My 2014

Hi there,

It's getting closer till the end of 2014. At the moment the toughest part of it for me. I've been signed off sick from work because there has been so much going on lately, that my head said stop and caused a panic attack. A feeling I know well enough from my youth to know that it was time to listen and take a break. Unfortunately there are a lot of us that feels the same way, and it's pretty much impossible to get help at the moment. I told the doctor I need someone to talk to to sort my mind out a bit and help me back on track. 12:th of February is the best so far, and I'm supposed to start working again next week. That being said, when I look back on the year as a whole it has been the most amazing year ever.

I started the year with a new friend, that gained so many more friends all over the world. Life of Anna S was born. I didn't really know where I wanted to go with it, but it I've always loved writing, I love makeup and fashion, and I needed something to keep my mind off from work, because 2014 started the way it's ending, with chaos at work and in my head. (In between it has had lovely moments though.)

In February my Grandmother turned 70, and so did her cousin that lives in HuaHin, Thailand. What was a better way to celebrate their birthdays than to go visit him in the sun? Me, Grandma, Mum and Sis packed the bags and went for an adventure. It was my first time outside Europe, and it was an amazing experience. Not only did I get to see a whole new culture, but I also got to know family that I haven't met before, because of the long distance.

March was a pretty calm month. It just came and left, without leaving too many memories behind. I spent a lot of time on the blog, and loved every minute of it. But let's be honest; if you have all that time of blogging (I posted more than once a day), even though you work pretty much full time, maybe you don't have that much else to do. I know I didn't.

Then April came, and turned my life upside down. Our store won a sales competition and was treated with dinner from one of our suppliers. After dinner the rest of the group wanted to go out for drinks, and I followed, a bit reluctant to be honest. My colleague got into a talk with one of the guys at a table nearby, and really wanted to set us up. I was so embarrassed and just wanted to get out of there. But in this gang there was another guy, starting of in the background. As the night went on he moved closer to me and we started talking. The conversation went really well, you could even say great, and by the end of the night he had my phone number and left with the words:

"They say you're supposed to wait three days, but I think that is too long. You'll hear from me in two."

Two days went, and by the end of the day I had gotten a text, replied and a long conversation was started. A few days after the first text, the first phone calls came. We talked for hours in the nights. I think the record is over 7 hours. But finding a time to meet seemed impossible. I worked in the days, he worked a lot of nights. When I had a day off, he hadn't and when he had, I was working.

In May, the 1:st to be exact, we finally got to see each other again. It started of with a walk to the restaurant Martin had picked (I could really recommend doing that on a first date, because it really broke the ice). During the dinner I got cards with clues of where he was going to take me next, and we ended up playing boules. It was so much fun! The night continued with a long walk, and ended of with a kiss. By then I really knew  this guy was something special.

We kept dating for about a month, taking every chance we got to see each other. Still it was hard to find the time, but an hour here or there just to take a coffee, worked as well. He got to meet my family, I got to meet his. Then the night between 5th and 6th of June he asked if we we're a couple, and we decided that we were.

June also offered a trip to London with my beloved sister, and the rest of the time I just spent with Martin. Every second I could!

In July it was time for our first trip abroad together. It had turned out that we both loves to travel, and since we both had been working a lot Martin wanted to take me away so that we got some time to ourselves. The trip went to Prague, which was a very romantic city. I think we both fell in love with the city and even more with each other.

August also offered a trip. Me and my sister took a chartered bus to Salzburg to watch a football game. It was a 19 hour ride, and we got time to eat some lunch, walk around the city for a few hours, see the game and then it was time for the 19 hours ride home. It was a great game, and an even better experience. Totally worth all the traveling time!

In September I turned 25. I had taken the weekend before, and the actual day, off because I was planning to have a birthday party. When I got the schedule it turned out I had gotten even more days of than I asked for, which lead to Martin asking:

"Do you want to have a birthday party or do you want to go to San Fransisco?"

I've always been dreaming about getting to the states, so the answer was easy. Really easy! Since we travel on standby tickets through Martin's job we're not guaranteed our seats and this time all the flights got full the night before the trip. We had to think fast, and ended up in Chicago instead. Something that neither of us regrets for a second! Such an amazing city. The post I wrote as we got home is still one of the most read on my blog. (You can read it here)

In October we took a trip to Madrid, for another football game. This time my sister didn't come, but I brought Martin as company instead. This was the time of the Lufthansa strike, and we had to re-book our tickets in panic, because we had to get there! This was also an amazing experience.

October was also the month where we started to look for an apartment together, found two perfect ones, was fooled by the estate agent and lost both. It was the month when we spent a night in Copenhagen, because neither of us was feeling good at work and with everything that happened with the apartments, and just had to get away. And it was the month when we celebrated an early Christmas with my sister. (Christmas in October)

In November another life long dream came true, when I finally got to New York City. There is a post  about my feelings about the city here. It's fair to say I LOVED it, and that I need to go back soon. It was all I could imagine and more than that.

December was when things were getting harder. My close friend at work got a better job offer and decided to leave. I know I will keep seeing her, but it made me start thinking. I realized I want to do more with my life to and with everything else around me (boyfriend, friends and family that hasn't been feeling really well, the issues with the apartment, changes at work... The list can grow long). Anyway, I decided it was time for me to do something for me. Just me, and no one else. That's when I signed up for the makeup specialist class, which I know will give me a great start of 2015.

These pictures have all been shown on the blog during the year, and gets to represent some of the most
important happenings in my 2014. The blog, Thailand, Meeting Martin, London, Prague, Salzburg
Chicago and New York

That was my 2014 folks. Even though it seemed bad before I started writing this post, it's quite obvious now that the year has been awesome. With this post I wish you a Happy New Year, and when I see you again I will let you know more about my plans and hopes for 2015.

Lots of love,

 

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Wyndham Garden

Hi everyone!

Time is running by so fast I barely manage to follow. Can't believe it's December already! I do still have a few New York posts I'd like to write and share, so hopefully I'll manage to get that done during this week.

At first we were looking at hotels on Manhattan, but found it was quite expensive if you wanted a private bathroom and wifi in the room. Since it's crazily expensive for us to use 3G or 4G abroad, wifi is essential for us, as we might want to look up things for the trip or re-book our flight as we travel on standby. We found a hotel that seemed okay and almost booked it, but through a deal on Secret Escapes we got to think of the possibility to live on Long Island instead, getting a lovely view over Manhattan. We looked at other hotels in the area and found Wyndham Garden. The reviews were great, and it was said to be really easy to get to Manhattan with the metro. For the same price we were about to spend on quite shabby hotel, we got a four star hotel, close to the pier with one of the most amazing views I've ever seen. (See pictures in my last post about New York here)

To not live on Manhattan was a great decision. It was so nice to get out of the city, to a calm area, after a whole day with loads of impressions. The area was great. People were out walking their tiny dogs, and not once, as we were out in the late evenings, did we feel unsafe in any way. The hotel offered a free shuttle bus to the Metro station every 30 minutes (it was just a four minutes walk though, so we went by foot) and it was just one station away from the first stop at Manhattan. It was also just one line to the AirTrain to JFK airport.

The hotel was very nice and clean and the staff was really friendly. The room included two double beds, which was perfect! One for sleeping and one for packing and showing off all the nice shopping. The bathroom had a small bathtub, just perfect for a foot bath after a long day of walking. No way near big or deep enough for two persons to take a full body bath. Not even for one person to be honest. But, since the first hotel we were looking at barely had a private shower in the room, this was perfect!

We would defiantly recommend this hotel, and we will for sure look at this hotel again, the next time we're going to New York.

When everything happens at once

Hi there!

 

My head is a real mess right now. There is so much going on I don't know where to start.

Me and M found an appartment that we really want, and yesterday we brought my parents and sister to see it. They liked it too and saw all the opportunities that we did. We did think we would be the only ones there, but the estate agent had invited other potential buyers as well. Made us kind of nervous to see how big the interest was. We booked an appointment at the bank this morning to make sure we would get the loan we need. They said okay, so we placed an offer and now we just need to wait and see if they accept it. Probably won't get any answers until the end of the week. It will be a constant stomach ache until we know. I don't know how many times I've decorated that appartment in my head.

Tomorrow we're going to Madrid, something that we've been looking forward to for months. What we didn't plan was that Lufthansa would strike today and tomorrow, which means our flight is cancelled. In panic we booked new tickets last night, and today M has been trying to get the money back for the first tickets and make sure our tickets home are still valid, even though we will cancel the first tickets. Still not sure what will happen since no one could answer, and didn't call back as promised. When he tried to call back they had closed their phone service. I like being spontaneous, but when things are planed and the time is limited I just want things to go as planed! But it will work out one way or another.

As this wasn't enough to mess up a girl's mind, I've also been thinking about education and there are things going on at work that I'm not sure what to think about. I really want to study to makeup specialist, but I need to know what happens with the appartment, and what happens at work so I know when it's a good time to start. It's just six weeks, and only one day in school, so I should be able to combine it with my job during the time. But still, need to fix that first! Why does everything always have to happen at the same time? It's close to impossible to think clear at the moment! A good night's sleep on that one?

See you soon, from another place in the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicago - The Cheescake Factory

Hi there!

As both me and M are big fans of desserts and Big Bang Theory we couldn't not go to The Cheesecake Factory, as we found out they had one in Chicago. It was the perfect thing to do before we went to pick up our things and go to the airport for our trip back home.

When we got the menu we realized we wasn't in for an easy pick. Everything sounded so delicious. Since I'm crazy about raspberries my choice wasn't too hard in the end, and I think M was a bit affected about my love about Dulce de leche ice cream and the fact that I told him a few times that sounded like a nice one. So Dulce de leche and Lemon Raspberry Cream was served. We decided to split them and eat half-half, just to get a real taste at both. They both tasted like a little bit of heaven, but the final winner was the lemon raspberry. Mainly because the Dulce de leche was way to heavy for us. The first two bit was amazing, but then it just got too much. Lemon Raspberry was a bit lighter and was just perfect!

The service was great! We got a table quite quickly and we didn't have to wait long to get served. The girl taking care of us was lovely. Can't really remember her name. Vicky, I think? The only thing that we didn't like too much was that it was so cold in there! We weren't really tempted to sit there, so we ate up and got out as soon as we could. A bit warmer and we could have stayed longer, enjoying or cheesecakes to the fullest. That would have been perfect!

 

We're in USA!!

Hi everyone! 

As you may know, me and M had planed a trip to San Francisco. Since we travel on standby-tickets we have to be prepared for a sudden change of plans. So was the case this time. The flight to San Francisco was fully booked last night so we had to look for other options. The result? We are in CHICAGO!

After a long flight and a long taxi drive, we have checked in at Hotel Felix, which we like a lot so far. We are way to tired to do anything productive today, so we just went to 7eleven to pick up some snacks and relax on the room. What we could see from the taxi windows it seems to be a very cool city. Can't wait to explore it closer tomorrow!