My life in a cardboard box.

I was sitting here thinking about technology. Not just out of the blue, I was planning on writing a blog post, but couldn't decided if I was gonna use my phone, laptop or tablet. And what then popped up in my head was how things have changed since I was a kid.

I'm born back in 1988. I spend my 90's childhood playing Super Nintendo, watched the cartoon version on Teenage mutant ninja turtles, and I had no clue what a mobile phone was during half of my upbringing.

I see myself being part of one of the last generations that made up something to play with, from nothing. We obviously had our toys to play with, but we created things as well, in a way that kids don't have to do these days.

I remember when my gran bought a new tv, and me and my sister made the cardboard box it came in, into a house. Just if anyone is wondering how we could fit in this "house"; this was ruffly 20 years ago, so me and my sister were smaller, and the tv's was very much thicker and bigger.

Anyway, our house had a couple of windows and a door. We couldn't both fit in it, so when one if us was in the house, the other one had to sit under the washing basket, but it didn't really matter. We loved just being around our little cardboard house.

Ben Venue.

Had the most amazing day yesterday, climbing Ben Venue. Took us about 5 hours of constant walk, and was so worth it!

Was one of the most amazing views I've ever seen from up there. Here are some pictures to show you what I mean:

Walk a mile in my shoes.

I'm on a weeks holiday from work just now. Think this is the first time ever in my adult life that I've had a week off, when I haven't booked to go to Sweden or abroad on holiday. The only plans I have for this week is the hill walking tomorrow, and to drive up north to see Craig on Thursday. Apart from that, it's just me going nuts for not having anything planned.

It has always been hard for me to relax, and to sit down and do nothing. Even to focus on reading a book is a struggle, as when I'm on the way of picking up that book I always find other things to do. I might walk past the kitchen and decide to do the dishes, which leads to me starting to bake some cupcakes, and before I'm finished with that, I randomly start to clear out my wardrobe. You see what I mean?

Anyway, I decided that by writing a list each day of what I'm wanting done, I will gain a bit more routine of my days off.

So, today I wrote on my list to take a big walk (happen to be as big as 12,7 km), to go food shopping and then to study. Done, done, and half done! Gonna dig in to my books more now!

Here are some pictures from my power walk earlier today;

Another Ben.

Change of plans for Wednesday! Instead of climbing Ben A'an as we had planned, we are now going to climb the mountain next to it; Ben Venue.

It's a little bit bigger, and seem to have even better views. The weather for Wednesday is predicted to be sunshine and 8 degrees, so I really can't wait! Give me Wednesday now, please!

You can read about the Ben Venue walk on on Walk Highlands website, pictures below are from their website too.

Sunshine, my friend.

Optimism.

You are beautiful.

I am a person that quite often tell people how I feel about them, that I appreciate something they've done, or the fact that they might look extra nice that day. And when I do, I genuinely mean it.

It doesn't take a lot to tell someone how you feel. Yet, people rather tell someone else about it, or they don't say anything at all. Why not just tell them, what will you lose from that?

So, let's try a thing here: express gratitude to people around you. Tell a friend, a work mate, a family member or a stranger something nice about them, to them. That last thing is the important part. You need to tell them how you feel.

And if you find it hard to express yourself through speech, why not write it down on a piece of paper? I do that quite often, I love writing letters to my family. So if you find it hard to tell them, write to them.

Squat challenge.

I read a lot of health and fitness blogs for inspiration. And on one blog, the girl that has it, set up at challenge in the beginning of the week to do 100 squats before the end of the week. But as I normally do 100 squats during each of my workouts, I set myself the target to do 500 squats by the end if this week.

So far I'm on 400, so will for definitely get it done! I usually do it in three sets, 35-35-30, to level it out. But you can do it 5x20 or in any way that feels good for you, as long as you feel it working your legs and bum. Challenge yourself!

I love squats, and I love the fact that I can see a good result from doing it. I can definitely see and feel a difference from two months back when I started working out my lower body more.

T loves squats!

Every Friday is a Taco Friday.

It's Friiidaaay people!! And Friday means taco Friday! I love tacos, and so does Craig, so sometimes we extend our taco Friday, and make it a taco weekend.

Did I mention that we looove tacos?

Early dinner.

Omelette made with two eggs + one egg white, plus chicken and leek in. And carrot sticks and humous on the side. Yum yum!

Gym time!

It's not failure if you learn from it.

Feeling a tad low today. Had my first written exam yesterday, and it didn't feel too good afterwards. But until I know if I passed or not, I'm gonna get back to my books and keep reading.

I'm an expert of learning from my mistakes, and its not like I create a mistake to learn from it, but when it comes my way I try turning it to something useful and learn from it.

If I don't pass, I'm gonna get a top score on the resit. End of.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Shine bright like a diamond.

I love wearing bright colours in the gym! I always just have black gym tights on, but love to brighten it up with a colourful top. H&M has a great range of sportswear, and their tops are lovely and to a good price. It's £7.98 for each gym top, and comes in several colours.

I sent this picture to Craig for Christmas, as all I really asked for was gym stuff;

In Sweden people quite often say "Syns du inte, så finns du inte", which you can translate in to something like "If they can't see you, you don't exist".

Not sure if it's suppose to mean that you should aim to be centre of attention and the one that stands out the most in a group? But I use it as a saying when I go to the gym, or out for power walks. If they can't see you, you don't exist. Bright is the new black.

Early birds.

Good morning! Day off, and I'm getting picked up in an hour by my friend Carys to go to the gym.

Ben A'an.

Only just back from holiday, to randomly find out that I'm off for another week next week. Nothing planned, as I didn't know about the holiday, but oh well, make the best of the situation: gather the walking club and climb a mountain! (or at least a hill)

Me and my friends Carys, Alan and Matthew are once again climbing Ben A'an (Trossachs National Park). It's not the biggest of hills, but is often known as the mountain in miniature. I really cant wait to get the walking gear on once again!

And it's a great practice for our charity walk up Ben Nevis on the 18th May this year. More info on that later on in the month.

Alan, at the very top.

View from the summit.

Yummi.

My friend Scott came up to me in work today and gave me some sweeties that he had made. I love Tablet, and Scott's Tablet was probably one of the nicest ones I've ever tasted!

Good morning!

Moments.

One of the proudest moments in life was the day of my 24th birthday, when me and three pals decided to take a trip up north. It all started at 5.30am just outside Glasgow, with the car full of walking gear, sweeties and random nostalgic CD's.

Our goal was set on climbing Britain's highest mountain Ben Nevis near Fort William, and so we did. I'm not an expert when it comes to climbing mountains, but I think we did good to make it up and down in six hours. I need to Google that by the way, always good to know just how good you are!

Anyway.. When we were about an hour from the top it started snowing a little bit, and within half and hour we were in a full blown snow storm, but we powered through! Yes, I have to admit that I thought I was about to die from hypothermia up there, but after a minor panic attack we started our trek down and it was all good again.

Some people didn't think we could do it, and some people doubted that we were even talking the truth when  we were planning out little trip up north, but we did it! It was a great feeling reaching the top, but an even better feeling changing in to my warm, dry joggie trousers and hoodie when we were back at the car again!

It was truely the best start of my 24th year in this world!

We made it!

Matthew, Carys, me and Alan.

Let's rewind.

People change. On the outside, and on the inside. We all go through different stages in life, try different things and live different lifestyles. We all probably have one of those photos on our phone, laptop, or similar that we sometimes look back on, in which we don't recognise ourself in.

This is me, 17 years old / 24 years old:

Its actually crazy how much you can change. When I was 17 years old I was quite lost. I didn't have a clue who I was, what I wanted to do and where I was going.

But now, at the age of 24, I feel like I've found myself. I hope I can look back on myself in seven years and say: "I still feel like that girl". And hopefully, I will look the same, or even look better! ;)

I'm back!

Had an amazing time back in Sweden, was great to see the family, an very much needed! But now I'm back home, and ready to get back in to my training (my gym training, and my PT course). Got my exam this Wednesday, so I need to get my head in to those books. Been doing a bit of reading while I was in Sweden, but need to fully focus on that now.

Went for my first gym session in 11 days today, and I can honestly say that it was horrible. Feels like all I did in Sweden was eating, and I can promise you that my next holiday will be different. Never ever will I let my body get in this state again. It's not just to do with the looks (other people than me probably don't notice much difference), but so much to do with how I feel. And right now, that isn't good. Give me a week, and I will feel like I was never away.

Me.

Me and a little bear.

Ikea:

Shopping.

Went for a wee shopping trip to Ikea and another Swedish interior shop today. I love finding inspiration for the house in Sweden, and I always come home with ideas how I want to decorate the house after a trip here.

I found these lovely ones in EM Möbler:

Home.

One of my biggest accomplishments in life was to, together with Craig, buy our very own house. After several years in rental flats (okay, two houses owned by my parents) in both Sweden and Scotland, 14 other flats and houses to be precise, it was a big moment for me to be able to finally call something mine. Ours.

I have for many years felt like I've been living in someone else's flat, although my name has been on the contract. And it wasn't until Craig and I walked in to our very own house, that I felt at home.

Something that naturally happened when we moved from our rental one bedroom flat, to our very own two bedroom house was that I started calling it a home. I wasn't longer saying "I'm just gonna go to the flat straight after work" or "see you in the flat". Now I naturally started saying "I will see you at home".

It's truly a home for me. As long as I have Craig there, and it's ours, it's home.

Your home is where your heart is you know.

This is where I love spending time during the summers, in our lovely garden:

Thumbs up for today!

Good morning Sweden!

Having a great time here in Sweden. It takes a day or two to settle down and to get used to things, mainly speaking Swedish all the time. I keep adding English words in to things I say without realising it. And sometimes I forget what things are called in Swedish, so sometimes we play a wee bit of charades to be able to understand what I mean.

Funny how much you forget after being fully Swedish speaking for 19 years, then fully English speaking for six years.

Gonna have a wee relaxed day today, maybe take a wee drive around and watch some good movies. Have a good day people!

Family time.

My dad and my little niece Maja. :)

Airport bound.

Although I fly about 4-5 times a year (make that 8-10 actual flights!) I never ever get used to it. For you who don't know, I'm a tad scared of flying. It's not that I don't trust the pilot or that I think something might be wrong with the plane, it's more just the little fact that I don't really get how plane works. Totally honest, when I'm up there all I can think of is that I don't believe in airplanes. At all. I just think they are too heavy to actually fly.

Anyhow! Here I am, in Edinburgh airport, waiting on my flight. The point of this blog post is to say that no matter how scared I am of flying, I don't let it stop me. I still do it. And I think it makes me a stronger person for each time I face my fears.

This is my scared face:

Airport time.

Five things I want to do before I leave Sweden:

1. Teach my niece Maja to say "Tess". (That's what I dad sometimes call me) Wouldn't it be amazing if she went back home after hanging with me, and all she says is "Tess, Tess, Tess, Tess"?

2. Eat a gluten free semla, (See picture below) yummiest e.v.e.r.

3. See my best friend Louise, and give her the biggest hug ever.

4. Buy (and eat) at least a kilo of Pick & Mix. Best Swedish invention since Ikea.

5. Finish at least one full book, and learn how to relax on holiday.

Extrem home makeover.

Not fully finished, but the new flooring is done.

Holiday!

I am so happy to be on holiday! Imagine, within 24 hours I will be in Sweden. Within 24 hours I will be in my hometown Uppsala that I haven't visited in a year, and I will be able to hug my lovely family!

I can't describe how excited I am to go away, and how much I am in need of some family time. Never, ever, let it go this long until the next time.

The countdown.

Yes indeed my friends, the countdown to 2013's first holiday (and my first and only holiday since October) has started. 6 hours and 35 minutes to go! It's almost like I want to dance a few moves from the Gangnam Style dance to celebrate. But I guess people would think I'm more nuts than usual if I did.

Considering writing a wee bucket list styled list of things I want done before I leave Sweden a week on Sunday. Gonna have a think, and will publish that in the end if the day. :)

Have a great day everyone! Here is the most random, but cutest picture ever for you: