekly routine which has helped with my rheumatism as well, I feel at home in our apartment and the town, I've made friends with pretty amazing people, ice hockey season has kicked off nicely, I've done some things outside my comfort zone (I went to a spinning class in a pool, in a one piece swimming suit for starters, let me just say, yey me!) and a lot more. In addition, I've been spending some time in the kitchen, baked my first banana bread, created a new recipe for healthy breakfast pancakes and well, perhaps one of the coolest things, discovered how to make a healthier version of Snickers at home (this deserves a hooray I think)! I'll put the recipies up here if anyone is interested in healthier goodies :) In the meanwhile, a few pics from here and there!

Paris <3 Had to take one quick snapshot while on my way to the Finnish embassy to fix my passport.

Does this really need a caption?

Salad with chevre.

A little reading corner at our home.

Have a lovely mid-week!

Happy Friday and Dreamy Date Night's Asparagus Toasts

Goor morning! :) I have to say after a week like this I am more than happy to wake up to a Friday. I have a pretty busy day ahead at work but I'm keeping my eyes on the relaxing evening when I get home from physiotherapy, had that last little walk with Patu and can just lift my legs on the living room table and watch a movie and not worry about what time I go to bed! I'll probably fall asleep on the sofa by 10pm anyways but who cares, it's a happy moment anyway :) I don't even care that my yearly allergy symptoms are full on and my other eye is red and painful, it doesn't matter, the weekend is almost here! :)

Thank God for IG filters so you can't tell my other eye looks like I had been drinking for days :)

This weekend I don't have my fiancé at home anymore. I had to have my long goodbye and good luck (read= kick some ass!) talk last Tuesday and it's just me and Monsieur PatPat around the house now for quite some time. Unlike the six springs before this one, I'm heading over to see some games when the world championships start! I am so excited and will for sure take a billion pictures of absolutely everything when I get to Prague 30th April! If I manage to post something while there, be prepared for some hockey mania ;)

Even if my hubby to be is not around, I won't be alone this weekend as I have a girls dinner planned for Saturday evening. We try to regularly have brunch gatherings but this time it's a dinner time date as it's my birthday on Sunday! Last year of 20s starting up, crazy how time flies but who cares when you're having fun right? :)

As the weekend's coming up, I wanted to share one of the recipes my fiancé loves that originally comes from my mother. This is an old recipe back from the late 70's from the first dinner parties she and my dad hosted for their friends. How cool :) Ever since, every now and again we've prepared these delicious hot asparagus toasts for a Saturday evening snack to be enjoyed after a good sauna accompanied with a glass of crisp white wine and a good conversation. I love those evenings so much and I love these toasts as well. So if you're planning a date night for this weekend or a get together with friends, these asparagus toasts are a great thing to serve and super easy to make!

Dreamy Date Night's Asparagus Toasts

serves 2-4, time 30 min

4 pieces of toast

400 g asparagus (preserved, can) green or white

1,5 dl mayonnaise

1 garlic nail

2 table spoons of fine parsley

2 egg whites

4 table spoons of grated cheese (Gruyere)

butter

Heat up oven to 250C. Lay the breads on a paper covered oven pan. Spread a tiny amount of butter on each toast. Drain the asparagus and spread evenly on the toasts. I usually cut the long asparagus to half so it makes a tidier outcome. 

On one bowl mix mayonnaise with smashed garlic nail and parsley. Whip the egg whites to a firm foam on a separate bowl (make sure you have a dry and clean bowl or this won't work!). Gently mix the mayonnaise with the eggs without braking the foamy texture and spread evenly on the toasts. 

Add the grated cheese on top and cook these beauties in the oven for about 10 minutes until they have a light golden color to them. Enjoy with fresh greens that have a little vinaigrette sprinkled on top and a glass of your favorite white!

PS. I made a simple salad from mixed greens and roasted nuts. If you make this I'd recommend to start with roasting the nuts first so they have time to cool down before serving. Simply add a little oil on a non stick pan, throw in a bunch of your favorite nuts and seeds (walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds etc), let roast for a little while, add spices in (paprika, lemon pepper, salt etc) and at the end a little sprinkle of honey. Let roast for a minute and spread on a plate and let cool down. These are also a great party snack! For bigger quantities I'd recommend oven roasting.

Happy Friday!!

PS. If you do have a date night or are just looking for some good Friday vibes, listen to this amazing track from Jessie Ware, how dreamy is this! It has just the right amount of 80's drama mixed with modern elements <3

A Day With Me

A little different post this time with the theme "a day with me". Not the most typical day as I am still on sick leave due to my back (returning to office tomorrow) but this could easily be a description of a Sunday as well (yes, even with the wake up time). Nothing special going on, but that's how life often is no matter what the day :)

5.25 

Fiancé's alarm goes off. 

5.30 

My alarm goes off, fiancé gets up and goes to finish his packing for national team.

6.10 

Fiancé tells me to get up. It's time to go wish him a safe travel to Riga for the first rehearsal game with the French national team. He'll be back on Saturday for two days so I save my emotional speech for next Monday, when he'll be leaving for a month's period.

6.20

Fiancé's out. We stare at each other with the dog for a bit and decide to go back to bed. My neck is hurting after last night's physiotherapy and I slept badly. I decide to give myself a break and fall back asleep.

8.36

I wake up. Head feels foggy and I feel there is a risk of getting "hangry" if I don't get up soon. I answer the text I had received from fiancé, I wish him safe flight and ask to send me a text after each flight. He's got a connecting flight in Warsaw. 

9.00 

Quick shower and a glance at the mirror. I'm not happy with the tired puffy eyes that look back at me. I go take a look at the weather through the living room windows. Looks grey and the weather forecast tells there's a risk for rain. I decide to skip the longer walk with the dog and curl my hair a little to look more human.

A completely unnecessary face shot.

9.20 

Walk with the dog. He is pulling like crazy again which is hurting my back. I'm thinking what tonight's physiotherapy will be like and if after each session I'll be more in pain. I decide pain can be good. Keeping it positive can help. I pass the shop downstairs and can smell the freshly baked buns and bread in the air. I curse myself for not taking my wallet with me but then soon thank myself for the same reason. Time to go back to oatmeal after being a complete pig this Easter weekend. 

9.50

The wind is nasty and I hope my friend Monsieur PatPat will finish his toilet business quickly so I can get to my breakfast. He's laying on the ground. A familiar elderly man from the neighborhood approaches with his little mixed breed dog. Patu and mixed breed fellow sniff each other's butts and we say our hello's. I don't need to explain to this guy anymore that my Polish sucks, he's aware. I smile and nod and we head our ways. I see a white van and it makes me smile, my best friend and made of honor has told me to watch out for white vans as they might come collect me at any time. I run different scenarios in my head and wonder what kind of crazy stuff they've come up with for my bachelorette party, her and my sister. I sigh and think how I miss my family and friends. Patu decides to make his business right in front of our building. Great. Time to collect the jackpot.

The fifty shades of oatmeal. 

10.15

Oatmeal is getting ready. In the meanwhile I'm collecting a few t-shirts and random items fiancé left around after un packing and packing. I get grumpy by the mess I've made myself too. Why can't we just be super tidy people? I want a maid. 

And another one. I love breakfast, I love oatmeal.

10.30

I take an unnecessary amount of pictures of my breakfast, the Easter tulips that still look great and a stupid face capture of myself. I wonder if it's healthy to take so many pictures of everything. I decide to go with positive thinking again. I like to capture things with camera, and that's ok. 

11.15 

I try to log onto my Blogger account and Google asks me to create a Google+ profile. I am confused but go for it. My blog has disappeared, Google tells me I have no existing blogs. I get angry and curse quietly. What have I done now?! After a while I realize it helps if you log in with the correct email address, the one linked to your blog. I feel stupid. 

12.10

I get a text, fiancé's boarding his next plane. I start thinking about traveling and where I'd like to go to next. I can't help but think it would be a place somewhere warm, with nice tracks for running, a pool, seaside, fresh lemonade, the perfume of summer flowers lingering in the hot air, exotic birds singing on the background... I remember the forecast promised +19 for Friday. Spring is here, my favorite season.

12.40 

There is a random show on the French channel. Earlier there was one talking about producing cheese, now there's an old document about love, people talking about love. Only French would make this type of a document, I think to myself. It's horribly made but I leave it on anyway. I wonder when we'll go to France the next time. My thoughts wander from Paris to Bordeaux and somehow from there to work. My sick leave finishes tomorrow and I decide to open up my laptop and prepare a todo list for tomorrow. It'll help as the workload is likely to be high after being gone for two weeks. I should go buy an exercise ball to sit on at the office, my chair is not great for a crooked back. I try to remember to go get one later this week.

Monsieur PatPat doing what he does best, sleeping.

13.26 

I feel drowsy. The dog is napping. I get a text, fiancé's landed to Riga. I decide to take a little rest myself before having something for late lunch. 

Leftover lunch.

14.15

I receive a call from Medicover explaining my physiotherapy for the day has been cancelled as the physiotherapist has fallen ill. I decide to eat the leftovers of the kale/ spinach pasta I made earlier in the week and think of a plan for the rest of the day. My head is plank. I make a cup of coffee and do the dishes to get my thinking going. I eat a couple raw chocolate covered cashews. I decide to wait a bit, take the dog for another walk and see if I have the power to go for a little jog after the lunch settles in.

17.15

Finished an hour long walk with Patu, somehow the plan of a small walk and run got switched to long walk together instead. That made the fluffy buddy happy. Time to hang the laundry to dry and fix some dinner (and tomorrow's lunch). Feeling bummed about the cancelled physiotherapy, neck is feeling stiff. I decide to make a massage after dinner. 

19.00

Eating dinner. I look for movies in iTunes but nothing's really tempting me. I decide to opt for How I Met Your Mother instead. I make a massage for my back and take a pain killer. 

19.45

Patu needs a final little walk outside before we head to bed. I don't want to go outside as I feel perfectly comfy indoors. I suck it up and sneak my furry friend to the back yard. Hurry up I hear myself thinking.

20.00

 We get back inside and I feel really tired. I decide to hop on to my pajamas and allow myself to fall asleep while HIMYM plays on the background. I set my alarm for 5am, tomorrow there's no going back to sleep after the first ring and no fiancé to tell me to get up. I do a little meditation exercise to relax all the muscles on my body and I'm good to go catch up some ZzzZ.

Good night!