I can't stop smiling

[beelikej]

Wow, nearly two weeks since my last post; my new job sure kept me busy and I'm slowly settling into a new rhythm of life. To my pleasant surprise I've also had to spent a lot of time keeping an eye on new art-community quicky_bang as authors enthusiastically submitted short stories for artists to illustrate. I'm thrilled that art has already been posted and there's more to come! You can still join in if you want (and -as one of the participants noted- the challenge comes with a built-in rec list of all sorts of short fanfics;)

Oh, I've also finished the 30 Days Pilates Challenge, yay! Next up is the Upside down abdominal work-out from Jillian Michaels... I'll tell you more about that later. (You can already read about the experience in somersault_j's post and comments here. Keep an eye on her journal if you want to join our work-out group.)

My new job is another thing that's keeping me fit these days, not that I move around a lot during the day (I get to sit down for 8 hours to study satellite images, it's honestly so fascinating I have to remind myself to get up and stretch;) but I ride my bicycle to work and back, which takes me right through the center of my gorgeous old town. It's a seriously beautiful route and I enjoy it every day, even when the weather is cloudy and gray. The pictures below are all made on sunny days though, which makes the town even prettier.


Friday, April 8

Sassenpoort (1409) + Me *waves*


Fountain at Van Nahuysplein + Sassenpoort from a little farther away:)


The Sassenpoort in all its glory, is it not gorgeous? And I get to cycle by this every day, I feel so lucky.


My dreamhouse at Ter Pelkwijkpark
+ gorgeous view across the water of the Stadsgracht towards Almelose Kanaal


Diezerbrug (bridge across the Stadsgracht) + Old Citywall (1475)

Here are a few photos of other things that make me happy:)

Thorbeckegracht (took a detour into town to go shopping; you may have seen this view before, when I did a citywalk with sillie82
+ My new toiletmat \o/


In case you were wondering what I do with my papercuttings: the latest Jeff/Jensen hangs on top of my toiletwall *grins*
In the livingroom I moved the magnificent book fabric to the backdoor, because in spring and summer I use my frontbalcony to dry my laundry, so that door needs to be accessible. I love how my arts & crafts corner looks now:)

Thursday, April 14
Two more photos of my town:)

The backside of the Sassenpoort + a peek at the peak of the Onze Lieve Vrouwe tower, lovingly nicknamed the Peperbus (because it looks like a peppergrinder:)

Last but not least an old picture of me on my rockinghorse to compare with the one sillie82 had when she was one year old (she showed it in this post here:)

This is March 1971, so I'm 1 year and 3 months old here:) Is it a typically Dutch design or did other people have this exact rocking horse?


I'm enjoying life a lot right now, hope this spreads a little of that to you too.

J.

Oh, oh, oh, almost forgot: that online no-cure-no-pay lawfirm that I requested to help with my claim to United Airlines, for compensating the cancelation of my flight last summer (a separate issue from the loss of my bag on another flight, which I was reimbursed for in February), managed to make them pay! I honestly didn't think that would happen anymore. So here's a thank you promolink to Green Claim for sticking with the long procedure despite the total non cooperation of UA.

I also totally forgot to thank the anonymous person who sent me an LJ Valentine!

And I was so eager to get the quicky_bang going in the quiet time before other fandom challenges that I completely forgot to thank quickreaver and dephigravity for taking a look at the set up and encouraging me *smishes*. Hope the new spn_heatwave is just as big a succes! It's going to be an awesome fandom summer, y'all!