Year end

 Almost year end, and while I do not update often, I am reasonably content.

Still fat, super tired (this is one of the seasonal peaks in my job), but overall happy. As time goes by, I keep thinking I'd ideally like to work for 9 or 10 more years and then retire - hopefully live by the seaside in a quiet place. I am not sure husband has the same plans, but recently we had 4 days of bank holiday that we spent home by ourselves and he was commenting on how he had a great time and I said "one day this could be our life - would that be so terrible?".

Don't get me wrong - I'd be happy to retire even now but one must be realistic. I must match my financial needs, my life expectation and my savings. So I think 9 or 10 more years - and still, stopping work at 50 would be quite a luxury!

On a side note, we've booked a vacation in Maldives again in the first week of January - I know we keep going there but hey, this time of the year it's so good and regenerating! We did consider Carribean Islands as well, but the trouble is we still have to attend some videocalls, and anywhere with more than 4 hours difference gets difficult to manage. And Maldives are soooo relaxing!

Lastly, my beloved cat is the spoiled brat of the household - actually he behaves decently and is super affectionate.

Wish you all the best for this year end, dear readers

In memory of Sinead O'Connor

 I haven't been posting for a while, and I thought I'd do this one in memory of Sinéad O'Connor, recently passed. 

Sinéad, you lived a strange life, and certainly your mental health was not the greatest. I grew up with Nothing Compares 2 U, and although I was a nerd about music as a teenager, I couldn't name another song of yours if my life depended on it. And this makes me think of how hard it must be to live a life where any stranger you meet thinks they know you as they identify you with a 3 minutes song (written by Prince btw if I remember correctly). It must be very insane - it must be difficult even for a writer who wrote one successful book, but no writer has ever had the reach of that song in the Western world I think.

You probably hated that song, didn't you?

As I age, I'm more and more content that I have not had One moment in time that defined my success. It is so much better to have enjoyed many lesser moments, to have built a number of memories on your own and with your loved ones. Also if you had on trait that was so strong and defined you and then you lose it as you age, it must be super hard. Think about how Whitney Huston had lost her voice in her last years? or super beautiful model who inevitably get older?

That's why I love work. Because work is, after all, one of the thing I've been successful in. It will eventually decline, but by that time I'll be fed up and ready to retire and move on.

Anyhow - all is good here, or at least decent. Husband went out and got shitfaced one night when I was in the UK for work, got all bruised in the face and got a dislodged jaw and hurt a knee, but let's face it, nothing really new there. 

The cat is always adorable and we love it to pieces.

We fared reasonably well through Tuesday storm, meaning that half of my green no longer exists, we'll probably have to replace the furniture on the balcony and I spent a day cleaning up, but considering the incredible ice storm we had, we were very lucky.

Enjoy the last stretch of summer dear readers.

Quick update

 All is well, except for the lack of progress weight-wise.

Work is busy as usual, Loki is always the best cat in the world. He is now 10 months old and he's super cute and adorable. At least a couple times a week we take him out for walks, although he usually prefers to sit on our shoulders/on top of a backpack for extra support, rather than walking outside. If we stop at a meadow or somewhere quiet he'll happily explore around, but generally speaking he feels safer on my or my husband's shoulders.

We have not neutered him so far; the vet told us that, living without other cats near, he may not start peeing around to mark territory, and so far we've had zero accidents so for the time being, he gets to keep his balls ahahahah. He's a cheerful cat, very cuddly and loves playing. While I would not go as far as saying he loves travelling, he puts up with our weekend trips without any problem.

Not much else going on, except that I keep postponing buying a dress for my friend's wedding (I'll be bridesmaid) hoping I'll manage to drop some weight... at some point I'll have to make up my mind and buy the thing!

Got it

 Somehow I got Covid...

Not sure how really, I came back from Dubai without any issue, tested negative. I suspect a client meeting last Wednesday (we all tested at the beginning of the meeting, but now the client is positive and so am I, so,...)

In any case, I have not lost taste/smell, so I'm as hungry as usual. I guess I got a soft form, it really feels like having a bad cold.

What's really annoying is that I have to work from home - as much as I kind of like a hybrid where I spend half of the day at the office and half at home, I still dislike very much working from home all day. It's boring, I miss office gossip, coffee breaks with my friends, having lunch downtown and so on. Well at least the cat is very happy with me staying at home all day.

Weight wise, I had started well, then gained again in Dubai, but I'll try to stick to restricting onwards.

Otherwise, not much going on I'm afraid..

first steps

 As always, the first week dieting is the easiest - and I shredded 2kg (4.5lbs) relatively easily (I even went out for drinks with the kids at work).

On top of the upcoming wedding, I'll have to go to Dubai for work in 10 days and then it'll be Monte Carlo (again - it's a project that already occurred 3 years ago, see the first two posts here). The main difference is that this time, I'll be carrying around 15/20kg more than the other girls. Shit.

At least going back to those posts made me remember that the hotel I'll be staying at in Dubai provides a scale in the room. And to be honest their gym is pretty awesome.

New year, old goals

 Happy new year bloggers!

My weight is at its highest, and a good friend just invited me to her (very fancy) wedding in Sicily in June.

I need to go back to old methods, also bcs I need to lose weight for medical reasons:

- I'm getting a new Nexplanon implant as dealing with periods has become unmanageable

- my back hurts

- my knees are better than last year but they'd still benefit from less weight to carry.

The good news is our friends who come over for excessive dinners every Sunday are having a baby tomorrow so I expect they won't be so keen about going out for a few weeks at least.

140 days to lose at least 10kg (22lbs). I need to to this, and needless to say, 15kg would be better but I don't think I can do it. 

Today menu is:

breakfast (half cup of cereals with skimmed milk, same as usual)

raw salmon and salad for lunch

baked broccoli, baked pumpkin and 1 kiwi for dinner

On different news, while Loki the cat is potty trained by now, this morning he was in a bad mood and he tried to piss on the bathroom mat. I'm going home after lunch and work from home, hopefully that will raise his spirits.

If you want to know more about Loki, you can follow him on Instagram @loki.the_siberian_cat