Happiness is a state of mind

Sure , owning luxury car would be nice, but is this make me happy? NO!
How can I know that?
Because I'm happy without it!
How can I be happy? I'm happy for what I have. Being happy for me doesn't mean that I have everything I want or everything is perfect. No! Not at all. It just means that I have decided to look beyond the imperfections.
Why?
Because, no matter how hard I try, my life doesn't always look exactly like I want it to. I actually can even say that it mostly doesn't. But, for me, it is not a reason to not enjoy it. Foe example, at the moment I'm working from home, which means, I don't have a fancy office, classy dressed personal or assistant. Am I sad?
NO!
I'm always home, I can clean up and think about next blog posts, I can see my cat all day, I can take "no make up day"whenever I want...
Maybe it is because I am that kind of person who always can find something good, that is just the way I am and actually I wish this for You all!
happy new year :)

Mug Swap

This is the amazing mug my mug swap partner Sandy sent me. Sandy live in USA, which is very far away from Riga where I live, I never been in Minnesota, but maybe someday :) And the most exciting part - she have 3 kind and running Youtube channel, I can only imagine how it is to manage between kids, home and Youtube! If You are interested in Her's channel here is link http://youtu.be/VxN2ds7qqyE .

 

In pachage was so cute things, she spoiled me :D First - how cute is this mug??? I swear coffe taste better if it's made in this adorable mug :)

 She also included The body shop Japanese cherry blossom Body butter and Ciate nail polish in Pecan Pie shade, which is perfect for fall. Thank You Sandy !

Can you see? It looks like hand painted! Beautifull!!!

I wish anyone who participated in this mug swap got something that lovely and beautiful like I got. It makes me smile every morning I drink coffee :)

My Home Working Organisation Tips and Tricks

Everyone who knows me always says that I'm organisation freak, but no it isn't good. I'm trying to avoid this, because my boyfriend don't feel good when if he asks me to go somewhere first thing I do is my schedule checking, then I have to make sure our flat is clean and every thing lays where it has to... And so on. I know it can be annoyins, so I'm trying to avoid this, but there are some tips and tricks I am using everyday. Today I will start with home working tips, because I know, for many, the increased freedom of working from home can be demotivating. Without a boss around, time can be easily spent for relaxing with coffee ar snack, or nothing doing :)

I must to emphasize - few of these tips are not mine, but I saw them on internet, friends houses, TV.

* I start everyday by making list of things I have to today and always checking my yesterdays list to make sore that I didn't miss something I wwasn't done yesterday. I'm dividing my to do list in different colors. Anything that has to be done today is red, anything I want, but not have to do is yellow, bills are green, but meetings and things out of flat is blue. Since I'm a visual person this color cording minimizes the time to understand what I have to do.
By keeping relatively consistent work schedule. it's easier to maintain a distinction between my professional and personal lives.
* Doing only one thing at a time.
* Dressing for work. This doesn't mean I put on a fancy dress, but I believe there is a psychological benefit to swapping pajamas for decent clothes.
* Set aside a specific place exclusively for work. I'm not able to work at my couch or kitchen table, these places are for relaxing, so I can easily spend all my day watching YouTube, reading blogs, reading news and so on. Compfy places are not made for work :) In general I just must to use the area for work only for constant basis, and make sure there is no any things going around - no eating, TV watching or coffee.
* Don't let friends stop by. If I want to meet my friends I'm using lunch time for it. I also try to make doctor or dentist appointments just as I would in a office work schedule to minimize distruptions of my work.
* Stay out of the kitchen, it's my biggest issue, I'm just constant snacker. I'm trying to eat healty but quite big breakfast. sometimes it helps avoid snacking.
* Keep a notepad and pencil nearby, jot down ideas for blog posts, projects, anything that springs to my mind
* Know when to stop, it's hard for me to stop working when I started something and then after few minutes it's already late night. Sometimes it's ends up letting work run my life. Make sure you set limits for the amount of time you will work.

I have been working fom home for some time and I've adjusted my setup to the one I have today and it works for me. I hope some of these tips will help you to make your homeworking more progressive :)

White wine basics

Whith hundereds of varieties of white wine grapes, there is as much white wine information to learn as there are white wine grapes ever planted :D

* Chardonnay is versalite and popular, it grows all over the world. Young chardonnay is most likely to recall fresh green apples in smell and flavor. Depending upon the winemaker it can be crisp and stony, buttery and toasty ar fresh with green apple and citrus flavors.Chardonnay is green skinned grape, it originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern france, but is now grown wherever wine is produced. The Chardonnay grape itself is very neutral, tends to be medium to light body with noticable acidity and flavors of green plum and appple as I already said :) Chardonnay is an important component of many sparkling wines, including champagne.

* Chenin blanc produces intensely floral, arometic, spicy wines that range from dry to decadently sweet. It's high acidity means it can be used to make everything from sparkling wines to well balanced dessert wines. In cool areas the juice is sweet but high in acid with a full body.

* Muscat. There are many varieties of muscat throughout the world, but they all are marked by a penetrating aroma of oranges. Their colors ranges from white, such as Muscat Ottonel, to yellow, such as Moscato Giallo, to pink, to near black. Muscat grapes and wines almost always have a pronounced sweer floral aroma.

* Pinot Blanc is similar to chardonnay, but lighter and more elegant, still it never acquired the cachet of reputation of its big brother Pinot Grigio. Bottles labeled Pinot Blanc offer fruity aromas, often of apple, citrus fruit and floral charasteristics.

* Pinot Grigio creates light, zippy, food friendly white wines that do not clobber the palate with oak and alcohol. The flavors of Pinot Grigio can range from ripe tropical fruit notes of melon and mango to some botrytis influenced flavors. In Italy Pinot Grigio grapes are often harvested early to retain the refreshing acidity and minimizesome of the overt fruitiness of the variety, creating a more neutral profile.

* Riesling ranges from dry and stony to floral and sweet, it's a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germaniy. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed aromas as well as high acidity. I cool climates Riesling wines tend to exhabit apple and tree fruit notes with noticable levels of acidity that is sometimes balanced with residual sugar. A late rippening variety can develop more citrus and peach notes.

* Sauvignon Blanc does well in widely diverse parts of the world. It has become the benchmark whith wine of New Zearland, where the intensity of the green citrus and berry fruit flavors is predominant, producing a crisp, dry and refreshing white wines. Depending on climate, the flavor can range from aggresively grassy to sweetly tropical. In cooler climates, the grape has a tendency to produce wines with a noticable acidity and green flavors of grass and bell peppers. In warmer climates, it can develop more tropical fruit notes but risk loosing a lot of aromatics from aver ripeness, leaving only slight grapefruit notes. The wine is usually consumed young, as it does not particulary benefit from aging.

* Viognier is intensely aromatic and, when perfectly ripened, smells of apricots, peaches and citrus rid. As Chardonnay, Viognier has the potential to produce full bodied wines with a lush, soft character, it has natural aromatics of minerality also.

Hope You all will find Your favorite white wine :)

Enyoj the last warm evenings of summer with white wine and be ready for fall and winter with red ones :)

Tomato and baked lemon salat recipe

Difficulty - Very easy

Time - 30 min.

Number of servings - about 6 persons

Indredients:

* 1 lemon, Halved lenghtwise and tinly sliced

* tablespoon fesh, sliced sage leaves

* half tablespoon sugar

* about 2 tablespoons olive oil

* salt and pepper

* 300 g cherry tomatoes

* Sliced middle sized onion, red better then white

* about half cup parsley leaves

* little bit peppermint leaves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C and cook lemon slices in a boiling water for 5 minutes, then dain them.

2. Gently coal lemon slices with sage, sugar, a bit of olive oil and spread out on a parchment paper, bake until lemons are no longer wet, but not yet colored. It would take about 15 minutes, then let cool.

3. gently toss all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper

Have a good appetite :)

Things I Think Highly Motivated People Do

What those naturally highly motivated people do differently? They move on, they don't dwell on problems. So do You - don't let your mistakes stop you from achieving your goals. We all sometimes fail at tests, mess up public speaches or somethng like it, but it's nothing more than just a moments in our lifes, accept it and learn from it and than just forget it - it's nothing that important to remember it for long.

"You build on Failure. You use it as a stepping stone"

Johnny Cash

Hmm, what else they do differently? They wake up early! Why? Becase for most people, the morning is the most productive time of the day. While we sleep, they getting things done!

Maybe they are highly motivated because they plan? Planning allows people to get things done faster and better. Everyone know this, but only highly motivated persons use this! When I started to waking up early and planning things I have to do this day, I was amazed at how much more productive I can be. It helped me to know what I want and find the better ways how to get it.

In my lfe there are points when I just can't do it by my own. I don't know if highly motivated people do this, but I'm not affraid to go out and look for help.

What tips and tricks You learned? What helps You to stay highly motivated?

Thank You for reading.

<3

Motivational monday

Have you ever started something and then quit? If you answered yes, I'm not alone :D

How I'm trying to avoid this?

Goal setting - I always trying to start with simple goals and only then progress to longer range goals. I'm making only realistic goals, even if someons can tell me that it's he way I never reach something big, Big or BIG, but for me it works, its easy to get frustrated and give up if goals are too ambitios. An other very important part of staying motivated for me is avoiding negative people. I don't need someone who says that I can't do something.

To avoid giving up I lately do realistic goal list, here is my list for this week :
1. Work out every day, maybe it someday will be only 15 minutes, but I will do it. I don't exspect from myself real workout everyday, but at least something is a good start :)
2. Update my etsy store - I will do it in the end of this week, because before I have to reach goal nr.3
3. Finish rug and pillow case
4. Wash my face before bed every night
5. Blog everyday
6. Make family budget

For me, when it comes to motivation, attitude is everything, I may have completely diiferent feelings to same task everyday, today I love to work out, tomorrow I will hate it and maybe will spend houts for nothing doing and thinking about GREAT reasons to dont workout. Why this hapens? because I'm lazy, as most of people., but even if it sometimes takes hours somehow I start to ask myself - 

How can I enjoy this task?

What can I do to make this fun?'

For example, now I'm writing this post and after I should go out to run, but I already have some ideas to do instead of running  - crochet rug, dishwashing, shopping, reading, sleeping, social networkling :D But I know I will run today, don't know yet if it will be after this pst or after time spended on facebook, but important thing is that I know, I will.

I will be good today and going run right now, but if You are interested in more motivational tips I use, feel free to comment and ask for things You woul like to know :)

Stay motivated and have a nice day <3

fathers day

This may be the saddest post on this blog and this definately is the hardest post for me to write, so if you sopped by to read something positive or fun, it's not the piece jo need to read. I'm sorry, but I'm trying to be who I am on this blog, suddently my life is not aleays as happy as I wanted it to be.

All around the world, dads are special today, but I can't say that I have someone special for this day. It's true - not everyone has happy memories of their fathers. I don't :(

I grew up with my mother and younger sibling. My mother and father lived by the same roof only for few years... 

Something as little as having support at a some hard times at school or art school or just simple hanging around with dad.. I don't know how it is, but always wanted it...

I honor my mother on Father's day, she always was there for me, maybe that's why I'm not interested in disparaging my father, I rather don't think about him at all.

I want to tank You, my mom, for beeing my mom and dad, I love You!

I really hope, not many of You have the same situation like me, and say thanks for you father for beeing around and take care of You, but remember - it's not just a Father's day - it's a day to honor whoever raised You. Father, mother, grandparents....

I love You mom, Happy Father's day....

Why do I love, love, love autumn?

Even wen it's raining, it really relaxes me. When I feel first crisp breeze, I know - summer is gone, fall is in the air and it's time for blankets, fairy lights and romantic... I can't let chill in the air discourage me from heading outhdoors. Where I live, autumn is one of the best seasons - not too hot, not yet freezing... Perfect weather for pumpkin carving, apple picking, stepping on crounchy leaves, potatoe harvesting with friends, Baltic sea.... there are so many  ways to go hans in hand with the autumn season.

Another amazing thing about fall is bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables, farmer market's visiting is one of the best seasons offer, at autumn I always change my favourite meals to pumpkins, corn, cider, hot chocolate and mush potatoes...

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower /Albert Camus /

You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and cold, wintery light. But you know there would always be spring, as you know the river would low again after it was frozen. /Ernest Hemingway/

Hope You all can enyoj autumn... <3

Photo day with friends at Kemeri national park

Since the weather was amazing, we ecided to spend day outdoors and choodes to go to Ķemeri, because it's not far away from our home and is very beautiful. Ķemeri is located about 50 km from Riga, it's an excellent oportunity for enjoying wild nature and getting anguainted with the bog ecosystem.

Altrough the visible part of Ķemeri Raised Bog is exciting and beautiful, it's most precious woner is hidden deep underneath the surface of the blog. Here, where the layers of peath and dolomite meet and no oxygen is present, with the help of special bacteria, sulphurous mineral waters are formed.

One of the most important elements in the landscape of a raised bog are bog pools - sign of maturity of the bog.  

Raised bog is not very rich in diversity of plants - the only water here is brought by precipitation, it's sour and poor in nutrients. The flora of a raised bog is very spesific, consisting only a plants havind specially adapted. However we wanted to photograph a lot an there IS a lot interesting never seen plants, I was excited about every piese I seen :D

Raised bog with a sphagnum carpet, rush hummocks, dwarf pine trees and maze of pools is home for a number of Latvian bird, which are rarely found in Latvia and in Europe, has settled permanently here. Which is very interesting, because we didn't seen only one bird :D

We where very excited and happy that we was there, we wante to just spend day outdoors and photograph, but in the end we had small amoun of photos because landscape was so interesting and we spent all day chatting with each other to share every single plant, tree or eather we saw :)