04.10.2015

Ok, now prepare yourself for some tips!

If there is one book that you need to read before end of this month it is "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdan. It is not a regular cooking book, and it is not just a story, it is an amazing adventure of Anthony's feelings, food, emotions, true story of the career path that was quite tough and sometimes not recognised but lead to the success. I just so much laughed about the following. Happened to me too once:

"AN EPISODE FROM THE Wilderness Years.
Things were not going well. It was August, and my tree from the previous year's Christmas still 
lay in a heap of brown, dead pine needles in my dark, unused dining room. I was ashamed to 
take it out to the trash, not wanting my neighbors to see how far I'd fallen, how utterly paralyzed 
I'd become by my years of excess. Eventually, my wife and I would make a heroic effort to 
dispose of the incriminating object-chopping it up like a dead body and stuffing it in plastic bags 
before lugging it in the dead of night a few floors down and leaving it near a known coke dealer's 
doorway. Let him take the rap, we figured".

And if there is one soup that you need to eat this winter, it is beetroot soup. One of the recipes that I have tried, you can find here. Dutch shops are selling this amazing achievement - pre-cooked beetroots that is so easy to cut and lightly saute and here you go - it is almost ready.

And...if there is one series you want to watch in the dark january day under the blanket with a warm cup of tea is: The Killing . The one we watch now via Netflix is done by American producers, but there is also the original version from Denmark which is pretty cool.

And that is all from me today, tired from swimming, having a glass of red wine, looking forward to a first working week of 2015.

03.01.2015

To get an inspiration to write every day is like to have a  system of a diet or exercising: once you feel tired or almost giving up, put some more efforts into it, later it will feel very good.

Today we have started a day with a very extensive Pilates class at 9.30 am for more than an hour with some extra run under the rain as a bonus. I can not describe you how i love Pilates, you sweat, you laugh, you challenge yourself, and everything is happening very fast. I have decided to put a video here for those who might not know at all what I talk about. Here you have only 30 min lesson, so imagine what is happening during 1 hour.

I remember also i promised to tell you more about Withings. We have got the following wonderful Scales, which is a really smart body analyser. From yesterday i know all about fat % in my body, the weight, BMI and even the temperature of the room and the level of CO2. And its all connected automatically with Myfitnesspal, so everything is analysed and the only thing is left: Work out and Eat Healthy:)

And let's move quickly to another challenge: as much as i want to develop myself physically I am also not forgetting about my brain: i really love a new app called - Elevate. Every day i am getting some new exercises and trying to practice starting from new words in the vocabulary, ending with Math. Highly recommend to everybody who thinks that they know everything and in reality - nobody does!

Also yesterday was very lucky to get December issue of HBR and read an article about the "Understanding "New Power"". Highly recommend you to read it online especially if you are interested to understand your management and people in the company. And if you are yourself a manager : which side do you personally represent? I got completely a new perspective on my current situation.

02.01.2015

This picture should save enough words, but i will add something: just purely by accident we have done yesterday almost 25 km!! Daniel's and my desire to see more stuff than the area surrounding has brought us to this amazing landscape and place just 12 km outside of the city - Broek van Waterland.

Everything was beautiful there: from this exciting new adventure to the beautiful Dutch landscape only until the moment that we have realised that it is late and we would need to cycle back. And then of course we have got a good portion of South wind in our face and me with my Oma fiets just totally understood that it is not going to end up well...))) Actually it did, and we were very happy to know that 25 km is quite an achievement for the 1st of January. But ass still hurts...

Today 02.01.2015 was a little bit more calm and organic: visiting local city council in the afternoon together with a nice rapid walk in the middle of city centre, trying not to "kill" all the people around you, just because it is too many of them here. Amsterdam seriously can not fit so many people in one small place, like DAM square at one time:) And that is not a concert, more reminded me of a conveyer. However, it was beautiful : nice dinner with a friend, walk back by canals to the central station, bought some 1 euro books for a good home read, and also December issue of HBR. 

Tomorrow will try to tell you more about our new buy: Withings and what comes with it. 

01.01.2015

" I can feel sugar on my teeth"...and  that is not a name of the song, it is me...counting calories, as i have advised you before NY. We have decided to use the app called : "Myfitnesspal" and so far it looks like fun. You can discover a lot of stuff about you and what everybody consumes every day, like "Black coffee" is only 2 kkcal and Caramel Latte on the another side will be: 68 kkal. Of course, you don't need to get too obsessed, but if you have very clear goal, like me...why not?

Also this app advises to drink 8 glasses of water every day minimum and do some exercises. For us we already booked 2 pilates classes this week and another, and this Saturday going to swim for minimum 1 hour. Plus suddenly we have opened the whole new world of low calories recipes, like this one:

We have tried it on NY and it was magnificent!

Let's toast this NY for the new knowledge!

Ingredients

• 1 tsp sunflower or vegetable oil
• 2 skinless salmon fillets
• 250g bag spinach
• 2 tbsp reduced-fat crème fraîche
• juice ½ lemon
• 1 tsp caper, drained
• 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
•    lemon wedges, to serve
• 
  

Happy New Year - 2015

Less than 24 hours left before we are all going to move to the new 2015. What I can wish me here and many others:

- Concentration (make sure that you accomplish the projects and ides in the best possible way, with minimum amount of excuses).

- Be patient (sometimes a couple of days, or even the evening can make a big difference), already proven on your own skin, so no need to doubt it.

- Personal life and adventures should be priority one, even before business, work and some other stuff that pays all your adventures anyway:)  And that connects me to the next point:

- Motivation (I would like all of us be motivated to do their work every day in the best possible way and even more) . And even though some people might say to me to slow down and breath, NOT YET:)

- Be challenged and don't be afraid of it (sometimes i don't specifically like to be challenged, as it was awesome for the last 4 years to know exactly what you are doing). But still that is the first thing for the best personal development.

- Experiment with a style. In 2015 I am going to be 30 years old. Time to change a little bit a style may be and try something more rocky - feminine.

- Be Happy!  (well, no comments here!) . Just be! And that is all from me. Talk to you in 2015!

H&M Smokey Blazer

31.12.2014 Pre-Introduction

I know that it looks like a silly attempt but this year i have decided to try to record all the attempts and successes that I am doing in my career and as a person on a daily - weekly basis. I have a new change in my job and also finally coming to the point of deciding to go for the MBA degree. I would like to see if may be my control over the situation with my life can bring a little bit more structure as it was before. Otherwise i might end up with a lot of initiatives but no results.  If you recognise yourself in me, it might be worth to stick together and see where it will bring all of us in 2015.

First thing that we have attempted to do in 2015 is to follow quite serious (for our seating jobs position) physical training and diet.

2 times per week pilates classes
2 times per week swimming
No more than 1200-1300 calories per day
ABS one month training program every day

This all is to be fit and capable to surf for one week in Morocco in February 2015. Sounds like funnnnn! I was promising myself to get a little bit more fit for a while already and didn't manage to do it. Always excuses or short moments of success and that is all. Seems like a real deal now?:)