Happy Friday.

The days of this week slipped through my fingers like sand. Time is relative: when you want it to go fast, it drags its feet but as soon as you start worrying about it, there it is, all rushing to escape from your sight, making you realize it was there the whole time. But in my defense, I couldn’t have started earlier with my final work, I needed this rush, this stress and discomfort to be able to work and be productive. My productivity doubled, if not tripled from where it was last week. I am exhausted but being productive feels good and I need to keep going for one last week. One last week of student work and then? Don’t ask, there’s enough stress for now.

When I woke up this morning I expected it to be just another day of the week; busy, sweaty, crazy stressful and not fun. However it turned out to be great!

At first I received my dissertation results. I have spent 2 months building up a defence mechanism of not caring over these results. I convinced myself that they didn’t matter to me because I did it for myself, it taught me a lot and my future does not depend on it. With this attitude I opened the document and all of that went out the window because I got a first. I still don’t believe it. Or rather, I do believe it but throughout the whole day, I’ve been expecting to receive an email saying “we made a mistake, THESE are your REAL results and they are not great.” Well, luckily it did not happen (yet) and I can carry on being happy.

The second reason for happiness is this little package:

My best friend is getting married. Of course I knew that, I’ve been involved in the whole drama of planning, choosing a dress, and stressing over little things from the beginning, but it just really got to me now when I received this lovely invite on a vinyl record. Plus, it will be my first wedding to attend ever!

And even if that all did not happen, there was another Burger Friday in our household which meant Mr. J dancing & singing to Michael Jackson while cooking the best burgers this world has ever seen. A big statement but truthful. Trust me.

Friday is the day I like to share my internet discoveries but unfortunately there was no procrastination for me this week………… Just kidding! There was, but just a little.

This video has been circulating the internet and I’ve seen it many times and will never get bored of it. Barack Obama plays Daniel Day-Lewis playing Barack Obama. I mean we all knew Obama was cool right? But he still manages to surprise us all.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to organize my work for the final assessment and decided to hand bind the whole lot. So I’ve been exploring the craft of book binding and these videos are so great. Say good-bye to shop-bought notebooks.

It would be a lie to say I didn’t look at any clothes and shoes this week and I don’t like to lie so here, these shoes would make me very happy. I am not entirely sure if I would be able to walk in them but who cares? I’d just have them on at home while watching the telly. As you do.

Have an amazing sunny weekend!

My Cake in a Book!

Today (1st of May) was such a hectic day, I didn’t even get the chance to kiss Mr. J under a cherry tree. It’s a Czech tradition, every woman has to be kissed under a cherry blossom tree on the first day of May. This old tradition is based on a poem that everybody in the Czech Rep. knows at least the first verses of:

It was late evening, on the first of May,
The eve of May was the time of love.
The turtle-dove´s voice called to love,
Where rich and sweet pinewoods lay.

If a girl is not kissed under a cherry tree, she will wither. What that exactly means I do not know but I shall find out in the year to come … :) (Read about it here if you are interested.)

Where was I…yes, very busy day today and when I was rushing out of the door in the morning I knocked over a pile of papers that were hiding a book I almost forgot about! Do you remember the baking competition I entered back in March? They produced a book of the cake recipes that entered the competition last year! That means my cake from last year was in it! And that makes me very happy. Have a look!

And a quick list through the book.

I miss baking so much. One of the first things I’ll do when I finish this degree is to bake a cake! Next Friday that is!

Fragments of the Weekend.

Our weekend was top & tailed with delicious meals; starting with our traditional Burger Friday and ending with a mum’s dinner. The time in between can be described as dull, boring and not worth of writing about. In my case for sure. On the other hand, Mr. J was having a blast.  After handing in his dissertation, he was catching up on the important tasks of watching zombie TV shows, going to the cinema and the theatre. The little jealous me was observing it all from my desk as I was trying to put together all my work for this year into a coherent document. Honestly, I cannot wait for the word coherent to get out of my life; it’s that one word that is used again & again in all of my university emails, hand outs, and briefings. It’s the one word that shall bring me a fine art degree..

On Sunday we were invited to Mr. J’s parents house for dinner. An opportunity to leave all work behind and enjoy a nice meal and chat with our favourite people. The garden has woken up after a long winter sleep so we went to explore all the colourful beuties. After a delicious dinner of lamb puffs, roast peppers, salad and peas & my all time favourite butterscotch pudding we were leaving very full and refreshed to start a new week.

Here is Mr. J “cleaning the bathroom”.

Wearing my cycling face. My bike rocks my world :)

How was your weekend?

Friday’s Five.

Beings a student, Friday doesn’t have the Fridayness to it as much as when being in a full time employment. Having the opportunity to organize my workload means that I usually end up working throughout the weekend (instead of working harder on the weekdays and having the weekend off).

Needless to say, I love Fridays! I love the feeling in the air, the kind of collective exhale. The city seems lighter, people are less stressed and more smiley, and problems on the tube are taken lightheartedly. And so every week I happily join this collective excitement for an upcoming weekend.

I am not really sure if there is anyone out there listening to my rumblings but if there is, I have some internet finds to share. These are links I bookmarked over the week because I found them funny, exciting, provoking, interesting, or just pretty. Enjoy!

This video contributed to my Friday happy mood. I found it on Freya’s lovely blog Nishaantishu.

A little bit of patriotism. In case you missed it, I come from the Czech Republic, which is NOT the country of origin of the Boston terrorists. Thank you. Read about it here.

This animation was made for Valentines day but who cares, it’s great for any occasion. I hope you won’t spend as much time with it as I did :)

I need this shirt from ASOS now!

What hurts more, giving birth or a kick in the men’s parts? Mr. J kindly sent me this link today and I am sure it will lead to a long discussion at the dinner table. Even though I have never been thorough either of these (thank goodness and thank goodness), it is pretty easy to form an opinion. A human being squeezed in to the world through a small hole of another human? Oh please, there’s no argument here for me.

Have a great weekend.

And don’t forget:

(I’d happily credit this image, if I remembered where I got it from..help if you know)

Love Object.

No I am not going to write about a new iPhone or an amazing dress I want. I am going to write about a cup . Boring right? Yes probably, but guess what? I am a lover of these everyday little objects that are kind of just there; pencils, notebooks, oh and I am obsessed with cutlery (don’t you dare to hide my favourite fork!)… and cups. My cups have a memory. My favourite cup of all times will always be the one my mum gave me when I first left home at the age of 19 to go to university. I am 26 now, finishing a different university in a different country and I still have it. It traveled with me and it’s still in one piece (although it does make cracky sounds when I shake it).

I remember my granddad’s favourite coffeee cup from when I was little, the handle was always a bit wobbly becuse he super glued it together way too many times until eventually it broke for good. I also remember how long it took him to find a new cup he would like as much.

Oh, and my dad collects tea spoons. Collect is the polite word for steal right? (sorry Dad, I had to). Occasionally when he finishes a cake or ice-cream in a cafe, the waitrer collects Dad’s plate without the (complimentary, ehm) teaspoon. True story.

So here you go, it’s in my family: an obsession with the little things. Number one rule for life: when in doubt, blame your folks.

So back to the cup. I got a glass Muji cup for my birthday in March and it actually managed to raise my tea consumption. I love this cup for an obvious reason – you see what you drink. And it’s fun. Right?

You can even colour-code your food & your drink (if you are as OCD as I am…)

A waaaay too long post about a cup, I hear you say. And yes it is, but when it is your last year of university, you spend more time over a cup of something hot, tasty and enlivening than you would dare to say.

I am raising my cup to that!