Dare to be different and learn to be lonely

If you follow me on Instagram you've already saw a sneak peek of it: I bought a bath bucket! I've always dreamed about having a bath tub, but alas, I don't have the space. That's why I look forward to my trips to London, where I have been visiting the same hotel for years, because it's the only one where even single rooms have a bath tub:)
When I was traveling through Japan last year, I discovered their high baths where you sit up in. Because they are high, your body still gets to be completely under water, it was very nice and even better for reading in the tub than a regular laying down bath.
So when I got back home, I figured I'd do a bit of browsing for smaller, high baths and this bath bucket popped up! I wasn't sure if I would fit or was bendy enough, even though I'm a lot leaner now, but it was very affordable, so I thought I should at least give it a chance. I'm so thrilled that I did, because it is AWESOME! I had a little bath party all by myself, read a book in between splashing about and it was great. Here are some (decent;) pics of my new happy place.

( Bath time! )
If you love baths but only have shower space, I recommend giving this bucket a go. I paid 65 euros and it was well worth it (I'm also pretty sure you can find it cheaper if you shop around, I just didn't want to wait;)


SURGERY PHOTO WARNING
Last wednesday I had a bit of surgery on my elbow; I've been walking around with a little bump there for quite some time. Even though it was tiny, it did randomly (once or twice a week) swell up and get extremely painful, but when I went to my GP about 3 years ago, she kind of dismissed it and I just tried to live with it.
Until the end of last year when the pain caused a tingling sensation in my hand and I had enough of dealing with it. I was determined to get the thing taken out and went to the GP's office again, this time I asked for my GP's replacement and she set things in motion. I was sent to the hospital clinic for an ultrasound and then got an appointment for surgery. (Well, that turned out to be another check up first, where an old surgeon just looked at my arm to determine what kind of surgery was needed and then it was another couple of weeks before I could make another appointment for the actual cutting, *sighs*).

I was happily excited for it and had initially planned to just cycle to the hospital, but was advised to bring someone with me just in case, so my mom offered to drive me.
She was then also allowed to come with me into surgery (I asked, so she didn't have to hang around in the waiting room) and she was clever enough to ask if she could take pictures of the whole process. I was very happy she did because I was immensely curious about the procedure, but couldn't see or feel a thing when I was lying down.

I already shared a couple of the cleaner pictures on my Instagram, go there if you prefer those. Behind the cut I will include a slightly bloodier photo, you have been warned!
( Elbow surgery! )

It's been an exciting couple of weeks:)

J.

One of the reasons I have been stalling with the Australia picspams is that I was trying to not be reminded of a particularly disappointing event, which happened the day after Christmas. I wasn't sure if I should mention it in my journal and blog, since it involves bitching about other people, but as the song goes "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to", so I'm going to whine share my feelings, dangit. Because it's a pretty big deal for me when people forget my birthday, especially when these people are my family and therefore should know that it's the second most important day of the year for me. (Number one is Sinterklaas;)
Long story short; despite of staying in a house with my brother and his inlaws, nobody even congratulated me and there were no presents, except from my mom (who gave me a selfmade card with a gift certificate for a book and the promise of a fancy dinner when we got back home, see below) and my sister in law's sister (!) (who gave me a giftcard for the cinema near Sydney, which I went to with my mom for American Hustle later that week). So, ehm, yeah, colour me depressed.

BUT! A week and a half ago my mom and I finally managed to get together for that fancy dinner. I also bought a book of my favourite author, because the restaurant was in a corner of this huge restored bookstore set in a church from 1465:) It's a gorgeous building; they kept a lot of the magnificent features of the original church intact while also using the height to the advantage of presenting books in the most glorious way. If you love architecture and books and history and fancy food, check this out!

( 15 photos of all of the above - mind the warnings! )

Too bad the rest of my family missed this; that was the best late birthday party ever \o/