Seahouses

Pictures of a lovely seaside getaway

My dear old North Sea 

New memories bringing old ones back to me

On moving to a new country ...

I've moved to other countries before.
No biggie.
I thought.

What I seem to have forgotten is the emptiness of daily life when you don't have a routine, when you don't have a network of friends to turn to, when everything is new & even going grocery shopping feels like a major challenge.

In addition, the last time I moved countries I didn't have a business to move with me.
Now there's so much more to consider all of a sudden, so much more to look into ...

All of that together felt so crippling that instead of getting to work I found myself wasting time doing everything else but "advancing" and looking forward to the weekend, when nothing was expected of me, or rather, when I didn't expect anything of myself.

My biggest challenge right now is to allow myself to relax and let things happen as they naturally do,
which is funny because looking back, that's what I've always done ... and that didn't turn out too bad did it?
So why am I stressing and feeling paralysed about some enormous imaginary pressure to do "things"?

With those thoughts in my head I packed my backpack and left for a little walk that would take me from Harrogate to Knaresborough via the river Nidd.

 (For those of you who are interested: just follow the Nidderdale greenway until you reach the Nidd Viaduct, turn right and follow the river for a really nice walk of roughly 13km with a stunning destination.)

Since then I've regained my mojo.
I obviously need to get out more!

xxx
Aina

PS: Ramslök (wild garlic) lovers - there's plenty of it all along the river Nidd! 

Anamaya Transformations

During the past month I think I've spent more time on a yoga mat than I have in my entire life combined. 

I'm happy I was expecting it to be the most challenging thing I'd ever willingly committed to. 

It was.

Our days at Anamaya started early in the morning, ended pretty late at night and consisted of

meditation, yoga classes, yoga theory, philosophy, anatomy,

unlearning what I previously might have thought was "right",

rebuilding my yoga poses from the ground up,

combined with a large dose of self-discovery,

sprinkled with a more than a dash of homework ...

all building up to our exam class.

Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually ... it sure was a challenge.

so much so that by the end I wondered if I would ever be able to enjoy yoga again.

(I'm not even kidding!)

2 days and a whole lot of hours of sleep later I find myself energised, inspired, and more than excited to start sharing my newfound understanding of yoga with whoever is curious :)

(I even looked into ordering more books - look at me go!)

I am a certified yoga teacher! 

We did it! The world just received 27 new yoga teachers, ready to spread love and light all across the globe :D

Visby

After 6 beautiful years I left the island I once called "the first place that really feels like home".

It took me 10 days to go through everything I own, sell or donate what I didn't want to keep, pack & send what I wanted to take with me, and store the things I'd need to collect later.

Leaving Gotland wasn't a hard decision to make. I knew I had to.

Saying goodbye to the people who have been closest to me during those 6 years was great fun,

shaking it on numerous dance floors in celebration of the time we shared.

The closer to D-day I came the more emotional I got ... but the plane left with me on it nonetheless :)

That was 2 weeks ago and I'm proud to report that I'm starting to find my way around my new city.

Brussels will be my home until the end of the year and my time here will mainly be spent doing fun things.

I'll be hanging out with family and friends, 

I'll be exploring & wandering the streets looking for inspiration 

(taking a lot of stops in various coffeeshops), 

I'll be doing a whole lot of yoga in preparation for my teacher training in January, 

and basically allowing myself all the time I need to close my last chapter before starting a new one.

Just like how I always need time to sort my impressions when I come back from a trip

I've been going through pictures,

I've been writing, 

I've been sitting in silence ... thinking, reflecting.

And when I've given everything a place in my heart,

I'll make more plans!

My summer retreat

"When you love what you do, work feels like a holiday every day."

For me that is definitely true this summer. 

The next 3 months I will be holidaying at Orion B&B which happens to be my mother's little corner of paradise.

Besides enjoying the magnificent garden and pool, chilling in one of the hammocks and stopping to smell the flowers, I'll be welcoming guests, cleaning the ecological swimming pool, and doing just about all other imaginable things that are necessary when having guests :)

Serving breakfast is my favourite thing.

The wealth of wisdom people share with each other while sharing a meal sitting around the same big table is truly incredible.

Friendships are built, sightseeing tips are exchanged, dinner plans are made together, conversations get deeper with every day that passes ...

Whether I'm actively participating or listening in while serving coffee I'm both inspired and touched.

 There's something immensely beautiful about a bunch of random human beings coexisting peacefully and happily in the same garden.

How to organise events as a small business owner

I really like to organise events.

I don't even think I knew this about myself until I gave it a try!

It started with some small gatherings at my previous store location (easy), followed by the 1st b-day of our little company at a local café (win-win for both) and it sort of took off after that.

2 weeks ago I organised a salsa evening in combination with a Vii pop-up at Visby Glasblåseri (the glasblowers' workshop here in town).

There was a salsa teacher, bucketloads of nachos and 4 different kinds of salsa.

The mango-cucumber one was by far the most popular so I thought I'd make a few people happy by sharing the recipe (not my own - I found it on Pinterest ;))

As always I dragged some other people into my mess as well :)

My fellow countryman, friend and coffee nerd Jelle from Gute Rosteri came along and served his cold brew, and since I was selling Halfvede's apple juice I sort of forced my friend Sofia from Halfvede Musteri to show up too :)

As always I took a moment to imagine the worst thing (except natural disasters or other complete bad luck) that could happen (for example: no one showing up) and concluded that:

 *in that case we'd still be 6 people, 

and

 *6 people can still have a good time together

In short. Organising events as a small business owner doesn't have to be a huge thing.

Cooperate with others, use social media, share the tasks, trust your own cooking/drink blending skills, realise that the worst that can happen (no one showing up despite your advertising) still means you got word out about your existence and last but not least: enjoy yourself!

Why not today?

#varförinteidag?

Picture taking day

Updating the webshop is a real struggle sometimes.

The picture taking is fine ... it's the editing, the uploading and coming up with a description that suddenly make all possible other activities seem so much more inviting.

Today I found out that the secret to less procrastination is flowers!

I took a walk to the local flower shop and came home with these beauties to play with :)

My new dress also got to play along and made a perfect backdrop for Linn Nielsen's necklaces.

Jonatan's wonky vases are finally for sale online, I've got roses all over the apartment and I now gave myself an excuse to buy a new dress and flowers every time there's new stuff to photograph :)