Saturday, November 16, 2013

7 years together

Today is our 7th anniversary. I mean whaaaaat? It sounds like a lot. My man have spent a quarter of his life with me (I am slightly older so it's less than that for me). When we started dating I always thought that by this time we'll be married and maybe have some kid on the way. But we are here now, I am still completely in love with him, I know I'll spend the rest of my life with him, but boy, we are poor and cannot afford a wedding much less kids! (Ok, it's not as horrible as it sounds but my man is spending all his money on his start-up and I am saving mine to open a shop). We are happy, very much so. And I am not that kind of a girl who has a life plan - get a perfect job by 25, get married by 28, have a first kid by 30 and so on. I feel no pressure to do anything. I am content to celebrate our 7th (or 8th or 9th...) anniversary of dating. We have a lovely tradition that there are no gifts but rather we always go to the opera. This year it was Rossini's The Barber of Seville. Mostly because I love Largo Al Factotum aria and I plan it to make it into my ringtone for my clients because I always feel like being rushed by them all all the time - same as Figaro does. (Even though it's no gifts my man always sneaks me a bouquet :)






Reading: Булга́ков - Ма́стер и Маргари́та  (Bulgakov - Master and Margarita)

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Weekend in High Tatras

Lucky me and my boyfriend just got a free weekend in our beautiful mountains, High Tatras (and by our I mean Slovakian, not that I have my own mountains). Well, lucky for us, unlucky for my brother who broke up this week with his girlfriend and got stuck with a paid trip to a romantic wellness and spa hotel with no one to go with. Soooo, he decided to gift the trip to us. I know, I have an amazing brother! (His girlfriend was a married lady and it was obviously going nowhere so I have mixed feeling about his break-up but mostly I am glad (hm..sad?). Sucks to say it out loud, but it's the truth.) Since our anniversary (7th) is just around the corner, we decided to make it the most romantic trip ever and thoroughly enjoy it. It was strange to go to the Tatras in November. We usually go in the summer for hiking or in the winter for skiing. But the hiking trails close on November 1st and there was no snow yet. The weather was likewise nor here nor there. It was sunny one moment and foggy next.



First things first- golf. Since the weather was perfect we stopped at the golf club so my man could hone his skills on driving range and I could grab a quick lunch and enjoy the view. (Still no desire to play golf).


But the sun was quickly setting so we went up to the mountains and checked in to the hotel and jumped into an outdoor infinity pool with starry sky above us.


The next morning it was still sunny and we went to take a walk.


Our hotel from afar.










Surprise, surprise - empty pool just for ME! :)




Someone decided to join me. :) We stayed a while  (the weather got uglyyy) and then we drove to another hotel to enjoy the best food in the best restaurant in Slovakia in Wellness Hotel Borovica (where we stayed in the summer).




Yuuuum, food! The Grand Hotel Praha where we stayed is really nice, but (and I am sorry to say this since this trip was a gift) it has nothing on Hotel Borovica.
Reading: Washington Irving - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, A Very Short Introduction to Modern Art



Sunday, November 3, 2013

All Saint's Day

Forget Halloween. Forget masks. Forget candies. The end of October and the beginning of November here, in Slovakia, is all about remembering the people who passed away. 1st of November is All Saint's Day and 2nd of November is Remembrance Day of the Dead. So for us it means cemetery, chrysanthemums, candles and prayers. And it looks something like this during the day:

 

And something like this in the evening:



My bf's dad passed away this June after a long battle with cancer so this year's Remembrance Day was especially poignant. I think it's a beautiful tradition and it's nice that people take great care to visit their loved ones who passed away as can be seen by increased traffic in the country and the fact that only few graves are not adorned with flowers and candles.
Reading: Louisa May Alcott - Little Women, A Very Short Introduction to The Vikings

Friday, November 1, 2013

Puppy Love

Few weeks ago my mom brought a cutest little puppy as a gift for my dad's birthday. Adorable chocolate colored Labrador with blue eyes we decided to call Denny. It's our family's first dog ever. We lived in an apartment my whole life and only recently my parents built a house. The first pet was a tomcat Murko who is now a very spoiled twoyear-old. And now they decided to take on a dog - or a fourth child as we like to call him (after my brother, me and Murko). And ooops, all of a sudden, my parents have a child to train and bring up (the first three "children" were never properly brought up, as my mom likes to say - we brought up us ourselves). :)





But there is a member of our family who is definitely NOT excited about Denny.

 


Tired after a long day of running, jumping, licking, eating and biting.



This was my chance to FINALLY pet Denny without being jumped on and bitten. As soon as I stopped petting him, he woke up and looked at me with those incredibly sad eyes saying: "Go on, what are you waiting for, pet me!"