Portugese Music

Ok so I have a lovely Portugese friend, Ana, who has been introducing me to Portugese music and I have to say I'm very impressed. I only knew of a few Fado singers, that Portugese traditional music, which is really beautiful but had never really known anything about their pop scene and have never even thought about it till I met her. But it has turned out to be quite the discovery! Also I guess Portugese music gets slightly eclipsed by its Brazilian brothers and sisters with all its sexy samba beats. But anyway, I'm here to tell you, give it a try, you might just like it. Click on this to watch a music video by David Fonseca. Love it!! His song, "Kiss me, Oh Kiss me" is currently playing on repeat on my CD player and I have it constantly on the brain...

Freezing!!!!!!!!!!

Ok is it natural to have to defrost when you go for a walk??? This morning I walked around Rauðavatn with my friend and it took me the whole drive home and a whole hour for my legs to defrost and the feeling to come back!! It is freezing cold here these days so I decided to look at my book "501 must visit destinations" last night in bed!! It's a reminder of how beautiful this world of ours is, not to mention the therapeutic effect it has to look at photos of hot places where people are walking around half naked on a beach... imagining myself there as we speak... ahhhhh!!

This really is a beautiful world. As I'm turning the pages, everything I look at is just awe-inspiring and it reminds me of how much I have yet to see. There are so many places I'd love to visit: Canada, Japan, China and actually though I've seen a fair amount in Europe, I've never actually been out of Europe!! I was supposed to be heading to South Africa in March for my friend's wedding but with the economic situation and currency like it is, unfortunately, I won't be able to go. :-( It's a bummer but what can you do? As long as we have food on our tables and each other, travelling can just wait. In the meantime, I shall freeze my socks off up here in the icy North and look forward to Christmas!! :-)

The Verdict is in...

Half the cake got stuck to the bottom and the sides of the cake burned... but I always believe in second chances so I'm going to try it once more before I write it off completely! :-)

The Silicon Test

Ok people, I am about to enter the world of SILICON and it doesn't involve surgery!!! I've heard that baking with these silicon moulds is better than the traditional baking tin not least because you don't have to use baking paper to line but I'm sceptical... I have visions of my cake crumbling as I try to remove it from the mould because it's so flimsy feeling... so I am about to partake in some baking... and my verdict will come when said cake is baked and has been turned out onto a cooling rack... oh the anticipation...

The problem with plan making!

Do you know what the problem is with plan making? It's too much pressure! It's like when I actually plan things, even if it's just the day before, I always, without fail, DON'T do what I set out to do, and end up doing something completely different. Like today for example. I had plans, I did. I was going to send a parcel, do some studying, pop to see someone I hadn't seen for ages, organise my clothes and get a bag ready to donate to the Red Cross, go to the Chemist. And what did I actually do? Loads of stuff, loads of things I've needed to do for a while in fact... just none of what I had planned to do! So at the end of the day when I look back, I can't think, wow, look what I've achieved today, instead I think, why didn't I do the things I had planned to do and then I just feel bad about it. Of course my mistake is making the plan in the first place... the plan, as a concept, is a jinx! It's like a taunt, in fact. It's like I set myself up to fail because I know deep down I don't want to do all these things that day, so I set myself the task to do it, and then spend a day dreaming up so many things I could be doing instead... why is that? I am wondering if it's my creative, instinctual personality that has this flighty go with the wind attitude that makes me so anti-structure and anti-schedule about everything... or is that just an excuse for a lack of discipline? Maybe I need to scrap the plan-making altogether OR find a new system whereby I spread out the tedious tasks over the week and allow for my flighty nature to handle other tasks in between when the fancy takes me. Or maybe I should just shut up, write everything down on the wall that I need to do that day and tick the damn things off!! Hm, sounds like a plan!!

Fairy

A fairy playing a fairy ;)
This is one of Magnus' videos of choice these days. Gotta love Sesame Street.

The pressure...

How can I follow a long ass post like that?
It's too much pressure. I'll just write an itty bitty first post from me on this new site.

I like 'guides' to doing things, and my favorite one was from Jane's Paco regarding personal finances, and it went a little something like this.

Don't buy shit you can't afford.

A Survival Guide for the Icelandic Outdoors

I have learned a lot since living in Iceland... like how getting into a car and driving is really taking your life into your own hands, that at the supermarket it's every man for himself, and that in a language where there's no real word for please, politeness is going to be a struggle! But so far, I have NEVER been able to dress appropriately for Icelandic weather, always returning home with the onset of frostbite... until today!! I've finally cracked it, so for foreign women living in cold regions around the world, I would like to share with you my fool-proof Outdoor Survival Guide.

First of all, if you have any intention of retuning to your home with your facial skin in tact, moisturise before you go out. I'm in love with Elizabeth Arden's Green Tea and Honey Drops Body Cream and although it is an indulgence, it's well worth the money! Other creams that work and are especially good for winter are those with high SPF because the sun still gets through, especially in very Northernly areas! Another facial feature that needs to be addressed is the mouth... if you don't want your lips to look and feel like they could be used to cut fruit, then good old fashioned Vaseline Petroleum Jelly is the way to go.

Onto the clothes! Can you say thermal?? Thermal underwear is great, but if you can't afford, or want to wear thermal undies (and I totally understand why), then at least buy one thermal vest to wear under your top. The name of the game during winter is layers, so layer up!!! Wear a couple of thinner layers under a fleece jumper and you'll be toastie warm but will be able to peel them off again when you go indoors without overheating.

Your legs cover a large stretch of body and waterproof pants are great with a fleece or thermal legging underneath. The main thing with the legs is to stop the wind getting in, so look for materials that are both windproof and waterproof. When it comes to a good winter coat, think of it as an investment. Good quality coats usually come at a price, but they are your main protection from the cold and they have to be warm, durable and waterproof, so buy a good one. Here are a couple from 66 degrees North that look great as well as do the job... the fact that you have to sell an organ to buy one is a minor set back! ;-)

But even if you do all these things, it will mean nothing if you don't protect the 3 areas that lose most heat and therefore, need the most protection... the head, the hands and the feet! I recently bought this, which is without a doubt, the best item of clothing I have bought since I've lived here. It protects everything, allowing you room to see out but retaining all the heat leaving your head and stopping the biting cold hit your face and neck. And you can open it to expose your nose and mouth when it's not as cold. It really is perfect for outdoor pursuits... i.e. walking anywhere!

Gloves are a tough thing to buy because they have to be warm but you have to use your hands... I am now of the opinion that you should have a pair for driving, where you can grip the steering wheel but another pair for outdoors, because then grip is not your main concern... heat retainment is. These thin woolen ones you buy from fashion shops, don't do much against the Icelandic cold... you need ones with a good tough outer layer and an inner layer of fleece or fake fur and once you've ditched your thin woollen ones for those babies, you really feel the difference!

Finally the feet, it's not so much the shoes that make a difference, although ones with holes in them like trainers are not going to be a good idea in the snow (for obvious reasons) and thin ones are not going to do anything against the cold, but your real concern are the socks. Thin cotton socks are not a good idea, unless you were 3 pairs. I am now wearing one pair of thin cotton socks covered by a thick woollen pair on top and it keeps my feet much warmer... and of course your winter shoes should always be big enough to accomodate this!

So there it is... an idiot's guide to dressing in cold weather... and as obvious as it all sounds, believe me when I say that for those of us who were not brought up in weather like this, sometimes the obvious needs to be pointed out. So good luck, my fellow warm-blooded creatures! :-)